Chapter Text
The view was spectacular.
Clouds stretched sluggishly atop mountain peaks that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves. Below, the rivers and trees stretched as far as the eye could see, winding lazily and dotting the landscape with life. It was a sight to behold indeed.
However, the real beauty began once the sun descended from its peak. The sunset dyed the land in a sparkling array of red and pink hues as it dipped below the horizon.
Then, the stars came alive. Each one flickering into place as the light faded. Constellations and planets adorned the sky in a grandiose display of nature’s beauty; unblemished by light pollution this far away from civilization.
Danny had never been happier in his life.
His eyes sparkled in delight as he let them roam swiftly over the heavenly lights. His brain automatically supplying each and every constellation’s name and its story along with the rotational patterns of the planets in view.
He was content. So very content indeed, that his core was downright purring in his chest. He’d have to thank Jazz later. After all, this vacation had been her idea in the first place. A way for him to get out of Amity and explore the world for a bit. And man, was he enjoying it.
The vacation had been wonderful so far. He’d caught a variety of busses, trains, taxis, and other methods of transport to get to where he was now. It had taken longer than a direct flight, but that was the heart of the matter. Enjoying not only the destination; but the journey to get there. Jazz was always emphasizing that. He sighed as he reminisced on her.
Jazz had gone off to college three years ago. Her psychology degree was going swimmingly, as she’d confirmed with their almost weekly phone calls. Tucker and Same were also off at college. A pang of hurt flashed through him at that too. Not their fault, no, he’d been forced to do a remedial year of high school after all the ghost attacks fucked his grades beyond repair. So here he was at 19 now, on a solo graduation trip. Honestly, with how improved the GIW was becoming the trip was his saving grace.
The lack of stress was a lifesaver (no pun intended) and he lived content in the fact that he’d closed his parent’s portal before he left. Permanently. No more ghosts would be coming through to Amity. He hummed at the thought, maybe his crowning as king hadn’t been all that useless. The new ‘kingly’ powers vested in him by the role made keeping Amity safe from ghosts, and ghosts safe from the GIW much easier.
Thoughts drifting back to the stars Danny smiled again. It really was peaceful out here. Being alone in the mountains with just a backpacker’s essentials was probably dangerous for anyone who wasn’t a professional, or you know; dead.
Danny chuckled to himself at his own joke and wiggled down in his sleeping bag to get more comfortable, satisfied to fall asleep under the stars.
Of course, he wouldn’t be Danny Fenton Phantom if he could have a normal vacation.
.
Undisclosed location – 3:33 AM
.
10 people stood with arms outstretched to a center point. The floor below them was painted with what appeared to be green paint and delicately drawn into a massive diagram of the constellations.
The one in front with black robes started to speak, voice rising in both ferocity and pitch with each line.
“Coniuro te domine mortuorum et mortis
Te voco, aeterne siderum
Coniuro te de sanguine damnatorum
Te voco omnium clarissimum
Cum nominibus eorum, voco te!”
The circle flared to life. The man continued.
“Astra nomino regni tui!
Nomino eos Adhara, Aludra, Amadioha, Atakoraka, Furud, Mirzam, Muliphein, Sirius, Unurgunite, et Wezen!
Egredere et affer terrorem tuum!”
His voice fell silent as the room erupted in green light. Excited murmurs burst forth from the other members of the circle as something began to take shape.
The mass bubbled and pitted, growing and oozing the same strange green light as it took shape. And what a terrible shape.
A creature with far too many eyes, limbs, and mouths formed from the space. Constellations seemed to flank its very being, and a crown of ice sat atop its ‘head’ in defiance to anything that might even remotely seem human.
‘Who dare summon me?’ The voice was not so much a voice as it was a war cry. The scratch of iron nails over a chalkboard, broadcasted into a static mic. The noise penetrated far beneath the ears of its hearers grasping a hold of something within them and holding them ransom.
The leader trembled in rightful fear in front of the entity he had called. Oh, what a glorious moment!
“Great lord!” He fell to his knees. “Your faithful believer has opened this pathway so that you might take this world as your own! I have prepared all you will need to dominate this planet!” He ground his forehead into the dirty cement floor.
‘Why should I deign to follow your plans?’ The entity replied, their ‘voice’ shaking the foundation of the building. The leader flinched.
