To Rouse the Sleeping God

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Sometimes, the problem with trying to meet up with your employer is that you have no idea what they look like, not even a photo to help identify who this employer is. It doesn’t help with the fact that the location where they were supposed to meet up is very wide open, like an open field, or rather in this case, the crowded shores. Not even mention of a landmark or anything, which proved to be making his life difficult as a guildless mage. All he knows is that the client was referred to as 'Crazy Itza'. This could go two ways - Crazy Itza could be a very powerful mage who wreaks havoc in battle, hence the nickname. He could see it as the case, but it may just be a nickname he got because he is, in fact, literally crazy. This proved to be the case as he sought out the locals to help identify the man. “Excuse me, ma’am, but do you know where a man named ‘Crazy Itza’ is?” The locals who he questioned gave him a worrying look, but nevertheless, told him where he could be found. Usually. He stumble upon one of the other locals and had a much different response, “This is because of the job, isn’t it.” One of the locals responded in question to his question, and he replied with another question, “Is that a problem?”

The man sighs. Perhaps it’d be best to just tell him outright why some of the locals were wary of him. “I’d advise you not to believe everything he says, but you do you. I heard from some of the locals that he has dementia.” The man says, and sighs once more, before continuing, “I’m not sure what his problem is, but if it’s dealt with sooner, everyone around here would find a semblance of peace. That is, if he goes on another tirade of mythical creatures of make believe.” He points out to one of the storehouses near the docks, the one that’s not where you board the bigger ships that sail back to Fiore. “He usually hangs around that spot in the morning to fish, but that’s not the only thing he’s good at. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” The man says as he picks up the boxes laid on the ground, hoisting it up and moving on to do his job. He uttered a muffled ‘thanks’ but he’s sure the man would not have heard him.

Walking over to the docks the man pointed out earlier, he inspected his surroundings and found the man he was looking for, fitting the description the other locals told him about. Aside from his obvious hobby, or profession, of fishing, he looks like your typical alcoholic. Not only did he bring his bait and a container to put the fish in, but he also brought a pack of beer or two. As for the man’s physical appearance, he looks like your typical deadbeat sailor. His short stature was compensated with his rather bulky build, his biceps being bigger than his, and his stomach is big which may have been caused by drinking a lot; a beer belly in short. He had white hair that reached the base of his neck, and it’s all messy and curly. Patches of white hair cover most of his face; a scruffy beard that looks like it’s been poorly maintained. He is not that short, no. He is merely a few inches shorter than him, but not too short. If he was a race from one of those fantasy tabletop roleplaying games, he’d fit the description of a dwarf, except he’s a fisher, not a miner. He wore a white wife beater that makes his stomach really stand out, and the sleeves of his blue jacket were worn and wrapped around his waist. He sports a similarly blue pair of pants as well as a pair of yellow waterproof boots. A khaki bucket hat is worn to protect his head from the sun’s light.

He was hesitant at first, thinking of paying heed to the locals’ words of warning and worried looks. But if accepting and finishing this job would give them a semblance of peace from this person’s prattle, then what is he to refuse such request? He doesn’t even know what the man wanted to look for, the locals not able to disclose information to him. They might have forgotten, most likely. Or they refuse to disclose that information. Regardless, he has to approach him. The man heard the sound of footsteps coming his way and muttered a long ‘ohhhh’ under his breath. “You must be Crazy Itza? I’m here for the job posti-” The man interrupted, “Finally! Someone to help me on my search! Are ye from Fairy Tail? Silver Wolf? Sabertooth?” The man said, clearly under the influence of alcohol. His voice was deep and it echoed around him. “No, I’m guildle-” “And what magic do you have? Does it help me search for beauty I’ve been trying to get to?” With each question, Michael was taken aback. Great, he’s that kind of crazy. He already had the feeling their meeting would not go so well, but he didn't think the man would care. He just arrived and he’s already being bombarded with questions, though this is the first time he’s dealt with a client like him.

“First of all, I am a guildless mage just trying to earn a living. Second of all, I will not disclose what magic I use, but yes, it will help. I think. What did you need for a mage like me?” He spoke out with a hint of irritation in his tone. The last thing he needed was a random stranger up on his face. The man behaved himself and apologized heartily, “A’ight! I’m sorry!”, and proceeded to reel in the fishing line. “So. There’s this purrty lady-” Michael wanted to groan so bad just hearing these few words escape the old man's mouth. This is gonna be one of those missions, isn’t it? He thought to himself. He decided to listen to this man’s prattle. “Wait, wait, it’s not just any *hic* purrty lady. She’s a thing of beauty, she is, not unlike any *hic* other babes I’ve seen walk around this part of the city.” He says while eyeing on what can only be described as two women with a juicy pair of posteriors just casually walking towards where they needed to go. A smirk grows on his face, clearly thinking of something perverted. “Focus.” Michael warned, clearly irritated at this point. He just wanted to get this over with.

