Valley of the Death

  Lotus Children Hospital

  A translucent glow washed over rows upon rows of abandoned buildings, illuminating the Valley of the Death in a single, monochromatic whiteness. The moon hung close to the horizon, bringing a sense of watch closer to the rotten landscape, like the landing of a divine gaze opening for the judgement day.

  Behind the barbed wire fences that enclosed the suffering of this place, signs of fresh footprints and muddy trails dragged all the way past the lines of buidlings towards the Lotus Children Hospital, signalling the arrival of new visitors.

  “Captain, why are you doing this?” A voice tightened by confusion questioned between pauses of quivering breaths.

  “You need to help me, Teacher. I can only rely on you now. I have nobody to turn to.” Koi pleaded. Dressed in the black exorcist uniform, his figure stood out as a dark, angular silhouette against the backdrop of the bright moonlight. Yet, the uniform no longer served the purpose it once did; it felt less like an honour than a shell for him to hide beneath. His body, despite all the recovery, now crawled with restraining threads of fear that gradually overwrote his thoughts with creeping layers of temptation.

  “What happened?”

  “I didn’t do ANYTHING!! I didn’t! Everyone plans this on me! Everyone plans this to see me fail!” Koi nodded to himself repeatedly like a madman. “That’s right!”

  Slamming open the hospital door, Koi threw a scrutinising look at the reception just opposite the entrance. Shafts of moonlight pierced in through the shattered windows, bleaching the space like it was a snapshot from a diminishing dream. Koi spotted a wooden desk leaning against the wall and above it, a wall clock that was showing a time he wasn’t bother to read.

  The space was hunting; despite the purity brought forth by the whiteness, the past felt more visible and exposed, as if the ruins in every corner was calling to him, the story of a massacre. Chills run down his spine.

  Koi threw the Head Teacher towards the wall and started tying him up with a chain.

  “You are giving in to your fear, Captain Koi. You are losing your sense of control. Why do you come here?”

  “Because this is where it all started.”

  The Head Teacher took a few deep breaths. “This place nests many traumatised earthbound beings, who are hungry to project their feelings onto anyone they could. Your intrusion has awakened everyone. It is not a good place to be. We need to leave.”

  “COME AT ME! I DARE YOU!” Koi bursted out laughing. He kicked the wooden desk and flipped it upside down. “COME!”

  The Head Teacher shocked his head and looked up at Koi with a side tilt. His eyes slowly widened with glimmers of trapped moonlight, reflecting a bitter empathy.

  Koi was assaulted.“Why are you looking at me like this? Stop that glare!!”

  “I am concerned with your current state of mind. You are not conscious of what you are doing.”

  Ignoring what the teacher said, Koi suddenly kneeled down and hugged his legs. “They are trying to tear me, teacher. They are trying to tear me apart!!”

  “Who are you referring to?”

  “Everybody! The Board of Directors, the Angels in my team, my own ungrateful daughter…” Koi looked around as he named everyone like he was reading out a list of convicts. Once the list run out, panic twisted his expression and his mind jumped onto another source of blame. Standing up and pointing at the blank spaces he continued, “...those groups of children, those ugly nurses, and the maggot eyes … everyone … EVERYONE!!”

  The Head Teacher watched Koi going back and forth, murmuring his accusation as if trying to convince himself. With every movement, his shadow glided from one angle to another like the second hand on a clock ticking to the second beat of an anxious heart.

  Abruptly Koi came to a halt directly in front of the shattered window; his shadow fell on the Head teacher, connecting the two of their figures in a domineering way.

  “They said I am a bad person. They said I have sinned and the Lord is going to kill me with a divine curse!! You know me teacher, you know me!! I was never a bad person. I have tried my best this whole life!!”

  “Child, let’s take a moment to calm down. All these emotions can be contradicting, disruptive and self-deceptive. It will distort your sense of truth.”

  “I don’t have time!! I know the truth, I am the TRUTH!! Save me, please!! You need to help me break this divine curse! You need to save me from this bullshit!!”

