A Brick House

So… I'm going to say that the Moon Lord is a Great Old One (of the same 'species' of Cthulhu) but probably… isn't Cthulhu? Like, I took Lovecraftian inspiration, but the Moon Lord as I'm imagining her is Cthulhu like, but not the slimy bastard himself, yeah?

This chapter gets a little dark, or at least has dark implications, so, you know, watch out for that. Also, this was one awfully long fight. Like wow.

The jungle temple was a sprawling structure, a mess of dark brown brick carved with strange patterns- eyes that glared across the underground jungle, strange inhuman figures walking or crawling across the worn, weathered brick. Eventually, Cyrus managed to find the only door on the entire complex, which was surprisingly normal looking- other than an unusually large lock, it was basically a normal door.

"So, what the hell did they lock in here?" Cyrus fiddled with the key Aria gave him, unwilling to just pop open the door and release whatever was held inside.

Ditra shrugged. "Who knows? I can use my cameras to check it out, I suppose. Just pry the door open and I can toss one in."

Titania was leaning against the wall, studying her fingernails while looking completely uninterested. "We're not going to get anything done just standing here. Just put it in the damn keyhole before I shove it up yours."

Cyrus gulped and unlocked the door to reveal a long hallway built of the same brown brick, although the designs on the inside were incredibly detailed. The walls were etched with dozens of figures, great blocks and columns of strange looking men dressed in flowing robes. The air was thick with the smell of decay, and Cyrus swore he could see bones scattered throughout the structure. That was worrying enough, but the real concerning thing was that they were gnawed on.

With a metallic clunk, one of her drones disconnected from her tail, before hovering away silently into the dark recesses of the temple. As it disappeared into the inky black, Cyrus turned to Ditra. "So what does it look like?"

"Seems like the architect was on drugs, honestly. The tunnels seem to zig and zag wildly, and there are these weird tunnels sprouting out- some are more like chutes in the roof or pits in the floor. One wrong step and you'd fall in."

After a few moments of silence, Ditra yelped and fell backwards onto herself. "What the hell! Good grief, what happened to that thing!"

Cyrus helped her up as shivered. "What was what? Are you okay?"

"Sorry. Something jumped at the drone. Its claws slid straight off, but it was one hell of a jumpscare."

"So, what is it?"

"It was some sort of disgusting… lizard man thing. Disgusting green skin, tattered robes, long tail, razor sharp claws,and horrible green eyes. I think that's what some of the carvings depict- these lizard men aren't fiction, they're the real inhabitants of the temple."

"Wait, you said they had tails, but the carvings don't."

She shrugged. "I saw what I saw, Cyrus. I'll drive the drone down deeper."

After some more exclamations of disgust, Ditra's eyes widened. "Woow. That is one big room."

She seemed to spend a few moments gawking at some marvel only she could see before Titania started to clear her throat. "Oh, woops. Sorry! There's a massive chamber in the temple- it's actually pretty beautiful despite the drugs the architect must have been on. Did they really need so many arches? Whatever. Big room, floor littered with bones, horrifying altar to a strange deity, etcetera."

"That doesn't sound beautiful."

"If you ignore the bloodstains, it isn't too bad."

"Good grief. Let's just start exploring. Warn us if there's anything too nasty, yeah?"

As they passed through the temple, exploring strange catacombs that seemed to spiral and whorl through the temple in a way that made no sense- Cyrus couldn't image the place's floor plan, it would probably look like a child's scribbles- but they tried their best to navigate the tunnels, which doubled back over themselves or were made horribly inconvenient- how exactly were you supposed to get to a door halfway up a straight vertical wall?

Cyrus led the way, flail at the ready, but eventually Ditra held her arm out in front of him to stop him in his tracks. "Hey, I think I see something. Let me test this."

She detached another one of her drones and sent it hovering in front of them, before letting it settle down to gently touch the ground- before it was speared by a massive spear that sprung from the ceiling with incredible force. After a few moments of blocking the path like some giant portcullis, the spears slowly retracted into the ceiling, leaving a ruined drone behind.

