River of the Damned

River of the Damned

         The wind caressed me gently as I walked into the small village square, tousling my long, silver bangs in the air, and giving light to my deep, emerald green eyes.  I ran my fingertips, which were traced with black on the nails, over the seam of my tight, black skater jeans.  The red shirt I wore was decorated with a pentagram lined by a double sealed circle.  There was ancient Latin text inscribed into the center of the pentagram, giving it a mysterious appeal.  Over that I donned a black jacket with Avenged Sevenfold embroidered across the back, and the devil bat on the front.  I saw children running across the fields, frolicking and chasing each other, so carefree and seemingly innocent.  If only that were true, yet long ago I came to see that no one was truly innocent, or maybe I was born knowing that fact, I myself am not sure. 

         I went to one of the local stalls, picked up a crisp, ruby red apple, bit into its hard, yet delicate flesh, and savored the sweet, juicy crunch as I chewed fervently.  I threw a gold coin onto the stall and the young girl, a be-freckled, pale skinned brunette, snatched it up with glee.  “Thank you, mister!” she said sweetly.  I nodded in response as I walked away.  I looked down at the apple disdainfully and threw it onto the ground, the one bite all that had been taken from it.  It hit the ground, with a sickening splat, withered and gray, rotting from the missing flesh out.

         A young man, whom introduced himself as Altair, came up to me and asked if I was new to this area.  I replied with a simple “Yes,” and went on about my way.  “This is a very lovely village, full of nice people!” he shouted after me.  I’ll believe it when I witness it with my own eyes I thought aloud.  I walked along the shores of the river, skipping stones across the water’s surface, watching the ripples spread throughout the surface of the water.

         I took in the ripples, absorbed them into my mind, became one with them, and lost myself within the ripples of now, the ripples of creation, the ripples of the end.  I could feel myself losing conscious as time faded away, as self faded away, as existence faded away into nothingness.  I was at once at the beginning, in the past, in the future, in the end, before time began, and after time is over, and yet there on the lakeshore at the same time.  And then there was a hand on my shoulder, snatching me back into the here-and-now, sending vibrations throughout my mind as it quickly adjusted back to the time at hand.

         “Who the…?” I asked as I turned to see the owner of the hand.  The young girl, to whom I had given the gold coin, was standing there.  But now I took her in, absorbed every detail.  The awkwardness of adolescence giving away to womanhood as her body had began to fill itself out, the height that I could not see from behind the counter of the stall, and the gleam of promise reflected in her azure blue eyes.  “I’m sorry that I startled you.” she said as she slowly removed her hand, “it’s beautiful though, isn’t it?”  I looked out over the surface of the water, taking in its grandeur, and then looked back at the girl, who’s beauty made the river’s pale in comparison, and simply responded “Exquisite.”  “By the way, my name is Serenity.” she said softly as she looked into my eyes.  “My name is Avarus.” I said softly as I returned the gaze.

         I walked the girl back to the stall, and we chatted along the way, small talk mostly, about the happenings going on in our world, the state of the Earth, and what our viewpoints were on how we should turn things around.  I found her quite knowledgeable for a woman of her young age.  I interjected some of my ideas amongst hers, some ideals we agreed on, while others we seemed to share completely opposite views.  By the time we reached the stall we had talked nearly fifteen to twenty minutes.  “Thank you for the conversation, no one else wants to listen to my idle prattle.” she said as we arrived to the stall’s edge.  “I would hardly call your opinions idle prattle.” I said laughingly as I touched the small of her back, exposed by a tear in her age-worn dress. “Thank you.” she said as she placed a lingering kiss on my cheek and then walked away.  Human wonders never cease, I thought to myself as I felt a small beat emanate from the dead heart in my chest.

         A Week Later…

         I saw the man, Altair, walking my way slowly, but with purpose.  “So, I hear you have been spending a considerable amount of time with Miss Serenity this past week.” he said curtly.  “And what of it?” I asked virulently, with equal curtness.  “I think you should decease these visits as of now.” he seethed through his clenched teeth.  “Altair right?  Do you see that sword over there, hanging on that man’s waist?  You would like it, wouldn’t you?  Go get it and come back here and show it to me.” I said as my eyes began to give off a faint greenish glow.

