The most amazing and attractive feature of this city was, of course, cats. They ran, lay, sat, played, and washed, creating an irresistible image of endless kawai. Unable to resist, I sat down on a small stone parapet near the road and began to stroke the kitten that came under my hands. Seeing her stunned face, other cats began to collect around me, also wanting attention and affection. Ten minutes later I sat surrounded by an affectionate purring army, which pleased me with one look, not to mention a soft fur and velvety purring.

Suddenly, a guy about eighteen years old approached to me, and addressed to me in a concerned voice.

"Traveler, you are in danger! These incarnations of the wild kawai seek to subdue you. If you don't come to your senses, you will spend the rest of eternity stroking them, scratching their tummy, and carrying them in your arms and performing all their whims. Traveler, I'm willing to sacrifice my life for your future. Don't miss this chance. Run!

With these words, the boy spread his arms and fell flat on his back on the ground. The cats that sat next to me immediately jumped on him and began to rub, purring and licking their prey. I looked to freed 'path to salvation', looked at the cat lying on my hand, and ... continued scratching its throat. Heroic sacrifice deed of my 'saviour' was lost when more cats gathered around.

Finally, after a few hours, I satisfied my passion for feline tenderness, carefully put the cats hanging on me to the side, then flew to the boy and dug him out from under a whole purring blanket. The happy face of this 'savior' said that he did not want to be saved.

“You still need to grow above yourself to develop immunity to the all-consuming kawai.” - I told him, putting him on the ground in a place where the concentration of cats per square meter was minimal. Even so, as soon as he regained consciousness, one of the cats jumped into his arms and demanded to be caressed.

"Thank you, traveler.” - The boy nodded, accepting the position of cat caresser and beginning to perform his duty. - "I will remember your iron will, so that one day I may be as great as you."

I just laughed at this statement.

"My name is Minakis" - The guy said.

“Freddy Krueger. Tell me, Minakis, where in this city can I find the Eternal Seeress?"

"Eternal Seeress?" – He re-asked. – “Never heard of it. There are no seers, fortune-tellers, or clairvoyants in our city. The only thing that Ulthar is famous for is cats and the fact that very strange people sometimes stay in the local hotel... like you.”

"Hmm…" - I grunted discontentedly.

"I think if you're looking for someone, you'd better ask Atal, the priest of the Weak Gods, about them. You can find him in the temple on the main square of the city.” - Added boy, after a bit thinking.

"Thank you for your advice.” - I smiled, watching as the cat enjoy in the hands of the interlocutor. After that, I mercilessly turned around and left him to languish in eternal slavery of these furry, heartless creatures.

The temple and the priest were found quickly enough. Actually, it was difficult to make a mistake, because the temple was the most visible building in the square, and the priest was the only person in the temple. Actually, the temple was a small rectangular structure, inside which there was only one large hall. There were several benches and a large white altar, next to which sat a priest dressed in a typical Greek chlamydia.

"Hello, are you Atal?" - I asked a man who was reading a book. He closed his Talmud and turned his gaze on me.

“Yes. What can I do for you?"

"I need to meet the Eternal Seeress."

"Well, she said you will come. Follow me."

Putting the book aside, Atal rose from the bench and walked to the altar. Going behind it, he pressed on an invisible ledge, and a passage opened in the altar, from which the spirit of mystery and mystique wafted. After descending the stairs, we wandered for some time through a tangled labyrinth of dungeons.

"Seeress doesn't like uninvited guests?" - I asked, looking around and memorizing the road.

"You can meet her only if she wants to." - The priest agreed. - "That's the deal.”

What the deal was, who and with whom, he tactfully omitted. After a couple of minutes, we finally came to a doorway curtained with a frayed rag. Pushing this peculiar door aside, I entered a small room. Inside I saw an elderly woman sitting at a low table. The walls of the room were lined with cabinets and shelves piled high with various kinds of junk. Mostly it was all sorts of small trinkets, such as amulets 'for good luck' or 'to protect against the evil eye'. After a quick look around the room, I sat down on a low pouf just opposite the table. The priest remained outside, so I could get right to the point.

“Good day.” - I greeted her. - "Being told me to give you this item as payment for certain services.” - I gave order to the parasite, and it pushed out a glowing ball, which landed neatly on the table and turned into a dried piece of something very disgusting to look at.

