“Their reckoning awaits in the shadows of their own corruption.”
The words of Gemini hang as she and El Mariachi Muerte observe the scene before them. A pastor preaching salvation to a crowd of desperate slum dwellers, eagerly lapping up his every word.
“Do they not hear the discord of the pastor’s words?” El Mariachi Muerte remarks, pointing out a group of followers the pastor has called up onto stage. “Sheep who embrace the pestilence of his religious fervor and welcome decay.”
“The corruption of the mind.” Gemini replies in her icy voice.
“Exactamente,” Muerte states, his mouth curling into a smirk. “Hear the wolf’s song, as it sings its deathly notes.”
The pastor welcomes his flock onto the stage with a smile.
“Do you renounce all others, so salvation may be found?”
“The first cadence of the Death of the Mind.” Muerte motions to Gemini as the faithful followers nod their agreeance. “To renounce that which protects. By doing so, the pestilence is welcomed by its host and the plague may infect willingly.”
“It begins as Colt Ramsey had, with acceptance.” Gemini states, venom in her voice. “No more their own master, but a puppet.”
“Do you leave behind your former life, awakening your new?”
“The second movement.” Muerte notes as the faithful followers eagerly accept their fate. “To deny outside influence, allowing the plague to spread, infecting the mind.”
“As with them, Lionel Troy’s message has taken over Colt’s mind.” Gemini adds.
“Correcta, mi amiga.” El Muerte smiles. “Colt Ramsey once thought on his own accord, yet now no more than a mouthpiece for that religious plague. Death and ruin are a dance to the wolf’s song. The death of Colt Ramsey’s mind takes a greater climax… A final movement.”
The pastor examines each prospective member of his flock.
“And do you promise to uphold the teachings of salvation, as guided by my doctrines?”
“Embracing the plague?” Gemini muses quietly. El Mariachi nods, solemnly.
“Another mind lost to the plague of salvation. The disease kills the mind.” The followers each vow their promises without a second thought. “When we relinquish our thoughts and accept another’s, we lose our song.”
El Mariachi gestures towards the pastor with disgust in his eyes.
“Death of free will is death of the mind. Acceptance of a way of life that is not your own. For all these people here sing a song that is no longer theirs. It is his. The Wolf’s song.”
He turns to meet the gaze of Gemini.
“When Colt Ramsey was at his lowest point, he sought a cure for his sorrows. But what he found instead was his own death. The death of mind, a maiming of free will.”
The flock welcome their new members with a chanted monotonous song sung together.
“For what use is a song, if you must lose yourself to sing it. I grieve for Colt Ramsey, and weep for who he used to be. Before the pestilence that is Lionel Troy maimed his mind.”
Muerte looks to Gemini once more, determination in his eyes.
“Troy’s is a song that must be silenced.”