Even from here, the gothic-church still looked dark and uninviting. It may look unassuming on the outside, but inside were unspeakable eldritch-horrors. Tweek stood hiding behind the snowy trees and kept peering uneasily over at the church. The church was usually empty and derelict but surprisingly it was bustling with activity tonight. The Starry Wisdom cultists were inside. Worst yet, Tweek watched helplessly as he witnessed some of his friends being forced inside the evil church by the cultists. So far they've captured Clyde, Token, Jimmy, Wendy, Bebe, and even Scott Malkinson.
Tweek shivered but it wasn't because of the cold air. He was still determined to save Craig and the others. But instead he stayed hidden. Tweek rubbed his hands together to try to keep them warm. He didn't have time to put on any winter-gear when he escaped from his own house earlier. While watching his breath puffing out like smoke, Tweek gave a startled gasp when he heard the sound of a twig snapping somewhere behind him.
"Who's there? Show yourself?" Tweek called out. He prayed it wasn't a Starry Wisdom cultist. To Tweek's relief, he saw it was only Kyle and Mysterion arriving along with Officer Barbrady. "Oh thank god it's you guys. Took you long enough!"
"We got here as fast as we can," Kyle explained. He too cast a wary look over at the church. "What's going on? What are the cultists doing right now?"
"They've captured all our friends!" Tweek said at once. "The Starry Wisdom cultists must be gathering people inside the church. I don't know what they're planning."
I was looking over at the church with an expression of utter contempt. "Nyarlathotep has pissed me off for the last time. It's time to bring this whole crazy cult down once and for all," I said seriously." I started to take a step forward but then something stopped me.
Another black van had pulled up in front of the church. And as Kyle, Tweek, Barbrady and me watched from the trees, we were in for another shock when we saw the cultists dragging Stan out of the van and off into the church as well. "Oh no…Stanley," I whispered worriedly.
"Dammit! They've got Stan too?" Kyle said frowning. "How many people did they manage to kidnap?" And then that's when Kyle realized they were missing somebody. "Wait a minute… Where is Cartman? Cartman should have been here by now. Tweek, have you seen him?"
"No sorry," Tweek said who was still shivering nervously in the cold. "You don't suppose they've captured him too, do you?"
"I wouldn't worry. I'm sure Cartman will catch up with us soon enough," I said reassuringly to Kyle. I couldn't stop clenching and unclenching my fists when I realized how furious I was. Those psychotic bastards have my boyfriend! I had to do something and fast. Our friends were in danger. I knew what Nyarlathotep was doing. He was using my friends as bait…hoping to lure me back into the church.
"There has to be something we can do," Officer Barbrady was saying concernedly. "Isn't there a safe way we can get the hostages out of the church? Maybe I can try to call for backup. I can try to convince the Park County Police for their assistance."
But I knew that wouldn't give us enough time. There was only one way to save everybody. It was a dangerous move but it's a risk I was willing to take. "I'm going in," I said without hesitation.
The others all looked at me uncertainly. "What? Are you for real? You're going to go in there… by yourself?" Tweek said incredulously.
"Don't be so reckless, Kenny!" Kyle scolded. "Think about what you're about to do. You think you can waltz in there and Nyarlathotep or his crazy cultists won't just kill you on the spot?" But then he added. "This goes against your original plan, Kenny. Remember? You said you thought of the best way to get rid of Nyarlathotep. How will your plan work now?"
"It will work," I insisted. "Nyarlathotep thinks he can break me. I won't give that ugly fucker the satisfaction. I'm going to go in and play that Outer God for a change. Cartman gave me lessons on how to play people like a fiddle. I think I can make it convincing." Kyle continued to look unsure but I knew what I was doing.
"And what if you die?" Tweek couldn't help asking anxiously. "What are we supposed to do then? My boyfriend is in there! I won't let them hurt Craig!"