“My, my lord? Is… is this world not to your liking? Do we need to render into your image first? Bathe the streets in blood to serenade your arrival?” The man was babbling now, lifting himself up to presumably do these things.
‘I do not care for domination. You should well know my realm is the stars. What use have I for this planet? The entire universe is at my disposal, why should I waste my time on this speck of dust?!’ The ears of the ten were now flowing with blood at the entity grew louder and louder in its displeasure.
“I apologize my lord! I meant no disrespect!” The leader apologized, throwing himself back down into a mockery of a ‘kowtow’ and babbling out apologies that made even less sense as they went on.
‘Leave this place immediately, and do not dare to again use my name for your own purposes. You will reap your reward in death.’ The cultists fled, the lingering stench of blood and urine in their wake.
The entity undulated before compressing in on itself and falling gracelessly to the floor.
.
Danny was enjoying his vacation. Emphasis on ‘was’.
Of course he had to be summoned by a cult. Of-fucking-course. It wouldn’t be his life if he got even a week off from stupidity and irritation.
The group was small, which was surprising considering the amount of work Danny had managed to incorporate into his personal summoning ritual. He’d made it a pain in the ass so no more random kids would summon him on a dare, and get completely freaked when he actually showed. The diagrams needed were needlessly complicated, you had to memorize two verses in Latin, and it had to be the exact right time and constellations in the sky. Plus, ectoplasm infused paint with which to draw the damn circle. So yeah, it was complicated.
That being said, this group had actually managed it. Their dedication was as impressive as it was annoying.
“Who dare summon me?” Danny asked, his form twitching around him. The default setting so to speak when being summoned was his ‘eldritch ghost king of constellations’ form as Tucker had dubbed it.
“Great lord!” A man in robes fell to his knees. “Your faithful believer has opened this pathway so that you might take this world as your own! I have prepared all you will need to dominate this planet!” He then proceeded to grind his forehead into the dirty cement floor. Wtf?
Well, whatever. Might as well play along. “Why Should I deign to follow your plans?” Danny asked, doing his best impression of an 19th century English Gentleman.
“My, my lord? Is… is this world not to your liking? Do we need to render into your image first? Bathe the streets in blood to serenade your arrival?” Danny almost sighed in frustration as the cultist moved around in a frantic manner. This guy was nuts.
Deciding once again that ‘pompous assholery’ would be appropriate for this situation Danny opened his mouths mouth. “I do not care for domination. You should well know my realm is the stars. What use have I for this planet? The entire universe is at my disposal, why should I waste my time on this speck of dust?!” Oops. His voice might have been too loud as their ears began to bleed.
The man in robes immediately started to backtrack. “I apologize my lord! I meant no disrespect!” He continued on, but Danny tuned him out in favor of contemplating his next command.
“Leave this place immediately, and do not dare to again use my name for your own purposes. You will reap your reward in death.” Danny settled on this as ‘good enough’ and watched in slight amusement as the cultists fled.
This sucked.
Danny dropped the eldritch form and collapsed to the ground, smudging whatever remained of the summoning circle.
Ffffuuuuccckkkkkkk.
This summoning really took it out of him, huh? This must be pretty far from where he was before. The further the distance traveled, the more put-out he’d be. He learned that the ‘fun’ way when he was summoned to Siberia from Amity. That two-day coma had been a mess.
Danny barely managed to stand with how little energy he had left. He really needed to find somewhere less creepy and potentially incriminating to sleep this off.
Stumbling out of the building deposited him in the middle of a bad part of town. Buildings rose up almost threateningly into the cramped space. Rags and dirt seemed to be the dress code as people rushed past, eyes forward and faces set in a grimace.
Not a ritzy neighborhood, that was for sure.
Danny fumbled his way out of what seemed to be the main alley and into an even more cramped side street filled with trash and what seemed to be… rats? Eh, whatever.
Danny slumped down against the nearest wall and a broken sigh fell involuntarily from his lips. His eyes fluttered and he had no strength left to keep them open.
Well, no time like the present for a nap then. Danny let sleep claim him, ignoring the small nagging voice in the back of his mind that screamed something was very, very wrong.
The world went black.
End of Chapter 1