  “There is no such thing as the divine curse. This—”

  Koi charged at the teacher and kneeled down in front of him again, this time hugging his legs tighter as emotions run high. “This is what I thought!!! This whole curse is a hoax to tear me down!! I have a lot of good karma, I HAVE! But they are blaming me!! They are planning a massacre to take my life! You need to stop them! You need to save me!!”

  The Head teacher tried to pull back his legs but to no avail. “What do you mean? Are they punishing you for the mission that happened three days ago?”

  “Yes they are!! I can hear the cheers from miles away! They said I planned the death of all the Angels. They said I refuse them a peaceful afterlife! It’s absurd!! Teacher, you did the funeral ritual right? Tell them the Angels have all rest in peace! Tell them this is their fate, it has nothing to do with me!! It has nothing to do with the script I changed! Lord Father has no right to be angry! Clear my name, PLEASE!”

  “What?” A silver line of realisation slowly came upon the Head Teacher’s mind like a chilling cut to the flesh.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “I see, it makes sense now. Many of the deceased exorcists’ souls couldn’t be sent away in peace during our funeral ritual. No amount of prayers could reach them. They were all traumatised and lost in a strong current of energy that sucked their essence like a black hole and left them confused. Although they were killed by the elite demon, he didn’t mark any of their souls as his slaves, so I was wondering why we lost them. Dear child, it seems like you know exactly why that happen.”

  As he spoke those lines the Oracle looked straight into Koi’s eyes; his moonlit iris held Koi in its still and unwavering stare. Immediately Koi felt a swelling in his head, overloaded with fear. It was not the realisation that scared him, but the fact that it was proven yet again that struck him the most.

  “SHUT UP!!! I didn’t do anything wrong. This is absurd! This is utterly ABSURD! You don’t know what you are saying!! Stop putting the blame on me!!”

  The Head Teacher shook his head lightly. “So you still chose to give in to temptation. I have told you before, in life some actions could lead to extremely harmful and hurtful consequences that would cause immense amounts of suffering to everyone involved.”

  “I said I didn’t do anything WRONG! Why…you too? Why are you like everyone?! WHYYY?!!”

  “Child, this is not about blame or fault. You are trembling, oozing the symptom of a tragedy you partake in. The natural consequence of a hurtful action is suffering. This is the law of karma and we have to face it to solve it.”

  “But I did it for a good cause! For the greater good! Good karma can always redeem bad karma! I did it for the safety of the whole society!” Koi screamed at the top of his lungs; his eyes wide and bloodshot.

  “There is no such thing as karma cancelling each other. It is the seed we sow and the price we harvest. Your current fear is one of the prices you are paying, it doesn’t help to resist or run away from it. The reality will bite you harder. Come child we need to address the problem.”

  “SHUT UP!! You are wrong!! My intention is pure! My mind is pure!! But they ripped my kindness! They ripped my hardwork!! Expectation upon expectation, I was forced to make sacrifices!! Who else will do it if not ME?!"

  Every word cried out was a wail echoed from the deepest reflection of his pain. Tears drenched his eyes; within the space of this immaculate whiteness, his emotions peaked with an overcurrent of despair. From the tip of his hands to the colour of his face, nothing felt recognisable anymore. “You know it…I was just a naive son of a poor farmer. I chose to join the organisation because I WANTED TO FEEL USEFUL. WHY IS FATE SO CRUEL TO ME? WHY..?!” Raising his voice, Koi’s scream had reached an unrestricted peak.

  “It is harmful for you to continue like this. This is not the end. It is not a permanent stain on your soul. Hold onto the conscience you have within you. You have not lost it yet. Take a step back and look at this tragedy with a fresh perspective.”

