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Whumptober 2021
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2021-10-01
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2021-10-31
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Whump on Azeroth

Chapter 15: Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever (N'zoth)

Summary:

15. Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever
Prompt: Fever dreams

Takes place during the Ny'alotha patch in BfA.

Notes:

I haven’t slept in 24 hours, I have an essay to finish by tomorrow and my brain isn’t currently online. Some cracky, non-proofread whump about a fish-god is all I can do for you guys today. Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter Text

N’zoth was having a terrible afternoon. Somehow, despite being an all-powerful Old God, he had managed to catch a fever from one of the adventurers who had breached his precious city of Ny’alotha and, with the help of a pesky little dragon who had unfortunately escaped, attacked him.  

The “heroes” had obviously died almost immediately. But the biological weapon one of them had been carrying had jumped right from the corpse into the god.  

And so, it was left for Dark Inquisitor Xanesh, who had barely escaped the raiders with her life, to take care of the feverish god.  

She was not enjoying the duty.  

“My God, you know the saying “feed a cold, starve a fever”, right?”  

“I hunger...”  

“Yes, but for the thirteenth time: you’ll get better much quicker if we starve the fever.”  

“You would deny your God his wish?”  

“You wished me to get you back to your health as soon as possible, did you not?”  

“I... I did.”  

“And what’s the fastest way to accomplish that?”  

“I cannot eat until the fever breaks?”  

“You said it, N’zoth,” Xanesh grinned and lifted her thumbs up where the dweller of the deep could see them. Finally, she had cornered him.  

“I hunger...”  

Needless to say, Xanesh’s joy didn’t last that long.  

 

Eventually, the conjurer of nightmares fell asleep, and for the first time in forever, he himself dreamt.   

It was not a happy dream: one almost as dark as those he thrust upon the Azerothians.  

In his dream, N’zoth was a little, curious fish, travelling all over the planet flying inside a bubble of water. He was a happy fish: the Dream’zoth enjoyed seeing all the vivid, different colors around the planet: beautiful light blue Dragonblight, unnaturally bright green Feralas, oddly purplish Krasarang Wilds and so much more!  

And then the colors died.   

Dream’zoth was left alone, floating inside his bubble, on a jet-black, deserted desert. It was void of anything that would have made the sight bearable: no trees, people, rocks or even a twig in sight. Just obsidian sand and endless, clear yet starless black skies.   

At that point, everything went downhill for the little fish.  

As he floated in the emptiness, pondering his life choices and wondering if they had led him there, in an empty world, all alone, with nothing, a flicker of light appeared. And a voice.  

“N’zoth,” it whispered.  

The fish couldn’t answer since it didn’t have vocal cords.  

“You killed me. It was your very existence that led me to my agonizing demise, ripping me away from my son. My people. My kingdom.”  

Another light appeared, yet again accompanied by a voice.  

“Because of you I lost everything! I devoted my life to destroying you, hurting everyone I had ever cared about in the process... losing everyone I cared about. You caused that!”  

A third light appeared, light green and slightly larger than the previous ones, with a much softer voice.  

“Are you proud of what you have done? All the chaos you have caused? The destruction, the deaths? Was it all according to your vision?”  

The voices appeared all around him, morphing into one singular mess, bombarding him with yelled insults and whispered accusations. Ocassionally, Dream’zoth could make out a few independent sentences.  

“You drove me to wreak havoc on the very world I vowed to protect!”  

“You took my family away from me!”  

“You destroyed my home!”  

“Because of you, my life ended before it could even truly begin.”  

“Because of your actions, I had to sacrifice  everything !”  

“Is that what a God is supposed to do?”  

“You had one job, and you failed at it!”  

“Gods are supposed to protect, to care, and to aid their followers, not drive them into conquering worlds just for their own amusement!”  

“Why do you have to destroy everything!?”  

“What do you gain from this all?”  

“Is this the world you wanted to create?”  

Then, one of the lights, a dark, almost black glimmer amongst all the colors, flew at Dream’zoth. It burst his bubble and dashed right through his fish-ribs, leaving them with a searing pain. Another light charged at him, then another and another. With each hit, the fish’s insides felt like they were set on fire, a fire that never fully extinguished before the next ball of gasoline flew at it, feeding the pain with a new burst of flames.  

 

N’zoth woke up screaming. Naturally, everyone in Ny'alotha had heard that noise, and they were wondering whether their god was going crazy or dying, most hoping for the latter in secrecy. He wasn’t very popular even amongst his followers.  

The last words from the god’s dream were still stuck on his head after he awoke and forgot most of the dream.  

“Is this the world you wanted to create?”  

He was a god, for Y'Shaarj’s sake!   

N’zoth could still remember the days he and the other Old Gods ruled Azeroth... it wasn’t a pretty sight. N’zoth had never fully agreed with the others, especially C’thun, that weird eyeball. The empire they build was build on death and suffering. And now, N’zoth was building one of his own, mirroring the terrible world he had once co-ruled.  

With the other Old Gods gone... why was he doing it again? Was he still trying to please them?  

“My God, are you well?” his temporary caretaker interrupted N’zoth’s thoughts with her worrying. The god couldn’t smile since he had no face, so he flayed his tentacled around in excitement.  

“Better than ever. My fever has given me... insight.”  

“Oh? Dare I ask what you mean?”  

“We need to change our course,” the god stated solemnly. “No more shall Azeroth suffer at the hands of the Old Gods. Rather, I will look after the world, make it a better place for all and thus, fix the damage me and my brethren have done.”  

“Uhh, okay?” the hesitant torturer shrugged. “I suppose if that’s your will, I have no choice but to obey. So, how do we do this?”  

 

Unfortunately, the next day a band of adventurers that hadn’t heard about N’zoth’s change of heart stormed the city, murdering every single worshipper, servant and being they encountered, including the god whose whispers about his new ways were promptly ignored. An eternal being such as him couldn’t change his mind in a day, they thought. It was a bluff, they thought.  

Yet a seed of doubt lingered inside the heroes' minds. 

Was it?