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     _____________       _/_/     | | \ \          _/_/     _____________
    |  ___________     _/_/       | |  \ \       _/_/       ___________  |
    | |              _/_/_____    | |   > >    _/_/_____               | |
    | |             /________/    | |  / /    /________/               | |
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    | |                                                                | |
    | |      c   o   m   m   u   n   i   c   a   t   i   o   n   s     | |
    | |________________________________________________________________| |
    |____________________________________________________________________|

            ...presents...
                                   JOIN US
                                                      by Flack

           __//////\   -cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-  	 /\\\\\\__
                    __      Grand Imperial Dynasty      __
 Est. 1984   \\\\\\/ cDc paramedia: texXxt 427-08/29/2024 \//////   Est. 1984

  ___    _   _    ___     _   _    ___       _   _      ___    _   _      __
 |___heal_the_sick___raise_the_dead___cleanse_the_lepers___cast_out_demons__|

                           /+/ PART I: JOIN US \+\

     "Join us," they whispered.

     I took a break from preventing my screen saver from kicking in and spun
around in my leather chair to address the people standing behind me.

     No one was there.

     "Join us," I heard again.  The voices -- electronic and distorted, almost
dysmorphic in nature -- were coming from the hall.  After forwarding my phone
to the snack bar and setting my online status to "In a meeting," I grabbed my
hat and shades and followed the whispers out into the hallway.  I walked
quickly and quietly around the corner, but not fast enough to catch the
elevator doors before they closed.  More curious than ever, I opened the door
to the stairwell and quickly trotted down the concrete stairs in hopes of
finding the source of these peculiar voices.

     When I reached the lobby I saw the front door swinging open in the wind.

     "Join us," the voices said all at once -- different tones and timbres,
but unified.  Many voices, yet one voice.

     As I stepped out on to the sidewalk, gray storm clouds parted and I heard
the voices again behind me.  Close, now.  I turned and saw the herd for the
first time.

     "Join us."

     It was then I realized they weren't asking me.

     They were telling me.

                                  - x X x -
								  
                         /+/ PART II: STEER CLEER \+\
						 
     I watched in amazement as the cows in the mural moved into position.  The
herd of cows, now thousands strong, aligned themselves until they were all
facing the same direction.

     South, I think.

     Despite the pile of work and responsibilities waiting for me back in the
office, I felt compelled to discover what the herd wanted me to find.
Whatever it was, I wanted to find it for them.  What I didn't understand at
the time was, all they wanted was for me to find it for myself.

     I continued walking south, past the food cart on the corner and the line
of people waiting for their lattes, until I had arrived -- both figuratively
and literally.  I found myself standing in the middle of the park.  My job, my
car, my laptop... none of those things were here.  The further I got from
them, the less their electronic static cluttered my mind.

     It wasn't until it was totally silent that I could finally hear.

     "Join me."

                                  - x X x -
								  
                         /+/ PART III: THE TUNNEL \+\

     I found myself drawn to the statue -- an idol -- and wondering, if
anything, what it wanted. I studied its shape while standing next to it.  I
was in awe of its mass.  I rapped the side with my knuckle -- the thing was
solid, must've weighed at least a ton.  How I had missed a solid concrete
statue standing in the middle of the park I passed every day, I'm not sure.

     I stared into the beast's cold eyes, wondering why I had been brought to
this place. The voices that had drawn me here were gone.  The wind was still.
The park was silent.  For the life of me, I could not understand why the cow
had called me here, to this place, at this time.

     And then I realized, I was here because I wanted to be here.

     That's when it winked at me.

     The large statue slid aside, revealing a set of clay stairs that led down
into the red dirt.  It was impossible to tell if the stairs had been there for
a day or a century.  The same curiosity that led me to this park led me down
into the darkness.

     The steps led to a tunnel.  We -- all of us -- were there; perhaps not
physically, but spiritually.  We were all flowing through that tunnel.  I felt
unworthy to be a drop of water in that stream, and yet the stream was a little
bit different because my tiny drop was in it.  There was no upstream.  This
river flows in a single direction.

     At the other end of the tunnel was another set of stairs.  I climbed
them, soaked in the experience and enveloped in the warmth of the herd.

     As I emerged into the sunlight, I found myself standing in the field, now
one with the herd.  I didn't look behind me to see if the stairs and tunnel
were gone, even though somehow I knew they were no longer there.  It wouldn't
have mattered; there was no going back at this point, only forward.

     I had found the c0ws.

     I was home.

     Join us.

         ___________    BLATTA---NON     EST----VACCA    ___________
         \         /      \    \_            _/    /     \         /
          |A G L A|        \     \          /     /       |A G L A|
     L    ||\/X\/||    O    \    EST_   _EST     /   L    ||\/X\/||    O
          || \./ ||          \       \ /        /         || \./ ||
|\        ||_3 4_||        /|NON     cDc     NON|\        ||_3 4_||        /|
| -------._((___))_.------- |EST      |      EST| -------._((___))_.------- |
|\/)(\/\   [ x x ]   /\/)(\/|   \     |     /   |\/)(\/\   [ x x ]   /\/)(\/|
|(YHVH) >A  \   /  O< (AHIH)|    \   EST   /    |(YHVH) >A  \   /  O< (AHIH)|
|/\)(/\/  _ (' ') _  \/\)(/\|     \   |   /     |/\)(/\/  _ (' ') _  \/\)(/\|
| -------' ) (U) ( '------- |      \  |  /      | -------' ) (U) ( '------- |
|/        ||  .  ||        \| SEMENES OPTIMATES |/        ||  .  ||        \|
          || / \ ||                DAEMONIS               || / \ ||
     V    ||/\X/\||    E                             V    ||/\X/\||    E
          |A D N I|          the original e-zine          |A D N I|
         /_________\         - today, tomorrow -         /_________\
      xXx  DYNASTY  xXx            FOREVER            xXx  DYNASTY  xXx
                                                                     _
      Oooo                 xXx / RULE BOVINIA \ xXx                 / )   __
 /)(\ ( . \                                                        /  (  /  \
 \__/  )  /  Copyright (c) 2024 cDc communications and the author. \ . ) \)(/
       (_/     CULT OF THE DEAD COW is a registered trademark of    oooO
                             cDc communications.                          _
  oooO         All rights left.  Edited by Grandmaster Ratte'.      __   ( \
 / . ) /)(\                                                        /  \  )  \
 \  (  \__/       Save yourself!  Go outside!  Do something!       \)(/ ( . /
  \_)                     xXx   BOW to the COW   xXx                    Oooo
                                    .ooM