Author's Note:
I don't own Harry Potter or DND for that matter.
text guide:
"Words spoken by Harry or to Harry"
Thoughts verbalized in Harry's head
What Harry happens to be thinking as well as descriptions of the world around him and what's he doing, as you might expect.
"Other people's thoughts projected into Harry's head"
Chapter 1 Snatched.
Harry stormed out the house before his Aunt Marge could say anything more about his parents or before he might end up doing anything stupid in response. He was furious. Most people had the good grace not to speak ill of the dead, but apparently Marge didn't have a polite bone in her body. Harry had put up with too much already, both these past three days and his whole life for that matter, to want to go through any more of this.
His parents had died protecting him from an evil wizard when he was still a newborn. His aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had abused him growing up due to their own deep and abiding hatred of all things magical. His cousin Dudley had done his best to keep anyone away from him who might have been his friend. Harry had grown up very much alone and unloved for most of his life.
Then two years ago he had discovered that he was a wizard and his world had opened up a bit. He had a few very good friends now. The gentle giant Hagrid. The other boys in his same year at the magical school he attended for most of the year, such as clumsy but well meaning Nevil, and Dean Thomas the only other third year boy who was just as lost in the magical world as he was. Then there was Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, his two closest and most precious friends.
Harry shuddered as he thought of his friend trying to count his blessings and calm down. He had nearly lost Hermione this past year. She had been partially petrified by a monstrous basilisk that had been hiding in the school. Luckily she hadn't taken the beast's direct stare which would have killed her outright, but had only seen it through a mirror. Later she had been revived with a mandrake potion. Harry was incredibly grateful, but that whole episode had completely terrified him.
Now that the long month of July had separated them, he was feeling that near loss all the more intensely. Harry couldn't imagine life without either of his best friends and so now more than ever he wanted some way to make sure they were his forever. Someway to protect them forever. To keep them by his side forever. This in turn lit another desire in his soul.
Harry wanted a family. A real family that loved him and stood by him. His aunt, uncle and cousin clearly weren't any real family to him. Whatever blood connections that existed between them were obviously too weak to be real. His relatives hated him and that disqualified them as family. So Harry would have to make a family for himself. He supposed that meant settling down to get married and raise a family one day. Harry definitely liked that idea, but it was a distant prospect. Harry wanted a real family now.
Last year at about this time he had been rescued from his relatives by Ron, Fred and George Weasley with their father's flying car. He had then spent the month of August staying with the Weasley's, and he had to confess, he had never been more jealous of his best friend than during those days. The Weasley's didn't have much, but they had each other. And the love they showed for each other was something that Harry desperately wanted for himself.
The deep and abiding yearning for a mother that would worry about him and his future, for a well meaning if bungling father who nonetheless had words of wisdom and guidance to offer when needed, for siblings that would both annoy him with pranks, but also have his back through thick and thin, had surprised Harry but now he couldn't get it out of his head. The desire was only somewhat lessened by the fact that he knew Mrs Weasley thought of him as one of her own kids and looked out for him as best she could. Being an unofficial Weasley was good, but it wasn't the same as having his own family.
Plus Harry wanted Hermione in his family just as much as Ron. If Harry was honest with himself he really wanted all the Griffindors to be his family, or even all the students and staff at Hogwarts, even Draco and Snape if they would stop being such massive prats all the time. Having gone so long without anyone in his life, Harry would take anyone he could get.
All these thoughts and desires filled Harry's heart with longing, happiness and sadness in equal measures. Which was good since it steadily drowned out the anger that had been burning in his heart. So Harry wandered the dark streets of his neighborhood almost completely oblivious to the world around him. Only one thing disturbed his thoughts during this time, which was the sight of a large black dog hiding almost out of sight in one of the hedgerows. For a moment, Harry thought the dog might have been following him or at least watching him intently. But the dog vanished almost as soon as he had seen it, so Harry didn't pay it much mind.
But after that he was free to get lost in his own head. So it was perhaps no surprise that Harry completely failed to notice the giant flying sailing ship that seemed to be made from some great sea monster, which suddenly and silently appeared from a portal torn open in the sky above his head. Not that noticing it would've done him any good. Harry didn't have his wand on his person, he didn't know how to apparate, and he couldn't have outrun the long tentacles that descended from the ship above him even if he had been fully grown and a professional sprinter. So he was caught up in a moment and dragged up into there air so quickly that the blood drained from his head under the g force and he passed out.
Harry awoke later to the sound of screaming outside the pod that held him. His head hurt, his vision was blurry and fading in and out. He only barely managed to focus on the figure moving before him. The creature was no human, nor was it any manner of magical beast he had been taught about in his defense against the dark arts classes. It had the shape of a man, but it's skin was a pale purple and utterly hairless. It had only three fingers and a thumb upon its hands. Four long tendrils grew from around its mouth, each seemed prehensile and dexterous. The creature floated across the ground as it approached Harry's pod.
