Ashes - The Special Edition: The Tales of Tartarus

by A. L. Mengel

  “I am coming for you Anthony!” Antoine said, jumping down, and again the corpse attacked. Antoine reached out, fending off the attacking rotted human, and grabbed the heart from Anthony. The demons stopped in their tracks, as if commanded by some unseen force.

  The thunder rumbled, followed by bright flashes of lighting, and Antoine threw the thrashing body onto the ground, stepping on its legs to hold it down. Anthony knelt down to assist, holding down the thrashing arms.

  Asmodai stood in the clearing of the cemetery, about ten feet away from them. His anger mounted and grew, grunting and groaning – appearing as if trying to get out of an unseen force field, which trapped him in a giant unseen bubble.

  Yes, this is the way it was written. Darius shall rise again. Darius shall walk the earth again.

  “Take the heart!” Antoine yelled, over the winds, which began to roar again, this time much stronger than before. Both immortals had to shield their eyes from soaring debris.

  Antoine mustered all of his strength, all of his powers, drew them together from the pit of his stomach and struck the chest of the body, ripping out the heart in a shower of decayed, rotted and dried out flesh, grayish and spoiled, dusty and old. He threw the heart on the ground.

  “Place the heart in the chest Anthony! Do it quickly!”

  Anthony did as he was told, shoving the heart into the chest. The organ spun around in circles inside the chest, and emitted a bright, white light – so bright that they had to shield their eyes in pain. The corpse levitated above the ground, with a renewed energy flowing through it.

  Antoine rose to his feet, grabbing Anthony’s hand and pulling him up. Anthony stared at the body dumbfounded, as it began to hover several feet off the ground, spin and drop again to the grass. “Come on! Grab it!” Antoine said, straining through the winds. “I don’t know how much longer they will be held!”

  Anthony looked back towards the clearing, and Asmodai was furious, thrashing around inside his bubble. He was about to break out.

  The storm stopped and Asmodai broke free – his entire body tripling in size and glowing orange. His eyes slanted and he stood over ten feet tall, his muscles bulged to an enormous size – ripping his armor right from his body.

  Asmodai raised his arms to the sky, drawing giant wands of fire that dropped down from the clouds into his hands. He held each of these wands like swords, turning around and ripping each bubble trapping the demons behind him with one thrash.

  “Grab it, go!” Antoine yelled.

  The two each took an arm over their shoulders and drug the body into the woods. They ran. They ran as fast as their legs would take them, dodging fallen tree branches, shrubs and thick foliage, deeper and deeper into the dark woods.

  Asmodai was right behind them, swinging swords of fire, igniting all of the trees around them, turning the woods into a blazing inferno.

  “Stay away from the fire, Anthony! That is the one thing that we can’t survive!” Antoine said, looking over his shoulder. “It’s not much farther!”

  “Where are we going?” Anthony asked, amidst explosions of burning trees.

  “Just follow me! You will see!”

  There was another clearing in the woods behind the graveyard, and in the clearing was a cave with an entrance so small the giant demons would not be able to enter. Antoine ducked into it, dragging Anthony and the corpse with him. “Go in, come on, deeper inside!”

  The cave was pitch black, and continued, through muddy and murky waters, into the bowels of the earth. They could hear the sizzling and roaring of the fire outside the cave walls, the rumbling thunder and the army of demons surrounding the cave attempting to enter.

  But the cave did not offer a sanctuary yet. Asmodai was right outside in the clearing, shooting flames into the cave, which lit the cavern in a yellowish orange glow of fire, sending searing heat that stung their faces.

  “Keep going deeper!” Antoine yelled from the front.

  The fire shot through the cave entrance like flames from a gas line, boiling the water on floor. Anthony screamed out in pain, wincing at the heat in the water and noticing steam rising to the cave ceiling. “Don’t think about it! That will not hurt you!”

