Sanscest Oneshots | Bored Lmao | Requests Open

An Invitation to Hell

An AU made by someone I know - SacrificialVA - this was not requested nor will probably receive a sequel. 

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Dark circles rested under the eyes of Jacob. Once a year. He was up all night stressing about it, it had been a blood moon, the first of the year. He would live of course. There were hundreds of kids to be chosen from, the chance it would be him are essentially zero. He, however, still felt as though his life was falling apart. It had been to an extent, his father had left, and he had not heard a word from him since.

'They say those who climb the mountain never return.' 

That was what his teacher used to say, about Mt Ebbot. It was blocked off for the rest of the year besides this one day, the morning after the first blood moon of the year. Those who managed to sneak through any other time were never seen again. As years passed on, less and less people showed up to the nomination for sacrifice. Be it the terrifying fact that one's own child could be sacrificed and they couldn't do anything to prevent it, or the absolute barbaric reality of it all. Regardless if you showed up, if you were under 18, and over 10 - unless no other 10-17 year olds were available - you were eligible. Soldiers would march into your house, drag you out, and force you up the hill, in which they would say a short verse, assumedly in reference to the original pact made with the God who sent the monsters down, it was in some unrecognisable language.

As sick as it was, Jacob could not shake the idea that monsters were fiction. How come they had such little records? It was 700 years ago or so, but still. With something so major you'd expect more detail. Or maybe that was something only the village elders knew. Maybe this was set up to curve the population? Brutalist, but in times of doubt he could only think about the negatives. Why not miss a year? See what would happen? They have the names and ages of everyone sacrificed, but Jacob could head to the library, find some old fashioned names, and then write a list of names from old to modern. So that didn't convince him.

And it terrified him, the youngest child in the village was about 6. Most parents moved out, Jacob, nor anyone he knew, could blame them. The idea your child could be whisked away at any point? Most parents didn't take the chance and moved, some ended up homeless, some lived fine. But a declaration was signed that at any point if the village near Mt. Ebbot didn't have any possible applicants to sacrifice... - well Jacob couldn't actually remember. That's what you get when you spend all night worried about the next morning instead of studying for the test at school. Although Jacob highly doubted school would be open.

The clock struck 7:30AM, the time he would normally get up for school. It's an okay time, but the atmosphere in the house, and outside, was tense. He'd open the window in the morning usually. But today not even the birds sang. People, although very few, silently walked to the town centre, where someone would be chosen. The sacrifice would be done no later than 10AM. It would be announced at 7:45AM. He got up, quickly showered, then went out, his mother was still in bed asleep. He debated leaving her a note, but he had no time, he had 3 minutes to go to the town centre, he made sure the door was shut as he left and walked.

He arrived on time, 7:44AM. The father of the village, the eldest male who was able to carry out the duties, was willing to, and also who had no children under 18. He stood on the sort of makeshift stage, it was a small wooden platform with a podium to project his voice, and a bowl to the side of him. The mother of the village, who was often the wife of the father of the village, but wasn't this time. She was the eldest woman, who was also able to carry out the duties and willing to, she also had no children 18, a requirement for her position too. She stood at the side of the bowl. The crowd was silent, then the father of the village spoke.

"This year marks 742 years since humanity made a pact with the blood God. We rest our souls on the fact and continue to thank him for his mercy." He held his arm across his chest, staring up at the sky, a sung a prayer, again in a language Jacob could not recognise nor decipher, but he understood its importance, then the father of the village spoke again. "If I may ask the mother of the village to explain the choice of picking, then to choose a random name from the bowl." The bowl had hundreds of little slips of paper in, folded so no name could be seen.

"In years preceding, and this year, this is carried out in the same fashion. I will place my hand into the bowl, and choose at random a name. In this bowl consists the name of every child aged 10-17 in the village. First Name, followed by their last name, and then their address. The stand this bowl is on, has a second bowl underneath, this bowl." She lifted it to show the crowd. "Has the name of every child aged 0-9. This bowl is only used if there are no names left in the 10-17 age group. In the history of this event, this bowl has only had to be used 5 times." She placed her arm across her chest and performed a different prayer, still indecipherable to Jacob. He assumed it was thank the gods for them not having to use that bowl this year. "By 9am the person chosen will be found, and then given a briefing on what will happen. They will carry with them to Mt.Ebbot 2 bottles of water, a satchel, and a small vial of poison. If somehow they survive the fall, they may end themselves that way. A memorial, and celebration of the persons life will be held here in 10 days following a period of mourning."

Both her and the father of the village held each others hand, and sang another indecipherable prayer. Then the mother placed her hand in the bowl, pulled out a piece of paper. She looked shaken, as if she didn't want to do this, but her duties made her. "Jacob XXXXXX, 13 Stonehanger Road." 

Jacob felt his legs give way, he collapsed onto his knees, the world seemed to go dark. He looked up, people surrounding him. In that moment he couldn't see faces, all he saw were people threatening him, he looked all around, people everywhere. He got up, clutched his chest. Be brave. Calm down. He felt his soul glow, then looked around, the father and mother of the village escorted him to a soldiers quarters, giving him the debrief. He couldn't pay attention, as much as he wanted to. He waited until they were done, then went home. 

He was allowed 10 minutes. His mother was asleep, and she had been struggling to sleep recently, so he wrote her a note. He promised in the afterlife that-

'I will watch over you, I will make sure you the rest of your life is as happy as you've made mine-'

The note spanned 3 pages, he wrote as fast as he could, he finished with less than 30 seconds to spare. He left the note, apologising for not cleaning his room at the end, then left. He was given a satchel, with 2 bottles of water and a vial of poison inside. He took a deep breath, then closed the door behind him and the guards escorted him. This was the youngest person to be taken in a while. For the past 50 or so years it had only been 16 and 17 year olds, with one volunteering for their younger sibling who had been selected. 17 was still far too young to die, but in comparison to a 13 year old. 

Jacob shrugged mentally, it is what it is. He had to remain brave. Especially as they passed the gates to Mount Ebbot. It was a short walk in reality, somewhat, it was about 25 minutes, but it felt like 25 hours. He was able to remain standing, emotionally indifferent on the outside. It was more complex on the inside though, but he remained strong and eventually reached the peak. The hole of Ebbot itself was surrounded by 3 gates, each requiring a different key to get through, barbed wire covering the tops of the fences. 

The guards stood behind Jacob, he faced ahead, towards the hole. Now in front of the hole. They said a prayer, what sounded like praise, apologies? It was hard to assume, he recognised some words from the prior prayers he had heard but didn't truly what they meant. Jacob clutched onto the satchel, knowing what was about to happen, he had a watch on.. 9:59AM. 10:00AM.

With one swift motion he lost balance, and felt himself pushed forwards into the hole. The guards pushed him in, they said one last prayer, but it was drowned out by the screams of Jacob, as he managed to control his fall, sprawling his arms and legs out so he would fall as slow as possible, all be it, still very fast. The ground looked miles away, he tried to think of something to distract himself from the inevitable. He found himself thinking of school, home, the shopping trip he had planned with his mother in a few days. It was done. The ground grew and closer as he began to accept his fate. Yellow flowers filled his view, as everything went black.

Jacob.

You must stay Brave.