Liberty

Freedom will finally wring the neck of this horrifying commie hell-pit. I have done the unthinkable, and single-handedly taken down the entire army of Ur, and am beginning to storm the heathen temple. I have brought honor to my family, to my people. My name shall be remembered in the annals of history.

Two scrawny guards at the door, shouldn’t take much to take them out; they are only wielding ornate ceremonial daggers, not exactly the type of weapon designed for warfare.

What’s this? They thrust the daggers deep inside their own abdomen and place their hands inside of their fresh wounds. Throughout my journey I have seen a great many things but this is definitely something new. Is this their way of surrender? I have heard the phrase death or glory, but it is only now that I have seen it put into practice.

For several minutes I stare as most of their intestines either drop on the floor or entangle betwixt their hands and shoulders. I'm mortified by the grim visage. I am not squeamish, the actual act of the self-disembowelment doesn’t bother me, neither does the sight of all that blood, after all I have bathed in the blood of thousands of my enemies. It was the smiles, the glee in which they carried out their ghastly deed and the near orgasmic sounds that escaped their lips as if they were in the throes of the most wondrous ecstasy.

I run past them and enter the temple where I'm greeted to a similar sight only on a much grander scale. Every civilian of the town was mutilating themselves in one way or another and reacting in the same monstrous merriment. All but the high priest who is screaming out the most strange, incredulous incantation. I run as fast as I can and reach him just as he raises his dagger high into the air.

Before he joins his followers, I instinctively slam my mighty club into his deathly implement, pinning him to the stone floor. He glares into my eyes, relaying his shock and awe. I scream at him, “What is happening!? Why are all these people doing such vile things!?” He looks at me and smiles, the corners of his mouth look as jagged as a spearhead. He speaks one word which I don’t fully understand.

“Transcendence.”