You stand before the mirror, marveling at your new body. The dust of a thousand thousand stars swirls in some mad pattern, writhing beneath your clothes. Your face is as you remember it; pale and taut, with eyes sunken like the dead city of R'lyeh. Superficially, they still have pupils, but a closer look would reveal your eyes are but a reflection of the universe.
You touch your face, or attempt to at least. Your gloved fingers pass through as if your visage were air, stirring up astral dust. It reforms swiftly. For a second, you feel hollow.
But only for a second.
-
It took time, but you've landed a job at Miskatonic High as a physics teacher. To conceal your incorporeal form, you always wear a long lab-coat, surgical gloves, and a long wig. You were subject to some ridicule at first, but at least none ran screaming from you.
Your first day introduced you as Mr. Ed Astra, teacher of senior physics with a focus on astronomy. Though you aren't as skilled as a pedagogue as you are as an astronomer yet, you've managed to engage a good portion of your students in your lessons.
As the weeks passed, some students quickly became disinterested as the fresh-start-enthusiasm wore off. However, your instruction and subtle way of revealing It's secrets have gotten a hold on a handful of prospective students.
Once a month, you would take your class to the observatory where you would explain the nature of the cosmos and entice them with its mysteries. Some fooled around and played with the equipment, and were otherwise bored. However, the handful of prospects seem to be truly enticed.
And tonight, on your unofficial trip to go star-gazing, you will reveal That of the Stars to them.
-
"Set it up, right over there," you instruct them. Your eyes never leave the sky, and you can feel it staring back. "Tonight's gonna be a good night, guys."
"Yeah, Mr. A, I know it will," says Jon, arm wrapped around his girlfriend Amy. "Don't you think so?" he asks her, moving in.
She moves in as well. Although the couple are known to have been bullies, you've seen definite improvement since their involvement in your classes. "I know so," she replies.
"Hey, save it for after, guys," you say with a smile. "We've only got a small window to see this."
"See what, Mr. Astra?" asks Randal. A keen and eager student with good grades, if a bit sickly. "A comet?"
"I hope it's a comet," mumbles Sky. She's been a problem student in her classes, save yours. She's excelled in yours so much that her other teachers think she's cheating. You know better.
"Something better," you promise.
You take off your lab-coat, your gloves, and your wig. The four students watch with mouths agape as your body swirls in unknown colors, and your face dissolves slowly into dust. Jon tries to grab you as you drift into the sky, but you assure him this is part of the plan. The stars twinkle, then shine brightly and painfully. The moon disappears and returns, as if blinking.
You reach the zenith of your ascendance and commune with That of the Stars, and he reveals to you much that you didn't know. It has watched the four of the students since their births, and knows what they do under the cover of night. And now, so do you.
You descend and envelop them, and with the silent language of space reveal to them their truths. They weep. They weep in fear. They weep in sadness. They weep because now they understand. You pluck them from the ground and take them far beyond the Earth, beyond the moon, the sun, and the stars. Beyond the dreamscapes of Ib and unknown Kadath. Beyond the Gate, and beyond time.
You show them only a glimpse of That of the Stars of Deep and Gloaming, for only a glimpse could any of you handle.
Only a glimpse is needed.
-
A month passed after that ordeal, and nightly you convene as a cult in the Arkham countryside. Jon, Amy, Randal, and Sky; these four now know of That of the Stars, and now they wish to see more than a glimpse.
That of the Stars has not given any other instructions; perhaps it still wants you to 'grow'. How? Do you continue recruiting more to the cult? Do you acquire better equipment? Do you expand your knowledge through dedicated study?
----
Members:
Aedis Astra / Astronomer
Jon Jackson / Student
Amy Watson / Student
Randy Stevens / Student
Sky Samson / Student
Holdings:
Aedis' House, Arkham
Astronomy Equipment
Body: Fine
Mind: Fine
Reputation: High-school teacher
Possessions of Note:
Strange Astrolabe
Traits:
Thing's Body (Aedis' body is incorporeal, rendering him nigh-immune to mundane dangers. However, he must always wear concealing clothing if he wishes to show himself in the mundane world. Only his face is corporeal to the mortal eye, and should wear a hat or hood to conceal his hollow head.)
It is Dead.
It communicates in astronomic messages. It has commanded you to 'grow'.
(Not much else is known.)
Author
Topic: [SG] Something Secret (Read 2963 times)