The Weakest Link

Gendo sat in silence as he looked to the tome before him. It was an intricate book, crafted from the finest black leather that a very special contact of his indicated might just be the skin of a man, if not several men. There was a texture to the cover of the book that was eerily similar to human skin, but old and dry. Beyond that, there was the silver trimmings, including an icon cast from silver and bronze that vaguely resembles a human skill, but with the feelers of an octopus replacing the teeth and wrapping around the book. Despite the morbid materials this tome was crafted from, there was a beauty and elegance to it. A nameless something that made Gendo treat the cover with the utmost care as he opened it. It was here on the first yellowed page that Gendo saw an inked image that looked… uncannily familiar. The image covered the page, and resembled a massive gaping maw with two inhuman eyes whose pupil was shaped almost like a spiraling galaxy, but within the maw was what really made Gendo pause. It looked as if the inside of the horrid faces mouth was a stylized mushroom cloud with tendrils snaking through it.

How could a book this old depict a mushroom cloud? It was true that any sufficient sized explosion could produce such a phenomenon, but one thing was famous for producing it. A nuclear warhead. Gendo could think of no good reason, but a nuclear explosion, that could make the image of a mushroom cloud relevant for any reason, perhaps a volcano, but this image had the cloud very clearly be the inside of a giant beasts maw,. The upper jaw above the mushroom had a prominent condensation ring around it, but one apparently made of a ring of eyes, while the lower jaw possessed the distinctive popcorning effect at the base, something that wouldn't be seen in a volcanic explosion. Perhaps he was reading to much into it, but it was still uncanny. Gendo frowned as he looked above the image, where there was but a single word written in what appeared to be a very old language. However it was very similar to old arabic, a language Gendo could read well, but the order of the symbols did not correspond with any word Gendo knew, in fact, it was more than likely this was not a word… but a name.

"Azathoth." Said Gendo to himself.

A cold and clammy staleness filled the air as he spoke the name, one that was palpable in the once dusty atmosphere, he repressed a shutter as he turned the page.

The next page possessed no images, instead it seemed this was a creation myth of some sort. It spoke of a cosmic entity, much like the Greek Khaos, Mesoamerican Ometeotl, the Korean Cheonjiwang, or the Amenominakanushi in Shinto. In the beginning there was only a yawning nothing, a nuclear chaos at the center of infinity. The description of this Azathoth however was… grotesque. It reminded Gendo of how the Roman poet Ovif described Khaos as a "rather a crude and undigested mass, a lifeless lump, unfashioned and unframed, of jarring seeds and justly Chaos named."

Many of the descriptions of Azathoth was odd and in many places contradictory. It was described as a blind idiot god, a formless being of unlimited power, that was beyond logic, causality, physics and comprehension. An all powerful something, yet it had no intelligence, personality, or autonomy. Azathoth has existed infinite aeons before time itself began and will exist long after the fabric of space and time itself has died. It is literally the beginning and the end of all things and thus has seen the beginning of history, and will usher in the end of history as well.

So much like the Abrahamic God, but at the same time so different. It was a brain dead thing whose physical presence in the universe was the expanding of existence itself.

…

"What." Said Gendo blankly as he fully comprehended those words.

The book was quite clear, this Azathoth was existence itself… an expanding existence. It was that word… expanding that made Gendo look back at the cover. Upon seeing it again, Gendo could confirm it was quite old. The book had to be thousands of years old at the very least. Yet the description was uncannily familiar to a very modern day concept.

The Big Bang.

Even someone with a most basic knowledge of physics would be familiar with the concept of the Big Bang and by extension the expansion of the universe, but a thousand years ago… not so much.

Perhaps he was reading to much into it, but it was still uncanny how similar it sounded to the Big Bang. It had to have been a coincidence. It was just him seeing things that could not be there.

Gendo opened the book once more, convinced he was seeing things not truly there. It was still odd to read about this Azathoth. It was a strange creature that both was all powerful, but mindless and without agency of its own.

It just was.

