The imps were both on fire as they tumbled and fought each other like cats, snarling and snapping while their red bodies sizzled over the charred rocks.
Then suddenly, a shot of fire burst from the grounds ahead and hit the top of the ceiling. The whole place started rumbling and sizzling with heat.
Demetrius and Jezebel stopped fighting. Four-legged creatures were appearing from the bursting fire, and as they came into view, I saw that they were four hellhounds.
They were padding up to us. Lexie and I froze, for the hellhounds looked even more monstrous when they were in an enclosed, shadowy area underground.
Demetrius and Jezebel immediately let each other go and acted as if nothing had come between them.
“Scollgrem!” Demetrius addressed the first hellhound that stepped up to glare at them with monstrous envy. “At your service! We’ve delivered the Satan spirit from Purgatory!”
“And with an extra human to sacrifice as well!” Added Jezebel with a high sarcastic tone.
I winced. Satan spirit? Did they have to call me that?
The hellhound growled and snapped its teeth at the imps.
“You fools have no right to lay hands on the Satan spirit!” Snarled Scollgrem. His voice was a mix of deep monstrous growls. It made me shudder at the sound of it. The other hellhounds surrounded their leader and snorted at the two imps as if they were ready to devour them.
Scollgrem raised his ugly skulled head to face Dewey, Lexie and me. “The Satan spirit,” he remarked eying me through the bloodied holes of where his eye sockets should have been. I stiffened as the canine stepped up and faced me with an ugly snarl. His nose seemed to be noisily sniffing and snorting. The creature’s head was almost high enough to reach mine. “You come from the lands of Purgatory, eh?”
I slowly nodded. Lexie was watching the dog with a wide-eyed look of fear.
The dog growled and snorted a smoke of fire toward me. “Come with me! The souls of Hell have been craving you for a long time.”
I had no choice but to obey. Dewey whimpered and hopped by my feet as I followed the hellhound to the left tunnel of the charred cavern. The rest of his hounds roughly nudged Demetrius and Jezebel to follow along. Lexie followed me from behind, escorted by the imps.
These hounds were obviously Satan’s own hellhounds. I could feel the fiery tension from them as I watched Dewey shy away as their fiery hellish glow made him cough. They smelled of smoke and wet dog. I could barely breathe.
As we ventured through the caverns, traveling farther underground, the rocks were starting to sizzle. I was seeing more streams of lava flowing by our side.
Finally, it became so hot that I felt like I was back in Bhad, wearing all my punishment accessories.
“Hold your soul,” growled one of the hellhounds as it gave Jezebel a rough nudge. “We’re almost there.”
Ahead of us, a large ball of fire hovered in a wide space. A red orange glow surrounded the ball of fire and lit up the entire cavern.
I blinked and stared straight at it. It reminded me of another certain ball of fire I had once seen in my life-- the sun.
“Welcome to the center of the earth, spirit,” growled Scollgrem, giving me a nudge as I stopped to stare at our surroundings. All the caverns were lit up from the red orange glow of the ball. But though it shone brilliantly, I could see that it seemed to be falling frail. This fiery ball looked like it could have shown brighter and had once been much bigger. The ball was huge but it looked like it was slowly shrinking. The red orange glow reminded me of the dying black sun.
“The Earth is dying, as you can see,” Scollgrem remarked with a snort. “The very heart of this planet will soon melt away and its warmth will go out. Once it is dead, the rest of the planet shall be completely finished. Pretty soon, it will be under Satan‘s power.
“You were born of as a demon child, spirit,” growled Scollgrem, deepening his gaze into my eyes. I felt my heart rise as I stared into those bloody sockets. “You belong with us, in our world with Satan.”
A burst of fire erupted from underneath the fiery ball, and a hot pool started to sizzle.
“Uh-oh,” whimpered Demetrius.
I watched as fiends and gory bodies started to form from the flow of the boiling water. Bodies of chupacobras, monsters, and all kinds of ugly creatures anyone could imagine, were formed.
