Wania stood before a uselessly opulent mansion, observing the waterfall of gold coming down over its front entrance. The illusion began slightly below the balcony on the first floor, coming out of a thin layer of sparkling mist. The boy wondered if it was supposed to mimic some galaxy and glanced up at the Milky Way stretching over the night sky. He found the real deal far more impressive and looked down, searching the street.
Sophia and Kaida slowly walked down the street, the older girl turning off the street lights and spreading a green mist, covering the neighbourhood in darkness. The currents of mana that recently began flowing over Earth, became jumbled up when coming in contact with the mist.
Kaida observed the process with curiosity, trying and failing to shape and form mana within herself. "You will learn, for now, stop. When you are trying to touch mana, it lights up the area around you." Sophia admonished the child and stole the magic from the last lamp-post. "Did our guest accept the dinner invitation?"
Wania nodded. "He's already dining with us inside, I think his bloodline is related to fortune telling, all of the spells he tries to use, to sound us out, have a clear mana signature."
The two monsters looked down at the human between them and spread their other forms around her. "Do not leave our protection, he might realize something's up if you do," Wania instructed his niece and the three shifted into a version of the street covered entirely in black tendrils.
"Don't leave the green jello, got it." Kaida voiced her understanding and stretched a bit, to find the limits of Sophia's body surrounding her.
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Olenewich furrowed his brows, another spell to search the mind of the puny human failed. He understood it with the older children, their minds as impenetrable and chaotic as of anyone from their species. The human just seemed to not exist to the spells at all.
The First Prince began working another formation within his mind while exchanging pleasantries with the local royal scions. He wondered just how much of the intel his father gave him was wrong. The Elder Ones were neither as weak nor as malevolent as he described them. Did the old thing even meet any?
The buck smiled to himself, planning his takeover of the Empire. They thought they were se... His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shift in space. He was no longer sitting at the table, eating local delicacies and instead found himself in a nightmarish mockery of his new home.
The guests were gone, the shades of their human forms slowly spreading at the wind that picked up in the room as the window opened. Olenewich ran over to the window and looked out. The city and the sky were gone, replaced by an almost liquid-like green mist.
A shadow of a malformed head appeared in the mist. When the buck found its eyes, they opened, revealing the nothing beyond. The man quickly ripped his eyes out and burned out the part of his soul that held the memory.
Green sludge shot up from the ground and forced itself through his opened eyeballs, deeper in. The deer jumped back, his back drenched in sweat. His soul did not hurt, he could not feel a single thing wrong with him. Relying on his still functioning senses he rushed out of the room, deftly jumping over tendrils raising from the ground.
As he ran through the tight corridors of his mansion, his mind raced. The eldritch thing healed his soul. Why? How did he not notice them taking over his home. He ducked under a thick tendril, dripping blood, connecting the walls and turned, vaulting over the railing. A black maw, made out of worms extended out of the ground, threatening to swallow him whole.
The buck kicked off a slick lip and smacked with his full body into the side of the maw, as his hoof bent at an unnatural angle, stuck to the lip. He extended blades of mana out of his leg, cutting off the gold plating on his foot and rolled on the ground. Why would the state of his soul matter?
He passed the open door to the servant quarters, finding none of them there. He smacked himself on the forehead and called upon his mana, to teleport out. The spell fizzled out, in the weird mist spread throughout his home.
Olenewich felt his breath catch in his throat. He shook his head and continued running. As he turned a corridor to the basement, a figure in yellow stood in his way. "Why are you running? The main course should not leave the table." A ghastly voice came from all around.
The buck threw a fist at the youngster. "You mock me, child?!" His fist sunk into the oily fabric and the buck felt the skin on it burn off. He ripped his hand out, leaving the skin behind and turned around.
As he came back to the main corridor, he turned his head. The yellow monster crawled at a slow pace, as if unconcerned if his prey got away.
Where?! The alien screamed at himself in his mind and jumped over a green puddle. A clawed hand shot out of it, nicking his thigh. The buck stumbled and kept running, steadying himself on the tendrils covered wall. Some of the skin from his other hand stayed behind.
Suddenly, the man saw a door free of the tendrils. Without a second thought, he shoved it open and closed it behind himself, slamming into it with his back. It was his bottom-floor office. The green mist was here too, but at least there were no signs of the creepy growths or the green sludge. He spread his senses around the room, finding no one besides him inside.
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The buck steadied his breath and calmly walked over to his table, taking a sit in the comfortable golden armchair. The man recovered his eyes and raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead and froze. The black-haired, pale girl stood in the corner, cleaning her nails. She looked up at him and gave him a charming smile. "What would be the best way to prepare you?" She asked and took a step forward. Olenewich sent a ball of mana at her and the mortal body exploded, dirtying the walls and floor of his office.
The girl looked around at the bits and pieces of her body and continued walking towards him. He shot out another spell, spreading her torso on the wall behind. She patted down her torn shirt and smiled.
Immortal. The buck shot blades of mana, cutting off her arms and legs. A crack spread beneath the ceiling and the girl's torso hanged from it. Moments later, the girl fell to the ground, her neck dripping blood from the ceiling. She cracked again and suddenly sat on his desk, their arms connected at the wrists.
