“Have you ever dreamt about your beloved god?” I asked, a very deranged version of the person I tortured laying slightly on me.
“Yes.” He mumbled and drooled a bit onto my chest. His nose was poking me the whole time and for some reason, he seemed to like the feeling of it.
The circle below us was still glowing faintly, a testimony to its sturdiness. Even after nearly a whole week, it was still using the mana to link our senses. The sword had seen better days though. It’s soul was already badly damaged and the ocean of mana within it nearly devoid of energy. And it’s battled state translated directly into its state visible for the naked eye as well.
The handle was already broken off and the metal itself was fractured badly. Sometimes thin, sometimes larger, veins went through it, nearly separating the rest of the sword into two.
The one who changed the most though was obviously the pope of death. From his cockiness, there was nothing left over, especially after he had gotten troubles to separate my senses from his.
Out of pure interest, I had already disabled the circle for a few minutes the day before and had to laugh as he still screamed once I stabbed myself. Phantom pain was real.
But that wasn’t the only notable difference. He started to salivate in his sleep. And I had to endure it to give him some kind of safe haven. I didn’t want him to go completely insane after all. I just wanted him to do as I say.
And he did so splendidly. Luckily his memory wasn’t damaged in the slightest and so he was capable off remembering everything I told him. Surprisingly, he even learned the little speech I prepared eagerly once I told him I wouldn’t stab myself during that time.
So in a sense, everything went alright. He was still in perfect shape and didn’t go completely insane during our fun time together. Sure, he became a little bit too fond of feeling what I felt whenever I didn’t hurt myself, but that was about it. Oh, and maybe, just maybe he talked a little bit less than in the beginning.
“Great! Hey, do you want to go now, or later?” I asked him and noted how he pressed his face just a bit more into my bosom.
“Later …” That was just too bad. Sadly, I didn’t want to hurt him at this moment because I didn’t want to overdo it. I had achieved all my objectives and as such, there was no reason to stop him from enjoying my senses. One last time, I wanted to hammer into his brain that whatever I felt was directly transmitted to him without any interruption.
For several minutes, I laid there with barely any clothing on me in a puddle of blood, buried under the thirty year old man who didn’t wear much either. At last though, my patience ran thin and I rolled him off me.
“It’s time.” I said rudely, strolled out of the room and retrieved his old clothing and stuff to clean him. One after another, I gave him his stuff back until he was properly clothed and clean once more. During this whole time, nobody spoke a word as he usually didn’t say anything except when I initiated the conversation, and I saw no need to talk.
Smiling brightly knowing nobody could spot any changes at the first glance, I began to dress myself as well in my usual completely black attire that hid everything from the public.
Satisfied, I looked around the bloodied room one last time and turned around to lead the pope out of it. Just at that moment, the ground around the sword turned pitch black as a gateway to purgatory was created.
The pope was so close to it that it was almost comically. His whole life, he dreamt of meeting Aska and coming back to tell the tale and this was probably the closest he would get to achieving this goal.
It was a portal just for souls though, so he would have to say goodbye to his body but if I really, really wanted, I could also open it for matter to pass through.
I had no reason whatsoever to do so, and so only the soul inside the sword was sucked into purgatory to reincarnate it somewhere else.
As the door shut, the sword of magnetism finally broke into two and the circle stopped glowing. But he didn’t know that and as far as he was concerned, our senses were still linked together. After all, I always told him our senses were connected as long as the circle existed and his actions certainly proves that he believed what I told him as I pinched my cheek.
That state wouldn’t hold on forever though and so, we were already using stairs to get back towards the surface.
Upon entering a little hut covering the entry point, it wasn’t Tom who greeted me, but rather an excited Hannah. She didn’t try to hug me though as she knew I wanted to sense as little as possible during the next few hours.
“Is he one of us now?” She asked after little while in regards to the pope.
