by J. C. Diem
Sam felt the same way. “I cannot believe you prevailed,” he said and grinned tremulously.
“How did the master gate take it?”
He made a face and glanced back over his shoulder. “Not well, I am afraid. I thought he was going to send his gargoyles after you.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t,” I managed then squeezed his hand. “Help me up, will you?”
He eased me into a sitting position and I leaned against him for support. We both turned to stare at the gigantic corpse of the fallen giant. “I cannot believe the gate unleashed a leviathan on you.” He sounded almost disapproving.
“I can’t believe how dumb that thing was,” I said then sniggered. “Did you see it spinning around and around in a circle?”
He came close to smirking at the reminder. “It is a sight that I doubt I will ever forget.”
My dagger had fallen out of my hand when I’d landed and it lay just within my reach. I picked it up with the intention of wiping it clean on my jeans. They were ruined anyway, so a little more leviathan blood couldn’t hurt them. Instead of being soaked in blood, the blade was clean. Apparently, when the demons transformed it, the blade became magically cleansed.
The feeling had returned to my legs, so I struggled to stand up with Sam’s help. I should have been unable to function from agony, but I suspected the demons were still lending me their strength. While I couldn’t speak to them directly on Earth, it was different in the shadowlands. They were stronger here and we could communicate easily.
“Let’s go see if the master gate is ready to let us into hell,” I said. Hell was the last place I wanted to go, but it was apparently my destiny to save mankind. I hadn’t asked for this duty and I certainly didn’t want it, yet it was a task that I couldn’t refuse.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirty-Nine
On our way back to the master gate, Sam helped me pull my jacket back on. My clothes would need a good soak if we managed to make it back home. The blood was a mixture of red and black, but I could barely see it against my dark clothes. My jeans and t-shirt were sticking to my skin unpleasantly. I pulled my shirt away from the wound in my side and winced in pain.
“How extensive are your injuries?” Sam asked in concern. His wounds still looked bad, but he was already on the mend. His t-shirt and hoodie had both suffered a fatal blow from the hellhound. They hung from him in tatters.
“They’re not too bad,” I said, but I didn’t show him the wounds. My leg and side were still bleeding, but the flow seemed to be slowing down. I couldn’t help but walk with a limp. I wished I could duck back through the portal and ask Nathan to heal me, but we’d come too far to go back now.
We remained on full alert for more attacks as we made the journey back to the gate. None came, which I hoped meant that the trials were indeed over.
Perched on the top of the gate, the gargoyles hissed menacingly when we drew closer. Shifting restlessly, their wings flared, but they didn’t attack. Sullen and brooding, the gate remained silent when we came to a stop a few yards away.
“Well?” I said as patiently as I could manage. “Did I conquer all nine trials?”
“You did,” he replied in a clipped tone.
“So, this means that I’ve defeated you and that you have to open for me whenever I want you to, right?”
Mouth turning down sulkily, his answer was even more brief this time. “Yes.” I saw a hint of slyness in his eyes and my demon advisor whispered into my mind.
“Since you’re the master gate and I have defeated you, that means your gargoyles can’t send word about me when I enter or leave hell.”
Letting out an exasperated noise, the gate rolled his eyes. “I know my restrictions.”
“Then you agree that these restrictions apply to all hellgates. My entourage and I can come and go through any gate at will without being challenged and without the Hellmaster or any of his minions being notified.”
Mouth opening and closing helplessly, the gate searched for a clause that he could exploit, but came up blank. “So it shall be, Hellscourge,” he said in defeat. “You have bested me and I am bound to obey the rules that were set by hell’s creator so long ago.” Falling silent, he stared down at me almost forlornly. “I do not understand how a creature as insignificant as you has achieved something that no other being has ever managed before.” After countless millennia of remaining undefeated, he’d become proud and vain. He simply couldn’t fathom being beaten by a mere human.
“Fate chose me to be her champion for this world,” I said with a shrug. “She’s making sure I have the skills I need to succeed.”
Startled, he narrowed its eyes thoughtfully. “I might have known that Fate was involved. She has always been meddlesome when humanity is in peril.”
“What can I say?” I said with a shrug. “I guess she prefers us to demons. I have no idea why.”
Grimacing at my sarcasm, the gate didn’t bother to retort. “What would you have of me, warrior?”
“Open sesame,” I commanded and Sam began to tremble in fear. He pressed himself against me as a crack appeared in the center of the gate.
With a tortured squeal of rusty hinges, the master gate swung open. Darkness and mist was all I could see on the other side. I had to tug on Sam’s arm to get him to move. His trembling had increased until he was visibly quaking.
Looking around for the pile of bodies that I’d seen in the memories of the Demon Lords, I was surprised when the area was empty.
The bodies you saw were metaphorical, the spokesdemon said. Like angels, demons cannot die. When we are defeated in battle, we are simply banished to the first realm of hell.