  Then the entire cave shook, as if there was an earthquake. Rocks and small boulders broke free from the ceiling, cascading to the floor one landing on Antoine’s back, sending him face first into the water. “Antoine!” Anthony exclaimed, temporarily forgetting the boiling water and flames, dropping the body and rushing to Antoine’s aid.

  Antoine pulled his face out of the water, letting out a deep breath, coughing up some water. “We need to go deeper,” he said.

  The cave continued to shake. There was a crash from the entrance. “Come on!” Antoine said. “He is breaking into the cave!”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Opening her eyes gradually and wincing at the pain between her legs, Paula gradually began to make out her surroundings. She felt the cold, hard marble beneath her on the floor, and she even felt the heat resonating from the flames of the torch above her. Feeling like she just woke up from a night of restless sleep, she struggled up to a sitting position, feeling the ache in her muscles and the fuzziness still veiling her thoughts.

  Opening her eyes gradually, she scanned her surroundings.

  She was in a mysterious stone room – but she did not recall how she got there. Looking around and trying to recall the events that brought her here, it started to gradually come to her in bits and pieces, as if a television picture was gradually clearing. She remembered a set of stairs made from dirt – and she remembered being with Anthony. And she remembered losing Anthony – calling out his name in desperation from the landing on the stairs. But then after she fell down the stairs, she remembered nothing. The veil still shrouded her thoughts.

  Making a feeble attempt to stand, she felt an ache that reached her inner thighs. She winced at the sharpness of the pain.

  “Get up.”

  A voice spoke from the opposite end of the room, encouraging her in her actions. In the dim, flickering light Paula could not clearly see the figure standing in the corner. The figure moved closer. When she looked over in the direction of the voice, it seemed like a giant, blurred bright light. It was so bright in that corner that she could not focus her eyes. “Get up Paula.”

  She struggled to her feet, wincing at the pain in her groin, and screamed.

  She fainted, but did not hit the floor.

  Someone caught her. She could feel powerful arms grasping her waist, holding her from the floor. Whatever it was laid her back on the floor, and she felt cool air blowing across her face. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a bright glowing hand gradually moving back and forth above her face, creating the much needed flow of air. The glowing being above her emitted a white, aural luminescence.

  “I am Verkai,” it said. “I am here to lead you through this dark, sinister world.”

  “Where am I?” she asked. She still could not see his face, but she could tell that the voice was masculine. And it seemed friendly as well. Loving.

  The being waved its arm across the chamber, and Paula’s eyes followed it, revealing the stone chamber that loosely resembled a mortuary or crematorium, but without the cold ceramic tile that generally pastes the walls of the lower chambers of earthly funeral parlors. This room was stone – from floor to ceiling, and the floors were made of marble. “You are trapped in the quantum realm. This is the plane of existence that is close to yours physically, but you do not see it. But despite its closeness, the difference between the two dimensions is quite vast. It is going to be a challenge to get you back to your dimension, given what has happened to you.”

  “What has happened to me?” Paula looked over at the blood.

  “There is a demon seed growing inside of you, Paula. It won’t be much longer before you bear child.”

  She touched her stomach, which already appeared larger than before.

  “You were raped by an Incubus, Paula, and
that Incubus injected its demon seed into you. You can see it is growing very fast. We do not have much time.”

  Paula glanced again down at her midsection, which appeared even larger in just that short moment.

  “Why can’t I be taken back to my dimension? I don’t even know how I got here!” Paula pleaded. “All I know is I was on Anastasia, and then all of a sudden, it stormed, I looked up, and the place looked like it was deserted! Like all of the houses were abandoned and unkempt for years! And then…I started getting chased by these monsters!”

  “Monsters, yes, they are monsters. They are far worse than that. They are directly from Hell. For you crossed over, Paula. You were chosen. And you have been here since you crossed.”

  The figure rose, casting a warm white glow throughout the chamber. Paula instinctively followed.