“Oh, oh. Where was I? Oh yeah! *hic* this purrty lady ain’t like the rest of them hoes. Her voice was *hic* absolutely divine.” The man says, and Michael knows where this is going - the man is going to go to extreme length to detail his mystery encounter a year past. “Her skin was white and glowed under the *hic* moon, and she had uh… beautiful red hair. Her tits were *hic* covered by shells, sadly. I wanted to see them off. And she had those green eyes that’s just *hic* mesmerizing.” He took a swig off of one of his bottles of beer before continuing, “She’s just very purrty. I want her to be my wife. I’d knock her up real good hehe…” He took a sip.

“Oh, and she’s a mermaid with a pink purrty tail.” He added.

Great, he thought. He was going to look for this mystery mermaid for the man. As much as he doesn’t want to, considering Crazy Itza is more or less a perverted old man, he had to. What are the odds that the mystery woman was somehow fake? Or doesn’t exist even. He took this into consideration and reluctantly agreed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help you out. Do you know where to look?” The man nodded his head with a smug grin on his face, “I know *hic* where the landmarks are. I wouldn’t dare forget it. We can take my ship to get there.” He says as he packed up his stuff, leaving behind his unconsumed cans of beer. He went to his yacht, and it looked pretty well maintained. It was painted with a pristine white and the deck has a rich wooden color. He followed him inside and that’s when he realized.

The two of them are going out into the open sea.

---

The trip towards the location of the mythical mermaid has been rather slow, but progress has been steady. Meters become miles, and the sun has yet to set. It’s been a couple of hours already and they’re already three quarters away from their query. Rock formations could be seen around them with moss clinging by the surface, and spruce trees grow over yonder unreachable by ordinary means. They passed through various arches of stone, with Crazy Itza commenting on how the stone structures remain intact. He was thankful for the fact because otherwise, he would have lost track of the landmarks, or maybe not. One thing he does notice about the sailor is that he has the ability to accurately describe things or events he has seen in the past. Maybe, just, maybe, their query does exist. One does not simply bump into mermaids, afterall. Then again, his perverse nature told him to do so otherwise should it prove to be real.

Halfway through the trip, Michael decided it would be best for him to suit himself up into his nanosuit amply provided by Giselle, but he can’t help but feel naked around the Crazy Itzah. People like him tend to be spontaneous, and it’s hard to figure out their thought pattern because one minute they are well behaved and then the next, they invade your private space and caress your cheeks. It doesn’t help the fact that the nanosuit really defines his physique, showcasing his nice assets for the world to see, emphasis on the word ‘ass’. “*hic* You know, I’d eat you out if you weren’t a man. Those cakes look juicy as hell.” The dwarf commented as he took a glance at his posterior, to which he took insultingly. “...thanks.” was the only word that escaped his mouth as he called out his Hound Armor, its parts hovering around and attaching itselves to the ports around his body. A black cape covers the view of his outlandishly thick buttocks, much to the dwarf’s dismay. At least he doesn’t discriminate.

A thought occurred to him as they sailed the seas. Why did he need a scout if he knew where to look for the mermaid? It shouldn’t matter if he knew it already, and that his help was not needed. “Excuse me but I can’t help but ask why you asked for my help in the first place. If you knew where the mermaid was, shouldn’t you go alone? You wouldn’t need my help after all, and there’s no scouting to be made if you do.” “Why do you *hic* think? It’s not as if the *hic* babe will leave at the sight of *hic* this fine fellow. Bugger me if I *hic* let her escape from me.” He responded, downing another can of beer down his throat. With all the booze he’s drinking, how is he still sober? If he doesn’t want him to get away, the thought that his role to play was to scout out the mermaid should they exist AND get away from them. Great. Then again, he could always blow his guts out when they capture the mermaid and set her free. He’s totally defenseless, afterall, but he shrugged off this thought as killing him might make the demon inside him manifest itself to the material.

Seconds turn to minutes, and the both of them haven’t reached their location yet. To the captain’s knowledge, they should be a few more miles away from the area. However, their trek towards the mermaid’s location would be cut short as the water stirs the surface, the water shifting that the boat is rocking to and fro. “Something’s wrong.” Michael says as he inspects the water’s surface. He remembered the rumor he heard a while ago with the red haired girl, and it dawned on him.

