Chapter Four

Chapter Four

1

Inferno spirals filled paved ways.  From them emerged horned beasts carrying instruments of torture.  They aimed their hellish firearms and readied to fir whatever atrocity might spill forth.  They hesitated.  As earth trembled beneath their feet and divided they howled.  What rose from the yawn of flickering destruction sent a clamor through the building force as its eyes burnt blacker than black coals and hovered.

“Do unto others,” the thing rasped through clenched fangs, “as you would do unto the weakest chain in this septic pool called life!”  The thing known as Krosnos snaked a smoky coil across a line of grass.  Upon its touch the green blades turned brown.  “The Ancient Ascension has given me great expectation.  I do not expect you to understand.  Humans are cancer in our veins!”

Another wave of cheers circulated and died.

“We,” Krosnos continued, “are the true rulers of this planet and all others.  No one should live without our say so!  Now I demand you to carry out sufficient hostility to every vermin infested corner.”

Eager shouts echoed throughout the avenue.

“Soon everyone will know the name Krosnos and fear it as the very mention will bring forth incredible illness and death.  I am the way and those who forget their mortality and surrender to my ill will might find themselves on the most powerful end of this link!”

Cheers and grunts followed buoyantly.

“I will not tolerate failure.  Those who fail are against me and to be against me is to be my enemy.  And my enemies always see the bitterness of their choices.  I will not trust any of you to be such fools, but should you befall the stupidity of mankind you know what waits.”

After another roar of cheerful anticipation the shadow swirled and drifted back toward the divide.  It slipped between the cracks where the earth shuddered and closed.  So went the faithful as inferno once more encased them and shot them skyward.

Krosnos made his way then through cobwebbed darkness. Damp cool earth embedded under his large talons as he stomped through soggy mounds and closed in upon a structure with towers spiraling into infinity. Inward he explored deep obscurity. It did nothing to obstruct his view however and he took to a slope that twisted and angled in impossible directions. If he had mortal flesh it would rip away as serrated spikes became more and more and closer together, for they were meant to cease trespassers.

Krosnos sneered at the half bird before him. He opened his mouth to unroll a steaming forked tongue and prodded the fresh meat spilling out. It projected images across the divider of his mind and bore keys for locked doors constructed by mankind. He lapped at its crimson juices and then retracted in order to savor the forbidden nectar. He then crushed its remains with an arachnid segmented upturned tail tipped with a venomous sting. Bleak pools resided everywhere. Staring into them reflected his distorted image just before trudging through them.

It seemed rather ironic to have flesh under his control. It was crude at best to believe they would fulfill all he asked of them while wanting nothing more than to strike them down.  They already accepted the idea of implementing tools against their fellow man. Their minds housed insanity far before his touch. Perhaps that was what attracted him to these ideal servants. They already explored pain and misery to agonizing extremes. That was something to at least consider kindly before implanting the evitable conclusion to their horrid destinies.

Overlooking the trees that dressed a wide stretch, taking in their scent as summer breeze blew warm and slow, he sat crouched. The branch under him creaked, shook a few loose leaves as he shifted and bent slightly. The cabins below remained neglected and abandoned, yet still captured years of bloodshed. Wood curved under cracked windows. Broken panes gave a dark view of ruin wasting within.

Krosnos’ eyes pierced the darkness. Like two hot coals they swelled. Moving within the foliage was the masked bulk. Maggots had long since eaten away anything that resembled human flesh. Years spent beneath water saturated whatever was left. Still the slow mass moved. It carried on as though it were truly alive.

Krosnos shimmered light a stroke of lightning. A shapeless essence he glided inches across wet grass and twigs. Moonlight was not granted passage through his obscurity.

He called to it in a feminine tone. "There is my special boy."

Instantly the thing froze and looked. It took a few minutes before it saw her emerging from dark mist. Her smile was genuine, loving and a perfect one. Her eyes glinted as they stared upward at the gradually approaching monster. In their cherry depths surged a mother's instinct.

2

Steel swept through the air. Strawberry streams cascaded across flower wallpaper where it then coursed down in uneven lines. Strewn about hardwood floors where torsos, limbs and unidentifiable shreds of flesh. A chunk of breast lay far from its twin next to a stained rug.

Chest heaving and eyes dancing wild in decayed sockets, Rage stood. Slowly it lowered its head. Through the haze that settled in it saw past twitching tissue as Krosnos came into focus. This whole while she watched, cheered, and clapped though at times she had no body. She was merely a voice in its head, but from shadows she eventually materialized to shower it with praise.

Now she approached with a smile on her face. Her steps were muted. Her voice did not rightfully match her lips and in flashes her eyes glowed, but her scent was as it remembered it. Her caresses were just as it wanted them to be.