Ok, so this another excerpt that's slightly different from my previous one-shots. It has less to do with the Flood consuming everything in this universe and details a conversation between the Gravemind and Yog-Sothoth.
I apologize if my Mythos lore is a little off, but from what I understand, the two most powerful beings in this universe are Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth: the former is completely insane, and the latter is imprisoned outside of space and time.
This is the basic canon I'm going with and this story will be my own explanation for how and why those events occurred.
Somewhere in deep space, several glowing spheres popped into existence and started coalescing around each other. Ghroth passed by during this point to observe this event, but upon seeing who it was, the planet-sized harbinger decided to make itself scarce. One of the many avatars of Yog-Sothoth, the spheres just floated there in the middle of the space, apparently waiting for something.
He didn't have to wait for very long; approximately six hours later, a large dimensional rift opened right in front of Yog-Sothoth and a large worm-like head slithered out of the opening. Within the 3 part maw of the worm, another mouth resided within the creature's head, composed of many sharp teeth.
This new arrival was not actually there in the physical sense, as the entity was partially translucent since it was in a mostly spiritual form. The avatar of Yog-Sothoth regarded this entity for a moment before it began speaking. If any other being was around at the time (and provided they didn't go insane upon hearing the languages being spoken), they would have heard a conversation that sounded something like this:
"What do you want?" Yog-Sothoth asked, one sphere flashing for each word spoken by the Outer God.
"You know why I came here." The entity known as the Gravemind replied in its usual baritone voice. "I will consume all other life in the multiverse, and you will not get in my way." It warned threateningly.
"And why should I listen to you? You have no power or reach in this reality, and your parasitical forms can do nothing to me." Yog-Sothoth answered condescendingly. "What could you possibly do to hurt anyone in this universe?" He asked with a mocking tone.
"Ask Azathoth what damage I could do." The Gravemind answered menacingly, "That is, if he's still capable of speaking coherently."
If Yog-Sothoth had a human spine, a chill would be running up it right now. Eons ago, Azathoth had gone completely insane (granted, being a god of evil who could end worlds on a whim would make anyone a little power mad), but one day he had completely lost his mind and since that day, he constantly had to be entertained by his court music. No one, not even the jesters who were with him at all times had any idea what had caused it...
Until now.
"That..that was you?!" Yog-Sothoth stuttered in fear. Azathoth was on the same power and mental level as Yog-Sothoth or perhaps even beyond the Outer God of space and time, but if what the Gravemind said was true, then it was the cause of Azathoth's descent into absolute madness.
"The daemon sultan is not a threat to me. And you will not be a threat to me any longer." The Gravemind growled.
Angered, Yog-Sothoth began preparing a counter-attack when it found itself frozen in time and space. Confused, Yog-Sothoth had enough time to see thousands of translucent tentacles composed of greenish-yellow flesh and silver gleaming tendrils before everything went white.
Terror coursed through Yog-Sothoth as he realized that he had no idea where he was or how long it had been. As the Outer God of space and time, it should know that.
"Feeling comfortable?" A familiar voice mocked. "What have you done? Where am I?" The Outer God demanded angrily.
"You are imprisoned outside space and time." The Gravemind replied, clearly amused by the irony of Yog-Sothoth's predicament, "You will never leave this prison, even though others can summon your avatars. You can see through space and time, but never again will you touch it, control it or manipulate it. You will remain here, forever."
The Gravemind left Yog-Sothoth to his fate, musing that it should really thank Nyarlathotep for giving him information on how to imprison the God of spacetime, not that he really had a choice in the matter. The soul of the Outer Gods had expected to outsmart the mind of the Flood, only to realize that it was difficult to outhink a mind the size of a galaxy.
The Crawling Chaos had begged for its life, and was rewarded with an affliction of the logic plague. Now bound to serve the Flood, Nyarlathotep had gifted the Gravemind with the knowledge on how to imprison Yog-Sothoth, and with that Outer God out of the way, the Flood wouldn't have to worry about him interfering with their harvest.
The Gravemind departed from this universe, leaving all the horrors imprisoned within the bounds of this reality. It would come back here to feast when all other life in the multiverse had been consumed, but for now it would leave them alone.
I hope everyone enjoyed this, and just to be clear, this is a prequel as it takes place before all of my other one-shots in this story.
I'm guessing that anyone familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos will probably be ranting about how I made the Flood overpowered, or the Cosmic horrors in the Mythos underpowered, etc, etc, and I just want to cut you off right there.
First off, you're probably correct, I did make the Flood overpowered in the extreme, but there is the fact that we can't be too clear on exactly how powerful the beings in the Cthulhu Mythos really are, considering the only information we have about them comes from people who are in different stages of insanity, which isn't exactly a reliable source of information.
Secondly, the Flood do have this level of power, at least in a full outbreak. If you don't believe me, check Halo: Silentium for more details. A full outbreak of Flood has them warp reality through the use of Precursor technology, so this is a little extreme but not entirely implausible, all things considered.
Reviews are welcome as always.
EDIT: Man, I've gotten a lot of reviews on this subject, and honestly, I don't even know what the hell I was thinking at the time when I wrote this. So, in regards to my overarching multiverse, this chapter can be considered non-canon and as a bit of a joke chapter as well.