Silence the Hunger

“Alphonse, that’s enough.” Lucus placed his hand on Alphonse’s arm as it awakened him from his wild daydream.

“It wasn’t my fault…” Alphonse said, as he let go of Krayton’s hair while rubbing the bruise that was visible across his neck.

“I know.” Lucus said, his eyes glowered onto Krayton. In the dim passageway only lit by flame torches. Lucus placed his sword that was reflecting the torches' light into Krayton’s throat. “I thought I made myself clear, Krayton.” Lucus said, his voice turning cold.

“I’m well aware–Lucus,” Krayton grabbed hold of the razor-sharp blade. Blood seeped down the blade and stopped at the hilt. That he has killed Marius and now has his ability can not be forgiven.” Krayton’s bloodshot eyes stuck to Alphonse.

“And now my point stands even more. Now that he has Marius’ ability means he is invaluable to the team.” Lucus gave Alphonse a complicated gaze.

“Then we’ll be going our own way from now on.” Krayton said through gritted teeth as he watched Lucus protect Alphonse. His group walked forward, but he stopped in front of Alphonse as he whispered into his ear. “There will be a time where your team can’t save you. I’ll break every bone in your body and leave you to whatever fucking monsters we find here.”

“I’ll be waiting, Krayton. Who knows, the roles may be reversed. I wonder what your flesh tastes like. What skills would you give me?” Alphonse whispered back. An excitable crazed look flashed in his eyes.

Krayton and his group barged past, leaving in silence as they continued into the maze.

“Ah, we don’t fucking need them, anyway.” Markus said, picking up his shield. His skill that blocked the passageway had long been turned off.

“Alright, let’s keep going.” Lucus took the lead as everyone followed.

Everyone is avoiding me. Alphonse thought every time his eyes would near them, they would quickly divert their eyes.

As they continued their way through the maze, only one thing was on their mind. It was never ending. They had walked for hours–taking many passageways–it was all the same. Finally, an unfamiliar sight introduced itself. There were two large doors connected together, and another passageway lay to the side.

“Please say we’re not going down another fucking passageway–Lucus–” Tariq groaned. He was impatient at the best of times. “Can we see what’s through the door? Maybe we’re finally here?” His curiosity took hold of him, but it was the same for everyone else.

“I doubt it, Tariq,” Gabriel shook his head. “There wouldn’t be another passageway otherwise.”

“Markus, on point. We’ll have a look.” Lucus took out his sword as everyone got ready. Markus grabbed hold of the door handles and pushed. The old wooden doors–trimmed with black metal–groaned open. Alphonse was shocked at the size of the room. Rows of pews lay neatly in perfect lines. Huge pillars were erected high to the dark void-like ceiling above. They engraved pictures of what appeared to be rings covered with eyeballs and feathers onto them. A scarlet coloured luxurious carpet spanned the entire aisle, from the doors, all the way down as it opened up into a wide stage like area to the altar. They walked inside as their heads took in the sights. Above them were small balconies that had red and white curtains on either side. High chairs were placed in the middle of the small rooms. That must be where they watch ceremonies, or whatever took place here.

They walked further in. Large stained glass windows provided light inside the cathedral like room. “There’s light coming from the windows. Are we outside?” Kristen said. She looked at the windows with hope.

“We shouldn’t be,” Gabriel said. “I mean, we’ve been continually going down for ages now. It makes little sense.”

Alphonse walked into the large stage area. It must be the size of at least two football fields. Alphonse thought he couldn’t imagine what they would need all of this space for. Suddenly, the silence was broken as they heard a yawn coming from behind them. Their eyes rested on Felecia as her eyes were drooping downwards. It must be getting late…

“We’ll stay here for the night. We’ll create a defensive perimeter near the door.” Lucus said as they all got to work as they set up their temporary base. Walls were created thanks to Markus’ shield and Gabriel’s magic.

Gabriel and Tariq were inspecting one of the stone pillars. The others had already fallen into a deep sleep.

“What do you think they are?” Tariq said as his fingers ran across the monstrous pictures. “Rings all intertwined–eyeballs covering them–feathers poking out of what appears to be their flesh. It’s a lot to take in…” Tariq lost interest as he walked to the base.

