The ceremony began.
He entered the temple. A temple is a place of worship; it doesn't need to be grand and expansive. This shoebox of a room was far from the cathedrals and mosques of the mainstream religions, but it was more than big enough for what was to come.
This was a single room bathed in red light, it made it hard to distinguish the objects contained within. If you squinted you could just about discern the altar in the centre, a shrine to the goddess of the cult--a place to perform your worship.
The altar was a raised slab of black marble, a void on which to lie, cold and smooth. Breaking the surface at various points were eyelets, holes for rope to slide through and tie the willing sacrifice to the ritual.
The floor was stone; scrubbed clean of the trails where blood had previously flown from the cosmic octopus. The walls were wooden, the boards roughly nailed together. There was nothing else.
She stood, hand on hip, leaning in shadow, starlight shining from the piercings that adorned her face. She was the one whom he was there to worship--short hair, devilish grin, knowing eyes.
A light silver robe covered her body, loosely hanging from her frame, keeping her modesty in this immodest place.
She tilted her head; the windmill started to turn, wheels in motion: goddess or demon, supernatural allure.
He walked towards her, a slight shuffle in his steps. A metre from her, he dropped to his knees, feeling the cold hard ground through his trousers. He tilted his head up, timid, waiting. She nodded.
A silent acceptance passed between them; the ritual was to proceed.
His white bony hands moved to his shirt buttons, fumbling and undoing, opening the gates of the soul. Taunt pale flesh emerged one button at a time, his ribs standing out from his slender physique. She drummed a finger on each one, feeling out the sacrifice.
His shirt fell to the floor, and his hands moved to his trousers, sashaying free, hips popping out, followed by a pale white ass. They dropped, and he stood there naked, goosebumps rising on his flesh. He looked at her, and something else began to rise.
He slid onto the altar, ass pressing into the marble and lent back, naked and exposed, ready.
A rope appeared in her hand, thick and robust. She slowly looped it around her willing worshiper. He shivered in anticipation. Arm, leg, arm, leg, he was tied to the marble altar.