“Is he?” I asked myself and looked at him. The pope only nodded showing her what I saw in his eyes for a longer time already. He had no desire to defy me at all. He feared what I would do, rightfully so. As he attempted suicide a few days ago, I thoroughly made sure he wouldn’t do so again without my permission.
There was a hint of hope in his eyes though. He knew what he was supposed to do and thus, he knew I would give him his freedom in the end.
Together, we walked towards a black carriage and soon found ourselves back on the way towards the royal district where he would hold a little speech later. We, or rather he himself already wrote multiple letters describing what he wanted to do.
Of course, the only conversation we had on the ride were if he remembered everything correctly. I had him recite everything three times over until I was satisfied and silence returned to the carriage once more.
And in silence, we stepped out of the carriage with masks on our faces, greeted by an equally clothed Tom. He certainly knew how to organise a show as he pointed to the massive wooden stage in front of the cathedral. Many priests and priestesses of different faiths already gathered in front of it, but the wide majority were followers of the church of death.
The stage had been set.
And the pope? He was playing his role perfectly. He was even smiling, something I didn’t see him do in a long time. But he had to look happy enough so that the usual stuff like confirming he was in stable state of mind could wait. Nobody questioned us as we strode through the hundreds and hundreds of humans unhindered. Everyone made place for us respectfully and thus, we managed to get towards the stage unhindered. At least until his well being was checked by a certain mage which didn’t find any faults with his magic.
It wasn’t planned that neither Tom nor I would follow the pope onto the stage. And thus, I grabbed the pope’s hand one last time and squeezed it a bit, just to motivate him a bit more. At first, he seemingly didn’t want to let go of my hand which already resulted in a bit of confusion around us, but as I bought my other hand to my left dagger, he finally relented.
I broke him, that was for sure. A full week of torture in which he felt what a human was never supposed to feel seriously broke him. In a good way though. He wasn’t just any broken man, he was my broken toy. And what a toy he was.
Waving towards the audience he stepped onto the stage while Tom and I found places in the first few rows. The pope looked at us from time but as neither I or him did anything in particular, he soon gave his all on the task freeing him from all the pain.
“Are you sure he is fine?” Tom asked concerned as the pope waited a little to get the attention.
“Yeah … for the next three hours he knows he is save as this was our time to cuddle. He knows very well what happens to him if he fucks this up.” I whispered back at him. He had his speech during the end of the torture free time I always gave him. And thus, he actually managed to behave normal during the time he held his speech.
“My fellow believers! Some of you may have heard I was away for the last few days, and a select few have already correctly guessed what we were trying to achieve. The rumours I heard on the way back are true! I was setting out to enter purgatory, I was searching for a god. And I can say that I achieved everything I set out to do! I have seen purgatory with my very own eyes. I have felt the deathly chill and … I met him. Our god of death. The first god humanity ever made contact with! Let me tell you this from the bottom of my heart: He is beyond human imagination. I cannot even begin to describe him, nor do intend to.
I have to admit my meeting with him was short lived but … but he conveyed exactly what we needed to do.
My fellow believers, we need to repent our sins! The god I met wasn’t like we always imagined him to be. He was … Askatesh believes in the necessity of death, but also that everyone should have a fulfilling life. Live and death go hand in hand!“
It was eerily silent the whole time. Nobody spoke for a few seconds until the pope resumed his speech.
“And therefore, I desire to follow the word of the god I believe in. I want to express my sincere apologies to Laura whose blood is on my hands, to the other faiths I tried to suppress with all my might and so much more. But here I am, guilty and knowing I cannot repent on my own.”
My hands wandered towards the dagger on my side and retrieved it quietly.
“But I am not alone. I have a god to follow. Everyone of us does. And just like we have the god of death, he has us! Together, we can achieve so much more. He wants to forgive us who have sinned as a collective. He is calling us to him! To serve him into all eternity! It is an offer to everyone of his faith but also a warning. This is the last chance for us if we do not want to feel endless pain.”
