It was a hell of a way to die. Being shot was one thing, stabbed to death was another. Rafael couldn't ever imagine being tied up and ate alive. The woman never told him if it was by animals or humans, but it would've been stupid if him to assume animals would do it. The way she described it, talking about his flesh and the flavoring made him wonder if she was a part of the people who he sacrificed himself to, since she seemed to know so much about it.
To be completely honest, he couldn't tell if it was an honorable way to go out or not. Of course, there was the main topic of discussion — which was that he died in order to save his beloved wife. Yeah, you could call it heroic. Personally, Rafael thought it was fucking stupid. Who would ever volunteer themselves up to be eaten by a cannibal tribe in order to save their wife? Apparently this guy would.
How he found himself in some coming-of-age hippie circle with completely strangers, magical looking shops, and blood sacrifices was a question for another time. His main focus was trying to get his point across to a rather snobby middle aged woman.
"Listen, lady. I'm just saying, you can go on for years about how heroic and romantic this guy was for sacrificing himself, but it won't change my mind. He could've avoided the situation entirely!"
In response, she merely rolled her eyes before turning around to someone else and asking the the same question. "Don't you think it's beautiful?"
For the past hour he had been sitting here, avoiding any of the odd rituals the people here wanted him to join in on. At one point when he had went up to the counter of one of the shops to buy a minuscule sculpture of Aphrodite, he saw the clerk in the back of the shop cutting open the finger of a small child, before bringing it to her own lips and smiling sweetly.
When he had first woken up, everything felt surreal. Unsure of whether he had been drugged or not, he stood up and walked around the little camp before he spotted Rose. She was speaking to an old woman, crouched down so she was eye level with the criss cross sitting lady. He watched for a moment, almost hesitating before walking up to his sister and the woman. It didn't take long for his adamant pleas for Rose to come with him for her to finally say goodbye to the frail old lady.
"Where the fuck are we?" Rafael hissed, lowering his voice. The last thing he had remembered of the night before was being at some higher up nightclub in Fortsworth and drinking till he felt like puking. How pleasant.
"Fuck if I know," she trails off, lifting her left hand up to study it. Rafael rolled his eyes, almost angry at his sister for acting so nonchalant about this whole thing.
"Okay, well the last thing I remember is being downtown, so how the hell did we end up in this fuckin' hippie camp? What the hell is this place anyways? And who's that woman?" He felt nothing but utter confusion. How could Rose be so calm?
"Listen, just calm down and enjoy this place. I mean, look around kid! This place is fuckin' decked out!" She flashed one of her signature smiles before wandering off.
"Thanks for answering my questions!" He shouts after her, before sighing.
What the fuck am I supposed to do?
It had only been an hour since then, and he wasn't gonna lie - she was right. It was pretty decked out.
Various hues of purples and pinks swirled around in the sky, illuminating everything around him in a rather ethereal light. Everything was tinted and sponged with the colors of the sky. This gave the whole place an even more magical feel to it. The trees around them were willows, bright green and extremely lively. There were trails upon trails, all made of different colored rocks and stones. He found himself walking down a few before he found where most of the people were.
