“The Good Spirit knows everything about you and he’s apt to forgive you but you have to submit to him and want it,” the ancient guru who lived only on air and was said to float about the temple high in the mountain explained.
I was still curious and so while seated at his feet, I asked him, “And what about the Bad Spirit?”
“Ah, the Bad Spirit knows a good deal about you as well but he’s only interested in what he can use as blackmail to keep your mouth shut.”
He didn’t seem to have anything more to reveal and I couldn’t think of anything more to ask him and so I lowered the volume of the sound of my breathing and I sat.
When the sun set he suddenly twisted his head unnaturally in my direction showing his burning eyes and steamy horns making me jump wishing I never risked the arduous climb up this mountain and wondering if I could find my way back down in the dark.
“So, in your current circumstances, boy, which one of those spirits do you think it’s now safer to serve?”
Linked to Six Sentence Stories where Denise offers the prompt word “volume” to use in the story. For another story about Satan, I highly recommend reading Zack and Zelda’s Church Nightmare (mostly fiction).


Great truth in six sentences! Well done and thank you for this!
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Thank you, Crystal!
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Well done!
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Thank you, Lisa!
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Oh gosh! Scarily Good!!!
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Thank you!
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You’re so welcome 🙂
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Very visual. Good. Loved the lowering of your breathing volume.
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Thank you!
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Safer and more productive to serve the common good. It never tries to deceive. (K)
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That deception is possible makes the search for truth difficult. It is hard to correctly identify the deceiver. Thank you, Kerfe!
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It’s so difficult. Your story really highlights that, almost like a zen parable.
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The question remains: safe and have the option to continue? or take a chance and find one’s own way? One might argue that both Good and Bad have the potential to lie, as both would encourage the seeker to follow its own version of the path.
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I hope I wouldn’t start climbing up such mountains in the first place, but if I did, I hope I would leave before the sun set. There is a lot of deception and I know I’ve taken a lot of wrong paths in my life. Thank you!
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You speak volumes my friend. Great job.
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Thank you!
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From one perspective, when seeking knowledge and enlightenment, one should be prepared (as well as one is able to prepare) for all manner of misdirection, deception. Not necessarily from the source but from within. 🙂
Thought provoking, contemplative Six, Frank. Thank you.
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Good point. One has to be vigilant against deception because once one is deceived one will keep deceiving oneself. Thank you, Denise!
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Never thought to find the wrong sort of enlightenment after a journey.
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I’ve taken many wrong paths over the decades. I don’t think any were quite as disastrous as the one in this story. Thank you, Chel!
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Yikes, a scary encounter indeed! And yet, at some point we all must choose who we will serve. Good story!
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We all such choices to make even it it is not on a mountain. Thank you, Josie!
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Hope he can get away, it’s not easy serving evil, it is never satisfied and gives nothing in return.
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I think he can get away by just leaving even though it is dark. He needs to trust he will be protected if he takes that risk. Thank you!
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Enjoyed this, and so chilling the reveal at the end.
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Thank you!
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It’s so hard to find good, trustworthy gurus these days. I was thinking of the predator priests after reading this. A thoughtful story, Frank.
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One has to be careful. Thank you!
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This one is quite disturbing, Frank.
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I was aiming for a Halloween theme. Thank you, Laura!
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Yikes, what a twist! Scary.
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Thank you! If was intended to be scary, but I wasn’t sure if I set it up properly.
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