The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Beware the Cardinal  
by Kendra Hale 

Don’t cross his path, not unless you are ready to die. Have all your affairs in order and have no hopes of making it back whole.

The Cardinal waits for your call.

A specific ritual to summon him for a game of chance. A chance for wonders beyond imagination or agony beyond description. That’s what awaits if you can find the specific items needed in order to do the summoning ritual. Items rare and with no alternative laid out in a way that pleases The Cardinal. The items are not easy to acquire, but what is offered has drawn many a soul.

” Call MY name in a moment of shame. A clock rings thrice.

A bag of the softest down, for the river will have frozen in time.

My time for an hour will be yours, but not a moment more.

A game to play, win or lose.

Win and gain life everlasting.

Lose and your agony will sustain me forever more.”

Beware The Cardinal. He exudes charm, this hides his tricks. Your well being is nowhere on his list. Those who lose face their darkest, deepest fears, ever changing and morphing for an endless selection of terror. Over and over again until they are gaunt and hollow from the measure of years.

But winning? Surely, everlasting life is something worth playing The Cardinals game…but your intentions are not the same. The Cardinal is one who thrives on the long game and while longevity is what you will receive, is it really what you wanted?

The Cardinal’s sweetest meal is of those begging for death.

No fairy tale creature, a hidden being lurking in your shadow. Always watching and waiting, you have made your decision. But I ask that you take a second to heed his riddle game as no mere child’s game or a trickster snare.

Beware The Cardinal.

Fiction © Copyright Kendra Hale
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from author Kendra Hale:

Just Emotions:
A Gothic Bite Magazine Anthology

A collection of poetry.

‘Just Emotions‘ is exactly as it states, a group of writers who had feelings they wanted to express in poem form. Inside, there are a range of emotions to explore. Each writer has given a bit of themselves to you, each in their own way.

We hope that you enjoy these writings and that among the poems you may find some thing you can identify with or relate to. Thank you for giving us this chance to open the catacombs and share with you.

Available on Amazon!