Unsure about it, he puts his hand on the wall. Suddenly, his arm went into the wall like pudding submerging deeper inside. Dom tried pulling away, but it was too late the wall sucks him in. For a moment, blinded by the concrete and left breathless, Dom thought the spirits tricked him again into another trap.
Until, popping out of a pillar and landing on a walkable water pond. Dom breathes and coughs heavily almost choking on air; he returns to the chamber of the gods where they eagerly await.
Chapter 11
Cult
“Look, brother, at last…he has returned!” Pu said.
“The book of Xibalba! Never expected you to come back alive.” Que said.
“Whatever man…just get rid of this poison!” Dom grunted.
“Of course!”
Pu laid out his hand touching Dom’s chest emitting a short white energy. Curing the disease, he cannot believe nausea no longer tortures his stomach; his vision came back safely.
“The twenty spirit snake could be fierce. Its poison is far deadly than any other; no mortal can escape the venom, but only a god may cure itself of its disease.” Que said.
“If you told me this earlier, I wouldn’t have poison!”
“Our other intentions were to test your skills. A challenge must always be unexpected, so please forgive our habits.” Pu said.
“Pfff!”
Handing the book to the twins, they flip through the pages.
Both brothers read a particular spell, closing their eyes to chant a phrase through their heads. Dom waited for the moment to come as he observes the silent ritual. Suddenly their shackles and cuffs broke off crashing into the water, and the red chains snapped disintegrating into a brief spark, as a bolt of lightning struck down.
The twins were evolving as a bright light engulfed their bodies.
Dom stood in surprise watching the event, and the pillar inside the chamber diminished into cobblestone, sinking into the pond. The mist vanishes entirely leaving the water to become brightly blue and full of life.
Finally, the flash of light ended and the twins surprisingly rejoice as, Mayan men. Their clothes transform into gold and silver covering their bodies like shields, a long feather stuck to their heads like an ornament. The wristbands they felt heftier to withstand, and the piercings on the ears have different types of charms.
“Our powers have once again returned to our souls,”
“We are in debt to you human, and shall bestow a worthy reward.”
Both twins gather energy on their hands to summon something. Dom watches in excitement as his eyes fix on a ball of energy. The power dispersed turning into a distinct bronze club, and a rainbow feather is glittering with a colorful dust.
“Take these weapons; they were once used by us centuries ago. Powerful enough to mutilate a demon in one attack…the macahuitl… is a trustworthy ally to depend during combat.”
Handing the club, it weights down Dom’s arm almost pushing him to the floor.
“The feather of division, it was given by our father…the almighty sun god! It is used to cast away the great darkness and protect a mortal’s spirit.”
Dom held the feather in his palm finding it resembling a rainbow.
“My mistake! I forgot to give you this.”
Que handed Dom a ring made out of a silver material containing symbols and a figurine of a jaguar.
“What is this?” Dom asked.
“We were once friends with the jaguar spirit in our younger years. So I manage to recover it during his absolute demise.”
Dom puts the ring on his index finger, looking at it with curiosity.
“Promise me! You will treat it like your sibling,” Que said.
“I will!” Dom reassured.
“For now on, we must depart from this accursed place in search for the rest of the gods; we’ll leave you for now, but before that, you must have a change of attire.”
The god gave Dom new clothes from the snap of his finger. Pu tore open a wormhole by clawing the air. The twins give a farewell before leaving the chamber.
“We will pray for your safety human.” They said.
Dom lifts the club above his shoulder supporting the weight, and gently holstering the feather into his new sack; then goes through the wormhole leaping into a new reality.
Later, setting foot on new land, below his shoes the gravel felt ruff as he stands on the edge of a Cliffside. The portal behind close, leaving him to wonder about the place. Rain poured unknowingly down from the dark skies as lighting struck across the clouds; a medieval castle awaited beyond the Cliffside. Dom knew this was a means to an end, and the man living in the castle would be his most significant challenge yet to encounter.
