Rebirth (Excerpt)
The being looks down upon the kneeling acolytes who are chanting and swaying, lost in a hypnotic trance. Then a flame of golden red erupts from the center of the white hot figure and a savage cry fills the room. A low hiss can be heard and then what appears to be the head of a snake covered in iridescent red and gold scales slips from the fire and strikes two of the acolytes in quick succession.
They cry out in pain, but do not stop their chant. The snake disappears into the golden red flame which in turn, becomes engulfed by the blinding white heat. Another scream fills the cavern, that of a great beast. It shakes the ground upon which they stand and pebbles and dirt rain down from the ceiling.
With one last cry from the acolytes, they fall unconscious, lying like rag dolls around the figure in the center. The priestess and the sacrifices are the only ones left standing as the white heat flares and fills the entire room. Their senses have been obliterated, leaving only a vision of pure light.
Blinding whiteness. Silence, but more than silence. Void of all sound. The oxygen has been sucked from the cavern. There’s a sensation that those in the room are no longer in their physical bodies. Then a voice rings out. It is both male and female, as if two voices are speaking at once, but coming from one mouth.
They hear it not with their ears but with their minds. It is around them, and inside them.
“In the beginning, there was not darkness. No. In the beginning it was light. Bright, hot, white light. From this light came life. And from this life, came darkness. We were the light, and we weren’t the light. We dreamed the light. We created the light. We gave birth to the light.”
Then the soundless void envelopes them again. The light seems to strobe brighter, then dim, then brighter again.
The voice returns, its volume unbearable to their minds.
“As long as the light exists, so do we. As long as we exist, there will be light. We are a constant in this world and a spectator among the stars. We are the directors, the puppet masters, the illusionists. We are all and everything.”
The lack of sound once again falls on ears that no longer seem to exist. Then the throbbing light grows stronger. Dim, bright, dim, bright. It is at this moment that it begins to change. The red and gold return, intertwining with the white. These are warmer colors. Not as cold and harsh.
“And thus, you are us. We take what we need, you have no choice but to give. There is no free will, only the illusion. There are no Gods, not in the way your feeble minds see them. We are everything. We are the dark. We are the light.”
The white light wanes, dimmer, and dimmer as the red and gold increase in intensity. Senses begin to return to those in the room. Dan and Molly are still strapped to the tables, drying blood crusting their eyes, face, and chests as fresh blood pours from their ears. The acolytes are rising from their place on the floor. They have ceased chanting. The priestess approaches the figures now no longer bathed in white, but instead, each one is illuminated in a different color.
She is red. He is gold.
And they no longer look like Gladys and Tom.