         I sat back and laughed to myself as Altair walked up to the man with the sword and grabbed him by his collar, snatching up the shirt and light armor, and lifting him slightly off of the ground.  The man looked down at Altair, laughed a gruff, shallow laugh, and unsheathed the sword that I had sent Altair after in the first place.  “Give me the damn sword, Seth!” Altair shouted as he grappled with the other man for the sword.  The bigger man, Seth, backhanded Altair, sending him sprawling across the ground; throwing up grass and debris in his whirling, spinning frenzy.  While he was rolling Altair kicked up, knocking the sword out of Seth’s hand, sending the sword spinning to where it stabbed into the ground a few feet away, sinking in with a soft shluck.  I laughed louder and louder as the two fought each other, now sending blood spattering to the ground in long, crimson tendrils as they began to punch each other in the face over and over as they scrambled for the sparkling silver blade.

         Altair leg swept Seth, sending the larger man crashing to the ground with a large thud.  Seth reached up and grabbed Altair by the ankle, and then, as he began to stand up, still holding onto Altair, he swung him around and let go, sending him into a nearby wall.  Altair got up with a groan, holding his hand over the right side of his face as brilliant crimson gushed out of a shallow gash above his right eye.  Seth ran, grabbing the sword, and yanked it up out of the ground, sending bits of rock and sparse tendrils of dirt up into the air.  Altair rushed at Seth, whipping a small dagger out of his belt, and slashing at the air as he came closer within range of Seth.  Seth clipped Altair though, snipping bits of hair, and Altair parried, catching Seth’s blade with the dagger’s tip.  A shower of sparks sprayed off of the two blades as they grated against each other with a loud wail.  Altair stepped in with all his weight, slightly off setting Seth’s blade.  The sword’s blade slid off of the dagger’s blade, giving Altair the brief second to counter slice, cutting a gash into Seth’s forearm.  Seth reeled back quickly, slicing into Altair’s back-sending blood splattering to the ground in savage red puddles.  “Okay, let’s try that again.” Altair said smugly as he flipped the dagger over in his hand and pulled another, twin dagger from the other side of his belt.

         “Come on, little pup-take the bitch’s tit out of your mouth and fight!” Seth yelled as he rushed at Altair with his sword held high.  “Bring it on then, you ole’ cur!” Altair yelled in response as he rushed at Seth, his daggers glinting in the sun’s radiance.  He flipped one of the daggers diagonally, sending a reflected shaft of sunlight into Seth’s un-expecting eyes, momentarily blinding Seth.  This brief diversion gave Altair the few extra seconds needed to plunge the dagger into the flesh up underneath Seth’s ribcage.  The blood gushed out of the puncture, and a mixture of blood and wheezing air erupted from Seth’s mouth as his right lung collapsed as the dagger buried further into his body.  Seth brought his sword down on Altair’s shoulder, separating the shoulder at the base of the neck and sending a shower of glittering, sparkling, crimson blood spraying out into the air and all over Seth’s rugged face.

         The duo fell to the ground simultaneously in a gory splatter of blood and carnage, their blood welling up into a thick pool of crimson that stained the serene emerald grass a brilliant scarlet red.  I threw my head back as an inhuman cackle erupted from my throat at the sight of the carnage.  I watched as people walked by, and eventually a person had enough audacity to pick up Seth’s sword, wipe it off, and strap it to their belt.  I continued to watch and another walked by, took one of Altair’s daggers, wiped it off, and sheathed it within their belt.  Yet another passed by, repeating the process.  I laughed at the pathetic level of disregard that these infidels held for the dead.

         Yet another person walking by saw Seth’s satchel that had fallen off when the scuffle began, and began to search through it, pillaging as they pleased from the property of the freshly dead man.  The plague had began to spread, it’s tendrils of influence spreading slowly, slowly-creeping into the hearts of men, turning their souls black with evil as they gave in to their true human natures.  The hysteria, the brutality, the destruction began slowly at first, but then began to pick up speed dramatically.

