5. What Is Death?
Before a crudely drawn picture of a tentacle, black tentacles writhed and squirmed.
Which time is this?
He had realized he'd come full circle and set out on the path again, which was all well and good — but even after that, he returned to this exact spot over and over, unchanged, without fail. It was precisely his seventh loop.
And I'd only just managed to find some people...
He sank back into the same gloom that had swallowed him during his endless walk through the black void. The tentacles drooped their heads sulkily, as if to mirror his feelings.
I don't want to be alone again...
Perhaps because his hope of meeting a being other than himself had grown so great, the disappointment that followed was every bit as enormous.
"Hnngh..."
The sobs he had struggled to hold back threatened to burst out all over again. Anyone with a shred of patience would have gathered their emotions somehow and gone searching for people once more — but he was a great and foolish Father who had no need whatsoever for such a petty temperament.
And then, at last.
"Hnngh, waaaah... I miss youuuu..."
The instant the tears he'd been choking down finally broke free—
Whooooooosh.
The universe resonated, to grant its creator's wish.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
The three women he was so desperately waiting for at that very moment—
"AAAAAAHHH!! What is this?! What's wrong with our bodies?!"
—were hurtling at full speed toward their Father, by the will of the universe itself.
"Wh-who else could possibly do something like this if not us?? It's Father, obviously!"
The yellow light stammered out an answer to the red light's question.
"Uuuuugh... I'm dizzyyyyy..."
The purple light, unable to gather herself amid the sudden turn of events, could only complain of the vertigo.
And then, right on its heels—
"Everyone brace for impact!! We're landing!!"
They had drawn close enough that a black silhouette was visible in the distance.
"AAAAAAHHH!!!"
KUUUUUUM. With a thunderous roar, they were slammed into the ground.
"Ugh... my head... ...huh?"
And the situation the three of them walked in on was—
...I finally found you.
—a tearful family reunion.
"Um, excuse me..."
His expression brightened. He had instinctively caught on — these people were the ones who had drawn that picture. It had technically been Yog-Sothoth alone who'd actually put the drawing to paper, but since she was there with the others anyway, it hardly mattered.
The moment he stretched out a tentacle to greet the first people he had ever faced—
""KYAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!""
—the three sisters' faces twisted with terror as they scrambled backward like they were running for their lives.
"H-hold on!! Let's, let's talk from over here..!!!"
The eldest sister, Yog-Sothoth, tucked her two younger sisters behind her back and pleaded, trembling from head to toe.
"Wh-what do we do... I'm not ready yet....!!"
Shub-Niggurath, too, wore an uncharacteristically grave face as her worries spilled out.
"Ah...!!!!! No.....!!!!!!!"
Oh no oh no...!! This is bad...!! If he takes it like this, right here, right now...!!!!!
Nyarlathotep, the cleverest of the three sisters, couldn't even get her words out properly.
But it wasn't fear of death that gripped her, nor worry over the gift they hadn't prepared. What she was truly afraid of was Father's state of mind.
Father is meeting another person for the very first time since he was born...
And if those people react like they can't stand the sight of him...!!
Nyarlathotep's prediction was dead on. The others they had met for the first time since he opened his eyes — people who might even become his first 'friend'. Their Father's childlike heart must surely have been brimming with fluttering hope and expectation.
Of course, that wasn't what they had intended.
Even now, the black mist that kept seeping upward made it hard enough for them just to hold this conversation.
And yet, they made the mistake.
"Why?"
"...Huh?"
—the kind of mistake that trampled mercilessly on their hope-filled father's heart.
"F-Father...!! C-calm down for a moment—!!"
"Why, though? Seriously, why?"
He asked again, wiping his chicken-drop tears with a tentacle. Nyarlathotep noticed the shift in her father's mood and rushed to soothe him, but it was already too late.
Their behavior was no different from parents who had promised to take their child to an amusement park, only to callously cancel at the last minute because they were busy with work. Even an ordinary child would have thrown a monumental tantrum over that.
So what about Him?
"Whenever I was that bored, none of you showed so much as the tip of your nose."
"And the moment I lose consciousness, you come waltzing in — you even left a memo saying you'd stopped by."
"So why are you reacting to me like that?"
"W-we never meant to..."
"Shut up."
At that one icy word, their faces froze solid. They could more or less guess what was about to happen next.
Before long, black mist spread even thicker from the figure of their father, enraged by their words and actions. It crept outward and outward, seizing the entire surrounding area, as if hunting for prey.
It was by no means just a faint, murky droplet of black water. Though he himself was unaware of it, that mist was turning his very thoughts into reality.
And now, as if to judge his children's filial impiety, the mist began to coil around their throats.
"St-stop... I-I can't breathe... I think I'm going to..."
Yog-Sothoth begged her father for mercy, her face drained of all color.
And the answer that came back from her father was—
"...Die?"
"What does dying mean?"
"...Ex-cuse me?"
It was, truly, a breathtakingly ignorant answer.