Book of Delusions

The elusive void vacuum spun and assembled into another scene. Jupiter was looking up at a boy whose ribs and cheekbones showed signs of malnourishment. Their eyes met only for a second before a wrinkled man in a black robe kicked the boy in the ribs with enough force to send him tumbling several feet across the mud. Jupiter grimaced and pressed his hands against the transparent liquid barrier that separated him from the world before him, but he could not break through. Upon running in the opposite direction, he was immediately faced with another transparent wall, but this time it would be a solid barrier attached to a concrete wall. He could only watch while the older man trodded slowly towards the child he had kicked. "Run! He's coming!" Jupiter tried to warn the skinny boy but his pleas would fall on deaf ears.

The child by then had sat up straight and had begun to chant manically. The Pacifist could hear every word being uttered, and he made out that it was a prayer reflecting a deep and earnest longing for spiritual insight and enlightenment, as well as a profound connection to an otherworldly entity that he was very familiar with named Jashin. The child was clearly to be on a quest to understand and navigate complex and mystical forces that surround him. It slowly dawned upon him that they were not so different after all. In fact, this was nothing more than a long forgotten memory. "Father.." His rapid heart rate began to slow, and he watched as the man began to stomp the child. With every stomp, the child cursed in valiant defiance.

"Jashin's Curse!"

"Dark Benediction!"

"Jaa'Damn!"

"May you live forever!"


[exit]

---

WC: 281