The Harvester

by K. Trap Jones

  My disappointment with being nothing

  Boiled my skin and enraged my heart.

  All that I had once believed in was gone.

  All that I had once cherished was corrupted.

  The weeping prophet embodied all of it.

  All of the emotions; all of the chaos.

  I had one more demand.

  With a clear voice and eager tongue,

  I looked to the sky so that God could see my face.

  I demanded that the prophet shall symbolize

  All that was truly wrong with God’s plan

  And for my tale to be forever told within the shadows

  Despite how bright the sun would shine.

  With an upward pull, my blade tore through his throat.

  The prophet’s separated head arched upward

  Trailed by streams of blood.

  The four banshees screamed violently,

  Awaiting their next command.

  The clouds cried with vengeance.

  The mountains erupted with a smoldering release.

  There was no avoiding my fall.

  My blade chose my new destiny;

  My new path away from God.

  I could see the new task

  Of the banshees written upon their faces.

  My retrieval, my capture.

  Neither of which I would allow.

  The banshee behind me reached for my shoulders,

  My scythe removed her ability to touch.

  Two banshees lunged for me;

  Their strength was admirable

  And I had no choice but to fly upward with them.

  The force in which they pulled me was mind altering,

  But I still held my weapon.

  With a heavy swing, I raised my scythe ahead of one

  And allowed its release to fall back down.

  I continued to pull downward

  In hopes to carve my way through her back.

  Every tug sliced deeper,

  Prompting blood curdling screams.

  I dropped back to the ground

  As another one landed before me.

  My personal guide; the one who tormented me.

  Her breath was bitter sweet;

  Her mannerisms were as pure of hate as could be.

  Her beauty was mind numbing, but did not distract me

  As I stood there covered in the blood of her allies.

  There was no weakness within my veins;

  No fear of past encounters with her.

  There was only hatred for all that she had done.

  The cave, the village, the pain.

  My disobedience was justified.

  Her hesitation only halted her failure.

  Her hesitation strengthened me

  As she pondered God’s demands.

  With her deep in thought and hearing God’s plan,

  I stepped over to the beheaded prophet,

  Cleansing the blade upon his cloth.

  Her head tilted up to the sky, her eyes full of doubt.

  As she lunged for me, I lowered and swung my weapon.

  The rotation severed both her legs as she sailed over me.

  I twisted the handle, set the blade upright.

  She landed on the sharpened edge.

  Her eyes drifted while watching her soul escape.

  Covered in the blood of the servants,

  Surrounded by the corpse of banshees and the prophet,

  I waited.

  The earth shook.

  A large crack split the sky

  As if hands were prying the clouds apart.

  Through the crevice they crept in, the Angels of God.

  They swarmed through the trench, scouring the sky.

  They landed within the valley, surrounding me on all sides.

  In unison, they gestured for me to kneel.

  Again I denied their request.

  I could feel God’s frustration growing.

  I could see it within the eyes of his angels.

  The valley was filled with his servants.

  To test my intentions,

  God commanded one lone angel to approach.

  Her demeanor was kind and gentle,

  But her backing was not the same.

  Unlike the banshee, she was of no individual thought.

  Her face was a lie; her smile was not hers.

  The sun casted a beautiful haze upon her skin.

  The wind lifted her hair in a golden glory.

  My face displayed that of acceptance.

  My eyes were full of understanding,

  But my mind was unaltered.

  She was still too far from me.

  My weapon was not long enough to reach her.

  I swallowed excessively to portray weakness;

  She moved closer.

  My head bent downwards;

  She moved closer.

  I took several deep breaths;

  She moved closer.

  She was still too far away, so I laid my weapon down.

  Not to concede, but to measure the distance.

  I fell to my knees as she neared.

  I needed her feet to cross my blade.

  My hand rested on the lowest portion of the handle.

  My head remained bowed down,

  But my eyes stared at the blade.

  Her footsteps trampled the grass

  As she cautiously walked towards me.

  With one foot, she stepped over my blade.

  Her second foot followed closely after.

  I closed my eyes and calmed my heart.

  My palm was steady; my arm was strong.

  With a pull of the weapon,

  The blade sliced through the grass

  And relieved her feet from her legs.

  The screams from all the angels disrupted the wind.

  I slammed my fist deep into the ground,

  Creating a crevice wide enough to swallow myself.

  I fell down into the caverns of my realm,

  Far from the clutches of the angels.

  The land above shook with God’s anger.

  The screams of the angels

  Followed me down into the darkness.

  I traveled deep into the belly of the earth

  Until I met my solitude in a darkened cave.