He did not fear anymore, as he walks amongst the terrain road, a chain bridge slowly connected the way. The wind howl roughly and a large gate lifted its defense opening the entrance. Dom approaches the gate entering with precaution, but his heartbeats gave away an impression of confidence.
The palace had a massive chamber excluding a staircase and doorways; only a throne stood in the center of the room. Looking closer, a man wearing elegant garments sat across the room, crossing his legs. Dom approach cautiously as his footsteps echoed loudly; the gate behind him closed, as clapping arose from the sitting man.
“Welcome my friend! I congratulate you for making it this far. I am Antonio DeAmora; it’s an honor…Mr. Tisdale.”
“How…did you know my name?” Dom nervously replied.
“It’s easy…half of my blood lies in your veins.”
Antonio got up from the chair, walking forward. Dom swung the club down cracking most of the floor, grasping the club.
“Relax! The battle has not yet started; there is no need to be such a tense boy. I just want to talk a bit, exchange a few conversations…maybe your bloodline.”
“Stay back!”
“Let me explain a few things…shall I.”
He begins to emphasize origins of the past.
“500 years ago, Antonio DeAmora set sail to the land of the Fallen Mayan tribe, where he carries a group of aristocrats. Along with his voyage, below the deck, an artifact stayed in a gold-plated chest unknown of its power, as the essence of evil…lays hidden away.
“Sir! We are almost at shore,”
“Good…tell, the crew, to holster the sails and ready the anchor. Lord Carmona awaits.”
The banner representing their ship shows an emblem of a red heart with a black rose. The crew had a few men who dress in white garments, carrying chains attach to their ankles.
The ship anchor near the port, as a masquerade man waited outside flicking his cane across a pole. An indigenous young boy stood beside him dressed in torn rags and shackled by the neck, while his master yanks it frequently.
“Welcome Lord Amora, preparations have been made. The temple is not far, and it has been prepared only for this night as you requested.”
“Great Ramon, hope my money is well spent…Do I mind to ask, but who is this little fellow?”
“My… how you say umm ‘helper’ he sometimes could be a good lad, but he is more rebellious at times. So I made this collar, to discipline him into being a loyal servant.”
“Hehehe…I see”
Antonio held the boys’ chin, examining his face roughly finding many bruises and a black eye.
The crew carried the chest from the ship to Ramon’s carriage. He quickly saw it, fantasizing the treasure that he will use for his pleasure. The aristocrats disembark carrying the symbol of the banner on a large necklace, of a white/black shul hung above their necks.
“Shall we go?” Ramon asked Antonio.
“Indeed!”
The journey took a few hours until arriving onto the temple grounds; men unloaded the mysterious chest into an ancient stone bench at the top of a structure. Ramon dragged the boy into a tent and tied the chain to a beam.
“Don’t wander off now…”
Ramon exited the tent while the boy made an angry
expression crunching his teeth together to stay calm. Leaving to the campgrounds, the men began setting up a few torches around the site, while carving a hex unto the grass.
“Hmm! Thinking chanting weird witchcraft will grant you the will to become god…Pathetic! He does give a good price, but I’ll see it throughout of curiosity.” Ramon said.
From the top of the temple, Antonio presents himself in a striped robe carrying a sack filled with mystery.
“Gather up; the time has come!” Antonio announced.
The congregation piled into a row watching from below, while two men bring the chest to the top.
“The world guides us to a path, where man must rule man, and the righteous must defeat wickedness. One day, the lord of the underworld appears to be offering a device, which will resent the gods and bring down our wrath. With it, we will bring the light to those who fear the shadows of earth, and cast out the imposters. As his children, he leaves us the path to create an absolute paradise where sin shall perish, and glory will forever bestow.” The audience claps in excitement.
