“The Gods above and below are mirrors of each other. Monks and ascetics ascend to enlightenment to reach a realm far holier and divine above our plane. Essentially, they remove the things that burden them, of which includes sin. The Gods below however, are those that chose to descend and go deeper to taint themselves. They fall into a deep endless darkness that has no bottom. Both sides are the same, an infinity of progression or regression.”

  -Sisterhood of blood and sacrifice

  Lodur

  Lodur and Rob found a doorway after knocking a shelf filled with pearls and pearl accessories to the ground. They could hear screeching and squelching sounds a few paces away, so they went inside the creepy dark brick doorway to avoid whatever chaos was behind them. He felt drawn to the ominous doorway, as if something was calling him closer.

  Lodur closed the thick door. The large monstrosity rammed itself making a loud thud as it repeatedly did so from behind the reinforced wood. He scratches his wounds.

  Rob tried to light a match, but it was too wet so it just snapped in half. He tried lighting one again, and again, and again. All were soaking wet from sweat. This made his friend stomp in anger.

  “God dammit it’s so dark in here! God dammit, this God damn place is getting God damn weirder every God damn minute we spend here. God damn!” Rob cursed in anger.

  Beelza

  Several continuous thunder strikes raged outside. The lightning webbed out and fried any airborne fly beasts. She was currently carrying knives to start a really blasphemous ritual when all of a sudden the sky was filled with a raging thunder storm. Fortunately her iron mortar and pestle floated beside her and acted as a lightning rod.

  “What the fuck was that?!” Knives and Beelza both exclaimed.

  Lodur

  “Hey dude calm down, it’s alright. I’m here with you, so it’s probably not all bad.” Lodur said to his friend. “And besides, down here we’re probably safe from harm. I don’t see any of the undead here anyway.”

  “Haaah, I suppose you’re right. It’s just that I’m not a big fan of darkness and all that. Death and witchcraft I can tolerate, but darkness is just horrible. Reminds me of my siblings honestly.” Rob tried to pat down any other spare matches he had.

  “You have siblings?”

  “Yup, I got my eldest sister, Pilfer, my eldest brother, Steal, my second sister, Plunder, my second brother, Burgle, then there’s me, my younger brother, Pluck, and the youngest, Michelle.”

  Lodur refused to say anything. He was biting his lips and summoning every ounce of willpower he could muster. If he says something, he had no doubts that Rob would probably stab him in the kidneys. Lodur might not have experience with a family, being an orphan and all, but even he knew that this was probably child abuse. He scratches his wounds.

  “Aha!” Rob lit the match and Lodur turned some dust into a runner bird, a species of birds with very, very flammable feathers. They are pretty small, so he could hold it like a torch. He held one up and Rob lit it like a flesh torch.

  Everything he touched became a corpse, but he could determine what a ‘thing’ was. He could, for example, touch a cup of sand and turn them into a single corpse or a hundred tiny dead things. He could modify the characteristics of whatever thing he wanted to make, like twisting a horse into an unnatural shape. And so long as what he was touching was dead, it really didn’t do anything to it. Strangely he still couldn’t touch leather safely without making it into another fetus, so it might need some lingering ‘death’ to it.

  He tried touching the abomination earlier, but it seemed to do nothing. So he had no other option but to run away. Honestly, he was pretty useless dealing with the living dead, on account of them being dead.

  They went deeper into the winding path of black brick and darkness. He saw a few torches on the wall and lit it up. It gave off a sickly green light that seemed to twist the darkness around them instead of making any real light.

  “Strange...” Rob said, which was true. The walls felt like they shifted ever so slightly when they weren’t looking.

  “Ah!” Rob slipped from the spiraling staircase and tipped towards the empty center. Lodur quickly grabbed him by locking with his elbows. Unfortunately, years of malnutrition have made Lodur weak and feeble.

  “Rob....I don’t think I can hold on much longer AH!” Lodur also slipped on a nearby step and grabbed the nearest brick his rat covered hands could hold onto. The brick, now holding the weight of two teen boys, was starting to come loose. A mix of structural degradation and force rattled the brick, before making it pop out of it’s place.

  “AAAAAHHH!!” They were both now in a freefall.

  Thinking quickly, Lodur took out his glove and made the brick into the fattest and softest thing he could think of, a pig. This time though he made it so that it would be the biggest pig he could think of, but with more fat than it could ever feasibly achieve in it’s life.