  My location unknown to the sky and even to myself.

  I only desired to be hidden from their reach.

  With blood of my enemy clinging to my hands,

  I reached into my satchel for my tools.

  Much like the beginning,

  I possessed only a quill, candle and parchment.

  It was fitting that my fall shall be the same as my rise.

  I write not for the benefit of God or myself.

  I write to continue my story; to continue sin.

  To tell the story of my demons

  And to prove the existence of my realm.

  I write to battle and entrap those who repent.

  My sins would live on well past my time

  Through the visions and corrupt minds of the humans.

  A dirt filled stream became my eyes into the world;

  Brushing aside the stones, I used the water like a mirror

  To witness the actions of my demons.

  Their fall from God would be my own.

  Their defiance would serve as my sentence.

  Like a window to the soul, I could watch

  As Amon fled to the largest city to the north.

  She arrived at the gates with nothing more

  Than a pure hatred for society

  And a dagger within each hand.

  Her essence captivated the crowds.

  Her stride sealed the fates of many.

  Her scent of wrath filled the lungs of all who were near.

  The once peaceful citizens turned on one another.

  The corridors were filled with violent acts of murder

  And condemned thoughts towards their fellow man.

&
nbsp; Armored guards were no match for her skill.

  The city revolted with the sinful thoughts of corruption.

  She made no attempt to hide herself;

  She made no excuse for what she was.

  Terror was what she gifted those left alive.

  The instability of why God would allow such a deed.

  The question that would plague the land.

  The sky turned black from the swarm of angels.

  The servants of God funneled into the awaiting city.

  As the people scattered for safety, Amon did not.

  She stood dripping with mortal blood for all to see;

  For all to carry on her story and existence.

  Surrounded by the angels, she took off her cloak

  To reveal two leather straps holding more daggers.

  The angels converged upon her with retribution.

  Each of her blades forced an angel to retreat,

  But as one fled, others appeared.

  Amon sliced through the flesh with honor

  And the backing of her true wrath.

  She continued her infliction of pain,

  But soon slowed as the mass of angels increased.

  The darkened shadows cast by their wings

  Shielded my eyes from her capture.

  ***

  I could see Mammon.

  He had made great strides in corrupting

  The kings of two rivaling kingdoms,

  Who each greedily desired the land of the other.

  Their massive armies marched to an adjacent valley.

  Their battle flags danced within the wind;

  Their horses and soldiers stood strong,

  Each prepared to die for their king.

  The prowling nature of Mammon

  Had him riding horseback amongst one of the armies.

  The kings sat hillside safely from the battle.

  Signaling their armies into war

  Was as easy as raising their hands.

  The valley shook as the large armies ran toward each other.

  Swords clashed as blood spilled.

  The two armies were well matched in size.

  Catapults tossed large boulders onto the awaiting crowd

  Burying those unfortunate to be in their paths.

  Fire tipped arrows soared through the air.

  No one king would control the valley;

  No one king would feel the victory.

  As the clouds parted,

  The servants of God swarmed down the mountains.

  The slow grey death approached

  Like a violent storm creeping across the sea.

  The grave vision poured into the valley.

  Swords halted, anger subsided.

  The unnatural flock of angels

  Reduced all in the valley to that of a common man.

  No armies, no sides, no enemies; only human.

  No longer threatened by their common man,

  The soldiers fled.

  Fear struck the two groups as the angels flew.

  Death was quickly delivered to the mortals.

  The sky became a storm of the living

  While the land was drenched with corpses.

  Within moments, both armies were slaughtered.

  The piles of the dead littered the land.

  Mammon was hidden beneath a large pile of the dead.

  He remained silent,

  But the angels could hear his beating heart.

  One by one his cover of carcasses was reduced.

  He soon was extracted by an angel grasping his ankle.

  He kicked himself free and clawed across the corpses,

  But others converged upon him.

  Held tightly, they took him into the sky.

  ***

  I lived vicariously as a new image revealed itself

  Within the crust of my underground salvation.

  I watched as Belphegor infected society with sloth.

  He tempted preachers and their congregations

  With lack of prayer and remorse toward the Son.

  He constructed the ability for mankind

  To worship only when they desired something in return.

  A despicable act against those devoted to their Lord.

  Religion ventured away from a daily practice

  And was soon hidden from those once faithful.

  Prayer became an aftermath,

  A consuming action easily cast aside.

  Corruption amongst the preachers

  Rose to an unstable foundation.

  Doubt lingered among the congregations.

