Drift Away| An Eldritch Romance | Scary Stories to Tell in the Bedroom

There are things in this universe that were never meant to love.

And yet… they do.

In this haunting, cosmic tale, an ancient entity abandons eternity to walk among humans—to feel, to love, to choose. But love has consequences, and when something from the abyss comes to reclaim what it believes is its own… the universe itself trembles.

This is a story of:

• Obsession that spans galaxies
• A love powerful enough to change what should never change
• A daughter born between worlds… forced to choose what she will become

Dark. Sensual. Violent. Devastating.

If you’ve ever wondered what love looks like when it is stripped of morality, stretched across time, and forced through something not quite human…

Press play.

⚠️ Content Warning: Explicit scenes, violence, cosmic horror, and themes of loss, power, and transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to Scary Stories to Tell in the Bedroom, a romantic horror anthology. The need for a person can create a storm with unpredictable results. Sometimes, our favorite love songs would sound very different if they were written from the perspective of a love gone wrong, or worse, from the mind of someone who refuses to let go. In this collection, I'll be sharing stories that are creepy, unsettling, seductive, and sometimes deeply disturbing. And dear listener, understand what I mean when I say not all love is for you, and not all love is good for you. Trigger warning, my listeners, these stories are a little fucked up and extra freaky. But isn't that why you're here? This anthology includes six stories. Dropping weekly, tonight's story is titled Drift Away. You know what to do. Dim the lights, get comfortable, and let's begin. There are places outside human knowledge that have been lost to time and memory. Some songs and incantations can summon beings far greater than humanity can imagine. Some entities would implode the mind, causing eyes to melt from gazing upon their visage. Rubber skinned demons haunt the reveries of those whose third eye has been opened and view the world plains with clear vision and apprehension. These eldritch casters of fate are far beyond the imagination of mortals, shapes undefined, opaque tangibility that rustles just beneath consciousness. Vaguely human, but altogether unworldly, they sift and saunter through realms unnamable and past your waking mind. Yet there are spaces and facets about them that are particularly memorable. They do, as we are. They sit and think and watch. Sometimes alone, other times together. I will tell you about one such incident. Love is a rose-colored petal that can wither and fade with time, or you can seal it with lacquer and keep it forever. Preserve the moment when it's most beautiful. Rage abounds in the emotion that surprises us. Even an eldritch horror can feel love. But what happens when the abyss of the cosmos awakens, and the abomination of antiquity crawls forth to secure what was once theirs, what they never let go of. They fascinate you for what reason his tootle barks at his mate. Leave them be, enter my embrace. He stares down at Valo in her mortal form, her human form. She's taken to wearing it lately, and it turns the pit that would be his stomach in disgust. Humans are disgusting creatures, awful eating, backstabbing, foul tongued sycophants who do not deserve to share the many universes with the creatures of better position and higher intelligence as they do. At least this is what his tootl thinks, and he makes his position very well known to Valo, though she rolls her eyes every time he mentions it. Her lavender eyes graze over the milling creatures on the green, blue, and brown ball that his tootl and valo know as Terran's soul six fifty four D three. Valo has two arms, not four, that hover over the planet's shape in admiration. I find them to be distinctive of each other. They are all the same, but so different. How? Why? Her voice is full of wonder. Different flavors, his tul murmurs, only for Valow to sigh heavily. She points at a deep brown skinned man on a horn shaped continent. Look at him. He lives here in Africa. The words sound beautiful on her tongue, though she has difficulty pronouncing them. He is more genetically similar to this woman. She points to a fair skinned female quite far from the male on another floating continent than to his neighbors or the ones on his continent. Valow licks her lips. They're so cute. His tutel thinks they are ugly. He finds them as interesting as the insectoid fish eating trig of the Athely system. What are you thinking, my eternal light? He calls her by one of her many nicknames he has in hopes of catching Vallow's attention. Lately, Vallow has been obsessed with the humans and he knows she's on the cusp of doing something ridiculous with them. Vallow turns her diamond shaped human face towards him. She's taken the most aesthetically pleasing features complementing her taste and crafted that face. It is not to his Tootle's taste, but because it is valu, he loves it. Her eyes are almond shaped and lavender, her hair is dark and thick, the strands twisted together against her head before falling down her back. Her limbs are long and well toned, her skin is a deep amber rich and smooth, the more melanin to protect her from the sun in the places she seems to gaze upon in wonder at the most. At least humans have evolved to do that much. They still hadn't learned to stop killing each other over differences in the melanin of their skin or for religious factions. I wish to walk among them, Vallow smiles, showing her stark white teeth, which threaten most creatures and eldritch entities like them, but it is a friendly gesture for humans. She has adopted their customs quickly, and it annoyed him. Not for long, I promise his tutel. She turns back toward the planet. We have been as we are for millennia unknown, my deathless devotee. She leaves her spinning