Illithid behind the Curtain: Silver Eyes (Patreon)

This was stupid.

Incredibly so, what I had planned. The metaphysical engine that was Remnant was broken, shattered and here I was tossing myself into the midst of it. This would have been a dangerous undertaking for a party of epic level characters but for a single one, even me? I would need caution.

On the other side of the world, there was a void of endless white, the astral plane in place as it should be. What it should have NOT been, was shattered as I saw it. Dotted in places I could see patches of other biodomes from lustrous natural places I could feel the Feywild energies from, to blasted sections of ruined earth, dark bubbling pools from which Grimm appeared out of and even more disturbing, blasted sections of places where hellfire burned bright. And throughout it all, glowing, white spheres moved like particularly busy will-o-wisps in a dizzying dance as they moved for various biodomes, though they avoided the hell-blasted areas.

All of it, confirming exactly what I had suspected and finally knew for sure. Remnant was broken in ways I had long suspected to be the case and to repair it would be the work of many lifetimes. But for now, I had to consider what I could do here.

I wasn't going to discover anything here, standing in place gawking. So metaphorically girding my loins, I dropped my human form and floated about as the Illithid I was. I would need every advantage I could muster and perhaps the smarter planar predators here would avoid a show of strength.

I could only hope at least and floating down into the plane, I took my first foray into the shattered remnant of what had been a thriving sphere, once.

It wasn't as bad as I expected. For an hour, I floated in silence and the Grimm I expected to fight would regard me briefly before walking away, completely disinterested which puzzled me mightily. Some of them were even fresh from the Pools of which I had seen from the show, though what they were doing here was beyond me.

Taking advantage, I floated to one of the pools, regarding it briefly before something happened. A floating, glowing sphere pulsated quietly as it paused before the pool and then dove in, to my alarm. A few moments later, the pool churned and out came a beowolf, which chuffed as it regarded me before walking off.

The wizard that I was felt curious, incredibly so and to one of the floating spheres I made my way, using my psionic powers to gently probe it. I didn't expect what happened next, as memories began to surge and fill my head of another life.

I died in my sleep, died and surrounded by family, love them, protect them-.

"Impossible." I said flatly, retreating back as the sphere moved on, quite at ease as it sought another Grimm pool.

I moved for another sphere at random and gained the following.

I died for my family, took up the mask, not an animal. Stop them, save them-.

Another one. Another one.

They weren't will-o-wisps.

These were souls.

There was a sudden roar, from one of the Hell areas a monster appeared. A Bone Devil, pale white and jagged points with a cadre of imps and others of Hells legion, breaking into the astral plane and in doing so, gaining the attention of every single Grimm in the area.

It was like watching a piranha swarm devour a tiger, for every Grimm they killed, twenty more took its place and when they were done, only bits and pieces remained as the Grimm slunked away and I blinked.

I saw more than just the regular Grimm. Among them I could see ones that were pure white and blue colored, summons that the Schnee semblance were capable of commanding. I saw Grimm or things shaped like Grimm from the elements, Apathy of flames, jagged Ursa formed from ice, roots and wood interwoven to create massive worm like creatures as they all retreated.

"Power has a purpose." I whispered.

Grimm were borne from Destruction, but that was only an aspect of its overall purpose. Life unchecked lead to plague, and Destruction in this case seemed to extend to 'anything that invaded'. But to come from the very souls... I realized I was being watched and turned, briefly.

A white Nevermore, the size of a vulture was watching me. Perched on a floating rock it seemed pleased when it realized it had my attention. With a screech, it flapped its wings and took off, circling once before flying in a direction.

If that wasn't an invitation, I'd eat my hat and I began to float after which seemed to be the correct response.

Through the wasteland I followed the Nevermore, without a sense of time save my internal musing nor hunger or thirst. The astral plane the further along I went seemed to become much more solid, more real and less abstract as I followed. I began to feel heat, see a thriving ecosystem as a great forest laid before me with the atmosphere of a hot house.
Grimm padded through, uncaring of the boundary where endless white gave way to earthy browns and mossy green.

A brick pathway of yellow stone soon came into form, garnering a curious glance aside from me, before my guide cried out and had me follow again.

Eventually we came to a clearing and every instinct I had was suddenly on guard as I peered at the structure before me. It was a ruined thing, magical protections all but worn down from lack of care. Made from white marble, it must had been a wonderful sight back in its day. But I'd be a foolish wizard indeed, not to recognize a tower akin to my own, or the snowflake emblem that laid upon its door.

And then the door creaked open and I froze for entirely different reasons.

She was a Grimm, akin to how Salem was a Grimm but it was like day and night. Rather than chalk white and black and reds, there were alabaster skin and blue veins, what could be seen from the clothing she wore. A robe, somewhat oversized for her and a white cloak and hood that billowed in her wake. Her face was familiar to me and more than that, as silver eyes so very much like my Ruby gleamed as she spoke.

"Hello. You don't feel like a demon or a devil. Would you like to come in?"

Slowly, I nodded. For once, thankful for the utter lack of human features if only to hide my shock, as I looked upon the visage of Summer Rose and spoke.

"Thank you. I'd love to."

That was definitely not in the show.