In the center of a large and fleshy chamber a man stood on the outskirts of a large crowd of people. He watched curiously as a pile of flesh slowly consumed a row of people tied up and held to the ground.

The creature fascinated him more than it terrified him. In all his years working for the Order of Light he had heard of abominations that defied creation. Beings that lurked in the dark corners of reality, outcasts of the light that had sought out the shadows.

The creature that had just consumed a man on the end of the row certainly fit the description. A heretical existence, one that defied the proper order of life and threatened to consume the light.

Yet he found himself drawn to the thing, fascinated that a pile of corpses could somehow obtain life and use it to extinguish other life. He was far from an expert on such things, but to his knowledge once something had died and begun to rot, there was no coming back to life.

But could he doubt his own eyes? Deny the screams of those around him as they too witnessed death itself feasting upon the living? It completely upended everything he’d been told, everything he’d come to believe working for the order.

Death is death and life is life. But here death could be life.

He was briefly reminded of the warning his commanding officer had given him before they stormed into the Darkshield facilities. That the heretics dabbled in powers profane and corrupt, they turned to darkness to create chaos. They then used that chaos to create more darkness in a never-ending cycle resulting in power and wealth for those who ran the corporation of evil.

Looking at the mass of body parts and corpses held together by powers he couldn’t understand he found himself impressed. On some level he acknowledged the horror and evil occurring before his eyes, but the fact that Darkshield could have created such a thing was astounding. Even if they hadn’t created it, but merely found a way to capture and contain the thing was nothing short of a miracle.

Yet that presented a problem his mind couldn’t wrap itself around. Life was order and death was chaos. Light was good and darkness was evil. These were two of the most basic tenants of the Order of Light and why they were willing to do war with Darkshield. The Order of Light was about preserving life and upholding order. Darkshield sought to create chaos and spread death.

But here was a being that if created by Darkshield represented their power to create life from death. Order from chaos. And if it wasn’t a creation of theirs, but something discovered on this world or another, then it presented the notion that death could be life, chaos could become order, naturally.

If that was true, then wasn’t it possible that light could be evil and darkness could produce good? Could the Order of Light be a force of chaos, darkness, and death?

Watching the creature of death feast on a man in the row he shook his head. The notion that his organization could be evil was unacceptable. They had done too much good, purged this world and those beyond of evil, and made existence more orderly and full of life.

This abomination was an impressive feat, but it was death personified. It didn’t seek to create, to bring light to the world, or help establish order. The thing lurked in a dark chamber tucked away from the light and fed on the living. The thing only existed to create death.

As a result his mission was clear, the thing needed to be destroyed and those that worshipped it needed to be purged. He would bring order to this chaos, one way or another.

Looking around the room at the frightened crowd he could see strong men and women in the center of it all. The hardened looks on their faces barely masking the fear that lurked beneath. They surrounded themselves with the weak, it made them cowards, but it also meant they possessed strength. They held the power and will to bend others to their will to survive.

As detestable as it was he knew he’d need them to defeat the creature. He’d need their power and their will to find a way to destroy the creature, to return it to death where it belonged, and bring light to this place.

A horrendous screech filled the room bringing gasps and cries from the crowd. Whirling around he found that everyone was staring in horrified fascination at the creature and he too found himself enthralled.

The thing undulated wildly, its arms and legs flailing, and eyes rolling. The sound was likely coming from those orifices across its body where tongues flapped and teeth gnashed. The gelatinous mass had been grasping onto a large man in the row and suddenly released him.

It now slithered across the chamber towards the opening, but its movements were erratic and it appeared to be struggling with itself. He watched as the mass bulged and sunk into itself as if large invisible hands were kneading and prodding it like a mass of dough.

Everyone was in disbelief and an unsightly man who had been preaching his nonsense to the masses stepped away from the crowd.

“What grand…trag…are we lucky?”

He giggled nervously as he shambled closer for a look. A few others broke away from the horde and joined him. It seemed those who did not believe in the man’s words were content to stay huddled in the center.

The man found himself stepping away a few feet, not wanting to seem as if joining the insane heretics, but too curious to stay put.

The creature continued its flailings as it struggled towards the opening. Reaching the small lip that lead inside it clambered up only to slide back down with a shriek. To his horror the thing’s hands and arms began clawing at itself, ripping chunks of gelatinous flesh away and flinging it into the water. Blood oozed from these wounds until the red pool reached the crowd. The yellow light turned a deep crimson.

There was another loud shriek and the thing contorted wildly. A small section of itself, the size of a small dog, broke away from the large mass and slithered up and into the opening leaving a trail of blood in its wake. The rest of the mass grew still, blood pouring from numerous wounds.

The chamber fell eerily silent, the only sound was the lifeblood of the thing dripping into the murky water below. It seemed as if everyone was too afraid to breath, unwilling to disturb whatever insanity was occurring.

Then the silence was broken with a loud squelch, the center of the mass bulged and stretched before receding back into the pile of flesh again. The man watched as it bulged again, the flesh stretching wildly away from the main body before falling back and stilling.

There was a growl from within the beast and the flesh stretched, extending farther and farther away from the mass. Just when it seemed it would recede again it tore with a wet sound. The trickling of blood grew louder as fresh liquid joined the cascade.

From the tear emerged a new mass, one covered in blood and much smaller than the pile of flesh it rose from. Two arms flailed slightly shaking off gore and the thing fell off the pile of flesh and into the water. It rested there for a moment before it rose again.

In the crimson light the man watched as the gore fell away to reveal a lone man, nude, bald, and covered in blood. He knelt and vomited violently, the contents of his stomach splashing into the water. It went on for several seconds before he stopped and breathed raggedly for a moment before standing. On shaking legs he turned towards the crowd and stood there, silently.

The leader of the heretics sank to his knees, his body trembling as he giggled nervously.

“The Unborn is born!”

His followers sank to their knees as well and began rambling and laughing. A few prostrated themselves in the water.

The man found himself similarly enraptured by the being that stood before them. In that moment everything he knew and understood about the world had been completely upended. Before his very eyes he watched death produce life, order emerge from chaos, and now it stood dripping blood and gore into the water before them.

Briefly he wondered if what he was looking at was proof that his Order was a lie, that perhaps Darkshield could produce light from darkness. But he couldn’t allow that, couldn’t accept that his Order could be evil and Darkshield might be good.

Instead, he determined this was event was a miracle. That light had penetrated the darkness, order had overcome chaos, and life defeated death. The being before him was not a child of the abomination as the heretics were currently rambling on about, but it was a miracle of the Order. A fulfillment of some prophesy that he wasn’t aware existed. A manifestation of some deity of the Order that would lead them to overcome darkness, chaos, and death as he had.

It was the birth of a new god, one that would help the Order overthrow the evils of the world.

The new being stood silently for quite some time no doubt recovering from the tremendous ordeal that its birth had likely been. As the ragged breathing slowed it shakily walked over to the two women who had been in the row. They were now standing, their captors prostrated on the ground, and the bounds freed from their wrists.

The man could sense their unease as they stared in fascination at the gory man who stood before them. He couldn’t imagine the thoughts that must be running through their minds as they stared into the face of the divine. The being’s lips parted and he spoke in an urgent, yet hushed tone.

“I could really use some pants.”

Author’s Note:

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