sphere and comes to his side. Their differences are stark and vast, and his tutel leans down to allow her to touch his tentacled face. He is afraid. Something he knows of but has never felt before. That creeping feeling has been wrapping around him like a vine for years, watching his lover become more fascinated by the loud, bipedal creatures. It has now reached his throat with this declaration of hers and threatens to choke him until his eyes bulge. I would lose you, I fear. His voice is hoarse and far away. It is not a guess. His tutel knows that she might become lost within them. They're kinder watchers. They do not interfere with the habits and ongoings of those lesser than them. Give me a millennia, she murmurs as her fingers curl around one tentacle and pull gently. One thing he will admit about those human hands is their skill when she touches him. Her skin is soft and pleasing to his form. I will return to you and have sated my curiosity. Three human lifetimes. His tutel thinks he's being more than generous. The female of the species can live a hundred years, that should be enough for her. His narrowed eyes watch as Valo purses her lips and presses her mammary glands against him. She means to seduce him, and it is working. Valo chuckles. In this form it is light and musical, in her proper form it is deep and humming. Both he adores. I wish to see through many generations of them, guide them if I can. Come now, my void passion, do not be jealous. It is you that I choose to dance around the cosmos with and sleep next to under the accretion dis. This is true. With all the others and a few more powerful than him, she who lords over most chooses him. He is weaker than her, more minor, but his ferocity and intensity for Valo can never be compared to another. For this she chooses him. Stay one more evening with me, he begs her, in your true form. His giant hand claws and all strokes gently down her shoulder, nearly engulfing her. Let me lavish my intention on your many orifices. Her eyes narrow, but her skin warms, and Vallow drops the human guise she wears. Her two legs remain the same, but her skin darkens into a shade deeper than black. Her form mimics the vast depths of the cosmos. From her waist spider legs erupt, four of them are bright yellow with ends dipped in orange, they pierce the ground, and as she takes a step forward as the form of his tutel's only weakness takes shape. Forearms, the upper two, like humans, have hands, the bottom appendages are tentacles ripe with poisonous daggers in their suckers. The forebreasts on her chest are heavy and teardrop shaped. Her eyes have no depth. Pools of inky blackness stare back as his tutel, with a maw full of sharp, inviting teeth tinted red. She is beauty incomparable. She is his, and he is hers. Their kisses were full of longing and depth, Valo pushes her tongue into Histutel's mouth, and his tentacles wrap around her body. His desire climbs on top of his frame, and her body finds his first phallus. Slowly she lowers herself onto him, and in a sea of stars she leans her neck back, exposing the maw there. She moans from that deep throat, a grating sound indicative of her pleasure. Rocking her hips, Vallow reaches behind her and takes his second phallus, pushing it into her second hole, closing her eyes as she does so. He is a tight fit and Vallow shivers as her release nears. His Tootle's tentacles find her breasts, the sensitive nipples are fun to play with. He enjoys watching her skin light up and darken from the pleasure he pulls from her, pulling, sucking, pinching, the jutting of his body, and the seesaw motion of her form brings them closer to completion. Only when Valla opens her eyes and haze pours from them does Zituto allow himself to let go. The seed he pumps into her could birth another entity of destruction, if that was her will. It is not. So she absorbs him, taking in the essence of himself that he shares with her. Perhaps another time. When she leaves, his tootle watches her go, and an unfamiliar stretching forms in his chest. Valo leaves behind a trail of fading stardust, and his tutel is left alone in profound sadness and longing. The separation is not merely physical, but a division of their very essence, an intangible chasm that echoes with the silence of a millennium. He feels a deep ache in his core, a keen and infinite emptiness. He longs for the familiar presence, the resonance of their shared energies, the unspoken understanding that only kindred spirits can know. Valow told him to stay and to wait. So here in the spaces between stars and in this chasm housed in an intangible plane far enough from Terran Souls six four D three, that he can barely see their star reflecting off the surface, but close enough that he can feel the reveries and projection of Valla, his tutel, bottomless world eater, maw of infection and disaster waits. He curls around himself blinking steady eyes that pierce through the darkest nights for her to call him again. Goodbye, my treasure, he says in his mind, knowing she can hear him. She's beginning to fade away, to quiet her presence from him, and the universe suddenly seems so small. It feels too quiet. The hum of the planets, the rush of the stars, and the scream of the comets are drowned out by the sound of loneliness filling his being. What will happen to you? Vihan asks as he holds the hands of his heart song. Valo came into his life at an auspicious moment, from the time she walked into his home half naked and curious, to now her every action was nothing but a blessing to him. I don't want to be without you, Valo. She was intrigued by him, by everything he did really, everything around her. To know that she was not from this world but one beyond and in between was not as peculiar to him as it should have been. Vihan was not a scientist or a philosopher. He was not a visionary or some man with divine intelligence or passage to hear from the gods. No, he was a mathematician. He