"Ooh, my poor baby-" Cyrus did feel sorry for Ditra- those drones were practically part of her, but these traps were way too risky, so he grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't. You don't want to get speared too, do you? You'll have to be very careful with your tail." She nodded, but still seemed downcast.

"You… can make more of them, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then risking yourself for this one isn't worth it. Please tell us if you see any more plates or traps like that. Titania, could you do some light magic or something to make things easier to see?" She sighed, but complied by producing a warm ball of yellowish light that was a little like a miniature sun- uncomfortable to look at straight on, but more than capable of lighting up their surroundings.

The extra light helped a lot in finding the small pressure plates that dotted the structure, even if they still blended in well- slightly raised bricks in a temple made of strangely placed and uneven masonry.

As they delved deeper into the temple, the ground was littered with more and more bones as the furniture grew more damaged and cracks began appearing in the walls, but the undamaged portions of the wall showed disturbing fingers, men who grew more and more monstrous as they descended further- skulls lengthening, actual tails sprouting from their tailbones.

Titania's ball of light was a relief, definitely, but it sent long shadows down the halls, making turning corners even scarier than before. Despite this, Cyrus still walked ahead of Titania and her glowing ball- meaning that when he turned a corner, it took him a few moments to catch the pair of yellow eyes before the creature lunged and the light revealed a snarling green creature lunging at him, its inhuman face distorted further by the expression of complete fury on its face.

But Cyrus hadn't gotten this far by having slow instincts though, and in one fluid move he drew his flail and caught the creature on the flail's head, crushing its torso and sending it flying into a wall. The creature slid down the brown bricks of the wall, covering the intricate carvings in blood. It didn't get back up.

Cyrus looked down at the floor and nearly jumped- there was a massive carving under his feet, lines curving into a horrific shape, a massive visage covered in tentacles, a third eye on the forehead glaring up at the roof of the chamber. "Guuh!"

Ditra and Titania seemed equally disgusted, although the latter carefully schooled her expression. "No. It can't be…"

"Can't be what?"

"If this pattern is depicting who I think this, it is really bad news." She crossed her arms and let out a huff. "This carving… is a Great Old One."

"A what now?"

"An eldritch being of tremendous power. This one, though, is very bad news." Cyrus was genuinely worried- Titania was an unflappable person, but now she was practically fretting.

"Does… it have a name?"

"It does, but names have power. It's better to use monikers, to avoid saying the name itself. The Dreamer on the Moon. The Legless One. The Whole Cripple… and this temple holds a cult devoted to him."

"Isn't that wonderful." Looking around, Cyrus could see the carvings of lizardmen on the wall weren't just walking or crawling- they were all kneeling, and the way the room was built made it seem like every single carving was worshiping the figure carved in the the center of the room, its great tentacles covering nearly all of the flour as it stared endlessly into a roof carved with a haphazard pattern Cyrus now recognized as the moon- he had a sinking feeling that if Cthylla was here, she could confirm it was perfectly accurate.

"Say, Ditra, how far ahead is that room with the altar?"

After a few moments, she seemed to realize that he had asked her a question. "Wait wha- sorry. It should be just ahead."

"Say, shouldn't we be seeing more of these lizard men around? I mean, there are entire legions of them carved onto the walls."

Titania stroked her chin for a few seconds before her eyes widened in realization, but the way her expression soured (well, more than usual) gave Cyrus the distinct impression he didn't want to know what she had just realized. "So, let's say there were a lot of these lizard creatures when the temple was first built, but if they managed to lock themselves inside without a key and no way to get food from outside…" She gave a meaningful look at the bones littering the room.

Ditra turned an unflattering shade of green, which wasn't helped by the gentle red glow from her remaining drones. As quickly as she could, she slithered over to a corner and violently threw up. Cyrus quickly pulled her long silver hair out of the way- it would be a shame for it to get covered in sick.

After quite a bit of retching, she managed to raise herself back up, and she didn't have legs that could shake, Cyrus could hear a faint sort of rattle from her tail, like she was shivering.