  “You are carrying Nesmaron.” Verkai glided across the room to a door on the opposite wall that looked to be of steel like on that of a submarine. “We must carry you deeper into the Netherworld so Nesmaron can be birthed without corruption to society. If he gets out of this realm, he will most certainly bring all of humanity under his control. He is the ultimate of demons.”

  “How did I get bestowed the honor of birthing this being?”

  “I can explain to you, but you may not like what you hear. You are more involved in this sinister plot to raise damnation than you may think.”

  “How so?”

  “You have been to Sacrafice, the nightclub that Antoine and Darius have opened on Miami Beach.”

  “Didn’t that place just open? And no, I was not there.”

  “Yes you were, Paula. You were there for opening night. You have been an integral part of the process. And the fact that you are here with me now shows that there is some hope for saving you.”

  Verkai opened the door into blackness, as a swirling white mist flowed out like smoke.

  He continued. “Time means nothing here. Events can happen in this realm that parallel events that happen in reality – meaning, in a sense, that people who are in this realm could, in theory, bilocate.”

  “Bilocate?”

  “Meaning you could be in two different places at once, doing two different things at exactly the same time.”

  “Bilocate?! You must be kidding right?”

  He raised his hand, as if in protest to Paula’s response.

  “Bilocation is possible because you have interests in reality. You are Paula Tandy, and you are you who say you are. But in the Netherworld…” his voice trailed off.

  Paula scoffed .“The Netherworld-”

  “- is beyond there,” Verkai pointed out, gesturing a glowing, muscular arm towards the darkness of the unknown. “We are in the fourth dimension right now. But beyond there…there is no help. Beyond there, you will no longer be Paula Tandy.”

  “And I have crossed that line before?” she asked.

  “Yes you have,” Verkai said.

  Paula stopped for a moment to consider what he was saying to her. Who was she and what had she become?

  “As I was saying,” he continued. “Time means nothing here in comparison with reality. Since you crossed to this dimension from reality during the storm, you have crossed over many times. You have had many recollections of your past, ran from many demons in your present, and are destined to a hellish future if we do not get you back to your reality. But all that is normal for this dimension. Demons run free here. It’s not like your reality, where they must be controlled by a super demon or conjured by humans.”

  Paula collapsed to the floor and shook her head. “When will this nightmare be over?” Verkai knelt beside her and placed a strong hand on her shoulder, squeezing it softly. She closed her eyes and leaned on his aura, feeling held and supported despite his transparency.

  “Through that door, you will become your alter-ego. It’s someone that you created, that you have wanted to be your whole life.”

  She sat and imagined, for a moment, who she had wanted to be. It was clear to her, watching the super models on tv as child and as a teen – there was one in particular, who had long, flowing dark brown hair, and bright red lips. She looked so naughty, so much like a vixen. That was her. That’s who she wanted to be. Not the plain-Jane frumpy investigator she had become.

  Mustering up the strength to go through the door, she started to transform, right on the floor. Crawling through the threshold to hell like a spider, she entered through the door and got swallowed up by the darkness. As she crossed the threshold she felt a searing pain through her body causing her a moment to cry out, reverberating and echoing around her.

  Something dropped to the floor, with a soft, mushy feeling followed by a splash. She felt as though she had been cleaned. She felt as though her body had just gotten rid of load of toxins; she felt lighter and refreshed. Verkai was closely following, and his aura provided some light where he was standing in the chamber, but the light stopped at the threshold. So did the light of the torches. It seemed as though all light stopped at that line.

  But it didn’t matter.

  Paula looked down at what dropped from her body. Looking like a glowing alien egg, it was translucent and pulsating in a repeated fashion like a beating heart. It seemed as if it were gestating. Looking closer, she saw something dark inside. Something that looked like it could be something waiting to be birthed.

  “What the fuck is THAT?!” Paula screamed.

  She looked for a moment back at Verkai. He was still standing at the door, and he glanced at her with a knowing glance.

  She knew.