         Within two days, the looting, the slaughtering of neighbors by neighbors, the raping of ones that were pure by others that were pure, corruption sunk into the very bones of the village, crippling it’s society, crumbling the fabric of the reality that these people had constructed for them selves over lifetimes upon lifetimes.  Men’s souls became dark, disgusting, contorted things, turning in on themselves and screaming out in anguish within their host’s bodies, screaming for more, more, more, but there was never enough.  More, always more-there was never enough.

         Never enough of anything, never enough food-people ate and ate, until their stomachs were stretched to the point that the skin ripped itself open, spilling the organs out to the ground.  But even then, they would continue to eat, and when there was no more food they would begin to eat each other, and then parts of themselves.  For others, blood was what they sought, killing strangers and then their neighbors, then moving on to their families before beginning to carve up their own bodies as the lust for blood, the greed for more drove them further and further.

         And others still, sought sex; first with ones they already knew, then with complete strangers that were willing, and then forcing themselves onto whoever they wished, raping all indiscriminately, weather they be stranger, friend, family, no matter-there was never enough, no matter what they did; but there had to be more-there just had to be more somewhere. 

         So when the river had began to have a reddish hue, I was not overly surprised, in fact, if I was anything, it was elated.  I threw my head back violently, in spastic upheavals, as surges of laughter inundated throughout my body, shaking me down to my black core with elated amusement at these pathetic creatures that claimed to dominate the entire world, yet could not dominate something as simple as their own wants.  Their greed strangled them in it’s tight, choking leash, and then rode them like the dogs they had become, driving them far past the brink of insanity, showing them all the darkness within them that had been there all their lives, but had never come to light.

         In the town square was were it seemed they came to die.  Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was where a church had once stood and was their last attempt at redemption before their twisted, wretched souls departed from this world.  Either way that is where they came when they were about to die, piling one on top of the other, their blood seeping out and flowing into the river, more and more everyday, turning the serene waters to a blasphemous crimson red.

         Once everyone in the village had piled up, one on top of the other, hand in hand on their march to hell, I began the trek back to the river’s shoreline.  As I neared, I saw a solitary figure staring out over the river of blood, glowing in the light of the setting sun.  As I neared, I could see that it was the young woman I had met, Serenity was her name, I believe.  I walked up very carefully, step by step, making no sound as I walked on dead footsteps.

         “Avarus, fancy to see you here…” she said softly, “Avarus-Greed, you did all of this to my village, didn’t you?  To prove a point to us inferior, pathetic mortals?”  “I did indeed.” I said, not masking a bit of the elation in my voice.  She looked at me sorrowfully, her face marred by the worn trail of tears.  “I understand that whatever someone wants, or wants another person to do happens once your venom is released, am I correct?” she asked as she hung her head low.  “Yes, that is correct, so what is it that you desire, my dear?” I asked as she began to walk towards me. 

         She took my hand and placed it on her breast, so that I could feel her heart beating through it, surging it’s rhythmic pulse into my hand, traveling through my body until it reached my dead heart, and echoed back from my heart to hers.  “I want you to feel the way it feels to be human.  The pain, the joy, the sorrow, the happiness; I want you to have my heart.” she said with finality.  I tried to pull my hand away, but she had already evoked the magic that bound me, and now I had to obey.  Her greed was that I would feel humanity through her human heart.  So, unwillfully, my hand sunk into the flesh of her breast and went through the fat, through the glands, through the bones, and seized her heart.  It pulsed gently, warmly, and filled me with a sense of belonging.  I took it out, and placing it in my own chest, began to feel her sorrow and remorse for the people that died, her hate for the greed that had controlled them like animals, but strongest was her love for me despite knowing what I had done. 

         I waded out slowly into the river, let it take me in, and waited as I softly rolled under into the darkness of eternity-being human was too much, too lamenting to hold me to this world.  And with my last breath I breathed, I said the only thing that I could muster, “Serenity, thank you…”

Fin