The Shoggoth slime Investigator Telly had shown me was worth a lot of gold.
This is because it's used by talented enchanters as an ingredient in some of their more powerful enchantments. Despite the need for it, there aren't many who would seek the madness which the void promises to provide along with the slime.
So, it's very hard to source.
Unless you're a cheeky young lad in his teens eager to make a bit of pocket money by scrounging some from his Shoggoth friends and selling it for lucrative sums which would make your eyes water.
What can I say? I was a precocious youth.
Contrary to what your unsophisticated mind is thinking, Shoggoth slime isn't just dripping from the skin all the time. Shoggoths are similar to denizens of the deep, after all, so the slime is a defensive mechanism much like the ink of an octopus.
What? You didn't like being called unsophisticated?
Well, you tell me what kind of mind decides to open up and read a gentleman's diary without his permission.
Anyway.
Shoggoth slime.
Because it's sprayed via a gland in the Shoggoth's mouth, it has a distinctive smell which, if you're experienced, you can use to identify the particular Shoggoth who sprayed it.
In this case, I knew immediately from the hint of rotting blueberries that it was Melmet's slime.
I knew Melmet well enough to recognise his slime. He was the one who had been giving his slime to me in the first place so I could sell it at the Auction House.
He's a very generous Shoggoth.
But a simple one.
A Shoggoth's mind is mostly immune to the effects of the void. They can resist the urge to go stark raving insane. But, like any resistance, the effectiveness of it is variable. And Melmet's was a little worse than others.
Hence, he suffered from frequent bouts of what could be termed psychotic episodes.
In these moments, he would drift into a stupor where he ranted about elves in the machine and mysterious beings who wanted to reveal to him the secrets of the world but they were a little busy at the moment so could only say it had something to do with being nice to everyone.
Like, all the time nice.
Which he tried his hardest to be.
It was his gentle kindness which worried me now as I imagined all kinds of horrible ways some mook had taken advantage of my brother.
If I found said mook, there would be great retribution.
Stomping through the void, I headed quickly to a galactic spiral where I knew Melmet was fond of lurking. I know he admired a vast structure of gases and dust which formed pretty patterns he could get lost in as he swam through them with his tentacles wiggling happily behind him.
"Melmet!" I called, hoping he would hear me.
But there was no response.
I stomped through the galactic spiral, as close to the centre of its as I dared.
"Melmet!"
Still nothing.
"Hmm."
I checked on a small planet which lacked magical capabilities. It was another place he liked to hide on. He found the fact the poor creatures used technology instead of magic to be both a source of amusement and sadness.
Poor creatures.
No wonder they were always fighting each other.
I wandered through an alley, careful not to be run over by one of their large metal vehicles. "Melmet!"
A shuffle from the back of the alley made me squint into the dark.
"Melmet? Is that you? It's me. Taran."
"Taran?" Melmet's voice trembled with fear. "It really Taran?"
"It really is," I said calmly as a heavy vehicle roared past the alley behind us. How did people on this world concentrate with that sort of noise constantly assaulting their eardrums? "Is everything alright?"
"Taran!" The Shoggoth detached from the shadows and rushed towards me. Almost twice my height, the thing could make Mudge feel inadequate. But what shocked me was that his fur, once clean and white, was now matted and filthy. His tentacles drooped from his back, and his large eyes looked dazed and lacked their normal glittering cheer. "Taran it you!"
I winced as the Shoggoth's arms wrapped around me and several tentacles reached around to give me a weak pat on the head. I tried to hold my breath as the stink of alley trash permeated my sinuses.
An odd rumbling sound confused me.
And then, with a startled cough, I recognised it was coming from Melmet.
The Shoggoth was sobbing.
Something I had never heard him do before.
I patted one of his hairy arms. "There there," I said, wondering how to get out of his grip. "I'm here now. Why don't we take a quick trip to Sellulosis?"
"Huh?"
"Melmet," I said, gently pushing some of his hair out of my face. "There's no easy way to say this. But you've spent far too long in this alley, haven't you?"
"Umm. Don't know?"
"You have." I extricated myself from his trembling grip. "You stink. Let's take you to the mineral springs on Sellulosis and get you clean to start with. Then we can talk."
"But-"
"Sellulosis."
"Taran, I-"
"Sellulosis," I repeated firmly.
"Alright…"
I opened a portal for us both and the giant Shoggoth lumbered through, his head low.
Sellulosis was a planet on the other side of the galaxy we were currently in. It was mostly peaceful with no critters bigger than my thumb. But what it did have was an active sub-surface volcanic membrane which caused much of the water on the surface to be pleasantly heated and full of rich minerals.
Mary loved it.
It was good for keeping her tentacles supple.
I directed Melmet into a pool, and sat aside while the Shoggoth began the long slow process of cleaning his fur and hair. Thankfully, most of the oil and grease came out and he was soon looking much better.
But the fearful look in his eyes hadn't improved too much.
Finally, I moved him to a cleaner pool and let him relax in it while I waited for him to calm down some more. Hot springs are very relaxing, so this didn't take too long. He took a long deep breath and looked up at me with a gentle wave of a tentacle and nodded.
"You good Taran."
"And you should have called to me," I said. "What were you doing sitting in that filthy place for so long? You could have been eaten by rats."
The Shoggoth shuddered at the thought. "Was hiding."
"Hiding? From what?"
