Earth is a relatively young planet in the grand scheme of things. Yet, unlike most rocks floating through the Astral, it is home to billions of living creatures. Thanks to its ability to produce and maintain life Earth has distinguished itself from its barren brethren, making itself one of the most valuable jewels of reality.

However, it is also thanks to its life-bearing capability that Earth and many other life-bearing planets are considered treasures to be devoured.

Earth. 1950. Anno Domini.

Unknown to Earth’s inhabitants, their future doom was approaching.

A Living Ship, as they were known to the rest of the Astral, had just spotted Earth and was quickly approaching the planet. As its name implied the ship was not a metal husk piloted using advanced technology. Contrary to its name, it did not resemble a ship at all. The vessel was a living entity that could traverse the chaos-filled vacuum of space, and its kind could be found inhabiting a variety of shapes and sizes throughout existence. This particular ship was shaped like a weaving of three giant tentacles that connected at their base. The first sighting of a living ship would always gain odd reactions as the entity did not have normal skin, and all its veins, muscles, and general flesh were exposed.

Living ships were rarely factionless, and like many other Astral Aberrations, they often bound themselves to more powerful Astral entities such as Eldritch Gods. These entities often used the ships as scouts, sending them far and wide in search of weaker Eldritch Deities or, in this case, life-bearing planets.

As such, when this particular ship reached Earth, its first task was to confirm that the planet was indeed a life-bearing planet. Of course, the living ship already knew that the planet contained life as it could feel the Ethereal Barrier of the planet warping space in order to delay its entrance into the world. However, the fact that the planet still had its Ethereal Barrier did not mean other life forms hadn’t already conquered it. So, the ship dutifully sent out a psychic scan that would allow it to more accurately judge what kind of creatures lived within.

A planet was still a planet, however, and the living ship was only so powerful, so it took a couple of hours before the scan was complete. On its completion the ship received an incoherent garble of thoughts, words, and feelings. After processing and tasting the psychological data, a rush of mental excitement passed through its alien psyche. Then, without hesitation the aberration sent a telepathic message to its god.

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Shu’dral Megduth’Azo was traversing the Astral with Its legion of Aberrations when it received a message from one of the scouting ships. The message informed the deity of a newly found planet that met the requirements of its rather unique diet. Shortly after receiving the message Shu’dral Megduth’Azo began channeling mana to form a massive spell. As the Eldritch God worked an enormous spell circle began to form around itself.

The circle glowed with bright white light, and within it, runic symbols spun faster and faster as the whole construct grew brighter and brighter. Soon, the spell formation grew to the size of a small planet encompassing the god and its entire army.

Then, with a bright flash Shu’dral Megduth’Azo and its legion disappeared from space. They appeared a fraction of a second later next to Earth.

Meanwhile, on Earth, not a single being was even remotely aware of the apocalyptic force that had just arrived at their doorsteps.

After arriving in this new sector of the Universe, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo relayed further instructions to its aberration army. They were to spread out and scout Earth’s solar system while also setting up the required rituals. After all, the last thing the god needed was another Eldritch God, surprising it while it planned Earth’s destruction.

Once the command had been sent the Eldritch God directed its full attention toward Earth and a thorough investigation of the planet began.

As the god fully focused it quickly noticed that Earth’s Ethereal Barrier was relatively weak compared to other previously encountered Ethereal Barriers. Though flimsier, the Ethereal Barrier could still block the god from entering the planet, and it would still take some planning and energy to weaken the barrier further.

The good thing was that a weaker barrier meant the Eldritch God would spend less energy breaking it. Typically, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo wouldn’t have concerned itself with bothersome things like energy expenditure as not many things could threaten an Eldritch God even at their weakest. However, after destroying a planet a century or so ago, the Eldritch God had felt something watching it. The god had been surprised at first but had quickly realized what or who was observing it. It seemed Shu’dral Megduth’Azo had caught the attention of the Chaos Walkers. Even so, the god knew that the Chaos Walkers would only make a move if they deemed the god had become weakened, like when failing to consume a planet some thousand years ago. At the time, however, Shu'dral Megduth'Azo had just ascended to Godhood and only had a fraction of its current power or, more importantly, experience.

Shu’dral Megduth’Azo still remembered feeling invincible and engaging the planet in a head-on charge. The god had quickly discovered that its powers were indeed vast but still somewhat limited, at least when fighting against an entire world. Though the planet’s barrier had been broken the denizens of the planet had been able to unite and had secretly created a weapon of mass destruction that almost took its life. Luckily, the god had been able to retreat into the Astral, and the planet's natives were unable to give chase as they lacked the required magic or technology.