  The brick expanded below them to a cushion of flesh and flab. They fell and hit the soft ground with a slap instead of a splat. Both of them fell into the soft pit relatively unharmed.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Gods that was awful, I thought I almost died.” Lodur said.

  “Thanks man, I’d be a stain on the ground if it weren’t for you.” Rob groaned as he stood up, stepping on wet ground. They felt air shift around them, which might mean that there was an opening towards the surface somewhere here. There was water, so it must’ve come from somewhere.

  “Don’t mention it. C’mon let’s find out what’s around here. I can feel a strange force pulling me, like a string that tugs my chest in a certain direction.” Lodur could feel the pull getting stronger down here. It like something was calling him closer. Rob lit another torch and followed him, hoping they might find some safe exit here.

  For a moment Lodur felt no fear or apprehension in the still darkness of the path before him. In fact the darkness that should have made any man dread for their lives made it comforting. The primal fear wrapped him in cold love, instead of the apathy brought by an unknowable entity. He felt safe in the darkness, in a place devoid of any warmth and light. He felt he belonged here.

  He steps forward. Left, right, left, right, till it becomes second nature to him to traverse the infinite abyss. They move forward, Rob needing to hold his shoulder, but Lodur needed no assistance. Left, right, left, right, and he feels free.

  “Hey wait up” Rob calls, so Lodur slows down, but doesn’t stop. He obeys the rhythm of his feet and the pull on his chest. Something in the darkness calls to him.

  At the end of the path he saw a large opening, it was big, so big that even the light from the torch did nothing to illuminate the inky blackness beyond it. Beyond the safety of the light was a dark space that seemed to go on forever.

  This unnerved Rob. He witnessed the spacious dark that held no walls or ceilings, only black brick that seemed to continue on and on. It’s like the world ended here and Rob did not like it.

  “Maybe we should go back Lod- Hey Lodur!”

  Lodur walked forward without fear. Rob was scared, but he didn’t have to be. So Lodur grabs his hand and guides him deeper in the darkness. The light of their torch was getting drowned out, more and more until a vague outline of a skeleton appeared. He scratches his wounds.

  As they reached closer, they began to see the shimmer of gold in the lightless void. It was gilded with gold and encrusted with gems. It stood robed in yellow and remained visible despite the lack of light. It opened it’s maw in hunger, as if it used to hold something within it’s jaws. It was propped above a pit and a single pathway with no support led towards the ominous figure.

  “A shrine....I can feel it Rob, this is a shrine for a God.” Lodur felt it in his soul that whatever this God was, it called to him. He was led to this very place by it’s strange machinations. This was fate, but one that was influenced by something that surpassed anything conceivable by the mortal mind.

  Rob was shivering. He could feel the chill of the underworld call to him. He knew that he shouldn’t be here. That he should run far far away from this place.

  They both heard squelching from the pit. They looked down and saw maggots. Maggots and the dead writhing at the bottom. The maggots ate and ate until they grew fat enough to be the size of a dog. Then it burst into more of it’s brothers and sisters, coaxing them to repeat another cycle. A disgusting display of cannibalism, as death bred more life, then more death, then more life. A pit of grueling fecundity and excrement.

  “Bhleeergh!”

  Rob hurled his lunch down the pit. He has never seen anything more disgusting than this before, and he’s seen a lot of stuff. He took a step back from the pit to catch his breath.

  “Rob, It calls for me.”

  “Hey wait, stop! Lodur it’s dangerous. That’s a shrine of some unknown God, who knows what could happen.” Rob’s voice was tinged with worry. He grabbed Lodur’s hand.

  “I’m sorry Rob, I think I was meant to be here.” Lodur shook it off and gave a smile to his friend. Lodur turned his back and took a step on the pathway. A stone path that meant certain death if he fell.

  Lodur wasn’t scared, as it was easy to reach the idol of gilded bone. He merely had to have complete faith that he would reach it, and if he learned anything in his time living in a church’s belltower, it’s that faith can come from anywhere. And now he had faith that he would not fall, not get eaten, not get harmed.

  He never used to truly believe in the God he worshiped back in the church. The God’s name was Cethis, the God of fire and judgement. He remembered all the prayers and rituals the priest used to make, and he even participated in the activity. But he felt no hearth that warmed him in the temple. He felt no family there. He felt no allegiance to the divine symbol they all wore.

