fly little bird fly.
you won't last long
the big bad cat is coming to swallow you whole
the charred mess that was Harry Aman stumbles through the mabohk
he doesn't notice It follows in close pursuit.
It finally tires, and extends its lanky...
wait...
no something's wrong
something's up
there are two patrons in the mabohk
The Beast scurries away, enraged.
Aman whips his arms around frantically trying to locate his tormentor, as if his lack of eyes has suddenly begun effecting him.
he locates not The Beast, but his next victim.
a man, whose name not important, legs cut open to the point his bones should slip out of place, upper body nailed precariously to half a cross, his infected wounds already encrusted in a puffy, green brown paste, jaw hanging loosely from just one side of his face, his nose smashed in, and one eye bloody and battered, still bearing a rusty nail, with "לִנְאוֹץ" carved into his forehead.
"Who are you??"
"Where are you? Where am I?" replied the reprobate.
"I'm over here, but I'm still not sure where "here" is exactly..."
"What are you doing here?"
"I don't know," the broken replied, "this thing attacked me in my home...I think...I think I died...like actually died."
"I feel the same", the preacher replied.
the walls begin to moan and squeal, and a little sheet of paper flew from a crack.
"TWO MEN ENTER. ONE MAY LEAVE. THE FIRST TO KILL WINS. MAKE IT HAPPEN, OR ELSE"
"Bullshit."
the two leave the room gracefully, feeling the walls as the mabohk becomes ever darker as the Master begins to grow increasing angry.
the walls begin to groan and another paper flies out of the wall.
"THIS IS HOW THE HUMAN BODY IS ARRANGED."
a small diagram is superseded by "THIS IS HOW THE HUMAN BODY WILL BE ARRANGED, OR ELSE"
"Bullshit."
as the two shamble through the mabohk, they hear ramblings.
"I'd rather die. I'd rather die!! This close, this close! Oh, you want to fucking die?!"
the duo continue through the maze, a small bit more disgruntled
as they walk they begin to hear soft wails. thinking it to be more survivors, they make haste, but find instead His prison. a room of coffins, holding his prey.
"Is someone in there?", the broken replied, knocking lightly on one of the stone cells.
to his horror, there was a reply
a meek "Hello" squeaked from the coffin, and the duo peaked through a small slit towards top of its front face
the poor soul, clearly a new addition as evident by how uncorrupted and intact his flesh was, was squeezed tightly into the stone prison. his body was burnt and battered, charred, smelling disturbingly appetizing, but his eyes looked so sincere.
"New arrivals, I take it?", the prisoner spoke
"Who are you? Why are you here?", spoke the pious
"I am as you are, a poor sinner trapped by the unrelenting force that has commanded all evil since the beginning of time...or a month ago, He hasn't been very clear. I am here, as are you here, because we have sinned, and because of this, He must punish us. When your little games of tag no longer please him, he will move in on you, and you will join me here, forever bound to this horrid place."
"That's absurd! I'm a preacher! I'm not a sinner!"
"You lie!", a weak voice shouted from one of the infinite number of coffins covering every inch of this unending room.
"I sense much darkness in you," the voice continued, "Hatred, bigotry, you spread pestilence and corruption amongst the innocent minds of God-fearing individuals! You call yourself a man of the Lord?! You are a senseless hate monger!"
as laughter from the innumerable coffins shook the room, the broken stole focus, "All religion spreads fear and bigotry! Why should a man be punished for practicing his beliefs?!
the laughter ceased and was replaced by anguished screeching, several decaying arms shot out of their prisons and began grasping at the air, desperate to snatch up the broken.
"Enough!", bellowed the voice, and the arms ceased their struggle.
"You pestilent being," it continued, "you know nothing of this man's true crimes. You are almost no different. You held contempt for all who wished to practice religion. Religion was meant to a force of nurturing love, but it was CORRUPTED by humans. Bent, reworked, malformed into a driving force for death, intolerance, and war. But, who are you to judge? You are a mere child. You abandoned your faith not out of reasoning, but because it didn't catch your fancy. Because it didn't pleasure you. Because you, the holy center of the universe, felt it didn't benefit you enough. As a Christian, you were sent to Heaven and held all the world's power as a majority. As a Jew, you were among a contested culture as God's chosen people. As a Muslim, you practiced the undoctored, true faith of Abraham. It was never about fulfilling a need to feel part of a bigger, compassionate collective of being, it was to service yourself, and only yourself!"
the walls cricked and cracked and with a tumultuous groan another sheet of paper shot out.
the chamber fell silent as the pious struggled to lift the message up.
"CUT PALM OF LEFT HAND FROM BASE OF PINKIE FINGER TO BASE OF THUMB IN SINGLE SMOOTH MOTION. OR ELSE"
there was a pause, before the broken asked, "Longshot, but do you have a pen?"
the pious contorted so that his arms, still nailed to the cross, could bend into his pocket, he grasped and pulled out a pen.
the broken scribbled, "OR ELSE WHAT?" onto the paper, and stuffed it back into the cracked wall.
silence
"oooooooooo"
exactly like a classroom of small children, eagerly anticipating the punishment of a disobedient student.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
suddenly, it was as if the "children" were a lot bigger...and a lot angrier.
the wall shuddered, and groaned, and crumbled as it began to slowly collapse, revealing Him standing behind.
the chamber was awash in both screams of terror and earsplitting laughter
as the wall finally toppled, The Beast stepped in full view of the two, his many arms dangling freely from his back.
"Or else this.", it spoke slyly.
the two "run" as best they can.
run run run run run
a narrow path stretched before them, and the two run.
the pious narrowly misses a swinging stone, and the broken stumbles off the path
he dangles screaming for help
the pious hesitates, then grabs his confederate as The Beast closes in
a swinging obelisk hurdles towards Him, and shatters as it makes contact. He doesn't even flinch.
the two run faster than they should've been physically capable of with their battered bodies
the narrow path ends and the surrounding area are suddenly awash in light.
the end of the mabohk
a brilliant gate stands before them, shining twelve different colors in a brilliant glory.
The Beast walks into the light and stops.
the broken walks up to the heavenly vision, and lifts a charred arm...
...and is violently torn away by the pious
"You heard him!", he cried, "Only one of us can leave!!"
the pious threw the broken to the ground and begin throwing his feet upon his head.
the broken begged for it to end
until finally...
CRUNCH
after several minutes, the broken was finally dead.
the pious reached towards the gate to free himself.
But The Beast brings him to the ground.
"Not here," He says, "This is a hallowed place."
the pious is dragged out of the light, whipping tendrils scoop up what remains of the broken and drag the carcass out of the heavenly glow
the pious screams in terror
"Of course, I never had any intention of letting either of you go. This was all sort of a happy accident. Finding the exit made no difference."
The Beast lifts its mask, its mouth unhinges like a snake, a slithering tongue whips around the pious' face.
the pious didn't last a minute.
The Beast then shuffled away from the spot of blood, all that was left of the pious, scooped up the broken.
"Bad, but certainly not unmanageable."
The Beast, sated, carried the broken to the stone prison, slipped it into a coffin, and left the mabohk, eager to find the next soul to lead to salvation.