by Karl Morgan
Chapter 9
Faith led Bill back through the park to the broken-down house where they had arrived. It was restored to its original form. The dead man who had been holding the pistol was alive and sharpening the blades of his lawn mower, preparing for his day taking care of the park. His wife was not lying dead in her bed, but sitting and knitting on a rocking chair on the small porch. “How is that possible?” he asked her.
“Iguazu Falls, remember.”
“Ah, illusions, right?”
Faith stopped, grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her. “Are you kidding me?” she shouted. “You know what you did a few minutes ago, right? You saw what happened to the acres of crosses just now, didn’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Faith, it’s hard for a normal person to absorb all of this.”
“Are you folks okay?” asked the woman on the porch. Her husband also turned to watch them.
“And now you’re just a normal human being, is that right?” Faith screamed.
“God bless you both,” the groundskeeper said. He was standing next to them. “It’s all okay, you know? What had happened here was an abomination, and you washed all of that away. Thank you.”
Bill and Faith both hugged him. “How do you know what happened?” Bill asked.
“God works in mysterious ways,” the man replied. “By the way, my name is Jim Stewart, and that’s my wife, Irene. How would you two like a cup of coffee?”
Minutes later, they sat at the small table inside as Irene set steaming cups of coffee in front of them and sat down. She began, “It’s like a dream, you know, more like a nightmare actually. I still remember begging Jim to kill us. It took weeks of begging, but eventually he did it, and not a moment too soon. All those people dying on the crosses. We could hear them begging for help and calling out to God to save them. This was our farm, well, ours and those of our friends. Eventually, most of them found their way onto the crosses, guilty of nothing other than owning the land where the emperor wanted to kill more innocents. We knew we were next. Any day, they would come for us. So, we did it on our terms. We knew it was a sin for sure. But what choice does a body have? I mean, after so much horror, death and suffering, perhaps it’s better to be dead and have the torment over.”
“But, it didn’t end then. I blew my brains out and the emperor was still there. My death was filled with more suffering and torment than my life,” Jim said. “My life was hell, and now my death was hell too. I thought I deserved that for a long time. After all, killing your wife and yourself are unforgiveable sins, right? Then I began to wish I could kill myself again, but I was already dead. Can you imagine the horror?” Bill and Faith could only shake their heads, overwhelmed by the emotion of these poor souls.
Irene sighed deeply and said, “And that wasn’t the worst of it, you know. You see, the emperor is our son Bill, who looks a lot like you come to think of it. One day the enforcers came and they changed. Our own children, can you imagine?” Then she smiled broadly and said, “But then, in an instant it was over. I was certain it was heaven, but now I know it’s life again. At first I was terrified that the emperor would come back and make this his place again, but then an angel of the Lord came to me and said that time of terror was over, and now Jim and I could live our lives the way we were meant to. That angel was you, Faith. Thank you for restoring our hope.”
“I’m glad you both are okay,” Faith said, tears brimming in her eyes.
Jim looked all around and then looked out the windows. When he was satisfied they were alone, he sat back down and leaned forward, whispering, “I think they have another angel, the emperor I mean. It’s here in the park at the top of a desolate hill; at least it was desolate until Faith intervened. It’s in a crypt, looks like any other, but I heard the guards saying how they could hear crying or moaning from inside. Dead folks don’t cry, you know. Even when they were crucifying hundreds a day, the guards wouldn’t get anywhere near that place.” He looked around one more time and whispered in a barely audible tone, “If you like, I can take you two there. It’s the least I can do.”
Jim led Bill and Faith through the new forest where birds chirped and guarded their new nests. After they reached the top of the first hill, the trees gave way to a grassy meadow that stretched down to the valley floor where a small stream rolled over well-worn rocks. Groups of tombstones spread out across the meadow. On the opposite side of the stream, the next hill rose up, crowned by a large group of mausoleums sitting in the middle of a stand of fruit trees.
“Faith, may I ask you a question?”
“Certainly, Jim, anything you like.”
“First of all, I’m not complaining, but how come Irene and I are alive again while all these poor people are still dead?”
The group kept walking down the hill as Faith replied, “They were all murdered. Since they had no hand in their deaths, their souls were immediately liberated. Since you and Irene chose to die, you were both in a kind of limbo, caught between this side and the other.”
“So, we would have stayed that way for eternity? That doesn’t seem fair. Everyone deserves to be judged one way or the other.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “However, things are not happening the way they should right now. The emperor has erased the balance between good and evil. The forces of good have almost been eliminated. You said there is supposed to be an angel in a mausoleum over there. You have to know that should not be able to happen. I don’t think God is in a position to judge souls right now, and none of us want the emperor to assume that duty.”
They took off their shoes and socks, rolled up their pant legs and moved quickly across the stream. After drying their feet, they started up the hill. “You know, we didn’t offer you any food earlier and I’m sorry for that, but it looks like there are some ripe apples on the trees up the hill.” There was a small park with several benches between the trees and the tombs. Jim picked some fruit and the group sat down to enjoy something to eat. Between bites, Jim said, “You can see there are about forty mausoleums here. I’m not sure which tomb is the right one, or even if there is someone alive in any of them. How will we find it?”
