The Eternal Forest - Chapter VI
#6 of The Eternal Forest
Saint Christopher gives up his life for a greater purpose ...
The Eternal Forest
Chapter VI
2022 by Zorha
Athleta Christi
Samos, Lycia
_Anno Domini, 251 _
Christophoros turned his head to the creak of his prison cell door opening. A small fire in the center of the cold room crackled, embers swirling up through the small opening above, framing the perfect white circle of the full moon. The bare stone walls of his cell looked chipped and ancient.
The prisoner gave a gregarious smile at the two gorgeous, scantily clad women entering the room.
A guard closed the grated iron door with another rusted creak and locked it. Nicaea and Aquilina neared the giant without fear. Despite the rumors of prior service in the Roman Legion, this giant was quite gentle. They knelt by Christophoros, their loose fitting silk girdles nearly slipping off their ample bosoms, and presented the soldier saint with two small boxes.
Christophoros took the two boxes curiously and opened them. The light of the fire glinted off gold and priceless gems. The two women caressed his bare thighs, their sultry lips smiling back up at him.
Christophoros thought back to his former God King, and for a moment, the old longings of his half mortal flesh called out. It had been an odd thing, to deny the excesses of this corporeal world, but in the war for mortal souls, the soldier once known as Reprobus had found his true purpose.
Despite Emperor Nero blaming the Great Fire of Rome on a small cult of alleged incestuous canibals in 64 AD, their veneration of the jewish crucifixtions some decades earlier continued to spread. Martyrs to the cause continued to give their lives to the message of sacrifice and humility.
One of the earliest of them, James the Just of Nazarth, stoned to death during the first Roman - Judea war of 66 AD, told all those who would listen of how the Romans unjustly put his brother Jesus to the cross in Jerusalem by prefect Pontius Pilate thirty years earlier.
It was not coincidental that Herod Agrippa had once tried to eliminate his rival James. However Herod Agrippa died quite suddenly in Caesarea due to pains in his chest and stomach, not brought on at all from poison in 44 AD.
Centuries later, the outcast once called Reprobus came to Samos to comfort the persecuted. He knew it would be his final testament. He had lived a full life, and was ready to give it up for a greater purpose. In his beheading, he would serve the most powerful he knew.
Christophoros set aside the two boxes of riches and pulled the two women up by their arms. He planted a chaste kiss on each of their flushed cheeks.
"I know why the King of Samos sent you. But you see, the riches of this mortal world he sent mean nothing to me. For I know you both contain something far more valuable." He held their hands, tiny in his gargantuan palms. "For you are my sisters, and I am your brother."
Their seductory looks faltered and they began to listen in earnest. No man had ever treated them as equals.
"Let me tell you about the Savior of our Souls. The true King of Kings. The one known as ... Christ ..."
~ Fin ~
I often joke how bad my parents fucked up by naming me Christoper. But despite it all, I wound up choosing Christene when I went in for my legal name change. So I guess jokes on me.
Inspiration for this dark yarn came from Children's and Household Tales (1812), and early portions of Eternal Forest (1936).
I often do not speak of Politics or Religion. But this Wolfssegener Heathen does harbor them. While researching the Völkisch movement for the sequel to Ein Wolf in der Falz, I got sucked into the endless black forest my ancestors have continually sent throughout my life in dark dream.
This marks the 99th submission to Yiffstar | SoFurry. I want to do something special for my 100th story. Something .. equally as dark as the Black Forest ... *Wolfish grin*