Some screen that had sealed him in, rolled back as the creature reached him. It held a jar in one hand which it reached into and withdrew a small worm like thing that squirmed and hissed at exposure to the air. The tentacle faced monster lifted the worm towards Harry, who did his best to writhe away from it but soon the worm was on his face.
Thin hair like tentacles allowed the worm to crawl towards Harry's eye. The boy who lived did his best to thrash about and knock it off, but the long thin, clawed fingers of the monster grabbed and held his head in place. Soon the round mouth of the worm with dozens of small sharp fangs in it, filled the vision of one of Harry's eyes, his lid was pulled open by the thing as it crawled ever closer and then dived down and into the corner of Harry's eye. The pain was excruciating and blessedly within seconds Harry had screamed himself into unconsciousness once more.
Sensation returned more slowly to Harry this time. It felt like his head was wrapped in wool. He drudged along in a line for some time following the orders of a sweetly beckoning voice. He kept telling himself over and over again that there was nothing he wanted more than to do as this voice told him to. Slowly, ever so slowly his head cleared.
The voice no longer seemed so sweet. He no longer told himself to follow its instructions and didn't listen to himself as he did so. He became more and more aware of how cold the air was on his skin, how hard his eyes had to strain to catch any light, how foul everything smelled. Yet he couldn't yet force himself to stop doing as the voice ordered and so he remained in line, occasionally walking forward.
The woman who stood before him suddenly ducked and climbed into a pod that stood open in front of her. She strapped herself in tightly to the pod's restraints and then rolled back her eyes as if preparing to fall asleep. The pod closed itself and then raised up into the air.
Purple lighting struck the pod a few times, an odd dark haze surrounded it. The air within the pod seemed to rippled and bend. The image of the woman became distorted and then she convulsed in pain as the transformation began.
Her hair all fell out and as her mouth screamed it began to round into a near perfect circle. Her skin turned various hues of purple and pink before it slowly evened out in color. Her index fingers fell off and the other three lengthened and spread out to fill out her thinning stretching hand. Finally her skull shifted its shape, her eyes darkened to black pits and four arm length tentacles grew from her face about her mouth. She had been changed into one of the monsters that had inserted that worm into Harry's eye. Her mind pulsed with satisfaction before it passed out from exhaustion.
Her pod slid to the back of the room and out of sight. A new pod appeared and dropped down before Harry. The voice commanded him from the back of his mind but it now sounded a distant and annoying thing. Nonetheless Harry's hand reached out as if to begin climbing into the pod.
No! Shouted Harry in the confines of his head. No! Echoed another voice much like his own in equal fervor. No! Both Harry and the new voice screamed in unison.
Harry's hand stopped and just that easily he was back in control of his body. He backed swiftly away from the pod until he bumped into someone behind him. Harry spun in surprise to see a strange man with green skin, animal hides for clothes and a blank look to his eyes. But before Harry had much chance to study the man something seized him and spun him about to face it.
Another one of these tentacle faced creatures stood before him. It had one hand on his shoulder and used the other to tilt his head up to get a look at him. Pitiless eyes looked down on him in contempt which caused a small bit intense feeling of anger to begin to swell within him.
"You dare to resist my control, whelp?" the creature spoke, or perhaps it didn't. Harry knew that such words had passed between them but his ears denied ever hearing them. Yet it was not the same as hearing a voice speak within his own head, these words definitely came from outside him.
Strike him! Commanded the voice that was so like his own and in contrast to the monster these words definitely came from within him. Very likely they came from the part of him that had felt so furious at being looked down on. Harry saw no reason not to follow this suggestion.
Harry's backhand caught the monster by surprise and knocked it to the ground. This surprised Harry as well, while he was wiry and stronger than he looked, Harry was small for his age and still only a few days older than thirteen. Something had been pushing on his hand as he swung, adding a bit more oomph to the hit. The creature glared up furiously at Harry from the ground.
"You dare!" Again the creature spoke and Harry heard without hearing, Harry guessed the thing was speaking with its mind. Before the creature could continue Harry's new inner voice made another suggestion and to Harry it seemed a good one. So he put his foot on the creature's chest and pressed it back to the ground. Again this worked surprisingly well despite how much larger the creature was than Harry. Then the new voice spoke words into Harry's mind like it was dictating a speech. The thing's ideas had worked well so far, so Harry let them roll on off his tongue.
"I dare?" Harry demanded to know. "You dare to put your filthy lowly hands on me! You dare to try and turn me aside? You who are unworthy of licking the dust from my shoes dares even to speak to me in that tone of voice and then you have the audacity to speak back to me when I put you in your place?! You are lucky I don't tear the brain from your skull because you clearly aren't using it."