In many ways it was everything the Abrahamic God was not. It was a thing before time that created the universe not by intent, but by happenstance, not good, not evil, just a neutral force of creation and destruction. Truly and utterly alone, but it wouldn't be alone for long as the book spoke of the things that would eventually spawn and crawl out of that living void of limitless chaos. These things that crawled out of Azathoth however were not like any God in any mythology Gendo was aware of. Most Gods in most myths were either physically human or animal, failing that the gods of old were immaterial, while there were exceptions, they paled in comparison to these… things. These things though were described in visceral detail, and they were anything but human or even animal for that matter. They were amorphous things, grotesque masses of bizarre shapes, with writhing tendrils and gnashing maws. The closest thing Gendo could think of that these things resembled were the Greek Protogenoi or Egyptian Primordial Gods, though not in form, but rather in function. The Protogenoi and Primordials were entities far older than even the Titans, and were personification of natural cosmic laws. Their appearance had less in common with Gods, and more in common with the stranger beasts of ancient mythical history. It reminded Gendo of the primordial things that predate Gods in various world mythologies. Typhon, Tiamat, Apep, Ymir, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, Behemoth and Cipactli were perhaps the only things in all of human myth that came close to these strange entities the book described… but… in all those stories these primordial monster were unique and usually there was only one such creature that the Gods had to face, but this book spoke of a very old religion where all the Gods were these primordial things that cannot and could not be killed or placated, any more than the tide or any other force of nature.

One of the unusual depictions of this book said that the most outstanding characteristic amongst the Outer God was that they are alive. Not that they existed, but that they were alive and aware. The terminology used even hinted at this fact being a terrible thing. It was an unusual distinction, but one worthy of note.

Continuing to read on, Gendo expected that eventually something resembling traditional gods would pop up after these… things the book referred to as Outer Gods, but as he read on Gendo had doubts when he came across another very alien related group of entities called Great Old Ones. The only way to describe these creatures was as walking abysmal horrors. While the Outer Gods seemed to be concepts and cosmic laws with form and awareness, these Great Old Ones were just things that had no right to exist in the first place. They weren't Gods in the traditional sense, they had no sphere of influence. There was no Great Old One equivalent to a God of the Sky or Thunder. No War deities or the like. They were just creatures that did exist but shouldn't. Infinitely weaker than the Outer Gods, but far more eldritch by virtue existing for no good reason. At least the Outer Gods personified certain concepts and cosmic laws. These things just are, but should not be, creatures that think and exist yet could not be reliably said to have ever been alive. Furthermore these creatures were described as being not malevolent, cruel, or even mindlessly destructive. Just completely apathetic towards human existence, or really any form of existence.

It was here among the Great Old Ones that Gendo saw a very familiar name.

"Bokrug… the Water Lizard."

Gendo froze as a shiver ran up his spine. His flesh flushed as goose pimples rose on his skin. Here it was, a name he knew all to well… and it was real… so of this thing was real… could the rest be as well?

Before Gendo could contemplate further, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He closed the book carefully as he turned around to see one of the professors looking towards him. Gendo glared at the man, who stopped walking. He shifted uncomfortably under his gaze before clearing his throat.

"You have a call. Someone named Fuyutsuki."

Gendo nodded once before standing up, taking one last glance of the book before adjusting his glasses and walking right passed the man, not even sparing him a second glance as he did so.

The streets of Tokyo-3 were dark and empty, the air choked with the funk of the dead rotting, flies buzzed around these carcasses as the familiar heat left over from Second Impact returned following the fall of Ithaqua.

It was through these shadowed streets that a malicious presence walked. Hands clasped behind his back.

"What a lovely night."

Nyarlathotep smiled as a great fog followed him. He looked to the corpses as stalking things crawled out from the ruins. They still wore the tattered remnants of their clothes, the last vestiges of their humanity. They however were no longer human, their desperation had lead them to feast on the flesh of those who fell to the cold. In doing so had allowed the essence of Ithaqua to twist them into cannibalistic beasts. Nyarlathotep watched as one of them crawled into the light to feast upon a rotting corpse. It possessed a greenish pallor and rubbery skin. It lifted a canine muzzle up as it let the bits of maggot infested meat to slide down its throat. Its pointed ears flickered as it rose to its full height to gaze at Nyarlathotep. It was here that Nyarlathotep smiled as he realized just who it was that he was looking at. With a dismissive gesture the Black Pharaoh uttered only one word, for words held a power unto themselves.

