Arrival
Across the multiverse, there are an infinite number of possible versions of each world. Each one shaped by the actions of their inhabitants.
Earth was no exception to the rule. Until the day a mysterious book appeared in a strange temple in Central America. The book could not be duplicated and as there could only ever be one of them the future of the world was decided.
At the point in time the book was discovered, humanity had reached a milestone for their civilization.
Internal conflicts between humans had become a thing of the past.
All nations, creeds, tongues, belief systems and governments were of one thought process. The continued existence of humanity was more important than petty rivalries and grudges.
All past differences had been left in the past, as the future became the focus of the entire human race.
The book that was discovered in the innermost room of an ancient Mayan temple was a tome of infinite and forbidden knowledge from the foundations of the multiverse, known simply as the Necronomicon.
At first the governments of the world got their best code breakers to try to decipher the book, but soon learned of it's insanity inducing effects. Thereafter it was made compulsory to veiw it's pages as indirectly as possible.
Most code breakers found that having pictures of the Necronomicon's pages and having their colours inverted helped greatly. thereafter it became safer for them to decode the contents of the book.
After the discovery of the books contents, the United Nations made a call for all countries to assist with the processing and completion of the information they had gained from the Necronomicon.
Thus, experts from many different fields of study came from around the world to be a part of this new era of discovery. Among them were experts in All fields of science, biology and engineering, mathematics, data analysts and even a group of theologians to understand the godlike entities spoken about in the book.
With all the world's resources being pushed into research and development, humanity experienced a boom in technological advancement never before seen in the history of the world.
From the Necronomicon, biologists discovered how to prevent death during surgery and later on even reverse death all together. They also learned how to enhance human senses, allowing them to perceive higher dimensions.
Mathematicians discovered new geometry and higher dimensional forms of mathematics that helped greatly in other fields of science and engineering.
Using these higher forms of mathematics, engineers were able to both improve human technology and even re-create technology made by other races. The schematics of which were found in the Necronomicon.
With assistance from the engineering department great strides were made in data collection and analysis, to the point where evey molecule on Earth could be catalogued.
The theologians were able to identify, describe and explain most of the many gods spoken about in the Necronomicon, but since they were mostly indifferent at best and hostile at worst towards humans no new religions were created to worship them.
For 10 years, humanity enjoyed the gifts of the Necronomicon, not knowing that it's knowledge came with a great price. The time to pay for the book's vast information had come.
It began slowly as all major problems do. A few people around the world started having nightmares of a bizarre nature, they all described a city with strangely angled architecture and someone screaming 'look to the stars'.
At first it was ignored as just coincidence, but after more than 2000 people complained about having the same dream, the matter was brought before the government's of the world to find a solution.
After a full investigation into what was going on, it was discovered that the Great Old One named Cthulhu was awakening. Cthulhu the Dreamer was one of the Deities of the Necronomicon, known for his eons long sleep.
In response the governments agreed to evacuate the planet, as the knowledge of the Necronomicon showed, every civilization that came before and had fought against Cthulhu were completely wiped out.
The mathematicians and astronomers calculated the time of the deities awakening was only 8 years away. As such all of Earth's resources and even some from other planets in the solar system were pulled for the purpose of letting an entire civilization escape it's doom.
As a backup plan, for in case Cthulhu decided to come after them for running away from him. The theologians found another Great Old One who just so happened to hate Cthulhu with everything it had.
The Great Old One in question was named Hastur, the King in Yellow, the God of Interstellar Spaces, The Peacock King, he who must not be named and the God of Shepherds.
He was also Cthulhu's half brother and hated the Dreamer because of something that happened in their early days as Great Old Ones and resulted in all the Great Old Ones being banished from the court of Azathoth permanently.
This feud between the two of them stretched through the ages as the two of them had clashed several times in the past. Destroying entire solar systems in their fights.
Unknown to the human race was the reason why Hastur was called he who must not be named. As a foolish theologian uttered his name, not knowing that it had drawn humanity into the Great Old One's line of sight.
Hastur sat in the Yellow castle, his home in his personal dimension of Carcossa. When he heard the foolish human unknowingly uttering his name, he became interested. "I wonder what they want with me..." Hastur mumbled to himself as he observed the human and his species.
When he heard the plan these lower life forms had of summoning him, he laughed harder than he had in millennia. "Those fools think their plans are unknown to the stars, hahahah!!!" he laughed to himself before an idea hit him.
