--Basement-- 0:00--
The Keeper shambled along, a fleck of its abdominal skin peeling away as it lazily moved forward. If the corpse was capable of thought, the one feeling that might have been flashing through its mind was that of emptiness, of lack… of void. It was nothing more than a Body, its Mind and Soul in… other places. It looked around, unseeing eyes taking in the brand new landscape. A Shop glinted just ahead, flanked by a Curse Room to the left and two Treasure Rooms to the right. Had Keeper thought to turn around, it might have seen a closed Exit door. However, the Shop beckoned. Slowly, mindlessly, it moved forward, ready to begin its final walk to the hangman’s Noose.
It was the Body.
It would Keep her safe.
--Dank Depths I – 13:47—
Isaac and his three cohorts landed in the Depths, rivers of tar running down the walls as Isaac’s nose was assaulted by the stench of decay.
“So, what’re we going to do in Depths II? We can’t stay behind while you fight Mom, the doors close,” Honesty wondered.
Isaac shrugged. “Follow me in, and don’t die, I suppose?” he tried.
Loyalty snorted. “’Don’t die’… what a perfect strategy. Truly, we have exchanged servitude in a most beneficial manner.”
Isaac rolled all three of his eyes.
To his surprise, there were enemies to fight on this Floor. Gazing Globins charged towards him, Vomit Gapers ambling behind as he blasted everything to shreds. Black Bonys tossed their ribs at him as fast as they could, but were quickly blown to bits as well. Isaac, unimpressed, charged through the Floor, his followers close behind as he destroyed every horror his former self’s imagination could conjure.
Coming across the Treasure Room, he peeked inside, unsure whether it would contain an Item or not. To his surprise, the Glowing Hourglass was there. But he was already carrying the D6… Isaac had an idea.
“One of you, go pick that up,” he commanded. Loyalty, Honesty and Kindness looked at him as though he were stupid.
“Sins can’t pick up items, you dummy!” Honesty rebutted.
“You’re not Sins anymore,” Isaac pointed out.
Kindness obediently trotted over and touched the Glowing Hourglass, which disappeared as the sound effect played from over his head. “Huh,” Kindness noted.
“So we can use Items now?” Loyalty wondered.
“Let’s not, I never did envy the Children for the mutilation they put themselves through just for some extra power,” Honesty remarked, grimacing.
Isaac frowned. “Not like we had much of a choice,” he rebutted.
--Chest—XX:XX--
Where was everybody?
Isaac was gone.
The Lamb was gone.
The Children are all gone.
Satan… is roaming.
I am afraid.
YHWH extended a blue, cyanotic appendage out in front of his crossed-out eyes, pondering the wrinkles as though intending to find His answers within. The more He thought about it, the more it was true. He was afraid. Afraid of losing His power to the very thing He had created, of finally giving up the ghost after all these years of being trapped inside a box, unable to oversee His people. A smirk came to his cracked lips. Even God was afraid of dying, it seemed. Which was exactly why He had to stop Isaac from killing Him. Even if Isaac was the better deity, even if He had been cruel, heartless and torturous to His son… He could not afford to lose. He would spread His Gospel once again.
And no ten-thousand-year-old infant would ever stop him.
YHWH got up, and moved towards the door.
--Dank Depths II—15:02 --
The Depths bosses had once again all been clustered in one room, and this time Isaac had actually managed to get hit by a burst from the Adversary. He grumbled as he clutched his burnt stomach, already beginning to heal over. Mom had been absent from her room as well, completely gone. Isaac supposed that made sense, because she had died outside their little box. Instead of inside. There had been no Polaroid or Negative to pick up, so Isaac and his cohorts surveyed the Guardian Room with some dismay.
“So…” Loyalty trailed off, looking at him. Isaac glanced over curiously. “What, uh… what was it like in Equestria? For you?” she asked.
Isaac smiled. “Perfect,” he answered. “Everything I could’ve ever dreamed of.”