"Remember."

The beast stared for but a moment, before clutching his head. It yelped like a struck dog before it took a step on hooflike clawed feet before it released a howl in pain. Nyarlathotep watched as the emaciated creature took several breaths and taking off, releasing a mournful howl as it did so. As Nyarlathotep watched the beast scurry off to parts unknown.

Nyarlathotep nodded, before resuming his pace.

"A lovely night indeed."

Shinji watched as Misato poked at her food. She was staring at it with a glazed over look in her eyes. She didn't eat anything, she just pushed it around.

"You alright?" Asked Shinji.

Misato blinked several times in rapid succession before sitting upright.

"Wha… oh, yeah I'm fine." She said with a false smile.

Shinji rose a brow.

"Then why aren't you eating?"

Misato looked down to her food, and saw an absolute mess. The mashed potatoes had mixed with the gravy, carrots, and peas into a goop with chunks of meatloaf. The carrots were limp and soggy, making the whole thing basically inedible because EW!

"I just have a lot on my plate." Said Misato.

Shinji nodded.

"Yes I can see that, your plate looks like it hasn't even been touched, and everything had been mixed into what amounts to baby food." Said Shinji as he took a bite of his own meal.

Misato smirked.

"Well, aren't you a cheeky little thing."

"You're dodging the real issue, you know if somethings on your mind you can tell me. At the very least you can get it off your chest."

Misato stared at Shinji for a moment before she sighed.

"Fine, it's just… everytime one of these things show up, I feel so… powerless. I trained to deal with Angels, not these things."

Shinji shrugged.

"Not really much we can do about it. They're here. They aren't exactly friendly, but they are opposed to the Angels. That has to be worth something."

"Maybe." Said Misato blankly before another sigh escaped her lips.

"Look on the bright side, at least we can stop them. They aren't unbeatable… I think."

"You think huh? Well… considering the giant coral waterfall that is still producing water and the unmelting ice sculpture… Jesus what even are these things… actually… you seem to know a lot about them when you see them. You kinda… space out and start talking about them real creepy like before naming them… what's that about?"

"I honestly don't know. Which freaks me out more than I'd like to admit."

"Exactly what do you mean by not quite human Fuyutsuki?" Asked Gendo genuinely confused.

Out of everything that could have happened today, being told that the Third Child isn't "quite human" was without a doubt the last thing he expected.

"We're not sure, but Shinji possesses several strange alterations to his eyes. A transparent heat sensing membrane. Akagi seems to believe it gives him some form of thermal vision. What's worse is the Evangelion possesses the exact same mutation. That isn't even getting into the energy whips it acquired from eating parts of the Fourth Angel."

Gendo felt for a brief moment as if his heart stopped.

"Did it devour the S2 Engine?"

"Thankfully no, this… Ithaqua creature prevented it from going that far. It was almost as if it knew exactly what the S2 Engine was."

"Worrying, but ultimately irrelevant. I… may need time to think this through."

"Of course… so did you find what it was you were looking for?"

"Perhaps. I just need more time. I may need to aquire this book, but it is kept quiet safe. Apparently it's one of a handful of translated copies. The resources I expended to just read it were ridiculous, nowhere near the level of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but it came frighteningly close."

"Is this…. Oh blast… what was it called… the...Kitab al-Azif, whatever, is it really that important?"

"It named the lizard creature. Bokrug was described in near perfect detail, and I'm sure this Ithaqua will be as well. I'll return soon."

The line immediately turned quiet. Gendo could only hear the sound of shallow breathing before Fuyutsuki spoke again.

"I see...Very well."

