She stands upon the scorched hilltop and looks down at the blood-soaked altar below her. Dozens of smoldering rodent corpses cover the great stone table, and hundreds more pepper the muddy ground at its base. A broad smile forms across her face.
She has taken the form of a colossal dragon for this event, complete with serpentine body and leathery wings—and of course, able to breathe monstrous jets of fire on those disgusting rodents as their squishy-soft bodies have plopped through the portal into the inter-dimensional super-reality, spattering their blood everywhere as they transit through time and space.
She rolls her dragon shoulders back and instantly transforms into Kali, the Hindu goddess of time and judgment. Her skin is a deep blue and she has four arms. She wears a necklace of shrunken human heads and a skirt made from human arms sewn together at the elbows.
The Darkness as Kali, Hindu goddess of time and judgment. The Darkness likes to have things her way, and is comfortable expressing her disappointment when they aren't.
"Blood and fire, fire and blood," she cackles. "A pretty sight to make things right! And what a thoughtful gift to give myself! I find the odor of burning flesh to be particularly pleasant, don't you agree, everyone?"
Her entourage stands nearby in chains. With downcast eyes, they obsequiously murmur in united affirmation. Her slaves appear vaguely humanoid, but they certainly aren't Homo sapiens. More like Homo zombiens or Homo needsandwichiens, they are so impossibly thin. One easily imagines they are chained together to keep them from blowing away with the next gust of inter-dimensional breeze. And most of them are horribly disfigured, as if their limbs have been recently cut away like paper dolls and glued back together all akimbo.
"Well I'm content for now," she professes. "Oh but earlier, when I learned what that wretched little cub Moloch asked in his human school about the Hidden Ones..." her voice trails off momentarily as she looks over at her hollow-cheeked servants. "Let's just say I may regret somewhat taking out my frustrations on you, my dear ones."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Image by Raja Ravi Varma. Public Domain.