4. A Friend
Even as Father, enraged by his eldest daughter's atrocities(?), made his way over to confront her in person—
"So you're saying you need our help?"
"That's right. Father needs a friend, you see."
"...Father? ...A friend?"
Three women sat around a pitch-black table, deep in a conversation of the utmost gravity.
"Good grief. A friend, for that Father? Honestly, it'd be quicker to tear the whole universe down and start over from scratch."
The woman carrying on her tirade in that acerbic tone was Nyarlathotep, the second of the three sisters. With her fiery red bob and sharp teal eyes, she possessed a demonic allure capable of seducing anyone who met her gaze.
"Even so, it's what Father wishes for. Shouldn't we do everything in our power to grant it...?"
"...I'd love to oblige as much as anyone, believe me. But there's just no way. No way at all."
"..."
And the one timidly countering Nyarlathotep was Shub-Niggurath, His third daughter. Her purple hair flowed so long it would have made a certain fairytale princess envious, and though she was the smallest of the three, she blinked her drowsy dark eyes with a strangely grown-up languor.
"We don't have time to squabble. We must hurry and see Father's wish fulfilled," rebuked Yog-Sothoth — eldest of the three sisters, and the only one among them to have ever stood face-to-face with their slumbering Father.
"Tch. You didn't have any ideas either — that's whyyy you came running to us for help..."
"Enough of this pointless bickering. So — is there truly no way?"
"...Hold on. Give me a moment."
Nyarlathotep knitted her brow in concentration, her mind racing at full speed.
Father was the being who had brought forth the universe — and them — with nothing more than a single roar. At present, there existed nothing that could so much as touch His heels, let alone stand beside Him as an equal.
The three sisters were hardly lowly creatures themselves, of course. And yet, to become that Father's "friend," they fell endlessly short.
"...The odds are slim, but I think there might be a way."
"Oh? Reeaally...?"
As if something had finally clicked, Nyarlathotep opened her tightly shut eyes and spoke.
"The problem with the situation right now is that no living thing, no being in existence, can bear Father's magnitude. Am I wrong?"
"...So then — what if we try creating one?"
"...?"
Her words burst out and shattered the silence, and the two sisters tilted their heads, unable to make sense of them.
"...You're joking, right? Even we can't surpass Him as we are — and you're talking about creation?"
"Impossiblle... There's no way that could ever work..."
The two flatly denied it, dismissing the whole notion as a joke.
And in fairness, what she proposed did sound absurd beyond all reason. As far as they knew, Father was a truly ignorant-omnipotent being. His knowledge fell far short of even His three daughters', and He took the guise of a mere young child — hence, ignorant. Yet the power He possessed allowed Him to claim anything He so desired — hence, omnipotent.
With one exception, of course: meeting a friend who stood as His equal.
Which was why, at a single glance from Him, the minds of anything they created would shatter; and at a single touch of His hand, their creations would burst apart, body and all.
And yet.
"Of course I know it sounds impossible. But hear me out."
Her teal eyes sparkled, making it plain that this was no joke.
"The way we are now, we cannot make a friend for Father."
"If our power falls short... then effort. We make up for it with effort."
Until the day they created a race capable of growing until it stood at Father's side as an equal.
"We'll try hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times — and we will make one."
"A friend for Father."
Nyarlathotep cried it out, her voice ringing firm with resolve.
"...I couldn't say whether it would work... but it does seem there's no other answerr..."
Shub-Niggurath nodded along, shaking her head as if to say there was no helping it.
"Haa... True enough. Then try we must."
Yog-Sothoth joined in, steeling her own resolve.
"Well then... shall we give it a go?"
For the sake of the father they loved, the three sisters came together with one heart and one mind.
And meanwhile...
Unable even to imagine that his daughters were putting their heads together to make him a friend, the party in question was, at this very moment, facing a crisis of tremendous proportions.
Namely—
...I have no idea where I am.
He was lost.
Thinking back on it, he had done nothing more than follow his feelings, chasing blindly after her. But the only trail she had left behind was a single written sentence and a single drawing, and there was no conceivable way he could find the place where they were.
This time, I'll try heading this way.
And so, trusting nothing but his own instincts, he continued to trail after her.
"...Huh?"
Tentacles wriggling, the place he arrived at was—
...I'm back where I started.
—the very same spot.
"...Uuu...."
It seemed tears were just beginning to well up in his countless eyes.