“I committed an atrocious sin. The lord of the underworld demanded me to sacrifice my kin; he promised it would lead me to the power of a god, and for that, this sacrifice will not be in vain. I must abide by his rules, or the power will be out of reach for eternity.”
The two men made it to the top, presenting the chest; Antonio opens it to extract what looks to be a green beating heart covered in moss. The crowd began bringing back their faith after witnessing the bizarre object in their sight.
“This here…will be our salvation!”
The heart began mysteriously transitioning to a vague-dark color, as the moss dries out and slowly turns into ashes.
“I must be seeing things…this is impossible! Must be an illusion.” Confused by a turn of events, Ramon was restrained by cult members and drag to the center of the audience.
“What’s the meaning of this? Unhand me before you regret losing your hands!”
Ramon struggled to break free, but it was futile.
“I show you, a man filled with everlasting sin. His heart fills with greed dearly…a habit more sadistic.”
They cut open Ramon’s knees, shoving him into the hex to be ablaze by a burning flame, while he screams in pain. The moss heart began to deform into a pile of unsettling small insects. Antonio takes a step back after scrutinizing the terrain, bugs from the ground multiplying into an enormous stack taking on human shape creating from an abomination. The mass fell disappearing into the ground.
It was a lifeform made out of pure white flesh, and its face scorched into a remarkable but untasteful sight. The being opens its eyes, showing a bloodshot expression and a confused stare of despair.
“Arise! You are no longer Ramon Carmona. For now, until the end of days, I shall label you Desylvia! A servant to the cause.”
The being stood on its own puzzled by the events, as Antonio placed a bird masquerade over his face.
“Ahh…” an object slowly pressed out of Ramon’s chest, dropping a pyramid-like an object on top of the bench. Antonio picks it up and notices a beam of red light, striking the same place where the flames burnt Ramon. No one knew what was happening. Dropping the object, everyone saw a being of shadows emerge from the fire casting away the blaze. The pyramid began to levitate, still emitting the beam, while the shadow figure walks on the hex observing the crowd behind it. The audience became immensely shocked while remaining in their positions.
The figure let out a huff of black steam; this made the crowd take a few steps back to fear. Suddenly, the being began to levitate off the ground too, creating a mystic field around itself. The grass started to dry out along with it the crowd, as the blood floated away from their bodies like a stream leaving their corpse to desiccate slowly, no one escapes…soon the screams become quieter.
Antonio began to reconsider his actions, conflicted whether Xibalba tricked him into summoning a monster capable of causing such relentless murder. Suddenly, the figure set its sight on the men standing in the temple.
“You! Tell me is this supposed to be the agreement…answer me!” Antonio panicked; Ramon remained silent, calmly watching things unfold.
Meanwhile, trapped inside the tent unable to escape the iron rod. Young Pedro spots a way to free himself, swinging the beam to loosen the bottom. He pulled on the chains harder, forcing the pole to come out.
The cuffs remain on his wrist, so he wrapped the chains around his arms to avoid alerting whoever was outside.
Peeking from the entrance no one was nearby, but mostly the campsite seemed rather empty. Pedro exits the tent sprinting towards the jungle moving swiftly out of the site.
Upon escaping, the farther he crawled away he notices something on the temple grounds. To his surprise, the sight of drained bodies lying dead near the sacred temple, made him briefly pray to the Sun god for forgiveness. He also saw something moving through the air towards the structure, a being of shadows. Pedro quickly prone his head against the ground, able to realize a demon is walking amongst the earth. Keeping to the bushes, he recognizes someone at the very top.
“The man from the port, Senor Carmona’s important client. Why is he dressed, as that…where is Senor Carmona? I do not recognize the other man.”
Pedro felt horrified watching the events when he finds a familiar item floating in the air.
“That is…the dynasty of Xibalba; it came alive by this unholy ritual. That eye releasing the mystic light…what is it? Where did this demon come from! It murdered all of those people; I must find a way to distance myself from it.”
