Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

Q laughed nervously, “Unfortunately, Master Babylon, an Aspirant cannot have more than a single sponsor, even in such a… unique situation like with Lord Walter.”

“Even if I give up all rights like Rogue?”

Q shook his head, “Even so.”

Big Bob was clearly unhappy with the news, “Ah, you know I want to see Walter’s experiment up close! There has never been a case like it in all the ages, and you're saying that I cannot observe him properly? I have sponsored these trials for 150 cycles now, and you're saying nothing can be done still?”

"I'm sorry, but I do not make up the rules, sir,” Q answered nervously, “But can the Lord Arbiter simply not explain the results to you once he is finished?”

Bob shook his head and sighed, “And this is why you are still not at the level of a Grandmaster, Q. When faced with a puzzle, one should not seek the answer directly, but see it as a challenge; only then can true growth occur. You should know this, yet you do not live by it.”

“I understand, and thank you for the reminder.”

Big Bob thought for a spell, “Say, Q, although an Aspirant can only accept Sponsorship once, I can still assign additional missions to whomever I want, yes?”

“That is correct.” Q answered slowly, checking to make sure that he was giving the accurate information, “Although you can only do so once the Aspirants make it to the Main Stage of the Trials, as per regulations.”

Big Bob started to smile again, “I see, good… I think I have an alternative plan of action now.”

The big man gave me another friendly pat on the back, “Just wait until then! I got a surprise in store for you, my old friend!”

Rogue laughed at the display, “But the Main Stage of the Trials are still far away, and I’m not really doing my part as a Sponsor in the meantime… I can’t allow that to happen.”

He used one of his feelers and retrieved two little pieces of what appeared to be paper. Where he got that I had no idea, but I honestly should be getting used to seeing people materialize things out of nowhere by now.

“Here,” he said, handing me the little notes, “These are two VIP tickets to see the Plains of Torment. I know that you have a little break before the next Trial begins, and Xalla was telling me how you wanted to see the beautiful Plains before long.”

He glanced at Q, “And I’m sure that Q here will be glad to give you and one of his very, very hard working staff a break to do just that.”

Q agreed almost immediately.

“So please, take them, and if you need a guide to fully appreciate the place…” He continued, now ever so slowly nudging a clearly embarrassed Xalla towards me.

The hint was obvious. Well, part of my original plan was to use one of those Preview Tickets to build a better relationship with Xalla, but I guess I can do that now instead of later.

“Well, Xalla, you said you were an expert on the Fields, right?”

She nodded shyly.

“Then would you do the honours of guiding me around the Fields of Torment?”

Xalla smiled, her expression had never looked so happy, “Of course!”

Noe, use one of those Preview Tickets.

“Acknowledged.”

I felt my form shift effortlessly into the now familiar Xollon Secondary Form, but this time, I felt unbelievable power flow through me. This was completely unlike the previous transformations, and Noe really wasn't kidding about having no limitations on the form. I knew at that moment just how terrifying a Xollon was. My form swelled even bigger than before, and I also noticed that I was wearing some kind of strange robe. I looked at it and saw that there was strange shapes and weird faces flowing along the contours of fabric, and it was very comfortable to wear.

“Notification.” Noe chimed, “Unit Noe has equipped Host Watt with the latest Xollon fashion befitting a Xollon Idol.”

Oh, thanks Noe.

“Host Watt is most welcome.”

The new energy flowing through me was almost too much, I saw how fragile everything around me was, and I just knew that if I wanted to, I could simply rip the space around me to shreds. I allowed a low growl to form, but stopped myself when I saw that the space around me was starting to weirdly distort. I uh, probably don't want to obliterate Q's office like this.

“Woah there, Walter.” Rogue said, shaking me a little, “I know you were in that tiny meat suit for a long time, and I can only imagine how refreshing it is to take it off finally, but careful that you don’t destroy Q’s facility now.”

Rogue backed off after seeing that I was ok, but I noticed his gaze focus on one of my main feelers. I glanced at where he was looking at, and saw that a few small, penny sized holes were present in the back of my feeler. That was strange, because I knew instinctively that Xollons would heal from practically anything, so why didn’t this hole mend?

“That wound. That's from a Phase Gun...” Rogue said, his tone grim and serious for the first time, he lifted a feeler and I saw a similar wound, “How long had it been?”

Having no idea what was going on (again), I just replied with the safest answer, “Shortly before my start as an Arbiter.”