  The hatred toward those not of the same faith

  Arose once again with Belphegor disrupting the waters.

  Belphegor split his time between many preachers

  Until the skies blackened.

  Each of the preachers blamed the other

  As the sky tore apart and the angels descended.

  Confident that God would punish those who differ,

  Each preacher believed they summoned the angels.

  Every corridor was searched,

  Every door ripped from the hinges.

  Sensing his end was near, Belphegor arose from hiding

  Wearing the white robe of a preacher.

  With no resistance, his deed was done.

  The angels clung to Belphegor as they lifted him.

  He left the city with judging eyes and deceptive ears.

  He granted society with religious options,

  All which would slow their paths.

  ***

  The cave gifted me the view of Beelzebub.

  I watched as he took to the farmlands with gluttony.

  He whispered to all who would hear

  His plans for poaching and waste.

  To live in excess far from what one needed to survive.

  Each city he visited became overridden

  With contaminated food and poisoned waterways.

  Civil disgust became apparent as edible food

  Became scarce and a luxury for only the wealthy.

  The poor became hungry while the rich fed like pigs.

  The hides of rare species became desirable.

  All of God’s creatures were salvageable,

  From his beloved antelopes to the beasts of the plains.

  Hunters spread upon the land to earn coin.

  Species slowly became extinct.

  God’s retribution was in the form of disastrous storms

  That uprooted vegetation and altered the terrain.

  Floods chased his creations away from the hunters

  Into distant lands where more poachers awaited.

  Angered by the disobedient humans,

  God allowed his waters to flood the cities.

  The bloated corpses were drained from the streets

  As the waters lowered back into the seas.

  After the storms subsided, mankind still hunted.

  The expanding kingdoms toppled trees without care.

  Piles of decayed wood were left to suffocate God’s land.

  The waste hid the streets of the cities.

  There was no more admiration of God’s land,

  Only a resource to be drained to benefit civilization.

  With the angels approaching across the seas

  Shadowing the natural blue hue of the water,

  Beelzebub ran from the city and hid in a hallowed tree.

  The angels followed his scent, grabbed him by the neck,

  And escorted him to the clouds.

  ***

  My heart bled with remembrance of my own lust

  As I peered deeper into the blood stained stream.

  As fast as her aged legs could carry her,

  Asmodeus entered into a village toting her sin.

  With vials of potions,

  Asmodeus contaminated the water source.

  The following night as the villagers drank,

  Sin spread through their veins />
  With emotions sprinting through their mortal minds.

  The passions of the mind were allowed freedom.

  A release from the binds that tie the heart.

  Asmodeus stayed near

  As the villagers despised their mates

  And fell victim to their temptations.

  They each desired someone they could not have.

  The sanctuary of relationships was punished

  And betrayed by those who chose the different path.

  Their desires were no longer unattainable

  As their actions were fulfilling their minds.

  Asmodeus could only watch

  As the wings of the angels glistened in the moonlight.

  She could not outrun them.

  With cane in hand,

  Asmodeus stood before the angels in silence.

  As one reached for her,

  She struck it across the face with her cane.

  Her frail body was pulled up to the sky.

  ***

  My blurred vision portrayed a familiar image from my past.

  Leviathan never overstayed his welcome in a village.

  He whispered his envious visions to those in his way.

  Left behind was the beginning of thievery and jealously.

  Nightly thefts became a ritual.

  Hidden shadows shielded the condemned

  As the night gave way to abundant crimes.

  Doors became blockaded to protect possessions.

  City guards were of no assistance,

  As the fingers of corruption had a far reach.

  The poor stole from the rich;

  The rich stole from the rich.

  With so much corruption,

  Cities became plagued with violence

  With an angel scout calling forth the others,

  Levi tempted the group leaders to the city center.

  Visions of thieving visitors were portrayed.

  Full belief was given to the whispers.

  The winged sky fell upon the city

  Engulfing those who dared to defend themselves.

  Like prey to the wolves, everyone was devoured.

  The angels covered the city in bloodshed that night,

  But the sweet smell of sin crept through the streets.

  Everything was searched until the angels

  Came across Levi huddled behind a stack of crates.

  He was dragged through the city streets.

  Through the night air, he ascended.

  ***

  I felt the caverns of my realm shift.

  The vision revealed the ceiling of my realm

  Being pried apart with angels filling the outer tunnels.

  The darkness clashed with their pearly white appearance

  And proved difficult for them to navigate.

  Confusion twisted its way through their minds

  And obstructed the commands of God.

  The sheer amount of them filtering

  Through the tunnels would always push forward.