“Heart of the Phoenix.” – Seeress nodded sympathetically. She picked up my 'gift', examined it, and then without looking threw it behind her somewhere in the bowels of the cabinet standing there. - "This is what Being wanted to buy.”

She raised her hand like a boat and blew on it, and a stream of luminous fluff fell from her hand, which gathered into another luminous ball, shimmering with a mysterious flickering light. It hung in front of me, pretending to be a laser show balloon, because the colored lights it emitted were running erratically around the walls of the room.

"What is it?" - I asked.

“These are the coordinates of the location where a powerful game figure has imprisoned which belongs to Being now.”

"Did Being want know these coordinates?" - I puzzled asked. There was clearly a pitfall.

"Why would a Player need that?" - The woman laughed. – “It knows perfectly well where its game pieces are located. Moreover, Being personally imprisoned this game figure. However, at that moment it did not belong to Being.”

Cockroaches start run fast in my head, making simple calculations. If Being doesn't need this information, then I need it. Well, at least that's what it thinks. And considering its hints about my proactive initiative, it becomes clear that Being wants me to release this figure. However, Being cannot or does not have right to openly issue such order. It can only count on my initiative. Here's a tricky bug.

"Can you tell me about this place?" - I nodded at the shining ball, carefully picking it up and wondering what to do with it next.

"There are many souls in the Universe whose power does not allow them to be imprisoned so easily, and it is wasteful to simply destroy them.” – Seeress start her story. - "A special prison was created for such rebels. This city in the Dream World is named as Unknown Kadath. As you can see, ordinary magic doesn't work in the dream world. Moreover, in Kadath does not work any type of magic ... except for the magic of probabilities. Purpose of this prison is to keep souls of the greatest criminals, geniuses, and idiots. The rules of this place are such that it is almost impossible to reach there. The only way is to use Stargate by dialing a special address on it. Time in prison flows in a circle, so you can get to Kadath only once. Even the gods can't get there twice. To free someone, you need to get to the captive and find a key to open the cage. There aren't many strong probability mages in the world, and no one will let them to wander around this prison. Well, exit from the Unknown Kadath is quite simple. All you need to do is use Stargate again to move to another place in the dream world.”

After listening to this detailed explanation, I even felt a little ashamed. She told everything which I had to do, step by step... by my own initiative, yeah. Well, since I'm here, I need to extract maximum benefit from this situation. Before me a person who clearly knows quite a lot. I don't think Being will be offended if I 'at its expense' ask a few questions.

“Can you tell me what kind of parasite is registered in my soul, and how to get rid of it?” - I asked my most vital question.

The woman smiled sadly and shook her head.

"Do you know who Cthulhu is?" - She answered the question to my question.

“Uh-uh…” - I was taken aback by the unexpected change of topic of conversation. - "It's a huge sea monster that sleeps at the bottom of the sea. And when it wakes up, it will destroy the whole world." – I said known history.

"That's not quite true.” - Seeress shook her head. - "You're only talking about the most famous Cthulhu, the very first of them. Cthulhu is not a name, but a position. This is what the priests of Azathoth are called. This greatest of the Other Gods dwells in the very depths of Chaos and endlessly devours worlds and their inhabitants. But sometimes Azathoth wants to eat something delicious, and then his priests will come to aid to Azathoth. They grab the souls of mortals and hand them over to their master. Initially, the priests of Azathoth were his devoted followers. But his insatiable hunger led to the fact that most of the priests were devoured by him even before they had time to sacrifice someone. And then the Great God of Chaos, the all-powerful Azathoth, began to separate parts of himself, making them his priests. When such Cthulhu devours a soul, it goes straight to the stomach of Azathoth, where the rest of eternity will be digested. However, these separated parts are not enough smart, so, they are placed in the soul of the hosts, who must decide who is worthy to be sacrificed to Other God, and who is not. As you understand, Azathoth is the most powerful god in the universe. Only the Lord of the Order, Yog-Sothoth, can compare with him. Knowing this power, no one will agree to help you get rid of Cthulhu in your soul. After all, this will be a direct insult of Azathoth and a manifestation of rebellion against the Higher Powers. Any such attempt will end only with the fact that Azathoth personally devours the insolent, using the separate part of himself. I hope, are you understand that now?"

Spoiler: Images

Azathoth:

Cthulhu:

Yog-Sothoth:

Yog-Sothoth: