Etched In Their Minds

Viginti: Cruel Trial

The grin on Azathoth's face instantly relaxed and it stared at Isaac with indifference in his eyes.

"Wrong. You described humans as a whole, not yourself," it said coldly.

Isaac's eyes trembled. A drop of sweat flowed down to his chin as he waited for Azathoth's next question.

"Ah, I almost forgot. The punishment for getting a question wrong is ten thousand deaths," Azathoth said casually.

Isaac's eyelids agaped in fear and puzzlement.

[There's a penalty..?!]

Isaac's whole body froze figuratively and literally. His body, including every single cell and bone froze, then shattered into millions of pieces.

With an unimpressive sound, Isaac appeared on the altar. For the next few hours, he would be killed and revived until his death count reached ten thousand.

The killing methods include; heart implosion, organ melting, brain twisting, body split, blood flow reversal, choking, drowning, burning, petrification, poisonous gas, slice and dice, devoured by a beast, body explosion, swiss cheese, compression, self-murder, self-cannibalism, existence erasure, electrocution, beheading, penetration, gradual blood loss, rapid cancer, skin twisting, substance overdose, and many, many more.

He was tired— exhausted. Just when his mind shattered in the midst of unbelievable death, he regained everything the way it was. Throughout the punishment, cries of help unfit for humanly senses reverberated through the temple.

Isaac appeared once again, his face was full of negative emotions. With empty eyes, he breathed roughly and looked at Azathoth with exhaustion.

The omnipotent god was merciless in his constant murder of Isaac.

"That was ten thousand deaths," it said.

When it announced that, Isaac grew relieved and a half-smile crawled on his face.

"Before I ask you the next question. I will give you a chance to turn tail and run away. You can go back to your planet and live life as you see fit. However, you will not gain a wish. What say you?"

Contemplation and contradiction hit Isaac.

[Save Ina... I don't want to die anymore.... but Ina is suffering...]

"Indeed she is. And her soul will be fused with the Ancient Ones soon. In essence, she will die. Following said event, no longer can she save herself. Miracles don't happen twice."

Isaac had a look of defeat and despair. His mental state was healed from all the murder, but the memories stayed. The pain of being tortured to death, multiple times, was not pleasant to think about.

He sat down and raised his knees to his chest. He covered his head with his arms and began whimpering.

[What do I do.... what do I do....]

The feat of getting a question wrong and being subjected to another ten thousand deaths was urging Isaac to retreat, but the desire, almost insane even, to save Ina and return back into her arms was telling him to continue with the trial.

[I... needed three questions right... I already got one wrong... what if I get the rest wrong? It'd be for nothing and I would suffer needlessly...]

He stayed like that for an hour. Azathoth just looked at him in insouciance.

Finally, his hands became weak and they dropped down to the floor. His head rised up to meet Azathoth's eyes.

His expression was that of a crazy man. He finally let everything go and decided to bet everything to save Ina. Death was just collateral to him now. Who cares if he died another ten thousand times. All of those deaths would be worth it if he could at least meet Ina again.