I stiffened and watched all the horrible creatures come to life around us. The ball of fire was starting to shoot out small shots of fire and flames in the air and from those flames appeared the un-baptized babies.
I started to hear the strange singing ring in my ears once again. It was the same singing voice I heard just moments ago. It sounded like a lady, and she seemed to be calling my name through the singing.
“Zach…..Zachy…..”
I winced and looked around. Scollgrem, who was at my right side, had his head lowered as he focused on every one of the creatures that came in the picture, making sure they all took their positions to await their master, Satan.
I turned to face the spirit behind me, and then kept myself from gasping. There, an angelic spirit was kneeling down with a bright glow around her, and a halo around her blonde head. The angel was smiling. She wore a long, silky, yellow-white gown and had white swan-like wings behind her shoulders. Her eyes were softly closed, but she blinked them open as she heard my gasp.
“Hello, child!” Her voice was young and joyful. She fluttered above the ground, hovering a few feet behind me.
“Shh!” I hissed, looking over at Scollgrem, who didn’t seem to have taken notice. Everyone, even Lexie and Dewey, seemed to be captured by the sight of the nasty creatures that filled the cave.
“Ooh! Do not worry, child! No one will notice me right now. Why, I’m merely the penny in a pot of gold!”
“Are you one of Hannah’s angels that followed me here?” I muttered, taking a quiet step away from Scollgrem.
The angel chuckled in a calm tone. “One of Michael’s angels, actually. Those angels that tried to save you earlier, they were actually Michael’s angels. Hannah was just taking charge since she knew just where to find you.
“And lucky me! I was the one sent to follow you down here and find you for them—for I am Saint Annabelle! I’m one of your guardian angels who blessed you when you were just a tiny little Earth baby!”
I flinched and stared at her with a frown. Then I laughed out loud. “Some guardian angel you turned out to be then. Shouldn’t you have already known where I was so that you didn’t have to ‘follow’ me all the way down here? You’re a little too late to save me now.”
The saint sighed and hovered to stand on the ground, looking ashamed of herself. She clasped her hands together. “Yes, I am truly sorry. It’s just that it’s so hard for a guardian to keep up with their child if the child doesn’t believe in them…you know what I mean?”
I gave her an indignant look and she laughed. “Well, that’s okay! You believe me now, don’t you? You better!” Then she fixed me with a mischievous smile. “Because, I tell you, you are in deep trouble young man.”
I rolled my eyes. “Great. If you were gonna scold me with this B.S., you might as well have sent Saint Grenada.”
Saint Annabelle raised her eyebrows. “Oh? Child, Saint Grenada isn’t as bad as she seems….and no! I haven’t come here to scold you at all! What I meant was that you were in trouble of getting in the way of Satan. Just look at those horrid creatures all around you!”
Flying pigs with devil horns came from the fiery ball. The cavern was filled with obnoxious snorting, gurgling, and snarling.
I snickered. “Care to join?”
“Oh dear…it looks as if Satan has already gotten the earth’s core under his power. Oh! I’ve seen this before! My child,” Saint Annabelle hurried up to me and grabbed my shoulders, looking down at me with her sparkling blue eyes. “You must brace yourself. Before you meet the master devil himself, they will make you go through the strangest rituals—some you
may have already practiced of in the lands of Bhad!”
I stiffened. “What should I do?”
“Here, just wait for me, okay? For now that I’ve found you and you’ve finally gotten the right moment to see me, I can lead the other band of angels here to rescue you. I know what Satan is going to do to you—he’s going to taint your head with all kinds of tricks and lies to drag you down to Hell. For you are a spirit, and Satan couldn’t tempt you and then kill you again so that you’ll find your way to Hell. But that doesn’t mean you’ve escaped him forever. Even though you’re no longer alive, Satan can still tempt your spirit to make the wrong choices and lure you to his world with him.” her eyes were now full of seriousness.
I blinked. “That’s just great. I wasn’t able to escape evilness in my mortal life on Earth, and even dead, I couldn’t escape.”
“There is a place you can truly be free from Hell and all of Satan’s cunning minions forever and eternally, though,” said Annabelle smoothly. “Heaven is such a wonderful place. Oh! The joys of Heaven!”
