In_Darkness_Dwells
Date: 3/11/2024,
Categories:
Fiction
Horror,
Non-Erotic,
Author: Sage_of_the_Forlorn_Path
... herd of the swine!” the priest roared, forced to his knees by the overpowering wind. “Fear God, by whose command the earth was made firm upon the waters; who made the heaven, who weighted the mountains in a balance and the valleys on a pair of scales, who placed the sand as a boundary to the sea and a safe path in the raging waters; who makes the mountains smoke at his touch; who clothes himself with light as a garment; who covers over his lofty dwellings with waters; who laid the foundations of the earth so secure that it should never be shaken from them; who lifts up the water and the sea and returns it as rain upon the face of all the earth!”
The priest then watched in horror as the man began to rise in the air, still tied to his cross. He was hanging vertically, upside-down, defying both gravity and God. Then, with one final howl, the man, at last, ripped his hands and feet free from the cross and dropped down onto the floor. He kneeled before the effigy of Christ as if in reverence, but beneath his flesh, his muscles were twisting and changing shape.
He slowly stood up, with all his bones and joints loudly cracking. The men and women behind the priest were either rendered silent by terror or weeping like children. The man was no longer screaming. Instead, he turned and began to approach on unbalanced steps while lightning continued to flash outside, casting his shadow upon the attendants.
“Come out and depart from him who is now preparing for holy illumination!” ...
... the priest shouted, pushed by fear for his own life. His words no longer evoked any kind of reaction from the man, not even slowing his steps. Still, he prayed, as it was all he could do. His legs lacked the strength to carry him away. “I adjure you by the saving Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and his sacred Body and Blood and his awesome return; for he shall come without delay to judge all the earth, and shall assign you, and all the powers working with you, to the fire of hell, having deliver you to the outer darkness, where the worm constantly devours, and the fire is never extinguished!”
The man grabbed the priest’s head, glaring at him with bloodshot eyes and gnashing teeth. Faced with such horror, the priest continued to pray, but his words were hollow, as all faith and courage had left him. “For the power belongs to Christ our God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever unto the ages of ages. Am—”
He was dead before he could finish the prayer.
----------
Samuel Wilks woke with a start, looking around for invisible enemies. What he thought had been a shell going off was simply the train coming to a stop. “Attention, everyone!” a train worker announced in German. “Some debris has fallen onto the tracks ahead. We’ll have to wait for the obstruction to be cleared, but it shouldn’t take long.”
It was the middle of the afternoon, but the sun was quick to set here in the Carpathian Mountains. The region had been buffeted by storms lately, ...