Order of the Solar Temple

Chapter 5

The little village of St-Casimir was covered in the heavy blanket of silence and darkness until a streak of light emerged accompanied with the low rumble of an engine. A dark sedan raced through Route 354, leaving behind the snaky roads of Ste-Anne de la Pérade and emerging into the village of St-Casimir, its speed reducing to a crawl. As the car negotiated carefully through the Munincipality, the bright headlights were quickly switched off to thin streaks. With each gallop, each occupants heart missed a beat, unable to breath in the tension of the spell they casted upon themselves.

The occupants seemed to share in the silence of the village; each pondering on heavy thoughts till they reached their destination. The car slowed to a stop and each member got down, their robes swishing in the reality of a bad dream. They were six in number; three boys, three girls. Six suicides. Six bodies. Six familes.

The little leader of the group came down from the drivers seat and faced his group, his white robe illuminating under the light of the moon and the red cross looking darker against the snow garment.

"Welcome my friends. We have made it this far and there is no turning back. Are we ready? " he eased a gentle smile at them. So gentle it could be mistaking for sinister.

"I don't think i can do this. Isn't there not any other way?" A smallish blonde-haired girl whimpered, her robe a ton too big for her. Her fragality worse than a baby chick.

The leader walked and held her in his arms. "Anna, this is the way, the world out there..." he pointed towards the path they came out from "...is full of wickedness and pain and suffering. Brother turning against brother, friend against friend, Mother against father, family against family.We cannot stay here. We need to leave. This world would be destroyed, everybody would die. God is angry with the earth, there would be an ecological disorder. We just need to make it Sirius". He pointed to a twinkling star far away in the galaxy. The girl seemed to relax as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I thought stars get destroyed after a while" A dark-skinned guy spoke up still looking at the twinkling star

"No, maybe some but not Sirius" He smiled again

"What's in this Sirius?" A gothic girl spoke up. Her eyes shining like the stars itself

"You'll see when we get there. Trust me"

"Dude, i trust no one okay? Sure, this earth sucks but i need to where i'm going to before killing myself"

"You are not killing yourself Nicky, you are only transiting. We are all priviledged to be chosen to make the way for the rest to come. We are emissaries. We are emissaries" the leader spoke delightfully looking at each members face.

"All we need is to trust. Trust is our ticket to Sirius. If we don't believe, we can't see. Can we do that? Can we believe?" He looked as them as each gave a solemn head nod. Flashing his signature smile, he thanked them

"We have wasted enough time here. Friends, lets go" He ushered the others into the mouth of Trou du Diable. Then turned back, popped the trunk of the car and pulled out a little jerrycan. He began emptying it on the car.

"Waoh waoh, dude what are you doing?" The dark skinned guy emerged out of the cave rushing towards him

"That's our ride" He half-yelled. The leader turned to him

"Andre, there is no going back. Once we enter that cave, we are never coming out. Do you understand?" Andre looked shocked for a while, realization dawning before nodding slowly. The leader smiled again and emptied the rest of the contents then struck a match on the car and ran back.

"We need to hurry, once that smoke goes out people would begin investigating. We need to get this done as fast as possible" He hurried them into the cave shining a small torch.They crawled, walked, slithered until they reached a wide part of the cave still in frost.

The leader turned to them and smiled eerily again.

"Friends, this is it. We are emissaries to Sirius. We are part of the greater good and our names would be carved in the Ordre du Temple Solaire as great people". Andre looked around checking if anyone was as uneasy as he was. Looking at the duo who hadn't spoken he tried to trace any hint of fear. They only wore blank faces

"Freakin' people already look suicidal" he said under his breath. The leader turned sharply to him

"Did you say something Andre?" he noticed they were already pledging to their cause with arms cross. He quickly joined them

"No, i just realized this is the best thing that can happen. I mean the world out there is horseshit! This is the best way to forfeit all the pain, suffering, cause we are ummm.. Emm.. Emi what again?"

