The last time I posted here, you guys mentioned that my sister might have been abducted by some kind of cult. The most notable detail in the previous parcel was the distinct Mayan-like temple present in the village. However, I could not find a single source online about Mayan architecture used recently. Here is another parcel I got today, exactly one week after the last one:
Dear future Cordelia,
Today was the Festival Of Divine Flesh. We were made whole today by uniting our rotten flesh and souls with the most holy and divine Godess Nayami, who visited us. Today we recorded every single detail so we don’t forget the day we were given most divine salvation.
Everything happened exactly how the Oracle said they would. On the night of the full moon, the goddess was to wash up on the shore. The sunset prior to this, we were to carve the Goddess’s face onto our doors to display our devotion. Then we were to seal our windows with animal hide, lest we see the goddess and perish due to our sinful nature.
Then if we were a household with a woman, we were to prepare bread and lay it above our heads our rags, it was crucial that we did not place the fresh bread by our feet, this would be an insult to the goddess. The oracle had said that the Goddess would choose a woman, pure of heart, as an offering. That we would hear a mighty scream and rumbling on our door, and that the goddess would look at us, and stain us with her blood, and rest in our house. I hoped it was me, that she would choose me. I have been devoted to the Oracle for all nineteen years of my life, I prayed on my knees to Goddess Nayami, I prayed on my knees until they began to bleed. I baked the bread six times to ensure that the goddess would only have the most perfect bread to eat, I was courteous, gracious, just as I was instructed to be. I was a virgin, a woman with great honor. However, Goddess Nayami did not choose me.
I was awake all night, in order to hear the Goddess. I heard her mighty scream in a god-like language, unfamiliar to us mortals, and I heard her banging the doors of Ariah. She was a quiet, unassuming, simple girl. She was 20 years old, and unmarried. None of us knew anything about her, but she seemed to be a good, honorable woman. She was not particularly invested in the Oracle like I was, she was not part of the prayer services in the temples, like I was, for 19 years. However, she had attended them with everyone else, and would simply leave when everyone else began to socialize. There was nothing wrong with her, but she was not remarkable and I wonder why the Goddess chose her. That night, I heard Ariah cry out like a mother who had just watched her child die in front of her , or like an artist who had their work burned as punishment.
I could hear Ariyah run. None of us thought less of her because of this, contact with the gods is known to drive mortals mad. I was told they found her body floating at the temple well, her knees bruised. The high priest had thought she had climbed in, and drowned, perhaps in a divine desire to unite her soul with the Goddess she had seen. When she was pulled out she looked peaceful, like she was sleeping. We were told to wait until sunrise, to make our way to the temple, where we were cleansed in the water that Ariyah drowned in.
We then made our way into the prayer room, where Ariyah’s body was laid on the mantle. She looked elegant, in a beautiful white blouse that hugged her waist, her long hair curling around her her face, as if cupping her face in their hands, she was as pale as a ghost. However, there was a red stain in the shape of a hand on Ariah’s shoulder, the touch of a goddess. I envied Ariyah more than ever in that moment.
Then the high priest poured oil across Ariyah’s body, which made her look even more beautiful and golden. Then he took the holy stones and used them to place a fire upon her white blouse. We chanted the creed for Goddess Nayami, as we watched Ariyah get effulged by the flamed. We hoped that it would please the goddess, her mantle was watching us, and we all prayed, taking delight in this religious fervor. The atmosphere was so intense, with the burning woman and the chanting and praying, that many people, including myself, began to burst into tears, and others began to scream for the goddess’s mercy. We were all so cloaked in sin, and she was so benevolent to bother blessing us. We did not deserve her blessings, and yet here we were.
The scent of the burning corpse flooded our senses, and the thick smoke made its way upwards towards the roof of the temple, it would make it’s way to the sky, where all the gods could see our devotion to them. I could almost feel Nayami’s presence, I could feel a sense of calm, a sense of love, as if everything was going to be okay. That I was still loved, even if the goddess did not choose me. That of course I would prosper, of course Nayami had noticed my efforts. I was so distracted by my own prayers that I had not noticed the Oracle standing next to the mantle. He was an unassuming man, short, bald, and fat, in a beige robe. He looked so simple compared to high priest who was wearing ornate robes, and a headdress made of gold. However, we all knew his authority and stopped our chants when he lifted his hands up.
“The goddess Nayami is here” he said.
We all cheered, the live goddess was with us, right now! In flesh! I looked to the left entrance of the temple and I saw them bring plates out, with tender, cooked meat. We all knew that it was the flesh of the goddess, who had made holy a human body, and left it, so that we could consume her holy flesh and be made whole. We formed two lines, and I heard chants of
“Hail Godess Nayami” as each person was given their flesh. When I tasted it, I was surprised to find that it tasted like nothing. Like water, like emptiness. Though I suppose a goddess’s flesh would not taste like mere animal meat. I also didn’t feel anything. I thought I would have some kind of revelation, that it would be magical in some way, thought it wasn’t.
After consuming the goddess, were to spend the night at the temple, in reflection, and so we did. Goddess Nayami was the reason why our village did not die, when neighboring villages were wracked with famine, why we stayed alive, as they fought with each other, why we were untouched by every plague. Now we were one with her.
We were required to write our reflection’s a form of prayer. So here is mine. Future Cordelia, I hope you reap the benefits of today, and I hope our village is in a higher state of prosperity than ever. All hail Godess Nayami. All hail the Oracle. All hail Rayka, may glory come to all of us.
What the actual hell? I think these fuckers ate my sister. I also want to know who on Earth has been sending me these things. What’s really freaking me out is that someone knew this would happen, someone wrote the book, and someone prepared the meat. Someone is behind the brainwashing of these villagers, who think my sister was some divine goddess. I want to further explore what happenned to my sister, however, I am terrified. These people burned a woman alive, they ATE MY SISTER.
I looked up the Goddess Nayami, I looked up the Oracle, and I looked up the Rayka. All I could find was a footnote in some article about a village in Egypt, Rayka, in an article about prosperity in Mesoamerican civilization. Though that was so long ago, there’s no way my sister must be connected to that, I also found that Nayami was a farming goddess, not a major one even, just a remote god in Mesoamerican lore. I have no idea how this connects to my sister in any meaningful way. I wonder whether someone is playing a joke on me.I looked around my house, I have grown increasingly paranoid. These people seem to know where I live. Thankfully no one was there. I wonder if they know that I am posting this here. Reddit if you know anything about a village called Raykah or a goddess called Nayami please let me know.