Ceremonies of Pain, Humiliation, Terror and Death
Originally posted on Tales of the Parodyverse by Manga Shoggoth.
Parodyverse characters copyright (c) 2007 to their creators. The use of characters and situations reminiscent of other popular works do not constitute a challenge to the copyrights or trademarks of those works.
This scene is set slightly before #322: Untold Tales of the Lair Legion: Ever After
Picture a stone circle. At one of the foci (for many stone circles are actually elliptical) squats a rough, weathered slab, around which stand a group of hooded figures. The cold morning mist shrouds the grass, and wisps of mist curl about the slab, coincidentally obscuring certain features of the naked young girl who currently (and reluctantly) occupies it.
The view pans round the circle as the hooded figures chant, bow and genuflect. Two of the figures start to wave thruibles, the smoke from the burning incense mingling with the mist. As the point of view changes, the girl's body is obscured alternately by smoke, mist, heads and the actions of a censer.
As the chanting reaches the height of a crescendo, the view shifts to that of the victim: an upward shot of the high priest (or, at least, the one with the ceremonial dagger) as he chants the dedication, kisses the blade of the dagger, raises it and...
"OK. This is supposed to be the sacrifice of a virgin in pain, humiliation and terror, to allow the Elder Gods to rend her soul in eternal anguish. So could someone please tell me why she has been covered with a blanket?"
The gathered cultists fell silent. "Well, it's bleedin' cold out here." one of them offered. "She'll catch her death of cold..."
The high priest quietly counted to thirteen. Partly because it was an unlucky number, but mostly because counting to ten wasn't enough with this set of idiots. Cultists were not generally known for their IQ, and a wise high priest did his best to keep things that way.
"Look. What part of 'pain, humiliation, terror and death' don't you understand? What's next? A bloody pillow?"
He ripped the blanket away, checked the sacrifice again, and then removed the pillow as well.
"Look, since I gathered the twelve of you together out one aim has been to summon the Elder Gods back to the world. Mystical sources tell us that the Shoggoth dwelling with the Lair Legion has been dispersed, the Sorcerer Supreme has vanished and there is no organised occult might in place to stop us. There is no place here for anyone who is not dedicated to their aims."
The high priest took a deep breath.
"So: Are you all here to take full part in the ritual of pain, humiliation, terror and death?"
There was a pause. Then came the replies.
"Yes", "Yes, Master", "Yeah", "Yup", "Amen, Brother!", "In flagrante delicto", Iä, Iä, "Sure", "Yuh", "Of course", "Yea, verily", "Sure", "Ready", "'Course".
"Then, to your places!"
The cultists resumed their chant, and the high priest raised the dagger once more.
Then he hesitated. One of those replies had been in Alko, and the other in Latin. His cultists, recruited from the depths of the countryside, were just this side of literate. Also, the person speaking Latin sounded decidedly female, and he was fairly sure that there was only one female involved in the sacrifice.
This was the point at which the whip took the dagger out of his hand.
For shame, burbled the Shoggoth. Fancy thinking that there is only one of me to worry about.
"Yeah." commented Kathryn, High Priestess pro-tem. "He's back."
Then the ceremony began.
Footnotes:
It is important to distinguish between the contaminated fragment of the Shoggoth in the Lair Legion and the main biomass. The main biomass had previously departed from the Parodyverse (taking Lemuria with it) since the actions of the Parody Master were starting to jeopardise its long-term plans.
When the Shoggoth made its decision to leave (as detailed here) Ebony elected to stay behind with the contaminated fragment - in part because she wanted to engage in a little theological debate with Holy Taus, the High Priest of the Parody Master.
In Ebony's absence, Kathryn - once Sister Lasshe of the Sisters of the Lash - has been standing in as High Priestess for the main Biomass.
As is always the case with my writing, please feel free to comment.
I welcome both positive and negative criticism of my work, although I cannot promise to enjoy the negative.
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Ceremonies of Pain, Humiliation, Terror and Death - a short little number from the Manga Shoggoth · Manga Shoggoth · Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 07:11:25 am EDT
· Wed Sep 19, 2007 at 11:28:15 am EDT