This week a new episode of my short story, “The Loose Damned,” is live on Amazon’s Kindle Vella for fantasy/sci-fi lovers. You won’t want to miss this one. Keep reading to find out why…
It is a story of cosmic proportions. A story about forces of good and evil. A story about rebelliousness, righting wrongs, love, and cosmic punishment.
Michael Vega (Mike) has escaped from hell, and he has broken the space-time rip which shouldn’t be broken doing so. But, unbeknownst to him, the new appointed Reaper and his Hell Snatchers are in close pursuit…
But is Reaper carrying his own twisted motives…?? Haunted by his human memories, Reaper is prone to his own selfishness, his own egomania; and he has a past, a very dark and troubled past…
And what will The Cosmic Council do about about this?? Will they send The demon of Pestilence and Disease to punish and balance whoever threatens the cosmic balance??
Below, a short excerpt of chapter 13.
Titled: “Demon of Pestilence and Disease“
“…It was a threatening and ghastly creature. A specter floating tree level, with what seemed to be tattered clothing or skin, and with an obscure aura about him. He appeared fully materialized, bodily present; however, at times he would sway a little side to side and thus look like a hologram leaving projection in the night’s air. He had a face, a tortured, miserable, non-human looking semblance…
“Extremely small, flying beetles and flies were about him and his aura, and these carried a bluish luminescence of their own. This was the infernal demon of pestilence and disease, and he was a bringer of castigations to the guilty. The guilty was sentenced by The Council of The Unseen. The Council of The Unseen had been established, since mankind’s dawn, by the race of The Celestials. The mysterious stranger belonged to this unknown council and extraterrestrial race…
“No one was moving. No one dared move. They all knew right away. Not with exact detail. But they all sensed his origin, and this brought them chills. See, the one called Reaper, Mike and Jenny, were connected. They were, or had been once, humans entirely. And they were linked to each other by a ‘strange deformity’ in their DNA. Human doctors had called it a ‘congenital disease.’”…
It is a short story, coming soon on Kindle Vella, an Amazon service, which can be read by buying tokens. You can buy 1 episode at a time, or many at a time. The first 3 episodes are free to read to introduce the reader to the story.
short blurb or intro: Michael Vega has returned from the beyond. He’s on a mission. But the rip has been opened now, and hell is after him. What will he do…?? Only you can find out.
And before reading the chapters, here’s a book trailer I made to introduce the story:
These are the first 2 chapters or episodes to get acquainted with the upcoming story.
CHAPTER 1 – “The Return”
A bar scene. Bars are so depressing. Or at least this one was. There was too much smoke in the air. Someone was smoking like a chimney, but no drunkard there really cared. The bartender with the unfriendly face cared even less though. He was cleaning the inside of beer glasses with a dirty cloth. But, of course, he didn’t know it was dirty; or, better put, he didn’t care.
The old man was just sitting there, facing the bartender and staring at the bottom of his empty glass. ‘Did I have booze and drank it already…??’ he thought to himself. Then he sighed in frustration, grunted, and looked at all the alcohol bottles in display in front of him and on the other side of the counter. His mouth drooling, his eyes reddish, his movements clumsy. Indeed, very intoxicated.
The old man now glared at the unfriendly bartender. Then he smiled and said, “So, I know you wanna gimme another beer. C’mon! Say it. You want to, huh.” His eyes lolling and unsteady. The bartender just observed him. Then the old man continued, “Please, I want it! And I want it! C’mon. Be my pal.”
The barman became pensive, then added, “Rowley, just go home.” Then he got nearer to him, right on his face, and continued, “What did I tell you…?? This was the last one.”
“So, good! Gimme the last one please,” the old man said while offering his empty glass to be refilled.
“No, you already had your last one. Now is time to go. So move it,” he came back firmly.
“O, c’mon. Just one more. Don’t be a mean one, Mr. Grinch. Yes. You. Mr. Grinch.”
“GO. HOME,” he repeated firmly.
