Shen whimpered against the wall, holding his wounded arm, then suddenly flushed to violet and opened his mouth to rage. Kai glared over at him in disgust; Shen somehow understood that it was not the time for his opinion on any matter and seeped back to a dispassionate pale.
Kai turned back to the glimmering pool of light expanding and opening out around his left hand, and focussed down through the pearly sheen into the round chamber below; the tawny stone walls were lined with smoky, crimson-flamed candles as the last of the followers shuffled into the hall and were duly hustled into perfectly ordered ranks and files before the High Priest. As they finally came to an excited rest, the High Priest’s smile broadened and gleamed as he chuckled genially —
“Well done! Well done, everybody! You have taken your first brave steps toward an important and significant future. Please, let me see all your beautiful faces!”
They lowered their hoods and exchanged exhilarated glances with one another.
“That’s it,” continued the chuckling priest, “Good. We’re all friends here now, right?”
Laughter washed through the room and up around Kai. One of the followers towards the rear of the room, a young woman Kai’s age with dark curly hair, looked up from almost directly below him, smiling. Her beautiful, black eyes seemed to meet Kai’s, and he pulled his hand away instinctively. As the window of light began to shrivel and shrink, however, she continued looking around, still smiling, unaware of the secret audience above. In doubt as to why he should be hidden at all, Kai inched his left hand back to the light, and it obediently opened out again below him.
“My friends,” continued the priest, all eyes again fixed on his shining smile, “I applaud you all for your courage and faith in coming here today, for offering yourself so openly to the Elucian Way.”
Carefully controlling his colour, Shen crawled cautiously towards Kai and peered through the portal. Below, the candles stretched long, dark fingers of smoke up along the curved walls and across the ceiling.
“I know all of you here have studied the sacred texts for years, now. And probably my own holo-casts too, right? Yes, I thought so. Ha ha! I could tell you were all really smart, beautiful people!”
Laughter rippled through the thickening smoke.
“So you all know you are here today to serve a higher purpose, which may even be beyond your current understanding of the Way. But I know you are all willing to learn, willing to serve...and give.”
The smoke began to obscure Kai’s view slightly, and he pulled his eyes taut as Shen widened his.
“And it is this openness that has brought you here today, my friends, to the inner circle, where we keep the glorious secrets and revelations you’ve all been seeking all your lives. Excited?”
“Yes!” cried the eager youngsters as the murky haze began to fall.
“Yes!” laughed the priest, “I’m sure you are. Almost as excited as I am.”
Sooty dust landed, barely noticeably, on the rows of white-robed shoulders, then drifted down towards the floor.
“You see, this day, this moment, is just as important for me. This is my mission, my friends, to bring you here, to show you all the true Way, to draw you in to a fruitful and beneficial future — for all.”
The floor began to darken as murky fog ebbed subtly up around the followers’ feet, and shadowy smoke rose from the tapers behind the priest. He snapped his sceptre against the stone, and the monks stepped forward — they lowered their hoods, revealing a variety of races, with a curious selection of growths and attachments on their faces; all, nevertheless, wore the same austerely cold expression. Some of the followers looked around at their friends and fellows, smiles wavering slightly, as the majority remained looking up with complete trust at the High Priest. He laughed again, turning slightly hoarse as the pall thickened around him, flowing out and over his duteous congregation.
“And I am here for you! To reveal to you our dearest, deepest secrets, and thus ensure your immortality.”
As the smoke thickened further, Kai moved his hand around as he tried to see more clearly down into the chamber; the pool of light followed with his movements. The shadowy pall now hung as a thin veil at shoulder height around most of the followers. Those who had noticed, were looking down and around in concern, their breathing becoming more heavy.
“And I am so very deeply touched, and humbled, as you all offer,” the priest began to laugh hoarsely, “Yes, offer yourselves...of your own free will,” his laugh thinned into a hissing cackle, as he continued, seething sickly, “To me! To my Way.”
Nervous laughter trickled through the shadow. Suddenly, the young woman at the back of the hall, directly below Kai, screamed. The priest smiled, laughed, then as the murk condensed around him, his face seeped away to a sculpted faceless visage of adamantine dark, defying light.
“And I thank you, my ‘friends’!” continued his hissing chuckle, as he shrugged, “I thank you...for your lives.”
The chamber erupted in the inimitable screams and shrieks of imminent death; smoke began to whirl and flow around the hapless followers and sable flames filled the hall — seeking, scorching, searing and consuming. Young souls ran to the doorway, but the monks blankly blocked their escape and threw them back into the room and to the floor. Tongues of filthy shadow licked through melting, gaping, eyeless sockets, breathless, screaming mouths and snapping, singeing sinews in search of organs, memories, intelligences, abilities and cells that could be exploited, recycled, converted — or simply enjoyed. The terrified screams faded one by one as life submitted to weakness and thus surrendered to death. Emotionless monks sifted through the dreadful pall for useable parts, as the priest’s lightless silhouette opened outs its straight arms and hissing laughter echoed through to replace the dying screams. And as the terrible shadow subsided and fell, Kai caught sight of final transformation as the faceless, shapeless black reformed.
“One you are, all One!” it scratched.
To the wan flesh and gaping, bloody cheeks Kai had seen before.
“All mine!” he gasped through tears of joy.
The SYS-officer stood proud and tall.
“Súcthul, all as One!” he wept.
And laughed.
Lúez.
Next chapter — The Way
Sunday 10 April 2011
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