taught adults in the local community college. He had a healthy respect for the supernatural and spirituality of all things. He liked to think the stories of lore and mythology had to come from somewhere. He was simply open minded, and that was it. He didn't know he was anyone special, an average looking man with a standard job in an everyday life. Then Vallow happened. Vallow rubs her hands over her swollen belly and smiles at Vihan. She towers over him at six one looking down at her mortal lover. Even now she can see the lines on his face widen and deepen as age eats at his flesh with every passing second. She wishes to give him a gift. She hopes to impart a piece of herself to keep him company when she rests. It is not lost on Valo that this gift is one she denied to his tutel, a new eldritch entity will spawn in the universe. In her human heart she knows why she did not, but she will not utter those words bringing them forth into consciousness. She concentrates on the feeling of Vihan's trembling hands on her fast growing womb, a culmination of the two of them to gift this world with the kindness and understanding that is Vihan. He thinks he is nothing special, but Valo knows differently. She knew the unmerciful eyes of humanity, especially the males, as this was inherent in them. Their cruelty and hatred for the female of their species was insurmountable in many of the males. It could not be cured, and death was the only way to absolve them. That was not what she was here for, but the itching in her arachnid legs sometimes wished to pluck the soles from their bodies. To stab a man with her feet, feeling his entrails wind around her legs as she pulled her limb from his stomach and listened to his final gurgles of death. These intrusive thoughts played through Vallow's mind quite often, but no, she gave them chances when she was feeling magnanimous anyway. There was no way to escape who she was, and she didn't want to. She simply thought to understand. The other times, when her rage became too much, and she filed away the smell and face of a man to collect him later, she struck. Valla would pretend to sleep next to Vihan, she would push into his mind a more profound slumber and assume her eldritch form, albeit in a smaller package. She would roam the back alleys, quiet corners, and dense urban forests outside the city and kill. She would maim and feast as she pleased. She would screech and rip unfortunate creatures limb from limb, enjoying the sounds of terror as she would rend fur from flesh and muscle from bone just because she could. Valo was a being of chaos and causality and had no delight or joy. Or was there? There was curiosity, that is why she was here, of course. So even as she hunted down her human prey, cornering the male whom she selected for execution, Valo delighted in his fear. She hissed and chased him, striking her spider legs through his Achilles tendon, shrieking with joy as he stumbled along, bleeding and begging. She chuckled when she pierced a lung and watched as a man gaspsed and pleaded for his life, dragging an air that ultimately went nowhere. She did this for no other reason but to keep the females of her area safe. Then, most of the time, as she held a male's head, savoring the bits of hystalamus, Vello thought about why she did that. Why did she care? She was here to learn and study. Why had this become her duty? She did not have to. She was beyond their comprehension, their imaginations could not sustain her, so why did she care about humanity and in particular the well being of these women? She had been living their experience. She was not a real person, no, she did not want to be, but she wished to feel. She wished to feel what they did and understand because there was an undeniable allure in the complexities of human existence. Valow was an ageless being of unfathomable wisdom and power. She had observed humanity for eons in the shadows of the cosmos. The ceaseless ebb and flow of human emotions, the boundless spectrum of joys and sorrows, and the intricate tapestry of connections that wove people together fascinated her. Her existence had been marked by a timeless, seamless, devoid of highs and lows that made human life so thrilling and unpredictable. Valo had watched love blossom and wither, seen the rise and fall of empires, and bore witness to countless stories of triumph and tragedy. Yet she had only been a passive observer and longed for something more. With a profound sense of curiosity and a burning desire, she had taken on human form and immersed herself in the mortal realm, experiencing every facet of humanity firsthand. Even now, as she had fallen in love with a human man and now carried his child, she realized that by living among humans she finally understood the depth of their emotions, the nuances of their decisions, and the fragility of their mortality. She understood the risks involved, the pain, heartbreak, and vulnerability of being human, but she was willing to pause her internal existence to feel the sun's warmth on her skin, to taste the tears and laughter and the embrace of a loved one. This endeavor was not without sacrifices. She would give birth to her daughter and leave the child to be raised by her father. As an eldritch entity, she would grow quickly, much too quickly, and Valo would miss it. Vihan would pass from this world without her, and the very thought caused her chest so much pain that she pushed it from her mind in anger. Still, Valo knew and believed it was a price worth paying to fully comprehend the profound beauty and complexity of the human experience. They were so unlike her. So unlike his turtle. And that was what mattered. So now, as Vihan stood before her and rubbed her belly with the seed of their love growing, Valo chose to sleep. She had never born a child before, but she knew what would happen to her after. In this form, anyway. She would sleep, perhaps a few centuries or so, maybe half a millennia, and