The old man pouted like a little kid, then he grunted, then he scoffed. “Okie dokie. I know we are friends and all. So, I won’t stay. Because… because if I stay… if I stay I kick your…” Then, before finishing, he dropped to the floor just like a sack of potatoes.
He was awkwardly resting on the ground now. The few men drinking in the bar were observing him. Some were laughing. Some were too drunk to even care. “Oops. No! No! Don’t help me. I’m okay…” he said this as he staggered to his feet. Then he exited the bar, but not before he bumped into some chairs.
Outside then, he squinted under the sun. He stopped himself and looked at the road in front of him. The bar was in the outskirts of the city, and here there were mountains, wilderness, and a very, very long road. He then wobbled. He cursed under his breath. He felt thirsty still. And he was thinking about taking his motorcycle and going to another bar.
Where was his motorcycle anyway…?? He’d left it right in front. Or not. Perhaps. He felt confused. But he walked in circles searching for it, then remembered and went around the bar. The drinking place had a small parking lot on its side, so he kept walking and trying to find his bike. Not that the parking lot was big and full of cars, but he was not feeling so well, and his vision was not well either.
“Hey, old man!” came a voice from the side of the main road. “Are you looking for your son’s wheels?! It’s mine now that he doesn’t need it anymore!”
The old man swallowed something bitter while staggering to remain on his feet, then he leaned on the bar wall. His son had passed away. He’d been on a gang of bikers, so he’d met this guy there. But what’d happened…?? Weren’t they friends?? How can he steal his dead son’s motorcycle now. Or maybe this was a joke. The old man smiled, then said, “Gee. Too funny! You’re a funny guy, Steve! Or whatever your name is. Can’t remember…”
Before the guy, Steve perhaps, put on his helmet and took off in the bike, he grinned and added, “Nah, I don’t joke! But, I admit, this is pretty funny, right?!”
The old man was left all alone, confused, not even understanding what’d just happened. He lost his footing and fell on the ground intoxicated.
Meanwhile, Steve rode the bike hell for leather. The road in front of him was paved and long, very long. To his side, wilderness. Far beyond it, mountains. Above them all, the skies were blue and the sun was scorching hot. He thought himself as a speed demon. He actually felt like a really bad-to-the-bone demon, just because he’d stolen a bike from an old man. ‘What an accomplishment for my bad-guy résumé,’ he muttered under his breath.
Suddenly, a bright light in the skies. The blueness of it all trembled. But this light felt and appeared more like an omen. This shook Steve to the core. He didn’t know why, but he felt curious and afraid at the same time; however, he also felt allured by it. He couldn’t resist it, so he stopped the bike and stared at the bright light. Dazzling. Mysterious. Compelling.
The light was more like holography of colors. The rainbow-like banner of colors was right above him now, and it also spread all over the road and on part of the wilderness. It was like something, or someone, had come flying or running out of an interdimensional portal right above the ground…
CHAPTER 2 – “Enter The Loose Damned”
There were no words. No words to describe the brightness and mystery emanating from the phenomena above him. Steve looked around him, then behind him. He was trying to find other witnesses that could corroborate that he wasn’t crazy, that he was actually sane in seeing the spectacle above him. He saw no one. The road. The wilderness. Total emptiness.
He felt alone, so alone; and anxious, extremely anxious. The effect of this phenomena was indeed strong. The light filled by rainbow colors was now sizzling or vibrating rapidly. And he was now paying more attention to his surroundings, as the colors were fading and he felt mysteriously aware.
Then, suddenly, he heard a noise on the tarmac. Someone was behind him. Who was it..?? Then he slowly turned around. There it was. But he couldn’t see his face at first, since this one was bent on his knees and looking down. He wore tattered jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he came from the same pits of hell as The Devil himself. His long, jet-black hair disheveled.
He was crouching just like a beast ready to pounce on its prey. He was beside the motorbike and he didn’t seem friendly. When he looked at Steve, this one almost dropped backwards. It was him! How could it be?? He was gone. He saw his body at the funeral. What the hell was going on here??
“Kid…??” Steve asked. “Is it really you??”
