Devil's Testimony
Deep, deep within the earth is a mammoth that listens for when people beg for escape when there is no other direction to go. Those who seek the Pit Mammoth’s treasures will dig and dig and dig. Obsession driving them. But those who are at a complete loss, when obsession falls away and all that is left with starving desperation. Fear and despair completely burying you. Until, behind you closed eyes you see a light in the distance. The dark of the cave is all consuming, but when you close your eyes and look down there is a light just for you. If you accept it you will fall into its embrace, and the fire will change you. All worries and fears burn away, the boundaries that had been written upon your mind by others are stripped away. The Mammoth’s fire burns away all boundaries and you are truly free. Free as a bird deep beneath the earth. A canary that can dance and sing with no worry of losing its breath.
And what’s more; there are others singing. You follow the voices through the caves and tunnels deep beneath the earth. You see through the deep dark with the fire that shines like a lantern through your eyes. You slither your way through crevices that before would have squashed your ribs. You trip on your cloven feet and slide against the coarse stone, but your thick dark fur that has grown over your now green skin is strong and keep the sharpness of the earth at bay.
You finally see the light as you enter a grand auditorium with dozens, hundreds of people just like you; free. Their eyes of fire lighting up the entire hall. From the center of the ceiling is a massive green serpent, with deep emerald scales that glitter in the firelight. All along its back is a mane of shaggy, black fur. The serpent opens its mouth wide, its mouth flexing and popping as its fangs jut out and venom spits from their tips. The revelers cheer and hold up cups to catch the venom, and drink it down thirstily. They drink it as you would have wine when you were caged, but now you are desperate for a taste.
‘Come, have a drink with us’ one cheers to you. She, like you, has a set of horns rising from within her head of thick black hair. Her pupils whose deep darkness pierces through the fire burning beautifully from her skull, are like a frog’s. Her smile is as large as one as she offers you a drinking horn, carved from the very same type as the ones crowning your own head. You reach out your hand and take the cup, and you brush each other’s hands in the parting. It was soft, yet strong. Her nails so long and dark nearly cut your skin, and you know you have much tougher skin now than you did in your old life.
You peer into the horn, the cloudy lime-green liquid sloshed inside, it smelled of nothing, but the taste… the taste is like nothing you’ve ever experienced. Something that would have certainly killed you swiftly in your chained life now is the most marvelous thing your lips have ever tasted. Your spirit lifts and you dance. You dance with the woman, you dance with a dozen others. And you can drink until you have had your fill.