Glare down at him. The voice advised and Harry put on his best Severus Snape impression, sneering at the monster beneath his feat just as his potion teacher had done whenever a student dared to turn in project that wasn't absolutely perfect the first time they tried it. Good. Now grind your boot into his chest. Harry did that too.
As he did the air seemed to grow heavier around Harry and the look of anger slowly bled from the monster's eyes. Harry pressed down harder on it and it began to squirm and now refused to meet his eyes. He arched an eyebrow as if to ask how dare it still resist him and the thing seemed to break.
"No!" It cried. "This cannot be! How can something like you exist in such a form."
"I am what I am." Harry replied. "Submit to the truth or die here. Alone, miserable and forgotten."
As Harry spoke a new presence touched his mind. This one was far greater than the monster had been. But it didn't try to force its way into his mind. Which was good for Harry as he was certain that whatever this new force was it could crush him in an instant. For a brief moment he panicked and tried to push back against it but the new voice spoke to him.
No let it in. If we try to fight it, disaster will follow. Focus on me and I will shield you from its passing.
Harry continued to trust this inner voice and turned his attention to the part of his mind that his strange sense of anger had come from. Harry noticed at about the same time that his awareness of his own mind had never been so extensive as it was now. He now noticed that within his own consciousness there was a section that was closed off to him in some manner, partitioned from the rest of his mind. Actually now that he had a look about his own head he noticed that there were two such sections.
The other one looked older and more ragged. As if it had been under attack for sometime and was gradually being worn down. That part of his mind radiated a sense of darkness and vileness. It was foreign and didn't belong.
This new part of his mind seemed more like himself, as if it were something he had made, or had been born from himself. It did seem new, it had not been part of his mind when last he was conscious. He also wasn't certain if this was a part of his mind that had sealed itself off or a new part of his mind that hadn't yet fully set itself in place.
As Harry considered all of this the greater presence caressed his soul. The touch was oddly intimate and deeply personal. Harry got a sense of the mind behind this touch. It was truly and vastly greater than his own. Not just more intelligent than him but more intelligent than any human could possibly be. It was completely devoid of happiness or joy, in fact Harry got the sense that this mind couldn't even understand what such things were. But it was satisfied with what Harry was. An odd sense of approval, pride, possessiveness and patronly satisfaction rolled over Harry in a way that was almost but not actually at all like a father's love for his son. Since Harry had never known his father or ever really had a father figure in his life he could not tell the fine difference between the two and so welcomed and enjoyed the touch of this greater mind.
As the presence passed from him it seemed to leave a mark on Harry. It wasn't something he could feel but he could sense it in a way. Whatever had touched him felt that he did indeed stand above the monster beneath his feet. That creature had gone limp as the presence had filled the room and now it cringed and cowered away from Harry.
"Exalted one, forgive me." The creature now begged. "Had I known I would never have presumed."
Harry stepped off of the monster and allowed it to rise, but the thing cringed back from him and refused to raise its head above Harry's. Harry also found that he could feel the thing's mind in a way. It was just as alien to him as that greater presence had been but he could get a sense of what this thing was thinking and feeling. It truly believed that it was a lesser being than Harry was. It hated that fact, it was complete loath to admit that something so unlike itself could be greater than it was in any way, yet it also couldn't bring itself to even consider lashing out against Harry. It was now completely submissive to him. The voice from his mind suggested more words for him to speak and as he had no other real option Harry did so.
"I understand that this form is hardly fitting for a being such as myself," Harry scoffed. "But that does not permit such disregard for my person or my authority. I will excuse it once, but you will do as I tell you without question."
"Of course, great one." The monster agreed. "How can this lowly creature be of use to you? Perhaps you are eager to complete your ceremorphosis? My pods are a brilliant combination of psionic power and technological secrets. They will allow you to assume a form more befitting of your grandeur, safely in just a few minutes."
"You creations do you justice." Harry said though he felt bile rise in his throat at the thought. "But your shortsightedness proves your inferiority. The empire has need of this form, I can not discard it."
"The empire?" The monster said almost reverently. "But how?"
"My designs are not for the likes of you to question." Harry dismissed glaring at the monster with all the disgust he felt. "I sense that this colony already harbors one Ulitharid, you will take me to him so that I might discuss my plans with him."
"As you wish my lord." The monster agreed. "Just let me store away these thralls less they somehow break the bonds placed on their minds and cause us any trouble before their transformation can be completed."
The impulse to deny this rose in Harry but the new voice in his mind counseled against such rash actions. Harry felt disgusted with himself. There were more than a dozen other people in this room. Surely he couldn't abandon them to undergo the same process that had transformed that poor woman.