That failed attempt had taught the godly aberration much, and over the millenniums Shu’dral Megduth’Azo had come to learn even more. As such, the god knew that its life was at risk now more than ever. After all, all it took was one lousy invasion, and the Chaos Walkers would strike.

So, finding a planet with a weak barrier was a stroke of good luck. Not only would breaking the barrier use less energy, but after the Eldritch God consumed the world the godly abomination would only grow stronger, causing the unwanted observers to think twice before engaging. So, without much worry, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo kept studying the planet and swiftly found something rather unique. There was a subtle, almost unnoticeable connection between the Earth and its moon. The link would have been impossible to find for virtually any other creature in existence, but Shu’dral Megduth’Azo held the title of Eldritch God for a reason.

Soon after noticing the connection Shu’dral Megduth’Azo promptly began inspecting the moon and was surprised yet again upon finding an Ethereal Barrier protecting the planetoid. The barrier was just as fragile as Earth's and could very well be the reason for its counterpart's fragility.

With the god’s curiosity piqued Shu’dral Megduth’Azo continued a careful examination of the problem. The god quickly grew confident that this oddity was the reason for the relatively weak Ethereal Barrier around the Earth. The confidence in its theory was backed by the Eldritch God’s millennia of experience of encountering numerous life-bearing planets.

Many of these planets had moons, but not one had ever been protected by an Ethereal Barrier. This fact validated the theory that the world sharing its barrier with another planetoid had caused it to produce a much weaker barrier than it typically would have. The godly aberration's issue was that there was no way to confirm the theory. The chances of the god finding another planet experiencing the same exact condition were next to impossible. As such, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo swiftly lost interest in the theory as what truly mattered were the implications brought by being unable to claim the moon.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

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Though the Earth’s weaker Ethereal Barrier was a good thing, it was counterbalanced by the protection of the planet's moon. This shift in balance came due to one of the most well used tactics by Eldritch Deities across reality, the act of taking control of a planet’s moon. This tactic of conquering a moon or, in some cases, moons was used for two significant reasons.

The first reason was the psychological damage the act inflicted on a planet's inhabitants. Most moons had often been around for hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years. This fact often caused many cultures and religions to base themselves around their planet's moon. Even if a planet did not possess moon-related cultural history, a moon floating in the sky was often a scene that comforted many.

As such, when an Eldritch God came along and converted the moon into a sphere of darkness in the sky the mental damage done could be incalculable. Of course, it all depended on how much importance a planet placed on its moon. However, even if the inhabitants of a world did not put any significance on their moon, seeing a sizable part of reality being influenced by some unknown entity was an unnerving prospect. This psychological trauma would be helpful in sowing discord within a planet which then made the act of conquering a bit easier.

The second reason for invading a planet's moon was rather evident and practical—a moon made for a great base of operations.

The fact that most planets whirled through space meant an invading force had to follow after their target in order to deal with it effectively, and that's when a planet's moon came into play. Aside from a few odd anomalies, a moon would always orbit around its planet. As such, moons were great launching points for relentless attacks against a world.

So even though Shu’dral Megduth’Azo’s invasion would be easier due to Earth’s weak barrier, it would also be less than convenient as the god would have to chase after the Earth while the planet traveled its orbit.

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Taking all of this into consideration Shu’dral Megduth’Azo was actually fine with the whole ordeal. Sure, chasing the Earth would be less than optimal, but finding new ways to torment souls was always rewarding.

Since it had no moon to conquer the Eldritch God adjusted the plans that were being made and continued the investigation.

The planet known as Earth was rather intriguing. Shu’dral Megduth’Azo had seen a couple of technologically advanced worlds, but every single one had incorporated magic into their technology. This put Earth in an odd place as the planet did have mana, but rarely was any actual magic being used, and the magic used was weak and only detectable in remote areas. The Eldritch God could even detect connections to some of the Realms, but they were faint and way too fragile for any truly powerful entity to use.

Wanting to learn more about how Earth had gotten to its current state, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo explored the psychic energy given off by the countless living creatures of Earth. Using this mental energy, the god began piecing together some of the planet's history.

It seemed it wasn’t just the planet's low ambient mana that was the issue. From what the god could gather, Earth had been more magical thousands of years in the past.

There had been more creatures of magic and, with them, more magic users. However, as time passed, those who wielded magic became more insular, and the magical beings that had existed were hunted down to extinction. There were, of course, the portals to the Realms, but only weak creatures could pass through them, and they were often confused with regular beasts.

Then, as civilization expanded other sapient species were hunted down by humanity leaving them as the only sapient creatures on Earth. And as time passed only the tales of an ancient magical past were passed down through the generations.

