Remain Nameless | Michael Langdon

iii.

"And yours?"

"You're answering my questions." She stated firmly. He chuckled.

"I don't think so. Besides, an eye for an eye is only fair, right? You ask me a question, I'll answer, and vice versa." He proposed.

"Why do you even care about my name?" She retorted, taking a step closer to him.

"It's only polite." He shrugged. She just gave him a weird look.

"If you want to be nameless, then so do I." She said.

"You'll tell me your name." He demanded, slightly raising his voice. She narrowed her eyes at him, but nonetheless answered.

"Elizabeth." She stated simply. It didn't seem any more fitting for her. It was beautiful. "And you worship Satan?"

"Something like that, yes." He started to move around the room. "Go ahead, ask another."

She paused before going on. "So your motives are evil? You wanted to kill me until you saw my looks? I'm too beautiful for you to kill?"

"There is no such thing as evil. All the things that you would classify as evil are simply just every humans right to free will. Satan is an advocate for free will, he wants everyone to act upon the way they feel. The sins they feel rooted in them deep down, there's no way to stop them. It is not bad, it is the feeling of freedom." He explained, trying to make it sound appealing to her.

"So you think killing people is just a right of freedom?" She asked.

"Sure." He shrugged. "It can be good."

"It can be, you said, which leaves room for it not to be." She argued. He just shook his head.

"You will see. Everyone feels some type of sin. In this world, that would classify you as evil, but why does that have to be a bad thing?" He stepped over to her, and she didn't want to fling him away. She wanted to listen to what he had to say. Because in some way, deep down, she knew this applied to her. "You see, once you identify that feeling that you have, that urge- a natural human urge, I might add-" He brought his hand up to her face, barely gracing her cheek with his fingers. "acting upon that, letting go, feeling the sin pervade you, will wash over you a wave of freedom."

She almost shivered as he whispered the last words to her. He turned away from her all at once, taking a step in the other direction. She waited for him to go on.

"And if it's a natural urge, then it is right. It was put inside us for a reason. The false God says that we should disobey our true selves, to deprive ourselves of our wants. Call it selfish, I call it human." He finished.

Elizabeth soon snapped out of whatever she was in, still in denial of the feelings she knew she felt deep inside her. "Enough of that. You're just making excuses for being a terrible person."

"All people, given the right pressure or stimulus, are evil motherfuckers." He shrugged. She shook her head.

"Not me, I guess that's why you realized I wasn't fit for your sacrifice." She smirked. He breathed out a laugh, a smile of amusement.

"No, you were a perfect candidate, that's why you were chosen in the first place. That and the prophecy. I know about how you feel deep down. How much you hate your brother, because you're ENVIOUS of him. Your parents too. All the kids you were around growing up. Every bad thing people have done to you. You want to destroy them all. And I know the LUST you feel, how you were prepared to give it all up. The GREED to feel loved, accomplished, cherished." He paused, and Elizabeth had heard enough. It was too surreal, too much for her to handle. Because she knew it was all true, and she didn't understand how he knew.