It was as if he knew what he was talking about. Well, there wasn’t that much knowledge about purgatory around. That evildoers were punished there was in their reality a possibility and now that the pope of death basically confirmed it, a murmur went through the crowd.
“There is only one logical conclusion we can draw. To repent our sins.” He shouted out, his hands went underneath his robe and he waited. For me. Swiftly, I lifted the dagger up towards my throat and smiled as he mirrored my movements. One last time, we were about to share pain. That was what I promised him.
And unlike before, I would allow him the only path out of my terror. Swiftly and before any of the bystanders could react to save the pope, I pretended to stab my throat. The pope on the stage in front of hundreds of people though didn’t stop his dagger. Out of everything, he had one final chance to meet his own god which was coincidentally exactly what I drove him to me as well.
As his dagger stabbed deeply into his flesh, his eyes went wide and he relaxed considerably. It was as if he had truly found his peace which may have given the onlookers the impression that he was indeed believing what he said.
Before anyone reacted to the pope’s suicide, I had already hidden my dagger underneath my robe and turned around. Tom followed me directly as some humans cried out, others shouted and chaos broke out. During the whole time where we just strode away from the stage largely unhindered, I kept my gaze on the followers of Aska. Some had glassy eyes, others were confused about the development, some were holding their hidden weapons tightly and those who believed the most, straight up killed themselves.
A few seconds after the pope killed himself, mayhem was already everywhere. Blood spilt in front of me as I tried to suppress my laughter. So much death was around me that I had a hard time not adding to these numbers myself.
But I didn’t murder anyone that day with my own hands. All of them made their own decision to visit purgatory.
“This is too easy.” Tom mumbled, probably a bit excited himself. Before he boarded the carriage, he looked towards the field of corpses, the panic in the bystanders eyes and the dead pope on the stage.
“I merely brought fourth what was already there. If one prays to death, one might discard ones life.” I concluded, pushed him into the carriage and jumped into it myself. Hannah didn’t waste any further time and drove us away from the scene before even the first guards arrived.
“Have you ever dreamt about your beloved god?” I asked, a very deranged version of the person I tortured laying slightly on me.
“Yes.” He mumbled and drooled a bit onto my chest. His nose was poking me the whole time and for some reason, he seemed to like the feeling of it.
The circle below us was still glowing faintly, a testimony to its sturdiness. Even after nearly a whole week, it was still using the mana to link our senses. The sword had seen better days though. It’s soul was already badly damaged and the ocean of mana within it nearly devoid of energy. And it’s battled state translated directly into its state visible for the naked eye as well.
The handle was already broken off and the metal itself was fractured badly. Sometimes thin, sometimes larger, veins went through it, nearly separating the rest of the sword into two.
The one who changed the most though was obviously the pope of death. From his cockiness, there was nothing left over, especially after he had gotten troubles to separate my senses from his.
Out of pure interest, I had already disabled the circle for a few minutes the day before and had to laugh as he still screamed once I stabbed myself. Phantom pain was real.
But that wasn’t the only notable difference. He started to salivate in his sleep. And I had to endure it to give him some kind of safe haven. I didn’t want him to go completely insane after all. I just wanted him to do as I say.
And he did so splendidly. Luckily his memory wasn’t damaged in the slightest and so he was capable off remembering everything I told him. Surprisingly, he even learned the little speech I prepared eagerly once I told him I wouldn’t stab myself during that time.
So in a sense, everything went alright. He was still in perfect shape and didn’t go completely insane during our fun time together. Sure, he became a little bit too fond of feeling what I felt whenever I didn’t hurt myself, but that was about it. Oh, and maybe, just maybe he talked a little bit less than in the beginning.
“Great! Hey, do you want to go now, or later?” I asked him and noted how he pressed his face just a bit more into my bosom.
“Later …” That was just too bad. Sadly, I didn’t want to hurt him at this moment because I didn’t want to overdo it. I had achieved all my objectives and as such, there was no reason to stop him from enjoying my senses. One last time, I wanted to hammer into his brain that whatever I felt was directly transmitted to him without any interruption.
