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Ren walked toward the operating room, his footsteps silent on the clinic floor.
He could hear voices inside. Two people, maybe three. One was speaking into what sounded like a communication device.
"Yes, there is certainly a trace of Law here," the voice said. Male, middle-aged, with the careful enunciation of someone used to making reports. "The residual energy is unmistakable. The Doctor has achieved something significant."
Ren reached the door and opened it.
Adrian lay on the operating table, still unconscious. His newly regenerated skin was intact, but his face was twisted in pain even in sleep. Something had happened to him.
Standing over Adrian was a man in dark robes. He held a communication device in one hand and had the other pressed against Adrian's forehead. The man's eyes widened when he saw Ren enter.
"And the soldier here is unconscious," the cultist continued speaking into the device, his eyes never leaving Ren. "Some sort of power fried his brain. I think it's the power of Law. The mental pressure from the transformation must have overwhelmed him."
Ren stepped fully into the room, his ten red tentacles writhing behind him. The plague doctor mask tilted slightly as he regarded the cultist.
"You're in my clinic," Ren said. His new voice was deeper, resonant. "Uninvited."
The cultist slowly lowered the communication device. He was tall, perhaps in his fifties, with greying hair and a face that might have been handsome once. His dark robes were adorned with symbols that hurt to look at directly, geometric patterns that seemed to shift when observed too closely.
"Dr. Nox, I presume?" The cultist's voice was calm, respectful even. "Forgive the intrusion. We've been waiting for you."
"Waiting for me. In my operating room. Standing over my patient."
"Your patient will be fine. The mental damage is temporary. He'll wake in a few hours with nothing more than a headache." The cultist set down the communication device and turned to face Ren fully. "My name is Brother Wilhelm. I'm an executive of the Children of the Mother Goat. We've been observing you for some time, Doctor."
"I noticed. The surveillance wasn't exactly subtle."
"It wasn't meant to be. We wanted you to know we were interested." Wilhelm smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "You've accomplished something remarkable tonight. The residual Law energy in this building is unmistakable. You've touched something cosmic, haven't you? Achieved a transformation that few ever survive."
Ren said nothing, studying the cultist carefully.
Wilhelm's smile widened. "We have our theories, of course. The nature of your work, the modifications you've made to yourself, the way you've pushed beyond human limitations. We believe you may have touched the Mother's domain. The Law of Fertility. The Law of Endless Propagation. Is that not so?"
"Your theories are your own business," Ren replied evenly.
"Modest. I appreciate that." Wilhelm took a step forward. "But whether you acknowledge it or not, Dr. Nox, you carry something inside you now. Something that may connect you to Her. To the Mother. To Shub-Niggurath herself."
The name hung in the air between them.
"You worship the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young," Ren said. "One of the Outer Gods."
"We serve Her. We prepare the way for Her return. And you, Doctor, may be the final piece." Wilhelm reached into his robes and pulled out something small and dark. A vial, filled with thick black liquid that seemed to move on its own. "But first, we need to be certain. We need to test whether you truly have been touched by the Mother's power."
Ren's tentacles tensed. "Test me?"
"A simple verification. If you've truly touched the Law of the Mother, Her essence will recognize you. Accept you. Merge with you harmoniously." Wilhelm uncorked the vial. The black liquid inside began to bubble. "This contains a fragment of the Mother's power. A tiny piece of Her divine essence."
"And if I haven't touched whatever Law you think I have?"
"Then you'll mutate and die. Horribly. Within seconds. Your flesh will rebel against itself, spawning growths and tumors until nothing remains but undifferentiated tissue."
Ren stared at the vial. "That's not much of a test. That's just murder with extra steps."
"That's faith, Doctor. The Mother does not accept the unworthy."
Before Ren could respond, Wilhelm moved. Fast. Faster than an A-rank should be able to move. He closed the distance in an instant and pressed his hand against the top of Ren's head.
The black liquid poured from the vial directly onto Ren's skull.
Power surged through Ren's body immediately. Not his power. Something else. Something ancient and vast and impossibly fecund. It felt like being touched by life itself, raw and unfiltered, the kind of life that spawned a thousand young, that proliferated without end, that knew no boundaries or limits.