"Hey Cyrus, think fast." Cyrus quickly turned and managed to catch whatever Titania threw at him- it felt warm in his hand, and when he stopped to look at it, he could see that it was some sort of power cell, maybe? It had ceramic caps on either end which were attached to a glass tube holding… something that growed a brilliant yellow.

"What's this?"

"Something I found while Ditra was busy vacating her lunch from her stomach. I've got a feeling it's important." With a shrug, she led them into the next room, where a strange altar awaited them, golden patterns glowing faintly on its sides.

The main room was also covered in massive carvings, but in a surprising change of pace there were no carvings of terrible eldritch beings or lizard men, but instead the far wall of the room had a massive sun carved into it, intricately carved rays spreading from it and traveling across the entire room.

His eyes were naturally draw to the altar, a towering brick structure that was decorated extravagantly with gold and beautiful etchings. There was a strange sort of… slot on top of the altar, which seemed to be missing something. It was almost like the slot you would put a battery into…

Then Cyrus pulled the brightly glowing power cell from his pocket, and as he brought it closer to the altar, the yellow light began to throb, getting so hot in his hand he almost wanted to drop it, and some part of him was screaming that he needed to drop it, break it, get it far away… but then he gently slotted the power cell into the altar, and the entire temple rumbled with power, tiny fragments of brick falling down onto their heads.

"What the fuck, Cyrus!"

"There's no need for that kind of language, Titania!" Cyrus could admit that he messed up, of course, but bickering wouldn't keep them alive.

The cell suddenly emptied of whatever yellowish liquid filled it, and the golden light seemed to spread from the altar, lighting up all the engravings in the room making the giant carved sun glow like a brick facsimile of the real thing as the far wall shook and entire bricks fell away, crashing onto the ground.

"Get back! Away from the wall!" Ditra slithered away as Cyrus and Titania flew away on their respective wings as the wall shook itself apart.

Eventually, as the bricks continued falling away, Cyrus could see a form starting to take shape- a cold sneer, a tremendous chest, powerful limbs- a massive brick statue that towered above them, a brilliantly glowing sun on its chest. Then its black, empty eyes lit up with a pair of tiny red pinpricks, and the Golem began to move, loose masonry falling off its sides.

Cyrus drew his flail as it began to march towards them with thunderous steps. Cyrus smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad, if it was so slow- Then the Golem launched its fist with all the speed of a bullet and it managed to clip his artificial leg as he jumped out of the way, and Cyrus knew immediately that he wouldn't be walking on that one for a while.

Both Cyrus and Titania took flight and began pelting the Golem with their respective attacks as it broke the walls apart with its fists and Ditra did her best to move out of the way as it roared and stomped around the room, which felt a lot smaller with their new enemy filling space.

Titania was something of a long range fighter, shooting cutting rays of light with her fingers as Cyrus danced around the Golem up close, hammering away at the brick skin of the Golem with his flail. As he landed a particularly vicious blow directly into the creature's eye, it gave him as much of a glare as its sculpted face could allow before its mouth swung open and a spout of fire burst out, and Cyrus had to dance out of the way to keep the burning hot fire from damaging his wings.

Cyrus distanced himself from the creature and began to fight at range, using length of the flail and its magic projectiles to strike at the Golem from a distance and bait it around, letting Ditra and Titania skirt the sides. It was a shame Ditra couldn't do much to help, but all her drones were really useful for was flying around to get footage, which wouldn't help him much and would only fill the air with more things to dodge.

Unfortunately, the combined efforts of the Golem, Cyrus, and Titania seemed to be doing quite a number on the temple, and he had to wonder if they'd start breaking through walls or anything crazy like that- at least it would give them more room.

At the very least, they seemed to be making progress- Titania's lasers left long cuts and furrows through creature's exterior, and a good whack from the flail would send little chunks of brick flying into the air.

The Golem seemed to focus on Cyrus, but it would occasionally send an errant fist or fireball Titania's way, which she dodged with incredible grace, not that she didn't find them annoying. After one fist got particularly close, she swiped her finger at the chain connecting the fist to the main body, expecting the wave of light she launched to bounce off- only for it to cut right through the chain.

