Eldritch Horror? No, I'm A Doctor
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Ren shifted uncomfortably in his chair, feeling suddenly exposed despite having chosen to share his story. The way Levi spoke made it sound like his experiences were more significant than he had realized, and that significance felt like a responsibility he wasn't sure he was ready to carry.
"But I sense there's more you haven't told me," Levi continued, his voice maintaining its gentle tone while somehow conveying absolute certainty.
"The transformation you described, the battles, the consumption of divine essence. These are just the surface events. What did you see beyond the veil, Dr. Hector? What did you experience in the space between life and death?"
The question hit Ren like a physical blow. His hands began to tremble slightly, and he set his teacup down with more force than intended, the porcelain clattering against the wooden table.
"I..." Ren's voice caught in his throat. The memories he had been trying to suppress came flooding back with vivid intensity.
"I saw what lies beyond death, Mr. Warwick. I experienced the dissolution of consciousness, the place where souls go when they leave their bodies."
He took a shaky breath, his eyes growing distant as he relived the horror.
"There's an ocean, Mr. Warwick. An infinite ocean made of dissolved human souls, all melted together into a liquid mass of suffering and despair. Trillions upon trillions of people, all reduced to their base essence and mixed into this cosmic soup of the dead."
Levi nodded encouragingly, his expression showing no shock or disbelief, only patient attention.
"And in that ocean," Ren continued, his voice growing stronger as he found his words, "there are predators. Beings that feed on the dissolved souls to maintain their existence. They were once human themselves, but they chose survival over dissolution. They became monsters to avoid fading away completely."
Ren's hands clenched into fists as he remembered his own transformation.
"I became one of them, Mr. Warwick. When faced with complete annihilation, I chose to consume others rather than disappear. I ate my way through nightmares made of collective trauma, devouring the experiences and memories of the dead to rebuild myself into something"
He met Levi's eyes directly, searching for judgment and finding none.
"I don't know how this connects but I somehow escaped that realm and got reincarnated here but I brought something with me. The being that fought Lu Changcheng, that consumed divine avatars, that was what I became when survival instinct overwhelmed everything else."
Levi set down his own teacup with deliberate care, the soft clink somehow ominous in the heavy atmosphere.
"So now," Levi said, his voice taking on a more formal tone that made the air itself seem to thicken further,
"Let us start to help you understand the world better. Mr. Ren, do you know about the word 'law'?"
The sudden shift in topic caught Ren off guard. "What do you mean?"
"I mean literally the word 'law.' What does it mean to you?" Levi's voice carried a weight that suggested this wasn't a casual question.
Ren frowned, trying to understand where this was leading.
"I mean, it must be about how the world works, right? Rules that govern reality?"
"What you say is close," Levi replied, leaning forward slightly, his presence somehow becoming more imposing despite his unchanged posture,
"but to be more precise, it's about how the universe works. Not just this world, not just this reality, but the fundamental principles that govern all of existence."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees, and Ren found himself pulling his jacket tighter around his shoulders.
"So laws are the same throughout this entire universe?" Ren asked, his voice betraying a growing unease.
"Yes," Levi confirmed, his simple answer carrying implications that made Ren's stomach clench with dread.
Levi paused, studying Ren's face with the intensity of someone reading a particularly complex text. "You know that some gods are dead, right?"
"Yes," Ren replied cautiously.
"I actually encountered the avatar of the skin god before my transformation. Avatars are like... echoes of dead gods trying to revive and gather power, right?"
"Yes, exactly like that." Levi's approval somehow felt more ominous than encouraging.
"But I need to explain something more fundamental to you. Each god governs a specific law. The avatar of the skin god that you encountered, she governed the law of skin itself."
Ren nodded slowly, sensing that he was about to learn something that would change his understanding of reality.
"And what do you think happens to the law they govern when a god dies, Mr. Ren?"
The question hung in the air like a sword about to fall. Ren felt his mouth go dry as he considered the implications.
