You have emptied your mana pool in 1 second...
Due to your expenditure of mana, your mana pool has grown! +750 mana...
You are experiencing severe mana exhaustion...
Mana regen has been reduced to 1/4 of full value until the condition improves...
Note: Only the natural recovery of your mana, and skills may apply, or divine magics can alleviate this condition. However refilling your mana by almost any means will minimize several other negative side effects of mana exhaustion, I.E. (Vertigo, headache, etc.)…
You have leveled up!...
You have gained a level in Acolyte!...
+2 Int, +4 Will, Wis, Cha, Per, +6 Spirit, +60 health, +1 health regen, +120 mana, +5 mana regen, +25 stamina, +1 stamina regen per level...
Breakthrough!
Skill prayer has leveled! lvl. 5 to 25!...
Skill, Temple of Hastur has leveled! lvl. 1 to 4!...
Congratulations, your Spirit has exceeded 250!
Soul space expansion is underway...
Inventory has been increased from 2x2x2 cubic meters to 3x3x3 cubic meters...
You now have 27 inventory slots...
Acolyte I road has opened to you...
10 points have been inputted into the road...
Your faith in me is new, nothing more than a small spark in the wind. Let us see if the wind will extinguish your faith or fan it into an inferno! +11 Will...
Congratulations, your Will has reached 250!
Synergy detected!...
Skill, Burning Heart is reacting...
Skill, Blessing of Zephyr is reacting...
Skill, Spectral Shield has been consumed
Generating new skill...
You have obtained the Very Rare semi-active skill, Shield a Candle from the Wind Lvl. 1...
Shield a Candle from the Wind- Shield a 'candle' from the 'wind'. Produce a shield to stave off an effect. The area of effect increases with skill level. Maximum of 1 shield per person. Maximum of 1 effect per person, effects can be changed at will. Mana costs vary wildly depending on what you choose to shield and from what. The power multiplier per point of mana increases with skill level. Current multiplier 1.0x. +5 Con, End, Will, Spirit per skill level...
Divine Intervention!...
Miracles upon you!...
Notifications streamed through Dante's vision as he felt himself falling backward, the wall vanishing behind him.
Darkness encompassed his sight, nearly rendering him unconscious, so badly did he want to let go. To let himself slip into the dark so that he could avoid the pain of his imminent death.
The strain proved too much for him, and he succumbed to the overuse of a resource so new to him.
But as that darkness closed in, one light remained.
Slowly the light resolved itself into a pale blue flame. Where mere seconds ago he had been in a padded room with people ready to kill him, now he found himself again in the temple of Hastur.
The floor was ever-rippling with tiny waves, save for where he sat upon the floor.
But there was no light coming from outside, beyond the door he saw a faint starscape. The stars gave enough light to be seen but not enough to light the room.
Before him, he saw something so absurd he couldn't help but laugh and hold his face.
There before him on the floor lighting the room in a dim blue light mixed with gold, was a birthday candle standing on the floor. It had two stripes running in a spiral up its shaft, pale blue and gold.
The candles' small flame danced rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat.
He sat there looking between the candle and the dim starscape beyond the doorway.
He couldn't believe he was dead, all he could hope was that he had just passed out. Then again It hadn't told him soulful rest had activated so that was concerning.
But in the end, what could he do? He wondered how long he would be here. Out of curiosity, he tried some of his skills. Most simply failed or had their effects only partially work here.
He couldn't sense any mana in the area, nor could he use his cartography skill here, as if this place didn't exist. Perhaps it didn't.
He was dealing with things far greater than himself after all.
As he tried to summon Virgil it felt as if he were reaching for something that wasn't there. The skill refused to activate.
What concerned him more than most of his skills failing, was when he tried to use time sense. The skill at first read as he would have expected, but as the seconds ticked over the time jumped forward an hour. The next second, it ticked back... a week? Two seconds later, the skill turned itself off and refused to turn back on.
When he had finished with his testing he simply sat down by the small candle, oddly it had not yet gone out. Nor did it even appear to be melting.
It was a peaceful moment, but all good things must come to an end.
Dante felt a prickle on the back of his neck as if someone were watching him.
"Hastur?" he called.
"I come, child..." Spoke a malevolent voice from beyond the doorway, seeming to echo onto eternity. The temple shook and trembled at the power of the voice. Not the kind and gentle voice he knew, but the voice of a tyrant.