I turned away from them and stared determinedly over at the church. "I know how you feel, Tweek," I said empathetically. "I know what I have to do. It's the only way. You guys wait out here. Once I get everyone out of the church, you can help escort them to safety." I took a deep breath and let it out. "Okay. Here goes…"
Now Kyle, Tweek and Officer Barbrady watched as I began to make my way through the snow and over to the church. And as I got near, the eldritch aura within me stirred awake. Once I hated this power that co-existed with me. I thought it nothing but a curse. But for as long as I've lived, this eldritch-power never once tried to corrupt me or change me in any way. It's protected me in its own way. Nyarlathotep couldn't break my mind because the eldritch aura wouldn't allow it. For that, I was grateful. I needed this power more than ever in order to challenge Nyarlathotep. And if this power died, I would die with it…
…
Stan managed to maintain a defiant look as the Starry Wisdom cultists marched him into the church and was forced down the aisle to the center of the church. Along the way, he spotted his other friends here as well, tied up and being held prisoner. The second he stepped inside the church, Stan found himself suddenly struck with a splitting headache. It felt like something was squeezing his brain. On top of that, Stan thought the air in here was so oppressive and he could already sense an evil presence lurking…
At the center of the church, Stan found himself standing before the large altar with its doors wide open. He saw nothing but pitch blackness inside and yet Stan knew the Outer God was lurking in that darkness. For the first time, Stan truly feared for his life. The pain in his head wouldn't go away. He was so afraid that he would be driven insane. Then Stan recognized the Shining Trapezohedron sitting in its usual hexagonal-shaped box. The two Starry Wisdom cultists forced him to stand there before the altar and Stan wished the headache would stop.
"What do you think they're planning to do?" Clyde asked in a trembling voice. "Are they gonna kill us all? Oh god, I don't wanna die."
"I don't know about you guys, but I've been reading H.P Lovecraft's stories lately," Token said in a low voice. "If there's one thing all the protagonists have in common is that it never ends well for them. They all either get driven insane, commit suicide, or suffer a fate worse than death!"
"Oh jeez, please don't tell me that!" Bebe whimpered in fright.
"It'll be alright everyone. I'm sure help is coming. Hopefully somebody called the police and know that we're all being kept here against our will," Wendy tried her best comforting everyone.
Even Butters was trying to hold onto whatever optimism he had left. He too wanted to believe that help would be arriving soon. All he could do was try his best to keep poor Bradley from falling apart. The poor guy was truly terrified and had no idea what was going on. Butters didn't want Bradley to fall into despair. He even allowed Bradley to squeeze his hand. So far Craig managed to keep a stoic look glued to his face but even he couldn't stop himself from succumbing to fear. He didn't want to die… The only thing keeping him sane was his thoughts of Tweek…
It seemed that some ritual was about to commence… And as Stan stood there trying to keep his heart from pounding too hard, that's when he sensed movement inside that dark altar. Nyarlathotep was about to make his appearance. Stan shut his eyes and realized he didn't want to see. He was afraid the image of Nyarlathotep would burn in his mind and break his sanity. Stan could feel himself shaking a little and wondered what was about to happen to him. Then he heard that uncanny yet alluring voice speak to him.
"Open your eyes, young man. You have nothing to fear. This is a sacred occasion. One where I bless my faithful followers with gifts of infinite knowledge, immortality, and a glimpse into new worlds…"
Stan couldn't tell if Nyarlathotep was speaking directly to him or telepathically to his mind. But he slowly opened one eye hesitatingly and before he knew it, he saw those burning red three-lobed eyes staring right at him from the deep dark altar. Stan's headache seemed to grow worse when he was forced to stare back at the horrible Lovecraftian abomination. An evil Outer God who thrived on chaos, insanity, and death. Despite his fear, Stan managed to get his throat working again and finally found his voice.
"What sacred occasion is this?" he asked the Outer God.
But Nyarlathotep didn't answer Stan's question and instead seemed to gaze over at the gathered crowd of hooded cultists and called forth a name. "Marsh! Come forward and I will grant your wish for arcane knowledge from other dimensions."
To Stan's complete and utter shock, the cultist stepped forward, pulled back his hood, to reveal it was none other than his own father, Randy Marsh. "Dad? You're part of this?" Stan said in disbelief.
"Hey son. I uh…know this isn't exactly how I'd like for you to find out," Randy said awkwardly. "But I've told you before. Nyarlathotep can give this town anything it wants. Nyarlathotep is technically a god and like any old god, if you treat it with respect and dignity, your loyalty can be rewarded. Right guys?" Soon they were all in for a big shock when other members of the Starry Wisdom cultists pulled back their hoods and it was revealed they were all their dads.
"Dad? You got suckered into this too?" Butters stared in wide-eyed horror over at his dad, Stephen Stotch. "I…I don't get it. Why would you want to be part of all this?"
