The sound of the drums

Echoed in the air

My body moved toward

The sound of the drums

Out of many, one

Chosen to be a

Sacrifice to the

Out of many, gods

Adrenaline rushed

Forth like a flood

The other time my

Adrenaline failed me

This time I will try

To save the young baby

From dancing with death

This time I will not fail

Out of the others

This one is most painful

Because that child

Their holding captive—

~Is mine-

O, come on feet

Don’t falter now

Help me make it

To save my little one!

#Epluribusunum ©️ 13.01.2023

...the Cult

was miniscule

7 battalions across

the great Continents

a mere fraction

compared to the

contingents

in the Cultures

of us---

and yet,

strong, conniving, and

irrationally determined---

to make the virgin sacrifice

the battle cry?

"there is Life! there is Life!"

as far as the eye

could see, and

heart could know

there was only One

for this destiny

across the galaxies...

and She must

go down,

upon the alter

of Man...

erst since Free'd,

the bite of knowledge

of Good and Evil

from our most Holy Tree

we have been

ill at peace...

we have met

our Enemy

and its desire for Death

not only for Itself...

but as the Ultimate,

and so, our legions

upon its bastions

have inflicted

through our evolutionary

bacterial and viral forces

an assortment of lesions

and we will, we will succeed,

one by one, to bring

it down...

to the very last

human...

01.14.2024

Infiltration Challenge @Prose

In shadows deep, where whispers lie,

A cult of darkness 'neath the sky.

A virgin's fate, held by their hands,

Infiltrate their forbidden lands.

Silent steps through moonlit night,

Cloaked in darkness, out of sight.

Mystic chants and eerie calls,

Within their lair, the temple walls.

A sacred place, where shadows dance,

Entranced by rituals, a twisted prance.

To stop the sacrifice, a daunting task,

Unveil their secrets, wear the mask.

Through the threshold, brave and bold,

Into the secrets, untold.

Infiltrate their sacred rite,

A silent guardian in the night.

A virgin's innocence they seek,

A darkened ritual, twisted and bleak.

But in the heart of the cult, a flame,

To extinguish their sinister game.

Disguised among them, a spy unseen,

A guardian angel, fierce and keen.

Whispers of conspiracy, secrets unfold,

As the cult's veil begins to fold.

Symbols deciphered, cryptic signs,

A web of lies that intertwines.

In the heart of darkness, light prevails,

Against the tide, courage sails.

The altar stands, adorned with dread,

As the cultists bow their heads.

But in the shadows, a hero stands,

To break the chains with steady hands.

The virgin's eyes, wide with fear,

But salvation's whispers draw near.

A daring rescue, swift and brave,

From the clutches of a cultish grave.

The cult's demise, averted doom,

Infiltrator emerges from the gloom.

A saviour of the innocent, a beacon bright,

Against the cult, a valiant fight.

In shadows deep, where courage gleams,

A tale of thwarted, darkened dreams.

A hero rises, in silence sown,

To stop the sacrifice, the light has shone.

I was a fawn in their headlights

My tail white

My heart pure

My pulse raced at the lot of them

It was foreign to comprehend

Their intentions

There were so many of them

Huddled in packs

Collective predators

I didn’t want to hear my ego

Say I was outnumbered

Or out-armed

But it was true

The mood was so dark

It was jovial

And it enticed me

Their youth was their sin

Their carelessness deviant, and

The moon touched their red apple

Just right

There was no tomorrow

And they knew it

I succumbed.

From beneath their hunger

I ascended

I opened my throat, and

I took their elixir down

With a wide expression

Its fire was ecstasy in my gut

I took my top off.

Not so much to make them think

What they were doing was okay

But because I wanted it.

I passed the bottle until it began to spin

And a seance of strong wilds ensued

They stood side by side like armor

Around my fruit

My tongue was ready for

The Eucharist they held palm up

Their desire roared pact-like

They began to chant

And we began to descend

I slammed their poison

Through my veins

My cheeks began to burn

I was flushed and dizzy

And I was wet

I took my pants off.

I grew small as they grew large, and

Their sweat filled my eyes with tears

Before I knew it

I had infiltrated a cult

By becoming one of them

I stopped my virgin sacrifice

By consenting.

