Isaac's eyes shot open, he found himself within a huge temple, on top of an elevated altar with the Symbol of Azathoth etched onto it.
The room, which was easily bigger than an American football stadium, had a creepy and dark vibe to it.
At the far end of the room, a throne made of bones was sat upon by a humanoid monster that looked four meters tall, at least.
Its skin was red, along with its eyes. There were spikes on its body and a golden crown embedded on its head. The lips of the thing parted and revealed a set of sharp teeth.
"Welcome to my temple, mortal one," its speaking voice resounded through the hall even though the thing didn't shout.
Isaac didn't feel the sensation of his soul being rattled like when Cthulu was talking to him. No, the raw voice of Azathoth could spread through hundreds of meters without the use of any sound amplifiers.
Isaac frowned and his whole body stiffened up. He opened his mouth, but smacked his lips shut from fear. Cold sweat ran down his forehead as the glare from Azathoth was focused only on him.
"I heard you had a wish wanting to be granted?" it asked with an amused tone.
"Y-Yes... I do," Isaac responded with trembling lips.
"Then, like the others who desired a wish, you must undergo a test of mine. You must answer four questions, and if you correctly answer at least three of them, I will heed and grant your wish," it said and grinned, as if this situation was only child's play to it.
"A-All right... I accept," he replied with hesitance.
"Good."
Azathoth clapped his hands, then a cage appeared around the altar, trapping Isaac.
The thing straightened its back and locked its hands together. He smiled softly, then opened his mouth to ask the first question.
"Who is your God?" it asked.
Isaac's eyes widened and his head was leaned back from shock.
[My God..? I...]
"I don't worship... any God..." he answered timidly.
"Elaborate," it grinned and tilted its head upwards in arrogance.
His eyebrows furrowed and he began thinking even harder.
[Elaborate?! What the fuck...]
He breathed in and calmed himself. Isaac worshipped no God, therefore he did not follow a religion. By not following a religion, he did not comply to a set of rules normally set by a religion. This placed him in the unreligious side of the spectrum, he is neither an atheist nor a believer. After finding out supernatural creatures existed, he did not deny the existence of God anymore. In conclusion, his feelings towards religion was indifference.
"I am not an atheist or a believer of a God. I am simply living my life as I see fit. I don't want rules to restrict and control my life, because only I can decide what I do with myself," Isaac answered more calmly than before.
Azathoth made a sound of contemplation, then guffawed out loudly.
"Acceptable answer," it said and calmed itself for the next question, "What defines you?"
Hearing the second philosophical question, Isaac began thinking. He thought this question was easy. He just needed to say the obvious.
"I am a human... that can experience complex emotions..." he said, confidence swelling within, albeit microscopic.
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.
The smile on Isaac's face made Azathoth grin widely and silently chuckle to himself.
"Next question please..." he said with a wide smile, revealing his white and perfect teeth.
Azathoth laughed heartily and leaned his back forwards.
"Do you think, you humans, have free will?"
Isaac stood up and walked to the bars. He gripped two of them and pressed his forehead on a gap.
"Of course," he answered.
"Elaborate."
"Each individual control themselves. There's no such thing as control over another. We can do whatever we want."
Azathoth tilted his head and leaned back on the throne.
"What if one is a slave?"
"Then revolt against the master. Doesn't matter if you end up dying. If one desires freedom, then act on it. The only thing holding humans back is fear."
"Good answer! If it was back in the old days, no living beings below 'us' would have any form of free will or freedom, but the current time is as you described it. Fear is the master of all humans."
Isaac's grin kept its form after Azathoth's judgement. Isaac braced his body and mind for the fourth and last question.
"What is the meaning of life?"
What a classic question. Is it to experience emotions? Is it to simply live? Isaac's answer to this question was already answered years ago.
The question of life was thought on by young Isaac. And he finally received the answer after his fiancee's death.
His excitement grew as his breathing became heavier. His blue eyes glowed in insanity as his lips parted to answer the question.
-rain-
The purple tentacles of the High Priestess pierced the heavens. They finally stopped ascending and the soft-looking tendrils distanced from each other. The unnaturally long appendages flowed like waves in the air while being spread out.
Ina was on the ground, hands clothing her head and teeth gritted with full strength. The pain was becoming unbearable as various energy was condensed into her heart. Doesn't matter if it was nuclear energy, life-force energy, ESP energy, necrotic energy, every form of energy could be controlled by Ina after she ascended to the High Priestess tier.
A purple pulse came from her heart and spread onto the plain field. One more pulse came about and spacetime began fluctuating uncontrollably. It was midnight, but then it turned into evening, then dusk, then night, then afternoon.
While the time of the universe was forwarding and reversing, Ina was teleported from place to place. Above an ocean, on the moon, above a skyscraper, in a cave, then in the middle of a grass field.
These instantaneous occurances of spacetime ripples caused chaos within the natural order and stream of Earth.
The sun was shining on her tentacles, while her body was being shielded in the shade.
Past the bushes and trees surrounding her was a city, widely known as New York City.
-gear-
"There is no answer. The meaning of life is infinite. A father may find the meaning of his life is to take care of his child, while a construction worker may find his meaning of life is to support his family. Therefore, my answer is there is no answer."
Azathoth's eyes stared deeply into Isaac's soul. It found out all of his words were coming from the absolute bottom of his heart, and he believed it to be the truth to the answer.
It closed its eyes and leaned its head on the throne.
"Congratulations, you have earned yourself a wish," it said, holding back a warm grin from forming.
Isaac's jaw slightly dropped and his grip on the bars softened.
"R-Really..?"
Azathoth looked into Isaac's eyes with softness and a slight drop of joy.
"Yes. I will grant whatever you wish for."
"T-Then! Please give Ina'nis Ninomae absolute authority over the Necronomicon!" he shouted in impatience and triumph.
"Granted," it said and twitched a finger.
The miniscule movement resounded around the huge room and then silence befell them.
"So... it's done?" Isaac asked.
"Indeed. She has received absolute control over the Necronomicon and everything within it."
"C-Can I go now?"
"Of course. Go north and you will meet her."
With another twitch, Isaac disappeared from the altar and appeared laying on top of bags of trash.
His eyes shot open and he quickly sat up.
[T-That wasn't a dream right? I-I saved Ina right?]
He pushed himself up and looked around. He was in an alleyway littered with trash on the side.
[I remember this place... it's where I met her.]
He shook his head and went out of the alley.
[North... north....]
He looked to the sun and saw that it was slightly past the 12 A.M. mark. He looked towards the northern direction, and saw a little below a hundred huge purple tentacles retracting to the earth.
The spectacle caught the eyes of basically everyone that could see the tendrils. Frankly, the purple tentacles were titanic and towered over every building in sight.
They were a mystical sight, a cause of panic and prayers.