when she awoke she and the child would mourn the father, and she would take them away from here, brighter, wiser, different. But in this body she was experiencing the trials, tribulations, and conundrums of being a human woman, a black human woman. In that she was unlike the others of her kind. She was mortal, and no eldritch creature had ever been mortal and felt pain, sorrow, regret, or fear. Valo had. She was unlike the others, and with this thought she was lax to go home. Her mind drifted to his tutel. Even in the edges of darkness when she was supposed to be resting, his tutel came to her mind and pressed. He was incessant in his questioning and demanded answers. He wanted to know when she would return, and she gently turned him away. She had outgrown him, didn't she? This was not something they could share, and she didn't want to. What will happen to me? Valor repeated Vihan's question, pushing away her innermost thoughts at last. I will sleep. I will fade from time to time until I am ready to return. Bringing this child into the world will take most of my ability. I need to sleep after. Vihan seemed to understand. His voice quivered as his eyes moistened. I won't see you again. Will I? He asked, now refusing to meet her eyes. Valo felt his pain. No. I will come to you before you die, my love. Her hand caressed his face, touching every line and divot that she was so intimately familiar with. I will come to your mind and lead your soul away. Does this bring you comfort? It didn't. And so that night as they lay in bed, Vihan pulled Valow's body close to him. He peppered kisses along her shoulder, neck, and jaw. His tongue sought her mouth and Valo took it to hers. She stared into the milky brown eyes of her mortal love and gave her body to him one last time. Vihan's mouth found her breasts, licking her nipples, swirling his tongue around dark areolas until Vallow moaned out loud. He took both breasts in his hands, kissing them as he massaged the full orbs. His teeth nibbled her flesh until she was slick with wetness and it coated her thighs. Vihan moved downward, opening her thighs only to look up at the belly holding his offspring. There was the pinnacle of their union. Inside was the peak of their love. His left hand smoothed over Valo's soft dark skin while his mouth found her cunt, feasting on her pearl until the juices coated his chin. He lapped and licked her body until Vallow's thighs quaked, and she quivered in prompt satisfaction as her orgasm rolled over her body in waves. It was more comfortable to make when she was on her side, especially this big now. With Vihan's arms wrapped around her, Valo pressed her head into the pillow, concentrating on the feel of his length as he moved in and out of her. She closed her eyes and focused on his thick, veiny member rubbing against the insides of her channel. He moved in and out of her, pulling himself out to the tip only to slam back in so hard his sack bounced against her ass. Valow bit her lower lip, relishing in the stretch of her body as Vihan pushed his cock home. This was a different feeling. The way she felt with him was unlike anything she ever had. She locked away in her mind the way she felt as he bit down on her shoulder, the feeling of his teeth in her skin bruising her slightly. The way his arms tightened around her waist as Vihan crushed himself into her back was etched into her cortex. Vihan's breaths heated her back, causing Valo to shiver as it cooled and goosebumps cascaded across her flesh. As he thrust up, eager to chase down his orgasm, Valo savored the sensations. In her deep slumber she would think of this moment. When Vihan's seed ran between her thighs and he slept peacefully next to her, Valo smiled. She understood these human emotions so much better, and she was ripe for it. Three days later, she gave birth, and the daughter she left behind was named Anika. A spitting image of her father with her mother's plump lips and narrow lavender eyes. To be born is an experience that Anika now understands why infants should not remember. It was jarring and confusing. One moment she was calm and in a world of warmth and comfort. The next second something changed in her tiny home. The liquid she lived in altered the flavor, and everything began to squeeze on her, becoming very uncomfortable. The next thing Anika knew she was turned and pushed, and no matter how much she kicked, stretched, and tried to stay, light burst into her eyes, and she cried. This form was difficult to maneuver, and she could not form words. She was keenly aware of the voice of her mother in the womb. She understood words, though not always what they meant, but this throat could not make them. Anika could only cry. She heard her mother's heartbeat and tasted the waters of her food. She swam around in the inky darkness and was comforted by the high tinkling nature of her mother's voice and the low cadence of her father's tone. She was more aware than any human child of this moment of growth and semi learning before her. Her mother spoke to her in dreams and visions before she could use her eyes, and it was through that connection that Anika saw with startling clarity everything her mother had known and wished to know, or was mildly aware of. She saw the deep blackness of space and the blinking lights of the cosmos drift around her, dancing through a sea of gases, particles, and crushed dust trails left by the banging of new planets and the destruction of old. Anika was wise beyond her time before she was born, and yet there was something she did not understand. Why? Her mother explained that creating her took time, patience, and strength she could not imagine. They would see each other once, and not again for quite some time. Anika didn't know how to feel about it. This form was limited in an expression, so after the jarring experience of being born, Anika lay in her bed and listened to her father weep for some time before his face darkened