They are under attack by a sea monster.

“Quick! Get us out of here!” Without any time to hesitate, the captain pulled the gears and had the ship sail away from the sea monster. The surface of the water breaks, revealing a huge sea serpent that’s on its way to attack the vessel. It has blue glistening scales and its fins were of a lighter shade of teal. Yellow eyes focus on the vessel the both of them are in. In a fit of panic, Crazy Itza sped up the boat to outrun the serpent, while Michael conjured his sniper rifle to take down the serpent. His aim was true, and his aim at the serpent’s head was perfect. It only took him one shot of his rifle to figure out that its scales were hard. He needed something powerful. Using his Overwatch protocol, as well as the activation of the Power Matrix within his pseudo magic, he fired at the same spot once more and it was more effective as the sea monster writhed in pain. He fires a third shot and misses, the sea serpent submerging itself to the depths. He can’t attack it while submerged because his shots would not reach it.

He could feel the monster springing out any moment now. He had a feeling that the serpent moves faster underwater. He ran up to the upper decks to inspect his surroundings, and his thoughts were proven true, for just ahead of them, the silhouette of the monster could be seen. “To your left! Swerve to your left!” He warned. Crazy Itza quickly steered the boat to the left, and went past the monster as the water’s surface burst open to the ascension of the serpent. He can’t risk putting him in any danger, and decided to be bait. “You keep running! I’ll take down this thing.” he says with no guarantee that he could make it out alive or unscathed.

Calling forth his Mach Cheetah armor, he lept overboard and ran on water, an ability he is thankful for when he inspected the specifications of each armor. He conjured a pair of boltors and blasted away at the serpent, successfully managing to grab its attention towards him. Now that he has grabbed its attention, he now needs to figure out whether he should get up the serpent’s head or not. His thoughts were cut short as the monster started to spew balls of boiling hot water on him. He didn’t realize that it could do that, and he was able to successfully dodge every shot the serpent fired. Once more, it submerged to the depths for another surprise attack. He took this as an opportunity and waited for signs of its silhouettes.

The serpent was under him, and it hit hard and fast, but his Mach Cheetah is faster. He managed to avoid the serpent’s gnawing mouth. A second too late and he would have been dinner. He used this opportunity to race up the serpent’s body towards the head. There, he called to his Black Widow armor along with his pair of shotguns. He kept shooting the serpent’s head until he could see blood bursting out of its head, the creature writhing in pain and was starting the thrash about. It was time for him to finish it off. He leapt out of the serpent’s head to the front, calling out his Snipe Hound armor and his trusty rifle mid jump. Time seemed to slow down as he fell while he aimed the barrel of his rifle on one of its eyes. He pulled the trigger, the weapon resonating a resounding boom as it fired a powerful bullet against the sea monster. It pierced through its skull, and slowly the shrieking sound ceases. He landed on the surface of the water with his Mach Cheetah armor, and he ran to Crazy Itza’s location to know if they’re alright.

He wasn’t that far from him, and he was glad to see him well. He was cheering on him, happy that he took down that bastard. However, darkness looms over the boat. Once more, another serpentine sea monster towers over them, this time being twice as large and accompanied by 15 lesser ones.

"Oh shit." The two said in unison with varying accents.

The boat was so close to the serpentine that Crazy Itza wouldn’t be able to make it out in time to dodge its attack. Unbeknownst to him, he subconsciously pulled out his hand and reached out to the boat, and dragged his arm back as if to force the ship away with his psychic powers. To his surprise, the boat was wrapped with his psychic energy and was quickly moved out of harm’s way, avoiding the attack of the sea monster. “Go!” He yelled out to him. Without skipping a beat, Crazy Itza sped up and sailed away from them. The serpentine and its brood slithered towards the boat in an attempt to attack it, and Michael conjured his boltors and fired a barrage of bullets against the bigger sea monster to divert their attention towards him. It worked, as now they swarm towards him.

To his surprise, they were a lot faster than the sea serpent he downed a while ago, and is currently at a disadvantage. He ran as fast as he could with the speed boost granted upon him with his Mach Cheetah’s core, and while running, he would turn around and fire a barrage of boltors against the lesser brood. Rock formations surround him and he used the environment to his advantage to catch them unawares. He took a sharp turn to the right of a larger rock formation, and some of the brood hit the surface but didn’t do much other than delay them. He took the opportunity to cull down the monsters that were still after him, and managed to kill a quarter of them. He’s not lax enough to take down his guard, and he kept on running to avoid being fish food for the serpentine.