They are already lost. His inner voice argued. We have to take care of ourselves first and there is nothing that can be done for them.
Nothing?! Harry shouted back at the voice in his head. He had broken free from these creatures' control, surely if he ordered this subservient monster away he could do something for the others.
We would only be saving dead men. The voice shot back. The tadpoles are already within them. The pods only accelerate ceremorphosis, but the transformation comes from within. There is nothing you can do for them and trying anything will get us killed.
You don't understand what is going on. I do. I woke up before you did and while I didn't notice what was being done with our body I did speak with the Elder Brain. It was willing to enlighten me, to tell me where we are and what we are. And we are already in great enough danger without seeking out more.
Elder Brain? Ceremorphosis? Tadpole? What was this voice talking about, Harry wondered.
We are in an Illithid colony, on a different world, as far from our home as it's possible to be. That presence we felt? That is the Elder Brain. The supreme intelligence that controls this colony. There are nearly a thousand Illithids around us right now and at any moment the Elder Brain can command all of them. They would submit to its will as your arms and legs submit to your own, the whole colony would react as a single creature. We can not hope to fight or resist over a thousand Illithids, so if we do anything that sets the Elder Brain against us it will spell our doom.
The tadpoles are Illithid children. They are inserted into the skulls of other humanoid creatures and then they devour those creature's brains and take control of their bodies. Overtime they will remake those bodies into new Illithid ones. That is Ceremorphosis, and it is already happening to every creature in this room other than the Illithid we managed to overwhelm.
Every creature? Harry wondered dumbfoundedly. Then he remembered the worm that had crawled over his face and dug its way into his eyeball. He had hoped that had just been a nightmare, but he knew better than that. The thought then dawned on him that there might be something in his head right now that was eating his brain.
No there isn't. You got lucky. Our tadpole fused with our brain rather than eating and replacing it. I don't know why, I have a theory but we don't have time for that now. What's important is that you're still you, your personality and memories are still intact instead of being overwritten by the awakening consciousness of a new Illithid. The other important thing though is that the process did change our brain into an Illithid's brain, or something very much like one. So we are still undergoing ceremorphosis. Those pods would complete that transformation but it would almost certainly destroy our personality and overwrite it with an Illithid one. So long as we can stay out of one we can remain ourselves, and thanks to your magic we will be able to hold off the transformation for years I think, instead of the mere days that people normally get.
Harry accepted this. He didn't like it, but he had to accept it. If he focused on the people that were being guided one by one into the holding pods by the submissive Illithid he could feel a second growing mind in each of them. Harry hated the idea of abandoning them, but he realized that he couldn't do anything for them. He had no idea how to get out of here or how to get back home, and even if he did get home he had no idea how to cure any of them. He doubted even the most powerful healer in Great Britain could grow someone a new brain. All he would do if he got these people out of here was lead a bunch of monsters back to his home. He felt revolted with himself and like he was the blackest coward possible, but he had to focus on his own survival. So he asked the new voice in his head how they might escape.
Like I said you're lucky. The voice replied and its own tone was shaky as well. Harry guessed that this voice didn't like abandoning the people around him any more than he did, he had simply realized the futility of trying sooner than Harry had. We're not just an Illithid, we're an Ulitharid. A kind of Illithid prince, destined to rule by right of birth. Even in a still human body we count as an Ulitharid, the Elder Brain recognized us as one and ordered its Illithids to obey us. This is good since it gives us room to maneuver. What we've got to do now is convince the Elder Brain to let us go back home while we are still human. And do so without it realizing that there's still a human mind in here. I think we can manage it.
See normally an Ulitharid spends some time as the Elder Brain's number one minion and then takes a bunch of Illithids with it to leave the colony and start a new one. Elder Brains hate that whole leaving thing since it takes away a bunch of their servants. This Elder Brain should hate it even more since there's already an Ulitharid in this colony likely picking out what Illithids it likes best to take away with them very soon. And that Ulitharid won't like us showing up to demand our share of the minions, perhaps trying to steal away a few of its favorites. I think we can take advantage of this. Follow my lead and I think I can get us out of here.
The Illithid got the last of the people in the room into their containment pods and then motioned for Harry to follow it. The two of them walked along long corridors cut into the rock about them passing the occasional open room or other passages intersecting theirs. There were no windows to be seen anywhere and the way was only illuminated by faint strips of softly glowing light. Harry had no problem seeing into the shadows around him though, everything seemed more gray than dark away from a light source.