He could annihilate that annoying child Cthulhu and get his tentacles on the original Necronomicon at the same time. What happened to the humans was not his concern, as they were not a part of his flock, but he would lead them to the future he desired regardless.
It was a year before Cthulhu was set to awaken and the human race had already left on their space ships for a safer place to stay.
A few hundred religious experts were left behind however to summon Cthulhu's half brother Hastur.
They knew they were going to die there but were assured that their families would be well taken care of by the UN and other governments.Unknown to the humans that had already left, the ritual to summon Hastur was started early.
A year before it was supposed to because of the Great Old One itself controlling humanity with it's unseen strings.Hastur had been in control of the governments from the day they had spoken his name aloud.
As such they had been puppets dancing on his strings while believing that their motivations were their own.The King in Yellow sat on his throne in what was once the White House, in this form he had the appearance of an average sized man almost completely obscured by an infinite Yellow garment that seemed to extend forever into the distance. The only part of his body that was visible were his bizarrely hypnotic crimson eyes.
After the 30 day long ritual, all the humans that had been left behind were dead and were currently servants of his in the form of monstrous yellow coloured abominations.
The lands of every country was yellow covered in decay and rot.
All the animals left behind on Earth had been turned into depraved and deformed yellow coloured sheep, these were to be Hastur's army on the ground.
At the 6 month mark, the Great Old One opened the gates of Carcossa to allow his entire flock to enter the reality. Many foul and indescribably vile entities poured into the world from the gates after all the world's plant and animal populations had been turned into the Great Old Ones tools.
As the day of the Dreamers awakening arrived the sky turned red and seemed to crack like glass All over the world. These interconnected cracks seemed to shift before opening, revealing billions of eyes looking down at the earth with glee.
This was an entity known as an Outer God, more specifically the Outer God named Nyarlathotep the messenger of the Outer Gods. He appears when a great event in the history of the multiverse is going to occur.
Nyarlathotep had been watching this development unfold since the day the Necronomicon was discovered by the humans in that temple. He was not disappointed in the chaos about to occur below on the ground, because it never got old when the two Star Gods clashed.
The time had come R'yleth began to rise from the depths of the Pacific ocean. In response Hastur rose giant road bridges from what was once China, Australia, USA and South America to meet R'yleth in the ocean.
Immediately, the King in Yellow's forces charged fourth with a terrifying battle cry.
There were billions of sheep like abominations, they were once humans and other races that were unknowingly drawn into Hastur's flock with or without his assistance.
Next were the several thousand Stalkers, they were abnormally tall humanoid figures with far too many teeth in their mouths and an unnatural flexibility in their motions.
Among the hordes were several thousand seers. Creatures made up mostly of eyes with a pair of wings and a vision that was second to only a few.
The Gibbering heaps were next. Hundreds of muscled blobs of flesh without eyes or limbs but completely covered in mouths.
Finally were Hastur's right hands, the Sunflower throne and the Unnamed ones. The Sunflower throne was a sentient plant made from the bodies of the humans left behind.
The Unnamed ones were a group of 1 million multi-armed beings who's appearance looked more a conglomerate of human limbs with a demented smiling face that contradictorily had the most beautiful eyes in the universe.
Hastur, meanwhile remained seated on his throne as he waited for his half brother to awaken.
From R'yleth rose thousands and soon millions of eldritch abominations such as the Ascended, humans and other intelligent races who had worshipped Cthulhu in the past and were gifted immortality.
Dark squid like creatures with many tentacles came along side them. These were the Deep Kin, the ones who sleep alongside Cthulhu.
Lastly were the Star Spawn falling from the sky like meteorites. They were the offspring of Cthulhu and the most powerful in his army.
The war had begun and the only thing happening on Earth was an all out fight between 2 ancient eldritch armies fighting for supremacy over the planet. For about an hour they clashed with one another, before an oppressive gloom seemed to wash over the world.
At the center of the ancient city of R'yleth a large shadow began to rise, and rise and rise even higher than the clouds. Once the shadow reached it's full height, it's head was in Earth's thermosphere.
The Great Old One, Cthulhu had awoken. He released his wings from his back and they stretched across the horizon. Cthulhu had the appearance of a giant humanoid creature with massive black draconic wings and a mollusked shaped head and a large number of facial tentacles that stretched across countries.