For several minutes, I laid there with barely any clothing on me in a puddle of blood, buried under the thirty year old man who didn’t wear much either. At last though, my patience ran thin and I rolled him off me.
“It’s time.” I said rudely, strolled out of the room and retrieved his old clothing and stuff to clean him. One after another, I gave him his stuff back until he was properly clothed and clean once more. During this whole time, nobody spoke a word as he usually didn’t say anything except when I initiated the conversation, and I saw no need to talk.
Smiling brightly knowing nobody could spot any changes at the first glance, I began to dress myself as well in my usual completely black attire that hid everything from the public.
Satisfied, I looked around the bloodied room one last time and turned around to lead the pope out of it. Just at that moment, the ground around the sword turned pitch black as a gateway to purgatory was created.
The pope was so close to it that it was almost comically. His whole life, he dreamt of meeting Aska and coming back to tell the tale and this was probably the closest he would get to achieving this goal.
It was a portal just for souls though, so he would have to say goodbye to his body but if I really, really wanted, I could also open it for matter to pass through.
I had no reason whatsoever to do so, and so only the soul inside the sword was sucked into purgatory to reincarnate it somewhere else.
As the door shut, the sword of magnetism finally broke into two and the circle stopped glowing. But he didn’t know that and as far as he was concerned, our senses were still linked together. After all, I always told him our senses were connected as long as the circle existed and his actions certainly proves that he believed what I told him as I pinched my cheek.
That state wouldn’t hold on forever though and so, we were already using stairs to get back towards the surface.
Upon entering a little hut covering the entry point, it wasn’t Tom who greeted me, but rather an excited Hannah. She didn’t try to hug me though as she knew I wanted to sense as little as possible during the next few hours.
“Is he one of us now?” She asked after little while in regards to the pope.
“Is he?” I asked myself and looked at him. The pope only nodded showing her what I saw in his eyes for a longer time already. He had no desire to defy me at all. He feared what I would do, rightfully so. As he attempted suicide a few days ago, I thoroughly made sure he wouldn’t do so again without my permission.
There was a hint of hope in his eyes though. He knew what he was supposed to do and thus, he knew I would give him his freedom in the end.
Together, we walked towards a black carriage and soon found ourselves back on the way towards the royal district where he would hold a little speech later. We, or rather he himself already wrote multiple letters describing what he wanted to do.
Of course, the only conversation we had on the ride were if he remembered everything correctly. I had him recite everything three times over until I was satisfied and silence returned to the carriage once more.
And in silence, we stepped out of the carriage with masks on our faces, greeted by an equally clothed Tom. He certainly knew how to organise a show as he pointed to the massive wooden stage in front of the cathedral. Many priests and priestesses of different faiths already gathered in front of it, but the wide majority were followers of the church of death.
The stage had been set.
And the pope? He was playing his role perfectly. He was even smiling, something I didn’t see him do in a long time. But he had to look happy enough so that the usual stuff like confirming he was in stable state of mind could wait. Nobody questioned us as we strode through the hundreds and hundreds of humans unhindered. Everyone made place for us respectfully and thus, we managed to get towards the stage unhindered. At least until his well being was checked by a certain mage which didn’t find any faults with his magic.
It wasn’t planned that neither Tom nor I would follow the pope onto the stage. And thus, I grabbed the pope’s hand one last time and squeezed it a bit, just to motivate him a bit more. At first, he seemingly didn’t want to let go of my hand which already resulted in a bit of confusion around us, but as I bought my other hand to my left dagger, he finally relented.
I broke him, that was for sure. A full week of torture in which he felt what a human was never supposed to feel seriously broke him. In a good way though. He wasn’t just any broken man, he was my broken toy. And what a toy he was.
Waving towards the audience he stepped onto the stage while Tom and I found places in the first few rows. The pope looked at us from time but as neither I or him did anything in particular, he soon gave his all on the task freeing him from all the pain.