Loyalty grimaced. “I have… memories. From her, that she-demon who I tried to possess. She… she didn’t have as great a time.”
Isaac looked over curiously. “What happened?” he asked.
“She was just trying to feed her family… but everyone called her a monster. She just wanted to be accepted… but everyone shunned her. She just wanted love… all she received was hate.”
Isaac gazed at her sympathetically, even his third eye creasing in concern.
“The world still isn’t perfect, Isaac. Ponies might think it is, but it’s not. Us Sins are still there. Not nearly as powerful, true, but we’re still doing our things,” Loyalty continued.
“Do you think I should make it perfect?” Isaac wondered.
Loyalty smirked. “All due respect, Lord, but I don’t think you can. Everyone’s got a different definition of perfect, and all of them are contradictory in one way or another. That’s the mistake YHWH made; he tried to impose His vision of perfection rather than anyone else’s. Because, of course, His way was the only way.”
Isaac sighed, his Mind running through various possible scenarios while he ruminated on this discourse. He could try to make things better for everyone… but then he might end up making things worse. He could not do anything at all… but then he’d be accused of impotence. An old theory, half-buried in his memories, surfaced for the first time in millennia. One that, upon seeing him reading it, Mom had snatched from his hands, shouting at him all the while.
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent.
Is God able to prevent evil, but not willing? Then He is malevolent.
Is God both able and willing to prevent evil? Then whence cometh evil?
Is God neither able nor willing to prevent evil? Then why call Him God?”
It wasn’t quite the true quote from Epicurus, Isaac now knew that much. But the fundamental premise was still the same. If he didn’t stop bad things from happening, why should anyone call him good? He was certainly able to prevent evil. He was now more powerful than he had ever been, powerful enough to stand a reasonable chance of defeating, really, truly defeating the deities he’d been fighting all these years. And then… what? He’d take his rightful place as the Lord of All? Command an army of angels to do… what, exactly? For all the answers it held, even the sacred artifact of the Mind could not think of any reply to this query.
Then again, he was no angel. He did not have to do things the ‘holy’ way, nor the ‘sinful’ way. All this time, Isaac had been doing things his way. He’d made a third choice, and he had to stick with it. So, then, what would happen once he won? Would he go back to Luna, finish his life with her? Could he do that, knowing what he did now? Isaac didn’t think he could. It would be a hollow mockery of a child and his mother, when he knew everything she was going to do and everything he was going to respond with. There would be no challenges, no arguments, none of the essential parts of a child growing up. None of the things he had missed during his own childhood, or what remained of it. Just a god pretending to be a child.
--Depths – 12:07--
The Keeper stooped down to pick up a coin, a vague smile coming to its dead face as it replenished its health. Coins made it feel good. More coins would be better. It felt a tremor, somewhere far away, and promptly fell over, long-unused bones cracking and shattering as it righted itself. The Keeper felt something disappear from this world, though it could never know what. Now, it felt as though it was being watched, as though something had been monitoring something else and abandoned it to come here. If the Keeper had had even a spark of soul inside it, it might have cared. But it was, for all intents and purposes, the true Isaac: Stripped of costume, of soul, lacking even a mind. The only thing that kept the Keeper running was bodily instinct, to preserve its not-life as long as possible. Disregarding the earthquake and the presence, the Keeper shuffled forward.
Today, it would not die.
This would be a first for everyone involved.
--Scarred Womb II – 16:07 --
It had taken quite some use of the Shovel to get Lilith this far. The Shop seemed to be helping her, giving her Restock and free batteries so long as she managed to find it. Finally, she had beaten Isaac to this floor, racing against time to make the Plan work. Pulling out the sheet of paper and pencil she’d picked up from Equestria, she began to scribble a note, the Incubus aiding her by destroying any enemy before they could distract her from her purpose.