He kept running while gunning down the brood. It took a few rounds just to kill off at least one of them. Managing to cull down their numbers to half, he inspected his surroundings to grant him a moment’s respite from running. He can’t run forever, his legs can only run as much, and he’ll soon be exhausted from all the running. He looked around to find a decent spot where the monsters can’t possibly reach him, and stumbled upon a rock spire with a high enough vantage point to one shot the lesser sea monsters. Moss cling unto the surfaces of the spire and spruce trees grow hither on unreachable places. He ran up to the spire to the tip of the rock structure, and looked down to see them struggling to get up. Calling forth his Snipe Hound and his sniper rifle, he fired sniper rounds against them. One hit to the head was enough to kill them, his bullets capable of piercing through as designed by the technicians of his order.

The struggling worms stopped moving as some of them lay on the cold hard ground while some sunk deep into the ocean depths. He had forgotten about the larger sea creature when he noticed a dot behind him in his radar. He turned around, and was met with the serpent’s jaws. His quick thinking allowed him to deploy a defensive barrier that separates the two of them apart, however, the serpent’s attack was so powerful the force sent him flying, knocking him back from it. He fell, and saw the serpent’s body coiled around the spire, and he had no way to break his fall, other than the drones. He summoned his drones, and out in the open, 5 drones appeared around him. He mentally commanded them to break his fall, and the drones caught him midfall, thankfully. Once more, the creature’s body coils around, and the serpentine is not wont to relent in its pursuit of meat. It lunges its head towards him while the drones descended slowly.

He mentally commanded three of them to distract the serpent as he got up on his own two feet, and ordered his two other drones to function as steps for him to descend safely. The three bumped into the serpent to grab its attention, with little success as they were taken down without much resistance. As he got down to the cold hard ground, he aimed his sniper rifle at the head of the serpent, and pulled the trigger with the intent of finishing it off in one blow. “You’re already dead.” An arcane bullet is shot from the barrel, infused with psychic energy, and as it pierced through its head, the serpent’s body raptured, and exploded violently. Blood rained and guts came flying, and some of the serpent’s body was still intact. The large sea monster was no more.

He used his Mach Cheetah to get away from the area, catching up to Crazy Itzah to tell him that the sea monsters are no more. In the middle of his run, however…

...everything turned pitch black.

???

---

He inspected his surroundings to see that everything was pitch black. He realized where he was once more, pillars of light came beaming from the atop, and the void was filled with the azure colors of the ocean. This time is different, however, as he isn’t drowning and could breath perfectly fine, even with the immense pressure of the depths. A pair of yellow eyes emerge from the pitch black darkness, and barnacle covered tendrils slither towards his legs in an attempt to grab hold of him. As before, a voice bellows and resonates around his surroundings, “Your psyche is tantalizing. Tempting. Resplendent. How you are able to keep yourself sand with the power of the outer worlds is beyond me.” The tendrils closed in on his legs, “I must have a taste, no, I MUST devour it.” The appendages latched unto his legs, gripping it hard and offering no resistance as Michael tried to kick them away. As futile as it is, he kept trying to break free from the psionic monster’s grasp, to no avail.

He tried to resort to using his weapons to cut him free, hoping to use either Black Widow’s shotguns or Snipe Hound’s sniper rifle to shoot them off. Just as it was in his dreams, he couldn’t use his pseudo magic, not while he is under the elder god’s domain. He inspected himself and just noticed that he isn’t wearing any armor at all, which also includes his nanosuit, and instead found himself wearing the casual clothes he wore on his way to the open sea. His persistent struggling bore fruit as he conjured a psychic pulse that shocked the tendrils off him. With his powers, he wrapped himself in psychic energy to swim away from the eldritch primal faster. But this wasn’t enough. As he was still in the elder god’s domain, Cthulhu can come and go as he pleases. To him, this is just a game he knows he will win, and he knows there is no escaping from his domain that is R’lyeh. Tendrils arose from the black void, once more grabbing hold of him, and he struggled to break free once more. Michael used the same tactic to break himself free, however, it didn’t work this time.

“I am the power upon which you sup!” Cthulhu bellowed across the void.

Michael’s frustration builds up as he struggles to get out of Cthulhu’s grasp, and anger against the giant starts to flood his mind. The seal on his back started to react to this emotion, and soon, Michael’s wrath was at the peak of its threshold. His eyes glowed a menacing red as psychic energies leaked from his body, creating fractures and cracks in the space around him. Sharp feathers of steel protrude from his skin, and bones and muscles deform and reshape into another part. A powerful burst of psychic power caused the lingering tendrils to release itselves from its grasps, and wings of metal stretched open. This was no longer Michael, as Halcyon had taken over in response to his overwhelming fury.

