Beck barricaded everything with the remaining cultists. The altar needs to be protected at all costs!

It was their Magnum opus, the key to bringing a new era. But it was threatened by an outsider, a fiend that should be put to death. Their body didn’t deserve to be used in the creation of the altar. Beck knew that much, and she would do anything in her power to kill the monster who murdered her beloved boyfriend.

The altar is a spire made from the conjoined flesh of the children who used to learn in the school she stood on. She took pride in making the altar of flesh, how their young blood trailed between her fingers. The altar gasped for some air, how its five sets of lungs expanded so it could fuel the wombs of life.

While her world was falling apart, she couldn’t help but smile as she watched the wombs swell with the future, a destiny so the true people would inherit the Earth. She could tell which one was hers, she was there when Theodor seeded it.

Theodor towered over the other cultists, his robes made of human faces spoke in cursed hymns, his hair now changed to veins that oozed a white mucus. Theodor looked hairless, his skin oily and tight. Their skeleton was well defined, even their organs were outlined.

It would be a miracle that Theodor could stand, let alone still be alive at that point. Yet to Beck, he was blessed with the only gospel. He was a God in her eyes, one that she was glad to walk alongside with.

She aimed her harpoon gun at the entrance while she hunkered down behind a stack of metal lockers.

It was quiet, too quiet. But she needed to keep her vigilance. The future depended on it.

A small cylinder fell between the gaps of the barricade. Before anyone could react a bright flash combined with a loud bang disoriented everyone. As the reptile effortlessly smashed through their defences. Armed with a short automatic Remington Shotgun and a chemical spray gun. He blew the chest of the first person in front of him, the second person was sprayed with a water-like substance that when in contact with the oils of a person's skin ignited into a green flame. The fire consumed their body as they grew hotter when in contact with the muscle fibres.

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As Beck regained their senses, they fired their harpoon gun at the reptile. Only for them to drop the chemical gun to catch the bolt.

With great force, the reptile threw the harpoon bolt through Beck’s shoulder and nailed her to the wall.

Theodor raised his hands into the air while the reptile aimed their shotgun at the altar. ‘I don’t think you want to do that.’

Theodor expected the reptile to reply, but was left startled as they did nothing and instead stared back at them.

‘This altar is more than you think, this holds the souls of everyone in this town. If you destroy it, you will doom their souls for damnation! They deserve paradise, do you agree with that at least?’

The reptile looked at Theodor’s waist, to see the grimoire latched onto their belt.

Theodor offered a hand to the reptile as a gesture of peace. ‘We are not enemies, how about we work together instead? I can give you what you desire. Name it, and I can make it happen.’

It was clear the reptile had other things in mind. He destroyed the altar with their shotgun and blew the whole thing to smithereens while its lungs screamed as every sacrificed soul escaped the abomination of nature and creation.

Theodor tried to protest, but before he could utter a word, the reptile pressed the shotgun under their chin and pulled the trigger.

Beck watched it all, nailed to the wall as the future was stolen and the means to create the new people ended. How her lover died and how her leader perished in a single night. In just an hour as well. A sight that broke her, all of that time, all of that devotion. It meant nothing in the end.

The reptile took the grimoire before they reloaded their shotgun. It seemed they were finished with the day and just conducting some maintenance.

Beck moved, but the pain made her moan in pleasure. The reptile walked towards her, their weapon at the ready. She coughed blood, but her masochistic mind confused her life fleeting with short-term satisfaction. She knew it was the end, but there was one question she needed to know before she died.

‘What are you?’

The reptile didn’t reply; he didn’t care to. Instead, they raised their gun to Beck’s forehead and pulled the trigger.