Sacrificial

1

(Chapter 1)
The stone table

~*~

Author POV

The stone was cool against his bare back.

The frigid air was bitterly crisp as it encircled his body, causing an involuntary shiver to rack through his bound body.

His panicked eyes tracked around the dimly lit area, unable to focus his attention upon anything. 

His heart's rhythm was an erratic pace, his breaths matching in time.

Why had he been chosen?

Were the fates punishing him for standing to the side as the demons tore through their world like an unstoppable plague.

Everyone knew he had been born weak, barely able to survive the bitterness of winter, each year bed bound. With the lack of knowledge as to whether he would make it to the end of the season or not was a yearly occurrence. 

He could not stand beside his fellow humans as they fought for their freedom against the horde of demons, he could barely hold a sword up his muscles weak from fatigue and disuse.

"Please" his voice was weak even as the wind carried it.

The blade came down, unyielding, despite his plea.

He knew for certain this time that he would not survive this winter.

The heart that had once beat so erratically came to an abrupt stop as the last breath of cold air was drawn into his lungs.

The sacrifice had been made.

~*~

"Miserable things" the voice was long and drawn out, mournful in its tone.

"Oh there goes another sacrifice, do these humans ever learn?" came the drawling tone of the second.

"Least it looks like a clean kill" came the first.

"Wait" the second's voice lost the bored drawl as they sat up straight.

"What is it?" the first asked, milky white eyes glancing in the direction of the second.

"He bares the mark, the sacrifice bares the mark" the second exclaimed.

That grabbed the attention of the first, rushing from their seat they made their way across to the second.

Both sets of milky white eyes gazed upon the sacrificial human suspended in motion, the lifelessness of the body was not unfamiliar to them. But the second had been correct in their discovery, he bore the mark.

Both of the fates turned to grin at each other, gnarled hands reached out, pulling the lifeless soul of the human from the river, the motion began once again souls passing them by, the fates turned their backs without a care in the world. For they had found the real prize.

"Ismzal alert them" the first fate spoke.

Ismzal got to their feet rushing across the darkened cave to the shimmer of light. It glowed dimly, but soon sprang into a colourful pallet as the fate reached out into its depths.

"What is it?" the voice was rough and the tone harsh.

"We found the one with the mark" Ismzal's voice shook, anyone would have thought it would have been out of excitement, but truly it was for fear of the creature before him despite their distance.

"Are you certain?" the voice sounded strangely vulnerable, not something you would expect from a creature such as that.

"Laimus show him" Ismzal instructed the first.

Laimus turned the human soul to the creature, showing the see through body, with the mark burning like a bright light at the centre of his chest.

The creature's intake of breath was audible.

"Bring him to me" was the instruction.

Then the image distorted once more becoming a dim glow against the cave wall not unlike a mirror.

The fates pulled the human soul towards the swirling pool upon the adjacent wall to the communicator, it was far brighter than the communicator's glow. A portal.

The fates stepped through without hesitation, their destination set.

~*~

Worlds passed around them as they travelled, they did not bother to look.

They held fear in their minds, not in their hearts as they did not possess any. 

Fates were strange that way.

They were the border patrol for souls, Ismzal and Laimus just happened to be the fates assigned to the human souls. Retched creatures in their opinion, that is what made them fair judges. Holding no bias nor love for the souls of the humans that passed them by. No matter how many millions of them floated past them in the river of the dead each day, they remained impartial.

Strange beasts they were, faces that were nightmarish to look upon, hands gnarled and twisted in a grotesque manner. Eyes milky white as they saw all, memories from souls flashed through them like a picture slide show, often it was only their deaths that were reflected in those milky eyes. 

"What do you think they will do with him when we get there?" Ismzal looked to the other fate. 

"How am I supposed to know?" Laimus turned his head to Ismzal holding his gaze.

"He looks awfully weak, even for his own species" Ismzal glanced at the sinewy soul, it was like his body was spun from a spider's silk, intricate and delicate in its craftsmanship.

Laimus did not have time to respond to that statement as they stepped through the portal into their final destination.

~*~

"We brought him" Ismzal bowed his nightmarish head to the creature that had come to greet them upon arrival.

"Show me, so that I can see if the mark is real" the creature's hand reached out, it was almost as  gnarled as the fate's were, a deep red unlike the fate's grey.

The soul was passed to the creature with a gentle touch. The soul looked so small and feeble against the creature but still the mark burned bright and true.

"He is real, my masters will be most pleased." the creature's smile was nothing if not haunting in appearance, even the fates shuddered.

"You have done well I will be sure to mention it to my masters" the creature turned its hunched back to the fates, feet silent against the floor despite its size.

Ismzal and Laimus bowed, before disappearing through the portal once more to resume their eternal duty, well until the world of humans was no more, or the species was brought to extinction. If you were to ask the fates for their opinions (which they rarely gave), they believed it would be extinction that would wipe the humans from their world.

Not that they particularly cared either way.

~*~

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Bye,

Winter