Crickets chirped and clouds passed before the moon.
Long grass whispered in the wind.
The wood beneath you creaked as you shifted slightly, looking down from your perch atop the toolshed that was your throne tonight at the figure that had been brought before you. A portly man squirmed and struggled as he fought against the binding that held him, a man who stank of alchohol and whores, a man who's fearful expression was only accentuated by the gag that he wore.
He had fooled so many, though you saw right through him.
A many headed creature was he, but you had found the heart.
Your fingers drummed against the wooden roof as you turned your attention to the moon, your entire demeanour at ease as you sat in the middle of the fields, with the man you had sought delivered to you by those that professed their faith to you with silent words.
They couldn't have spoken if they wanted to, for they had no voice with what to speak, no mouth with what to scream. They were the watchers of the crops, the ones that scared away the crows so that the farmers could reap what they had sown. They were the natural ally for he who reaped in the land of dreams, he who harvested the souls that had grown from the most unlikely of seeds.
The man let out a muffled cry.
There was nobody awake for miles who could have saved this man now, nothing that went bump in the night that would dare disturb you, no Clockworker made monstrosity to threaten you. You savoured the fear that radiated from this man, feeling that raw terror that came from him.
He knew who you were.
He knew what you were.
He didn't however, know your purpose. Nobody knew your purpose any longer, nobody but you. It was a lonely life in service, a life in what you forever screened the souls of man and immortal alike, a life in what you had gathered so many beautiful colours to use for your masterpiece, to paint the final solution with.
"Mister Charleston, or should I call you, Pride?" You paused, tapping a finger against your lips as you did so, watching the man squirm as he shook his head, as he continued to make muffled cries. "No, you can't fool me into letting you go Pride, though I must say it was clever putting your soul into the body of the immortal that you originally stole your bastardised immortality from."
Further muffled cries of protest escaped the man, prompting a soft laugh from you, one that was pleasent and airy. One that unsettled the man to no end.
"Oh, believe me, I know. I know these things Brother Pride, for the body that you inhabit was one that I originally entrusted with keeping something very dear to me safe. It saddens me to see how your efforts split it into a thousand tiny pieces, contaminated it and made the beautiful colours that it shone with, nay, that it was radiant with dirty."
You furrowed your brow as the figure pleaded beneath that gag.
"Please, I can see the spoiled rainbow of colours, like oil on water as they spill from you, betraying your presence inside that body. Those are the colours of the enlightened, those are the colours of Pride. Not to worry though, it won't take me long to cleanse the taint from that soul once I relieve you of it."
The figure squirmed, crying out fearfully once more as they tried to sit upright.
"Yes, you're right, that will have the oh so unfortunate side effect of killing you. I'm afraid that such isn't avoidable though, and had I my way, we wouldn't have to do this. Orders are orders though, and I dare not oppose the bosses will."
You sighed as you slipped from atop the toolshed, slipping your knife from your belt as you stepped towards the man. You tapped the flat of the blade against your palm as you stood before the man, watching as he squirmed, watching as he begged, pleaded and cried behind the gag.
"No, I'm sure my boss wouldn't want to spare a parasite inside the body of one entrusted to contain part of the final solution. The deal was quite clear when it was made, a thousand years of life, in return for their services. Just because the prior occupant didn't have any desire to honour that agreement, doesn't mean that you are exempt from paying for it."
Further cries came from behind the gag, prompting a sneer from you. The man had no idea who your boss was.
"I'm afraid Brother Pride, that if that is the case, then you will have to pass from their world in ignorance. It is probably better than way, but do not worry, for your part in his glorious rebirth is one that you should feel honoured for."
You could almost feel that day now, knowing that it was approaching.
You stepped towards the portly man, driving your knife into him as you held his thrashing form against you, almost cradling it as he cried out in agony, as he sobbed and squirmed. The knife slowly drifted up as his cries turned into gurgling screams, and then, silence. You could feel life fleeting from the body as you tore the soul that you had come for from it, as you tore away the very essence of what had driven that body for so long, and with it its immortality.
The parasite soul was left to die with the husk of the body as you released it, casually wiping at the blood that coated your body as you imitated the human motions of cleaning yourself, while you allowed your body to absorb it through your skin.
"Bury him in the fields so that in death he may perpetuate the circle of life," you commanded as you hopped back up to toolshed roof, watching the sea of scarecrows carry away the body that they had been commanded to deal with. Once more you were the king of the dead, looking out over your domain as you prepared for your bosses return.
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Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79198 times)