Hello! And welcome one and all of my readers, to the final part in the first arc of To Hell and Back! This is the chapter you (might) have been waiting for! I won't keep you waiting any longer
Disclaimer: I do not own binding of Isaac, or any of its characters
Ch 2 the basement finale
God bless you, and be careful! Those words echoed through all of Isaac's thoughts, as he stood in front of the door that lead to what could be his final stand. Although he looked calm on the outside, on the inside, he was really quite nervous. He did not know what exactly was on the other side of the door, but from what he has gathered from his dream last night, and the way the door stared down at him menacingly, he could tell it was dangerous. Isaac swallowed, if I do not proceed how am I to complete my journey… I have no other choice. Isaac closed his eyes and took a deep breath, besides… It, wants me to quit now doesn't it. Isaac toke slow steps towards the door, watching the red light pour from its entrance, Isaac stopped when he passed through the red light, to find himself in a torch lit short hallway. Crudely created drawings covered the walls and all of them depicted a large worm-like creature, most of them doing horrible things to corpses. Isaac shook his head and focused on the entrance to the room ahead of him. He was about to enter the room, when a shine above the doorway leading out of the hall, and into the arena. "PIN" the small dark metal plaque read. "Follow them" Isaac repeated to himself before shaking off his nervousness, and walking into the arena.
The arena was larger than a normal one, a little less than double the size of a normal room, ceiling was higher than normal, but what unnerved Isaac slightly, was that the dirt was… softer… than normal. He took a combat stance when he heard the door behind him shut, the sound echoing repeatedly in the larger room. Isaac sensed a disturbance, looking to where he heard faint rumbling, he saw the top of a snake-like form slither in and out of the ground seeing skin colored patches of the monster. Pin slithered back into the ground before sticking its head out of the ground half of its body slithering to meet with it, it reared its head and spat a glob of explosive blood towards Isaac, Isaac knew better than to stand around, and see what it does. So he jumped out of the way and landed on his feet, the blood shot landed three feet away from Isaac and detonated on impact damaging Isaac a little. Pin then dove back into the ground, Isaac recovering from the dodge and blast, looked up just in time to see pin shoot out of the ground and fly into the air. Isaac looked on, shocked that such a creature is able to even do that, before pin crashed into Isaac, he once again jumped out of the way. Isaac concentrated as best he could to conjure a fireball, while jumping out of harm's way frequently. When Isaac created a fireball big enough to throw, he waited for pin to jump out of the ground again, but pin only rose some of his body out of the ground to fire another blood shot. Knowing he had the perfect opportunity, Isaac charged towards pin with the fireball in his hands and brought the sphere to pins side pin writhed in pain and shot back underground, he did damage but not very much. As pin immediately shot out of the ground behind him and plummeted towards Isaac, Isaac could not dodge, and was blown back by the impact of pin reentering the dirt, and was sent to the wall. Before Isaac could get back up, pin reappeared in a different area to shoot another glob. Isaac once again unable to dodge. Had taken the bullet head on, Isaac was barely able to get up, most of his energy drained from him, he watched as pin leapt out of the ground again. Drawing energy he did not have, he jumped out of the way, and missed pin by only inches. He started to lose focus, thoughts coursing through his mind on the circumstance he was in and what his life had come to, once again his life was flashing before his eyes. Not focusing on anything in particular accept for the dream he had last night, remembering the questions he asked and the answers he got for them. As dodging continued, he scanned over the thoughts. "what about my abilities, fire, and the like?" Isaac asked the boy in his memory, "it is part of your…" Isaac's thoughts stopped cold before they let him remember the last word "…destiny." The word echoed in his mind. Pin lunged out of the ground again, Isaac dodged like there was nothing to it, his thoughts continued as he remembered more of the conversation he had with the boy in the cathedral. "Will I ever find a friend?" Isaac remembered asking as the boy answered smiling "I… think you will be… pleasantly surprised." Isaac was filled with hope as the thought finished. Pin appeared to shoot another glob, Isaac