over her. Hello, little one. I apologize. He sniffled and gently lifted her from the bed. Let me bathe and feed you. He kissed her forehead, and Anika felt sadness, nearly overwhelming, rolling off her father in waves, but underneath the current was an aura of devotion and protection for her. He washed her body in warm water, ensuring he wrapped her in the soft towel. He swaddled her in cloth until she felt sleepy and secure and fed her a liquid that made her stomach feel full and heavy. She wanted to stay awake and watch the world around her. It wasn't as interesting as what her mother showed her nowhere near, but it was so hard to stay awake. In the next few months Anika grew faster than her father knew was possible. The mere weeks she spent as a newborn transformed her into a toddler stage, which took a few months before she was a child. That lasted a year before she became a teenager. Still, her mother spoke in dreams and hazy visions when her mind was on the cusp of waking and in that parallel between the voids. Anika dreamed of monsters and creatures with no form but full of visions, past and present, with the power to shape worlds and make them collide. She would space out into reveries and daydreams of entities that slipped into the unconscious minds of men to drive them mad. She found herself, her inner mind slipping from this mundane plane she was to walk on in the one from which her mother was born. Most of the entities around her ignored her presence, but others stared in curiosity. The child of valu, mother of emptiness and bearer of despair, how did she come to bear child? Half human? Her mother would scold Anika, speaking loudly in her frontal cortex to return to her body and wake up. This was not the place for her, and she could be hurt. The whispers grew from the formless shapes and the misshapen faces around Anika about Valo, the ceaseless watcher and mistress of the primal hunt. They said her mother was not who she knew her to be. Why? Who is Valo to you? she asked one day, sitting at the table with her father, watching as he poured her juice, still thinking of her as a child and not an adult woman. Viam was taking aback, spilling some pomegranate juice on the white tablecloth. He stared at Anika and blinked hard before answering. Excuse me? She honestly thought he had not heard her and asked again. Anika had not gained prowess over her powers, but some things were simple enough. She reached into the void next to her, opening a portal to the napkins in the kitchen. Snagging one she pulled her hand back and the void closed. Who was Vallow to you? She began cleaning the mess. Your mother, Vihan corrected. You call her mother. I call her valu. Do not disrespect her. He set the juice down hard and fixed his cutlery. His heart rate went up and his hands fidgeted. Anika raised an eyebrow sensing his heightened emotional state. What do you mean by who she was to me? Who is she to me? Anika narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. She remembered her mother saying that human emotions were fragile, such things that void entities and eldritch gods did not consider when speaking to each other. I meant no disrespect. I have how should she frame this? I have heard things about her. From who? Vihan raised an eyebrow. Where did you hear something about your mother that would make you doubt her? It is not doubt, Anika corrected. It is curiosity. The elder ones of causality speak of her as a torrent and a ceaseless motion that will annihilate without cause. Anika levelled her father with a stare as she lifted her glass of juice. I would know how one so feared is utterly loved by you and has your adoration even though she is gone. Vihan breathed heavily. He closed his eyes and dropped his head and wrists on the table. Anika sensed indecision, confusion, and anger within him, but her father was a master at keeping his inner feelings on tap. When she had trapped a bird at four years old and steadily plucked the feathers from its living form, he showed no anger toward her. He quickly explained why such a thing was wrong and could be considered evil. Anika understood that, and never did it again, despite what the elders said. Raising his head, Vihan took a deep breath and stared into Anika's lavender eyes. Your mother came into my life when I didn't think much of myself. She saw more in me than I ever had. I saw many things in her. I love her. Present tense, Anika, with everything that I am because she is the compass that guides me through life's storms. Vihan blinked away the tears in his eyes and looked toward the ceiling. Her laughter is the melody that fills my mind when I believe it is too quiet. I have never known another like her, and there will never be another like her for me. She is the heart that beats in rhythm with mine, and her love is the fuel that powers me through every challenge I face, knowing she is not here. I know her not just as your mother but as the love of my life, and that knowledge has filled every day with meaning and purpose. Wiping the corners of his eyes with a napkin, Vihan sniffled. I don't care what the others say or what they do. I don't care who she was, I know who she is, and I stand in that knowledge with utmost confidence. Dinner was primarily silent that night. Her father sat on the couch and watched his nightly program, and Anika joined him as was their custom. She did not hear the words on the screen but pondered Vihan's words and what she had heard. She thought it odd that someone as old and unchanging as her mother would bend her will for someone who mattered as little as her father in the grand scheme of things in this world. It was not that she did not have an attachment to him. Anika knew that should any genuine harm come to her father, she would rend the creature limb from limb without a second thought. She would defend him to her last, and that's when it came to her. Despite being an all encompassing horror and plague on the