Out of the Earth, into the Light

"Go into the light, he says. There's got to be something better out there, he says." Amara snorted. He didn't know anything at all, did he? The light was the gate to the Up-Above, where the Mighty Bob burned you to a crisp if you didn't offer Him holocausts and sacrifices. Even the smallest child knew that; why didn't he? For that matter, why didn't she? What in the Heart of the World possessed her to go through the tunnels to the Up-Above on the word of some traveler?

Each lamp counted down the steps she had until encountering the abode of the Mighty Bob. His light shone through the end of the tunnel, alternately beckoning and mocking her with each step she took. She shifted the heavy belt on her waist, the instruments of life and death clanking as she walked. The soft bleating of the sheep that she led along with her to offer up as a holocaust to the Mighty Bob kept her from thinking too much about the horrible fate that would await her if she failed in appeasing Him.

Pausing a few feet before the tunnel ended and the Up-Above began, Amara put on the dark glasses and heavy veil that swathed her body from head to foot so she could have some protection from the wrath of the Mighty Bob. She took a deep breath and led her sacrifice forward into the blinding light of the Up-Above. The light of the Mighty Bob shone everywhere, penetrating even the thick layers of protection she had draped around herself. Amara knew she had little enough time to make her holocaust before she was consumed, so she got to it. Placing her hand on the sheep's head, she slit its throat, letting the blood pour out in bright red pools around her feet. It's death rattle sounded loudly in her ears as she set to work butchering it and laying out the pieces to be consumed by the Mighty Bob.

Sitting back on her heels, she waited for the sacrifice to be consumed as a sign that it was acceptable and she could continue on in peace. The daylight came and went with no sign of the sacrifice being acceptable. Worry preyed on her. She'd said all the right incantations, butchered the sheep in the right way, leaving the pieces in the appropriate formation. What could have gone wrong?

The darkness of the tunnel that led back to the Heart of the World beckoned to her, begging her to leave this fool's errand behind. How could she go back, especially with out some kind of token showing that she had made it to the Up-Above and survived? Maybe that was all that was required of her, to go into the presence of the Mighty Bob and not become ashes on the breath of She-Who-Flies? Her feet swollen and aching from the long trek to the Up-Above, she decided to sit and wait for the Mighty Bob to return and, this time, she would face Him with out the protections of her people.

Taking off the dark glasses and the veil, she gasped in amazement at the world around her. Buildings as tall as giants surrounded her, lights in the windows winking on and off in intervals she couldn't interpret. She could hear what sounded like people calling back and forth to one another, but she couldn't be sure. The tale of the Devastation said that all peoples in the Up-Above were killed when the Great-Bombs went off millenia ago.

The wind blew across her brow, blowing the wisps of her bangs to and fro. Maybe the elders were wrong, that the Great-Bombs didn't leave the land in shatters, creating the Mighty Bob and She-Who-Flies to consume those who dared to venture to the Up-Above. These thoughts plagued her through the night, doubt and wonder chasing each other in circles around her mind. The brightening of the horizon was Amara's signal that the Mighty Bob was about to awaken and walk the land once more. Standing to meet her fate, she marveled at His beauty as He painted the sky with oranges, yellows, red, and purples before changing it all to bright white with a stroke of His sword, reducing her to ashes on the breath of She-Who-Flies.