Almost half his face was burned. But these burns seemed fresh, as if they had occurred just a few minutes ago. And the muscular boy was not in any pain. But who was he?? And where had he burned himself like that?? Better yet, Why wasn’t he in the emergency room of a hospital right now??
“What’s my name??” the 6-foot-tall young man demanded.
Steve looked confused and horrified at the same time. He hesitated, then said, “How-How is this possible…?? What happened to you??”
The strange boy looked unwavering, resolute; but mentally jumbled at the same time. “What’s my name?!”
No response for several seconds. Meanwhile, the light in the skies had faded completely.
“Michael, it’s me,” the biker replied. “Don’t you remember…?? What-What is this?? Some kinda joke??”
Then the strange 17-year-old called Michael stood up. He was looking straight at him, then at his surroundings, then at the skies, then at his own hands. These ones were telling him something. Perhaps reminding him something from his past. His hands had been in places. Horrible places. But now they were here. He was here. Back here. But something more was in the back of his mind. He couldn’t remember it all. Not yet anyway.
Then, without removing his eyes from his soiled hands, he said as if to himself, “Yes… I am Michael… I am Michael Vega…” Then he looked at the polished motorcycle in front of him. It suddenly brought back some beautiful memories. The wind on his face. The speed. The feeling of freedom. Then, as he gently inspected it with his hands, he followed, “And this is my bike.”
“Well, Mike, I did steal it from—”
And before Steve could even finish his sentence, Mike interrupted, “Steal…??” Then, with full attention on him, he plodded towards Steve. “Why did you steal it?? Who are you??”
“Er. Don’t you remember me?? We were in the same crew! What’s wrong with you, man??”
He violently grabbed him by the collar and demanded, “Who are you?? Tell me!”
Steve was 22 years old and had been a gang member for about 4 years now. And he’d met Mike one night after he’d ran away from his house, away for good from his alcoholic father. Mike had never met his mother, and he hated his father. His father had later been sent to prison for killing somebody with his car while driving heavily intoxicated.
But Steve and Mike had become friends since then. Well, sort of friends. They had had their problems, but in their unique way they did work through them. Now, Mike didn’t remember much; but being closer to him, he patiently studied his face. There was awkward silence. Some fuzzy recollections came to him.
“Hey. Ch-Chill, man,” Steve added. “I’m your friend. Or I was. Or, what the hell happened to you??”
Michael Vega pierced him with a deep stare, as if staring into his very soul. There was something powerful in Mike’s eyes now that he was back. Back from where?? We’ll discover it together soon.
“Shut up. Come with me.” Then, without hesitation, he sat on the bike and took off with him….
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it and wish to discover what happens next and the terrible hell unleashing upon him. In returning to Earth, Michael has opened the space-time rip, and so the chaos he unfolds increases. Follow me to find out on what day is being released.
Everything and everyone appearing in our lives, whether is for good or bad, is never a coincidence. Everything evolves the way is supposed to evolve, nothing lies outside this Universal KNOWING.
Hitler had to convince Germans, get them to follow him and give him power to kill millions, in order for humanity to get to where we are. Knowledge, learning from the past, evolution to understand oneself, good, evil–all plays a role, whether you like it or not.
The people you meet, the troubles you suffer, the feeling of worthlessness, anxiety, loss of people you love, the anger, the confusion–they are there for a reason. Finding out why, individually, and growing from it, is how you experience greater evolution and meaning in your life.
If you close yourself to this and so deny the purpose and connection behind ALL things, then it is indeed the moment you lose yourself, and thus you enter a state of confusion where nothing truly matters to you anymore.
Because your mind is the portal either to heaven or hell, to great understanding and life or to ignorance and death. When your mind denies life’s evolution, when it judges it, when it demonizes it, then you are obscuring your mind and so you cannot enter any heaven but only a hell.
What creates our experiences in life is our very minds. The pain of your divorce, the relived tragedies of painful memories, the feelings of not being good enough, the anxiety when you do not have such and such money, the itching desire for possessing somebody, etc.–it is all your mind.
