THE TORTOISE MONEY RITUAL

THE TORTOISE MONEY RITUAL: THE TORTOISE I GOT MOVES FASTER THAN A SNAKE. 

THE TORTOISE MONEY RITUAL IS THE MOST DANGEROUS RITUAL AND I LEARNED THE HARD WAY. 

I didn’t think I’d ever end up like this. But the more I think about it, the more I realize I had no choice. They gave me the option, and I took it. Now, I can’t escape.  

It started innocently enough. A man in a sharp suit approached me one night, like he had been watching me for weeks. He promised me riches. Said all my suffering could end if I just agreed to one thing: a small favor.  

Of course, I didn’t think much of it. People like me don’t get chances like this, and I was too desperate to say no. I was hungry, my family was starving, and I had nothing left to lose.  

He took me to a sangona in other country. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was too excited to care. Inside, everything was dark, and the air was uncomfortable with something I couldn’t place—something wrong.  

He led me to a basement, where I saw it.  

A massive tortoise, sitting still in the center of the room. But this wasn’t a normal tortoise. Its shell was covered in symbols, in marks that weren’t human. Its eyes glowed a dull red. I thought it was a statue at first. I couldn’t even blink, couldn’t take my eyes off of it.  

The man told me the ritual was simple.  

“You want money? Power? Wealth?” he asked. “The tortoise will give it to you. But you have to give it something in return.”  He continued to say that the tortoise will give me on of it's kids in exchange for mine or even just a family member. 

I didn’t know what he meant. I was too naïve. I chose not to understand what was meant. My suffering clouded my straight thinking. 

He handed me a blade. “Cut yourself. Let the blood flow, and the tortoise will feed. Once it’s fed, it will give you what you want.”  one thing I've realised is that getting into a money ritual almost requires the same thing. Cutting yourself. Anyway... 

I hesitated. But then I thought of my family, of the hunger, of how I had nothing but broken promises. I thought of the life I could have, a life where I wasn’t nothing. So I did it.  I had a very troublesome and drunk uncle I already knew that no one would miss if he was to die. 

The moment the blade touched my skin, something changed. The tortoise began to move. Slowly, its heavy body shifted, and I heard a growl that wasn’t like any animal I’d ever known. It wasn’t a sound—it was a vibration in my bones.  Then a very cute red and yellow baby tortoise came from under it. 

I bled more than I expected. And the tortoise… the tortoise kept moving. It wasn’t hungry for food. It was hungry for blood. And as it fed, I felt my soul slowly slip away, like the life I was offering wasn’t just blood—it was access to my family. 

When the blood stopped flowing, the man smiled. “It’s done.”  he continued to say that the baby tortoise will follow us home and it will never get lost. The day it arrives I'll know and I should expect one of my family member to pass away. 

Once it has collected the spirit of that person then it will return back to it's mother to recharge then come back for another until it is satisfied. 

That night, I left with more than money. I left with power—I lived the life I have always wanted. I had lots of money and power. A few months later I could feel it's nearing arrival. The tortoise was coming and very soon. 

Indeed it arrived but only I could see it. I watched it suck the life out of my uncle in his sleep. Then it left. Before it left it turned into an image of my uncle and walked out exactly like him. 

I was scared and shocked at the same time because no one told me that this is what would happen. The tortoise will use the walking pace of my uncle to return to it's mother and also to come back for another family member. 

I wish this was information I knew before making any decision. My uncle was an energetic and very fast walker. This meant I had very little time before it's return. Indeed it came back about a year later and took another energetic person. 

It's been 4 years and it comes every year and only comes for those energetic members and leaving the very lazy ones. I tried re negotiating but my request went unheard. 

It was always there, in the back of my mind. The tortoise, waiting. It wanted more.  

You see, it’s never satisfied. It’s like an insatiable beast that feeds and feeds, but never gets full. And each year, the ritual demands a price. More blood. More sacrifice.  

The wealth keeps coming. But I’m paying for it with pieces of myself, with my soul and in a physical form of a loved one.

I thought I could outrun it. I thought I could enjoy the wealth and leave the past behind. But now, I feel it. The pull. It calls me in the night, when I can’t sleep. It whispers that I’m not done yet, that it needs more. And I’ll give it what it wants, because if I don’t, the wealth disappears.  

I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. But I know one thing for sure.  

The tortoise owns me. And there’s no turning back.  And the speeds of which it moves in is not of a tortoise. 

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