"Or maybe," I spat on his face, "they were too fucking scared to say no."
His face agitated, he stood up from the stool, "What the hell are you doing, fucker?" wiping the spit off his face along with the wine.
"You know, I was going to wait to hear the rest of your proud endeavors but I am not that inhumane." I said as I threw the remaining part of the bottle away.
"Don't think that you will be let off that easily. You are just a bartender who talks big." He said as he reached out to unsheathe his sword.
I tinkled my clock hand earring and my left eye reverberated in reaction to it. "This is my place." My eyes widened as I spread my hands apart and let the black smoke ooze out of me.
Clock of Judgment
"I am the God here. Are you going to raise that weapon of yours against a god?" My voice was mixed with multitude of whispers making it sound like something is resonating.
The atmosphere was completely silent and nothing was visible to the eyes.
It was as if everything was engulfed by the darkness.
All of a sudden, Cedric appeared in the middle of the void.
He was tied to a wooden cross, arms and legs stretched out, ropes biting into his skin. Except for a piece of cloth around his waist, he was bare.
"What the fuck?!" Cedric shouted, struggling hard against the ropes. "You dare tie me up? You think this will hold me?! Let me down right now!"
His voice echoed, but there was nothing else around. Just emptiness.
Then, like ripples spreading in water, a figure stepped out from the dark. It was me. I walked forward slowly until I stood right in front of him.
Cedric's eyes burned with rage. He spat out, "You'll regret this! Do you hear me?! I'll tear you apart!"
"Hmm… you know," I said, staring at him like a rotten filth, "I wasn't letting you off anyway after hearing your proud little tales. But honestly… I don't even have the stomach to dig through the rest of the garbage you call a grateful life."
As the words left my mouth, the darkness around us began to shift. One after another, rectangular screens lit up, hanging in the void. Each screen showed a scene, a memory, and a scar Cedric had granted to this world.
On one screen, he was beating a child to death. The boy's pale body twisted with every blow, his cries fading into silence while Cedric kept laughing stomping the little kid's chest.
Another showed him forcing himself on a widow, her sobs muffled by his hand as he whispered lies about "divinity" and "solitude".
A fortress appeared on another, swallowed in flames. Men, women, children, all screaming, running, and burning alive while Cedric stood tall in the firelight, smiling at the ruin thinking it was a great idea to annihilate the civilians alongside the perpetrators.
In one scene, a mother dragged her son's corpse across the ground. The boy's body was half torn apart, his intestines spilling as she wailed, crying and begging the heavens for mercy.
And another… beast men slaves chained together, crying out in pain. Cedric poured oil over them, setting them ablaze, and left them to burn. Their charred remains were later thrown into carts as "food supplies" for his army.
Sweat drops started to appear at the sides of his buns as Cedric slowly begin to realize the situation he was in.
"L-Listen… hear me out once! Maybe… maybe we can talk this out. We can do something about it!"
I tilted my head, a bit amused. "Ouhhh, you think so?"
I raised one hand, and with a ripple in the air, a hammer and thick iron nails appeared in my palm. The metallic clink of them sliding together echoed in the darkness.
Cedric's eyes widened. He pulled hard at the ropes binding him to the cross, his veins bulging on his arms. "W-Wait! Don't you dare-"
CLANG!
The first nail stabbed straight through his wrist. His flesh was torn apart as blood splattered against the wood.
"AAAAAAHHHHH! FUCK! FUCK! STOP!"
I leaned closer, watching his blood drip. "What's wrong? Didn't you say they all wanted to give themselves to you? Consider this… my gratefulness to you, Sire Cedric."
I lined another nail against his other wrist, grinning as his face twisted in pain. His skin was frowning downward, an ugly shit to behold.
Really.
"No-No, don't!!!"
CRACK!
"Oops."
The hammer fell, shoving the iron through his left tendon and bone. Cedric howled as his voice turned into a guttural screech. His legs kicked uselessly against the ropes.
"You sound so much prettier when you're begging," I said, my eyes twisting into a grin while I am trying to hide my smirk from letting out. "Almost like that widow you broke. Remember her cries? This feels about right."
"You fucking bastard! LET ME GO! LET ME…AAARGHHH!" His words were cut short as I drove another nail through his ankle, pinning his foot into the wood.
His entire body jerked multiple times, and his veins bulged in his neck as he screamed. Spit flying from his mouth, all over the place.
"Still talking back?" I asked, tilting my head as if studying him. "You should be grateful. You've always loved being worshipped, haven't you? Now look-arms spread, nailed high… the perfect saint."
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!! AARGHHHHH! IT HURTS! IT FUCKING HURTS!" His voice cracked but that's the beauty of it.
I pressed the final nail against his other ankle, letting him see it, letting the fear sink in.
"P-Please… wait… wait-don't…"
BANG! The hammer dropped again, and the last of his body was locked to the cross. Blood streamed down the wood like tears dropping through his eyes, merging into the void below.
Cedric threw his head back, roaring like a hopeless animal but its no use here.
"Now you look a bit more organized, don't you?" I muttered while tilting my head as I held the hammer like a carpenter gauging symmetry. I lined it against his shoulders, then his legs, humming thoughtfully. "Mm… almost perfect. About ninety degrees. Very geometrical."
His blood dripped steadily but I wasn't much interested in that.
I snapped my fingers, and beside me appeared a brazier glowing with bright orange coals. A long iron rod rested in the fire, its tip glowing white. I crouched beside it, resting my chin in my palm, watching the metal heat with eager eyes.
"You know," I said in a light, almost joking tone, "Milgram once proved that obedience is carved into human nature. Ordinary men, pushed just enough, will press buttons, send shocks, and follow orders even as their victims scream. That was his little electric-chair experiment."
I tapped the iron against the rim of the brazier to check its effectiveness as the sparks flew around me.
His eyes barely containing the pain, looked at me in fear.
"But you? You didn't need orders. You made your own. That's why you're special, Cedric."
I pulled the rod out of the brazier and swung it like a baton.
"Da-da-da, am I a chef preparing a fresh cut of meat or a maestro with a stick. Guess who am I?"
I sang while laughing as I waved the rod in front of his face.
Cedric's eyes bulged out of his sockets. "S-Stay away from me! Don't…DON'T!!!"
I pressed the glowing tip against his shoulder. Flesh evaporated. The smell of charred skin filled the air. His body jerked violently but that's all he can do stuck like that.
Looking at his face really makes me laugh.
"See? That's the sound of honesty. That's what you had to do from the very start."
I dragged the rod slowly down his chest spotting the thin trails of melted skin peeling back and blistering as blood crusted and boiled out of the wound.
"When I first looked at you, I thought you had an ancient hero statue figure. Now I am wondering, if I should actually carve one out of you." He thrashed against the ropes, but all it did was make the burns spread unevenly.
"You branded women as yours," I chuckled. "Now you know what branding really feels like, right?"
I spun the rod lightly and then tapped it against his thigh charring another patch of skin. His eyes rolled back and his screams cracked into sobs, saliva dripping down his chin.
"Aw, don't cry. You're supposed to be the hero, the shield of the people. Straighten your back like a man, puff your chest. They admired you, right?" I mimicked a dramatic pose with the rod in hand and then leaned in close to press the heated rod onto his underarms. The smell was unbearable now.
"Eww. Do you not bathe or what, fuckass? You smell like shit right now."
Cedric's voice broke into pitiful gasps. "K-Kill me… just kill me…"
I felt a bit disappointed.
I tilted my head, "Nope. You can't rush art, Cedric. You of all people should know…this is a performance."