At The Lombardy Hotel-Part 2

Author: Audacity

The Pain Swallowers, The Light Bearers
And The Food Of The Gods

Tim Phipps had been a bellboy at The Lombardy Hotel going on 8 years now. He hadn’t planned on being here that long when he’d first started, the summer after senior year; but nonetheless, here he remained.

He’d thought he’d just work that summer at The Lombardy, then go on to college like most of the rest of his graduating class. But then the Lombardy Night Manager had revealed to him his ACTUAL life’s purpose. What was special about him. And what he was expected to use it for.

Then after his introduction and acceptance by the dark deity Lamashtu, he began his ACTUAL education. And any thoughts of college went straight to hell. Literally.

He’d initially agreed to do it because the pay was outstanding. But back 8 years ago when he was still a reasonably decent human being, he’d never dreamed that the cost would end up being so high.

As he went on, he stumbled into the discovery of a universal truth: it’s not always a great thing to be special. But being chosen? Even less so.

Yet this was how he began his service to Lamashtu; exalted over his pay. Then he actually had to service Lamashtu…and- in the grander scheme of things- he was also servicing the highest creator, and the ultimate destroyer. But both of them, as far as he could tell, were just useless, absentee landlords. They merely made the rules. They didn’t stick around to see who was enforcing them or how. Or give a fuck about the cost of them on the average hairless ape human. Tim had ultimately discovered, and ultimately concluded, that both God and Satan fucking sucked. But more so, both were extremely overrated.

Tim had learned this lesson within a week serving as the Pain Swallower to Lamashtu. It was just recently that he’d actually cared about it.

Because after what happened on June 12th, Tim was starting to maybe have a crisis. A crisis of conscience that is. One that could change everything, for the better…or for the worse.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me slow down.

So, speaking of worst: most might think that the worst thing about draining the light-bright essence out of a Light Bearer was that they were kind and good people, who didn’t deserve such a fate. These were people who had not walked in darkness during their lives, but in light and goodness. No, they’d not been evil people at all. Just unlucky ones. Unlucky in that they’d been at the wrong place at the right time for the Snatchers to get ahold of them. And Tim had always considered the fact that you had to murder them in order to feed something evil and keep it going was just a practical necessity. After all, everything in nature was doing what they had to in order to survive. Innocent or guilty really had nothing to do with the gazelle that was hunted and eaten, making the ultimate sacrifice so the lion could survive. And said lion killing and eating said gazelle was just a practical necessity to the lion. Tim had told himself that what he was doing was really no different.

Back then, before June 12th, he’d just ignore the fact that what he was actually participating in was the systematic, cruel and viscous killing of the innocent. Leaving no remains for their loved ones to bury even. Until something in him changed…because something changed him.

Afterwards, he often wondered if some of the Nazis had ever felt like he did. That they just told themselves they were following orders and getting a paycheck, that they didn’t make the rules. They were just carrying them out obediently. But it wasn’t their fault that the rules were what they were. You know, cop out bullshit like that, which makes it possible for pieces of shit to live with themselves and avoid responsibility for their deplorable actions.

So, again for emphases: Tim had never really been bothered by the fact that he was torturing and killing innocent people. At least not at first. And by the end, it didn’t even rank in the top 5 “worst of it all”.

So to continue doing what he was doing, he had convinced himself that he understood why it was necessary. It had to be this way because the bright light humans, The Light Bearers, as they were officially known, the so called “good people” if you will, made the best dark mana- aka the food of the gods. Just like the evil Dark Bearers made the light mana possible for the deity’s of light and goodness. On the flip side of that, for the dark deity’s like Lamashtu, dark mana was the only thing they could survive on. The only thing that could keep their motor’s running. And that could only be brought forth, manifested, transferred and converted inside a Pain Swallower if they swallowed it from a soul of light. And such was the balance of the dark and the light.

Because for Lamashtu, much like the lion with her gazelle, it was either consume transubstantiated dark mana, or cease to exist and die. So far, for millions of years, Lamashtu had a system keeping her alive in this way. And in this lifetime, Tim was a part of that system. But he was starting to really wish he wasn’t.

Because as the years passed, the excuse of “it’s all just necessary” worked less and less. Until he grew to despise not only the system, or his part in it, but himself as well.

But I may have gotten ahead of myself. Gone too far in without laying any groundwork. Maybe you’re even wondering what the fuck this is even all about. What does a Pain Swallower actually do, what’s with a Light Bearer and what the fuck is up with “mana” being some kind of food for some kind of Gods?

Therefore, I think it’s only fair to elaborate. Really break it down to the ground. If only for the truth to be understood, and not merely accurately or truthfully recorded.

So with that in mind, let’s look closer into this hidden truth behind the vale, and why it deserves to see the light of day. Let’s dissect Tim Phipps and his employment of 8 years as a bellhop with The Lombardy Hotel…and more importantly, what the fuck this bellboy actually does there for a living. Cause trust me, he made a real killing out of it.

*As a thank you for everyone being so patient to get this Part 2 later than promised, I’m releasing Part 3 within the hour. Enjoy.

This is a work of fiction and an original horror chapter play by the author, told in 6 parts. Any similarities to actual persons living or dead, or any other written works of any medium is merely coincidental.