And the pleasure is the last thing

I remember.

she had red hair

red as the face

of fire, knife, glinting

in the dancing flames

my hood pulled down

tight so they couldn’t see

the terror reflected in my eyes

but I held up my hand

questions poised in my lips

her milky skin danced against

flames as high as the sun

as I bought time like lottery

tickets, sacrificing my own

sex rendered body

for that of the untouched

until there was no more time

for sale weeping as both

our bodies triumphed in

the patiently waiting flames

our throats smiling

from ear to ear

I shook her daddy’s hand

And the deal was done.

Her hand, a parcel of land

And I became his son.

The asking price seemed low

But the stakes were impossibly high,

For this is where we ended the show

And felt we could both die.

I met her right at home

My old one in the middle of nowhere, not the nearby commune

Her smile struck me like a baseball to the dome

And I stood there, grinning back like a loon.

She was going door to door

Spreading the word of the Lord

Or rather, what daddy had in store.

I just smiled and listened, she could never leave me bored.

Hannah chattered on about prophets and prayers

And how my soul could be saved, too.

I didn’t believe a word of it, just nodded along without a care

As I swam into those eyes so blue.

Hannah invited me to dinner the next day

To meet her family at the commune and talk about salvation.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and in a way

I almost saw this remote escape as a nice vacation.

It was easy at first, just getting to know each other

And escaping the woes of my desk job,

But life decided to give those happy embers a smother

Until all my heart could do was throb.

After a few weeks of what these folks call courting,

Her daddy called us all into the Big House.

He announced among the shuffle of pigs snorting

The consequence of women lacking a spouse.

He said God had come to him

And commanded him to produce a virgin sacrifice.

His words hung thickly around the faces left grim

And he smiled with that heart made of ice.

How proud he was to produce the gift

As he presented his youngest daughter, Hannah, and

Immediately, my thoughts began to drift

To thoughts of an escape I planned.

I knew he had a proper arsenal

And an army ready to defend him to the death.

All my movements had to be purposeful

Lest he take away my last breath.

First, I took courting seriously

And made sure he knew it.

I was going to make her my wife, save her life, you see

Or else I would see her burned in the pit.

Hannah and I were already in love,

So it was her father's heart I had to win.

I'm not religious, but I prayed to the stars above

That I'd convince him I was fit for his kin.

I quit my job, sold all my worldly possessions,

And stashed that money away in a secret bank account.

Father insisted at every introductory session

That every dollar coming in was his, and he would count.

Hannah was born and raised on these grounds,

So she didn't even have an ID card to her name.

One day when spreading the word, I walked deeper into town

And bought an instant camera for my dame.

Father banned cameras for their vanity

So I had to keep it hidden away.

I snapped some pictures despite his insanity

To take to the passport office the next day.

I committed myself to getting in her daddy's good graces,

Mended his clothes alongside the women

And went hunting with him with mud on our faces.

I even took care of the Big House's linens.

Eventually he held out his hand for a shake

With a stern look on his face,

Offering me his youngest daughter

And the fear within me was gone without a trace.

This was the moment I had worked for,

Looked forward to,

Though I dreaded opening the gates to an unholy war.

That night, we celebrated with dancing and a pot of stew.

A year after she first knocked on my door,

Our wedding day finally arrived.

I couldn't help but feel my anxiety soar

As our borrowed suit and gown were resized.

Her daddy wasn't well that beautiful day,

That day much worse than most.

His eyes were wild as he violently prayed

And preached about the wrath of the holy ghost.

He realized that with his last daughter leaving the nest,

He would start to lose control,

And heaven forbid he also lose all the rest.

We packed our bags early and swallowed our fear whole.

He needed to take back the reins,

And do so by any means necessary.

So he proclaimed that, with great pain,

God had returned with a heavenly decree.

Father insisted that the message was clear,

The marriage could not go on.

He still demanded a virgin sacrifice,

And Hannah, as the unmarried lady, must be the one.

We kept the joy plastered on our faces

And showered him with empty gratitude for his words.

I almost couldn't bring myself to look up from my laces

As I gripped the passports and heard the happily chirping birds.