"Dad, what the fuck!" Craig said outraged at his dad, Thomas. "Have you totally lost it? Do you have any idea how fucked-up all of this is?"
Now Stan watched as his father stood beside him and was facing Nyarlathotep. "I'm here, Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos. I'm ready to accept forbidden knowledge of the past, present and future. You say you want a sacrifice in return for unlimitless intelligence?" Randy asked eagerly. "What'll it be then? Should I sacrifice a sheep? Or usually it's a goat…"
Nyarlathotep's fiery red eyes burned calculatingly back at Randy. "I want you to sacrifice your son…"
Randy clearly hadn't been expecting this as he was now staring back at the Outer God in total shock. "Wha…What? Wait a second…You want me to…?" Randy looked at the horrified-look on Stan's face and then back at Nyarlathotep. "You mean… I have to kill my own son in order to obtain power?"
"Oh for fuck's sake, dad!" Stan shouted angrily at him. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy? What did you expect? This is an evil Outer God. Of course Nyarlathotep is going to want you to do something totally depraved in order to seek power. My god, you're such a stupid asshole!"
Soon the other fathers were starting to express doubts about this as well. "What? This really is crazy. I'm not gonna kill my own kid for this," Token's dad said uneasily.
"What the hell were we thinking? I didn't sign up for this," Jimmy's dad agreed. "I mean sure, I wanted to seek knowledge from different universes, but I don't want to kill my only child!"
Stan glared furiously at his dumbass dad. But then he felt an unforgiving pain in his head. Stan let out a groan and grabbed at his head and fell to his knees as pain continued to assault of five of his senses. It felt like a bomb exploded inside his head. From inside the altar, Nyarlathotep was still staring at Randy and his burning-red three-lobed eyes were glinting amusedly. Upon Randy's refusal to kill his son, Nyarlathotep's unsettling laughter echoing throughout the church appeared to cause everyone serious headaches.
"So you refuse to honor this deal? This divine gift I'm willing to bestow upon you?" Nyarlathotep's voice sent chills down the spines of everyone in his presence. The Outer God had a very disturbing way on striking fear in the hearts of everyone. "Very well then. Your insolence offends me! Begone with you! You're no longer worthy in the sacred house of Starry Wisdom!"
From inside the altar, a large black octopus-like tentacle suddenly shot out and whacked Randy hard in the chest with such powerful force that it sent him flying across the aisle of pews before landing painfully on his side. "Dad!" Stan cried out in spite of himself. But he spun around in time to see Nyarlathotep locking eyes with him and saw the tentacle reaching out to attack him next. Stan couldn't dodge in time and squeezed his eyes shut to prepare for the attacking tentacle.
At that moment, the doors swung open with a loud bang, capturing everyone's attention at once. Even Nyarlathotep stopped his attack in mid-air and now his burning red eye gazed over at the entrance to see who has come to interfere. Stan also turned around to look and his heart leaped in relief when he saw his beloved crime-fighter, Mysterion. His boyfriend was here… Mysterion's eyes looked around the church and he saw that everyone's eyes were on him. Now he calmly walked down the aisle where he stared unflinchingly back at the burning red three-lobed eye staring at him from inside the pitch-black altar.
A couple of Starry Wisdom cultists quickly stepped into Mysterion's way to stop him but Nyarlathotep's cold voice stopped them. "Let him though…," The threatening menace in the Outer God's voice caused the cultists to back off at once.
Stan was so happy to see Mysterion but as the crime-fighter drew nearer, Stan's smile faded when he saw the look in Mysterion's eyes. Instead of seeing Mysterion's bright sky-blue eyes, they were now an eerie lavender-purple. And something else had changed in Mysterion as well… Mysterion was wearing an expression devoid of any emotion. There was no spark in his eyes, no trace of kindness in his face. Mysterion seemed to ignore Stan and instead seemed more focused on Nyarlathotep whose burning red eye gleamed excitedly at the sight of the crime-fighter.
"Mysterion…what are…," Stan started to ask.
Mysterion turned to Stan and shot icy daggers at him. "Don't talk to me," he growled threateningly.
Stan was so taken aback by this unexpected cold attitude and from his own boyfriend no less. What was going on here? And as Stan caught a glimpse of Mysterion's glimmering purple-eyes, that's when it suddenly dawned on him. Was Mysterion being possessed somehow? Had his eldritch-power finally gained control of Kenny McCormick and corrupted him somehow? Now Stan watched as Mysterion stepped up to greet Nyarlathotep. And what Mysterion said next really shocked everyone to the core.