  Before all this, he wanted to be a priest because he didn’t want to feel so empty. So devoid of purpose, merely being a boy who rung the bell when the village had it’s mass. He wanted a God to fill the hole inside him.

  But this one was different. This wasn’t Cethis, not one that filled no gap inside him, but a being that understood him. One that pulled all the strings to lead him here. This was his God and it was time for him to truly pray.

  Then it spoke to him. He heard color and saw voices, if that makes any sense, of the divine that came from below. He heard it, a name of the one he should worship. And a purpose driven into his mind like a nail to wood. He heard trumpets and bells that heralded a message from his God.

  Angels are coming, and they wanted to meet the new child of Nughul.

  The pit of maggots rumbled. Each one cannibalizing and multiplying, as wave after wave of larvae burst out of one another. They burst out of the pit and flooded the room. What bathed the brick in dark ichor now painted it over with a fleshy mass.

  “Lodur!” Rob reached to his friend, but a wave of worms formed a circular net that shaved his flesh. “Tch” Rob saw the maggots reach his area and he remembered something he forgot tucked away in his skirt. He smashed one of the several flying ointments Beelza made and spread it unto himself. He levitated away from the net and tried to evade from the creeping mass below him.

  Rob waved his torch to deter any progress towards him, but it was slowly proving futile.

  Dog sized flies with human teeth emerged from the mass and started dropping eggs. Armed maggots the size of children hatched from the eggs and crawled towards Rob. A wave of gnashing teeth and thrumming wings focused on the floating prey and launched themselves. Rob braced for impact when suddenly Lodurs voice reverberated.

  “Stop! He’s my friend.”

  Rob opened his eyes and he saw Lodur unharmed by the maggot and flies. Lodur ran towards him, seemingly unbothered by the dangling net made of worms he just passed through.

  “You alright dude?” Lodur said as he smiled at Rob.

  Rob however was shivering from panic. He was probably traumatized now, he would probably have nightmares of children sized maggots and flies with teeth for a long time. He was also certain that he just peed and shat on his trousers.

  “W-w-what th-the hell a-are th-those?!” Robs face lost any color they had and turned white. Rob pointed at the crazy shit around them.

  “Oh those. It’s my God’s angels. So like my God spoke to me, his name is Nughul by the way, and told me that I was supposed to meet some angels.” Lodur smiled, feeling somehow refreshed, like he just had a nice warm bath.

  “Angels? There’s no way those monster flies are angels! Lodur that’s a demon, a DEMON!”

  Oh dear, looks like Rob has his balls in a twist.

  “Rob that’s hurtful.” Lodur picked up one of the dog flies and rubbed it’s belly. The large fly started thrashing and emitted a wheezing noise. “Look it’s laughing, ain’t it cute? Here, touch one. I promise it’s completely harmless.”

  Rob was still shivering from the experience. “Um yeah, I don’t think so.” Rob refused to touch such an affront to nature. “I honestly think all flies should be dead. I don’t wanna see or touch any of those things as long as I live.”

  Lodur pouted as he held up a maggot with a human face. “Pretty please!” Lodur genuinely wanted Rob to like his new God. The aesthetic was right up his alley. It was furry, moist, and loves touching. He wanted to keep one of these things as a pet.

  “Eeww gross, they look so icky dude!” Fear turned to disgust as the maggots and flies brushed on Rob’s feet like

  “You RACISZZT SZZCUM!”

  The two teens heard something behind them. They looked towards the gilded skeleton and saw a black figure drop down to land infront of it. It had a black and sleek figure. It had wings of brown and black and eyes as dark as night. It had antennae that waved like whips. It had mandibles as sharp as blades and six barbed legs that had hairs around it. It had a tiny crown above it and a red cape that signified it as royalty. It spread it’s wings in majesty.

  Lodur was pretty impressed. He was sure now that his God liked him without a shadow of a doubt by sending his coolest angel.

  “Behold mortalszz, for it iszz I, King Blat- Eeep.”

  “Roach!” Rob threw their only torch as he cried with tears in his eyes. He fell down to the floor as he pointed at the thing behind them.

  Well atleast no one was harmed.

  The torch caught the roach/man/angel’s cape and started to combust. It was unnaturally flammable as it only took half a second for the thing to erupt in flames.

  “Yaaah!” The roach/man/angel spread it’s wings in an attempt to throw the burning cloth away from him, but it somehow started spreading the flame to nearby flies who were also surprisingly flammable.

  Oh dangit.