universe, her mother chose to understand, respect, and love her father. She did so without force but simply a decision of will. She changed choice. That was something that most entities did not reflect upon themselves. They were one way and that was it. Their disdain for Anika and her mother was because Valo chose to be something different. They disagreed. Her mother was a reminder that love has the incredible strength to overcome even the most formidable obstacles of self and remind others of the boundless capacity for change and growth. When Valo left, his tutel felt his world collapse. All the time he had known his pursuit of Valo had consumed his very being. He had never once left her side, he had not been without her, and now he lay in the darkness of space and waited. He waited because it was what she wanted him to do. All on his own, under the endless swath of the worlds, in the vast, unforgiving expanse of space, a solitary figure was a testament to love's enduring power. His tutel shrouded in the inky blackness of the cosmos awaited the return of his beloved with a heart as cold and desolate as the void surrounding him. Amidst the swirling nebulae and distant galaxies, his tutel stood alone, a silhouette of profound longing and isolation. The darkness of space engulfed him, and every star's distant twinkle served as a stark reminder of the absence of Valo. His heart felt like a cold, lifeless planet devoid of the warmth that she once brought. It ached with a yearning that transcended time and distance, and the memory of her touch was but a faint whisper in the chilling cosmic winds. His tutel found his existence was a symphony of quiet suffering, a dance with the shadows, and a testament to the lengths one would go for love. Obediently, he waited in the cold, dark embrace of space. Resolutely, he remained knowing that some day Valo would return, and the cold in his inner being with thaw bringing light to the impenetrable darkness surrounding him. Until then, he stood, an enduring symbol of love's power to conquer even the most profound solitude. Night after night, he wondered if she would ever return, reaching to her mind through the branches of the cosmos for just a glimpse of her. She'd push him away, and he'd thrash against the nothingness, confused when Valo refused to let him touch her synapses and get a brief glimpse of her form. Then, one day, when he couldn't stand it any longer, there she was, a blip on his radar. She was in pain, but she was content. He needed clarification, what was happening? Then she was gone again. His tools will wait and searched for her, reaching through the whisps of the cosmos to search for the signature that he knew was Valo. He'd find her in complete darkness. There was nowhere Valo would be and he would not know, yet he was searching for her, confused and angry about why she was gone. Where had she stepped that he had not been or known of? That's when realization clamoured over Histutil. He understood what had happened. A great slumber had come upon Valo, something so vast and deep that it wiped her from being his. And his tutel felt the jarring and overwhelming sensation that her absence left. None of their kind ever did that. Did they? He couldn't remember the last time. No, they took the foreboding sleep only when things became too great, only when they expended an energy so great that they retreated into the void to recuperate. What did this mean? What went on? Just as he began to race to where he last felt her, his tutel felt it. A piece of her, alive and well, warm and comforted. A child not just any child. Valo's daughter. A culmination of time, patience, understanding, and adoration, the one thing she denied him, the piece of herself that she did not feel as though he deserved. His tutel unleashed the fury smoldering within him for far too long in a fit of unbridled anger. He exploded with a deafening roar that reverberated through the very fabric of existence. His rage manifested as a cataclysmic burst of energy tearing through the cosmos in an awe-inspiring display of power and destruction. The shockwaves of his wrath sent compression across the galaxy, shattering stars and eclipsing entire solar systems in the blinding light of his fury. A tempest of energy and emotion raged unrestrained and untamed as Hitutul's explosion consumed everything in its path. As the fiery maelstrom raged on, it was clear that Histutul's rage was a force to be reckoned with capable of reshaping the universe. Planets trembled. Even black holes recoiled in fear of his uncontainable wrath. At that moment, the cosmos bore witness to the unstoppable power of a being who had let his anger consume him entirely. His descent upon the earth was rapid and bleak. Darkening the skies of the heavens, he searched through the earth, roaming with his vast tentacles over land and sea. Thousands were crushed under his perusal, and his tutel did not care. He searched for who dared to touch his lover, who did she seek to lavish her attention on, who did she feel was so worthy? His tutel snarled and the skies blackened over the planet, raining lightning and snow from the clouds. They would know his wrath, they would feel terror, they would know pain. To know that a human, a mortal male? There was no word that he knew of that could describe the feeling that his tutel felt now. Humans would call it grief, and what is grief but love with nowhere to go? It took him some time to channel his fury, but when he did, his tutel directed at the human Valo called her own. His ire was directed at the male and the child who was the paragon of her mother. His tutel felt the mental waves of Anika. She was Valo's twin in every way, yet his tutel did not care. He let his tendrils slip into the fabric of the world until he felt the human ripping the human male from his world. His tutel cast him into the void. He wanted to stare at the creature that took everything from him. The tempests of his