by T. Rudacille
***
After an awkward prayer, dinner was eaten in silence. I tried not to observe those around me too closely, out of fear of giving myself away. Penny stared around, unabashed, her brows furrowed in confusion.
“Why is no one talking?” She whispered to me.
I shushed her and squeezed her hands under the table.
After an awkward dinner, we were a part of an awkward religious ceremony that involved speaking in some unknown language, gesticulating wildly to the sky, and singing in monotonous vowels for three hours. After everyone was exhausted from all the rigorous worshiping, we fell into our seats and watched as Tyre took the podium from Rich. Rich clapped his hands, and everyone joined in immediately. When I saw Tyre glance at Penny hungrily, I nearly jumped out of my chair and charged him. Nick’s hands tightening around both of mine stopped me.
You cannot imagine the suffocating feeling of suppressing your true nature. You cannot imagine how difficult it is to stifle even your protective instinct that will guarantee the longevity of a child. I would become uncomfortably familiar with the stifling weight of keeping the beast down over the following days.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to stand before you today with joyous news. Abba's group has split. The battle was won in your favor. Congratulations.”
There was a rumble of applause so deafening, I feared briefly that the wooden walls would cave. I saw every display of happiness one can observe in human beings; everything from a small smirk to screaming thanks at the ceiling and jumping up and down in ecstasy.
“The war is not over yet, however. We still must take back the city from Adam.”
Now, people muttered darkly amongst themselves about evil incarnate and damnation. I stifled the urge to roll my eyes.
“Jesus...” Nick murmured in disgusted disbelief.
I looked at him, silently urging him not to speak.
“I know!” A woman in front of us turned around, smiling gigantically. “God is so great!”
“These people don't know anything about God or His so...” I began to whisper to Nick, but Maura smacked my hand, not looking at me. When I gasped in response to the slight pain, I also looked over at her. She gave me an almost imperceptible shake of her head.
“Richard and I believe that it is time for you all to know the great truth behind the bloodshed that has claimed the lives of so many of my people and his. Only through this great truth will you truly understand.”
Jeez, were they going to dim the lights dramatically?
“Thousands of years ago, when the Earth and Purissimus had just come into being, human-like creatures were shaped in the image of the One God. His rules were simple; you all are familiar with the Great Ten. The war with Adam began with the building of the Shining City. While my people and I wished to continue worshiping in order to show our profound thanks for the powers that He had bestowed upon us, Adam wished to harvest the world for resources in order to build an empire.”
Anger was pulsing through the crowd. Penny looked at me, her eyes widened slightly in fear. I pulled her into my lap and held her close.
“The greatest gift that was given to us was this pure land that we inhabit. Adam was destroying it mercilessly. As more of the land died, his powers only grew more potent while ours began to die away. We did not grieve the loss; we only realized that if Adam, in all his infinite evil and his love of destruction, possessed them, then surely, they were not of God but of the Beast. Our fight had been raging for many years when from out of the sky, came your ship. Our numbers had been lessened by his brutality. We were fortunate that there were those who know the Great Truth on board your craft. You all know the Truth.” He beckoned out to the audience who were hanging onto his every word. They were thrilled to be complimented by him. There was not a shred of doubt amongst any of them.
“While Adam embraces the powers of the Beast, you all are our gift from the one God. You all will aid us in achieving our victory. From out of the ashes of a ruined world came the faithful warriors for whom I had so long asked. Together, we will overthrow Adam. Together, we will claim the city and restore Purissimus to its Godly glory. It is the will of the all-mighty Creator, for this war to be fought. It is His will for us to win. Never fear defeat, my friends. We are the Chosen Ones.”
“On the note of never fearing defeat, I'd like to add this, if you don't mind, Tyre.”
“Please...” Tyre stepped away, and Rich took the podium.
“I'd like all of you men who fight to remember this: God gave his one son to die for our sins. If you are grieving those we lost yesterday, just remember that they died serving God. They died fighting in the name of Him and his Son.”
I watched as people nodded with tears either brimming in their eyes or streaming rapidly down their faces. One man even pumped his fist into the air. Rich was eating up the adulation and the show of unity amongst his people. He stepped away from the podium, beckoning for Tyre to take it again.
“Now, because we have won such a spectacular victory, we must make an offering.”
Silence. Forget a knife; a chainsaw couldn't have cut through the tension in that room. All around, people glanced, wide-eyed at one another. A woman in front of us put her face in her hands, stifling sobs. What the hell?
“Please don't fret, my lady.” Tyre told her kindly, but his eyes were glinting with malice. “It will not be one of you this time. It will be one who is consumed by the darkness. It will be one that we took from Abba. Gentlemen...”
He gestured to the door at the far right end of the hall. From out of it, two male Old Spirits dragged Eric, one of the men responsible for keeping our fires burning, from the back room. Though he fought to free himself from their grasp, he did not scream obscenities or call those people on their blind, pitilessly stupid devotion. My heart raced as I turned Penny away from the scene.
“It's Eric!” She cried to me. “What are they going to do?”
I shushed her again, my entire body trembling. Eric had been a friend to everyone; he was always ready with a joke or to laugh at one told by someone else. He did an amazing impression of Don that never failed to make every fall over themselves laughing. He and his wife had been very much loved. I wanted to run forward, throw myself over him, and beg them to stop their senseless violence. I wanted to scream, reminding them that no God in the western canon demanded ritual sacrifice, at least according to Brynna, who knew everything. Were they really so blind? Were they really so stupid in terms of the faith they claimed they followed down to the letter?
They slammed Eric down on the altar at the front of the church. People were standing, craning their necks to get a better look. I turned my head away, fighting tears and my own faltering breaths. Nick wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling both Penny and me closer to him. His eyes were averted from the carnage in front of us.
Arms raised to the sky and swayed back and forth as people hummed in an ominous monotone. Maura's hand snaked around my back, grasping a handful of my shirt. Even her eyes were cast down. As others screamed and cried for the sacrifice, we prayed for something, anything that would stop it. A light would fill the hall and the booming voice of the Lord would demand that they stop their pitiless bloodshed. Jesus Christ would chastise them for embracing such brutal methods of worship and claiming that they were following His code.
But the hall remained dimly lit by the torches. The only sound came from the worshipers risen from their seats, crying out to the heavens and stomping their feet, shaking the foundation of the structure we were in. For a moment, I prayed that the roof would collapse on our heads. Penny's tears ran down my neck, and I grasped her even more tightly, squeezing my eyes shut as Tyre raised the knife above his head…
Cheers erupted, and through my half-opened eyes, I saw people embracing before raising their hands to the sky in triumph and thanks.
Look anywhere else! Don't look, Violet! My mind whispered in a desperate, shaky plea. Even my brain knew that seeing
Eric's mangled body would weaken the already fragile grip I held on my sanity. To lose it there in the church meant not only my death, but Penny’s and Nick’s, and maybe even Maura's.
There is truth to the belief that a subconscious part of our minds is fascinated by tragedy and gruesome sights. That part of my brain pulled my protesting eyes to the sight of Eric's body. Blood was dripping down the altar, pattering against the hardwood floor like a grotesque rain. His eyes and mouth were still wide open in his final scream of terror.
God grasped the top of the building and spun us in fierce, powerful circles. My legs were knocked out from beneath me. I hit the ground hard, feeling Penny flying from my arms.
The darkness in the hearts of those people snuffed out the light from the torches.
I closed my eyes.