You may, of course, create your own ignorant excuses of why you feel what you feel–i.e., they make me feel like that, I have an inherited mental disease so I am depressed, I am not rich or have a great job so I constantly feel worthless, I am physically unattractive and nobody wants me, my nation’s politics keeps me violent and agitated, etc.
But, you see, by attaching yourself to all these excuses you are feeding the fire, you are increasing the suffering and anxiety, because you are fighting your own struggles, you are denying how you think and feel and labeling it as something wrong to feel, as something evil. You are saying it is wrong, or even wicked, to feel like that.
In a way of speaking, you are creating demons, you are creating hell, you are creating your own suffering and neglect. You are doing the opposite of acceptance here. Can you take a few seconds and ponder this…??
You must accept all that appears in your mind and all that which you feel, ALL of it; for accepting it is welcoming it, which is like making friends with it, making friends with that part of yourself you do not like but respect now.
This psychological behavior of acceptance begins a transmutation in you, because now you are assimilating and absorbing that which you did not like before, so you get to create it and deal with it under your own terms; otherwise, it is just God and The Devil always fighting in your mind, and this struggle brings you your own hellish experience.
The struggle in your mind between what you currently are and what you should be, or want to be, is what breaks you into fragments, and the fragments are what makes you suffer and feel worthless or like you are not living a happy life.
Seeing through your own desires and passions (all products of your ego) is a challenge we all must face and overcome in order to see truth as it is. In order to know true, everlasting love you must see beyond the burning desire, passion, and lust you feel for someone. In order to know great health you must see beyond your selfish and capricious cravings for popular foods. In order to really know God you must empty your mind from beliefs and literature and go beyond the popular mind of society. In order to know freedom you must leave beliefs, traditions, and lifestyles taught to you by society–including family, religion and all unproven literature.
We may say all this is the inferno of the passions of the unawakened man, because this and more are blinding forms of self-destruction, self-imposed, which bring anxiety, stress, anger, fear, and confusion to mankind. All this creates attachment in the weak mind–attachment to beliefs, ideas, lifestyles, views on life. And whenever this clashes or is opposed by others, there is hell–there is contention, war, hatred, prejudice, jealousy, and the rest. Can you see this for yourself…?? Can you see how the human mind is weakened by all this man-made knowledge and selfishness of the ego…??
To overcome all this is to rise from the inferno of your own passions, it is to stop thought and its ruling on your life, so you may be guided by the truth which lies beyond your desires and selfish passions. And this is the whole purpose of human existence, this is why you have been endowed with self-awareness over other animals; so you may see these weaknesses in yourself, empty your mind and go beyond it, find your true self and rise over the inferno of your human desires and passions.
All this so you can see through life and society, and so create a newer, more blissful life for yourself; thus, a life with no struggle, a life where you see the tricks of your own mind, a life where fear is no more, a life where you have much more intuition and empathy, a life where you are truly the god or goddess you seek, and a life where you are true love and so you bring exactly that into all your relationships
Life is full of challenges and situations which frustrate you and anger you so you learn to rise over the hell of your own ignorance, over your own passions and desires thus you can know love, God, harmony, freedom, and true happiness.
Greed, lust, ambition, come as a result of feeling, perhaps subconsciously, inferior, or because you desire to show how knowledgeable, how superior, or how passionate you are–and so the state of mind is one of agitation and selfish desire. You want to reach the pleasure for yourself. You desire to show your superiority over others. You feel the need to display your knowledge and prowess for others to see. It is very human, and it can happen to any of us; however, if allowed to overtake us, these strong feelings or intense emotions can make us their slaves unbeknownst to us, they can blind us, they can drive us somewhere we do not want to be, and they can transform who we truly are. So, be always aware..
“The Pits of Greed.”
Flames came rushing and took me to hell! Thou presence into a cage made me dwell:
I felt thy scorching flames in my very existence, My body cried in agony of a thousand demons, O as thou remained the hell of my resistance! Allowed by my choices over those of the soul. I was once blessed with love and freedom, Chained not to thy horrors but to individuality To be my own self with compassion and reason, Beyond thy cruel pity and thy intense hate Which cuts my marrow and boils my blood Whilst keeping my conscience a sealed fate. But I reach the summit of my lesson now, In purity and nobility I grow my conscious seed; For no greater gift in me The One does endow Than to be rid eternally of The Pits of Greed.