  “Don’t try to convince me to give in to a sin I have never committed!! This karma you said is just a curse in disguise!!! What law of karma? Quit using those big words!! Your Lord has placed a divine curse on me, hasn’t he?! He is going to kill me and you want to see me dead too! I will not give in! I will not submit!!! You are EVIL! I have a glint of hope…a shimmer of light from you, but teacher you are cruel. You know I am genuine but still choose to stab me upfront. You will help me break this stupid karma! You will DO IT!!!”

  “You are overwhelmed. Your words are jumbled up. I cannot defend you from your karmic debt. I cannot do anything to prevent it, but I can give you more guidance to repent your mistakes. Life is not linear. Your reaction is not predetermined.”

  Koi punched the teacher hard on the face and immediately left purple bruises on his cheek. Blood trickled down from his lips as he stood stunned by the act of violence.

  “Why do you forsake me? WHY?!” Koi continued to rage. “What do those monthly cleansing rituals, prayers and donations even mean?! What does this stupid House of Glory even bring?!!”

  The Head Teacher drew a long deep breath. “Those cleansing are done to protect you from negative energy clinging to your body. The House is never meant to be a magical solution to your problem, it is a sanctuary to help you find ways to transform your suffering. It is a community to help you practice mindfulness and lead a contemplative life.”

  “Hahaha, yeah that’s right.” Koi grabbed the Oracle’s leg and dragged him towards the centre of the room, before pulling out a sword from his sleeve. “BULLSHIT! The whole House of Glory is a fraud. It’s a cult that glorifies the evil Lord! It drains us of our resources! Our hope! Our life! And impose a sense of superiority just to feed the greedy Lord with praises. What is this all for if the Lord can just punish a poor soul like me?”

  The atmosphere went silent. Every breath sounded like it was trending on drifting feathers. Suddenly, Koi turned around and yelled, “SHUT UP, I AM TALKING!! Shut up you whores, I AM TALKING!!” Captain Mars sacrificed her own people all the time on her missions.”

  Straightening his back, he starting pointing his sword in every direction his eyes laid on. One moment acting like he was making a speech to an empty room, and the next, he was sobbing nonstop. “She couldn’t care less about the life of the people she needed to save. I cried so many tears being her officer! I cried but Lord didn’t bet an eye! I could never learn to become who I truly aspire to be! I couldn’t because this world didn’t want me to!!”

  Koi then glanced at the Teacher and kicked him in the stomach multiple times.

  “Even if you kill me, I won’t be able to do anything for you. The Lord does not govern order or tyrannise us for our wrongs. He is an enlightened being that transcends death. His teaching is a path of awakening, some akin to it as divine teaching. It helps the Exorcist overpowers negative demonic energy. There is no way he will curse a sinned soul. The curse you speak of, should it be true, must be coming from another place.”

  “SHUT UP!! I didn’t ask for your stupid propaganda!! He is looking down on me!! Your damned Lord is looking down on me!!” The kicking continued, drawing more blood with every impact. “If only there is no place of worship, if only that damned temple is in ruin…will I be free from judgement…”

  Words slipped out faster than thoughts. As he digested what he just said, an evil smile stretched across his lips. “I need to destroy the Lord! I need to…yes…I need to free this whole town from this ruthless circle of divine curse.”

  “Child, don’t give in to this madness. The negative energy around you is intensifying your emotion! Child, stay with me!” The Teacher leaned forward and tried to touch Koi’s forehead, but the Captain snapped and slapped him hard; it almost numbed the teacher’s mind to confusion.

  The laughter that followed chilled the Oracle’s bone and tightened his chest; it was so raw, it brought out a taste of flesh laced with blood as if the body could sense nothing but blood. Koi picked up his phase and started dragging the head teacher across the floor in circle, while laughing nonstop. Round and round he turned as the teacher coughed up more blood, smearing the floor with messy circular trails.

  Outside the broken window, the sheet white moon continued to doze in placidity. The teachers gasped a prayer before shutting his eyes. “The hell is looking at us…it hears your thought…”

  Your Lord taunted me.

  He lured the demons to my door and locked us together.

  I will lead them back to the heaven's stairs

  To collect the debt humanity owed me.