\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ //////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ //////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' //////////////// .ao0.////////// \\\\\\ YOOOOO000b.\\\\\ YOOOOO00000@@@@@//// dOO000@//////// \\\\\ YOOO0000@@@b\\\' YOOO00000@@@@@P// dOOO000@D////// \\\\ OO0000@@@@@b' / OO000P///////// dOOO000@P///// \\ O000P'\Y@@@@D/// O0000q///////// OO000@P///// ' 0000\\\\Y@@@D/// 00000@@@@@////// 000@@@@q/ Editor: 0000Q\'d@@@@D/// 0000@@@@@P//////// @@@@@@@. Access Denied 000@@@@@@@@P'/// 000@@P//////////// .d@@@@@D X Marks The d00@@@@@@@P'//// d00@@@a///////// d@@@@@@@@@' Shit d00@@@@@@P'///// d00@@@@@@//////// @@@@@@@@' ///////////////////////////////\ Y@@@@' ///////////////////////////////\\\\ Y@'\\\\ ///////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ///////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ///////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ ///////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ /////////////////////////////// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ D a m n e d F u c k i n g S h i t - Presents - Issue #53 Date: 8/26/95 Title: The Ritual Author: Vald The Impaler The Ritual ========== Disclaimer: I'm not satanic. Everything was quiet. Even the crackling of the fire seemed to silence itself as I withdrew the gleaming silver blade from its black velvet covering. My hooded face reflected in the polished surface of the cold silver, black eyes gleaming in pleasure at the thought of what I was finally getting my chance to do. The chanting started around me, the four other cloaked figures slowly moving into position around the table. I closed my eyes and began the chant as well, the deep baritone of my voice overpowering the others this night as my tongue recited the familiar words. We took our positions around the table, myself at the head with the others in a pentagram formation encircling the stone altar. My eyes shot open, my voice rising yet louder as I began weaving intricate patterns in the air with the ancient blade. Below me lay the unconscious form of our willing sacrifice. He was heavily sedated, not wishing to feel the pain that he would have to endure otherwise. He had asked us to help him attain his place of power over others in the netherworld. He knew who his master was, and chose to embrace him with open arms rather than run from him as so many others did. He wanted to be the master of his death, not a slave to it. This night, I was to set him free. From my pocket I withdrew a black leather pouch. I loosened the drawstring and removed a pinch of the fine yellow powder contained within, a mixture of the burnt remains of past sacrifices to the unholy lord. I opened my friend's mouth and sprinkled the ash upon his relaxed tongue, letting his saliva turn the powder into a brownish paste. His mouth closed itself as his head fell back onto the stone altar. I returned the pouch to my robe, then withdrew a small steel circlet in the shape of a pentagram. This I put into a bowl of water boiling above a strong fire next to the altar. We waited then, chanting the entire time, giving praise to this one who would go forth into the netherworld and become like a god unto others, the poor condemned souls who were not strong enough to realize their full potential in death. When the time came, I reached into the scalding water and removed the unholy symbol of power. My hand was scorched lightly, but when I positioned the charm upon my friend's exposed chest, the skin under the heated metal began to hiss softly as burn blisters formed. I again picked up the knife from where I had unconsciously laid it next to his head. The four hooded figures backed away from the table, giving me room to move freely about the sedated man lying supine upon his altar of sacrifice. I circled to the left, lightly tracing a line from his forehead to the simmering pentagram upon his chest, never breaking the surface of his skin. The chanting of the other four men silenced as I began to speak my own verses in a tongue not known to men, not even known to myself. My pulse quickened as the words came to me, echoing supernaturally in my mind and burning there until they were released by my speaking them. My hand raised unbidden by me to place the dagger above my friend's forehead. I lowered the gleaming blade to touch his skin, making a small indentation in the smooth surface of his forehead before drawing blood. The sharp blade easily pierced the thin layer of skin above his skull, although little blood flowed. I traced a line down his nose, dividing his lips in perfect symmetry, forcing a thin line of crimson to appear wherever the blade had touched. I slid the blade gently down his neck, my steady hand cutting no deeper than the skin for I was not to end his life just yet. Blood began to flow with more strength than it had upon his head, surging out in small rivulets to the beating of his heart. I continued quickly now, knowing that if he perished before I was through with the vivisection he would not be assured his rightful place of power over the dead. I continued to draw the red line down from his neck to his chest. The iron pentagram had long since cooled, but when I removed it from his chest the skin underneath continued to sizzle with an unholy heat of it's own. Never slowing the pace of the blade, I bisected the symbol of our lord branded upon my