“Are they angels?” Gabriel muttered to himself. I’ve seen it once before in a book. He shook his head before following Tariq back.

***

It was the middle of the night, Lucus was in charge of the watch. Alphonse’s eyes opened. He couldn’t sleep. Memories of the past kept on flashing inside his mind as he dug his nails into his palm. His eyes drifted to where Lucus was standing. He was looking at a mural. The fat demon; the lustful woman, the prideful man in a suit, they were all there. Displayed on the mural like a masterpiece of art. His backpack lay on the floor right next to him, as it always was.

“You no longer trust me, do you?” Alphonse walked over and said the air in this cathedral was damp and had a strange smell to it. It reminded him of wet cardboard. It reminds me of back home... Alphonse shook his head.

“It’s hard to trust someone that separates someone's head from their body with nothing but their teeth, Alphonse.” Lucus said, his eyes moved from the murals in front of him to Alphonse.

“I guess you’re right, but I would never harm this group. I have no reason to.” Alphonse smiled–his eyes moved to what Lucus was looking at–the murals. His eyes studied the fat demon, feeling a weird sense of… kinship.

“And If you were given a reason?” Lucus said.

“Are you intending on giving me one?” Alphonse said, his eyebrows raised.

“You can take watch…” Lucus said with a sigh as he turned around, heading to the others. His hands tightly clenched around his backpack.

Ohh, what’s in the bag, little one?

Alphonse instantly turned around, a pit opened in his stomach as he looked around in anxiety. It was then that he realised it was coming from inside.

“Get out of my fucking head.” Alphonse clutched at his skull as he crouched down. The voice was high pitched. He had heard it before… it felt familiar, but he couldn’t remember clearly. Am I losing it again? Alphonse laughed to himself.

Alphonse turned around to leave. He looked around the huge underground cathedral. There must have been so many people here, you could fit hundreds of bodies here. Why would this be underneath a prison? Alphonse thoughts were interrupted when a big globule of… something vile landed in front of him. The viscous liquid splashed over him as the fetid smell filled his senses. What the fuck, it smells awful. Alphonse looked up as he stood rooted on the spot.

An enormous creature was hanging upside down from the ceiling high above, in the pitch darkness. They had completely missed it because of the darkness. Its human-like lips were exaggeratedly turned upwards like a sagging curtain that had been held up with nothing but paper clips. Tentacles… no–feelers looked like they had been pierced into its insect-like body at random. Especially its face. The feelers were wriggling in the dark, as if they were trying to reach out for something. Alphonse’s horrified eyes slowly shifted towards the creature's leathery back. The loose skin behind it resembled a cape. It had been nailed to the ceiling with large iron rods. It looked like it was the only thing keeping the monster up there.

The light from the window moved only a little, but it was enough to illuminate the monster from the darkness. Alphonse put one foot behind the other as he took his time walking backwards–his head looked past his shoulder–making sure he would not walk into anything. It was a meaningless attempt. The creature tried opening its eyes, but they were like a gate that had been shut and rusted over a long time ago. The crust over its eyes peeled off and fell to the floor. Little insects crawled out of the crust and scattered in different directions. The eyes looked at Alphonse. Hundreds of little holes… with something wriggling inside each hole, were all directed at the young man far down on the ground below. The limbs of the monster wriggled, a slight groaning sound coming from its mouth.

“Guys, get up now!” Alphonse shouted at the group as they were startled awake. They followed Alphonse’s eyes and quickly got hold of their weapons.

“Everyone leave, now!” Lucus shouted. They ran out of the door and turned towards Alphonse.

The monster thrashed its body back and forwards, up and down. The heavy iron rods that had pinned it to the wall were sliding out.

“Alphonse, run!” Felecia screamed at him.

Alphonse ran as fast as his legs could take him when suddenly he heard a crash–he turned his head as he saw a pile of flesh–with feelers squirming around. Alphonse turned his head back as he ran towards the doors. He was approaching the door, then his vision had gone blank for a second as he found his body hurtling through the air. His body slammed into the many pews, wood splinters pierced into his battered body. He watched as Felecia’s tear filled face disappeared as they slammed the doors shut.