“Are you sure he is fine?” Tom asked concerned as the pope waited a little to get the attention.
“Yeah … for the next three hours he knows he is save as this was our time to cuddle. He knows very well what happens to him if he fucks this up.” I whispered back at him. He had his speech during the end of the torture free time I always gave him. And thus, he actually managed to behave normal during the time he held his speech.
“My fellow believers! Some of you may have heard I was away for the last few days, and a select few have already correctly guessed what we were trying to achieve. The rumours I heard on the way back are true! I was setting out to enter purgatory, I was searching for a god. And I can say that I achieved everything I set out to do! I have seen purgatory with my very own eyes. I have felt the deathly chill and … I met him. Our god of death. The first god humanity ever made contact with! Let me tell you this from the bottom of my heart: He is beyond human imagination. I cannot even begin to describe him, nor do intend to.
I have to admit my meeting with him was short lived but … but he conveyed exactly what we needed to do.
My fellow believers, we need to repent our sins! The god I met wasn’t like we always imagined him to be. He was … Askatesh believes in the necessity of death, but also that everyone should have a fulfilling life. Live and death go hand in hand!“
It was eerily silent the whole time. Nobody spoke for a few seconds until the pope resumed his speech.
“And therefore, I desire to follow the word of the god I believe in. I want to express my sincere apologies to Laura whose blood is on my hands, to the other faiths I tried to suppress with all my might and so much more. But here I am, guilty and knowing I cannot repent on my own.”
My hands wandered towards the dagger on my side and retrieved it quietly.
“But I am not alone. I have a god to follow. Everyone of us does. And just like we have the god of death, he has us! Together, we can achieve so much more. He wants to forgive us who have sinned as a collective. He is calling us to him! To serve him into all eternity! It is an offer to everyone of his faith but also a warning. This is the last chance for us if we do not want to feel endless pain.”
It was as if he knew what he was talking about. Well, there wasn’t that much knowledge about purgatory around. That evildoers were punished there was in their reality a possibility and now that the pope of death basically confirmed it, a murmur went through the crowd.
“There is only one logical conclusion we can draw. To repent our sins.” He shouted out, his hands went underneath his robe and he waited. For me. Swiftly, I lifted the dagger up towards my throat and smiled as he mirrored my movements. One last time, we were about to share pain. That was what I promised him.
And unlike before, I would allow him the only path out of my terror. Swiftly and before any of the bystanders could react to save the pope, I pretended to stab my throat. The pope on the stage in front of hundreds of people though didn’t stop his dagger. Out of everything, he had one final chance to meet his own god which was coincidentally exactly what I drove him to me as well.
As his dagger stabbed deeply into his flesh, his eyes went wide and he relaxed considerably. It was as if he had truly found his peace which may have given the onlookers the impression that he was indeed believing what he said.
Before anyone reacted to the pope’s suicide, I had already hidden my dagger underneath my robe and turned around. Tom followed me directly as some humans cried out, others shouted and chaos broke out. During the whole time where we just strode away from the stage largely unhindered, I kept my gaze on the followers of Aska. Some had glassy eyes, others were confused about the development, some were holding their hidden weapons tightly and those who believed the most, straight up killed themselves.
A few seconds after the pope killed himself, mayhem was already everywhere. Blood spilt in front of me as I tried to suppress my laughter. So much death was around me that I had a hard time not adding to these numbers myself.
But I didn’t murder anyone that day with my own hands. All of them made their own decision to visit purgatory.
“This is too easy.” Tom mumbled, probably a bit excited himself. Before he boarded the carriage, he looked towards the field of corpses, the panic in the bystanders eyes and the dead pope on the stage.
“I merely brought fourth what was already there. If one prays to death, one might discard ones life.” I concluded, pushed him into the carriage and jumped into it myself. Hannah didn’t waste any further time and drove us away from the scene before even the first guards arrived.
