Shadows in the City Streets

-Shoggoth-

“Ash~” Shoggoth’s voice echoed through the collapsing city, following the wounded demigod who just couldn’t seem to escape.

“Shoggoth?!” Ash sounded relieved, mixed with panic. “You need to help me! Get me back to the temple! Scarlet… I need Scarlet…” Ash held his good hand over the bleeding wound in his gut, while his shadowy hand reached towards the silver eye looking at him.

“Are your abilities not working, my friend?” Shadowy tendrils emerged, writhing in the darkness.

“No! That brat must have done something to me! I can’t… I can’t escape…” Ash stopped for a moment, purple eyes widening. “Wait… wait… wait… Maybe… we can still salvage this… With your help, we can kill that brat!”

“Now now, Ash.” Shoggoth’s tendrils helped Ash sit down against a wall. “Revenge is never the answer. Here, let me stop the bleeding.” Tendrils glowing green began to stem the flow of blood.

But Ash had already lost a lot. His body felt fried with electricity. He would carry scars that would never heal for the rest of his life. He felt so tired, as he panted for each breath.

“Easy now. You’re safe with me.” Shoggoth murmured, bringing Ash back from the edge. “Everything is going well. You did your duty perfectly.”

“How’s… How’s Rudosterni?” Ash asked, one hand reaching up to his face to remove the wrappings so he could breathe easier.

“He’s doing well. Mesolefko has been fully converted to the cause. Defeating the leviathan-”

“What?!” He squeaked out.

“Yes. Defeating the leviathan has brought a prosperity to the city that it hasn’t seen in millenia. With its death, the mermaids have returned to the shore, showing gratitude with trade and cleaning up the river.”

“Mermaids?!”

“Yes. There was a city of mermaids in the ocean. I made a deal with them to help Mesolefko if the leviathan was defeated.” Shoggoth paused for a moment. “Don’t tell me your ‘Defenders of the Outcasts’ group was just ignoring those suffering out of sight? How scandalous~”

“How were we supposed to know about mermaids in the ocean?”

“And here I thought Galen’s patron would be aware of these sorts of things. But, that’s none of my business… or is it?”

“But you did finally muster that force you promised?”

“Yes, I did. Why, many of them are here now, helping those injured and displaced by this horrendous titanic golem. Really Ash, I can’t believe the Trifecta helped in building such a thing.”

“Wait-”

“But, I guess the golem factories being destroyed really helped out Mesolefko. Finally got all that clean water flowing south. With some help from the mermaids and sea spirits, Mesolefko’s waters will be nice and clear soon.”

“That golem was not our fault!”

“Uh huh, yet the Trifecta supplied all the materials, and kept the golem cores in a room that could have collapsed at any moment, with no structural support. What did you think would happen when the caves collapsed?”

“We-”

“Oh, and you can’t blame the goddess of earth on that one, since you were the one staging all the cave-ins to distract her from her people. All so you could get in close with the prince.”

“What does it matter?!” Ash snapped, feeling more lively. “The important thing is us defeating the princess of light!”

“Tell that to all the people who now blame the Trifecta for all this trouble. Many innocent people died, and many species were subjugated to work for you. Who do you think they’ll support when the smoke clears?”

“Tch. So she has a few more followers? We’ll still win. We’re fighting to change the future!”

Shoggoth’s smile appeared in the shadows. A cheshire grin. “I never said she would gain the support…”

“W-what do you mean? You’re on our side. You’re one of us.” Ash’s body felt a chill go down his spine. His fingers tightened around the wrappings he was pulling off.

“Well, it’s called the ‘Trifecta,’ isn’t it? Not the ‘Quadfecta?’ I’m more of a… contractor.”

“You’re going to betray us! I knew it! Gathering those forces for your own ends!” Ash snapped.

“Betray? Me? Why, I never.” The grin got wider, as tendrils began to lick at Ash’s limbs. “Besides… You betrayed them first.”

“I’d never betray my family!”

“Really? Lying to me, Knowledge? Do you not recall dropping a perfectly good opportunity to finish off Aurelia, just to get revenge on a nobody who hurt you?”

Ash’s hand fell, pulling the wrappings with it. He felt very cold all of a sudden.

“Honestly, what I’m doing here… Is just… operational security, in a way. It’d be too easy for you to fall into enemy hands with how irrational you’re acting… So I’m afraid I have to take care of you…”

He was quick, shooting to his feet as if he was never injured. He reached for blades he could no longer find. “Y-you… you won’t get away with this! My god will never allow this!”

“There you go, relying on your god. Yet… I don’t see them, do you? All I see are my own shadows…” Eyes began to pop up in all the too dark shadows surrounding Ash. “But maybe this will get their attention…”

Then, burbling up from the shadows were bodies. Thieves. And not all the forces Ash brought, but specifically those with the god of shadows’ blood. Dozens of Ash’s allies. All alive, but unmoving, glazed eyes looking at Ash.

And two he didn’t recognize, but had stronger blood than the rest.

“I should thank you for listening to my suggestion about your arm. I never would have been able to do this so effectively if you didn’t have such a direct link to your god.” A tendril snapped at Ash’s shadowy arm, latching onto it and beginning to pull the demigod down into the shadows.

“No! I can’t let you win! Not when we’re so close!” Ash screamed, struggling to pull himself back.

“You have no one to blame but yourself. Everything was set up perfectly. You and Ferris against the princess. Fulgora was gone, and the king was in chains. And you wasted it~” Shoggoth sounded cheery.

Another tendril lashed up, grabbing Ash’s other wrist, and loudly snapping it in the wrong direction. Ash cried out in pain.

“The Trifecta is supposed to be changing the world for the better, but when the cards are down, you’re really just a bunch of thugs flexing their power, huh?”

“That’s not-” Ash let out a scream as his right leg was folded the wrong way at the knee, and the whole leg began twisting like a cinnamon roll. He began falling into the shadows, no longer able to resist.

“Face it. The Trifecta is nothing more than a group of criminals pretending to be something they’re not. But don’t worry, I’ll change the world in your place.” As Ash was fully submerged, along with the rest of the bodies, a thrum of power filled Shoggoth.

A muffled incorporeal scream filled the shadows as Shoggoth’s presence spread to every shadow in the city. Shadows shook everywhere, a powerful force begging for help. Until even the god themselves was consumed, attacked through the shared blood of their descendents.

“Now… I need to make a special visit to an old friend…” Shoggoth glanced up at the massive golem collapsing, and began moving.