The Ritual

 (Note: 

This story neither supports any religion nor shows insult to any other. It also does not support the gruesome activities shown over here. It is only for the plot and atmosphere of the story.

 I hope it is understandable by my dear readers.

M.M.)

He didn’t know for how long he had been unconsciousness. The last thing he remembered was waiting at an empty bus-stop. It was ten o’clock in the night, and the streets were dark. There was also another guy…he had offered him some Tic-Tacs...

Upon opening his eyes, he immediately got blinded by a flashing red light. He found himself in a large, velvet-coloured, dark room. He tried to move, but immediately winced in pain. His hands were tightly tied by a nylon rope, and his legs were tied to the base of the chair where he sat.

He saw that it was a bit foggy at the centre of the room. Through it, the boy saw that there were five candles lit up and standing on the ground. They were picked up by a man – no, a woman - who was kneeling on what seemed to be a black star-shaped figure painted on the floor. She took something from a bucket nearby, and – muttering something – laid the thick liquid-like substance on the candles. Upon closer look, the boy realized what it was, and grimaced so badly that he screamed out.

It was blood!

Suddenly, the boy felt one strong hand cover his mouth. ‘Shh!’ the owner of the hand said. ‘No noise!’

The boy turned a bit and saw his face. It was behind a mask – a cat-like figure mask.

A ‘cre-e-ak’ sound was heard. It was the door to the room, which had been opened. A group of five men entered, who also had similar animal-like masks. One of them was a ram, one a goose, one a hound, one a lamb, and one had a goat-shaped mask. It had red dots for eyes, which glared in the velvet darkness…

‘Thank you, my friends.’ the high, cold voice of the goat-masked man spoke out – the boy had realized that this man was the leader of this group – ‘for helping me out tonight. As discussed earlier, we will have a new member today – the ceremony will occur shortly. Before that, allow me to introduce our soon-to-be member: Nicole Patter. Felicia, my dear, please bring the ‘New One’. In the meantime, the sacrifices have to be done: Are they both ready?

‘Y-y-es M-my Lo-rd.’ said the man standing beside the boy. ‘They-y’re rea-ready.’

The goat man nodded, went over to the figure, knelt down and began to mutter something with his hands folded. As he heard the chant, the boy realized where he was.

Wasn't it one of those satanic rituals? That would explain the strange things which had been occurring in front of his eyes…

But what was that sacrifice the goat man had been talking about?

A ‘cluck’ raised him out of his momentary reverie, and turned to see a hen being put down on the star. It was clucking about wildly, and it too was being blinded by the dense red light of the room. A man – the one with the goose mask – stepped forward, placed a small log, and tied the bird’s legs to the piece of log. The goat man sat down on the floor, and accordingly others sat down in a circular pattern.

‘Now, the first sacrifice shall begin.’ The goat said.

While all this happened, a young, fair woman had entered the room. She was clad in a black robe, and her eyes were closed – she looked quiet feverish.

‘You see’, the goat man again began. ‘She is a violinist. She wishes to be one of the greatest teenage prodigies the world had ever seen. But she is unable to do so, due to repeated restrictions from her friends and family. They have not seen the great works that The Prince has done for so long, but Miss Patter knows…knows how He helps those who want Him the most…isn’t it true, Miss?’

The young woman nodded. A smile had crept up her face. Her wish...

‘Now, the animal. The animal has to be now given up to Him. Ram?’

The boy saw the ram-masked man move forward. A butcher knife had come now in his hand.

‘Yes, m-my Lord.’

The goat signaled his hand towards the bird – who was furiously hitting the log and clucking – and boomed,

‘HAIL SATAN!’

‘HAIL SATAN!!’ The room echoed aloud.

And then, to the boy’s horror, the butcher knife was struck down upon the hen, which sliced open, splitting blood everywhere!

But then, even a more gruesome thing occurred. The goat cut off a piece of flesh from the hen, removed its feathers, heated it over the flame of a candle, and began to eat it!