Letting out a bellow of fury, the Golem sent its other fist at Titania, apparently determined to avenge its amputation, and as she dodged, she chuckled. "Dumb as a sack of bricks." With another wave of her hand, she cut the remaining chain, leaving the creature to hop around in a fury and blow more and more fire into the air. Seizing on the creature's anger, Cyrus leapt into the air and delivered a massive strike with his flail onto the top of the Golem's head, forming a tiny crack.

The crack began to grow, masonry splitting apart until the thing's head split apart into two halves, falling away to reveal a cylinder of bricks surrounding a core that burned a brilliant yellow. Great balls of fire formed in the air around the strange brick structure that had replaced its head, and the flames flew towards Cyrus and Titania.

Of course, they both flew out of the way and resumed the fight, but as they did, Ditra inched her way towards one of the halves of the skull, noticing how its eye still burned a bright red, the same color as her drones. As she moved in front of the eye, it flared up and shot out a laser straight at her tail, and she cringed in expectation of a painful wound- that never came. After a second or two, the eye flared up, and when the laser hit her tail it simply bounced off and hit the roof. She grinned. "Oh, I can work with this."

Letting dozens of her drones loose, she let them fly around the room, positioning them perfectly to activate the laser eyes of both head halves, and letting the lasers bounce off her drones and hit the Golem, adding a bit more damage on top of Cyrus' and Titania's attacks.

With three separate sources of damage hammering away at it and the Golem quite literally disarmed, it continued to crumble apart, the golden ichor in its head beginning to leak as the masonry containing it was chipped away. With a shriek, the creature let out a tremendous wave of fire, sending Cyrus flying back and singeing Titania's delicate wings.

Panting, Titania looked up at the creature stomping towards her, and despite its broken appearance it was certainly capable of crushing her flat like a bug. She inhaled deeply and pointed directly at sun pattern on the creature's chest, imagining all the power and light of the real sun, not this pale imitation… before her eyes lit up like spotlights and a brilliant sword of light soared from her finger, cutting the creature in two as she collapsed in exhaustion.

As she collapsed, the Golem did as well, falling apart like all the mortar holding it together just disappeared… or maybe it was magic? Digging through the rubble, Cyrus found two interesting items: an orange pickaxe and a small hatchet, which he took before continuing his search. Eventually, after brushing away quite a bit of stone, he saw a face.

She had skin like terracotta and long dark hair the color of the bricks she lay upon. Her clothes were of a similar shade, although clothes was perhaps a generous term for what was practically armor. The armor was patterned like bricks with a similar sun pattern to her previous form, and it was gently spotted with moss. It was also very thick and dense, but in spite of that… Cyrus could tell the girl was, ahh… built like a brickhouse, so to speak. Cyrus picked the girl up and then walked over to Titania, who was too weak to stand.

She looked up at him and glared. "Don't you dare try that carry shit on me." She struggled her way to her feet, but her legs buckled under her when she tried to stand.

Looking closer, Cyrus could see the burns on her wings and her skin. "You're in no condition to be walking around like that, Titania. Unless you want to be subject to my gentle care while in a grody temple?"

She sighed. "You start getting grabby and I'll perform laser eye surgery, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Walking around with a girl in each arm was tricky, but he managed to meander over to Ditra, who was herding her drones back into position and carefully fitting them back into her tail.

"You done?"

"Almost." After a few particularly aggressive shoves, she managed to get her last drone into its position and turned to Cyrus. "I guess you're in no state to grab the mirror. Which pocket is it in?"

"Right." With that, she fished the mirror out of his pocket and made sure she was touching all three of the other people in the room before activating the mirror as the temple groaned under its own weight.

Back at home, Cyrus dropped both girls off at the sickroom before managing to escape- Titania clearly did not appreciate being manhandled, and he didn't want to stick around for too long. It was still a little cold out, but Cyrus had a craving for seeing the sky right now- that underground temple was miserable, and it made him savor the sunlight even more now.