tutel's destruction knew no end. A solemn reminder emerged from the chaos that rage, left unchecked, could lead to annihilation, and the consequences of such unbridled fury were far reaching and irreversible. His tutel, the embodiment of rage, had unleashed a cataclysm that would forever be etched into the universe's history. It was not enough to kill the man. His tutel could rip him limb from limb and put him back together only to do it again. He could pull his teeth from his mouth one by one, turn the man inside out and pierce each organ while keeping him alive. It would not serve his tutel to do any of these things. He needed to do more. He needed relief. In the knowledge that this human would never be again. And so his tutel the calamity of Ether, the face below the waves smashed Vihan's entire existence. Every cell, every atom, every piece and fiber of the man's being would cease to exist because his tutel wished it, and nothing more. Anika watched a hand rip through the fabric of their reality and snatch her father away. She knew what and who she was, sometimes unable to control her powers, it was now that she had the unfortunate circumstance of that happening. Anika watched as her father's scream caught in his own throat, and he was forced from one plane to the next. Try as she might, she scrambled to create a simple portal. She struggled to get him back, and Anika watched in horror as her father filtered from this world. Scrambling through the chasm, what she did not want to witness and what will forever be ingrained into her cortex is the face of her near dead father floating in the abyss. His blue lips moved, but no sound came forth. He reached toward Anika to no avail, unable to move his body in the dust that is space. What happened next would leave a deep wound in her soul that Anika wondered if it would ever heal. No, it would rot and reopen, and she would have to drain it until it happened again. She was powerless to stop the eldritch horror from ripping her father to pieces down to his atoms. Even those were destroyed. He was no more. As quickly as he was there, Vihan was gone. Not a shred remained, not a mental tug. Anika's chest caved with pressure and sorrow, she wailed and screamed into the void that could not hear her but to a mass that covered their ears at her pain. In all of forty five seconds, the pieces, memories, consciousness, and soul of the man Anika called father was gone. She could replace nothing. Anika's desolation knew no bounds. She clutched her chest, her heart weighed down by an unbearable ache. Anika's sorrow was a relentless tempest tearing through the fabric of her being, threatening to consume her entirely. She crumbled to her knees, her tears falling like rain, the salty streams carving a path down her cheeks. In the solitude of that moment, Anika felt the world fade into insignificance as if all the colors had drained from her life, leaving her in the monochrome world of despair. Memories of happier times floated through her minds, adding to the agony of her grief. Something changed within her at that moment. Her emotions pressed upon her like a heavy burden, making breathing difficult. She grew wings, one set as black as night with eyes on every primary feather, watching, waiting, relaying information to her mind in a stream of consciousness she found jarring. The other set crimson red with a mouth lined with sharp teeth. They craved justice and blood and would like to taste both, gnashing their teeth as they howled with pain. Anika's world had shattered into a million pieces, and she was left to pick up the fragments of her shattered heart. Her fingers trembled as they reached out for some semblance of solace. Yet she found none. She only knew that her fingers grew impossibly long with sharp claws, her limbs broke and twisted, bones shattering through the skin to twist, grow, and heal, becoming anew as she assumed a quadrupedal form. Anika whispered the words of longing and loss into the void and her profound sadness as if the universe could hear her cries. Perhaps they did, granting this child of the cosmos, this child of an entity unbound by mortality and life a chance at revenge. Her neck elongated, a skull plate that was her face broke free from her skin, becoming a helmet of massive bone. Anika's sorrow knew no bounds, but she searched for the strength to enact her vengeance within its depths. A glimmer of hope in the darkness that enveloped her. As her lavender eyes gazed at the creature whose name she didn't know, but would utter impure hatred she smiled, breaking her jaw to splay her mouth wide. You took from me, she howled, facing his tutel. The eldred hissed. Then you know my pain. I would not turn my ire on you, daughter of Valo. No. I will kill all of your kind. I will destroy your humans so that cinders remain. Histol stomped. They will burn in the cosmos with no hope of reengaging in the cycle of eternity. I started with him. I will finish with the rest of humanity. Try, Anika screamed, launching herself at his toodle with a bright fury that wiped across the galaxy like a slower flare. Out of one plane of existence they popped back into Anika's. The Titans rolled and fought. She was scratching, biting, and rending flesh from him. They heard no screams or cries from the humans who watched. Those fell on deaf ears of the entities. Tsunamis rolled across countries, earthquakes broke land masses, the cries of those being murdered stretched on before reaching the tears of Anika. Shoving away the tentacle creature, she wrapped her hand around one connected to his mouth and pulled with all her might. It snapped, coming free with a sickening pop and twist that tendon makes when turned too far. The tentacle writhed in her hand, and Anika flung it to one side, not caring that it landed in the city of another country. I should take you as my own. His tutel snarled as bluish black blood leaked from his maw. You should be mine. Is that why she