Damien Sheridan

Alpha Rite

With a flick of his finger he sent them away.
Their obedience was thoughtless and swift.
After completing their task they returned.
Hours past and he had no need to acknowledge them.
Attentive bodies knelt eager and ready to act.
Down the line one of their number frowned.
His servile mind squirmed in response to this strange event.
Never before had this happened to him.

He wanted to turn his head and see if anyone had noticed.
Ingrained habit was for the moment able to keep his head still.
Sweat beaded across his forehead and panic surfaced.
At his throne the Watcher stirred.
An anomaly had disrupted the peace.
Something unthinkable and almost too terrible to fathom scented the air.
Bewilderment brought the Watcher to his feet.
Proud steps brought him to the mysterious subject.

Falling from his nose a heavy drop splashed beside the Watcher’s foot.
His reptilian ancestry stifled the urge to scream.
The looming figure stared transfixed at the liquid stain.
Aberrations were fables whispered at Conclave.
They belonged to history and an era of barbarism.
The rounded curves defining the puddle drove control and command from the Watcher’s mind.
He felt a swarm of spiders crawling over his skin.
Incrementally his perfection crumbled and he discovered a foreign land.

The waiting was interminable.
Why had the Watcher not passed judgement?
In his mind’s eye the subject made the long walk to forever.
Desire began to build and he panicked.
His existence hinged on keeping his head bowed.
What phantom temptress worked to lift his chin?
A rictus snarl and wet eyes confronted the Watcher.
Shock rippled down the line in both directions.

Stumbling backwards the Watcher inhaled barbed daggers.
Their imaginary hooks and blades snagged and sliced pink tissue.
He felt his knees give way and he collapsed to the floor.
Nine throats clenched and the intake of oxygen became a deadly poison.
Heads drew down and hunted for a vacuum in which to hide.
Fingers crept up torsos to reach and cup ears.
Every sound within and without brought a wish for death.
Their frantic minds spiralled to a place of arid blankness.

An eternity passed.
The Watcher looked around wildly.
His mind writhed in the grip of a transformation too terrible to behold.
He stared at the moon as it swung high to eclipse the sun and turn day to night.
What forsaken realm had spawned this world razer?
How could this chimera find space in a system of supreme order?
He felt his body weight shift and his knees and hands shuffled forward.
A howl caught in his throat as he pushed his way into the line and turned around.

Using his head he nudged the murderer’s back.
He encountered surprisingly small resistance.
Liquid terror hit the back of his hands in rapid succession.
Only a deep visceral dread stopped his stomach from disgorging its contents.
He offered eternal thanks for that one small concession granted to his plundered dignity.
A cold hand squeezed his awareness.
Why did the sun shine black?
Who had taken the heavens and filled them with dirt?

Arms and legs levered the subject to his feet.
He could feel the line of bodies behind him.
Their anxious need prodded his back.
Before him rest the throne.
Its grand lines beckoned to him.
Thoughtless action removed the strange plain garb from his illustrious frame.
Confident strides sealed the naked Watcher to his seat of authority.
The attendants remained silent.

.