"I don't know," he admitted, though he was beginning to suspect the answer would be terrible.
"When a god dies," Levi said with the patient tone of a teacher delivering a lecture that would haunt his student forever, "the law that they carry dies with them."
"What the fuck?" The words escaped Ren before he could stop them.
Levi's smile was gentle but somehow made the revelation more terrifying. "Think about it logically. You're a doctor, after all. What happens to a being that exists without skin?"
Ren's medical training kicked in automatically. "You mean Aplasia cutis congenita? The absence of skin in localized areas?"
"Yes, that's right. But imagine it on a cosmic scale. In this case, the skin god died and was halfway through reviving when the process was interrupted. Something incomplete was bound to happen. But when she first died completely, all living beings were stripped of their skin entirely."
The horror of the implication hit Ren like a physical blow. "Something like that actually happened?"
"Yes, though it was long, long ago. Entire civilizations died in agony before the natural order could compensate and new gods could emerge to fill the void."
Ren felt the room spinning around him as the full scope of cosmic responsibility crashed down on his shoulders.
"Then what about what I experienced, Mr. Warwick? The death realm, the soul ocean?"
Levi's smile became almost pitying. "Well, you should know the answer to that, Mr. Ren."
The silence stretched between them as Ren tried to process what Levi was implying.
"The god that governed death," Levi said finally, his voice carrying the weight of cosmic tragedy,
"is actually dead…. Pretty ironic, right?"
"What?" Ren's voice came out as barely more than a whisper.
"In his case, he died completely and cannot be revived because he was eaten by another god. and The law itself remains in the broken state because the god that devour his law has not mastered the law yet. You've seen it firsthand, haven't you? You did it yourself, after all."
"When did I..." Ren's voice trailed off as the memory crashed over him. The moment when, in his transformed state, he had devoured the avatar of the skin god. The taste of divine essence, the absorption of cosmic power, the integration of something that was never meant to be consumed.
The silence in the room became absolute. Even the clock seemed to stop ticking.
Clap, clap. Levi's slow applause sounded like thunder in the oppressive quiet. "Congratulations, Mr. Ren. You are now the new owner of the law of skin."
Ren felt the blood drain from his face. The responsibility, the cosmic weight of governing a fundamental aspect of reality, pressed down on him like a mountain.
"Though you should forget about this fact for now," Levi continued conversationally, as if he hadn't just dropped a universe-altering revelation,
"Because there's nothing you can do about it yet. You're far too weak to actually wield such power consciously."
"But..." Ren's voice cracked. "What about..."
"Oh, but the law of skin is probably going to be a bit more broken for a while," Levi said with the casual tone of someone discussing the weather.
"Some species that live on other planets that don't need skin that much have probably had their skin removed by the broken law by now. Entire ecosystems are likely experiencing unpredictable mutations."
Ren's face began to turn pale as the scope of unintended consequences became clear. Beings across the universe were suffering because of his actions, because of choices he had made in moments of desperation.
"But you shouldn't worry about that yet," Levi said, waving his hand dismissively.
"It's not the time for you to know the full extent of your responsibility."
"But when will I be able to learn the truth? When will I be strong enough to actually do something about this?" Ren's voice carried desperation and a growing sense of inadequacy.
Ren watched Levi's lips move.
The words broke, letters refused to be letters, and what came out was:
█▉▉▉⟁⟁⟁◼︎◼︎◼︎⟟⟟⟟⟊⟊⟊ ̷̶̷̴͚͍͎̜͔̲̪͓ ̷̨̢̛͖̥̫̰͕̩̜͔ ̸̷̴̢̼̲̱͙̻͍̮͚̤͇͍ ͟͟͟⤫⤫⤫ ☉☉☉ ̷̸̷̱̞̜̠̩̪̙̘͔͎̫͔ ︙︙︙ ⦙⦙⦙ █████████████
̴̵̴̛̛͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟͟⟟⟟⟟⟟⟟ ◥◣◢◤ ◌̷̶̴̸̷̶̷̴̸̴̸̶̷̴̸̶̷̴̶̷̵̶ ◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎ ▮▮▮▮▮
⌧⌧⌧ ̷̴̶̴̷̶̷̴̶̷̷̴̶̷̴̶̷̴̶̷̴̶̷̴̶ 𐌔𐌔𐌔 ☒☒☒ ͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏͏ █████████████████
Ren's stomach lurched. His eyes watered; the lines refused to focus.