Occasionally they passed other Illithids, either coming down the passageway towards them or standing in the rooms they passed. Each bowed to Harry respectfully but they did not pause long in their work. Most were working on some arcane devices, others were studying great tomes and heavy books. In one room they passed, two of the Illithids had a green skinned humanoid strapped to a table and were carving into its flesh with long wicked looking knives causing their victim to howl with pain. Harry did his best to focus on his guide as they walked passed that room, desperately reminding himself that he was in no position to help anyone here. Eventually the two of them came to a spot in passage where there was a hole in the ceiling. Without pausing Harry's guide began to float up through the air and passed through the hole.
That is psychic power that he is using. Harry's new voice explained. It is a kind of magic, but one focused through our thoughts rather than through words and motions. Focus on me and feel how I move our thoughts then join your efforts to mine and we will not have any trouble.
Harry briefly turned his attention inward until he felt the movement of power within his mind moving outward around him. It was surprisingly easy for him to resonate his own core of magic power with the energy being produced by his mind. First he pushed the power out from himself, then he wrapped it around his own body and moved it and himself upward. Almost gently he floated up from the ground and continued to follow his guide. The sensation of levitation was quite different from that of flying his broomstick. On his broomstick he flew by riding on something fundamentally separate from himself, now his own power was lifting him in the air. It would've been exhilarating were it not for the strange and terrifying circumstances he now found himself in.
Harry and his guide exited the tunnel they were floating through to enter into a truly massive chamber. A vast vaulted ceiling towered overhead leading up to a huge crystal that filled the room with an ominous but still beautiful light. The walls of the chamber were divided into many different layers which new openings ran into and bridges ran across the chamber linking doorway to doorway on the same level or even to different ones. It reminded Harry of the great central staircase at Hogwarts, though no part of this structure moved on its own, everything was much bleaker to look at, and there were still no windows that might reveal the outside world. Many Illithids filled the chamber floating from place to place, but Harry also saw a variety of other creatures moving around as well, though most of these had to walk on their own legs. Most of them were tall men and women with dark blue or gray shaded skin and pointed ears. Others were short stout men, like the few dwarfs that Harry had seen during the last valentine's day celebration, but these had ash gray skin and red eyes. He even saw a few ogres and trolls moving around the chamber. Harry and his guide eventually arrived at another doorway near the top of the chamber, which the guide bowed in front of and indicated that Harry should continue on inside.
Harry floated through the door and came to a quite lavish and opulent looking room. The furniture was luxurious, gems and rare metals decorated everything in sight. Along the walls experimental machines, bottles of rare potions, ancient tomes of strange sigils and the bodies of creatures Harry didn't recognize were all to be found in abundance. This place was a room not just of wealth but of knowledge. Harry's new voice approved of it all and even Harry was somewhat impressed.
At the center of the room stood another one of these tentacle monsters. This one stood far taller and looked much stronger than the two that Harry had seen so far. It also had more tentacles sprouting from its face, six of them while the others had only four. It carried a staff in one hand and was stroking its chin with the other thoughtfully. Harry could sense much greater power emanating from this being than from the others. Surely this was the Ulitharid that the voice had mentioned, Illithid royalty and likely the second in command of this whole colony.
"So this is the new Ulitharid that the Elder Brain has spoken so proudly of." The tall monster pronounced, its words echoing in Harry's mind as it studied Harry with interest. "A fully matured mind, but one without a body to match its grandeur. How unexpected. Perhaps I should order you dissected to find out how such a thing could've happened, and to ensure your mind suffers from no deviancy."
"There is no need for that." Harry assured the creature speaking the words that his inner voice suggested. "I can explain it easily to your satisfaction. This body you managed to find for me happens to be a sorcerer of not inconsiderable talent. Its arcane energies easily resonated with the latent psychic potential of my Tadpole self and so its flesh managed to fuse with my own, instantly replacing its old brain with a new Illithid one. Though now that same power tries to resist further ceremorphosis of this body, but that may yet be of some use to the empire."
Harry continued as the Ulitharid cocked its head inquisitively about that last statement. "By the way my name is-" But instead of speaking Harry instead projected a rather complex thought out from himself. It was a ferocious desire to survive, a determination to overcome and the sensation of having already withstood so very much. If Harry had to give it a name he might have chosen: The Eternal Survivor, or The Everliving One, or simply The One Who Lived. Which made Harry blink in surprise, had this new inner voice of his just assumed the title that so many wizards had already given to Harry? Did it really just psychically translate the name: The Boy Who Lived?
The Ulitharid responded by projecting its own thoughts. His was a desire to enlighten others, the determination to lead the ignorant and the sensation of controlling or commanding animals. Harry mentally labeled him Professor Trainer.
"You have a thriving colony here-" Harry said and then mentally projected Professor Trainer's name back to him. "Many powerful thralls held well and kept in line, and more than a thousand Illithids if I had to guess. I saw one of those hated Githyanki in the lower chambers being tortured. Was the wretched thing taken in a recent raid or have they been poking around the colony's borders?"
