#second prophet

"Blast this jungle!"   A large man of roughly 6 foot,  4 inches chopped through vines with his machete as he trekked through the jungle.  The man was alone, how long he had been alone he couldn't recall. It was odd for him. Before this jungle all he could recall was a small town. He had found a non-believer there but he showed him the way of god the only way he knew how. But now he was alone in the jungle. This god forsaken jungle. This evil jungle. Soon he would reach his goal though, soon he would reach the Temple of Pain, the once great temple of one of the old demon lords. That is where he could do it. That is where he could prove his commitment to the lord by destroying an old non-believer’s temple, and removing the lord that they served, that would be the best proof. No one would argue his devotion then, not even David with all his pride.

   Wait, who is David?

  The man couldn't recall anymore. He felt a need to push on though, through the jungle, he mustn't stop, he was almost there .  He walked on for several more hours, getting increasingly angry at the jungle. The vile jungle that seemed to hold him back from his honor, from what he deserved. Then he found it – the Temple of Pain. From outside he could see that the roof was caved in and it was quite possible that at least two of the walls had fallen down, yet, somehow the several hundred tonne front door was still standing, as were the four great pillars that held a small roof over the front door. The roof was gone, the rock was cracked, and vines wrapped around it tightly.  It looked like the vines had spent hundreds of years covering the building, but not a one touched the door. The man walked around the building to find that every wall was in fact gone. There was rubble on the jungle floor but the rubble was high enough that the man could not see inside, and too dangerous to attempt climbing, so he returned to the door.

  He stood facing the door for several minutes deeply breathing, preparing himself for whatever remained inside. Upon opening the door he found himself very unprepared. Inside the room the walls stood tall and strong. There were neither cracks nor chips, nor marks of any kind. They were as perfect as the day they were built. The walls and floor were the same hue of red. It was difficult to tell if it was paint or if it was the simple the color of the bricks. The room was large, there were no doors, but there were flames that circled the room. Along the edge of the room flush to the walls was a much lower wall of cool, almost cold, fire.

  For the first time in years the man felt fear. Yet still he stepped slowly into the room. When he had finally entered the room entirely, the door slammed closed behind him, loudly, terrifying the man, sending fright like no other through his spine, freezing him in place.  As he stood there frozen he watched as the fire directly across from him worked its way into the room toward the center.  The flame from the back wall seemed to slowly roll to the middle, but no trail was left. Nothing new burned.  The fire formed a ball in the center of the temple. The ball of fire floated in the middle of the room rising a few centimeters from the ground. Slowly the sides of the ball smoothed out, no longer looking like flame but rather like a large red and orange crystal, perfectly smooth with the fire reflecting on it. The process had taken several minutes and by the time it had stopped the man had regained his courage. He no longer felt frozen with fear, but determined to stand for his lord, ready to defeat whatever creature came from that orb.

  The man walked forward looking closely at the orb. Oddly, it gave off no heat. He slowly lowered his hand toward it, closer and closer, yet still feeling no heat. When his hand touched the orb a booming voice sounded throughout the room, echoing not only in the room but also in his mind. 

  "Ahh, another feeble mortal come to test his metal."  The orb began to heat up, now burning the prophet, but he was unable to remove his hand and unable to scream. His palm felt like it was being melted but still he couldn't move. "What's this? Not a fool hardy young man come to serve me in hopes of power? Hmm. No, you want power but – oh my, not even you remember why you're here."  The voice started laughing now, but the man managed a few words, difficult to hear with his inability to move, and the searing pain in his hand. "Pardon sir? Repeat."

  The man did. "You can't hurt me.... those are the rules you ....you were sealed... you can only hurt people...people who attack you or your followers."

  The voice laughed again. The laugh sent chills through his spine. "You are indeed correct." The man was blasted back against the door.  He could hear his skull hit the door before the world went black.

  He didn't know how long he was unconscious for but when he awoke he found himself standing in front of the door. When he looked up he saw, standing in the middle of the room, was a women. She wasn't very tall, 5 feet at most, and thin, almost sickly. She had a black eye and a swollen lip. Then the voice boomed in his head again, "you were correct, and if you had followed that rule, then upon opening that door you would have found rubble. Yet here you stand facing, someone who would like very much to talk to you." The little girl smiled. "Do you think to frighten me with a child?" The man was angry now, he held no fear, only rage. "Oh honey,  if only you read your books." She was walking towards him now. He stood glaring at her, rage building in his mind his hands clenched into fists. When she finally got to him she stood staring up at him, unblinking and still smiling.

  "Step back woman!" He raised his fist and swung at her. Upon hitting the girl he heard the snap of bones and a crunch as they broke their way through flesh. Then he felt the pain. He dropped to his knees and looked to see his hand dripping with blood, bones forcing their way out of his knuckles.  The girl looked down at him now, still smiling with a single drop of blood rolling its way down her cheek from where he had touched her, but she had no marks. She leaned down, "if only you had truly learned."  She placed a hand on his face and kissed his forehead but instead of warmth and comfort he only felt pain. The pain of several punches hitting his head, the pain of both his arms being broken, the pain of ribs being cracked. The woman stepped back and the man fell forward and began vomiting blood. He emptied more blood then he had seen in his life, or as best as he could remember.

  Where was he? He was in pain. Yes, that's right, no jungle, no town, no mission, just pain. He looked up to see the woman still standing there. His pain was gone his hand was healed. He felt fine. He stood once more and the girl stared at him, her smile slowly fading.  "Time for another lesson." She took a step back and seemed to grow about six inches, her black eye faded, her swollen lip lost its swell, then her face changed entirely until standing before him was a different women, an older one. Her face was stern, "well, have you learned your lesson?" The women stated, staring up at him yet somehow, he felt that she was staring down at him. She raised her hand to the side, as if preparing to slap him across the face. "Well? Will you talk back to me again, or have you learned your place woman?" He stared at her dumfounded, then the hand struck him. As it made contact with his face his knees almost exploded with pain. He could feel the bones shattering. His elbows did the same, then his hands, followed by all of his ribs, one after another.

He dropped to his knees once more which only caused more pain, and made him collapse entirely on to his side again, vomiting blood, even more than last time. "Well that should be the end of that dear."  She stepped back once more revealing a young boy. He could not have been more than ten years old. "Well boy? Have you accepted the lord into your life?"

  The man stood slowly to find himself healed once more. The boy spoke again.