“I already know,” Bill replied.
“Yeah, me too,” Faith agreed.
“Well, I’ll be. . .”
Bill put his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Jim, you need to go home now. It is not safe for you to be here when we open the crypt.”
“But I want to help you for what you’ve done.”
Faith held one of his hands and replied, “You already have, Jim. You brought us here. Without you, we wouldn’t know this place exists. If you stay, you’ll be dead again seconds after the door opens, and my father did not resurrect you to die again so soon. Go home to Irene and do not go out of your house until tomorrow.”
“One of us will come by your house to let you know when it’s safe to come back here,” Bill added.
“But how will you two survive?”
Faith smiled and patted his hand. “Jim, we aren’t human like you. I am an angel, sent by God to save your world. Bill’s mother is an angel and his father is Satan. We think Bill’s mother is the angel inside the crypt.”
“Wow! I can’t believe it. Is this for real?”
“Stand up, Jim,” Faith said. When he was standing, she kissed him on the cheek and said, “Goodbye for now.” He faded away, reappearing on the front lawn of his house. “Are you ready, Bill?”
Bill checked the sun’s position in the sky and said, “Yea, I’m ready. It looks like it’s about noon. We have to be back up here by nightfall.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling in the back of my mind. Let’s go.”
They walked down the long line of mausoleums, each clad in gleaming white marble. Plaques showing the names and pictures of the dead were placed on either side of a narrow door. Even though it was a bright sunny day, the air seemed to get cooler as they moved down the line. After th
e third crypt, the cold was making Bill shiver and his breath was a cloud in front of his face. Fog began to gather around their feet, moving upward with each step. They stopped at the seventh mausoleum, looked at each other and nodded.
The fog was thick now and Bill had to bring his face within inches of the wall to make out the plaques. Almost all were blank, implying vacant spots. He gasped when he saw one with his name and picture. “Faith, come see this?”
She took his arm and looked at the wall. “No surprise there. The one on the other side of the door has my picture. Someone knew we were coming.” She pressed her ear to the door and listened, “Nothing, no sound at all.”
Bill followed her lead and listened as well. He took her hand, led her back a few feet, pressed his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Something is right on the other side of the door. I could hear its heart beating.”
Faith went back to the door and listened at the same spot Bill had. Then she came back and said, “How do you want us to proceed?”
“I’ll become the beast and pull the door open but stand off to the side. You should face it with your sword at the ready. I’ll jump anything that attacks you.” She nodded and was instantly filled with light, evaporating the fog. She held her gleaming blade in front of her. Bill morphed into the demon and stood on the side of the door. Without a sound, he mouthed, “One, two, three!” and yanked the door open.
A dozen or more vapor-like ghouls burst from the opening toward her, screaming and moaning. When they approached the blade, they screamed and dissolved into thin air. Bill heard a low guttural growl and jumped in front of the doorway as a massive three-headed wolf jumped out, knocking him to the ground. Bill and the beast rolled around on the ground in front of the crypt. He was trying not to get any part of his body near the three massive mouths filled with long razor-sharp fangs. The wolf was on top of him, reaching down with its drooling mouths to bite off his head. Faith drove her sword into one of the heads. The other two heads looked up at her, and then the beast dissolved away into nothingness.
They changed back into their human forms to be able to fit through the narrow doorway. They followed a narrow stairway down below ground level into a room where tombs were set into the walls. Bill made his eyes glow red to provide some lighting. All of the chambers were empty, although two panels sat on the floor waiting to block a filled tomb. Once again, their names were on those panels. “It a cheap parlor trick, Bill. Just ignore it,” Faith said patting him on the back.
“I don’t believe it. This is it? There’s just this small room and the empty tombs. Why would a Cerberus be guarding an empty mausoleum?”
“We must be missing something, Bill. Clearly, this is the right place. Check the floor.” They both got on their hands and knees to feel around for a false door or something, but the floor was one solid piece of marble with no seams or cracks.”
“Wait a minute. Do you smell that?”
“I don’t smell anything, Bill.”
“It’s very faint, but something like sulfur or gunpowder, I’m not sure,” he replied.
She stood up and said, “I still don’t smell anything Bill.”
“Here, there is a small crack in this tomb. Way at the back. I think I can see a kind of reddish glow through the crack. I’m going to crawl inside and see what’s there.” Bill shimmied his body into the tomb. The smell was getting much stronger as he progressed. He put his hand against the rear marble slab and found it warm to the touch.
Faith was on her hands and knees again at the opening of the tomb. “What do we do now?”
“I’m going to push on the back of this thing and see if it will open.” He pushed as hard as he could but it did not budge. He moved back toward the open chamber and then sat panting on the floor. “I’m going to try to go in feet first. I think there’s enough room to give it a good kick. That might do it.”
“What if there’s another monster on the other side?”