Once more, the elder god spoke, its voice booming across the now fractured space, “Nice of you to show yourself, Halcyon. Strange that your psyche could not hold Loki’s influence, but no matter.” Cthulhu emerges from the darkness, body and all. Its size doesn’t compare to Halcyon who, in its perspective, is but a tiny ant. Ghastly tendrils creep from the shadows of his domain, their tips pointed towards him. “I shall feast on your psyche as a catalyst for my return.” The tendrils reached for his arms and legs, gripping them hard and tight without offering it any resistance or chance to break free, and slowly, the elder god fed from Halcyon’s psyche, drawing him of his power. Halcyon’s sheer anger alone allowed him to be relentless, and he grabbed the tendrils with his hands to instead siphon power from the elder god. The giant was taken aback by the turn of events, “I-Impossible!” It said as it tried to overtake the absorption, but Halcyon’s anger fueled his resolve and has emerged victorious with impossible odds. The elder god ceased his endeavors and sunk into the darkness, until its eyes are the only things visible. “You are no ordinary people. You are no ordinary person. You have proven yourselves to possess the power of the outer worlds, and it is enough to satisfy my curiosity.”

The elder god’s eyes faded into obscurity as it sunk into the dark depths of the ocean. “And, thus, with mine own power drained, I slumber once more. Prithee send my regards to our host.”

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Near the Open Sea

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His appendages morph back to their previous forms, returning them to normal, and his steel feathers shrunk back to his skin. His wings fold in and disappear without a trace, leaving Michael in his prior form. He opens his eyes to find himself once more underwater, this time the water feeling very real. He could see the User Interface of his Snipe Hound’s helmet, and he felt the weight of his armor dragging him down. And it’s not just the armor - the underwater pressure is making him sink. Realizing that he was not in Cthulhu’s domain anymore, he tried to swim up to the surface. This is proving to be a difficult task for him, with the armor weighing him down and all, and he doesn’t want water wetting his face. He felt something off about himself, as if there’s an aspect of him that’s changed, but he can’t tell what it was until he unleashed his psychic powers on himself. He felt its power strengthening him, and with this newfound strength he used his psychic powers to drag himself up to the surface. He avoided drowning and dying from lack of oxygen, thankfully.

He emerged from the depths and found Crazy Itza’s boat floating idly beside his perimeter. Crazy Itza yelled out to him as he saw him rise from the deep, and waved his hands to grab his attention, “Oi! Up here!” the dwarf said. Michael was wet, but most of all, he was exhausted from his recent ordeal. He called off the helmet of his armor and gasped for air while he swam towards the ladder, and the captain extended his arms to help him get back up. He flopped to the floorboard as he reached the deck. “Glad you weren’t a goner. I wouldn’t know what I’d do if ye was gonna drown. What happened back there?” Michael couldn’t deliver a proper response to him while he was gasping for air, but he still managed to talk to him cohesively despite his shortness of breath. “Nothing.... Just… nothing… we should be *cough* okay.” He says. “Aight, if you say so. Now are ye sure there ain’t no more monsters out there?” Michael’s head was pounding from the amount of psychic energy he expended during his recent endeavor with the elder god, and trying to decipher double and/or triple negatives is going to take a lot of his mental capacity to process. “Yes. No more sea monsters.” He says. He inspected his sonar to make sure there are no more hostile creatures within his perimeter, and so far, only tiny creatures could be picked up from his HeXonar.

They finally arrived, and a beam of light blinds the peeping toms from ever seeing the true beauty of the mythical creature. “Oh… she’s here… the purrtY WOMAN IS HERE!” The dwarf exclaimed, jumping up and down the deck in jubilee as he was finally going to capture, or rather, wed with the woman of his dreams. Huh. How odd, he thought. Michael isn’t picking up anything from that location, including vital signs. There’s nothing at all, and he was starting to suspect a trap. Soon, all became clear as the clouds loomed in and blocked the sun. The light fades and droplets of water start to drizzle from the heavens. Nothing but a single cactus and seaweed for hair was seen, and there was not a mermaid in sight. Michael sighed and rested his face on his palm. “I regret everything.” He muttered under his breath. He faced his employer, expecting an answer from him, and he was only met with a sly grin of embarrassment from his face. “I… eh… might have been smoking some strong shit when I was here."

“I better get compensated from all the sea monsters I had to deal with.” He muttered to himself.

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