Chapter Text
The Old One had been abiding for as long as anyone held memory, including the three small turritopsis dohrnii who had shared water with The Being before. He would appear regularly, and they always felt the change in the water. It grew heavier, thicker. Everything warned of his presence. Mud seemed to hang more presently in the water, and the little jelly fish would sometimes get stuck in the thickness, having to wait for him to leave to be able to float freely again.
The Being was there long before them as each one acknowledged. So they wisely kept their own council anytime he was present. They merely floated and were each careful not to think any thoughts at all.
As the years passed, the little jelly fish were surprised to observe how every other creature disappeared. One by one. The only one who did not: The Old One.
Perhaps that had always made sense, but when they were certain he was not around they would think to each other, Is it not a little strange? He continues on. With no change.
Certainly, his power was mythic in the truest sense. Even they had heard of the many times the Being had tortured the human creatures. Most of the animals agreed that it was no great loss. The human creatures had a certain arrogance that was tiresome. Nevertheless, the Old One’s ability to take from them the very thing they held sacrosanct, the very thing that made them see themselves as superior to all others. The irony was delicious.
So, the Being abided. All things passed and changed around him. But he remained the same. The wee jelly fish hardly knew what to make of his fearsome shape because truthfully many things felt fearsome to them. But they held a certain fondness for him. That was certain.
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The Old One did not think much about time. Or the passage of it. Or how rulers and governance had changed around him as each year passed. It all felt very much the same to him – whether the year was 1066 or 1653 or 1778 (as indeed it actually was). He merely persisted and watched the world turn around him, as it inevitably did.
However, a small event that should have amounted to nothing at all, changed everything for the Being in a way he could never anticipate.
He was crouched quite comfortably in a large cave, letting his tenacles creep all around them. They often had minds of their own, and the Old One was happy to let them do as they would. He shook his head, pushing more heavy air into the cave and thick mud pooled anywhere his body touched the ground. It became a rich loam that left pockets of startling life anywhere he had been.
He was a favorite of the area by all animals, but they instinctively gave him as much space as possible. He had no other companions than his tentacles, which really did not offer much, if he was honest with himself.
As he was abiding, a sudden shout pulled him into focusing on the present moment around him. A wee, tiny human creature popped his head into the cave and let out a shocking barbaric yawlp that startled the Being.
The creature was a tiny male child who could not have been on this earth for more than a few years. He shouted again and jumped into the cave. But the wee creature had miscalculated his jump and slid on the muddy floor and almost cracked his head against some rocks. Typically, the Old One would have allowed this to happen, but the child’s exuberance resonated with the Being and so just before disaster occurred for the child, he caught him.
The child froze, wrapped in tentacles that were setting him upright, staring deep into the uncanny eyes of the Being.
Perhaps this is not the kindest thing for the child, the Old One thought as he anticipated the crazed response, he had seen so many times on other human creatures faces. But the child merely laughed and reached out his hands with grabbing motions to the Being. He blinked at the child. And he did something he was not sure he had ever done before, the Old One smiled.
They spent the afternoon together with the child chattering away to the Being. It ended when someone called for the child with clear fear in their voice. Wise. They know to stay away from my presence.
“I have to go, or I’ll be in trouble.” The child announced with sorrow. “Will you be my friend? I don’t have many and my sisters make fun of me. They say I’m too im’ture.”
The Being looked in confusion at the tiny human in front of him. Friend? It was a word he had heard before. It was a concept he could easily understand on its surface, but he found that he did not know what it really meant in a lived out way.
Something in him moved. He wanted to be this wee child’s friend.
Yes. I have rested too long. This could be fun. His tentacles whipped in excitement.
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Before the Being pulled on his human skin he was carefully working on crafting, he made sure to find the wee human’s family. The Bingleys were a boisterous family who were eking out a small living. But the Being wanted his new friend, his only friend, to be well cared for. So, he blessed the family, staying nearby to observe that they were shockingly wealthy in comparison to their neighbors. His new friend would be well cared for.
Now I need to find a family for myself. I can hardly make his acquaintance if I am just existing as my typical self.
He sought out a couple as close to his territory as he could. That will make me close to the wee one as well. He soon stumbled upon the perfect family. They had an excellent reputation in the area, but could not have children, even though they both desperately wanted them.
He carefully pulled on his human skin, making sure to make himself just a little older than his new friend. He presented as a sweet four-year-old that was wandering the estate of the couple he found. They were overjoyed and through the Being’s persuasion they did not ask too many questions. They took measures so that people would not realize the child was merely adopted, getting a whole new staff, and the Old One settled into his strange new life.
The rules confused him, but he found that he enjoyed being held and loved by the sweet couple. He allowed himself to age as any human creature would. His new body felt strange to him and sometimes the human skin barely contained his hooves and tentacles. Every now and then he simply had to be the Being again. He would sneak out of the manor quietly, get into the woods near the water, wherever the mud would not be surprising to find, and let the human skin tear away. He would shake his mane and growl and huff and hiss to his heart’s content. Each time he would stamp his hoof on the ground or pull a tree branch to the side with his tentacle the earth would be blessed and renewed. The area of Derbyshire flourished and everyone who had contact with the estate found that things went well for them.
However, the Being’s biggest gift, he gave to his adopted mother, who he found he loved most of all. He helped heal what was wrong with her so that eventually he had a sister: Georgiana.
He worked hard to hide his power in his new life, but every now and then it would pour out of him. Typically, that just meant blessing to all the people of Pemberley and Derbyshire, but sometimes it meant more.
Life passed pleasantly, as he had been able to renew his friendship with Charles Bingley. When they finally saw each other again, the Old One was sure not to mention who he really was, and he was overjoyed that Charles still wanted him to be his friend.
Friends were one of his favorite aspects of being a human creature. He loved to play with all the kids on the estate, although he was surprised to find how much the Old One did not like one little boy he encountered named George Wickham. He had a darkness inside him that the Being wanted to scare away. Georgiana was a blessing he had not expected, and she loved everything about her brother. She had even caught sight of one of his tentacles once when she was quite young, and she did not care one whit for how different her brother could hear.
Everything seemed well, until his adopted mother grew suddenly ill. And to the Being’s great shock, it did not matter what he did. He could not save her.
He never forgave himself for that limitation.
Have I become weak playing my little game? But even he could tell it was not that. There were a few things that were simply beyond his reach. That was a humbling reality he did not want to accept.
I will not let something surprise me like this again. I am going to do everything I can to protect those I love.