The thoughts appearing in your consciousness like quick materializing vapors which seek your attention are not important, not even relevant, but the paramount transformation of your being is the process which comes right afterwards, which has all the relevance; that is, the thoughts you choose, mold, strengthen, and follow with your attention. Attention is extremely powerful, and the most important tool you have; for with full attention you are able to focus on a particular idea and go somewhere, form relationships, create beautiful art, gain confidence and be happy.
Can you see how attention shapes you and brings everything to you, how it makes you great or it destroys you if misguided….??
And, of course, this attention must come then with your better choosing of thoughts, with your better judgement, as thoughts that do not serve you and elevate you should not be given attention, but just let them flow and disappear into the oblivion of your own psyche. The mind, or its content of thoughts, tends to work mechanically, manically in a loop, conditioned and repeating the same old patterns; however, you must be highly aware of this in your own experience lest you start living in your own hell, flames which shall destroy your higher capacities as a human being. And such hell by being trapped into the same self-defeating patterns of thinking, and so reliving the same fears over and over again without allowing yourself to learn better.
Why would you allow yourself to remain stuck in the same rut…?? Isn’t your life a continuous progress, a further reach into better things to come…?? And you create your life, you bring progress into your life, right…??–Or perhaps you are waiting for some god up in the skies to throw blessings at you, with your nonsense prayers and idiotic images of Buddha and Jesus. Are you waiting for that then…?? Well, if you are, it is because you have yet to awaken from stupidity. And it is stupidity what keeps you down and in the dream; that state of stupidity is the ignorance you won’t allow yourself to see. This stupidity is your vain ego in mechanical mode working daily in you. Become aware of it!
O, there was no going back for him! He felt trapped in this conniving and ensnaring dimension of pain and angst, he could see the open door approaching to him quickly. Hell called on to him! Once, he had been rested, his soul had been free, and his heart enamored with life. But that was once, before he had allowed the reality of others dictate his, and before he had permitted the words of madness of others introduce this same madness into him…
The door was here!
It read: “YOU ARE NOW ENTERING HELL. WELCOME.”
O, he entered his new reality full of fire and madness!
It was like the heavens had vanished and had allowed a hell to fill his mental ether, to take hostage the now boiling content of each cell of his body. It was the very vibration of the fire brooding within that which made everything so chaotic, so demonic, and yet the beauty had persisted but only to opaque and intensify his own lost soul. And what is the soul taken by blinding wrath if not lost…?? Once enslaved by this rage reality becomes corrupted and emotions intensified to reach blinding heights for the human mind, does it not…?? And even in this state, where frustration and pride take over, he is not himself. Who is he…?? Who are you…?? Who are you if not some creature which lies in powerlessness and dejection, the emptiness of your own humanity filled by this uncontrolled rage for a moment or two. He has lost himself, love and understanding seem non-existent, foes perhaps; for now, heat and ashes consume his soul and befriend his mind with a passing and deceitful “bliss”–something which carries no life but its opposite, Death! A death of reason and communion the divine understanding of the beautiful relationship in life.
O, he entered his new reality full of fire and madness!
He walks in the inferno with explosive gluttony and obscured haughtiness, and as he walks, unbeknownst to his higher dominion of celestial reason, his mind has fallen into the gruesome abyss of despair and solitude. And he trembles and despises himself as he is taken by this blasphemous extreme of the pole of his unexplored emotions, and he sees in the way the ones he wronged, which is himself and others he once treated with the highest gentleness and love contained within a beautiful creature of love and magic. Now a creature of lowly birth and demonic possession… How is it that anger fills us like the flames fill the house graced by family warmth and heartfelt art, robs our reason and understanding, burns everything into mere ash…??… His soul cannot be free consumed thus; he knows it, O he knows it, yet the tremendous heat and the tyrannous pride are running him into oblivion of himself, just like the engine runs the car into the bottom of a cliff. He has killed his friends and himself as he parades his stupidity. But he needs to see this. But he needs to be aware of this before the demons come for him…
“A physician is not angry at the intemperance of a mad patient, nor does he take it ill to be railed at by a man in fever. Just so should a wise man treat all mankind, as a physician does his patient, and look upon them only as sick and extravagant.” ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca; Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist and satirist.