He watched in horror as the stars reordered themselves into the outline of a cloak. Beneath the hood of stars burned two red giants. The doorway began to warp at its approach. Its form was made from pinpricks of light that were whole stars striding across the vastness of space in mere moments.
Beyond the door in all directions around the figure he saw other things pulling themselves together, innumerable stars in motion. Colossal voids opened up as stars emptied from entire regions of the visible starscape.
But oh!
The Voids were not empty! They were oh so full! Hungering mouths with far too many teeth, and eyes of endless depths chittered in the dark.
Error!
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Outsider actions detected...
Multiple outsiders detected...
A skill has arrived from Hastur, The Shepherd...
You have been granted the Rare, passive skill, Madness Resistance Lvl. 1...
When the Abyss stares back, you give them the finger! Increased resistance to all madness effects with skill level. Increased resistance to all confusion effects with skill level. +5 Will, Int, Wis, Cha, Spirit per level of the skill...
Skill, Burning Heart has...
Error...
Skill, Burning Heart has been suppressed!...
You have been afflicted with Fear!...
"There is no hope for you child...Only submission..."
A great weight fell upon him like a thief in the night. Sudden and without warning.
Something in his mind clicked and Dante remembered. He remembered the name now, the name of the thing that was coming for him.
'The King in Yellow.' His very soul trembled at the mere thought.
Dante fell for he had not the strength to stand against the force that pressed down upon him. But he did not hit the ground.
Something grasped his body and spoke.
"Go Dante, and I shall follow." Came the gentle and reassuring voice of Hastur.
He felt a great pull as he was ripped from that place, the last words he heard there were...
"...There can only be one!..."
------------
Dante heard the sound of metal tearing.
His ears rang at the deafening sound, he clapped his hands over his ears to protect them.
His vision swam each time he tried to open his eyes. Feeling as if the world were spinning, a low mana warning flashing in the corner of his vision.
His head was pounding, his thoughts fuzzy as Tv static.
He felt something warm running down his face from his nose and eyes. Even now it wasn't hard to tell it was probably blood.
Dante blinked, unable to understand what he was seeing through his blurred and twisted vision.
Seeing as how he wasn't dead yet he took a few deep breaths activating meditation, trying to recover mana to alleviate his mana exhaustion.
Only as he felt meditation push back some of the effects of mana exhaustion did he notice he was being held. At first he thought Oscar might have stepped in to protect him but as his vision cleared he looked up to see someone he hadn't been expecting.
Hastur knelt cradling Dante in one arm and having blocked the spear strike with his other.
His form was ethereal and illusory, like a hologram.
His arm bent like it had no bones to grab the spears shaft preventing the guard from pulling it back out.
As Dante's vision came back into focus, and his mind cleared a bit he saw just how thick Hastur's robes were. The robe that adorned him appeared to be 3 inches thick, and though it moved like fabric, it felt warm to the touch and hard as iron. Then he saw something drip onto the floor.
From the end of his wide, kimono-like sleeves a golden ichor dripped onto the floor.
He saw the guard yelling at them, yelling for the others, but he couldn't hear a word of it.
The fear that had only just left him now washed over him anew as he realized that this guard had just wounded Hastur.
Wounded a god.
He felt a reassuring hand on his back as Hastur moved him to the side and back several feet away.
Finally Hastur spoke, and even deafened as he was, Hastur's voice rang clear to him.
"I am Hastur the Shepherd. I will not permit further violence to my flock!" Hastur spoke, his voice having a hint of strain.
"Why do you hide your face behind shadows then if you are a Shepherd?" Parcival spat out the last word with a sneer, finally managing to pull his spear free from Hastur's grasp. His expression was sharp and fierce as he continued.
"Reveal your face Monster! Let all bear witness to what you truly are!" High Priestess Albez spoke with disdain, her face one of disgust as her hands glowed with holy light.
Hastur paused as he looked upon the guard and the priestess. Before dismissing them to look at his wounded arm.
"Of all the mortals here..." He paused for a long second, his voice echoing impossibly outwards."... I expected you to see, but it seems that is not the case. I wear no mask, child of the Ascender. It is your mind that cloaks my visage, not I. You see me as a monster, you fear me, and thus you shall never truly see me..." Hastur spoke, and for a single second a look of surprise surfaced on the guard's face, before it returned to its previous look of fierce determination.
Hastur turned to look at the headmaster for a moment, and beneath his gaze the headmaster took a step back, his hands shaking ever so slightly.