Logically, those two desires led him to the greenhouse he had constructed, where he found Aria working in the dirt, surrounded by a great number of verdant plants (that was another strange thing. Some part of his brain told him the plants grew too quickly here, days instead of months or even years in the case of trees).

"Hello, Cyrus. You look well. Does that mean the temple wasn't too bad?"

Cyrus sighed. "Oh, it wasn't fun, but I got out of it alright. Abigail's fretting over Titania's burns right now."

"Hmmph. Titania. I will admit the girl has a remarkable eye for flowers, but her condescension… Ugh!" She huffed and stuck her trowel into the ground. "She told me to rip up the blinkroot, if you'd believe it! 'It ruins a perfectly good flower garden' my ass…"

Cyrus chuckled. Titania may not have realized it, but every plant grown in the greenhouse had some sort of practical purpose, even if the moonglows or fireblossoms also looked really good while doing so. "And how are the pumpkins?"

"Overall, they're pretty good and are growing in well, but one of them…"

"One of them?"

"I'll show you." Standing up and wiping the dirt off her skirt (conveniently forgetting the dirt caking her hands) she led him between carefully marked rows of plants. Aria's portion of the greenhouse was downright scientific, compared to the more… laissez faire attitudes of Nissa and Picea. She seemed determined to maximize yield, to find the best possible way to grow everything- and it was a very useful hobby, Cyrus did admit.

Eventually, she brushed aside a few leaves to reveal one of the most vile pumpkins Cyrus had ever seen- it was stumpy and far too wide, and it seemed to have grown in a way that made it look just like a jack o' lantern. "Eugh, what happened to that?"

"I wish I knew, Cyrus. Best guess I have is that it's the closest plant to Lacrima's little tailoring workshop. Maybe it's some of that funky soul stuff she brought back from the dungeon that's warping the plant?"

Cyrus shrugged. At some point, you had to stop questioning things. "And how's the nursing going?"

"Pretty well. There's a lot of stuff you need to learn before you can really start working in medicine like she does. And here I thought it was just potions."

"She says they have negative consequences long term, you know."

She cringed. "Oh yeah, nasty stuff. 'Do you value your liver, Aria?' that whole shtick."

"Do you… have a liver?"

"I… think? Obviously, Abigail can't really study my anatomy, but we can make educated guesses and work off what we already know."

"Like…"

"I can eat food like a human, so that probably means a normal digestive system. I've got chlorophyll or something like it in the skin, a beating heart, and as far as we can tell a functioning-" She stopped talking all of a sudden and flushed. "Never mind! I should probably go help Abigail!" She ran off, leaving Cyrus alone in the greenhouse.

Just due to proximity, he found himself outside of Lacrima's door- he had knocked, but had been told that she busy with the final touches on an outfit, but if he wanted to wait and see her newest work he could.

So he waited, idly fiddling with a golden coin he had managed to pick up along his journeys. Part of him wondered where exactly it got minted, who cut it into shape and put a pattern on it, but the rest of his mind was focused on trying to remember coin tricks. Of course, that was the sort of important stuff he had vague memories of, and boring things like his upbringing or potential family drew blanks.

As he palmed the gold coin for the fifteenth time, feeling the gold in his hands, the door opened… and he was glomped.

"Cyrus!" The complete lack of personal space and mop of aquamarine hair meant that it was Aqua who had hug tackled him.

"Aqua, what did we say about asking people first?" She reluctantly let go and took a few steps back, allowing Cyrus to see the green dress she was wearing- it was admittedly pretty short cut, but it was better than running around in a swimsuit.

"Pleeease?" She gave him puppy dog eyes, but he was already convinced before the started begging- it was just trying to get her into the habit. Cyrus did not want to see what happened if she tried the glomping trick on Andi without asking (not that she would say yes).

"Sure." She wrapped her arms around him again and he ruffled her hair.

"Sometimes it feels like you're moving in on our territory, Aqua." Lacrima followed a bit behind, but her smile reassured Cyrus she wasn't angry at Aqua.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you hug Cyrus anymore I might have worry that you're trying to steal him away."

"But Cyrus is so huggable!" She squeezed harder and he chuckled. "And what do you mean, steal him away? Cyrus isn't yours, he's… his!"

