The Second Book of the Alienbutt Saga. The Rise of Mr Fluffy. Part 78.

The Temple of Wantooaninyougo had existed for thousands of years, the last defenders of the void. The priests and priestesses were all of the people, the last descendants of a once great civilisation. Only a fraction of their ancient knowledge had survived the passage of time, just like the people themselves.
The civilisation that had travelled the stars and crossed dimensions was now reduced to a dead rock of a planet, all but trapped within a bubble of dead space. Over a thousand years ago the High Priest had discovered how to use the ancient powder that prevented them dying of old age, their bodies held locked in time in the same way that the dead space trapped the ships all around them. But with the passing years the dead space had spread, so now only a tiny passage remained.
The High Priest insisted that the sacrifice of people into the void would reverse the spread of dead space but Ebil Kitty, the last priestess at the temple, knew the High Priest was mad and would say anything. The fact that he was mad didn’t bother her, as the voices in her head had confided that she too was at the wrong side of bonkers to pass judgement.
She looked up as Karaxeem walked into the void room with an arm full of candles, ready to set up the altar for tonight’s sacrifice. He looked nervously at the grey disc of the void that hung in the air behind the altar, a shimmering oval some twenty feet across.

The sudden appearance of the bottles flying out of it had terrified Karaxeem, as the first one had hit him full in the face. Since then a further fifty plus had arrived, the first ones smashing on the stone floor, but now great cushions littered the inner sanctum’s floor to avoid the breakages of the void’s bounty. Still they did not know what they were, and the High Priest had not told them what it could mean. With the arrival of the stranger who had destroyed two of their remaining four ships, most of the priests were on edge as to what was going on. It wasn’t unheard of for things to come through the void, but never had they come through so regularly.
Ebil Kitty remembered the strange man who had come through carrying the holy badge of the Priests. Lucifus was convinced he was sent to aid them, but the first chance he got he had flown off in one of their ships. Now this stranger returned carrying the same badge. Karaxeem began to put out the candles, replacing those used in the last sacrifice for fresh ones, nervously casting glances towards the void. Still, he missed seeing a fresh bottle enter and Ebil Kitty watched as it flew across the room to bounce off the back of his head. Karaxeem fell without a sound. Ebil Kitty stood and watched the ripples on the void, and just for a moment she thought she saw a metal face with a single round eye. From far off she heard strange words in a monotonous voice.
“I’m sure I just hit someone with that bottle, Frank.”

To be continued.
All images are mine.