The alien jumped back, turning over his chair and ripping the girl's arms off. She extended her stumps towards him as if looking for a hug and cracked away, leaving a hollow laugh behind.
The buck leaned against the wall behind him and slid down to the floor. He looked down, a pair of white arms, covered in a thin layer of green sludge, flopped as he moved his arms. The cut through them, letting the arms and fingers of the human fall to the ground.
He let out a deep and chocked sigh and hit the wall with the back of his head. "They're not as malevolent... Why did I accept this invitation?"
The man felt something cold spread over his legs and looked back down. The green sludge spread from the severed limbs, thin black tendrils spreading from it, taking over the office. The buck struggled to his feet, his hands impaired by the extra set of bones in them and stood there, confused on how to proceed.
He turned around and looked out the window. The garden outside was clear of the tendrils, the trees and bushes darker in the shade of the mist. There was Nothing beyond, but the monsters had to have left some sort of exit. They could not have had the power to transfer his entire home beyond, so it had to be some sort of trap formation.
The man struggled with the handles on the windows, his nerves confused by the new flesh. Finally, he opened them, pushing the handles with the sides of his arms. He jumped out and tried to spread his senses again. They told him he was in the middle of a sprawling metropolis, great crowds walking past him. A moment later, he felt he was in the middle of the ocean.
He dimmed his magical senses and looked around. The walls around the mansion seemed to be gone, replaced by the thickest mist. He shot a simple ball of mana at it, the spell harmlessly sinking into the barrier.
A squid sat in a frog-like squat at the side of the wall, above a tiny, bipedal buck and observed it search around what was once its garden. The tiny thing seemed to have trouble walking. So focused was the prey on the hurdle, it didn't seem to notice the squid's body slowly spreading from the white stumps on its wrists.
The monster slowly slid down the wall and followed after, bloating itself into a white, sluglike form. It opened its horizontal maw, revealing pink tendrils extending towards the tiny figure.
Olenewich carefully sneaked through the garden. He breathed deep, the smell of his home's trees and calmed his mind. Finally, after making half a circle around the mansion, he saw a brighter spot in the grass. Dim, white mist rose from it and the human girl, sat before it humming an unnerving tune.
The buck hid behind a tree and sneaked a glance at the human. She was arranging knives and spices on a wide cutting board before her, carefully checking over a book, laying next to her. He recognised it as a cookbook he bought when he moved out of his father's home, those many hundreds of years ago.
She wouldn't mock him much longer, once he made it out of the portal, he'd race to the representatives of the Central Empires and have them deal with the young monsters. Then, he'd return home... or better yet, after such a diplomatic bumble, the Elder Gods would lose their place here... Yes...
He walked out from behind the tree and proceeded toward the human. The girl looked up and waved at him, smiling brightly, admiring his horns. The buck furrowed his brows. Why the interest in his horns? It didn't... He turned around.
From between the folds of large, pink lips, tiny black eyes looked at him with hunger as pink tentacles reached from between them. Some of them already held his antlers. He broke off his glory and threw out a ball of fire, causing the monstrous slug to scream out in agony.
The man turned back and leapt towards the bright circle. Half-way to his salvation, he heard the scream turn into a maniacal laugh and suddenly, something stole his momentum. The buck looked around panicked, all of the trees around came to life, revealing themselves to be made out of the black tendrils.
Olenewich struggled to break free, but something siphoned the mana out of his body, robbing him of his strength.
The pale, teen girl walked up below him and with a heave, cut into his head with a cleaver.
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Wania let down the body and returned to a smaller form. "So, how do we cook him?"
"I found the kitchen earlier and Sophia translated this guy's cookbook for me, so I've got some ideas for a roast," Kaida answered and cracked away. Moments later she reappeared. "Oh yeah, it's deeper in, from that door in front of the stairs."
Sophia took on the more solid, draconic form and picked up the kitchen utensils. "You mind preparing the body? I think you had some experience butchering the goats, right?"
"Yeah... give me half an hour." The young man said and shaped his nearest tree-tendrils into a rack to hang the corpse on.
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A couple of hours later, shortly after midnight Wania sighed and smiled towards their host. The four sat around a golden, gems encrusted table, holding a friendly chat. "We should excuse ourselves, it is getting late and Kaida still needs to sleep."
Olenewich raised his head and rubbed his tired eyes. "Yes... It seems I'm quite exhausted as well, the journey must have taken out of me, more than I thought." The man shook himself awake and smiled at his guests. "Let me walk you out."
At the door, Kaida looked up at the buck and smiled kindly at him. "It was a truly delicious dinner, I hope will hold one again, in the future."
The buck looked up at the bright sky, slightly clouded by a thin, green mist and nodded. "The pleasure was all mine."
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Sophia stopped in front of her apartment and turned to her young friend. "That was a little on the nose, don't you think?"
Kaida laughed and shook her head. "His servants really did provide a nice meal. I'd like to eat it again..." She paused in thought and shrugged. "Just you know, without splitting my attention between two bodies. I'm surprised how well the two of you handle being in multiple places at the same time."
"A family trait. Good night!" Sophia bid her goodbye's and turned in for the night.
Kaida slipped into her apartment, grabbed the bottle of whiskey from her bed table and downed it to the last drop, before falling onto her bed. "I think I would have preferred if moms were yakuza." She mumbled to herself and fell asleep.