Kozmo6 was guarding the sacrificial temple. He had a feeling that one of the agents would try to destroy it and so he devoted all his time to keeping it safe.

Every now and then, someone would offer him food or water, just to keep him on his toes. He certainly didn’t want to pass out on the job!

Nevertheless, after a few days of no sleep, it was beginning to take its toll. However, Kozmo would not fall asleep, not while there was a temple to guard!

He leant back against the temple wall for support and watched the area like a hawk. All of a sudden, his knee exploded in a fountain of blood.

Kozmo fell to the ground, in agony. Someone was attacking the temple! He writhed around in complete pain, trying to get a look at his attacker. He could see no-one.

Shortly afterwards, he felt a quick, sharp pain to the head, then it was all over.

Not too far away, from atop a small ledge, Mongoose looked over this fresh corpse.

“Good night,” they said, fully aware of the pun they had just made.

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An ominous silence prevailed today. The burly cult members dragged their latest victim, Heart Shaped Toastie, to the sacrificial temple and bound her to the pedestal.

She angrily kicked and screamed, but to no avail. The elder stood before her. He was holding a hatchet.

“Surely today, we will not have to resort to using such extreme measures with the sacrificial ritual,” he said, a small twitch above his right eye forming. “Before we begin, do you know of any attempt by our Spirit Watchers to keep you alive?”

Toastie continued to scream and kick. She really did not want to be sacrificed today.

The elder shrugged and raised the hatchet. All of a sudden, the elder heard two whooshing sounds near his left ear. Toastie coughed, choked, writhed on the pedestal and died.

The elder, in a mild state of shock, bent down and inspected her body. Two small darts were sticking in her neck. Whirling around, he saw a cloaked figure fleeing the temple.

“Damn you! Damn you to hell!” the elder screamed in a completely uncharacteristic manner. He did not compose himself again for a few hours.

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Meanwhile, in the sacrificial afterlife...

Hattie and the thin, rat-like man had struck up a casual conversation, while Buzz had tuckered himself out and was now floating past every now and then, asleep.

The now familiar sign of a new arrival happened and the two turned to see who it was.

Insom frowned at her new surroundings.

The thin, rat-like man addressed her.

“Ah...Insomnesiac,” he said knowingly. “An invaluable member of our...little family.”

“Erm...ok...” Insom said, thoroughly skeeved out.

She was about to make another comment, when the familiar sign happened once again, this time, brighter and louder. An ancient, unspeakable horror now floated before them.

“I AM LORD BAT-WINGED SQUID-HEAD!” the creature announced.

“Erm...” Hattie spoke up. “Don’t you mean Cthu-“

“SHHH, KID, YOU WANT TO BREAK COPYRIGHT?” the creature hissed.

“Oh, ok, sorry about that,” Hattie said, fidgeting.

“WE ARE SLOWLY RETURNING TO POWER, BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.”

“How is it we can help?” Insom asked.

“WELL,” a pile of documents appeared beside it. “WE COULD DO WITH SOMEONE TO FILE THESE REPORTS FOR A START. CORPORATE POWER THESE DAYS IS SO POWERFUL, EVEN US ANCIENT ONES ARE REQUIRED TO COMPLETE FINANCIAL REPORTS.”

Insom sighed. “Looks like even in the afterlife I don’t get a break...”

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Kozmo6 was “relieved” of duty!

Heart Shaped Toastie was saved from being sacrificed! Sort of...

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