We had no time. We had no choice.

We had to run.

We were left without a voice,

While her father held all the guns.

When her daddy's back was turned,

We made a beeline toward town,

This dangerous cult's offer finally spurned

Before they left her burned or drowned.

I had figured out the bus routes when we went out preaching

And knew which one would get us to the city center.

The bus left us at city hall with wheels screeching

And we held hands tightly as we entered.

We were free, but hadn't yet tasted freedom

For long enough to truly feel it.

We kept our heads on a swivel in case we saw someone

And were punished for the apple we both bit.

When we held the marriage certificate in our hands,

We laughed at our own anxiety

And went to celebrate in this new, safe land.

Then we sat down at the diner and heard the TV.

The cult led by her daddy had all sacrificed themselves, and

As one survivor cried, drank the poison up

Eagerly at his command.

The bodies were scattered among the empty cups.

What's more, Father's body wasn't found among the chaos

And the Big House had been ransacked.

Despite our relief at escaping, we wept together over this loss.

We still kept our heads low, God forbid attention we attract.

She shook her head, poked around at her fries,

And sobbed, "It should've been me."

Then a familiar voice appeared in the booth next to us.

"Now it will be both of you. Did you think you were free?"

In High School he tried

So hard to become a cool kid

part of the in crowd

Because of a girl

he hoped she would just date him

she liked someone else

Someone not worthy

Much worse than no one at all

He's telling himself

Getting in the group

Means she will see he's cool too

Worthy of dating

That's not how it works

This he found out the hard way

at the house party

He burst in the room

thinking he could still save her

A bad idea

She had just been saved

her virginity not lost

It was set aside

He looked like a fool

All of them made fun of him

so he left the group

Cliques are just like cults

Those so called cool kids all suck

he tells himself now

Lesson, the hard way

he'll never save anyone

when he's lost himself

Hooded figures like carrion birds grim,

Circled the altar in the room most dim,

The embodiment of purity lay chained,

To the sacrificial stone,

She felt abandoned and alone,

The only God who ruled this place,

Was the great idol above the altar,

It's eldritch visage enough to make,

Even an angel falter,

It stood over all sinister & stark,

Through graven eyes it observed this rite most dark,

The high priest stood clutching naked blade above naked breast,

The red hoods were still as the tomb, waiting to send the virgin to her final rest,

"Now young heart", the priest did cry,

"It is time for you die!"

One of the crimson hoods flung back,

To reveal a black haired man,

His skin was richly tan,

He gripped a sword ready to attack,

He lunged forward like a spawn of hell,

His sword danced gracefully,

And one by one the cultists fell,

He saved the high priest for last,

The head was clove from the shoulders,

The maiden was aghast,

The torches burned like the abyss,

The swordsman released his breath in a hiss,

The floor was littered with the dead,

He spied the idol and gave a shudder,

He looked upon the girl and severed her chains,

He covered her with the cloak he wore,

She tried to thank him but could only mutter,

"Let's leave this vile place " he said.

I watched as she was tied at the hands

Around her chanting they stand

There was a fire they lit

And with sticks she was hit

I didn't know what to do

So I sat and I watched

It made me so sad

What the history channel had

Not my problem

Here they dance with sin and death

Here they drown in flesh and blood

Here they sing no songs of love

Here they echo their Masters words

Their lives they gave too young to regret it

And lives they take too evil to feel it

The power they weild too enticing to refuse it

A bond, an oath too entrenched to break it

Her little body making me question my choices

Her slight shivers and now I'm hearing voices

The echoes, the cries returning in a flash

"Save her" the only thought I could find

How be it I'm conflicted 20 years later

Of a thing I could do without a sigh or a shiver

Innocence of all forms taken on this altar

Woman who are you to make me want this danger?

I dropped this hero cape for a reason or two

One to save my life and the other to live it true

Now here I am stalking a notorious cult

For a lady I've known a day and nothing but

Fire! A distraction I create

To buy me time to infiltrate

In and out like a stealthy warrior

She's safe quite far from the dread and horror

One thing I know is that darkness will return

And now forever we'd be on the run

I left this life for the beach sand and sun

Alas! In a flash, it's all gone