dodged effortlessly. Isaac had not known but an orange glow started to appear around his body, the fire of hope and determination filling him with strength. He then remembered the question that would help him turn the tables against pin. "Will I make it through this?" Isaac's thoughts stopped again as he stared at pin lunging through the air. Isaac dodged and waited as a different answer he did not know applied to the question "the reward for your journey, is determined solely on your decisions…" Isaac's hands caught fire and his entire aura transformed from a burning orange to a vibrant blue, when he thought, my decisions… I have control… pin appeared and shot another glob that Isaac dodged without thinking went back to his last questions original answer ". It is not destined for you to know." Isaacs's eyes snapped open as he thought to himself, but today… I, control my destiny. And I choose to live! And outlast ALL adversities! Overcome ALL obstacles. And defeat ALL OF MY ENEMIES! Isaac was infused with hope, courage, and power, to surpass all. Pin wanted to kill Isaac bored and frustrated that his prey is escaping him so easily, and slithered through the ground before firing itself high into the air, and plummeted towards Isaac. Isaac snapped his head upward and leapt into the air by creating a small explosion by his feet, and continued to propel himself into the air. When Isaac got up to where pin was he waited until pin was in grabbing distance. With incredible strength, he caught pin in midair and flipped while chucking the worm into the ground. Injuring it Isaac then used gravity to his advantage and caused a blue explosion, that sent pin into the air, and flew up after him a fist enveloped in blue fire ready to end pin, when he yelled out loud "TODAY, I RULE MY DESTINY!" pin came within striking distance, and Isaac did not let the opportunity slip. With one final war cry, he landed an overpowered punch to pin that caused a fiery blue nova. sending it to the wall, the impact killing it instantly. Isaac lowered himself to the ground, and before he could think of anything the blue fire surrounded him in a pillar and was gone, disappearing into the ceiling. Isaac looked to pin to see if it was dead, and sighed in relief that all that remained was a worm creature, non-moving, lacerations up and down its body, bones sticking out here and there, and lying in a pool of blood.
Isaac stood up shakily slightly drained of his energy. And looked around for something anything he had hoped at that point, anything would work, the ground shook, a small pillar of stone protruding from the ground, Isaac approached it to see what it held; a bone with some meat on it. "Food…" Isaac said entranced by the thought of the heavenly sustenance that floated before him.
-5 minutes later-
Isaac licked his lips contentedly, when he heard the stone walls breaking down and a pearl colored frame appeared in the wall, a cross with wings adorning the top of the frame, white light started to pour out of the frame and Isaac decided it would not hurt to enter.
Isaac found himself in a room themed like the cathedral he was in, in his dream. He looked around and the same boy he had conversed with stood upon the floor although his image was hollow with sparks of light coming from the inside. "I see!" the boy exclaimed "you lived! I knew you could do it! I had no doubt what so ever that you wouldn't thrive!" the boy exclaimed. "Good to see you too!" Isaac stated happily. "I am sorry I cannot stay here long, I am here to congratulate you and give you this! The boy stated pointing to a golden ring floating above a marble pedestal, "what is it?" Isaac quizzed looking at the ring thoughtfully. "That is for you to find out" the boy replied "anyway, I must go." the boy said before he could leave Isaac interrupted, "wait! Hold up!" the boy turned "thank you, for everything." The boy smiled happily "it was no problem!" the boy said genially before fading away as the rays of light that constructed him, disappeared.
Isaac left the room of the cathedral and found the door disappeared behind him. He found a trapdoor leading down and it was not a long distance to the next floor maybe only ten feet. He thought to himself while staring at the entrance to the next floor I must be willing to suffer, to escape. to do anything, to survive. Even if it means… Isaac cut his thoughts and said smiling "going to hell and back!" Isaac exclaimed before hopping to the next floor.
So that is it! No ot the end of the story just the end of the first arc… dang that took me a while…
Anyway tell me what you guys think, what are you excited for? What do you think will happen next arc? Who will Isaac encounter? You certainly won't find out now. Leave a review, fav, follow, whatever! Anyway
Until next time!