This past led to Earth’s current state where magic users hid away as they feared their powers would have them killed or exiled. All of this made some sense in the god’s intricate mind as the magic humans currently wielded was too weak and wouldn’t stand up to current human technology. Even if magic posed some threat to the non-magical population, the magic users were incredibly outnumbered, which further limited their power.

Shu’dral Megduth’Azo spent hours unraveling and digesting Earth’s history as it slowly learned about humanity and its many weaknesses. The Eldritch Deity had learned long ago that even the weakest of planets were not to be underestimated. So the god continued constructing a plan like its life depended on it because it might very well be.

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There were two things all Eldritch Deities across reality were known for - their meticulous planning and incredible patience. It was even commonplace for Eldritch Gods to spend decades, centuries, or even millenniums planning the downfall of a single planet.

Of course, the total amount of time that an Eldritch God would take to conquer a planet would depend on the difficulty the world posed.

A world’s difficulty was measured in three ways. The level of its magical advancement was the first, as it indicated how well the planet was at wielding magic. Naturally, the better their magic was, the better it could fight back against the aberrations. The second aspect was the planet’s level of ambient mana. Ambient mana was important because the more mana a planet had, the more magic a planet could put to use at a faster rate and without waiting to replenish its reserves. Now, both of these could be affected by a planet's technology and efficiency, as with the right combination, a planet could keep a strong offensive and defensive force while maintaining decent mana levels for a longer and more drawn-out conflict. The final way a planet’s difficulty was measured was how united, vigilant, and unrelenting a planes inhabitants were. This last piece of the puzzle was crucial as even with low ambient mana and magical advancement a planet could still pose a threat against an invasion if they caught it early enough and responded just as fast.

All of this meant two things.

One, if an Eldritch God did not prepare properly and went against the wrong planet, they could be killed.

Two, the Earth was doomed.

Shu’dral Megduth’Azo had reached what could be considered the mid-tiers of power in the cosmic Eldritch Deity ranks. This meant that the god had plenty of world-destroying experience, and it also wholly outclassed Earth in strength.

Not only did Earth have a low level of ambient mana, but it also had incredibly primitive magic, and, more importantly, the whole planet was highly divided. As such, there was no possibility of Earth fending off Shu’dral Megduth’Azo, let alone killing it.

So mere days after arriving in Earth’s solar system, and to the god’s surprise, Shu’dral Megduth’Azo began the plan to conquer and devour the planet. The god even wondered if Earth would really be its easiest meal ever.

The first step in the god’s plan called for a more detailed look into the world's inhabitants. This meant further investigating their cultures, values, technological levels, etc. A thorough investigation was needed to build a sturdy foundation within the planet, which would later allow for easier infiltration and control of the planet's inhabitants.

To accomplish this task, most Eldritch Gods, along with Shu’dral Megduth’Azo, tended to use small aberrations called Shifter Drones. These drones were weak which allow them to burrow through a planet's Ethereal Barrier much more quickly.

Though Ethereal Barriers could completely halt Eldritch Gods or other extremely destructive forces like giant asteroids, it did not mean they were fully unpassable or unconquerable. Most creatures, as long as they didn’t hold power akin to a god were simply delayed by the barrier. Of course, the more powerful the creature was the harder it was to cross into the planet, but it could still be done. Even non-world-ending forces like small meteoroids were allowed through.

This meant that shifter drones were, in fact, perfect for scouting and surveillance work. Not only were they weak enough to pass through a barrier in a matter of days, but as their name implied, they were shifters. Specifically, physical shifters.

Physical shifters were creatures who did not use illusion magic to change their appearance. They simply shifted their bodies to become something new. Physical shifters were walking flesh that could grow fur, scales, claws, or any other number of physical traits.

Due to this talent, shifter drones were often the first aberrations on a planet. Upon arrival, they would transform into local fauna and spy on the planet's inhabitants. Then, they would slowly record and store information that would be useful later on in the invasion. These small aberrations were useful but only at the beginning of an invasion.

This usefulness tended to plummet when a planet's inhabitants became aware of the aberration threat, as the first thing the natives often did was create new spells or magical items capable of detecting said aberrations. These items or spells weren’t infallible and often didn’t work on the stronger aberrations but were perfect for much weaker beings like the shifter drones.

In fact, in highly advanced magical worlds shifter drones were often only deployed in rural regions where they were less likely to be found. These worlds were often aware of aberrations and had long since taken precautions against them. However, no matter the planet, shifter drones were always valuable, as the information they gathered could be used to find minor weaknesses that could eventually lead to a planet's downfall.

Now, a planet like Earth was where shifter drones truly shined. There were no means that the inhabitants could use to detect the drones. So it was no surprise that within the first month of Shu’dral Megduth’Azo’s arrival, hundreds if not thousands of small shifter drones were infiltrating Earth as cute and cuddly animals.