"It come, Taran," Melmet said, the fear growing again. He gulped hard. "It come from bad places."
"What came?"
"It."
"Could you give me a description?"
"Not know," he said slowly. "It weird. Big head. No eyes. Melmet see self in face."
"It was another Shoggoth?"
"No," he shook his head. "It face like mirror."
"Oh." I pursed my lips. "What else?"
"Big arm. Big leg."
"Right."
"Smell like magic."
"What sort of magic?"
"Void magic," Melmet said nervously. "But not nice void magic. Bad."
"Hmm." I tucked my finger under my chin as I thought about it. To a Shoggoth, bad void magic was the sort that wasn't going through my father. It meant that whoever was fiddling with the void, they weren't doing it properly. They were forcing themselves through portals instead of getting permission.
The Old Twit shifted in my consciousness at that thought.
He didn't like it very much.
I agreed with him.
We felt a great sense of eldritch peace as we were aligned.
I nodded to Melmet, who visibly sighed. He drooped a little as he spoke. "Papa angry?"
"Not at you," I said. "At whomever has decided they're going to bypass convention."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Melmet worry," he said. "Was Melmet's fault."
"How so?"
"Melmet lost Taran book."
"My book?" I tried to recall ever having given him a book. "Which one was that?"
"Not know. It book on void?"
It could have been Functions of the Void by Ethers, I thought. I had lost a copy of it a long time ago. And it might've been around the time I had last visited Melmet.
If it had fallen into the hands of another mage, it might be how they managed to figure out how to open a portal. But it'd be crude. And very dangerous.
Chances were the mage ought to have died attempting it at least once as there wasn't really a way of controlling where those portals exited.
Without the Old Twit's help, a void portal was a random thing.
"How did you lose it?" I asked.
"Umm." His tentacles rubbed at his head as he tried to remember. "Not remember when."
"That's okay," I said. Void creatures often didn't understand time. Time had no meaning to them. "Just tell me where and what happened."
"It in Waggenrook."
"You came to see me?"
"Taran not home." He drooped again. "Went looking in alley. Find rats. And new treasure."
I didn't ask him what kind of treasure.
Melmet's treasures were usually shiny things which caught his eye.
Slivers of a odd-coloured glass. A piece of broken watch chain. A bottle top.
That sort of thing.
"And then?"
"Then sit on roof. Watch sun come." He smiled broadly, his big teeth revealing his genuine joy. "It pretty. Many birds come, too."
"Did you feed them?"
"Give them seeds," he nodded. "Birds like seeds."
"They do."
"Then saw man." The Shoggoth looked down at his hands. "Man saw Melmet."
"He was a mage."
It wasn't a question, but Melmet nodded.
"He use big spell," Melmet said. "Feel dizzy."
Of all the Shoggoths a mage might try to catch, Melmet was the only one they might get away with catching. Mostly because of his kindness. I guessed the mage had cast a binding circle.
It would have disoriented Melmet.
Normally, a Shoggoth would then shrug it off and tear the mage to little pieces before delivering them to the Old Twit as gifts.
But Melmet wasn't that sort of Shoggoth.
"He find book," Melmet said, wringing his tentacles nervously. "Take it from Melmet."
"Did he let you go, or did you leave?"
"Melmet leave," he said. "But mage disappear. Melmet can't find book."
Reading between the lines, I guessed Melmet had been shocked by the binding circle and the mage had used that time to search the Shoggoth. He'd found the book.
But then Melmet had simply walked out of the circle.
That would have shocked the mage, who would have crushed a token and used an emergency teleport.
That's assuming the mage was halfway intelligent which it sounded like he was.
Whoever the mage was, he must've felt like the luckiest person on the planet.
Good for him.
It's nice to know he'd been enjoying himself for the final part of his life.
"Is there anything you can tell me about the man?"
"He man."
I nodded. From experience, I knew that's all I would get. To Shoggoths, we were much the same. Some Shoggoths, like Mary, were intelligent enough to see some differences. But Melmet was Melmet, and he was too innocent for that sort of thing.
"Hmm," I said.
"Taran mad?"
"Why would I be mad?"
"Melmet lost Taran book!"
"Is that why you didn't call for me?"
The big creature nodded, his eyes red from the stress of his worry.
I crouched by the edge of the spring and put a hand on his shoulder. "My brother. I have so many books. Losing one is not a loss. But I have very few brothers. Please call me next time."
Melmet's eyes leaked as tears sat on the corners. "Melmet promise."
I patted his shoulder and smiled as warmth slithered through my awareness. "Papa says you should go see him, too. He wants to have tea."
"Tea?" Melmet's eyes lit up and one of his tentacles wiped his tears away as joy returned. "With crumpets?"
"I believe so."
"Papa, Melmet comes!"
I felt the Old Twit's chuckle.
Then froze.
I could feel it.
The Old Twit could feel it, too.
I lifted my gaze to the bright neon pink sky.
And sniffed the thin air.
Melmet moaned.
Something was coming.
And, as we watched, the air in front of us suddenly twisted and a sound like screeching metal rang loudly in our ears.
I blinked as the portal tore through space and time, connecting us with somewhere else.
Then a hand emerged through, fingers curling as they reached for the Shoggoth.
"It here again!" Melmet screamed. "Taran help! It come take Melmet slime!"
***
Hey, if you love my story, you might find the Theme Song funny.
That's right.
I said THEME SONG!
Check it out on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ajmsjUOoyQU