"Well, Cyrus is dating other people."

She tilted her head to the side, a curious expression on her face and Cyrus' heart sunk. "What's dating?"

"Well, ahh… when two people are romantically interested in each other, they go on dates. They spend time together, get to know each other, maybe even get intimate…"

"That sounds fun. Can I go on a date with you, or Cyrus?"

"Well, when you're dating someone, it's supposed to be exclusive. I'm dating Cyrus and Cyrus is dating several people."

Aqua seemed more confused at that. "Wait… You can only date Cyrus, but Cyrus can date other people? I'm confused…" After a few seconds, she perked up. "Can I date Cyrus?"

"Well, in theory, but I'm worried you don't really understand what dating is. Can we talk alone for a bit?" Cyrus recognized when it was time to bow out, and exited as Lacrima struggled to explain the concept of dating. At least it wasn't as bad as Francisca…

Cyrus froze. He did not need to imagine a Francisca who was trying to date him right now. Maybe he should find something to keep his mind off of things…

Bea was busy cooking something that Cyrus could smell from rooms away, and he followed the tempting scent all the way to the kitchen. Bea was bustling, moving around the kitchen and preparing a truly massive meal- every new girl was a new mouth to feed, after all, and Cyrus wondered if she'd need help if their village grew any bigger.

She smiled at him as she moved around the kitchen. "Hullo, Cyrus! How are you?"

"Good. The jungle temple went well, it's good to bee back. "

Bea chuckled. "Well, do you have any requests, honey?"

"Maybe just… a little less meat?"

"What's up with that? Did Titania browbeat you into respecting the animals?"

"No… It's just… the temple put me off meat for a while…" Lizard cannibalism really managed to dampen his appetite, if you'd believe it.

"Well then I'll work around that. There are some vegetarian recipes I wanted to try…" She muttered something Cyrus barely managed to catch. "I do enjoy cooking for you."

Cyrus grinned. "I'm glad to hear that."

Bea blushed and stuttered a reply. "Cooking for… you all, of course!" Cyrus couldn't bring himself to press her any further.

"Can I help?"

"Sure. I assume all that fighting means you can handle a knife without cutting yourself?"

"Of course!"

Aria and Abigail were laughing at him, although the former's laughter was a bit less biting than the latter's. "I get it, I get it!"

"You do have to admit it's a little ironic, right? One of the strongest warriors in the world and…" she chuckled as she wrapped a bandage around his finger. Bea had forced him to go see Abigail when he cut himself, telling him to get out while cleaning the droplets of blood he had managed to spill while cutting carrots.

"It's just… embarrassing."

"You shouldn't be afraid to admit that you can't do something, Cyrus. Maybe it's destiny or something… fate conspiring to make sure that you have the support you need."

"Fate decided I needed a… professional chef?" Well, if so, Cyrus certainly wasn't complaining that stars aligned to fill his stomach with good food.

"Well when you put it like that… but it certainly seems we're all building towards something, isn't it? There's a path you can trace- continuous, non stop growth. Maybe the world is preparing you for… something. What that something is, I don't know."

Cyrus dreamt of the stars. He dreamt of the sun, burning bright, bringer of life to the world, and the planets that danced around it. His home, his world, a glimmering sapphire hanging in the black, one of the tiny green specks on it surface holding everything he's ever known. But he dreamt of others, too. A planet baked by the sun, one that was covered in dense clouds, and one as red as blood. He swore he dreamt of a swarm of lights, like fireflies, depart from their reddish homeworld and fly towards his home.

He dreamt of the moon, gleaming brilliantly in the light of the sun, dark black mares, like the seas of earth, and chalk grey highlands standing high above the flats. Then he dreamt of the dark side of the moon, where the only light was from burning stars and splendid pink nebulas that covered the sky like clouds. He could only tell where the mountains were because they blocked the stars- the ground was inky black.