“Grab my arms and pull me out!” He kissed her forehead and shimmied feet first back into the tomb. He turned his head up to see her and said, “Here goes nothing.” He kicked the back of the tomb over and again but to no avail. “Shit, this isn’t working. Now what do we do? We can’t give up!”
“I have an idea, Bill, but I doubt you’re going to like it.”
“Well, I’m not going to give up if that’s your idea.”
“Bill, there’s a chance those plaques with our names on them were not put there by the emperor. I think Dom did it. He was leading us to the right place all along, and now these plaques are a sign. I want to put up the slab with your name on it to close this tomb. If I’m right, that will make the back open.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“I’ll pull it back off again. If it’s cursed, I’ll use my sword to destroy it. Don’t worry; I’m not burying you here or anywhere else.”
“Well, since I’m out of ideas, it’s worth a try. Please don’t leave me here to die.”
She put her head inside the tomb and kissed the top of his head. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. Just take a few deep breaths.” Faith stood and retrieved the panel and knelt in front of the open tomb. “Bill, everything will be alright. I’m sure of it now.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I didn’t see it before, but under your name on the panel are the words, “Beloved by God.” She held it up and said, “Are you ready?”
“Sure.”
She pushed the panel into place. The instant she pulled her hands free, she could hear Bill screaming. She grabbed the panel and after several attempts was able to pull it away. The other end of the tomb was open, and the tomb had tilted downward and Bill was slipping away. She lunged into the tomb and grabbed his hands and tried to pull him out. Her strength gave out and both slipped through the tomb and down a long twisting and turning tube, descending deeper into the earth. After ten seconds of out-of-control sliding, they emerged from the tube and fell two feet onto a mound of straw. Bill lay there panting for breath with Faith on top of him. She stood and looked around their new locale. They were in a small cave chamber. Dull red light appeared through an opening to another chamber fifty feet in front of them. As Bill sat brushing the straw off, Faith hurried to the opening and then came back and sat next to him.
“Well, I guess you were right about the tomb,” Bill said. “Now where the hell are we?”
She patted him on the shoulder and replied, “That about sums it up. Bill, you remember that all of this is an illusion.”
“Yes, I accept that, but seeing what happens to the people here still makes my blood boil.”
“What you are about to see will only make it worse, I’m afraid. Come on, let’s get this over with.” They stood and hurried over to the opening into the larger cavern. The second chamber was immense, at least two miles in diameter and five hundred feet from floor to ceiling. A giant pool of bubbling magma filled the center of the room, its ruddy glow the only source of light. A large corral to the left was filled with at least a thousand naked people, pressed against one another, barely able to move. A sea of enforcers circled the outside of the corral to stop anyone from trying to escape. A demon sat on a stone throne supervising the horror. Every few seconds, one of two other demons would grab a person from the corral and either toss them into the swarm of enforcers or into the pool of magma. The people thrown to the enforcers were instantly ripped limb from limb and consumed. Their bones were then tossed into the lava. Every minute or so, a door on the side of the cavern would open and another human would be tossed into the corral. There were three levers mounted on the wall next to the stone throne, within arm’s reach of the seated demon. Three chains rose from the panel over hooks in the ceiling and down to hold small cages at various heights over the magma. A woman was sitting in each of the cages. “Bill, if you look closely, you’ll see the three women are the same.”
“This is hell?”
“No, Bill, this is another illusion, but for everyone h
ere, it seems real.”
“Thankfully, those people are already dead, right?”
“No, Bill, they are very much alive, but not for long.” He stared back at her and his eyes began to glow. Faith pulled him away from the opening and out of sight of the demons below. In a second or two, Bill had become the demon again, though now he was larger and more ominous. Faith was an angel with her sword and dagger in their scabbards. “Bill, don’t calm down. Keep that fire burning. One of the women in those cages is your mother. This is a test for you. If you choose poorly, your mother will die in the magma.”
“What do we do? I can’t let her die.”
“You walk over to the opening and I’ll hide behind you. Bill, I don’t know the right answer. You have to choose and live with the consequences.” She could see his resolve faltering as his eyes dimmed. She slapped him across the face as hard as she could, making his eyes glow again. He grabbed her by the neck and held her up in the air. “Bill, it’s not me you want to harm.” He set her down and headed to the opening and roared. He could feel her right behind him.
The demon on the throne said, “Brother, come and join the fun!” The other two demons turned to look at him.
Bill jumped into the air and began to flap his wings and shouted, “I am not your brother!” Faith flew down toward the mass of enforcers with her sword at the ready.
“It’s a trap, brothers!” the demon on the throne shouted as he reached for the levers. He grabbed all of them and began to pull downward when Faith’s dagger flew toward him, cut through his wrist and buried itself in the wall. The other demons turned back to the corral and began grabbing people at random and tossing them into the pack of enforcers. Faith hovered twenty feet over the pack and aimed her sword downward. Thousands of bolts of lightning flew from the tip, striking each enforcer in the head, killing them.
