BLUE FLAME Chapter One: A Desert Town Pt 6 & 7

 Part VI: The Earth Cracks Open 

Alex watches as two cloaked figures hold a man’s arms out. He is shirtless, emotionless, and not resisting. The hooded figures inject a fluid into his arm. It travels quick to his heart and he falls to his knees screaming, clawing at his face. His skin begins to melts as he pulls it from his face. It sticks to his fingers, now bones. His skin blackens and drips from his arms as he merges into a growing pool on the floor. The hooded beings drink from it. The man is gone.

A figure rises from within the pool stretching thin long arms and sharp fingers. Its eyes are black holes and its skin is obsidian.

“You are the Bringer.” It whispers pointing to Alex. Tentacles grow from the empty sockets. “You are the Bringer.” it repeats handing a gift to Alex. “Open my doors.”

Alex reaches for it. The tentacles grab him twisting and burrowing into his face like barbed wire. They slither through his mind.

A beast with the head of an ox steps out of the bleeding sky. It slices the tall dark figure in half.

“Do not remove my seal.” Its voice echoes.

Alex wakes in his tent hearing screaming.

It is his own voice.

His throat dry. He coughs touching his face and looks at his hands under candle light. Blood drips from his nose. Night breeze blows through the open canvas door that should be shut. The cool wind chills his warm skin. He is drenched with sweat and is shaking. The Fever hasn’t broke for days. He stumbles out of the tent for water.

A set of yellow eyes are on the horizon. The animal howls. Cold cloudless night, Gabriel’s Tower stands dark and tall, looming over everything, shadowing the moon. The scavenger runs off and something screams its last breath.

Desert nights are darkest.

Desert days are brightest.

Both are equally dangerous.

Endless days of chipping away. The explosives crack the exterior of the earthen tower. Inside they burrow with ax and hammer chipping away at crystal shape rock. They dig deeper into the core of the tower hauling it out bit by bit. Dispelling its entrails into the desert. Deeper they dig.

The town stirs in anger. A persistent cough is spreading. They knew he was the Devil, but they were too ignorant to stop him.

“How do you know anything will be in here?” Asks Wren. “These kids are getting injured working day and night. This is madness. Another has gone missing. I cannot go back now. This has to stop.”

“I am close.” Alex said with a rasp. “I know it. I have seen it. Waiting for me.”

A mind bent on oblivion,

Hungers blind,

Forcing the living into

ethereal agony.

In dark corners,

That scratch inside his mind,

of void and pain,

Like claws on walls,

Seeks prey and repent.

 Part VII: How Beautiful Darkness Is

Sheriff Bents steps around Dogan’s body laying in the dirt, flies buzzing, crawling in and out its mouth and nose. The hot desert heat cooks the pungent stench of decomposing flesh. A crow pecks the pile of intestines next to the torn open ribcage. Both Dogan’s eyes are missing as are all of his legs.

Covering his mouth with an elbow Bents tries to re-swallow his breakfast. It doesn’t work. He wipes the chunks off his chin before more come up and enters the tent. He doesn't bother taking off his hat.

“Alex!” He shouts at the shirtless individual sitting with his back to the entrance. Scars scatter over the thin man’s protruding ribs. Alex turns his attention away from the drawings he’s been making in the sand with a stick. He rubs his face and turns. Most of his long black hair is missing.

“Sheriff. How I’ve missed you.”

“This has gone on too long Alex! I’m putting an end to this.”

Alex stands up dropping the book that was in his lap. On the cover is a figure with a hat made of three twisting dagger blades. Above him reads “Grand Grimoire.” There is a bag in one hand and a loop in the other. A hairy tail snakes out behind him.

“It’s Mr. Shuffle now. Or just Shuffle, Sheriff.” Says Alex.

“This is the end Alex.” The Sheriff points his gun at Alex. “I’m not asking.” His eyes still adjusting from the daylight. Alex’s face comes into focus and the Sheriff almost vomits again.

“What the hell!”

“Funny what the sun does to a man’s complexion out here.” Said Alex. “Funny what the desert can do to the mind.”

The Sheriff’s eyes wander from Alex’s disfigured face to the dank elements inside the tent: Organs in jars. A plate with worms and beetles crawling over something dead.