Turning Hastur faced Oscar, and for a long few seconds they looked at each one another, then Oscar nodded after his eyes had flickered to Dante, and Hastur nodded back.
Then the world shook...
Error!
Outsider interference...
The King in Yellow marches...
Activating emergency protocol: Rogue God failsafe...
Erecting barriers...
Failure, barriers bypassed...
Recalculating...
Dante blinked as the world spun, and the ground shook with unseen impacts.
He saw the others standing before him, Oscar to his left, eyes almost seeming to move in several directions at the same time.
He heard distant muffled voices, but could not make out the words.
Then the High Priestess stepped forward and with a hand glowing with divine light grasped him by the shoulder.
The world came into razor focus, instantly he felt himself restored.
All conditions have been alleviated...
You are no longer experiencing mana exhaustion...
Dante took a deep breath, and finally was able to focus and hear what was being said.
"We cannot stay here! We must flee! This place will not survive the battle!" Oscar said as he picked Dante up and held him bridal style. Had Dante more wits about him he might have felt embarrassed.
Looking out he saw what had once been a small padded room now was a domed room not much bigger than the original. The walls glowing with faint divine light that only grew as they cracked with each impact.
"What the fuck is going on?!!!!!" Dante exclaimed in a shriek of fear, now realizing Hastur was no longer present.
Parcival looked at Dante with a look of disgust.
"Your god is doing battle with the Outer god of the same name. He has beseeched many of the other gods in your world to aid him in the fight...."
Before he could continue the High priestess stepped up and grabbed Dante by the collar.
"Even our gods were concerned enough to act on his behalf. Do you understand how much danger you have put your whole world in?" She exclaimed her eyes burning with brilliant white and gold flames.
"All I have done is accidentaly hasten something I think was inevitable. You can't blame me for this fucker running around and doing what he wants!" He exclaimed as Oscar attempted to force her to release her grip finding little success.
She wound back her free hand to smack him hard but suddenly another hand grasped her wrist.
"Thats's enough High Priestess, this behavior is unbecoming of one of your station, the boy is correct regardless it would seem. He may have unintentionally started this mess but it was an inevitability from our current understanding of the foe. Fear of it will only make it stronger, and many on his world feared that thing long before he brought forth the Shepherd. At least now we have an ally that appears to have stolen a portion of the outer gods power. This is why he is determined to slay the shepherd and if he cannot bend the boy, him as well." Parcival spoke briskly as he head moved on a swivel, constantly assessing his surroundings.
*Rumble*
The ground trembles as yet even more unseen blows hammered beyond the exterior of this space. Large cracks beginning to form in walls of the room, each letting in a shifting collidescope of colors.
Parcival turned after releasing the Priestessess shoulder and with a flick of his wrist the door still present opened revealing the still waiting barracks, and guards.
"Make way!" He proclaimed as he lead all present in to abandon the room and slam shut the door. For a brief second after it had closed there was a blinding flash. When the light had settled the door was dust leaving only a blackened wall behind.
---------------
Warning...
Emergency protocol: Rogue God failsafe is now in effect...
Diverting power from non critical systems...
Extreme low power mod is in effect...
Mana points system is now active...
You have: 0 SMP
Current ratio of MP to SMP is: 1,000-1
SMP Store is now live...
------------------------------------------
Before he knew it he was sat down in another, non-extraplanar holding room.
Three of his four judges had stayed while the fourth, the High Priestess, had returned to her temple as she was needed there.
Parcival sat in the seat across the table from him, flanked on his left by Oscar, and on his right the Headmaster.
"I don't suppose I can ask for a lawyer?" Dante jokes, raising his hands in defeat.
No one immediately replied to his question, each giving him a discerning stare.
Oscar moved to speak but was kept silent by a wave of Parcivals hand.
"Explain to me what you know of your god, and this outer god that shares his name." Spoke Parcival, not a request, but a command. The spear he had been carrying until this point was notably absent.
Dante felt no compulsion to answer the question, but knew it was in his best interest to cooperate.
"Haita the shepherd was a book written about a hundred years ago. In that book is the first mention of the name Hastur. In his original story he was a simple benign god of shepherds. He helps the main character of the story to learn a lesson about the fleetingness of happiness. That's pretty much how much Hastur was in the book. He was hardly mentioned. It wasn't until decades later that another writer used the name for another character in a much darker set of works...."