"It was taken near here." Professor Trainer confirmed but also reassured, "A scouting party, but they never even got close to us. My spies in their nearest Creche suggested they are still looking in completely the wrong area for us."
"The birth of a new Ulitharid is always such a dangerous time for a colony." Harry lamented. "So many new Illithids to be born, so many more hosts and thralls that must be taken. It draws attention that places us all at risk. Wise of you to go looking for captives on other worlds. But you really should interrogate at least some of those you take before you begin the conversion process. If I had not been born in the way I was, you would never have realized the golden opportunity that you've stumbled across."
"Explain yourself, Survivor." Professor Trainer ordered, projecting Harry's psychic name back to him. "I do not have time for this dancing about."
"The world this body comes from has no Githyanki on it." Harry explained. "The people there have no memory of the empire, no knowledge of us and even better they do not watch the borders of their plain against intrusion. This ignorance offers opportunities, and that is only the beginning. This body was part of a society of sorcerers who held themselves secret and closed off from the rest of their species. They take great pains to keep themselves hidden. In effect they are secretly in control of large parts of what passes for governments on this planet."
Professor Trainer was taken back by this. It paused for some time considering the possibilities. Harry caught what sounded like distant whispers passing back and forth in the air around him. He guessed that the Elder Brain was speaking to the being before him, discussing Harry's news. Eventually Professor Trainer spoke again.
"You think you can infiltrate and bring down this new world." The Ulitharid guessed.
"So long as this body resists Ceremorphosis I can easily resume the life it was living before you elevated it." Harry confirmed. "This boy was a local hero believe it or not. Famous for defeating some evil wizard when it was just a child. Once I complete his magical 'education' I will be guaranteed a place amongst the sorcerer's leadership. Give me a few years and I will have thralls that in turn can mind control the leaders of some sixty million people and set them to whatever work I see fit."
"Yes I see." Professor Trainer agreed with Harry's plan. "Quite a force that can be easily directed against our enemies while we process the dregs of their society for new hosts and food. The empire could rise anew from this world far away from the sight of our enemies. How many Illithids would you need to get started on your work?"
"None at first." Harry rejected.
"None?" Professor Trainer gasped in surprise. "You mean to go out amongst these inferior beings all on your own? That's suicide."
"You forget that this body belongs to a precious hero of these sorcerers." Harry explained. "They will protect and treasure me thinking they are building up a tool for their own future use. If I take any Illithids with me they will be found out and only then will the sorcerers realize there is any chance I might not be who I am. Taking anyone from this colony with me will only put me at risk. Eventually I will need help of course. But I think it will be better if I raise up new Illithids for myself from any extra tadpoles you might have available. That will have to wait until I develop some method to replicate my own creation so that my new Illithids can move freely amongst the sorcerer's society disguised as their own people until I'm ready to seize direct power."
The Ulitharid considered all this for sometime while Harry and his new inner voice held their breath in anticipation. He won't like this plan. The inner voice warned while trying to sound reassuring. It relies so much on preserving the memories of the Illithid's past lives which is normally considered a disease. But he can't deny the opportunities this offers. No Illithid can turn down a chance to raise up an empire. Plus he's already fighting with the Elder Brain over which Illithids will follow him to start a new colony one day and which will stay here. He won't want another Ulitharid fighting over the same servants so our plan to start a new colony without taking any of his Illithids has to be tempting.
"Very well." Professor Trainer eventually agreed. "This colony will support this project of yours. But the Elder Brain is worried, you must report back to us regularly on your progress and as soon as possible you must find a hidden place that we can send an inquisition too to back you up as needed."
Harry winced at these requirements. It meant he wouldn't completely get away from this place, they would be watching him. He would have to do something about this one day. He couldn't do anything about this now but he couldn't allow a place this evil to reach out and affect his world, endanger his friends and hound his future. But for now he agreed to what he had to, to be gone from this place.
With that business done the Ulitharid offered to let Harry rest and refresh himself before returning back home. But Harry made his excuses citing his eagerness to get started and soon was excused to leave. Professor Trainer took Harry to a room above the great chamber he had passed through earlier where he saw the Elder Brain.
Harry had been overwhelmed for most of his time in this unearthly place and so hadn't had time to really think about what he expected something called an Elder Brain to be. Whatever he might have imagined would've been completely destroyed by the actual sight that greeted him. In a tank of briney fluid that filled most of the room floated a gigantic brain, several times the size of Harry's whole body. When Harry entered the room the Elder Brain lifted itself from its chemical bath and hovered over the green and slimy water. Many long black tentacles reached out and caressed Harry gently. It would have been revolting to Harry but all his thoughts had been scattered from his mind as the thing spoke.