“This isn’t right Alex.”

“Oh, it’s alright Sheriff. Oh all so natural. You’ll have to see. You can see the light too.”

“Back up Alex. Now, you just… you stay where you are.” The Sheriff keeps the gun pointed at Alex. “People been getting sick back in town. Ever since you showed up nothing goods happened. Doctor K has been coughing up blood too. Wren’s boarded up at her tavern, scratching at her face. Screaming about bugs in her eyes. Whatever you brought to this town, whatever you’re doing, it ends NOW!”

“Very well.” says Alex. “I see.”

“Yes,” says the Sheriff. “Whatever you’re digging for out here. The blue whatever, it’s over. None of this is right.”

“Your point Sheriff?”

“My point is simple.” The Sheriff throws a pair of handcuffs across the room. “Put these on. We’re ending this. You’re coming with me willing or not, dead or alive.”

“If that’s what you’d like.” Alex bends down to pick up the handcuffs. Without warning, he grabs a handful of dirt with the handcuffs and throws it at the Sheriff’s face. A shot rings through the air and Alex falls.

His body lays motionless as the Sheriff approaches trying not to vomit from the smell inside the tent.

“This world isn't for us Sheriff.” Alex says his body jerking and twisting. It begins to rise, standing up like a puppet doll lifted by invisible strings. A drip of blood falls off his chin. Alex is holding a knife. A wound weeps at his gut spilling blood between dirt stained fingers. “It's a shame we’re not able to come to a better understanding Sheriff. Such a pity. Guess there are always complications to every occupation.” He says rushing at the Sheriff. Three more shots ring out. Alex tackles the Sheriff. They fall to the ground.

The knife is stuck in the Sheriff’s chest and he wheezes for breath.

Alex stands back up. Two more bullet holes leak in his torso. He doesn’t notice. “I will show you how beautiful it is.” He says grabbing the Sheriff by the boot and drags him out the tent.

“Eagerness leads to foolishness.” He says to the two kids hauling rock out the cave entrance. “Let this be a lesson to you all. There will be sacrifices that must be made.” They stop and watch as Alex drags the Sheriff into the mine. A streak of blood leads all the way back to the tent. “You really need to see what we have found in here Sheriff. It’s quite exquisite.”
The Sheriff’s head bounces off rocks along the way. The tunnel is damp and cold. Alex pulls him through narrow passageways and finally down a stone staircase. A strange blue glow illuminates the vast open cavity up ahead.

“I will show you just how beautiful Darkness is.” He says stopping and lifting the Sheriff’s head. Blood trickles from his mouth. The Sheriff tries to mutter something. Red bubbles spittle from his lips.

The Blue Flame casts a warm mesmerizing glow into the Sheriff’s face, flickering across his eyes.

“What was that Sheriff? Don't you see? Don't you see just how magnificent Darkness is?” He brings the Sheriff's face inches from the flame. It is a weightless glow hovering over a dark black pool. “Never in my wildest. You must understand Sheriff, there is no end to this.’ Shuffle lifts the Sheriff's body to his feet. “I am the Bringing Sheriff, and this is my purpose.” He lifts the Sheriff’s body and lunges him into the flickering blue flame, “and this is my light.” He says laughing. “I am a God now.”

The Sheriff’s skin boils and he screams burning in the fire hunched over something suspended within. His skeleton blackens to ash. The ash rises in the heat and it begins to snow gray flakes in the cavern.

Alex looks at his hands.

“I am the Bringer.” He says. “This is my purpose.”

His eyes stare at the circular object hovering in the center of the Blue Flame where the Sheriff’s body once was.

“What a peculiar thing,” he says . “This Blue Flame,” His hand moves forward. Unable to resist. “You are my greatest mystery,” and he reaches in.

The smell of burning flesh fill small spaces,

Screams echo though stone walls and across barren lands.

He sees the vastness of how good nothingness feels.

 ******

This concludes Chapter One of the BLUE FLAME. Chapter Two is currently underway and will be posted soon. Thank you for your time and reading. I hope you have enjoyed this dark journey. Any thoughts or comments are greatly appreciated as this is still a working draft before heading out for editing and publications. Thanks again!