As soon as we cleared the gate, it swung shut with a deafening clang. Jumping in fright, I turned to see the gargoyles swivel around to glare down at us. The gate watched me with a sly, knowing grin. “Now that you have gained access to hell, you had best carry out your mission swiftly, whatever it may be. You would not want to remain here for too long and risk becoming an imp like your twisted little friend.” With an evil chuckle, his face disappeared and the gate became lifeless. The gargoyles became still and turned into unanimated stone.
“Well, that was fun,” I said with false brightness. “The trials weren’t as bad as I thought they would be.”
“I am glad that you are alive,” Sam said, “but I do not understand how you managed to defeat your foes so easily. I have never seen you fight like that before.”
I wasn’t convinced that the gate wasn’t spying on us and started walking. Passing a lone tree that looked like it had become petrified about ten million years ago, I stared at a raven that perched on the highest limb. Skeletal and missing more than a few feathers, its head turned to watch us as we walked past. It opened its beak and let out a low, dismal croak. Its eyes were milky, but it somehow saw us anyway.
When we were a safe distance away from the gate, I filled Sam in on how I’d managed to fight my way through the trials. “When I was in the shadowlands, I could talk to my demon posse,” I explained quietly. “Their combined knowledge of the creatures that the gates use in the trials and their fighting skills saved my bacon.” The master gate was the only hellgate that was strong enough to use a leviathan, so that trial had been new to my advisors.
“Your bacon?” he asked in confusion.
“My life.”
“Ah. Is that another cliché?”
“I guess so,” I shrugged. “We probably use clichés far more often than we realize.”
“Can you still speak to your inner demons now?”
My evil advisor answered his question before I could ask. We can still communicate with you. By the way, I would prefer it if you would call me Morax rather than thinking of me as your ‘spokesdemon’.
Fair enough, I conceded. I realized that it was his weapon that I’d been using to defeat the monsters in the trial. Thanks for lending me your axe, I said, trying to forget the image of Nathan’s face being split open by
that very weapon. He’d healed without a scar, but it had been traumatic to see his beauty spoiled for even a short while. I’d cut Morax’s essence out of his vessel’s heart myself in retaliation
“I can communicate with the demons here, too,” I said to Sam when I realized he was still waiting expectantly.
“I am not sure whether that is a good or a bad thing,” he said with a shiver. “But they did keep you alive and enabled you to defeat the gate. Perhaps they will be able to shed some light on what we are supposed to do next.”
It was a good point. We’d made it through the gate and were in hell and I had no idea what we were supposed to do. Any ideas? I sent the thought to Morax.
We may have one, he replied, but sounded skeptical. There are rumors that the Hellmaster found an object of great importance. He had it broken into nine pieces with each piece hidden in a different realm of hell. Eight are said to be guarded by the Princes’ minions. The final piece is somewhere in the first realm in a location that is only known to our master.
I repeated this information to Sam and his brow furrowed. “Either this object could aid our cause, or it could be a trap.”
It gelled with the vision that Sophia had been sent, so I couldn’t dismiss the information. “A trap would be more likely,” I said, “but we should probably try to find a piece just to be sure.”
As we’d been walking, the darkness had faded to a lighter gray. The mist had receded, revealing arid, cracked gray soil. We were walking across what might have been a meadow if we’d been on Earth. Apart from a few blackened, withered trees, the landscape was empty.
“Is this where you used to live?” I asked.
Sam nodded, hugging himself with one arm and holding onto my hand like a lifeline. “The village where I was taken to lies somewhere in this territory. It was an awful place to live, but I am glad I was not imprisoned in one of the other realms. This is where the souls who committed petty sins are sent to be tortured. It is less populated by demons than the other eight lands and the terrain is not as inhospitable.”
From what he’d told me, his crimes hadn’t been petty. If he’d died like a normal human, he probably would have ended up in another realm. Instead, he’d been brought here while he’d still been alive. Over time, he’d gradually become a monster and he now only vaguely resembled the boy he’d once been.
“Do you have any idea where we should search for the mysterious object? Are there any cities or towns here?”
“There are countless small towns scattered around, but only one that is large enough to be classified as a city.”
“That’s the most likely place where the object would be hidden,” I decided. “I don’t suppose you have any idea where the city is?”
Lifting his arm, he pointed to the right. Squinting, I could vaguely make out a distant red glow high in the air. “The beacon that is situated on the top of the palace will act as our guide,” he told me.
“I take it that’s where the Prince lives?” He was the most powerful being in this realm and his palace was the last place I wanted to go.
“That is where he resides when he is in hell,” he confirmed.
I couldn’t imagine what a demon palace would be like, but I was going to find out. “That looks like it’s a really long way away. It’ll take us days to reach it.”
“If we are lucky, we might not have to. My hope is that we will find a village that has a carriage that will be departing for the city soon. I can use my skills to hide us and to sneak us on board.”
“What would I do without you?” I asked him seriously. “First you saved my life and now you’re saving my feet.” Bemused, he allowed me to propel him back into action.
₪₪₪
Chapter Forty
Checking my watch, I saw that it had stopped working. It must have frozen the moment I’d stepped through the portal and entered the shadowlands. After what felt like a couple of hours of walking, Sam pointed out a tiny town that had just become visible on the horizon. The master gate had proven to be so dangerous that demons had long ago ceased to make the trek to it. Any path that had once led to it had faded away to nothing over the eons.