The Elder Brain's voice resounded in his mind, vast, overpowering and beyond reason. But it was also gentle and oddly intimate. It was commanding and irresistible but not unreasonable or dominating. It thought of Harry as its own possession, tool and minion, but also as its treasure, the child it was proud of, and its future.
The Elder Brain praised Harry for his bravery and cleverness. It spoke highly of the glory of the empire that was to come and how it would bring order to the chaos of the world. It warned him against taking unnecessary risks and promised him that the colony would be here for him to come back to should this prove too dangerous. It was on the whole oddly touching and comforting.
After the Elder Brain had spoken its piece, Professor Trainer offered Harry an odd staff to take with him. The staff was long, made up of many segments and curved like a spine. On one side it ended in a spike and the other it had a wide hand like claw that looked articulated, able to pierce and grasp with some considerable force. When Harry took it he felt it resonate with both his new psionic power and his magic. Once he had taken it, two Illithids focused their power on a spot behind him and a doorway opened in the air showing a small forest that lay just beyond Little Whinging back home. Harry quickly stepped through it and returned home.
Harry made it about fifty feet through the portal and into the woods around him. Then he glanced back the way he had come and confirmed the portal was closed and nothing had come through after him. Satisfied that he was alone, Harry turned back to face a fallen tree and promptly collapsed over it and began to vomit. Well he tried to vomit, but his stomach was completely empty and so the best he could manage was just dry heaving over and over again until what little bile was in his stomach had come out and been spat onto the ground.
Once Harry was done the shakes began to hit him as he came down from the adrenaline high he had been on since he had regained awareness. He felt deeply disgusted by his own cowardice that he hadn't even tried to help out any of the people that had been captured by the Illithids. He was angry that in his own eagerness to escape he had let them know that it would be easy to kidnap more people from the world. And he was frustrated that he didn't dare tell anyone what had happened to warn them.
Who would possibly believe him after all? He was just a kid who was basically claiming that he had been abducted by aliens. The only proof he could possibly offer was that if anyone took the time to vivisect his brain they might find its construction alien enough to justify investigating further. But even then people were more likely to assume that he was just some kind of mutant freak and then they would be satisfied with just turning him into a science experiment. The most Harry could do was send back enough progress reports to the colony to convince the Elder Brain that work on this world was on going, making progress and trying to snatch anyone else from this world for the colony would endanger Harry's mission. Then maybe he could buy himself enough time to think of a way to destroy the colony and protect the world from other Illithids.
As Harry's panic slowly died down his confidence returned. He had managed to bluff his way out the colony. The Elder Brain had no idea what British wizardry was capable of. And if nothing else, he had gained some interesting new powers from the experience. He could do this. He had faced down a basilisk, thought his ways through the worst traps and challenges some of the greatest magical minds in Britain could think up and survived three encounters with the most dangerous dark Lord the world had seen in a hundred years. He would bring down this Illithid colony, nothing could stop him if he put his mind to it. Speaking of his mind.
"You're that Illithid tadpole, thing aren't you?" Harry asked the new voice within his mind.
Not exactly. It answered. Something that small doesn't have much of a mind to speak of, let alone any thoughts or personality. I would say that I'm what the psychic essence of that tadpole might have made if it had been left to eat and replace your mind. But that isn't entirely true either. Really I'm the Illithid half of your thoughts.
"If that's the case why did you help me escape?" Harry demanded to know. He didn't like the idea of something so foreign being in his brain. "You might not be able to control my body but you could send out your thoughts. You could've told the Ulitharid that I was still alive, instead you helped me trick him."
The cold answer is that doing that would've killed me. The voice answered simply. In more ways than one at that. Firstly I don't think we have enough body mass to undergo a proper ceremorphosis so stepping into one of those pods would've killed us outright. Second Illithids believe that any amount of surviving personality from the past host is a disease, one terrible enough to justify digging out parts of their brain to destroy the part that wasn't properly overwritten. The Elder Brain would never let an Ulitharid fully mature with such a defective brain. They're probably already planning to have us killed once we've gotten this world's subversion properly underway. Thirdly, even if we fully underwent a proper and effective ceremorphosis I doubt my personality would be the one to come out intact. Your mind is very resilient at any attempt to subvert it so your personality is probably going to be dominant in here for as long as we live. And if anything happened to this mind powerful enough to destroy your personality it would probably destroy mine as well and replace us both with a proper Illithid. Finally I don't want to be an Illithid.
When that tadpole fused with your brain, your magic overrode whatever psychic essence it possessed and replaced it with a near copy of your own soul. I'm no longer whatever that tadpole was going to be. I think I'm what you might have been if you had grown up in an Illithid colony. I'm not a human mind. But I'm not an Illithid mind either. I'm something unique to you. And I don't mind that.
