Cult Of The Lamb: Duality

Light and Dark

"I read of a man who stood to speak

At the funeral of a friend

He referred to the dates on the tombstone

From the beginning...to the end

He noted that first came the date of birth

And spoke the following date with tears,

But he said what mattered most of all

Was the dash between those years

For that dash represents all the time

That they spent alive on earth.

And now only those who loved them

Know what that little line is worth

For it matters not, how much we own,

The cards...the house...the cash.

What matters is how we live and love

And how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard.

Are there things you'd like to change?

For you never know how much time is left

That can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough

To consider what's true and real

And always try to understand

The way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger

And show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives

Like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect

And more often wear a smile,

Remembering this special dash

Might only last a little while

So, when your eulogy is being read

With your life's actions to rehash...

Would you be proud of the things they say

About how you spent YOUR dash?" -Champion Monch of The Sect Of Death.

~~~~~~~~

March 30th, Year 199 AR (After Rebellion)

Several hours after the defeat of The One Who Waits.

In the heart of The Gateway...there was a large, open spot...just a few hours ago, it was occupied by The One Who Waits and his faithful servants, Aym and Baal. The One Who Waits had been defeated by his former vessel, and converted to her cult. And as for his servants...you might think they were killed...

... But what's already dead cannot die again.

With a loud, piercing scream, the arm of a black cat erupted from the cloud-like floor, followed by the other, and out of the ground crawled Aym, the guardian of impurity.

The feline got to his paws as fast as he could and looked around for someone, soon spotting the arm of another black cat, and upon seeing it, he ran over to it.

"Hey! Brother! Are you okay? Make a fist if you're stuck!" On cue, the hand of the arm made a fist.

Aym gritted his teeth and grabbed the arm. "Alright, come on, on the count of three, one...two...three- HEAVE!" And with a mighty tug, Baal, the guardian of purity was pulled forth from the ground.

Upon being pulled out, the brothers immediately embraced, both of them panting heavily.

"Aym...? What happened?" Asked Baal, his voice shaky.

"That damned lamb betrayed father! Sh-She killed him and then she killed us!" Aym shouted.

Baal growled in worry. "What are we going to do now?!"

Aym was silent for a moment or two. "...The only thing we CAN do...and that's take over the domain of death in his abscence..."

Baal nodded and separated from Aym, calling on his staff, which materialized in his hand. Aym called on his own as well.

"I suppose we'll...just do our jobs...as if...father were still here." Said Baal

"And just...take over his duties as well." Responded Aym.

"But how-" Aym cut Baal off before he could finish his sentence. "We'll figure it out as we go along. Now come on. Who knows how much has gone wrong since we've been dormant."

Baal sighed and nodded, stepping through a portal to go search for any lost souls in needance of guidance to The Gateway.

Afterwards, Aym popped his neck and walked to a deeper level of The Gateway...all the sinners down there had gone a bit too long without any pain.

July 18th, Year 200 AR

Aym stood at where one of his father's old chapels used to be, long before it had fallen into ruin. Aym, with a scowl on his face, spat on what was once an altar.

Soon after, his brother, Baal teleported next to him, and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Aym...It has been months since we found out what happened...you have to m-"

Aym whipped around, his face filled with pure wrath. "Move on? MOVE ON?! Do you even know what he did?! He...He abandoned us! Married the very beast who betrayed him! HASN'T MENTIONED EAR NOR TAIL OF US WHILE ALL FOUR OF HIS SIBLINGS WERE REVIVED!" Aym gnashed his teeth at Baal, black acid dripping from his jaw.

Baal stepped back. "Aym...what's done is done...there's nothing we can do about it."

"...No, Baal. We MUST do something about it. Father betrayed us and went on to live a happy happy life where he just gets to sit on his tail and listen to that lamb blabber, while we've been running practically everything for him! And don't even get me started on that lamb...she left everybeast who wasn't in her cult to rot away!"

"A-Aym...you're being irrational! I'm sure she's trying to work things out behind the scenes!"

"...And what proof of that is there, Baal? We've been running the entire domain of death for father's lazy ass because he was too weak to fight his own vessel, meanwhile, said vessel has done nothing but stand on her stage and go 'Baa Baa! I'm the Lamb! You should listen to me because I slaughtered the bishops!"

Baal squeezed his eyes shut, unable to formulate a response to his brother.

"Baal. We need to kill The Lamb. Permanently. We need to take over the world. If we don't..things will only slip deeper and deeper down the chamberpot. We need to teach father a lesson."

Baal didn't want to go along with this...but he couldn't deny...Narinder's actions had been crappy...and The Lamb's too... "...Very well, Aym."

Aym smiled and patted Baal's shoulder. "Good. Glad you understand, bro. I'll think of something to do, and then I'll get back to you, alright?"

"...Alright.."

Aym nodded. "Talk to you later man." Aym then melted into a puddle of acid, teleporting back to The Gateway.

Baal looked up into the starry night sky...He could already tell the coming days were going to be very...very long.

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AN: The poem at the start was written by Linda Ellis irl. With that being said, enjoy the story!

Also this whole story is crossposted from A03