Dark Offerings

Prompt: “You are kidnapped by a cult to be used as sacrifice. As you are are lying tied underneath the altar you hear one of the cultists say ‘Ho dark lord we present to you this person as an offering’. With nothing left to lose you yell ‘Ho dark lord I present to you this cultists as an offerings!'”

 

I don’t remember exactly what happens. One minute I’m at a bar having a nice chat with a gentleman and then next moment, my vision is blurry and I find myself falling over. Next my eyes opened, but I could only see darkness. My face was pressed up against a black, cloth sack. I tried to scream, but my mouth was stuffed with cloth. My screams were muffled. At the same time, I felt two large people grabbing my arms and dragging me. As I struggled, their grips tightened.

“Do not fear, child,” One said to me in a gravely voice. “Soon you will meet the Dark Lord.”

Dark lord? Dark lord? What does that mean. I continued to try and struggle against them to no avail. I kicked my legs and felt cold stone beneath my feet. Other than the cloth sack over my face, I could also smell something musky. It was a mix of wet stone and mildew with a healthy dose of stale air.

“Keep her still,” A shrill woman’s voice said.

“I’m trying,” The gravely voice said through clenched teeth.

Their arms grabbed me and he yanked me forward. I fell onto the stone, on my hands and knees. I let out a sharp breath as I hit the stone hard. A numb sensation went up my arms as my hands touched the chilled stone.

“Just a little further, child. We are almost to the Dark Lord.”

Before I could say anything, he lifted me to my feet again and began dragging me forward. I tried my best to flail my legs, screaming as much as I could. I fought hard as I could as my adrenaline filled my body.

“Little brat,” The shrill woman said.

A few more minutes of being dragged by these two men down this cold, stone corridor, I was once again dropped onto the stone. This time I felt hands grab my shoulders and pull me up so I was on my knees. The cloth bag was pulled off and a feint light filled my eyes.

It took me a moment to readjust, but I seemed to be in a small cavern which was lit by a variety of burning candles. I glanced around to see the people who brought me down here as well as three others all dressed in dark crimson robes and plain, white masks. One gentleman pulled the cloth out of my mouth.

“Do not speak, child,” The man with a gravely voice spoke to me from beneath his mask.

“Please. Please let me go. I don’t…I don’t know…” I begged the man as tears ran down my face, but he did not reply.  Instead he just took a step back to stand with the other five people in cloaks.

Another person stepped forward which I recognized as the woman by her voice. She outstretched her arms toward the end of the cavern. There was a small stone altar which seemed to glow with a deep red light.

“Ho, Dark Lord we present to you this person as an offering,” The woman spoke.

The altar began to rattle as the red light intensified.

My breathing was shallow and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. Tears still stained my face as I felt my adranline pumping. None of this really made sense, but I feared for the worst.

With no options and nothing left to lose, I yelled out.

“Dark Lord, I present to you this cultists as an offerings!”

For a moment there was nothing but silence. The people in robes seemed confused at my words. The dark red light from the altar grew brighter and brighter. Up above it, a cloud of darkness began to grow and two, dark red eyes emerged from it.

“Uh… Dark Lord,” The woman tried to speak, but was quickly silenced.

The black smoke reached out and and struck her in the chest. Her hands went to her neck as she struggled to breathe. Her mask fell to the floor and I recognized her as one of the other patrons from the bar. Black lines spiderwebbed out from her throat, over her face, and around her eyes.

I heard more choking sounds as the dark cloud consumed the rest of the people in robes. All of them reacted similarly, bringing their hands to their throats. Masks tumbled to the ground revealing their faces. Some I didn’t recognize but two I did. The man with the gravely voice was the bartender from the bar and the other man was the one I was flirting with at the bar.

I felt a bit of horror as they collapsed to the ground, but also felt relieved that I wasn’t on the receiving end of that black cloud. These people had kidnapped me and now they were dead.

A deep laughter echoed throughout the cavern.

“Quite clever, my child,” A voice spoke from the black cloud.

I fought to find words, but my mind was far too busy.

“Do not fear me, child. You have given me a great bounty. I owe you for my meal,” The voice said again.

“I…I don’t understand. What is going on?” I asked.

“It seems that my followers brought you to feed me, but they were too arrogant. After many meals, they got sloppy. Turns out you are far more clever than them,” They said. “I like clever.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Well that depends on what you think I can give you. My followers sacrificed people to me in exchange of favors and gifts. Luck. Wealthy. Good looks. Whatever their heart desired. What do you desire, child?”

“I…I just want to get out of here.”

The voice laughed again.

“You may leave and we will never have to speak again,” The voice said. “But if you stay and make a deal with me, I can show you true power.”

“What makes you think I’d even want this power?”

“Everyone wants something. Everyone hungers. I am that hunger.”

“Well… I don’t,” I said.

“You cannot lie to me. I see through such shallow falsehoods,” The voice said.

I sat there for a moment. I guess there were things that I wanted. Things like money, fame, love, and more all came to mind.

“Even if I did want something, I wouldn’t help you. I wouldn’t bring people down here to die,” I said.

“That I know to be true. You are not like these others, sacrificing innocent people for their own gain. But maybe we can come to another agreement,” The voice said. “I will bestow my gifts to you and you bring more to me.”

“I told you, I won’t bring innocent people to you.”

“I didn’t say innocent. I will give you targets. People who are truly evil. You will bring them back here so I can feast.”

“And what will you do for me if I do this?” I asked.

The cloud of darkness got closer to me and surrounded me in a fog. I did my best to hold my breath, but the cloud was not suffocating. Instead red wisps rose from the black fog and took shape. The red smoke looked like a woman. No, it was me. It was a vision of myself wearing an expensive dress with fancy jewelry. I stood beside a sleek sports car and a man stood behind me. I couldn’t make out the man’s face, but we had rippling muscles. He placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Your future,” The voice whispered in my ear.

“You can really do all of this for me?” I asked.

“I can. You just have to make a deal with me,” The voice said.

The red, wisp version of myself took a step forward and reached out her hand.

“Do we have a deal?” The voice whispered.

“Deal,” I said grasping the hand and shaking it.

The voice laughed again as the wisps separated and the black smoke receded leaving me in the cavern alone. Even the bodies of the others were gone. The stone altar was still there, but the red light was gone and the black smoke was gone.

I almost thought it was just a dream until I felt a pinprick of pain in my wrist. I looked down and tattooed in a deep crimson color was a name: Richard Davis.

This would be my first sacrifice. The first of many.

 

 

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Header Photo Credit to The 13th Floor
http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2017/04/11/183661/