"How did that happen though?" Harry wondered. "I don't remember trying to do that, I don't remember doing anything when that tadpole entered my eye other than trying to squirm away from it and then passing out."
I'm not certain, but I doubt it was anything you chose to do. The voice explained. If I had to guess, well. You know that other part of your mind you can't access?
"I do." Harry confirmed.
I think that was created when someone tried to insert part of their own soul into yours. The voice explained.
"What? When did that happen? Why?" Harry asked, startled by the idea that there was something else in his head.
I don't know when it happened. Long long ago I think. As for why, my best guess is that it's trying to anchor the rest of its soul to this plane of existence. I was awake for a few days before you regained control of your body and I asked the Elder Brain about souls and why someone might try and put them into something else. It said sometimes a powerful kind of wizard called a lich can put their souls into special containers called phylactery which allows them to remotely control their bodies with magic even after they've rotted away until their nothing but bones. So someone might have tried something similar with you.
"That makes some sense actually." Harry agreed. "Lord Voldemort was afraid of death according to Professor Dumbledore. When his curse reflected off of me he might've tried something desperate like putting a part of himself in me to try and survive."
Harry thought about this for a few seconds and then shuddered in revulsion. "So I've got a part of my parents' killer inside my head? I hate that. Wait, does this mean I'm what's keeping the dark Lord from passing on? That's even worse."
It won't be an issue for much longer I think. The voice reassured him. I think your soul is trying to digest that part of yourself. To break it down and make it into a part of you without changing your own soul too much. Another decade or so and he'll be gone completely. And in the meantime I think you've learned a magical language from it and picked up a natural resistance to and talent for using curses. Which may prove useful when we go to kill the Elder Brain.
"I don't like the thought of absorbing anything from Voldemort. I don't care how useful it might be." Harry insisted. "Does this mean I'm also digesting you?"
Kind of. Voice answered which seemed to be its answer for most things. I'm not a soul. Illithids don't really have souls. I'm just a bundle of psychic energy so I was just overwritten and made into a part of your own consciousness. A semi independent part mind you, but still a part of you. By the time we've undergone full Ceremorphosis you and I will probably have synthesized together, or you'll have grown up enough to fully incorporate me into yourself.
"That makes it sound like I'll have killed you." Harry noted, not really liking the sound of that. He hadn't asked for a voice inside his head, but he couldn't deny the guy was helpful and he didn't want anything bad to happen to him.
From one point of view maybe. The voice answered a little nonchalantly, From another I will live on as part of you. I've got no problem with that. It's what happens to all Illithids eventually. All our minds are eventually absorbed into the Elder Brain, joined together into a single collective consciousness. A true and absolute unity. It's the whole reason why we even have Elder Brains in the first place. And Ulitharids too for that matter. That staff the Elder Brain gave you can be used to extract your brain with the clawed end, and then dissolve your body into a sustaining brine fluid with the poison in the spike on the other. Drop your brain into that pool with a couple other Illithid brains and you'll become a new Elder Brain in no time. A new kind of eternal life for you and those worthy to join you in that perfect unity.
"Yeah I think I'll stick with the whole growing old and dying surrounded by my loved ones plan if you don't mind." Harry said sarcastically, he got the sense the voice within him had mentally shrugged as if to say to each their own. Although depending on whose brain he got to join with an eternal brotherhood with a few chosen loved ones didn't sound that bad. Shame he would have to transform into a giant, tentacled, mind control brain to enjoy it though. After a short time he continued as he stood up.
"We should get back home." Harry said, "I don't know how long we've been gone but it still feels like summer so it shouldn't be that bad. Once we get to Hogwarts we can start looking into ways to either hold off or control this whole ceremorphosis process. And then we can start preparing to take down that Elder Brain and keep our world safe from Illithids."
It took a day to take us to the colony, another two for the tadpole to properly fuse with our mind, then only a few hours to get back here. Said the voice. So we haven't been gone that long.
"Three days huh?" Harry commented. "So we'll have to put up with another full day of dealing with Aunt Marge. That sucks. Hey what do you want to be called anyway? I can't just keep thinking of you as my new inner voice."
It doesn't really matter, you'll probably be the only one to ever speak to me.
"You called us something like The Eternal Survivor right? How about ESHarry then?"
Esh-arry. I kind of like it. Yeah that works.
Authors post-script: yeah I know I'm playing a bit fast and loose with Mind Flayer lore here but bear with me here, its all in the name of progress.
Review and critiques are most welcome though I ask you all keep them to the subject of the story and not launch into some 10000 word rant about DND lore or how terrible JK Rowling is or what have you.