Levi stopped, blinking as the room unknotted.
"Sorry," he said quietly.
"I said something I shouldn't have. You don't have the power to understand it yet"
"I almost killed you."
He turned, not to Ren but to you Reader.
"Sorry about that, Reader. You'll have to wait a while for this guy to get stronger. I'll tell you again when he can survive it."
"To be honest, Ren," Levi said, his gentle tone somehow making the words more devastating,
"Right now you are pathetically weak."
Ren startled at the blunt assessment, the words hitting him like a slap.
"There is knowledge that mortals simply cannot handle. You must be at least a Demigod rank to be able to learn even some parts of it, much less act upon that knowledge responsibly."
"What is the Demigod level then?" Ren asked, grasping for some concrete goal to work toward.
"If you compare it to this world's ranking system, it's probably around Legendary rank. Far beyond where you are now, and the path to reach it is neither simple nor safe."
Ren sat back in his chair, the weight of cosmic responsibility and his own inadequacy crushing down upon him. He was responsible for universal laws he couldn't control, for consequences spanning galaxies that he couldn't fix, for power he couldn't wield.
Levi suddenly laughed, the sound startling in the heavy atmosphere.
"The path may not be smooth, and the burden may be heavy, but you were chosen by the One Above All for a reason, Ren."
"You know about the One Above All?" Ren asked, surprised by this reference to what seemed to be the ultimate authority in existence.
"Yes," Levi's expression darkened, and for the first time since they had met, his carefully maintained composure cracked. "And I used to be one of his chosen as well. I've been put through hell because of that bastard. I fucking hate his guts."
The sudden venom in Levi's voice, the raw emotion that distorted his features, scared Ren more than anything else that had happened in their conversation. This was the first time he had seen Levi show this much genuine feeling, and the intensity of hatred was almost overwhelming.
"And the fucking system," Levi continued, his voice taking on an annoyed tone that somehow carried undertones of deep affection, "don't even get me started about that asshole. He's absolutely useful, but his personality is rotten to the core."
Despite the harsh words, Ren could see something else in Levi's expression. Longing, perhaps. Fondness. It was like listening to someone complain about an old friend they missed despite everything.
Is he close with his system? Ren thought, recognizing the complex emotions that came with relationships that had survived cosmic trauma. The kind of bond forged through shared suffering and mutual dependence that transcended simple friendship or enmity.
The room fell silent again, but this time it felt different. Less oppressive, more contemplative. As if the revelation of Levi's own connection to forces beyond mortal comprehension had somehow made the space between them more human, despite the cosmic scope of their conversation.
Ren sat in his chair, processing the weight of everything he had learned. He was the unwilling inheritor of a cosmic law he couldn't control, responsible for consequences he couldn't fix, chosen by entities he didn't understand for purposes that remained unclear. And his only guide was a librarian who had survived similar circumstances but carried scars from the experience that ran deeper than the surface of reality itself.
The path ahead seemed impossible, the responsibility unbearable, and the power required to actually make a difference seemed so far beyond his current capabilities that it might as well have been on the other side of the universe.
But somehow, in this room full of impossible books and cosmic secrets, with a guide who understood the burden of being chosen for purposes beyond mortal comprehension, Ren felt something he hadn't expected to feel.
Hope.
Fragile, uncertain, and possibly foolish, but hope nonetheless.
The conversation was far from over, and the revelations would likely only get more overwhelming from here. But for the first time since his transformation began, Ren felt like he might actually have a chance of understanding his place in the cosmic order.
Even if that place came with responsibilities that could affect entire galaxies.