"Emissaries" ths leader finished for him and smiled encouragingly.

"That's right Andre. I'm happy you've realised that" The others stared at him disbelievingly.

"Take this" The leader passed a small bottle around to them. He ordered them to lie in a star-shaped form with him at the middle. Once they got their position right of feet together and arms spread outward. He made them all sit up and open their bottles

"With this you would not feel much pain before your transitioning. No more hypocrisy, pain and suffering, no more lies and wickedness" he raised the bottle, looking proudly at his colleagues

"To Sirius, my friends" They all raised their tiny bottles

"To Sirius" they echoed and downed their bottles then layed back in their positions.

Five minutes

Ten minutes

Twenty minutes

Thirty minutes

Andre peeked his eyes open and looked around him. The place was dark. He spat out the remaining poison in his mouth refusing to swallow his spit. Death was too close. He closed his eyes and tried to remember where the leader dropped the torch then figured it was south of their position. As he made an attempt to get up, he heard a noise and quickly laid back again. A small ruffling sounded again. His heartbeat climaxed to a million per minute. Was it an animal? Probably a fox?

The ruffling increased this time like footsteps and his fear was immediately replaced by confusion and then realisation. Someone was stirring. Someone was not dead. Finally, these people are not as dumb as he thought. Maybe Anna or Nicky, those two were doubtful like him.The person was walking towards where the torch lay. He waited for a while and was about to call out when the torch switched on and he caught a glimpse of the face. An involuntary gasp came out and the spotlight was quickly focused on him. He gave his best dead position and even managed to pull off the 'semi dead eyes' till the lights where taken off him.

The 'smiling' leader shuffled off to a corner of the cave and opened a stone compactment with a push. He retrieved a small keg and another small object then shuffled back to the formation and stood in the middle of the star.

"Sirius, accept this humble gift and may our path be paved. Grant us entrance for this souls required..."

The sonofabitch Andre seethed, watching as the leader made offerings of them. He did a chest cross three times and opened the keg.

As the smell hit Andre's nose, he inwardly screamed. He deceived them, now he was going to roast them? What was he going to do? The leader went on spraying the contents of the keg on them, Andre closed his mouth tightly as it was sprayed on him. The leader made sure he was drenched with fuel and Andre's suspicion arose. Did he know he was alive?

As the evil being turned to light the matches, Andre crept up and was about to jump him when a shrill noise echoed from the deceiver's robe. He slinked back and watched the traitor answer the call

"Papa, its been done" He said proudly. The receiver gave a small clap and a short laugh then muttered a few words in french. The leader glowed happily. Andre listened attentively. The coversation drew on for about two minutes when a question came up

"A few doubtful" the leader answered "but they are well gone now". He turned to the bodies, his torch illuminating Andre's crouched figure. His mouth dropped but before he could think, Andre lept at him, showering him with punches while screaming 'Traitor'. The leader regained himself and flung him back, he fell on a body with a large thud. Trying to get his bearings, a lighted match was threw at him and the robe immediately caught fire. He yelped and quickly tore it off, chucking it at his assasinator.

The temporary distraction gave him time to jump at him again and this time he held tight. Both men struggled and fought till they were batterly injured, the fire that was chucked at Andre had now grown and engulfed the other bodies in an acrid smell.Occassionally the fire popped and an image of burning tenders came to Andre's mind. He felt the rise of bile and adjusted the noozle to his opponents face allowing the contents fly off his mouth.

The opponent backed out trying to wipe slimy contents of his face and mouth. This was it. Andre gave him a surprised grab and lurched him into the inferno. He screamed and ran out, Andre shoved him back in, he exhaled an ear-shattering scream running back out. The process repeated three times, till the leader finally gave up and settled in the embers of hell.

Andre watched with his good eye till he was sure there was no life anymore.The phone crackled beside him revealing a distaught listener. He picked it up and was tempted to say something nasty but decided against and threw it into the fire

"To Sirius" he gave a mock salute, picked up the torch and limped towards the exit of the cave.