The mere appearance of the tentacled Star God was so alien, it would drive any human who gazed at it to insanity with a single glance.
The Dreamer gazed down at the world below him to see... a giant yellow tentacled fist rocketing towards his face at Mach 10.
The moment Cthulhu started rising from R'yleth, Hastur launched himself from his sunflower throne at speeds far greater than the speed of sound.
On his way to his half brother's city, Hastur changed forms from his 'King in Yellow' form to his 'Devourer from afar' form. A shriveled corpse wearing yellow rags with what appeared to be millions of tentacles stretching across the globe.
Hastur formed a few of his tentacles into a giant fist while launching them at his half brother's face. A monstrous crack was heard as the punch connected with Cthulhu's face.
Cthulhu stumbled slightly before identifying the one who attacked him. A vein bulged above the Dreamer's milky white eyes, before he retaliated with a monstrous, mountain sized punch of his own.
In response Hastur created almost a dozen more fists from his multitude of tentacles, the largest of them was aimed at Cthulhu's fist. Right as the fists were going to make contact with one another, they stopped as if held in place by an invisible force.
Then the shockwave hit, the sky split in two and the oceans departed as the two Great Old Ones clashed with one another.
To a human it would seem like the two Great Old Ones were just brawling, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The two Star Gods fought by changing reality from what it was, into one where their own victory was certain, and their enemy's defeat was set in stone.
The two Great Old Ones however were both doing this at the same time and thus reality kept switching from one possible future to another over and over again. At this point in time the future of Earth was uncertain but whatever came after would be very interesting indeed.
All this happened while Nyarlathotep watched from above in glee as the two Star Gods dueled out in the open like apocalyptic children arguing over a toy. The outcome of the battle was already known to the Outer God, none the less he watched it play out for his own amusement.
As Hastur had time to prepare for the fight with his hated half brother, he had used several rituals from the Necronomicon to give him an advantage against Cthulhu.
One of these rituals split the Star Gods consciousness in two. This allowed Hastur's body to fight autonomously while his mind worked on a ritual to seal the annoying Dreamer away for a long time.
The King in Yellow's mind had already completed the ritual circle the day before and had been waiting for the right time to activate it, as he watched the drunken brawl his body was having with Cthulhu.
After 5 days of sky splitting, ocean rending and earth shaking and the insanity of two eldritch armies fighting to the death.
He found his chance when the Dreamer disengaged from their battle to deal with something it considered an annoyance.
Hastur's armies had eventually overwhelmed Cthulhu's with shear numbers and had begun attacking the Dreamer directly. The Gibbering heaps and the Unnamed ones did the most damage as they consumed the mass of Cthulhu.
The Dreamer had had enough and after he was able to break free from his half brother, Cthulhu raised his fist into the air but instead of aiming for Hastur the Great Old One punched the ground with enough force to annihilate all life on the planet.
The Dreamer was relieved that the annoyances were gone, but failed to notice the glowing white fist made of tentacles arching upwards from the ground in an uppercut aimed at his face until it was too late.
Cthulhu's eyes widened slightly before the blow struck the ancient Dreamer in the face sending it flying in a backflip spin straight out of the Earth's atmosphere and soon after, the solar system at nearly the speed of light.
After the battle with his half brother was over Hastur's body returned to his castle after reuniting with the other half of his consciousness. As he sat on his Sunflower throne he looked at what was left of his flock and saw no sheep.
It was only to be expected after a full scale battle against Cthulhu. Just as Hastur was about to order his remaining servants to return to Carcossa with him, everything seemed to become dull and gray.
Hastur was immediately on edge. He had already returned to his form 'the King in Yellow' and rose from his throne to intercept and or protect what was left of his flock. Which just happened to be two Unnamed Ones, his Sunflower throne and five stalkers.
"Show yourself, I know you are there..." Hastur spoke to the air as he sensed a presence far greater than himself and Cthulhu combined. Suddenly he saw an individual appear as if he were always there in the first place.
This individual had the appearance of a man standing at an unusual height of 9 feet tall. His skin was black as a starless night sky. his eyes were a predatory gold colour and his hair was pure black and almost indistinguishable from his skin.
His clothes were of an ancient Egyptian make. A tunic made of gold along with a golden headress in the shape of a serpent.
