Demon's Redemption

9. When you turn down a cult...

The next moment I was inside perhaps, the largest chamber I have ever seen. It had a dome shaped roof, stone walls...And all around me sat people in red robes sitting and talking and they were dived by an empty path in between. I was standing right in the middle of it. I turned around and saw Bruzu signaled me to go forward. Slowly I began to move towards the stage which is in the middle of the room. And on the stage beside me, was a few dozen men and women, all wearing the same sackcloth.

How can things go wrong now?

A series of aggravated Portuguese came raining down from above, as its speaker sat upon a golden throne. The speaker himself wore a black robe rimmed with gold trim, he was tall and slender, but his face was hidden by a hood. And judging from this position it was easy to assume he was the leader. And at once, the crowd around me began chanting in union.

WTF?

But after a while of zealous chanting, the figure on the throne motioned a hand. And just like that the crowd went as silent as a tomb. A man in red robe came forward with a tray in hand, with some pretty nasty looking toys laid in it.

The man on the throne then said something, and soon the first person in line was pushed forth towards the tray.

The first one to choose was a tan teenage girl, she appeared to be taking her time choosing. And after what felt like 7000 years. The girl fell into a state of eerie silence as she picked up a pair of shackles from the tray.

The cult leader yelled something, as the whole crowd erupted into a cheer. Following that, two men came forth and clamped the shackles around her feet with little resistance. And once they were done, they let her walk off stage, but as she tried to walk, she tripped and fell on her second step. And in the end, the men had to lift her up and escort her off the stage.

The next in line was the man who complained previously, and now he thrashing around. Two people came up behind him and restrained him, but that didn't stop him from cursing in whatever language, until finally the leader said something, and two men came forth and had him removed from the stage.

All while the man was removed, the people yelled:

"Feasta da Alma!"

I have no idea what the Feasta da Alma was, but I was not eager to find out about it either. Following by the man about half dozen people refused to comply with whatever choosing ritual it was, and were all dragged off stage in just like man previously. But for choose who choose, there were several varieties. One choose to have a heavy piece of metal hanging on their back, another one had both her eyes slashed by a knife, another one had his arm amputated on spot by an axe, then...Then it was my turn.

"What is your choice?" the cult leader asked in heavily accented English.

"I like your little lovely cult you have here, but I really have to go now." the crowd booed me. But the black robe leader signaled for them to quiet down and they did.

"...can you please repeat what you just said?" I was barely able to make out his English.

"I am trying so say, Fk you!" my voice covered every square inch of the room. And I was responded with eerie silence. And after what like an eternity, the cult leader said something in Portuguese and the entire crowd began to chant the phrase:

"Festa da Alma!"

Shits.

About a dozen of us were locked up in a cell awaiting the feast of souls, but none of us had a clue of about what's about to happen. One of them made a speculation that it was all some big prank, like in the TV shows. One was bowed down and prayed, but he was bowing down so low, I couldn't tell if he was praying or trying to dig a hole. A few women cried, basically the room was in chaos before anything even happened. Ha, what a bunch of losers.

A little while later, Bruzu appeared in front of our cell.

"My friend why did you do this?" his voice was full of fake sympathy.

"You expect me to just join a cult, by threatening my life?" I tried to spit on his shoe, but he moved fast for a fat man. He then muttered a curse in some language, then spoke again:

"You won't be smiling for long." He said in English, as he turned and snapped his fingers.

"Boys, give them the robes! If I see anyone who didn't put on the robe by the time I am back... " he took out a barbed whip. And several women shirked at the sight of it.

Bruzu chuckled, as he passed the whip to one of his cronies and said something in Portuguese. And a moment later, his red robbed cronies came forth into the cell and threw us each a piece of white robe.

"Put it on now!" One of the red cultists threatened with a leather whip in hand. I just simply put the robe over me, with difficultly, since both my arms and legs are shackled. Once I was done, I watched as one of the red cultists signaled one of the women to take off all her clothes. She refused of course, so he then cracked his whip hard and she began to take off her clothes reluctantly. No one came forth to help; no one wanted to be involved in trouble. Then one of the red cultist took another step over the line. He began touching the woman and as she screamed, one of the shackled man surged forward in response, but the only response he got was a whip in the face. As several more cultist took advantage of that woman, an image from a distant past began to surface my mind, one that was etched into the horror of my mind...

Be a good boy and don't move...

I didn't even realise how hard I was clenching my fist, until I felt my hot warm blood trickle through. And after several minutes of watching the woman get violated, Bruzu finally clapped his hands and wore a smirk that I swear I will personally rip open with my bare hands.

"Time is money! Let's go!" Bruzu hustled as we filed out of the cell. As I passed Bruzu, I had to bite down on my lower lip to stop myself from biting Bruzu's head off. He stayed in the back as a red cultist lead us through a series of zigzags. The zigzags lead to a huge arena like chamber...and the 12 of us were in a ring. A balcony jutted out from the stands. The audience was occupied by thousands of zealous red cultists, some lowered their heads and begin to chant, some shouted out curses in all sorts of foreign languages. Then the cult leader came out from the dais. He did a quiet down motion and once the place was restored to perfect silence, he raised his arms and shouted:

"Liberar o comedor de Alma!"

A gate on the other side of the ring opened. And I thought I seen a lot of bad stuff in my life, but what came out next I never would have expected. And the most descriptive I could get is basically a huge hulk of dark mass that towered over any human being, and mouth large enough to swallow a person, eyes as red as ruby, and regular goat horns that seemed too small for its head in comparison. Then it glared at us, and instantly, all except for me slumped to the ground. And perhaps it was being only one standing, the thing stared straight at me. My surroundings became blurry, voices become distant, nothing seemed real beside It. I didn't move; it moved one step forward.

I backed up one step; it lunged.

Q: Did the story get too dark for you?