  She bent down to touch the glowing egg. Her fingertips hovered close to it, her fingers almost touching the clear, thick skin. She stopped just short.

  “Should I touch it?” she asked Verkai, looking up at him expectantly.

  “I wouldn’t, but it was just inside you. So go ahead. Might be alright.”

  She paused for a moment. “But…but I feel cleansed. I just feel lighter and clean…so…I wonder…but…”

  She bent down again and brought her hand just next to the object. Her finger touched the substance. It felt gelatinous like a jellyfish – slimy, cool, wet and spongy. But then the dark figure inside moved suddenly, noticing her touch. She screamed sharply and jumped back.

  “Shit!” she exclaimed, running back to the door, closer to the apparent safety of Verkai.

  “Nesmaron…” Verkai said slowly, shaking his head and moving back into the darkness. “That egg contains the most powerful and most evil of demons next to Lucifer.”

  Paula shuddered and took a few steps further back from the pulsating egg.

  “It is too late, I’m afraid,” Verkai stated with a touch of despair in his voice. “I didn’t expect it to mature so fast inside you. Certainly you were an open portal.” Verkai looked down at Paula, suddenly looking human. His face was painted with worry, like that of a concerned father. He closed his eyes and shook his head slightly. “We are going to have to get you out of here. But I am afraid that the only way out is to go farther in.”

  Paula looked up at Verkai, wondering what he truly looked like. Before her now, all he seemed to be was an aural presence exhibiting a masculine face and presence. But he seemed too comforting, and he seemed…like an old friend.

  He moved closer to Paula and put his arm around her, pulling her tighter to him, as she felt herself becoming enveloped by his aura. The closer she got to him, the more refreshing coolness she felt. Not the damp, musty cold of the darkness that they were on the threshold of, but rather a fresh, calming feeling taking over; like fresh spring air.

  His calming luminescent aura glowed all around her as she was hugging his body tightly, his brightness reaching out and surrounding her like a blanket.

  She looked up at his face. That’s who it was! She knew it all along. He came to her, he came to her out on Andelusia, where she was hiding. The demons were chasing her, and he came to save her. She didn’t know how he got to be in this form – or how he got here a
fter disappearing in the first place – but she was glad that he was here.

  He looked down at her and smiled. “I came for you girl,” he said, gently pulling strands of her hair from her eyes and smoothing it back over her head. “You called me to come.”

  Paula looked ahead and said nothing, she just closed her eyes and smiled. For a moment, she felt safe in all of the terror. She felt like maybe – just maybe – everything would turn out okay. A familiar face in all of the madness is just what she needed. Too much has happened over the past twenty four hours – the intensity of the storm and her falling into the quantum, running from Asmodai, and reliving the horrors of losing her child; she was glad to have a minute to lay her head back, breath out a deep sigh, a rest for a moment in loving and familiar arms.

  Lost in her moment of relaxation and displacement, neither of them noticed the egg until it gurgled and stopped pulsating. Paula lifted her head from Verkai’s shoulder, and looked over at her offspring.

  It had indeed stopped.

  Looking like it was lying in a pool of some sort of ectoplasmic substance, she saw that the being inside was much larger, this time almost taking up the entire confines of the inside of the egg.

  “It’s almost time, Paula. We have to get you out of here. He is about to birth, and since he wasn’t deep in the Netherworld, he may get out of the quantum.”

  Paula broke free of Verkai’s grasp and stood next to him, staring at the egg. Something was moving inside. Paula ducked behind Verkai for safety, but still kept her eyes trained on the egg. It began to ooze a clear, thick liquid. It began to seep out of the entire skin of the egg, emitting a hiss and a foul odor from the porous object.

  The monster inside started to thrash in its confines. It was dark and black; the arms were long a spiny with sharp pointed fingers. As the hand – or what looked like a hand – started to open, revealing the bony digits and pointed nails, the egg burst, sending a cascade of clear liquids throughout the room, and the foul odor started to overpower Paula with the smell of human excrement.