Behind The Scenes (Completed) ✔️

8• The Oath

The drum rolls came to an abrupt stop.

Shea let out her last breath.

The four men in black capes, who had tied her to the altar earlier, walked over to the now dead girl. They cut the cords off, and lifted the motionless body drenched in blood. They took her to a large, plain wooden bed that had been placed in front of the burning upside down cross, and laid her down, next to the three other corpses.

The two men behind Nik and Brennen asked them to stand from their kneeling position, and led them to another man, who was holding a kettle with clean water and a white towel, and had a basin at his feet. To wash their hands, just like the others had done before them. But none of the eight friends thought it was really necessary. The water cleaned the physical red liquid from their skin; but they had still murdered those girls, and that fact, would never go away.

Nik and Brennen then went to join the row in which their six friends were now, about ten meters to the right of the pentagram. Another row of men in black stood behind the six. Each had a knife in their hands.

Just like the others had done, Nik and Brennen knelt down on the grassy ground, took their masks off and put them down, lifted their head, exposing their neck, and held their breath as the surface of the cold, sharp blade was pressed against their throats.

The drums slowly started rolling again. The man in the goat mask began chanting more incantations, again, his voice getting louder and louder as the sound of the drums started increasing.

After a few minutes, the noise finally came to an end.

Moving from his spot for the first time, the goat man slowly walked around the wooden circle, until he arrived in front of the red caped young men. He stared at them for a moment, but none of them looked back at him. Their eyes were all fixed on the bright crescent moon that shone in the cloudless sky above. The only familiar sight in this horrible, horror movie setting.

The men holding the knives at their throats bent over them slightly. "You shall answer positive to all the questions that will follow," they whispered harshly into their ears.

The goat man took a few more steps forward, stopping at Sam, who was at the end of the row.

"Be it known to all that we, the Illuminati, are minded to raise Samuel John Golbach, by virtue of his youth, loyalty, honour and valour, to the esteemed circle of our brotherhood," he said in a solemn tone.

Sam jumped slightly in surprise at the mention of his name, but quickly scolded himself inwardly. Of course they would know our names.

"Do you swear and acknowledge Lucifer to be your true and only Lord ?" The man in the goat mask asked.

Do I really have to do that ?? Samuel asked himself. The mere name of the being for whom he had been forced to do one of the worst crimes one could ever commit made him want to throw up.

He reluctantly opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out of it. After a few seconds, he decided to shut it again, in the vain hope that maybe, the man in the goat mask would just ignore it and go on. But he wasn't so lucky.

"Do you swear and acknowledge Lucifer to be your true and only Lord ?" The man asked again, a little louder than before.

And this time, the man in black behind him started pressing at his neck with the cold blade, causing his faint wound to sting.

"Y-yes," Sam managed to say.

"Do you swear fealty to the Illuminati, to defend and obey the rules of the organisation, or death shall take you ?"

Another moment of silence.

"...yes," he finally said.

"Do you also swear to protect the secrets of the brotherhood, and to never disclose the secrets of a fellow member, or death shall take you ?"

"Yes."

"Repeat after me : I, do solemnly swear and pledge my life to the Illuminati, to defend and obey the organisation or death shall take me, and to uphold the honour of the brotherhood."

Silence again.

"Take the oath !" Growled the man behind him, pressing the knife even harder against Sam's neck.

Once again, the boy finally gave in.

His weak voice cracked several times, however, as he vocalised the final words that were going to seal the beginning of his end.

"I solemnly pledge my life to the Illuminati, to defend and obey the organisation or death shall take me. And to uphold the honor of the brotherhood..."

"And I for my part, do swear to defend and honour Samuel John Golbach, as befits a true brother. Arise now, brother Samuel."

And with that, the knife was finally released from his neck, and he was ordered to stand up, and take the hood of his cape off. Meanwhile, the man in the goat mask moved to the next person.

"Be it known to all men that we, the Illuminati, are minded to raise Cole Robert Brock, by virtue of his youth, loyalty, honour and valour, to the esteemed circle of our brotherhood," he said. "Do you swear and acknowledge Lucifer to be your true and only Lord ?"

Colby didn't reply.

He was frozen in his spot, his eyes fixed on the sky, on the crescent moon that illuminated him from above, and he wasn't listening.

He didn't want to listen.

He didn't want to obey any more orders, especially not from these men. Especially not after what had just happened. He didn't even want to be there. He didn't even want to live anymore. How will I even be able to live after this ? He cried inwardly, as heavy tears started rolling from his eyes again. To walk the Earth with such a heavy weight on my shoulders ?

"Take the oath !" Ordered the man in black behind him.

But Colby ignored him too.

After a long moment of silence, getting impatient, the man started rotating the knife that he was holding against his neck, until the sharp blade was vertical against Colby's skin. Ready to cut.

Colby still didn't move.

He didn't care.

He didn't care anymore.

Thankfully, Sam who was getting worried about the silence of his best friend, turned his head just in time to catch the movement. He wasn't surprised by his best friend's utter indifference to being so close to death, but the sight still made his heart sink.

"Colby !" he called, in as low a voice as he could, just enough for his friend to hear.

Colby took his eyes off the moon for the first time since he had knelt down. He looked completely lost as he lifted his head up at Sam.

"Please don't," Sam mouthed, his eyes begging, distress evident on his face. "Don't do that to us. Don't do that to me."

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I had no idea that this ceremony would take so long ! I actually thought it wouldn't be longer than two short chapters, but apparently I was wrong. This chapter and the next were supposed to be one, but I decided to cut it here.

Anyway, if anyone is reading this and actually likes it, it would mean a lot to me if you let me know. Let me know even if you don't!!

Next chaper coming soon.