Do you realize that resisting pain or some form of suffering makes it even worse….?? Running away, distracting itself, and ignoring any form of suffering is what your mind does usually, doesn’t it…??
The Universe or Life is ruled by lower and higher planes of thought, conscious states, realms of consciousness, where there is suffering (hell) or true bliss (heaven); but the wild nature of the human mind, the grandiose ego, is always rebelling against these laws and thus always falling into hellish visions tied to this time and space.
The human mind falls into suffering, into the chaos that it brings by choosing the lower planes of existence, so its experience is hell; however, how interesting is it that the mind chooses to dwell in this lower consciousness and, at the same time, it tries to run away from it–by acquiring more beliefs, by praising more gods and saints, by more relationships, by seeking more material wealth, etc.–thus bringing more suffering and blindness into its own hell.
But how can the mind elevate itself to higher planes then…?? Consciousness is not of time and space, but the mundane human mind is; thus time and space keep the mind in lower conscious states, but the mind seeks love and happiness still, it is our nature to seek that experience, and the illusion tells the lower mind that it can be found in time and space. It is a vicious cycle because this mind needs love and happiness, it desperately seeks it, but in running away from the suffering it remains in time and space; so, the only way to reach higher planes of thought is to embrace your suffering, your painful memories, your shame, your anger, etc..
When doing this, by embracing your pain, you come to the individual realization that you are elevating yourself over all the suffering, thus your consciousness actually elevates; because now you are living and accepting your present Now without past or future thoughts ruling you. You are now accessing higher planes where time and space do not rule over your thinking and feeling; for you are using The Higher Universal Law against The Lower Universal Law… you are using true Alchemy… and you are reaching and dwelling in beautiful heaven…
“Rather follow the example of the wise, which the same authority states, ‘Use Law against Law; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph’.” ~ Three Initiates, Kybalion, A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece
Isn’t a thought of misery what makes life miserable…?? And isn’t a thought of joy what makes life joyful…?? Are thoughts how you experience life then…??
Your life is indeed seen through the screen of your mind, and whether that screen is filthy or not is what you will experience in life; so, life in its nature, as it happens around you, is neutral, neither positive nor negative, but the color of your screen, or depending on how clean or filthy it is, is what shall make the difference of your unique experience. Can you understand this…??
And certainly life can become a hell when our thoughts disturb us and get the worst reactions from us, but we may say that this is the extremely powerful illusion of our egos, which choose how to see life. Because the mind sees life in terms of time, thus past and future, what was and what will be but never what actually is; for what actually is right now is added flavor by a thought of the past pressuring you or a thought of a future making you anxious. If you are actually absorbed in the present, without thoughts from the past or the future, you are fine and without stress, are you not…??
The present moment, not 1 second before and not 1 second after but the very Now, is devoid or absolutely free of time and fear and all its forms of stress; furthermore, this Now is where your very existence is, is where happiness and love can be found within you, and this Now is the origin of all what life is. The Now is life. The past and future are not life, but they are constructs of your mind, of your ego and its screen… Ask yourself: “Have I ever actually lived the past or the future…?? Or have I lived always the present moment, the Now, and my mind designs the illusion of past and future…??“…Think about it deeply…
And so, to master life, to really enjoy life no matter the situation, you must see life as a lesson to deeper understanding, something to experience and to free you from thinking too much; which is what creates regrets and all stress in the first place, thinking too much and getting lost in your thinking…
Remind yourself then that life is to be experienced and understood. No more and no less…
“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life.” ~ Omar Khayyam; Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet.
- Asa Rodriguez - 