The boy felt vomiting out, but he couldn’t! He closed his eyes, but a revolting, foul odour started to come out from the circle. He saw the others doing the same thing as done by the goat. Drops of blood dripped down to the floor. The sound of bone-cracking and biting of the teeth into the meat made the boy feel even more uncomfortable…he was about to faint again…

After some time, the torn bloody bones of the hen remained. The group’s lips were all scarlet, and the foul odour grew more and more by the minute. He saw one man – the lamb-mask - take out what it seemed to be a Jewish goblet. Then scraping up the dark, red liquid from the floor, he dropped its contents into the glass, all the while muttering something – a chant maybe?

‘Now.’ Came again the cold, misty voice of the goat. ‘The human. The human who looks down upon Him with contempt and disgust. He was the One who gave the Human knowledge about the good and bad. But now, it is he – the Human who betrayed Him, forgot about Him, and threw stones at Him. It’s time, to punish the beast. O Father!’

The boy felt two strong hands untie his hands and hold him up. It was the goose. He had something in his hands, which he held up close to his face. The boy felt dizzy once again…everything seemed to whirl in front of him in a red mass…

‘Bring him’ the goat called out. Two men dragged the boy towards the centre of the star. He tried to scream, but stopped when he saw the woman who was about to be bestowed by the powers of Hell…

Wasn’t it that girl whose concert he attended last week?

She stood there, motionless, as if not paying heed to anything. The men then tied up the boy’s hands with logs on both sides, as well as his legs on both sides. The boy lay over there, like a Da Vinci structure of a human body.

The boy tried to wriggle out – to do something to get him out of that dungeon of horror! – but no, he couldn’t. The smoke which surrounded continued to increase, intoxicated by the red night lamps in the room.

The goat then took out another knife – a long scimitar, with some jewels embedded on its hilt. He began chanting something under his breath – so did the others. He saw then the woman in the group led the young girl towards what it seemed to be an altar. She placed her over there, and told her to repeat what the Master – the goat – was chanting.

The boy felt his eyes being heavy. He couldn’t keep them open for long. He was going to faint…but couldn’t he just scream…

He couldn’t think of anything else, for suddenly the Goat thundered aloud:

‘HAIL THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS!!!’

'HAIL THE PRINCE!!'

At the same time, a grandfather clock somewhere screamed aloud to say it was midnight!

And then, with the knife held in his hand, slashed through the air, and stabbed straight into the boy’s heart! The boy let out one terrifying shriek, and that was it…silence prevailed afterwards...broken by the last dong of the clock...

‘Now, do it. Do it to honour our Saviour!’ The goat said. The two men – who bought the boy – then took out long swords, and began to extract the heart out of the body! Blood splattered everywhere, but they did not pay heed to it. They cut out the heart, and then burning it a bit, spilled the contents of the organ into another Jewish goblet. The two goblets were then heated over the candles, and then the red liquid from both of the glasses was poured into a third goblet, and then presented to the girl, who was already way too scared by this strange ritual you had to do to get the blessing of the Devil!

‘Now, as she drinks the elixir gave by our Prince, let us rejoice, rejoice once more in the name of our Master…let us rejoice…Rejoice!’

The girl began drinking the elixir. She felt her body temperature dropping, her head was spinning, and she wanted to vomit out so badly. Meanwhile, all around her, she could chords – musical chords which completely violated the laws of Nature…

Tritones! Those damn augmented fourths!

Then, at the last sip, the goblet fell down to the floor, shattering into pieces, and then, she tilted and fell down, unconscious…a long, black shadow suddenly passes by, along with laughter…

Satanic laughter.

***

Hailing from the US, Nicole Patter was one of the most successful violinists the 21^st century world had ever seen. Some even began to call her as ‘Miss Paganini’! (Ok, maybe that's too much, but you get the idea.)

At an interview, on being asked how she got this wonderful talent, she – smilingly – said, ‘I don’t know precisely how I got it: I always felt that there was someone behind me…someone helped me reach those high octaves, and all those difficult ‘stuff’ you would do on the violin! (laughs)…’

And indeed there was someone…someone who hid in the shadows...someone who really helped her reach those…

High octaves and the difficult ‘stuff’.

***

M.Macabre

27.10.2020

Dedicated to: Niccolo Paganini (Happy Birthday!)