mortality karasu The sun was setting over the temple. The blood ran down the steps that led up to the altar. The penultimate sacrifice made and the heart cast to the mouth of the figure who waited below waiting for one more. The lines on each man's face were obscured by the mixture of each other's blood and the dust of the ruined temple. It had come to this. They looked at each other for a moment and looked at the hungry god who waited below. It shimmered angrily, betraying it's true shape. It was shapeless, it was nameless and it had deceived them all. The ones in the shadows smiled their relief that the disciples had seen the truth without their help. In front of the altar, they stared down at it and looked at each other one last time before fulfilling their purpose to insure that the cycle would begin again and time could continue "One, two, three." "Go!" In unison each man plunged his dagger into his own heart and fell dead before the altar. As the last rays of the sun set, the shadow at the foot of the steps disappeared. There was a halo around the moon as it came into view and in the distance fresh rain fell. Elsewhere, a man and his expectant wife returned from a series of estate sales in an upscale part of the city where they lived. She had picked up a pair of gorgeous porcelain dolls and he had come across an interesting pair of stone daggers that were nearly identical except for the colour of their handles The twins kicked inside her and she smiled at him as he drove. 010701 ... blue star Wow. 010803 what's it to you? who go blather from