This was one of Nyarlathotep's thousand forms named the Black Pharoh. "Hello, Hastur long time no see old friend, how are you feeling after your victory over the Dreamer?" Nyarlathotep greeted as if they were old friends.
Hastur narrowed his eyes at the Outer God before answering "How I feel doesn't matter, now does it. Why are you of all the Outer Gods here. You don't seem to be the type to speak to those lower than yourself."
Nyarlathotep just laughed quietly to himself before saying "Dear God of Shepherds the pantheon of the Outer Gods has decided to invite you back to the court of Azathoth, for finally kicking that petulant brat to the curb, well that's why I'm here. As always feel free to join the rest of us at anytime." Nyarlathotep said before disappearing in the same way he arrived.
The King in Yellow was silent for a few moments before he started to chuckle, then giggle and finally broke out into full blown laughter so very different from his regular personality. "hehehehe hahahaha HAHAHAHAH!!!" Hastur laughed and laughed for several minutes before returning to his throne.
"I need to rest, but first..." The Star God said before sending a message to any remaining followers of Cthulhu. in the deep dark of his half brother's kingdom.
"Attention all Deep Ones and remaining Star Spawn, you once served my half brother but now you serve me from this day forward into all eternity." All the remaining followers of Cthulhu bowed in reverance to the King in Yellow.
Hastur used what remained of his power to fuse the Yellow kingdom with the ancient city of R'yleth to create a brand new city with the same bizarre architecture as R'yleth along with the beautiful sunflowers of the Yellow kingdom.
With that the Great Old One known as the King in Yellow fell asleep on his throne for the first time in millennia Hastur took a break from his scheming and plotting. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, alongside his followers and the defected deep ones.
So tired was he in fact that he completely forgot about the true Necronomicon laying at his feet. The book seemed to open on its own as tendrils of darkness escaped it's pages before the New Yellow R'yleth was buried deep underground in a dimension of it's own before the book closed and remained that way until Hastur awoke.
Many years passed as Hastur slept. First one hundred, then one thousand and soon even a million years passed and the Great Old One continued to sleep with his followers by his side.
After a million years they were no longer the only ones inhabiting the world anymore. Due to the reality bending nature of the fight between Hastur and Cthulhu, a great many opportunities for life burst forth from the world that was once called earth.
Many races came into being on this world alongside humans, most of them were humanoid such as the pallums, a race of humans who never grew very tall and as such always looked like children no matter how old they got.
Next were Amazons, a group of tanned women from an island nation who had their own culture and belief system.
From other parts of the world arose the chienthropes, they were humans who possessed animal traits such as cat ears or tails.
From the forests, emerged the elves. A humanoid race that had sharply pointed ears and was the first race to show a proficiency in the use of magic.
The last race was known as the gods. They were beings from the heavens who descended to experience the lives of the mortals down below, to end their eternal boredom in the heavens above.
Everything is not all sunshine and rainbows though, as the world is plagued by murderous creatures simply refered to as monsters by the races of the world, which is now known as Gekai or lower world.
After hundreds of years of fighting monsters on their own, the races agreed to form a coalition to push back the monsters and reclaim the lands they have stolen from the races.
Together the races have pushed the monsters back to where they came from a cavernous structure that led deep underground, this labyrinth was aptly named the dungeon. At first the races agreed to seal the dungeon with a tall building called Babel.
The mortals were proud of their construction, until it was destroyed by a beam of light from the heavens, only to then be rebuilt even better than they had built it before. Shortly after Babel had been destroyed and rebuilt, the gods descended from the heavens.
The gods gave the mortals their blessing, called the falna. In exchange the mortals would become a part of their familias. Thus the age of the adventurers was born. With the aid of the falna mortals dived into the depths of the dungeon, in search of fame fortune and strength.
Soon a city was built around the dungeon, at first as a home for the deities and their familias. It soon became a great attraction for businesses and people looking for a safe place to stay, as there were still groups of monsters outside the labyrinth city of Orario.
Soon an organization for regulating the familias and their adventurers. This organization was known as the Guild, led by the god of wind Uranus and was independent of any familia.
Unknown to the mortals and even the Gods the dungeon was not just an inexplicable mystery building that seemed to give birth to monsters at random, was in fact the castle of a Great Old One that had been sleeping for the past 10 million years.
And he was starting to awaken after his duel with his half brother, so long ago. Get ready Gekai, the show is about to begin...