The Law of Fertility. The Law of Endless Propagation.
Ren could feel it trying to force its way into his body, to merge with his cells, to rewrite his biology on a fundamental level. If this power was hostile, if it viewed him as an enemy, he would mutate. His flesh would rebel against itself, spawning cancerous growths and tumors until he was nothing but a mass of undifferentiated tissue.
But the power wasn't hostile.
It was curious. Friendly, even. Probing at him gently, testing his nature.
Ren made a split-second decision and let it in.
The power flooded through him, mixing with his own Law of Identity and Skin. The two forces circled each other, probing, testing compatibility. And to Ren's surprise, they found it. The Law of Fertility and the Law of Identity weren't opposed. They complemented each other. Creation and transformation. Birth and change.
The scene around Ren changed.
The operating room vanished. Wilhelm vanished. Everything vanished.
Ren found himself standing in a dark forest.
Trees towered overhead, their branches twisted and gnarled, blocking out whatever sky might exist above. The air was thick with the smell of damp earth and growing things. In the distance, he could hear sounds. Bleating. Crying. The sounds of young being born.
The haunted calls of goats echoed through the forest, but they didn't sound threatening. They sounded welcoming.
Ren turned slowly, taking in his surroundings. This wasn't a real place. This was a vision. A mental space created by the Mother's essence.
Then he saw her.
A woman emerged from between the trees, walking toward him with slow, deliberate steps.
She was beautiful in a way that bypassed rational thought and went straight for the hindbrain. Her skin was dark grey, smooth and flawless. Her hair was long and black, falling in waves past her shoulders. Two massive curving horns rose from her head, elegant and powerful, ridged like a mountain goat's.
She wore dark clothing that emphasized rather than concealed. A crop top that exposed her midriff. Tight pants. A fur-lined coat draped over her shoulders. Everything about her projected both power and sensuality in equal measure.
Her eyes were golden with vertical pupils. They fixed on Ren with an intensity that made him acutely aware of his own body's reactions.
She walked toward him with a swaying gait that was impossible to ignore. Her hips moved with each step, drawing the eye. Her figure strained against the fabric of her clothing.
And Ren, despite everything, despite the cosmic horror and the eldritch nonsense and the fact that this was probably a fragment of an Outer God, felt his body respond.
Fuck. Is this being related to fertility?
Of course she was. The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. The All-Mother. The goddess of endless propagation. Fertility was her domain, and she was weaponizing it.
The woman reached Ren and didn't stop. She pressed against him, her body soft and warm. One hand reached up to cup his face through the plague doctor mask. The other slid around his waist, pulling him closer.
Ren could feel everything. The softness of her body. The warmth of her skin. The pressure of her chest against his.
Then she pulled him down and pressed his face between her breasts, squeezing him with her arms.
The sensation was overwhelming. Softness surrounded him on all sides. Warmth enveloped him. He could barely breathe, barely think. His body responded on a purely instinctual level, blood rushing places it shouldn't, hormones flooding his system without his permission.
Fuck, I have to escape. Shit, shit, shit.
But his body wasn't listening to his mind anymore. The fertility power was affecting him on a biological level, overriding conscious control.
Then she leaned close to his ear and whispered in the sweetest voice he'd ever heard.
The words were incomprehensible. They weren't in any human language. They were sounds that predated language, syllables that carried meaning directly into his brain without needing translation.
"Y̴o̶u̵ ̷a̵r̴e̶ ̶#̴̵%̵^̶&̵%̴^̵^̶&̴M̷a̴d̸n̴e̷s̵s̸#̵ ̸%̶^̷&̸%̸^̶^̴&̸M̸i̷n̵e̴^̶&̵*̶(̶ ̵I̴ ̴h̸a̶v̴e̴ ̵m̶i̵s̵s̵e̶d̴ ̵y̸o̴u̷"
The words didn't make sense but they contained concepts human minds weren't built to process. Madness. Possession. Longing. All mixed together in a way that bypassed rational thought entirely.
Then she tilted his head up and kissed him.
Her lips were soft and warm. The kiss was gentle at first, then deeper, more insistent. Ren felt something flow from her mouth into his, something that tasted like honey and rot and spring flowers all at once.
His mind went blank.