Prologue: The Woes of a Dog
June 28, 1349
Loen Kingdom, Backlund, Empress Borough, Hall Family Estate
-Audrey Hall-
"Mirror, mirror, awaken."
…
"In the name of the Hall family, I command you to
awaken!"
…
"By the light of the Goddess, I ask you to awaken."
…
"By the authority of Backlund's nobility… does that work?"
…
"Oh dear… maybe I should be louder? Awaken!"
…
"I've read that spirits like sincerity, so… please?"
…
After ten full minutes, Audrey ceased her chanting, a delicate pout of annoyance gracing her features at the antique bronze mirror's utter lack of reaction. The youngest child of the Hall Family then quickly glanced about the room, ensuring no one had witnessed her embarrassing performance. Otherwise, the illustrious title of Backlund's Most Dazzling Jewel would be irrevocably tarnished
Fortunately, save for her pet golden retriever, Susie, the room was empty. However—
Why does it seem Susie is looking at me with amusement? An inexplicable flush of shame warmed Audrey's cheeks, but before she could dissect the feeling, a torrent of crimson light erupted behind her, devouring her vision entirely.
And in that room, which Audrey had believed contained no other 'human' or 'sentient' person, a voice remarked,
"So it's begun…."
The speaker was none other than the golden retriever—
The Great Susie!
….
-Susie-
Susie released a sigh disturbingly human in its weariness as she trotted to her 'owner's' side. "What a reckless girl. Inquiring to a mirror so casually, isn't she afraid of attracting a possession or drawing the gaze of something malevolent?"
Though her words held a note of reprimand, no real heat lay behind them. She knew Audrey's knowledge of proper mysticism was, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent.
"I'll need to rectify that soon enough. Now, where was—hm?" Susie frowned, or rather, the canine approximation of a frown manifested on her muzzle.
Her beady eyes fixed on the illusory 'water'—a substance containing all colours and possibilities—that bubbled forth from her own shadow. It attempted to snake its way towards Audrey, only to be crushed into nothingness an instant later.
"God Almighty, God Almighty… to grow so excited the moment you sense the awakening of Mysteries… Was there truly more to your relationship?" Susie mused aloud, gazing down at Audrey's peaceful form.
"As expected of the Sefirot of the Great Old One who symbolises the 'Unknowable', 'Incomprehensible', and 'Indescribable' aspects of the Original Creator. I can't perceive Audrey's Body of Heart and Mind at all…"
The golden retriever then glanced disdainfully at her own shadow. "And you… compared to Sefirah Castle, which lets Klein court death, revive, and generally act all profound, what do you offer? Slightly improved eyesight? Don't you feel ashamed, presenting yourself as a wellspring of infinite possibilities when your benefits are so… modest?"
The shadows at her paws stirred briefly, as if itching to lash out, before settling once more.
Susie huffed in quiet amusement and lay down beside Audrey. She hadn't truly meant the jab—it was only teasing—but it seemed the residual mental imprint of the Primordial God Almighty remained sensitive toward anything related to the Lord of Mysteries. It really made one wonder if there had been… more between them than mere enmity.
In truth, the benefits of the Chaos Sea—even without full accommodation—were substantial. For instance, she was already a Sequence 7: Psychiatrist, and canon had only just begun.
The elephant in the room, of course, was how?
Well, it was all thanks to Chaos Sea-chan ejecting the characteristics a few days after her transmigration. This occurred once she had finished crashing from the triple realization: first, her untimely death; second, her species change from Homo sapiens to Canis lupus familiaris; and third, her arrival in a world where happy endings were scarce and a single errant thought could make you a cultist.
As for why the gender shift from 'He' to 'She' hadn't provoked another crisis… well, transitioning from an obligate biped to an obligate quadruped was simply more viscerally shocking. She had already cycled through the five stages of grief thrice; a fourth time would have been a terrible omen. Better to accept the situation as it came. It wasn't as if she'd suddenly developed an appreciation for female dogs, so there was no point fretting over a now-useless tool.
But she digressed.
Where was she? Right. The Chaos Sea had disgorged the Beyonder characteristics for the Spectator, Telepathist, and Psychiatrist sequences. Initially, Susie suspected a ploy by the Primordial God Almighty to resurrect through her. After all, she was currently a dog, undoubtedly the weakest possible vessel, a prime opportunity for a discreet, lowkey revival.
Yet, strangely, nothing happened. She waited days, then weeks, for the other shoe to drop. It was only upon daring to probe her connection to the Chaos Sea that Susie made a startling discovery…
She was accommodating the Chaos Sea!
The process felt agonizingly slow, the spiritual imprint of the Primordial God Almighty resisting fiercely. Yet, it seemed to be contending with an invisible, unstoppable, absolute force hell-bent on erasing His imprint.
Though raised under the auspices of the American Dream, Susie was of Chinese descent, and thus no stranger to the brain-rot known as cultivation novels.
At that moment, she couldn't help but internally shout—
Is this…my golden finger!
Naturally, a dozen minutes of rolling on the ground in profound shame ensued, which nearly led the kennel keeper to have her put down under suspicions of being an invalid.
So, she could only suppress the embarrassment, shoot a threatening glare at her puppy 'siblings' to ensure their silence, and refocus on her discovery.
But before that, she had noticed something else: despite her knowledge of both Lord of the Mysteries books… she wasn't corrupted!
The Outer Gods hadn't detected her!
Spirits buoyed by this crucial cheat, a wave of audacious elation made her part her jaws. Her thoughts spilled into reality, and instead of a bark, what emerged was—
"You piss me off, Adam!!!"
…Yes, that had led to the discovery of a perk she attributed to the Chaos Sea, which bore the symbols of the Lord of the Mind World and Omnipotence.
Luckily, the kennel keeper hadn't heard. She only had to endure being looked upon as mentally invalid once more, this time by her canine 'mother' and 'siblings'.
A tiny fragment of her dignity had shattered that day.
Moving on. After recognizing her advantages, her spirit ablaze with excitement, she arrived at a bold decision. If she could erode the mental imprint of a Primordial God Almighty, a Great Old One Above the Sequence, then what about the residual will within a mere Beyonder Sequence 9 characteristic?
"In the midst of Chaos, there is also opportunity." —Sun Tzu
"To know your enemy, you must become your enemy."—Sun Tzu
The phrases surfaced in her mind. And if Sun Tzu said it, who was she to doubt?
Passivity would not help! She had no guarantee of meeting Audrey or that canon would remain unchanged. Even with perfect memory retention—another perk she'd discovered—how could a dog possibly concoct a potion?
Ask a human? Bah! She couldn't imagine how that would go.
So, she could only hope for the best and prepare for the worst—
And down the hatch the characteristic went!
And well, since she could reminisce like this, the outcome was clear.
And, since she could reminisce so clearly, the outcome was self-evident.
Ah, did she mention that, for some inexplicable reason, she was now fluent in every mystical and mundane language? Elvish, Ancient Hermes, Jotun, Dragonese, and all the contemporary tongues—Loenese, Lenburg, Dutanese, Intisian, etc—of the Northern and Southern Continents.
Once again, she credited the Chaos Sea, its symbol of Omniscience encompassing all Knowledge and Wisdom.
As for the true elephant in the room, the Chaos Sea itself?
Perhaps a Random Omnipotent Being had gifted it to her. Or perhaps, during her transmigration, she had brushed against a distributary of the Chaos Sea, and it had latched on.
Susie didn't know. How could she possibly know? After all—
"I'm just a dog…."
++++
A/N: A never before conceived idea! Idk where the hell this came out from, but it wouldn't quit hounding me so I did as the muse ordered and wrote it.