“Since you have already stumbled your way into my base of operations, I assume that means you have grown more comfortable in your role here.”

“No!” screamed Zula. “I already said I wasn’t going to be your chosen! Especially not after seeing whatever it was I just saw in there.”

“It was a glimpse of my home. My true home. Unfortunately, it is only a visual replica of an eternal memory. If I could simply break through those walls and reach it, I would have done so eons ago. It is the only reminder I have now.”

“I-I’m sorry.” For the first time since arriving, the priestess had felt guilt at her insincere attitude. “It was a truly beautiful landscape. Like something you would see only in dreams. But you can imagine how frightening a sight that would be to a human psyche.”

“Then it is a good thing you are a being who was once solely devoted to madness. Your mind is more resistant to these images than most.” Derleth motioned for her to step inside with him. “Come. Let us analyze this object together.”

As they stepped into the otherworldly room once more, Zula looked around with a more discerning eye. She walked closer to one of the icy walls and took in the view. The enormity of the frozen realm once ruled by Derleth was breathtaking.

“What are those creatures of such immense scale?” She asked, pointing to one of the wandering titans. “I never imagined something of that size could possibly exist. How it could possibly exist.”

“They are creatures that formed naturally from the drip essence of my dreams. They have no conscious thought. They simply roam the landscape aimlessly, following some half-formed instinct to live.”

“What do you dream about…?”

A long silence followed before the eldritch man finally answered. “Of a time before time. An ancient past from an unfathomed aeon. Of the world I was born. A planet yet unbidden. When my mind and soul were still at odds. But the dreams escape me now. A memory of a memory.”

“It sounds as if you've lived a terribly lonely existence.” The priestess instinctively reached out to him in consolation before swiftly stopping herself.

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Derleth raised a large finger, and through some unknown force, raised a chunk of the floor to form a table in front of him. He placed the black slab on top and hovered his hand over it. His arm jerked and twitched frighteningly until several jagged shards of ice sprouted violently from his black veins. Dozens of small frozen chunks fell to the table with a sharp klink before skittering around like insects.

The image filled Zulema with an uneasy disgust. She wondered what other sickening surprises he had up his monstrous sleeve.

“What exactly are those abhorrent things?” She hesitated to point at them as they crawled all over the object.

“They are remnants of me, sculpted from my frozen blood. They can detect and analyze information etched deep within the makeup of an object. It is quite violent and intrusive and it does run the risk of destroying whatever it is they attempt to analyze, but it is the surest way I can attain the information I need.”

“And this is all for the sake of Sarracas?” she asked, somewhat skeptical. “Do you truly care so much for this planet of ours?”

“Yes.” Derleth's eyes were darting back and forth over the object. “I have shirked my duties for far too long. I may no longer be this universe’s guardian, but no more can I see it corrupted while I still live.”

“Surely, I understand a sense of duty, but something smells off to me. You claim to have been the guardian of this entire universe, yet there is some blatant favoritism at work here. Why my world specifically? And why were you banished here? What fuck up on the grand cosmic scale did you commit to lose such a significant position?”

“I… committed a grievous sin. I broke a cardinal rule among my people, the Elder Dwellers.” There was a hesitation in his voice. Something Zula never expected to hear from him. “I fell in love with a mortal. Fraternization, however, is strictly prohibited between us and the lower life forms that inhabit our worlds.”

“You f-fell in love?” Zula covered her blushing cheeks. “Was she beautiful? Smart? Talented? What was she like? How did a human manage to melt your icy heart?”

“If you mean to ask how it was that I came to love her, that is a long story best forgotten.”

Zula looked around, stretched both hands out in front of her, and put all her energy into forming a makeshift stool of ice. It didn’t look as natural as she wanted it to, but it would make do. She sat on it and crossed her legs, smiling. “Well. If you’re going to keep me trapped here against my will, you might as well keep me entertained, you abominable man.”

He clenched his fist in the air, breaking the concentration he held on his investigative constructs and forcing them to dematerialize. He walked over to one of the frozen walls of his room and peered into the frozen memory of Wiindigookaanzhimowin, his ancient realm. “Back when I watched over this universe, I would very rarely, at times, make myself known. Most especially to the green-marked ones that turned from their elfmother Artemaia, and instead worshipped me.”