6 Months after the Truck

Brother Blood

Sleeping Beauty, the Princess of Hell, finally opens her eyes. He watches her, his lips turning up into a smile as her gaze goes from cloudy and confused to comprehension. She touches the clear plastic of the oxygen chamber and then she slams her hands into it, panicked. She seems to notice him then and freezes, amythest eyes meeting his own obsidian irises.

"Did you sleep well?" The monitor for her heart-rate beeps rapidly. So, she can hear him through the plastic, that's good. "We have a lot of work to do."

"Sir?" One of the doctor's speaks up from the corner, where Brother Blood had ordered them to wait.

"Take her out of the chamber and prepare her for the classroom." Brother Blood would like to stay and monitor their progress in person, but there are other things that now need to be placed in order. He'd had a good feeling about today and they'd been ready for her awakening for weeks. The external damage had fully healed a month ago, but the girl, ever defiant, had not awakened.

Today, they would begin her reeducation. It's well known to Trigon's followers, that Azar of Azarath had abducted the sole heir to their god and brainwashed her with lies. Azar would soon pay and suffer for her crimes, along with the runaway bride. Trigon does not forgive those who scorn him.

Brother Blood watches from his podium as the Princess of Hell is dragged kicking and screaming into the grand auditorium. He smiles as her fierceness as she bites one of his men and nearly gets away from the one holding her other wrist. Such anger and spirit will serve her well when doing the work of their master.

The servants of Trigon drag their charge to a chair set in the middle of the room and secure her arms and legs with metal cuffs and finally her neck with the same. Still, she struggles in vain. He watches her attempt to break the metal with the black of her soul, but she will not be able to use much of her powers. They'd had more than ten years to prepare for her return home. Their doctors had come up with a chemical solution that would keep their charge conscious, but disoriented enough to make use of her powers difficult. It was likely that Azar did not train her to use them well, or she'd already have escaped. Perhaps she wouldn't have even stepped out in front of the truck. If Trigon had raised her, she would already be conquering worlds. Fortunately for the girl, she has returned home now. They can help her reach her full potential as Trigon's heir. First, they must help her see the truth. Even Azar had given up on this world, surely the child could see the need for purification in hell fire.

"Brothers, sisters, today we celebrate the return of Trigon's lost child." Cheers erupt and he waits a few moments for them to calm down. "Yes, I too rejoice in her return home. Soon, he will rise." More cheers erupt and he smiles at their enthusiasm. If Trigon is witnessing this moment, with his all-knowing gaze, he too must be elated.

"He will rise!" The men and women of the congregation cheer several times, before quieting themselves.

"Yes, he will rise and save this wretched world. Thanks to your hard work and dedication, his child has returned home. As you know, Azar, enemy of Trigon has filled his heir's head with lies. Together we must resolidify her resolve to our cause, to Trigon, so that she may serve him in our new empire." More cheers.

"Bring in the sinners." The door in the back of the hall opens and several men and woman are ushered into the hall. Naked and chain ganged, they are brought to the front. Boos erupt from the room as the men and woman hunched over in shame and fear move at a lethargic pace. One of the men urinates on himself as he approaches, earning a smack across the face by one of the guards. Once they reach the side of the podium Brother Blood steps up to the microphone again.

"These men and women are but a small sample of the earth's populace. Taken from the city at random. Let them show you why Azar left and created Azerath. Let them show you why Trigon must purge the sinners of this world with hell's fire and rule for a thousand years of peace." Brother Blood steps back from the podium and unchains the first man in line. The man trembles as two guards step up and drag him by his wrists to the microphone.

"Confess your sins." Brother Blood pats the man on the back. It's not his fault that he did not find them before it was too late. Before he could be expunged. Before they'd found the child. Now though, he would need to be cleansed. He was not worthy to live in Trigon's new world.

"I haven't..." The man starts, but one of the guards kicks him in the ribs. "I... Once hit someone with my car. It was night and I didn't see them. I didn't want to go to jail, so I didn't stop. I was just scared... Please, let me go. I'll go turn myself in." The man pleads, but Brother Blood shakes his head.

"You are not worthy to be part of Trigon's new world order. You must purify yourself in the flames of his glory." A guard steps up from the back of the line and sprays the man with a flammable solvent. A match is lit and as the man screams for mercy, he is burned with the purifying flames.

The daughter of Trigon screams and tears stream down her face. He pities the child. If she had been raised by Trigon, the purification of such men and women would not upset her. She would understand that they deserve to go hell, and could not be left on earth to live the thousand years of peace with their lord.

Azar saw the world in a polarized view. Black and white. Good and evil. She expelled what was decided to be evil from the hearts of her people and that energy, begat Trigon, their lord. Good and evil... Who gets to decide such things? Trigon saw the weakness in the human heart. Room for creation. Room for reshaping, is that evil? Those who cannot follow the ways of their lord, are they considered to be good? Will they go to heaven when they burn in Trigon's fire? What makes it so, when every human Brother Blood has encountered has been tortured by secret crimes, fallen from the grace of their common gods.

The only thing that separates the followers of Trigon and those other fools, is their acknowledgement that they are made from darkness. They do not hide from it the way the others do. They embrace all that they are and all that they are made to be. They are worthy to inherit the scorched earth of Trigon, when he finishes reshaping what they know into something new.

The next sinner is unchained and brought to the front. The man has already been thrown into the cement basin next to the stage, where he will finish burning to ashes. This time it's a woman. She's brought to the microphone, but words won't leave her lips. She shakes in fear of the fire that will soon sear her skin.

"Come now, you must confess your sins." Brother Blood says. One of the guards punches her in the side. She makes a gasp and they give her a minute to catch her breath. He doesn't mind the brutality. He can see the Princess of Hell wince and it will help if the others are quiet and require correction. She needs to see the violence; her life has been too sheltered.

"I put my mother in a care home and didn't visit her... even when she begged me to come see her... She died alone in her room..." Not caring for one's parents. Brother Blood sucked his teeth.

"And?" He asks. That's far from all.

"I cheated on my husband... Twice... With a co-worker." That's enough to be burned. The guard sprays her with the solvent.

"Please! My name is Stacy. I'm forty-five years old. I have a daughter." She screams and begs for her life, as they all will, before being burned. They will send a hundred people to hell today. A hundred reasons this world should burn in his fire. A hundred reasons his heir should understand him, align herself with him.