Private Curiouser and Curiouser

Altizica waved to the boy as they approached the edge of the forest. He wasn't surprised the kid was actually showing up, they definitely seemed like the type of person to go through with something like this. They only wondered what Index would have to say about the whole situation, they weren't the kind of being to skirt around the topic or put things lightly. They would state things as they saw it. "Yep, they live in the depths of the forest so we better get a move on!" Altizica turned around and gestured for Rowan to follow him.

They would walk for what appeared to be several minutes before they arrived before a massive gaping pit in the ground. Altizica stopped and peered down into it. "Yep there isn't any doubt about it, this is definitely Index's dwelling. *ahem* INDEX YOU DAMN SERPENT GET OUT HERE." Altizica's voice echoed through the pit but after a minute or two of waiting nothing came out. Altizica gave a little chuckle and yelled into the pit again. "INDEX IF YOU DON'T COME OUT I'M COMING IN, THIS IS YOUR FINAL CHANCE." This time, a response from the hole was immediate. The ground around them seemed to shake slightly as something began to emerge from then unending darkness of the hole.

Index was dead quiet after it emerged from the hole, it was not expecting another being with Altizica. They studied the child with all of their many eyes before finally talking. "No, the Devourer did not inform me of your arrival. I assume the elder god you seek knowledge on is the one that touched you? Why do you seek such knowledge?" Index could immediately tell that the child before them was touched. They checked all of the boxes one looked for in detecting a touched mortal. Their serpentine body arch as their head lowered closer to the touched one, the click clacking of their brain orb echoing through the woods. Index was dead quiet once again, analyzing the child once more and slowly pieced together what exactly touched them.

Index looked carefully at the child. "Asking if I would want to know more is in all respects a dumb question. I am the embodiment of knowledge, I desire to know anything and everything child." Index shifted their body, coiling around the entrance to their burrow, their head resting at the very top of the coil. Index's eyes continued to stare unblinking at the touched boy. "Finding those who have been touched is not difficult if you know the signs to look for. But you speak of removing the influence that touched you......that is a very difficult task. Muhazzed has latched on to you quite tightly, he could quite possibly kill you if you truly try to remove him from your body. Index spoke of the being that attached to the child as if it their real identity was already common knowledge.

Index made some audible clicks and clacks as it learned more about the situation that child was going through. "Yes Muhazzed is the being's name....it come's from the stars much like the Devourer and myself. You mentioned an 'us' which better explains your current situation as only a piece seems to be stuck onto you. I doubt we would be having this conversation is a larger piece of Muhazzed stuck to you instead." Index thought very carefully, pouring over all of the information it had accumulated from the eons it had existed. "Yes there is a ritual however there are multiple obstacles that must be achieved before it can be performed. The first and most glaring one, you must find a way to speak our tounges."

Index thought carefully as they remebered everything they could about the ritual. "You must be willing to spill your own blood to draw the needed symbols and to write Muhazzed in our tounge, you will also need an dagger with the elder sign etched into it's hilt which you must use to draw the blood, finally you will need the flesh of an outer god. It's important that the flesh be as closely related to the creator Azathoth as possible as it directly links to how successful the ritual can be. Getting Azathoth's flesh would mean it would be guaranteed to remove Muhazzed but that is quite impossible so we must settle for the next closest thing...a child of Azathoth." Index reared their head to Altizica who had just been quietly chewing on bones and not really paying attention too much to what was actually happening. Altizica looked back at Index confused for a second "Wait you need my flesh? Alright then that's no big deal, not like it's too important for me to have anyways."