“So about 50 cycles…” He gave me a look that showed concern and pity. What was so significant about this tiny wound?

Xalla noticed the odd interaction between the two of us, and I felt her gaze look at the small holes on me as well. She immediately turned grim before giving me a quick, military salute.

“Hey, it’s fine,” I said, not wanting this odd situation to continue, “This is old history, I’m fine now.”

“Right,” Rogue said, and I could tell he was trying to shed off his earlier gloom, “Let’s not ruin this happy occasion. We can talk about it later, but… I just want to say that it is good to see another veteran of the Long War alive and well. I... I apologize on behalf of Xolloid for what happened, and I promise you that times have changed since then.”

I was getting sick and tired of people talking about things that I had no understanding of.

“Let’s discuss this after.” I said, my tone final. Yeah, let’s talk about it when I can figure out exactly what this Long War was.

“Anyway,” Big Bob said, breaking the awkward atmosphere, “On to other topics, but this is the first time I’ve seen you get rid of that guise fully! Well, good luck getting back into that thing after you let lose! To think you would willingly confine yourself into a human body, that's too extreme, even for me!”

“Sorry about that, Q.” I apologized, choosing to ignore Bob for now, “It’s been a very long time since I was able to get rid of that human form fully. I almost lost control for a second.”

“It’s all good, Lord Walter,” Q answered nervously, “But it would be a good idea if you were to go back to Xolloid to get rid of some of that excess energy, yes?”

“Of course,” I said with a laugh, and turned my attention back on Xalla.

Now that I’ve adjusted fully to the Xollon form, I noticed that Rogue was right, and she actually was pretty cute. Her short head fringes gave her a tomboyish look, and her colouration was quite pleasing to the eye. The various scars dancing along her limbs showcased a long career as an accomplished huntress, and her maw was a very adorable oval shape. I have no idea how I missed such an obvious fact in my human form.

“Well then Xalla, shall we get this date started?” I said, feeling more confident than ever before.

"Yes! Please take care of me, Walter!" She said, before heading off to get changed out of her uniform.

I met up with Xalla a short time after, and I had already excused myself after promising Big Bob and Rolgath that I would take some time to properly chat with them later. I was still distracted marveling at my new body. It was definitely something I could get used to.

“Sorry for making you wait, Watt.” Xalla’s said, and I turned my gaze in her direction. She had taken off her strange security uniform from earlier and was now wrapped in some kind of viscous suit. It was dark and bent the light around it and seemed to flow around her form like syrup. I guess Xollon fashion was going to take me a bit longer to get used to than the Xollon form itself.

“No worries,” I said, giving her a smile, “and I love the outfit.”

She blushed, “Thanks, I had saved this one for a special occasion.”

I walked over to her and wrapped a feeler around one of hers. She twitched a little at first, but then relaxed and squeezed me a bit tighter.

“Shall we get going?”

She nodded, and with her free hand, made a gash in spacetime, and we walked through the opening. We arrived in a busy looking transit station. I was expecting something more… alien, strange perhaps? Instead, this place looked pretty much identical to a well used train platform. Sure the people waiting for a ride were all kinds of weird, and the vehicles that passed by were slightly too large, but that was it. I was almost disappointed.

“Come on, Watt. Our ride’s this way.” Xalla said, dragging me towards one of the platforms. This one was oddly empty, with only a few other Xollon sitting down waiting. I felt the other passengers’ gaze on me, but they quickly retracted their glance when they noticed Xalla’s rather intense disapproval.

The train, or whatever interdimensional equivalent of a train it was, arrived soon after, and we all boarded. Once again, the train was normal looking, and there were very few passengers in here. I guess people don’t want to visit Xolloid. Wait, I was pretty sure I told myself that I would never do the same. Well, there goes that plan.

Still, I had to ensure that this date with Xalla went as well as possible, and I was reviewing everything I had learned and experienced in my head. I remembered all the dating advice my friends had given me, all the psychological tricks needed to ensure that you were well liked, and an ungodly amount of internet articles and self-help books on the subject that I had consumed.

I wasn’t sure what Xolloid had in store for me, but hopefully I could bullshit my way through it. I needed Xalla’s help to make sure that I survived, and to be honest, I did kind of like her despite myself. I just hope everything goes well.

I hardly noticed the small talk Xalla was making given how nervous I was, and it wasn’t until the train pulled to a full stop did I focus my attention once again, and fell into the role that I needed to play.