“Okay, I get it, you don’t have to rejoice here,” I muttered. “This place is not Heaven, so don’t act like it is,”
Saint Annabelle looked at me and looked ashamed again. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweet child. I’m just worried about you. You should have listened to Grenada when she told you not to follow your uncle!”
I would have told Annabelle to shut up, but she was too kind for me to snap at her like that.
“Where is my uncle, exactly?” I glared at her. “Have your angels traced him yet?”
“Oh, that’s why Michael sent half his band to arrive here with Hannah so they can search and rescue you. Michael was off to find Uncle E. But now! I must be going, for Hannah and the rest of the band cannot wait any longer. I may have taken long, but I found you, child, and I’ll make sure Hannah and the others come here to rescue you before Satan does anything rash. Farewell!”
“Hey, wait! What about--” I was just going to ask about my sister, Angeline. But Saint Annabelle vanished into thin air already, and there was no trace of her angelic light. Instead, a blast of fire landed in front of me and made me jump back as the fire burst into large flames. A horrible fiery dragon monster came from the flames and breathed a smoky stench in my face. I whipped around and caught up to Scollgrem’s side, for his pack was pushing Lexie and Dewey toward the core.
Scollgrem growled and whipped his tail at my back. “You better keep up and pay attention, kid. Don’t make the master any angrier than he already is.”
Then Scollgrem leapt toward the underneath of the core so that the light shone directly upon him from above. He looked so small compared to the enormous fiery ball.
Scollgrem let out a terrible howl that echoed through the caverns and all the creatures quieted down. Dewey hopped to my shoulder and hissed in my ear.
“You met another one of your saints! Congratulations! She better help us all.”
I frowned. “I doubt it. She seemed pretty clumsy. She was slow to find me, and she might probably take as long to lead Hannah and the others down here.”
A loud bark from Scollgrem was heard and I turned to see that a smaller, younger looking hellhound was making its way. I winced in disgust. This one was three headed.
Scollgrem glared down at the hellhound as the three headed creatures addressed itself.
“Scollgrem,” the middle one spoke as the others panted noisily. “The master isn’t present right now. He’s dealing with….a far more complicated matter than this one.”
Scollgrem snorted and gave his head a violent shake. “What could he possibly be doing now?”
“There appears to be a man of the afterlife as well,” remarked the left head. “A man traveling with a strong SoulBird from Hell.”
“Aracto,” growled the right one. “Aracto’s visited the planet again. Satan was eager to speak to him as well.”
I exchanged surprised glances with Dewey, who didn’t look as surprised.
“Well, who’s going to confirm this man as a spirit of Hell?!” Scollgrem turned to growl at me. “Satan must confirm him, himself! There’s no other way a spirit can make his way into the underworld except through Satan alone! Not even a spirit in the lowest lands of Purgatory can completely make it!”
I glared with hatred at the creature as he spoke about me like that.
I felt Lexie’s awe stare rest on me as she gasped. Now she knew the truth about me.
Suddenly, flames burst from the top of the core and all the creatures were silent. A shadow extended from beneath the core.
I stiffened and tried to narrow my eyes at the shadow. A red glow came from within the shadow. Then the rest of the body formed, and the spirit was standing there, glaring toward me with menacing, red eyes.
But I widened my eyes with horror at the spirit. I dropped my mouth open. The spirit under the core was Lucien the Higher One.
“Lucien!” I couldn’t help shouting his name. He stood there, tall and straight with his thin body turned aside as his head was turned to eye me with his devilish glint. His trident was glowing intensely in his right hand.
The Higher One suddenly looked just as surprised. “Zach? Is that really you?”
He turned to glare at the hellhounds with a bitter look of hatred. Scollgrem shrunk under his red eyes as they flashed under the core. “Scollgrem?!” His voice was soft, but dangerously furious. “I thought I was going to deal with the spirit that Satan promised me. But it appears that you have brought me her brother instead.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was talking about Angeline!
