Holy Darkness: Chapter 2 – Sacrilegious Body

“The one true apostle of God had many followers who were close to him and they ruled beside him with many wives. When it seemed like he was going to die, they made plans so that his teachings would last forever. They wanted to do this by having a way to communicate to their followers even in death. To ensure that he and his followers would have a connection to their descendants, they instructed their followers to eat their bodies since the physical body is connected to the spiritual body so eating their bodies after death would give them a taste of Heaven, so to speak, and keep the teachers and learners connected on a spiritual level. In addition, thanks to the prosperity that the apostle had brought, they have been able to graft the elders to the young so that the elders can continue living through them.” – according to the Sacred Scriptures of Truth and Light

Chapter 2 – Sacrilegious Body

Matteo wakes up feeling more refreshed than he expected and has the feeling that the previous day was a dream until he looks at his cape and the pain of the thorns starts again.

“Good morning,” he says to God before going through his morning prayers. “What am I going to eat? How am I going to eat like this?”

“You will not be needing food or water. I will sustain you,” God says.

Matteo then remembers that he didn’t eat any dinner yesterday and he feels as filled as he did despite usually being hungry around now.

“Okay, so has anything changed since I fell asleep?”

“Much has happened when you were sleeping. There were some in the city who have converted and left it, but at the same time, the people in the city have become worse. At the hole where the cathedral of the traitorous apostle was, the city has sacrificed the thousands of women who had the role of birthing infants that be a daily sacrifice and have thrown many infants into the hole, which is the reason why the lights are still on.”

“Is that still happening now? It can’t be as effective for them because they don’t have their idol to sacrifice to.”

“The large hands from under the hole has grabbed many to stop them and black thorns decorated with black roses surrounds the hole and is taking root in the city. Because you were seen with similar black thorns, the people of the city have given you the nickname, ‘The Black Rose’.”

“The Black Rose, huh? That’s not a bad nickname.”

“It isn’t. Don’t let your pride in it get to you.”

“I’m sorry. So, what should we do?”

“As far as the sacrificing goes, I have stopped it, but there is another travesty that is going on. The people are consuming the dead and the leaders of the false church are attaching the bodies of their followers to extend their lives.”

“How are we going to stop them? Are we going to just touch them and make them fall into pieces?”

“No. First, we will separate the bodies of the followers and previous leaders from the current leaders. Then, with the smell of your black roses, the people will vomit the remains of their loved ones that they have consumed.”

“I’m not sure what sounds more disgusting them vomiting out the remains of people or them eating them.”

“They think that eating the remains of a family member they thought went to Heaven allows them to hear the voices of that person, but they are actually hearing the voices of demons that impersonate those people.”

“What happens to the remains of a person that they don’t think is in Heaven?”

“Those remains are burned away. It’s why they don’t have any graveyards in their city. Instead of funerals, the people in the city have feasts to celebrate a person’s death and their ‘ascent’ into Heaven with the body of the deceased being cooked and made into a consumable dish that tastes delicious to them.”

“Uck. I don’t even want to have the thought of it in my head anymore. Lead the way, my Lord.”

Matteo sinks into the shadows and makes his way into the city. Since the lights in the city are dimmer, there are more shadows for Matteo to go between. At one of the funeral feasts, Matteo sees dozens of bodies being taken into the kitchen.

“We’re going to have a feast unlike any other,” one of the chefs says.

“I understand why you had to take your life. What happened is beyond believable and I hope that you will intercede for us in Heaven,” a family member says to one of the bodies.

Going into the dining hall, Matteo finds people gathered around candles and lamenting the loss of their businesses and loved ones. At the front of the hall is a large priestly man with twenty bodies grafted on his body by some kind of invisible force. These twenty bodies are clothed in golden and crimson robes and appear to be alive and talking without any noise coming out of their mouths. The man that the bodies are attached to stands up and the crowd silences themselves. Matteo travels through the shadows in the room to get to him while they are distracted.

“We are gathered here today on this somber occasion over the loss of so many people including the loss of the one true apostle. Some depending on the energy he gave us to go about our daily business while others quite literally depended on him because his energy fueled their life support system in the hospitals. The Black Rose who pretended to be God will be caught and executed for his blasphemy and evil actions,” the priestly man says.

Matteo nears the man and his shadows begin to infiltrate his body as God begins to subtly remove the bodies from him.

The priestly man continues, “The voices of my past teachers, their followers, and their teachers have told me not to worry because a bright future lies ahead of us. Let us eat the remains of those in Heaven to connect ourselves to them and gain their wisdom.”

Before he can give a toast, the bodies fall off the priestly man to everyone’s shock. The man then appears as if he were lobotomized as all his knowledge leaves his head. The bodies that were attached to the man disappear into dust as black roses and thorns begin to grow on the ground. Seeing this makes everyone run out of the hall in terror while screaming Matteo’s nickname. As the black roses grow, they take the bodies of the dead and bury them in the ground as they take root into the ground and travel underneath the city as they seek more dead to bury. Matteo travels through the City of Light and does the same as many more black roses grow and spread.

The lights dim in the city as the day goes on, and sections of it are abandoned such as the ones that float on the sea and the others that sit at the frozen top and bottom of the world. It isn’t until Matteo reaches the part of the city that’s built on the sea does he stop to take a break. God lets him admire the sea and the sea creatures swimming around it as Matteo has deserved this sight as part of his reward for his service.

“What do you think?” God asks.

“It’s beautiful. I’ve heard stories about the sea and the creatures living in it, but I wasn’t sure it was true. The biggest body of water I’ve seen are small lakes so seeing this much with so much life in it is…astounding,” Matteo says.

“You could live here if you wanted.”

“I could? How can I? This part of the city is deserted and the lights that were keeping the wildlife away are off so nothing is stopping them from bumping into them and destroying the supports that keep the city on the water.”

“I will bless the part of the city that you will choose to live in and that will be inherited by your family to rule over.”

“My family? Rulers? That’s hard to believe since we’re hardly anything in our own home. We just clean and help others around the town, but if you say that they’ll be, then I believe you. What’s next on our list? There can’t be much else we can do to the city.”

“There isn’t much else that the black roses can’t take care of, however, the Exclusion Zone is our next place of interest.”

“Why’s that? Has something happened to my home?”

“Though there are more people faithful to Me there than in this city, there are still some that are no different than the people who inhabit the city and must be separated from the faithful so they do not become corrupted.”

“I get it. Let’s get going then.”

Matteo heads back to his home lead by God as the once great City of Light dims until all the lights are off and the black roses and thorns that were planted by his presence start growing to massive levels to choke and bury parts of the city underground.