The Hissing Lobster, Part 3
Eigengrau quietly listened as Vaust, Nalaea, and Elias explained the events of the past several minutes. When they finished, she realized she had a problem, and motioned for Vaust to come over to speak with her privately.
"Yes?" Vaust asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"I am not able to properly articulate my thoughts about this as Death." Eigengrau stated plainly.
"You need to speak to them as time." Vaust stated, looking a bit concerned. "Well, I guess it's alright. Vordea's High Priest, his wife, and a Vordean cultist."
Eigengrau nodded, and rejoined the group along with Vaust.
"Well?" Elias asked.
"I will not speak with you. Time will speak with you." Eigengrau stated, as divine casting circles began to appear around her feet.
"Time?" Nalaea asked.
"You'll see." Vaust said, flashing a quick grin.
Eigengrau's body was covered in a glow in an instant, as the divine transmorgify began to take effect. Her hair lightened to bright red in an instant, growing in length until it reached her shoulders. Her height shrank and her build changed as she mantled Time, and became Sirene Ignitis.
"Helllllo darlings!" Eigengrau said, smiling broadly. "I'll say it straight away, I'm not Sirene. I just look like her."
"So you're time?" Nalaea asked.
"Kind of. So, you've met the Corpse King. The Last Admiral of the Last Fleet. The Ruler of Carcosa. Fleet Admiral Mira Frost. The real one and not a memory."
"It was a... disorienting experience." Elias said, thinking back to what felt like a drug induced hallucination.
"That's the price of Mira entering reality. Vaust, I don't like that you drew my symbol and she arrived." Eigengrau said, whirling around to look at Vaust.
"I think she was drawn here by me, to venture a guess." Nalaea said, twirling her hair. "She said she made a mistake and had to fix it, right?"
"Mira's got a quirk about her speech, Nala. She uses I to refer to both herself and Vordea." Eigengrau continued, walking back over to Nalaea and squatting in front of her chair, staring her in the eyes. "It's a good theory though. She actually did fix you, which uhhh, doesn't happen."
"What do you mean?" Elias asked.
"Mira doesn't help people." Eigengrau said, a grim look on her face. "So Vordea really did do a huge fuck up. No, we're not telling her."
"Why not?" Elias asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She'd kill Mabel." Eigengrau stated plainly. "She's proven to be dangerous, a conduit for the Corpse King to leak into reality from her dreamless sleep."
"Smart. I'd probably do the same." Mabel said, a serious look on her face. "So Eigengrau, what can you tell us about our little cultist? What did Mira do to her?"
"Well, from looking at her and based on what you told me, Vordea had overrun her body. In a few more hours she would have been nothing more than raw creatia, a building block for the universe." Eigengrau said, examining Nalaea's hair. "Mira purged her body, but not her soul. Looks like that was on purpose, as she knows a pact when she sees one."
"Was it on purpose?" Mabel asked.
"Definitely not. Nalaea, we're going to try some experiments." Eigengrau said, pulling a large diamond encrusted book out of her robes. "This is the Book of Fates. Nobody should be capable of even touching it, not even Vordea. Steal it from my hands without moving from your chair."
"How?" Nalaea asked, quite puzzled.
"Don't think like a mortal. Think like a God. Think like YOUR God, like Vordea." Eigengrau advised, shaking her head slightly and tapping her head. "Take your time, we're quite literally outside of time right now."
Nalaea nodded, then closed her eyes to think. How was she supposed to do this? Was this even a test she could pass? Was she meant to? Wait, she said to think like the Goddess. How would Vordea do this? Why simplicity itself, she realized. Opening her eyes again, Nalaea said nothing, put her hands at a right angle to reality itself, and pulled the Book of Fates directly out of Eigengrau's hands, much to Eigengrau's shock, through a fold in spacetime, and dropped it on her lap.
"Like that?" Nalaea asked, opening the book. "My name's in here, right?"
"Give me that!" Eigengrau shouted, racing over to grab the book with a look of panic on her face. "That shouldn't have been possible! I was just fucking with you!"
Nalaea made no reply and simply took the book back, and resumed reading it, despite Eigengrau's attempts to take it back.
"No! Stop! You aren't supposed to read that!"
"Relax I just want to see myself." Nalaea said dismissively. "Ah here we go. What the fuck is this dating system?"
"A countermeasure, in case anybody ever looked over my shoulder." Eigengrau said with a laugh.
"No matter. Why does it say reality in big capital letters for my magic aptitude? For that matter what the fuck is an Amalgam soul?" Nalaea asked, thrusting the book back into Eigengrau's hands.
"Let me see that!" Eigengrau said angrily, looking at the book. "I... don't know. I've never seen either of these. You're most troublesome."
"Maybe she'll know?" Mabel suggested.
"Can't hurt to ask." Eigengrau replied, snapping her fingers. A black portal opened on the ceiling and Mira Frost, but dressed in adventuring gear fell out of it and looked around.
"You brought her back?" Elias practically shouted.
"Oh that's a new reply. What's going on, Eigen?" Mira asked, flashing a grin.