friend's chest, and continued downward without pause. I passed the bottom of his rib cage and was surprised at the supernatural ease with which I cut through the muscle of his abdomen while not damaging any of his organs inside. I felt filled with power - not merely the feeling of mastery over life, but the feeling of a greater power joining me, a greater power guiding my ritualistic movements. The razor-sharp blade seemed to remove itself from his flesh as I completed the cut, dripping a single deep red drop of my friend's life blood as I inspected the perfect line running from the top of his forehead to the bottom of his abdomen. Low chanting began behind me, and I remembered the other members of my cult who had fallen silent as I made the long cut down our sacrifice's body. They circled uniformly to the other side of the altar, their bare feet hardly making a sound underneath their heavy robes. I made a second cut below his rib cage, quickly changing the single original line into the greater part of an unholy cross upon his body. Then he moaned softly. I faltered slightly, trying not to be distracted by the fact that his life was slipping quickly away. I knew that this was what he wanted, what we all wanted, but I still had a twinge of guilt about killing another human. The feeling faded quickly though as foreign powers within me told me that this was right. They reminded me that he would have power in death, but that I would have a great power over death myself once I passed from this plane, if I would prove I already have some mastery over life. My cut across his abdomen complete, I moved to the middle of his chest and traced the lines that the scalding-hot pentagram had left in his skin without further qualms. Two disciples moved to stand on either side of him, and I positioned myself over his head. They reached forward, tracing the line I had made across his chest, and took hold of his skin where the two cuts met. His flesh tore sickeningly as they pulled the skin away from his rib cage, exposing the bloody white bones underneath. I leaned forward with the knife still in my hand, and began to cut through the tough cartilage between his ribs. Logic kept telling me it would not work, but as my brain told me I was attempting the impossible powerful forces within me easily guided the ritual blade through bone and cartilage, creating an impossibly perfect line through his sternum. The two hooded figures reached forward and pulled back on his ribs. The bones did not wield much strength though against hands guided by our dark lord, and they were pried back to reveal his beating heart inside. Even though he must have been completely drained of blood from the cuts, his heart still beat strongly. I felt power deep inside me as I knew what I must do. The others backed away and turned to the woods about us, a horribly powerful voice inside each of us telling us that none other than he who wielded the blade may witness this act. I raised the knife high above my head, a drop of blood falling in slow motion to land upon the sacrifice's forehead, spattering tiny droplets of blood outward from the cut that divided his face in two. I closed my eyes, drawing power from the dark presence I felt within my soul. Slowly, I opened them again, and saw before me the face of a man different than that of my friend, different from that of any mortal being. The cut was there, the beating heart was the same, but what lay before me was the essence of evil, dormant, waiting to take the soul of his host back to hell with him. He was the ultimate evil escort; Satan himself come to take my friend back to hell, and his eyes were open and staring into mine. I nearly panicked at the sight, feeling all willpower and strength drain from my body, mind, and soul. I had never once felt fear before in my life, but looking into the eyes of evil incarnate nearly stopped the beating of my heart. Terror gripped me, but a power did too. My mind was no longer my own. My body became taken by another. My soul itself seemed to be controlled by the dark presence before me. I no longer needed urging from my lord, I no longer needed directions. The dark angel before me was in control now, directing my body where he would have it go. No longer myself, I leaned forward and plunged the silver blade through my friend's beating heart, I the unwilling master over life and death. Find DFS On These Fine Systems (When they're up...) ========================================================================== | Paradise Lost +1.414.476.3181 DFS World HQ | | Temporary Insanity +1.414.666.WHEE DFS Affiliate HQ | | Arcane Asylum +1.414.PSY.CHOS DFS Thingy HQ | | Arrested Development +31.77.547477 DFS European HQ | | The FlipSide +1.419.836.8331 DFS Midwest HQ | | | | FTP - etext.archive.umich.edu - /pub/Zines/DFS | | | | I've dropped all the other distros cuz I don't know if they're up | | anymore. If you are a distro and you're not listed, or you want to be | | a distro, mail adenied@earth.execpc.com and tell me. Also if you | | have any comments, questions, or concerns mail them there! | | | | ASCII Art by Incarnate b,V42b,CM,XA ,169,Trailer_Town_BBS,Rochester_NY,Bill_Pollifrone,1-716-248-0297,9600,VFC,V32b,V42b,CM,XA ,176,Wit's_End,Rochester_NY,Beth_Hatch-Alleyne,1-716-288-1474,9600,V32b,V42b,CM,XA ,179,Generation_X,Rochester_NY,Eric_Sears,1-716-647-9068,9600,V34,CM,XA ,195,The_DuRock,Webster_NY,Andy_Kompanijec,1-716-787-0