The door opened slowly as a well-built man walked out. His face was masculine with scars across his face. One on his eye going down toward his cheek, another down his lips on his right side. The man eyed the cages in the room until he found what he was looking for…who he was looking for. He walked up to the cage with the “thump…thump” of large boots. Jake saw the man unlock his cage and drag his now numb body out from it, heft him onto his shoulder and walk towards the door.

Completely terrified, Jake struggled for all that he was worth. It wasn’t until he tried to bite the man that the large man did something. He flung Jake straight to the ground and threw a right hook into his face…

***

The man looked at the thing laying down on the ground. It tried to bite him. It was a bad thing, but that was to be expected. All of his things were reluctant at first. They usually do something with their eyes that make a liquid come out, but he was calm. They made incessant noise with their mouths, but he was patient. However, IT tried to bite him! This thing tried to taste what was perfect and holy…what was for HER.

He quickly sent the thing into sleep, but immediately regretted his impulse. “Can’t bring HER here with these things asleep, now can I? She deserves an audience…a following…an altar…a sacrifice.

Yes, a sacrifice, but who? Or perhaps, whom...?” The man grins and looks at the thing laying on the floor. “Whom indeed.” The man picks up the thing lying on the floor and proceeds to once again, carry it on his shoulder. He then walks away while whistling a strange, seemingly random eerie tune…

***

Jake woke up once again with a headache. This one was worse than last time, but then again, last time he wasn’t hit square in the face by someone who looks like they can bench 400 pounds with room to spare.

Jake groggily sat up and looked around him. At least I’m not in a cage again.

The room is almost cubic. There are lines everywhere, on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the columns. Every now and then he would see a strange symbol where the lines crossed each other greatly.

“mmmphmm...MMMMFFF!”

Jake looked over to one of the columns in the room and sees someone. His pulse quickens and his murky head instantly becomes clear.

“Claire…” Jake softly says.

Jake bolts up and tries to run to her, only to make a few steps and falls flat on his face. He looks at his leg to see a cuff and chain around his ankle. He looks at the chain and surprisingly it isn’t connected to the column behind him. It’s connected to something else…a dark rectangular object with intricate carvings and gold inlays. They painted a story of some kind with a picture of a winged person, but he wasn’t interested in that at the moment. This thing looked like an altar while he and Claire are chained up, in a room with lines everywhere. Jake had a very bad feeling about this.

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Jake looked again at Claire. She had her hands and feet chained to each other like a single person chain gang, but with a black choker and chain hanging loosely on the ground. It was such a stark contrast with what she was wearing what seemed like moments ago. He then was then brought back to reality as the well-built man walked in.

“Morning Sunshine. How is my personal thing doing today?” The man casually asked. He was walking towards Clair and Jake. Then Jake noticed that the man wasn’t talking to him. He was talking to Claire. As soon as he spoke, Clair immediately turned around.

“MMMMM-mmmm...mmm.mmmmmm!!” She screamed at the man. The mouthful of cloth didn’t help her in trying anyway.

“Yes, yes I know. Tis only a hiccup I assure you.” He glanced behind Jake at the altar. Jake turned around but didn’t see anything. Holy shit, he’s crazy! I’ve got to get us out of here…

The man walked up to Jake while holding some clear ball. “Tch. Not quite there yet huh. Guess I’ve got to speed things up a little…OH! I’ve got the perfect thing for this.” The man walks back to Claire and pulls on her choker chain while wearing a large grin. “Come.” He orders.

She tries to crawl away but he drags her by the neck out the door while she whimpers.

“CLAIRE!!” Jake screams. He watches helplessly as the man drags Claire until the door closes.

-Some time later-

The man walks back into the room with someone then chains them to a pillar, along with Claire who now had lifeless eyes… then leaves. This repeats over and over again until the room is filled with people. All of them are chained in some way to the pillars and to each other. After a bit of silence, the man walks in with a few baskets of bread and tells everyone to eat. Some try to resist while others simply don’t want to eat and Claire closes her legs a little and resumes being motionless.

They really didn’t have a choice as small rolls were passed around. There was one person who adamantly refused.

“FUCK YOU! Where am I? WHY AM I HERE? ANSWER ME!” (Brave man)

“Eat.” (Well-built man)

“FUCK YOU AND YOUR WHORE OF A MOTHER!”

The man immediately unchained the brave man and dragged him to the altar while murmuring something.

“Hey where are you taking m-” (Scared Guy)

The well-built man then slams the guy's face into the alter.

“Through the lies, we see.” (well-built man)

-SLAM- He slams the guy's face into the obsidian altar again.

“For our lives, we follow.”

-SLAM- The scared man’s face is slightly dented.

“During the beginning, she was.”

-SLAM- The guy's fear begins to fade.

“Forever in the end, she will be.”

-SLAM- The scared man bleeds onto the altar.

“In our death...”

-SLAM- Slowly a smile forms on the guy’s smashed face.

“Without your so-called logic or reasoning.”

-SLAM- The smile turns into a grin.

“Through HER we are…”

-SLAM- The guy's eyes gloss over as the grin grows into something else.

“ONE WITH THEM ALL!”

-CRUNCH-

“….” (Dead Man) A Lunatic smile is on his face, his faded eyes filled with reverence.

“And all will kneel before HER madness.” The man says with a solemn tone.

The man pulls a blade out from his coat and brings it down on the altar, beheading the dead man.

The head rolls down to the floor and rolls to the middle of the room in everyone’s view. The smile and eyes are seemingly staring only at me…as if looking right through me. Almost laughing at my powerlessness, or as if he could see the future and was mocking us all.

“Yes, they will…” Jake could have sworn he heard a faint whisper somewhere.

“Now eat.” The man returns from his fervor to his usual calm.

Completely terrified, everyone begins to eat…

***