An Unholy Procession

United and Broken Again

After a tragic accident that physically tore the Marsh family apart, they’ve reunited with each other only to be broken apart again. Nothing is looking up right now.

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It looks grim for our party.

Life often does.

An Unholy Procession

Lily Marsh led the procession deeper into the cavern towards the temple of Erets. Apkallu was waiting for her and she shivered with anticipation.

The other women in white had talked about Apkallu. His strength was legendary. It was a power he promised to share with all his faithful.

Lily ran her fingers through her freshly shaken out hair. She had kept her wavy long hair bound up so tightly beneath that shawl. It felt oppressive. Now with it off her head it was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Finally free! She hadn’t even seen Apkallu yet. What a day this would be! Lily couldn’t contain her smile. She held her head high.

Cole followed directly behind her. It was good to see his mom; not only see her, but to see her happy. Dad had been such a let down. He still loved him but too little, too late was an accurate description of what his dad invested in them. Why couldn’t dad have made mom this happy?

“Where was dad?” Cole thought to himself. He craned his neck around as he continued to follow Lily. He saw a bright green Tannite directly behind him. Bright like fresh, brand new. This must have been Jeddy. Where was dad? Not there when he needed him. Figures.

Cole saw the women in white walking in two pairs of two behind him. They had braided strands of gold into their hair and his heart raced when he locked eyes with them. One of the brunette’s held his gaze. She lowered her head while connecting sight with him. The attention was incredible. He wanted more of it. As they took soft steps deeper into the caverns, he drank deep from her eyes. She slowly batted her lashes as they walked. Neither of them said anything but he was not ready for what was being communicated between them. Cole felt trapped but didn’t want to be free of her.

He tripped on the uneven surface of the cavern floor and fell into a puddle. It shimmered green as he picked himself up out of it. The brunette had turned to watch him but she kept pace with her three sisters. Cole brushed himself off and as he looked down, Zeke was beneath the waters surface looking back at him, with wide eyes and shaking his head.

Cole he searched out the eyes of the woman from where he’d fallen. She hadn’t slowed for him. As he readied to rejoin the procession and find the that captivating gaze again, he heard the sound of water behind him and shook his own head.

The sound of splashing echoed further back in the opposite direction of the women. What Cole saw pulled at him more than the desirous gaze of the beautiful brunette. He stopped.

Jeremiah convulsed on the floor and arched his back. His fingers were clenched and clawed at the air. Water splashed from the puddles as Jeremiah rolled through them in his seizures. Kneeling on the ground, he barked out a sound his vocal cords had never formed. The vertebrae on his spine protruded and sharpened more with each spasm. As he barked, needle teeth grew from his mouth.

Cole ran back and stood next to this monster of a man who used to be his father. Cole could see his reflection in the black convex eyes that bulged from his dad’s head. In a wet cough that gurgled from the creatures throat, Cole barely made out the words, “…love… son…”

The Tannite stood up in front of the boy. It looked him up and down then tilted its head. The spindly arms and lanky clawed fins it had for hands reached out and grabbed Cole by the shoulders as the boy kicked his feet and fought against the creature’s unrelenting grasp.

Several other Tannites emerged from the shadows along the wall and joined in the two by two formations of the unholy procession into cavern.

As they walked, they began to sing. The solid note that Cole had heard every Tannite hold in unison on the surface of Tannigath was now echoing in the monolithic rock’s depths. The green light shimmered across the surface of the cavern again, in the same way he had seen it shimmer across Zeke’s puddle prison. The yellow and pink orbs of light pulsed with the harmonious humming of the women in white at the head of the procession as they joined the dark chorus.

Cole was carried up the center between the pairs of Tannites until they were once again behind the women. Gold woven into braids of their hair. White shifts. A blonde and three brunettes, one of which turned hungry eyes back to the boy. A slight smile. Lily led the group to the end of the earthen cavern. Waterfalls flowed from the side of the walls into a large pool before them. The humming continued. The Tannites sang. The water began to churn and ripple with purple light. As the water from the pool was stirred, it splashed up and out onto the ground. As Cole watched with wide eyes the display before him, he noticed shapes and lines in the rock glowing with purple light that pulsed with the pink and yellow orbs hanging in the air.

Lily knelt down to the water and pressed her face against the cavern floor. She reached out to one of the glowing runes and traced it with her finger. It was damp. With her new freedom, she dried the rune with her hair.

The Tannites stopped singing. The women stopped humming. Cole stopped squirming against the grip of his once-father.

The shimmering green light across the cavern darkened into purple. The pink and yellow orbs dimmed to red. The earth shook. The waterfalls ceased to flow. The pool emptied as the cavern wall separated and broke into pieces. From the crumbling walls, pillars emerged as if the rubble was being chiseled away and these vertical monoliths had been there all along. The falling rock fell into place to form a cyclopean courtyard before the party. Between the pillars, beyond the sentinel guardians, the cavern opened up. Cole’s mouth hung open and his eyes grew wide as he took in the streaking dance of deep red and violet rainbows from within the entrance.

“Apkallu!” whispered Lily.

“Erets,” whispered the blonde in white as she walked past Lily to take the lead of the group.

With that proclamation of arrival at their deep lord’s temple, the procession entered into the gaping maw.

Grim Tidings

What awaits the Marsh family, the women in white, and Tannites in the temple? We’ll soon see.

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Ready to read the next chapter? Tap here to read An Offering For A Dark Host.

Talk to y’all in two weeks.

~ J.P. Simons