Illithid behind the Curtain: Adventure Hook (Patreon)

The sound of a kettle whistling felt positively mundane, and more than a little strange for me as I sat there.

In a rather clean (almost obsessively so) kitchen, I watched in my Illithid form as Summer Rose or a doppleganger using her face moved back and forth, fussily bringing out tea with a smile and shake of her hands that told me she hadn't had visitors in a while. As she did so, she'd glance at me in curiosity but held her tongue, waiting till she finally slid a mug over with a slice of what looked like lemon and she spoke shyly.

"The forest sections have a strange collection of fruit trees and such. I think whoever used to live here was experimenting with plants. I think I still have some bread, but the flour is a bit rough. I had to learn how to grind my own, you know?" She laughed, a little hysterical before clearing her throat.

"Would you like some? I hadn't-oh my goodness, I'm sorry I'm just..." She closed her eyes, hugging herself with a faint shudder as she admitted quietly.

"Its been very, very lonely here."

I took up the tea cup with a tentacle and took a sip, Summer Rose all but fascinated to see my teeth beneath the tentacles before I paused and spoke. "One moment. I can't appreciate this, not like this."

And with a quick spell, I was in my Esmerelda body as Summer's eyes went wide. With the utmost seriousness, she leaned forward and I leaned back as she asked.

"Are you an alien?"

"....Technically?"

Ignoring the fact she had mouthed 'I knew it', I opted to speak. "You're Summer Rose, aren't you?"

She looked shocked at the fact I knew that, before smiling. "Are you a wizard?"

"You know many wizards?" I asked to deflect and Summer nodded as she spoke. "Technically, just one. I don't know if you've met Ozpin and of course, there's Yanca Schnee-the owner of the tower." I blinked.

"I'm sorry, who?"

Summer ran a hand through her hair, letting out a smile. "Yanca. Her journals are around, and I might had been trying to learn what I could. It's been slow going of course, but I've had nothing but time, you know?" She glanced around and added.

"She was a wizard, back in the days of Ozma the hero and his Queen consort... Salem." Her smile flickered and her eyes flicked downward as she added. "Apparently, there was a lot that he never told me." Mustering resolve, she continued on as I took a sip of the tea offered as she gestured.

"They argued apparently and Yanca opted to leave Remnant, taking her tower with her out here in what she called the Space Between Worlds. And then she died, sharing with her familiar her last moments."

"The white nevermore." I guessed, thinking back to the guide as Summer nodded.
"His name is Koschei. He's been a good friend to me, though he doesn't talk much." I glanced to the side at the nevermore, which was currently perched to the side and seemingly content to sleep or at least, present the illusion of sleep.

"So how did you get to this point?"

Summer grimaced, head bowed before she spoke. ".... I suppose I should start where I died. I felt angry and frustrated, I had children to return to, a husband who was waiting. How could I die then?" I shifted briefly, uncomfortable and Summer continued.

"And then I ended up just drifting. No afterlife, nothing. Just me and countless others, stirring and lost. But some of us missing more and more every day. Like a storm of fire and hunger, consuming fading lights."

"Poetic." I remarked to hide my troubled state. From my viewpoint and knowledge, it seemed that it all came back to the Brother Gods. No afterlife watched, no angels or similar guardians, nothing. Just abandoned toys, left on the side. And souls without a destination, hunted down by raiders between worlds as I continued.

"Go on. What happened then?"

"I tried to fight back. Almost died, I remember running." Her features looked troubled, as she reached to her face and I saw Koschei look at her, steadily before she went on. "I remember a voice, urging me into the dark. And I had no other choice but to run there. It felt... It hurt."

Her voice cracked. I remained silent as Koschei flew over, preening her hair as she sniffed, wiping her eyes.

"My heart hurt so much. And then I remember drowning. I couldn't breath, I couldn't see... I came out of the pool. And Koschei gave me a weapon."

She extended her hand out, the familiar flapping towards it and transforming into a mechashift sword.

"I did what I did best. I killed the creatures hunting my fellow dead. Like... Really, ugly old women with sharp teeth, riding black horses with sharp teeth. And then I started doing more... I found this place with Koschei's help and with his aide, I started trying to convince the others to come about. None of them are like me though."

"'Humanoid?'" I guessed before I finished my tea, contemplating the story before I asked.

"And you never thought to try to come back?" Summer smiled sadly at that.

"I'm dead. And a Grimm. I don't belong in that world, not anymore. The last time someone tried that in my world, this... Situation happened." She gestured all around her before she added. "And someone needs to help the people here. I do what I can, but I'm not so good. Also, I tried asking some of the Grimm here for help. Those that aren't Soul-borne like me can't understand or even be inclined to obey. And those who have passed on, just vanish from my sight. I can only assume why, but I'm sure its the right one."

Salem.

So Summers abilities had limits. I thought about it for a moment longer, before finally speaking. "I'd like to help, its why I'm here. If all goes well, I think I can forge something to keep out Hell and the Abyss. More so, considering this place is here." I gestured at the tower around us and added.

"Wizard towers tend to have tools of the trade. Anything I don't have already, I should be able to supplement from here."

Summer looked troubled, and I blinked as she glanced at me.

"That's the trouble though-"

There was a sudden roar outside, a howling of Grimm in unison and the sound of something else. A beat of drums, war drums as she got up and spoke.

"It might be easier to just show you."

Up the tower stairs we climbed, making it to the top where a telescope awaited. Gesturing to it, Summer stepped back and I stepped forward, glancing as above us flew Nevermore in numbers, Wyverns and Chimera's, the plane around the forest and its tower showing less a group of Grimm and more a migration of them. Charging forward, running as the ground shook and Summer looked on, her cloak flapping as Koschei let out a caw and took off, joining the Nevermore flock in the skies.

Through the telescope, I saw war.

Far, far away I saw the Astral Plane form and crack into a larger, vaster hellscape. I saw trenches of devils and hordes of demons, crashing into the grimm in what looked to be largest, free-for-all this side of the planes. I saw a great, white Ursa three times the size of a tank roar and command legions, a purple clad Amnizu surrounded by bodyguard legions of Cambion and a huge Sibriex, shrieking as if the entire Abyss screamed with it as they fought and slowly, I saw what she wanted me to see.

Bit by bit, the hellscape was expanding. The Grimm were losing and only the fact the demons killed the devils wherever they could and the devils did likewise, was their only saving grace. A half inch here, another inch there. Slow, but steadily it was getting larger.

And as I cast my eye outward, it was already as far as I could tell... Roughly around a hundred and forty thousand square miles.

The irony was not lost on me.

"Hell and the Abyss aren't trying to break through. They're already here." Summer said somberly.

I looked to her and she looked to me, as she said with the graveness of only someone who had fought as long as possible, and intended to keep fighting on could muster.

"And we're losing."