In a world full of individuals born with extraordinary abilities, the phrase, “I’m not like other girls,” takes on a whole new meaning. For Carrie Thompson, this statement could not be any more true. From the moment she was born, it was obvious just what it was that made her stand out from the crowd: an extra eye in the middle of her forehead. As her parents would later find out, Carrie was born with a very special gift that the world had labeled “Electi”. Her third eye gifted her with unprecedented vision the likes of which the world had never seen.
Her parents, mortified at what the public would think of their deformed child, decided their best course of action would be to keep Carrie locked up forever in their home. She spent the early years of her childhood gazing out of her bedroom window at the rest of the neighborhood kids, watching with envy as they sang songs and played their little hearts out. The only resemblance of entertainment she had readily available to her just so happened to be her house’s expansive library.
One day while Carrie was browsing through the shelves of dusty old books, a certain story happened to cross her eyes. It was “The Call of Cthulhu” by H.P. Lovecraft. She sat down to read it and in almost an instant she was hooked. Perhaps a little too hooked. She grew obsessed with the work of fiction at an alarming rate, rereading it night and day whenever she possibly could.
She began to idolize Lovecraft’s name. In her mind, what she was reading was no longer fiction. In her mind, Lovecraft was a prophet. In her mind, Cthulhu, the half-dragon half-squid elder god, was real and would one day rise from the depths of the ocean to destroy all the nonbelievers. Pledging her undying loyalty to the Great Old One, Carrie crafted a mask in his image. She vowed never to remove it until the day she would come face-to-face with the elder god.
Many nights Carrie found herself sneaking out of her home to capture and execute the local wildlife in bloody, ritualistic sacrifices, all in the name of proving her unending dedication to the Great Dreamer. It started off with a couple of birds and squirrels at first, a few frogs here and there, until it all accumulated to the night she tried to sacrifice her neighbor’s dog. She had thought her parents were asleep when she began the ritual, but their presence in the doorway leading into the basement said otherwise. There they discovered that the room had been transformed into a horror show of hanging guts and blood, as if they had walked into a meat processing plant.
The obvious answer would’ve been to send her to therapy, but the state had different plans. Feeling that this behavior was the result of being isolated from society for the majority of her life, Carrie was instead given a second chance in the form of the government funded Electi Rehabilitation Academy. A school which focused on trying to help those with Electi abilities conform into society, it was believed that exposing Carrie to other people just like her would eventually free her of her Cthulhu obsession.
It might have worked, had it not been for Skyber. A tall, dragon-like human, Skyber had quickly gotten under Carrie’s radar due to her claiming that she was an all powerful god. Carrie thought her words to be nothing more than blasphemy and was determined to try and prove her wrong. She constantly tried to expose the persona she thought Skyber wore, challenging her to tests that she believed would prove her to be nothing more than a simple heretic.
Challenge after challenge resulted in nothing but misery for Carrie. No matter what she threw at Skyber, they were always able to come out on top. She felt her sanity slipping away as her beliefs were brought into question. Were all her beliefs just a shame? Was everything she did in the name of Cthulhu all for nothing? Was Skyber really who she said she was? One last test, a test that would be shown for the whole academy to see, would prove once and for all who was right.
When Skyber stood victorious amidst thunderous applause from her fellow classmates, Carrie was left speechless. She had done everything she thought of and yet, there Skyber stood. Gazing upon her with nothing but rage and vitriol, something in Carrie’s psyche shattered. All forms of logic and reasoning vanished from her mind. She had pledged her loyalty to Cthulhu and was going to make good on her word.
She lunged at Skyber while her back was turned, clawing at the heathen’s face in a mad attempt to try and end her existence. The being roared in pain as Carrie drove her thick nails into her eyes, drawing blood as she straddled the beast. It didn’t take long for Skyber to fight back. Using her axe-like tail, she penetrated Carrie through the chest and threw her off her back. The three-eyed girl hit the ground as fresh blood started to pool out of her wound and all around her.
But then, that’s when she heard it. A voice. A voice calling out to her. A voice unlike anyone or anything she had ever heard before. Something about it was off… but also very familiar. Chaotic but also peaceful. Hateful but also loveable. Was this the voice of Cthulhu? Carrie very much seemed to think so.
She listened closely to the voice, seemingly forgetting about the predicament she was currently in. The voice spoke of high praise towards her dedication to the High Priest of the Great Old Ones. It told her that such dedication was to be rewarded. It promised to give Carrie the power and tools needed to take down the false god this school had been worshipping. And after it was all said and done, she would continue to prove her worth by hunting down and eliminating the rest of the nonbelievers…