Parallel: A Story Of Two Universes

2-Cult

I woke up in a somehow more depressing, damp room. It reminded me directly of the despair I had been shown by my visions. Maybe that was their intention, to build a holding cell resembling the most horrific possible future. Two of them stood right over me and laughed, with one of them muttering through their mask “Look who’s awake… What took you so long? Having another one of those ‘visions’?” They both looked at each other, then at me while laughing hysterically. The other then began to speak. “Don’t worry, we’re going to make sure you stop having those.” He walked over and grabbed some sort of white stick, I couldn’t exactly make out what it was due to my continuing blurry vision, but I knew it was going to hurt like hell. He got a really strong grip on it before bringing it down like a hammer on my abdomen. I don’t have any idea what they did to it, but it made my body sting as if it were on fire. I cried out in pain. “WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!” I screamed out right as the other was about to bash another one of those things against my chest. They paused and the one to my left kneeled down and began talking to me in a very patronising tone. “Well you see, we do this a lot. It’s often much worse than what you’re about to experience because hopefully, we can knock this right out of you on the first go. I mean, where do you think we got these?” He held the weapon out towards me and I could see more clearly what it was. I jolted back into the wall as he got on all fours like an animal and crawled towards me. The other stood there, with his face constantly moving around in a rabid fashion, showing that he clearly found this pleasurable. I knew this place was an abomination, but I thought I had seen the worst of it. The way my mother treated me, the way the leaders treated me… the restriction bestowed upon me felt like punishment enough for being born in this hellhole, but I had no idea it could get this bad. He started going faster and faster until he was right up against me, and he spoke his twisted, sadistic words directly into my ear with his chilling tone. Normally whatever these freaks would say to me would go right out the other ear, but this time it permeated all throughout my body and soul because I knew that this lunatic could and would do anything to me. “We’re just going to do this real quick, and then hopefully you’ll never have to be in here again. A shame, really, but I suppose there are enough other sinners for me to handle.” He stood up and brought his weapon down on me once again, this time it hurt even more because he landed it right on my chest. He continued to beat me with it before taking a brief pause to gesture to his partner. Then they both started wailing on me constantly. Sometimes I’d get lucky and they’d hit a less sensitive area, but as it went on they seemed to actively seek out the spots where it would hurt the most. I could feel them nearly breaking my ribs as I screamed in agony. They kept yelling that I should be quiet as if they wouldn’t make a sound when in such misery. The suffering I felt grasped my entire body and wouldn’t let go for a second. At the start, it would become more comfortable whenever they stopped hitting me, but now that my body had bruised and wounds had been created all over me, there wasn’t a single moment during which I felt relief. I didn’t know if they’d ever stop, maybe they would once I was about to finally die, but in such a case they’d just wait a while until they could keep going. They’d continue to beat me and wouldn’t even grant me the sweet release of death. I didn’t know what I had done to deserve this, what anyone could ever do to deserve this. I bathed in a puddle of my own blood and for what? Having visions of a better life? Having something that shows the invalidity of this whole place and everyone in its blind following? “Alright, now what do you see?” The beating finally ended and I heard that creep bellow some twisted question that no one could feasibly answer. Yet another one of their many tricks. “W-what?” I managed to break through the pain to let out a quiet whisper of a question. “You heard me. Are you seeing the underworld’s hallucinations anymore?” I slowly opened up my eyes more and looked directly into his. “I- I see the light… I see the faces of my brothers in this world! I see nothing but the true beauty of the overseer’s glorious creations! Even the blood that flows from my broken body reflects the light that he himself gave us! I am no longer in the nightmare of the underworld, and I realise what is true and good in this world!” I knew that unless I gave a good performance, I’d be beaten for the rest of my days. Unless I could make them believe that the visions had stopped, they’d always see me as a crazed lunatic taken over by the devil. These freaks would, but the rest of the “overseer’s” followers wouldn’t ever want to see an innocent one of them beaten half to death, however, if portrayed as an emissary of all that is evil in the world, I become the true enemy of them all. “Really? You must be so overjoyed!” Said the less sadistic one to my right, who seemed to buy it. Unfortunately, the creep on my left wasn’t so convinced. “If such a statement should be held as truth in the eyes of the overseer, I should be able to incapacitate you without any behaviour proceeding during your sleep, correct?” The bastard had caught on, he knew exactly what to do. The things I say in my sleep are almost entirely uncontrollable, the actions I commit even less so, meaning he’ll most certainly be able to uncover my deceit. “Yes, that’s true. However, I often say and do things in my sleep without having a vision, I swear. They’re not totally connected.” He smirked. “You really think I’d believe that when the things you do are so obviously influenced by the underworld? There is no earthly way that such a connection is not persistent through all of your incapacitated doings. It feels almost as if you’re trying to get out of sleeping!” “No! I swear, I merely wanted to make that clear. If I do not directly mention such things that the Underworld would want me to speak of, then I should not be considered an emissary of it.” He nodded slowly while taking something out of his pocket. “That sounds fair… Let’s hope that you’re all better, hm?” I could now see what he was holding, a vile. This was never a desirable sight, as the things they could put inside of those viles could do nearly anything. I hope it will only make me sleep, however, there’s no telling what additional effects it could have on my body. He could even theoretically plant the seeds of heretical speech within my mind, so as to create evidence of visions, and I wouldn’t put that past him, considering how much he seemed to enjoy his first torture session with me. He jammed the needle of the vile right into my leg, it hurt like hell. He shot it right into my bloodstream, taking me out quite quickly. “Sweet dreams.” He said, once again speaking directly into my ear. I could strangely feel a moment of pure darkness before I opened my eyes, almost as if I could perceive time while I was asleep. Once I awakened, however, I was back in a familiar place, one which I in all honesty missed more than anything else. The Parallel plane.