Castrati

"Three men in dark trench coats walked into a crowded city square. They took in their surroundings, the many people milling about the glowing symbols of an industrial age, as dusk settled. The men stopped on a street corner, lighting cigarettes in the cold wind. Their eyes scanned from one person to the next, then back to each other, as they thought to themselves in keen words. The first man spoke, his hooded eyes drifting amongst the crowd...

'The furious din. The mumbling and tumbling of a wrought, open paradise. Only then will they come; only then will they show their teeth. Only then will they know it...'

His comrade shrugged and responded, eyes sweeping the neon scenery.

'That it was safe. For the fire had gone away, and all was calm and strong on the inside. The jungle was tamed, and no one knows himself. The furious flames have flickered, and the people have swept away their pride.

No one knows him, and royalty long forgotten has tamed the evil prince. The gears and cogs of society do churn, though the hollow faces of men know not. Their pride long forgotten; the souls of weakened men patrol the streets looking for yet misery to tear asunder.'

The first man spoke again, staring at a tall, glowing orange clock tower in the distance.

'A time and age of chaos, only kings and men know of the foul witches that haunt them. The soul is gone, the spirit burns, and madness is rampant in the faces of the masses. Their suffering long past, no one knows these men as kin.

Nothing is left but the stink of their cleaved flesh as they pass around their misery in horrible, mindless swarms. The wounds are deep, and nothing seethes in their minds but hate and the agony of what they once were.'

The third man, silent until now, shifted uncomfortably, his knowing eyes dropping with a strange menace. He uttered with haste, as the shop beams from the square started to cut through the night.

'These men are lambs, not lions, though they roar with all their might. There is nothing but mindlessness and hate. These are the living dead. Only then will they know it...'

The three men gazed at the darkened skyline. Their work was done. Thoughtfully, they turned away, their trench coats to the cold wind. They walked into the night without being noticed."