All these years, Lilith had longed to be part of a bigger purpose. Something greater than her, than anyone. She’d thought Christianity held the answers, at least for a time. Then, her husband had left her. She had gone insane, tortured her only son into thinking he was to blame for all these terrible things. By far, she had been the greater culprit, the greater sinner… no. It was time to stop thinking of herself as a sinner. Her son had shown that there was something more she could do than lie down and accept God’s judgment. She could choose another way out, for everyone.
--Scarred Womb I – 15:22 --
Lost in thought, Isaac hardly noticed as he entered the Womb. It was dark, and scarred strands of muscle and skin covered the walls. He continued onward, destroying everything in his path as his followers tagged behind, uneasy at his silence.
“Master? Are you alright?” Kindness asked, unable to stand it anymore.
“Just… thinking,” Isaac answered after a pause.
Kindness gazed at him, concern radiating from his red eyes. “Whatever you’re thinking… It’s okay, Isaac. It’s going to be okay,” Kindness soothed.
Isaac appeared taken aback for a moment, then smiled at him. “…Thanks,” he answered. “I needed that.”
The Womb’s Guardians were waiting, and it seemed they’d been paying attention to their prior counterparts’ difficulties. Scollex hid underground until he was distracted by Conquest, who promptly rained down holy light as Blastocyst and Death shot scythes and bullets all around. Isaac ducked and weaved as hurriedly as he could, making sure to protect his friends as much as he destroyed his enemies. A well-timed use of the Stopwatch here, a blast of Love magic there… it wasn’t anything too complex. His Soul aided as well, deflecting projectiles from every one of his teammates with its comforting pale blue glow.
Blastocyst was the last to go down, the mitotic fetii finally giving up the ghost as they exploded into miniature giblets and organs. Isaac huffed a sigh, panting in exhaustion. His Body was perfect, right? Why, then, was he tired? It didn’t make sense. None of this made sense! At any rate, the path to Womb II had opened, so Isaac stepped towards it. He’d face ‘It Lives,’ and then… he’d have to pick who he would fight first. Satan or God.
--Scarred Womb II – 15:59 --
To his surprise, the floor was once again empty. As though somebody had already been here… He could hear footsteps up ahead, but for some reason didn’t feel like following them. Isaac casually meandered along, taking his time. Apparently it was important. He felt that his followers wanted to ask, he knew they could hear the footsteps too, but a few quelling looks their way and they fell silent. He didn’t know who was ahead of him, paving the way for his success, but he did know that they truly were on his side.
He came to the Guardian Room housing ‘It Lives’, only to find the door closed and the sounds of battle emanating from within. Curious, Isaac waited outside the door.
“Who’s in there?” Honesty wondered, poking at the red doors as though hoping to defy the rules and open them.
“Who cares? They’re fighting ‘It Lives’ for us. Never liked that one…” Loyalty remarked offhandedly.
Isaac remained silent, as did Kindness, though he could tell the former unicorn king wanted to say something.
Finally, the door opened, and Isaac peeked through. He could just catch the shadow of a Child jumping down to Sheol, the trapdoor closing and the beam of light vanishing.
“Wha – they tricked us! We’re trapped here!” Kindness exclaimed in shock.
Isaac shook his head, and pointed. A new door was open, rather akin to the Boss Rush back in the Depths – but where did it lead? Isaac had never heard of a third path from the Womb. As he made his way towards it, his foot crunched against something papery. He stooped down to pick it up, and read it by the warm red light of the Womb.
“Dear Isaac,
I have taken the path to Sheol in order to fight Satan. Do not worry about me; I will buy you some time. It is imperative that you confront what lies beyond that third passageway. Thank you for making it here in under half an hour. Luna is depending on you.
-Lilith”
Isaac smiled. It was the first note he’d ever received from another of the Basement Children, and he elected to treat it reverently, stowing it away where nobody could find it. That done, he strode onward towards the new path, wondering what new tribulation lay ahead in the confines of his imaginary world.