Pedro contemplated his decision; he knew his father protected the village from the cursed for years, and now this inexplicable event. Puts him in a specific situation between saving his own life and exchanging it to cast off the evil back into the depths. Only his father knew since he was willing enough to devote to such studies as a servant of the gods.
Antonio attempted to flee while tripping onto the floor to reach the lower level. In a flash, the being teleported in front of him blocking his exit route. He looked up frightened; the creature extended its arm to touch his scalp. Frozen by fear, Antonio made a stare of despair regretting to ever mess with such sorcery.
Surprisingly, the creature’s hand phase through his scalp, along with the rest of its body as it slowly entered Antonio’s soul. Before looking back up, the shadow figure vanished leaving nothing but puzzling thoughts and confusion.
“The seed of Xibalba has been complete; your soul forever enchanted…you are now the child of Xibalba,” Ramon said.
Feeling a bulge around his arms, Antonio rolls his sleeves to witness darker veins reaching closer to his shoulder. In a moment, Antonio began to feel a sensation through his body, transforming his mind into a split perspective of agonizing possession energy flowing through his body.
“Yes! I could feel it, the root of this power…It’s almost as if I’m inheriting the universe into my palm.”
A vague ray of light dove into his body, absorbing every last of his humanity.
Running up the stairs, Pedro charges towards the pyramid going past the two men. Pedro ran with a piece of stone in his hand.
“Servant! Stop that brat!”
Ramon dashed forward, but it was too late. Smashing the stone against the eye, an uproar stream of energy releases from it. A shriek suddenly squeal through the object staggering their hearing; and at that moment, they all vanish leaving no trace behind, but only the corpses that served not just as a feast…but an offering to the demon”.
Meanwhile, back in the castle chamber, the conclusion to this dull story brought back Dom latest memories.
“The reason you are in this mess is the cause of your brother…but now you realize you were only chasing a ghost all this time.”
“No…this is impossible, everything you say is not true…my goal was reasonable, and I’ve been here ever since the studio.” Dom said.
“Indeed! I purposely brought
you here, but somehow you managed to sway past me, defying your fate, in the process…you lost the dearest memories that stood before you.”
Dom quickly kneeled over struggling to recover from this shocking truth. Antonio smirked enjoying the misery he makes him suffer.
“Want to learn the fate of your brother?”
“Did…he die?”
Dom glances with despair, almost speechless.
“Indeed…he met his destiny similar to yours, as he perished to become a life force for my god. You know he left the foster home to pursue a rumored inheritance from your parents, holding a promise to return for his dear little brother…how pitiful. At that moment, he learned about the dynasty and tried to toy with it obsessively, which brought him to his demise.”
Antonio began circling Dom’s perimeter, toying with his emotions further to keep him at bay.
Chapter 12
Abyss
“Look at you…how pathetic. Everything you have been thriving was for nothing…might as well die here, then presume to live with this continuous aftermath.”
Antonio silences his footsteps, tightening his muscles as he rolls his fist.
*Swoosh* His strong force blew out Dom against the end of the chamber, crashing into the wall.
“Gah!” Dom grunted.
“I let you taste a bit of my power…go ahead experience it further. I want you to get a perspective of how much pain you will suffer if you proceed to resist.”
The spirit ability healed his wounds, but Dom did not imagine how much pain his body could suffer from one impact.
“It’s not too late; you can quietly surrender. I’ll promise a quick death, painless of burdens.” Antonio said.
Using the club to support his weight, Dom manages to recover from the attack as his wounds heal completely, then taking a fighting stance. Antonio nods in disapproval, getting surprised by this.
“You wish to die horribly! Then your request shall be granted…” *Pssh* a tentacle raced out of his hand moving sideways dropping a slimy matter. Dom’s eyes widen as the speed of the limb incredibly surpassed his vision. Unable to predict the attack, Dom guards himself praying he will be alive after this.
Behind the Lock Page 10