Published: Oct 31, 2024
My one-hundred and sixty-sixth caption, this time a more horror-focused caption solely for Halloween today! Have a happy spooky day!
All image credits go to 羽山晃平. I claim no ownership over the image used. Please support the artist!
All image credits go to their respective artists. I have and never will claim ownership over any image I've used or modified for a caption, and I always encourage you to check out the artist and their wider body of work when possible.
They weren’t very sure who they used to be, what they once were. Untold time had gone by since they had once been a mere mortal, a fragile being of flesh, blood, and bone. They had faint memories of those times, and what little they could recall no longer mattered. Petty beliefs, superstitions, and even the concept of pain had become as foreign to them as the very act of breathing. Such small, insignificant things mattered not to them. In fact, the only memory they could recall with any detail was of their final moments, before they came to be. Before they ascended to a higher plane of existence.
They had once been a devout follower of an ancient, “archaic” God, The Great Mother, a group ostracized by every other organized religion on the planet. They prayed to her hourly, begging her to release them from their pain, hunger, and sadness. To become something… unbound. Despite their miniscule numbers, one of them was willingly sacrificed to her loving embrace each day. Their blood, their flesh, their bone, was all given to her, thrown into a vast, primordial pit that had existed since the dawn of time. One day, their turn came. As they laid upon the cold, stone altar, they closed their eyes for the last time, a knife plunged into their still-beating heart. They died, much like the others, but as their body laid broken, cold, and dead at the bottom of that pit, something was different. Something changed. She had heard them.
The Great Mother had chosen them above all others to become her avatar. Her blood, her flesh, her bone. They were given something above life, with a clear, unclouded vision for the past, present, and future of Humanity. Their remains began to shift and meld into the countless bodies around them, giving each and every one of them shape and purpose, even beyond death. This mass festered, pulsed, and churned according to The Great Mother’s will, giving them cohesion, shape. Days later, The Great Mother emerged, a physical, indomitable, all-powerful God, from that pit. They had become perfection, built in her image. Sprouting from their cocoon, an all-encompassing darkness spread across the planet, snuffing out the Sun, leaving Earth forever shrouded in night. Their form was perfection. A body befitting a mother, with wide hips and large breasts. Their hands, fused together, always praying to The Great Mother. Their face, devoid of superficial, unneeded features, bare flesh and no eyes. After all, they needed no eyes to see. On their head, they wore a crown, made of bone and bearing a gem made of blood. They were motherhood, creation, life, and the end. An absolute being, a true God.
Countless years had passed since they ascended, with just as many wars, famines, and generations in between. Predictably, Humany had tried to fight The Great Mother, to end the darkness that had overtaken the world, but their efforts had been futile, with their followers laying waste to those who resisted her love and affection. Humanity had destroyed themselves in their attempts to “stop” them, even using weapons once meant for fighting each other in vain attempts to harm them. Nothing worked, of course. All the cannons, missiles, and bombs were mere annoyances to them, leaving the landscape around them bleak and inhospitable for thousands of years. All that remained were their most devout followers, those that looked up to and praised The Great Mother for their efforts to preserve and save them.
Over 100,000 years later, Humanity was but a shadow of what it once was. The bleak, battle-scarred landscapes had given way to churches, temples, and vast spires, all built in dedication to The Great Mother. They cherished all their Children equally, giving them the purpose Humanity had lacked all those years. No longer did they pray to false Gods, or live aimless lives. No, they had been united in their worship of The Great Mother. They listened to them all, heard their prayers, and rewarded those of the most stalwart faith with what they wished. They had become united in love of them.
As the Grand Priest approached them in the vast landscape, The Great Mother turned to them, having felt their presence. They already knew why they were there, of course, but they always began each interaction with the same question.
“WHAT CAN MOTHER DO FOR YOU?” They asked, their voice booming across the gray landscape.