He turned, and saw a door. It was massive, and towered far above him. He could barely see it in the dark, but its corners glowed dimly, giving him a faint outline. One corner was a brilliant orange, like the sun, another was vivid pink, like the nebula in the sky above him, and the other two were a brilliant blue and a pale green. Cyrus knew that he didn't want to see that door opened, and very faintly, he could hear impacts on the other side, like something was desperately trying to get out.

He woke up with a start, sweat pouring down his body, and knew he wasn't going to get any sleep for the rest of the night. He decided to get something to drink.

His cooking skills were good enough to pour himself a glass of milk, which he drank as he idly wandered the halls. Thankfully, he didn't sleep in his armor, or he would have woken up the entire village with his stomping.

He almost decided to go to the greenhouse, to see the stars without freezing himself to death, but the subject matter of his dream convinced him not to, but before he could come up with some other destination to walk to, he saw something bright in the corner of his eye.

He turned and saw Titania, and she glowing in the moonlight- quite literally. Her wings in particular were sending a beautiful mix of colored light onto the walls, dying the dark wood of the walls a bright mix of pastel colors. He took a step towards her, and her serene expression soured as she turned to look at him.

"Cyrus."

"Titania. Couldn't sleep?" He took a seat next to her, and she didn't move away even if she gave him a fierce glare.

"No, not that it's any of your business."

"We may not get along, but I can look after your health, can't I?"

"And you're a hypocrite too."

Cyrus sighed. That particular line of conversation was a dead end. "So… that sword thing you did back with the Golem. It was really something."

She huffed. "Nothing but a pale imitation of the genuine article. Perhaps we'll have to have a rematch one day. I'd bury you when the sun's out, I promise."

Cyrus smiled. "You keep me alive until everything's settled down… and you have yourself a deal."

"Well, that'll be a pain, but it'll be worth it to whip your ass."

Dramatis Personae:

Cyrus: the player character, harem protagonist

Cthylla: ex-Eye of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Annelida: ex-Eater of Worlds, in relationship with Cyrus

Medulla: ex-Brain of Cthulhu, in relationship with Cyrus

Visca: still insists on being called King of the Slimes, in relationship with Cyrus

Bea: ex-Queen Bee

Lacrima: ex-Skeletron, clothier replacement, in relationship with Cyrus

Andrea/Andi: ex-Wall of Flesh

Asta: ex-Spazmatism

Tina: ex-Retinazer

Francisca: ex-Skeleton Prime

Regina: ex-Queen Slime

Ditra- ex-Destroyer

Aria: ex-Plantera

Picea: ex-Everscream

Nicola: ex-Santa-NK1

Crista: ex-Ice Queen

Aqua: ex-Duke Fishron

?: ex-Golem

Nissa: the Dryad

Veronica: the Zoologist

Meredith: the Mechanic

Abigail: the Nurse

Judith: the Steampunker

Roxanne: the Stylist

For those of us not aware of the intricacies of the English language, to be built like a brickhouse usually means overdesigned, but in the case of a woman's figure… it means she's thicc, as the kids say.

We're getting closer to the endgame now, folks. I'm thinking of maybe doing something with the pillars- maybe a sort of one mind/soul, four bodies sort of deal? Tell me what you think.

I took some inspiration from that Lovecraftian staple, The Shadow over Innsmouth, but instead of fishmen it's lizardmen. If you're interested in the whole dating a Lovecraftian deity idea and can't wait for the Moon Lady, I would recommend checking out "Ow, my sanity". It's on hiatus, but it's a fun little ride: the girls are cute but undeniably alien/weird. It goes much further into Lovecraft than I do. I would warn that the author also has skill at drawing some disturbing Lovecraft shit as well as cute girls. Watching a Lovecraftian entity learn what emotions are is classic.

I thought games would distract me from writing… it seems like writing has distracted me from games lol. I'm really glad I got back into writing- I enjoy it so much.

Next will either be the cultist, or some other side girls. I paved the way for a pumpkin moon soon, and there's been no pirate or martian invasion yet. An alien girl and a pirate wench would make intersting additions to the cast, or maybe the nymph? Or old's one army, which according to my rules is going to probably be a 3 waifu deal, which would probably finally kill me with all the character bloat.