A Magical Journey - A Winner's Anthology

Fleshed Magic - WritingLimaBean

The following is a winning entry from our contest Spring Fiesta 2022. Congratulations to all our winners! The full list of winners can be found here.

Fleshed Magic - WritingLimaBean

Bring me love and bring me joy. Bring me a path through this lonely world.

"Bring me love and bring me joy. Bring me a path through this lonely world." Litany clapped the drawn insignias on her palms twice at the statue's feet.

Limbo was another name for Hell to her, even though souls promoted from the pit below said otherwise. Hell was about punishment. Limbo was waiting in an endless cave with a river that led nowhere. Litany was sick of both under the only streak of light shedding in that primal womb.

The opening let fresh air go under her robes. It blew on Litany's hair, hacked by demons to the scalp. Dark as her eyes, it contrasted with the flesh that missed her days by the beach.

She did her part. She had been shot, beaten, and crushed till she learned that fair justice belonged to the Above and the Below. Her vendetta hurt those people. Unlike the original superpowers, she had no intention of helping humanity to evolve.

"Let me look at your soul first," said the statue. The price for begging to leave Limbo before time was flaying her torso. It was baring her purple heart that hadn't pumped in far too long. "Now, there's no need to scream that much. It's just a pinch."

"A pinch? You skinned me—dead!"

"If you're going to complain, maybe I should go back to sleep. Bye-bye now."

"No!" Litany crawled to the statue's toes. "I'm sorry. Please, tell me if I can leave. I'm tired of being alone."

"Lend me your soul then." A stone hand stretched out and waited.

Litany reached inside her skinless ribs, where nothing was left but a hovering heart. It was cold but supple, squishing when her grip tightened in fear of the unknown.

"Don't squeeze it. Treat it with kindness, so others will know how precious it is. That said, this will hurt too."

The statue slid its thumbs in the organ's middle, peeling it open like a juicy tangerine. Inside the purple heart was a bead. It glinted pink, stained with the blood Litany had shed. When she first got there, though, it was as dark as the anoxic tissue the statue held.

"Almost clear. A few more lifetimes, and you'll be done. You may go."

The statue tossed Litany's heart back. It slipped like soap before she secured it back in her hollow chest, but she shouldn't curse. The idol did grant her wish. "That's it? No catch?" Was it that simple?

"Of course, it is that simple!" The high pitch didn't inspire much trust in Litany. The following tone, though, was so calm and reassuring. It warmed the bead inside Litany's heart like a caring embrace. "The master plan may seem very convoluted, but as you grow with lifetimes, it gets better. Now, shoo."

A bell's toll called behind Litany, where the only souls in the river were the colorful fish that kept her company. That ferryman was never there before. She climbed in their shallow boat and, with a lantern's glow hung from its bow, they drifted downstream till darkness was blasted with painful sunshine.