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HUMILIATION'S
KING
Flash Fiction/ From FaithWriters Writing Challenge
Word Count 741
In
a black labyrinth of twisted metal and jaded rock materials a beast runs
the dimly lit corridors. Clawing at each corner and rushing into the
blackness before him, a General in the Realm of Darkness flies along, on
all fours. His body’s the size of a horse, with the likeness of a
pit-bull. Blood trickles from wounds to his neck, back, and legs where
large patches of silky black hair are missing; his big oval black eyes
burn with rage.
Reaching the end of the
corridor the blackness breaks and the beast slides to a stop. He stands
up on his hind legs and pounds on the black metal door. Hinges scream as
the large metal doors slowly open to a massive room. In the center is a
round table, 13 chairs. Everything’s black, everything but a bowl of
blood-red apples at the table’s center. A dark creature, five foot tall,
wearing a black cloak stands next to another door within the room. He
has narrow shoulders, no face, no mouth, his blank head moves around
slightly constantly making an uncanny clicking noise. “He won’t come
out, General Morlan”
“He can’t stay in there
forever.” General Morlan growls and pushes Lunakin away from the
entrance to the inner chamber. Lunakin grabs Morlan by the arm.
“This is really not a
good time, Sir. He’s just suffered the biggest defeat he has ever had to
deal with. I’ve never seen him act this way before.” Lunakin says.
General Morlan turns and looks at Lunakin, considering his words. He
walks away from the door and goes to the table, taking a seat.
“All that we have tried
so hard to accomplish has fallen.” General Morlan says, slamming his
monstrous fist into the table. “We were played, the whole time.”
“How were we to know?”
“He played us. Played
us like puppets.” General Morlan says pointing one long claw into the
air. “We never knew that we were doing exactly what He wanted us to.”
Something crashes
behind the door; a demonic howl slaps the atmosphere piercing the ears
of darkness. General Morlan jumps up and enters the room. Broken pieces
of glass litter the floor. The furniture is turned over, and black silk
sheets hang shredded from the walls. Tiny black fibers float in the air
like dust.
From the corner of the
room two red eyes glow. An image of a man slithers along the wall and
over Morlan across the ceiling to the other end of the room. Out of the
corner he steps forward, red eyes leaving long grey lines down his face,
like the running of makeup when a woman cries. His short blonde hair is
plastered to his head by sweat.
“Morlan, He used me.
He used ME!”
“Master, Lucifer, He
used us all.” Morlan says. Lucifer runs up to Morlan and puts a crooked
silver dagger to his throat. “I planned, and strategize, sacrificed,
intricately networked, and deceived thousands of people to perfectly
position Christ so that He had nowhere to run. Then I killed Him. AND
IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTED ME TO DO!” He screams in Morlan’s
face, throwing the dagger. The blade breaks off when it strikes the
wall.
“You are the Master of
the Realm of Darkness, you have to start again. Rebuild…”
“I can’t face them. I
can’t go before our great armies and look into their broken hopeless
faces and say anything. I’ve been publicly humiliated. Death, Morlan,
Death couldn’t even keep a grip on Him. Jesus broke free from him and
came here, to my lair and pounded me. He defeated me and stripped
me of the keys of Hell and the Grave and paraded through Hell releasing
His captives.” He falls to the ground looking around in paranoia. “They
know that I’ve failed. They’ve seen me stripped naked and shamed by
Him.”
Lucifer grabs a sheet
from the ground and cuddles it. He begins to cry as he looks around into
the darkness – paranoid. “I can’t see them now, I can’t, I can’t.”
Morlan walks out of the
room and slams the door shut. “Don’t let anyone in there. He’s a
babbling fool.”
“Is he coming out
soon?” Lunakin asks.
“No, he’s too
embarrassed to think straight. When he’s in his right mind notify me.”
Morlan falls on all fours and lunges out through the metal doors and
back into the blackness of hell’s labyrinth.
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