left you here? Left me to drift and play among these lesser beings? His tutel bottomless eyes searched Anika's form for answers. He breathed heavily, huffing poisonous breath. I gave everything to Valo. I am giving her my all to know she has so callously tossed me aside for a human? His tutel raked his claws across his face, ignoring the flesh that burst open like spring flowers, to feel her now. To have her presence gone from me and hear after all this time that she is gone? Anika could sympathize. Barely. She had not known her mother either. She could feel her love in the small waking hours of the day before she slept and at night. She could sense her, she knew she was there, but she'd never heard the voice. The most Anika got from her mother was the sound and visions of times before and with her father, a silent reel of what occurred, who Anika was to her and what would be. You do not belong here, Anika answered, ignoring his words, the cries of her fellow humans finally reaching her ears. A cacophony of howls, screeches, and wails, crying out for their respective gods and begging for mercy. He did not belong here. And neither did she. I am inevitable. I am the face beneath the waves, and the calamity of the deep. You will bow to me, half mortal thing. You are nothing beneath me. Even now I waste breath speaking to you. Cutting him off, Anika threw herself at his tootil, digging her clawed fingers into his eyes until the orbs popped and his gore spilled over her hands. She bit into his head, relishing the crunch of his skull and the way his flesh moved and squirmed against her teeth. His tutel roared, grabbing Anika around her waist, tossing her to one side, her face brushed against the ocean, her limbs clipping the mountains beneath the sea as she struggled to sand. His tutel found her quickly, enveloping her form with his own. He covered her, whispering in her ear, I could take you. I could have you keep you for my own Anika. He hissed, shirking away the pain of his eye regrowing. Valow sleeps. Perhaps you are to be kept a pet, the lower thing you are. You are nothing compared to us. We are infinite eldridge gods, and you are the bastard whelp of one infinitely your greater. His words stung, and Anika tried to move out of his grasp, only for his tutel to shift and bring himself closer to her. Disgusting creature. I will make sure you suffer millennia over until the sound of blood squirting through bone makes a distinct whooshing sound. The sound of tendon ripping was akin to breaking a chicken wing, and Anika felt his tootle's body go lax on hers as he hissed and turned towards the new threat. Valow roared, her forearm splayed open and expansive as she encountered his tutel. Turning towards his love, the horror regarded the hole in his chest. You my love? Betray me like this the one who would rake hot coals over a thousand worlds to see you smile. This place and the child are mine. You are no longer. Reaching her upper hands out, Vallow severed the head of his tutel. He watched as his body began to fade. He would not die. There was no actual death for ones such as them. Regeneration would occur in time. Vallow stared at her daughter, the image of her father, and realized she could not smile in this form. Eldritch entities do not smile. Many species across the many universes did not smile, showing teeth was a threat. It was an invitation to fight. For humans, it was a show of friendship and contentment. Letting go of her cosmic form, Valo stood on the beach, her toes digging into too warm sand as she stared at her offspring. Releasing her form was much more challenging for Anika, but Valo waited for her to stand as she calmed herself and lay on the sand. He has taken from us. This is not the best way to begin. I am still Valo faltered, tired, weak. But I could not sit by. She felt Anika's anger as her daughter rose to her feet. You let him die. You could have saved him. This she pointed to the sky. He came here. People are dead, dying. He killed father all because of you. Valo knew this. She didn't think that his tutel would do such a thing. It was hard to shake what she was. Her body mourned the loss of Vihan. She could not save him, and even now he was lost to her. But her daughter half of her life force? She had dragged her body from the hold of the rest and saved her daughter, the one she made. I will not ask your forgiveness for this. I cannot change anything. Valow took a deep breath. We must leave. I need you to protect me, Anika. As I sleep, and when we awaken, I know the others will come. They will seek to know what I have done to his tutel and why I choose to remain here. You don't belong here, Anika cried out, and Valow took no offense. She does not. But she knows that now. Anika does not either. Who is coming? The watchers of the abyss and the claws of chaos. Valo closed her eyes. I have disabled one of our kind. It is frowned upon. For someone like me, Anika asked. For someone like me, Valo replied. His tutel coming here awakens something in me, daughter. Something I did not know existed within me. I care about this earth and something that is not our kind. We are outside of them now. We are outsiders because of my need to know more and my mistakes in coming here. I will not apologize for loving Vihan. I will not apologize for creating you. Taking a step forward, Vallo held her hand and placed it toward Anika. We have to drift now. We will drift to survive. Moving this world through plains, but we must protect what we love. I will change to do that. But will you help me? Daughter. Anika looked at the outstretched hand of her mother. All of Valo's mistakes and her relationship with these males had caused a calamity to the only place she called home. To protect it, she had to leave it. And wasn't that cruel? That was Drift Away, an Eldritch cosmic horror story. Next, we continue the descent with story number four as the world falls down. Until next time, sleep carefully.