"I'm ready to ascend," Mysterion announced. "I've reached my full potential. I've come here today because I've decided to finally sacrifice my humanity for ultimate eldritch godhood."
There was a murmur of shocked gasps and nervous whisperings that came after this declaration. But nobody was more appalled than Stan who was utterly dumbfounded. He couldn't take his eyes off of Mysterion. What the hell was going on here? Mysterion would never agree to something like that! Stan opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. He realized he was speechless. He could only watch on helplessly as Mysterion appeared to pull a face-heel turn.
Nyarlathotep studied Mysterion with his intelligent burning red eyes and he seemed to consider Mysterion's words. "So you've come to accept your true nature. But still I wonder…," Nyarlathotep wasn't convinced and eyed Mysterion suspiciously. "You've been fighting my influence all along. Why now have you chosen to embrace your ancient eldritch powers?"
Mysterion's eyes gave a sinister purple glow that it even gave Stan chills. "You were right. I'll never be normal," Mysterion said coldly. "All my life I've died in the most horrible painful ways only to be reborn the next day. Nobody can ever remember my deaths. I'm sick of their ignorance and cruelty. I don't want to get rid of this power. I want to control it for myself. Will you help me?"
Jimmy leaned over to whisper to Butters: "Is he…fo…fo…for real? Does he realize what he's saying?"
"I…I don't believe it," Bebe said with a look of shock. "Mysterion would never do that. Wasn't he always the good guy? Why would he turn evil now?"
Nyarlathotep could sense the eldritch-power emanating in Kenny McCormick's soul. That eldritch-soul called out to him, communicated with him. And then Nyarlathotep's burning red three-lobed eye glinted wickedly. And as everyone watched in horror, Nyarlathotep extended his large black tentacle to Mysterion who reached out to shake it. In that moment, Stan knew he had to do something to put a stop to this. Stan moved forward and balled his hand into a fist. One good punch in Mysterion's face would hopefully be enough to snap him back to his senses. But Nyarlathotep must have read Stan's mind because his tentacle was already curling around Stan's waist with a tight squeeze.
Before Nyarlathotep could break Stan's spine in two, Mysterion was speaking loudly again to catch the Outer God's attention. "No. Let me," Mysterion offered. "I will make a sacrifice. I will sacrifice Stan Marsh in exchange for everlasting life and power."
Nyarlathotep eyed Mysterion and he couldn't hide the chaotic excitement shining in his fiery red eye. "Very well. I will accept this generous offer." At this, one of the Starry Wisdom cultists pulled out a ceremonial-looking dagger and offered it to Mysterion. "One good slice to the throat should spill plenty of the sacrifice's blood on my sacred altar," Nyarlathotep instructed.
But Mysterion didn't accept the dagger and instead had something else in mind. "I'd rather use the Shining Trapezohedron," he suggested with an evil smile. "With its unfathomable power, I can use the Shining Trapezohedron as a weapon. With its shining brilliance combined with my own power, I can give you millions of sacrifices."
Stan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Is this…what he really wants? Stan wondered to himself. But the next thing he knew, Stan found himself facing Mysterion who stood before him, holding the brightly Shining Trapezohedron in his gloved hand. With Nyarlathotep's tentacle still wrapped tightly around him, Stan couldn't get away. Instead all Stan could do was stare into the eyes of the man he loved. To think only earlier, he'd been sitting with Kenny, laughing and joking, eating Chinese food with him and his sister while watching Christmas cartoons.
"Kenny…," Stan pleaded in a whisper. "Please…"
Mysterion gazed emotionlessly back at him with those purple-glowing eyes that now looked so empty and unfeeling. It was like all traces of Kenny McCormick was gone and standing before him now was a total stranger. Stan realized he was about to die at the hands of someone he'd once loved and trusted. Mysterion smirked at the defeated look in Stan's midnight blue eyes that he couldn't resist reaching up to gently stroke his boyfriend's cheek. But now Stan was glaring at him in disgust and removed his face from his touch.
"Don't worry," Mysterion sneered eagerly. "I'll make this quick so that you don't suffer."
I decided to leave this on a cliff-hanger. Will Mysterion really sacrifice Stan to the Outer God? Find out in the next updated chapter. See you soon!