“Zachariah?” He met my gaze “You aren’t supposed to be here, I’m so sorry for this misunderstanding—I almost didn’t even recognize you with that…..filthy SoulBird.”
I trembled as Lucien eyed Dewey. The little angelic SoulBird shrunk under his evil gaze and stepped closer to Lexie‘s side.
I stood up to face Lucien with a blank look. My hand clasped the cross of my rosary, and I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know whether I was looking at the Higher One of Bhad, or the second most evil spirit in Hell.
“Come here, my boy,” said Lucien softly.
I hesitated for a moment, and then took a step forward. Dewey hopped alone with me, but Lucien immediately raised his trident and pointed toward the bird’s direction. “I didn’t ask for the foolish SoulBird!” His voice thundered through the cave and Dewey whimpered with fear.
“Now,” Lucien’s voice was soft again as he spoke toward Scollgrem. “This spirit you brought has already died, and has already gone through judgment,” he turned to the rest of Scollgrem’s pack that had joined the hellhounds. “He is a spirit from the land of Purgatory, and has only come upon Earth on his own accord.”
“We know that, your honor,” said Scollgrem, lowering his head in a bow.
“Then why did you bring him to me instead of the girl?” Though Lucien kept his voice low, there was no doubt about the obvious fury that shone from his eyes.
Satan’s hounds all lowered their heads. “Igor the snake called us and wanted to take them both. But the girl was hidden in the Ark of Jerusalem and we couldn’t catch her. Those who got anywhere near the place were confined to ashes.”
“We brought you her brother since he happened to be here anyway,” said Demetrius.
“Silence!” Lucien raised his voice and turned to glare at Igor. “What you’ve brought me is a spirit from my own land in Purgatory.”
All the hellish creatures grumbled nervously among one another.
Lucien looked down at me with tenderness in his eyes. “My boy….let me explain in the quick moment that I have. I know you must feel confused about my identity.”
Heck yeah, I was confused. I didn’t know if I was talking the Higher One or Satan himself.
“But let me explain to you,” spoke Lucien. “I’ve been working for Satan before your own death. I am Higher One in the land of Bhad, and I keep in contact with the hell
creatures so that there is peace between the borders of our territories. That way, the fools in the academies of Bhad won’t easily be lured to Hell.”
I stared up at Lucien’s serious gaze. That sounded rather sensible. I never thought of it that way. “Y-you keep peace between the boundaries of Hell and the lowest part of Purgatory?”
“Yes,” replied Lucien carefully. “That’s the only reason why such spirits like Damien haven‘t gone to Hell yet. I’m trying to raise the spirits and keep them from failing the last academy in the world of Purgatory, so that they wouldn’t end up in Hell…..like I did.”
I blinked. Lucien was….quite the spirit. I was looking at him with interest. “So what do you want with me—or what did you want from my sister?”
“Don’t you remember, boy? Hmm, that’s right…you have no memory of your past. Well, I’m a good friend of your father. Yes, your father is a spirit in Hell.”
I widened my eyes.
“But don’t you worry,” Lucien’s eyes glowed. “I want him to be happy in the confines of Hell, together with his family. You—it’s too late to just convert you to Hell unless the spirits drag you there by force. But! Your sister Angeline still lives. And she still has a chance to convert her spirit to devilry so that when she dies, her spirit can easily be judged to take the eternal path of punishment, so she’ll be with your father forever.”
I heard a whimper from Lexie.
“But your excellency!” A devilish boar spoke from the crowd. “You still have a chance with the boy!”
“Yesssss!” Igor, the snake we had encountered earlier, slithered up behind me. I glared at the snake as he spoke. “Lusssssien, you did tell usss how you told the boy about making hisss own choice to go to Hell, did you not?”
Lucien glared at the snake. “It is the boy’s choice to decide. Not mine. I will not force such a soul to go through the horrors that I went through, as much it would make me and his father happy.”
I stared into Igor’s glimmering eyes.
“Come on, kid. Trusssst him. We hell creatures aren’t so bad when you’re used to usss.”
The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire Page 9