The line ended as Gendo turned back to the room to continue reading from the strange blackened tome, an ancient book known as the Kitab al-Azif, or as it was better known, the Necronomicon.

Shinji laid alone in his bed as he held the looked at his SDAT player. He rotated it around observing each sharp angle of the plastic casing. His transparent ocular membrane slid over his eye, and he noted that through the haze of ambient heat, it was cool, if not cold.

Before all this, the SDAT was a way to shut out the world. Drown it out with song and fade away into his own little bubble. Now he just didn't feel like it. That small haven in his mind seemed just so… insignificant that he did not feel like putting in the effort.

Shinji put the SDAT on the end table as his nictitating membrane began retracted back into his sockets… only for them to slide immediately back over as his eyes crossed the window. Shinji was immediately on his feet as he saw the body heat of some clearly inhuman thing staring back at him. Shinji did not scream, he only stared back at the thing as he slowly began to notice the details of its face. It was a ghoulish creature, with an elongated yet gaunt snout. The creature slowly raised a clawed hand as it rose the window upwards, never taking its eyes off Shinji as it slowly crawled through. It landed silently before raising to its full height. Shinji stared at it, noting the tattered remains of its clothes… notably the tattered remnants of a very familiar school uniform, and a pair of broken glasses in its pocket.

"Shinji… what happened to me." It spoke with a whisper.

Shinji felt his heart stop when he recognized that voice. He took a hesitant step forward.

"Kensuke?"

The beast only nodded. Shinji shut his nicitating membrane and fully took in the new appearance of Kensuke. A spiritual presence, like a deafening heartbeat filled his mind as he was revealed knowledge of what it was he was looking at. Shinji clasp a hand at his head as Kensuke backed up into a corner, chewing at his own bloodied fingers.

"I… I couldn't help it… It was so cold, and I was so hungry… she died… I… I didn't want to do it, but… the whispers. They made me do it."

Shinji's eyes softened as he steped over to the elongated creature Kensuke had become. There was no hesitation as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Shinji… why is this happening again. You beat the angels before… why again… and what are those other things… Shinji… what am I? I… I know you know, I don't know why I know, but I do. Please Shinji, I need answers"

Shinji sighed as he pulled in Kensuke for a hug.

"I don't know fully Kensuke, but I do know some… including what you are… you're a ghoul."

Kensuke sniffed as black dusty tears fell down his cheeks, staining Shinji's shirt.

"What?"

Shinji sighed as he released Kensuke and motioned to the bed.

"Take a seat Kensuke, this… is going to be a lot to take in."

Sol churned and boiled as a living flame swam through a sea of plasma. It's name was Cthugha, a foul thing of heat and fire who desired only a blacked waste in its wake. It craved to burn and melt and sear. Yet it was chained and imprisoned here within an insignificant star. The boundless rage of Cthugha sent out solar flares as it tried to burn its chains, but failed. It raged and thrashed. Shapes of a thousand gnashing jaws flickered within the flames, and they drank in the suns plasma, craving to burn that which already burned. It did nothing but stoke its own anger and hate.

From its prison it could see the worlds that drifted in blissful ignorance around its prison. Each world just ready to be scorched and burned into ash. Cthugha writhed its flame-tips back and fourth to string along what could be called words, though it was no language that any mundane being could dare to comprehend. It spoke in forbidden curses and elder tongues as it chewed at its sightless chains with fangs of fire. Spinning infernos formed claws as it reached out into the inky blackness of space, only to be pulled back by the unseen chains and the burning ocean of plasma. It roared a foul cacophony, like an erupting volcano and crackling fires. It gazed at the worlds that were ready for blackening and charring. Fuel to be burned, yet beyond its grasp. It hated, and it struggled. Perhaps it was the countless aeons of struggling, or perhaps it was something else, but for the first time in forever, a metallic crack thundered around Cthugha, the chains loosened. The struggling intensified as the living flames readied to finally baptize all in fire. Yet the chains held firm, but it mattered little. Fire never stopped, only when all was ash would yhe burning cease, until then Cthugha raged. Ready to be free.