As we walked across the dry ground towards the distant buildings, we neared another petrified tree. It was devoid of undead birds this time. A damp patch on the ground near the trunk caught my attention.
“Do not get too close,” Sam warned me when I stepped towards it to investigate.
“Why not?”
Searching the ground, he bent to pick up a small rock. “Allow me to demonstrate.” He tossed the rock towards the darker patch of soil. It landed with a plop rather than a thud and sank out of sight. Before I could ask where it had disappeared to, something burst out of the ground, showering sludge everywhere. It was the same type of snakelike creature that I’d faced during my trial.
A cross between a serpent and an eel, its flesh and eyes were jet black. Gills on its neck gaped open wide as it gnashed at the air with its teeth. Razor sharp ridges ran down its back. It was only exposed for a few seconds before it fell back into the noisome liquid that was its home. It had managed to launch itself straight upwards a full five feet into the air. I made a mental note to keep my distance from the sludge in the future.
“How many of the things that I faced during my trials are real?”
“They are all real,” Sam replied. “They are just some of the creatures that reside in the nine realms.”
“Do they just roam around the wastelands freely?” I waved at the desolate area that surrounded us.
“I am not sure,” he said uneasily. “I spent most of my time in the town that my master ruled over. I have seen some of the creatures that you faced for myself, but have merely heard of the others. They are often used as methods of torture for the souls that have ended up in hell.”
I couldn’t suppress a shudder at the thought of being chomped on by the monsters that had done their best to kill me. Humans ended up here for a reason, but I was already pitying them for the torment they had to suffer through.
The light never changed as we closed in on the buildings. I couldn’t tell if it was night or day. There was just a perpetual grayness that never seemed to change. As we drew close to the town, moans and screams could be heard.
I raised an eyebrow at Sam and he explained. “You are hearing the souls that are being tormented for their sins.”
I’d suspected as much, but it was still disturbing to hear them. “Who or what is tormenting them?”
“Lesser demons, usually,” he replied. “They may or may not be using critters to assist them. A Captain will be in charge of the town, training a regiment of soldiers somewhere nearby. They will have a barracks for the troops and it would be wise for us to avoid them.”
I wished we could have avoided the town completely, but I didn’t want to walk all the way to the city.
I was glad for the perpetual dimness as we reached the village. Dressed in our dark clothing, we blended in with the horizon. My blond hair would have shone like a beacon if it hadn’t been covered by my hood.
Buildings that had been shrouded in gloom came into sharp relief. They were made of slick black stones just like the wall that enclosed hell. Yards didn’t exist here. The houses crouched close to each other, showing us their backs. I couldn’t see any doors, but there were a few windows. They lacked glass, but I doubted that it had ever rained here. There didn’t seem to be any type of weather to ruin whatever furniture they might have.
Stopping next to the closest house, I hunkered down beneath the window and spoke to Sam in a whisper. “I’ll wait here while you scout out the town and see if there’s a carriage that we can hitch a ride on.”
He stiffened his spine and reluctantly stepped away, but I saw him shivering in fear. Running his hand along the wall, his skin and clothing adapted to match the stone. He became an indistinct blur as he slipped between two of the ugly square buildings.
Counting in my head, ten minutes pas
sed and I started to worry. Another few minutes went by and my concern for Sam overruled my caution. Staying low, I slipped between the two buildings where he’d disappeared. Staying in the shadows, I pulled my hood forward even further to hide my all too human face.
Coming to a stop at the edge of the houses, I sank into a crouch and took in the scene before me. When they were on Earth, demons could possess human vessels and hide their true faces. I was the only one who could see what they really looked like. In hell, they were exposed as the hideous creatures they really were. With onyx colored skin, they had sharp jagged teeth and forked tongues. They wore black garments made of sackcloth with ropes to act as their belts. Their feet were bare. Their scarlet eyes were gleeful as they tortured the souls that were in their charge.
Twisted and deformed, the souls of former humans writhed in pain. They weren’t ghostlike and incorporeal as I’d expected. Instead, their forms were solid and looked a lot like Sam.
Countless souls were crammed into the center of the town. The buildings faced them in a circle, as if bearing witness to their torment. Dozens of lesser demons pranced between the victims. Each one carried implements of torture.
Chained to the ground as well as to each other, the helpless souls were doomed to spend eternity naked and on their knees. They begged and pleaded for release, but there would be no rescue for them.
Watching a soul being skewered by a spear with a barb at the end, I winced in sympathy as he shrieked. Worse torments were being performed on the other captives. This was the fate that awaited humans who committed petty sins like lying and stealing.
It scared me to think that some of these people were here because they were in the habit of illegally downloading music, movies or e-books. It seemed like a harsh punishment for something that so many people seemed to consider acceptable behavior nowadays. Stealing Bob’s money had been my first and only act of theft. I wondered if that would be enough to land me here when I died.
