The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire

by Michelle Dalson

  Grunting, Lucien strained his eyes and looked up at the beastly dragon in front of him. It was fading away in the flames.

  I held my breath. There, standing behind Lucien, was a slender angel dressed in a flowering gown. She had a crystal crown on her head, underneath her halo.

  Lucien turned to gasp at the sight of the angel. She was hovering two inches off the ground, and had a furious glint in her eyes.

  The angel’s light shone upon the fire and the beast disappeared with the dying flames. The room was now lit up by the light of the angel. The place started to cool down.

  The angel pointed at Lucien, fixing him with a sharp glare. The Higher One, buried his face in his hands and yowled with pain, and then the whole building started to shake. Bricks were falling from the top and I felt like this second floor was going to collapse.

  Dewey yelled with horror. “Let’s get out of here!” The noise in the building was too loud for Lucien to have noticed Dewey’s voice. As I ran back toward the way I came, flames and heat exploded behind me. I looked back to see that Lucien was standing up with his trident in his hand, and he was facing the angel with a devilish look.

  The fire lit up behind him, and two imps suddenly jumped out of the fireplace before the flames disappeared again. They jumped to Lucien’s side and faced the angel with snide faces.

  I stared with a sinking feeling. They were Demetrius and Jezebel.

  The angel was angered. She raised both her hands and and Lucien immediately vanished into thin air, leaving the two imps alone with the angel. The entire place was shaking, and Dewey and I ran through the hallway of mirrors.

  I was ignoring every reflection on the mirror, but then I tripped and gasped. “The rosary!” I yelled.

  “Ahh! You’re bleeding!” Dewey looked at me with horror.

  To the side of my cheek, I felt a stinging cut of blood. Groaning, I got up and looked at the mirror to my right, and screamed.

  I was looking into the reflection of Damien. The spiky-haired, darkly dressed jock was eying me with an evil grimace.

  “Wattup there, Zach?” He raised his eyebrows and spoke calmly. “Never thought I’d see you here in the house of the devil.”

  I immediately ran away from that mirror, but Damien’s image appeared on all the mirrors of the wall. They were all laughing at me and taunting me. The entire room was echoing with Damien’s nasty cackles.

  “You can never escape what’s inside you,” he was taunting me. “Never...”

  I shut my ears as his voice rung through the room. The entire place collapsed behind me.

  I suddenly made it to the door where and banged at it desperately, tugging at it to pull it open. But it was locked.

  “Help! Help!” I yowled.

  Dewey was pecking at it. “Grace?! Jenna?! We’re stuck!”

  The place was falling apart all around me, and looking back, the mirrors were automatically crashing as the angel hovered her way between them.

  She came up to me and faced me with a stony look. But her gaze didn’t seem as angry as when she was staring at Lucien. She opened her right hand and handed me the rosary.

  I gasped and slowly took the rosary. I looked up at her, wanting to thank her, but my heart was beating too loud for me to speak.

  The angel raised her arms up and opened the doors for me. Dewey and I immediately rushed out, and then turned to watch the angel disappear. The entire building of Harg collapsed. Every part of the temple sunk down and disappeared into the ground, like it was sinking in quicksand. I stared in awe. In its place where the building had stood, there was nothing but an empty space. The peace sign was drawn at the center—drawn in blood.

  I took a step back and bumped into someone. Yelling with fear, I whipped around to see that Jenna was standing behind me with her arms crossed. She had a narrowed look on her face and Grace was perched on her shoulder, eying me with concern.

  I blinked and sighed. “Shoot! You won’t believe what just happened in there! You should have stayed.”

  “What did you just do to the temple of Harg?!” Jenna spoke with an irritated tone. “The Higher One’s gonna be pissed at you.”

  “Hah! He can screw off! Some angel appeared in there and destroyed the whole place to ruins! It was…..pretty amazing,” I looked at Dewey, who was panting.

  “Amazing?! That was nerve-racking! I think that came from your rosary, Zach,” said Dewey.

  “Probably,” I looked at the rosary with awe. “Dang, this thing has more power over the entire building of the devil. I pretty much just…..defeated the devil’s house.”

  “Puh-lease,” Jenna rolled her eyes. “You can reward yourself right now, but Lucien’s gonna be furious. He’ll know who did this, and he’ll drag you to Hell with him right away.”

  “Oh dear,” Grace muttered. “As dangerous as it was, it’s great that the devil’s house is vanquished. Good job, Zach!”

  Suddenly, two spirits appeared above my head and I looked up to see Grenada and Annabelle both coughing.

  “Ugh! Goodness! Agh!” Grenada was shaking herself. “That was terrible!”

  “Yes! I never want to try and mess with the devils again!” Annabelle was struck with surprise.

  “What in the--?!” Jenna jumped back and frowned up at the spirits.

  Raising my eyebrows, I looked from Grenada and Annabelle hovering above us, to Jenna in front of me. If she could see them, I’d be greatly embarrassed.

  “You see something?” I started walking away and pretended like nothing was happening, but Jenna grabbed my arm and yanked me back.

  “Who are they?!” Jenna’s piercing eyes glared up at Grenada and Annabelle.

  “What? I don’t see anything?” I looked at Grenada with a wince.

  “What?! Oh you impious fool!” Grenada took out her ruler.

  “Zach, seriously,” Jenna’s voice was firm, but not as forceful. “They are angels, aren’t they? Are they your guardians?”

  “Oh yes! Very much so!” Said Annabelle, grinning happily at the girl.

  “No, not very much so,” I said, crossing my arms and frowning at both of them. “If you were my guardians, why didn’t you save me from that building? I had to rely on some other angel who answered my rosary. And I bet she wasn’t even one of my saints! She was too noble looking to be one of my five, good-for-nothing guardians.”

  “Oh!” Grenada looked deeply offended. “Well just--”

  “Wait a minute! Who are you guys? What are your names?” Jenna was looking up hopefully at them. “I’m Jenna. You must have heard of me through Enoch.”

  Annabelle gleamed at the redhead. “Oh yes! I’ve seen you before! Enoch has told me a lot about you. You’re such a valiant young girl! I’ve heard how you’re exceeding through all your classes in Primal!”

  Jenna smiled back and gave a nod.

  “Well, my name’s Annabelle, and this is sister Grenada.”

  I huffed, still crossing my arms. “Again, the both of you are too late and slow to appear. The temple just got destroyed.”

  Grenada growled and whipped her ruler to her side. “Well let me explain! We tried to get it through your head that you mustn’t be there, but you wouldn’t listen! Annabelle and I strained our backs just to fight our way inside!”

  “Yes,” Annabelle was nodding, giving me a sorrowful look. They were both tired and bedraggled. “I’m sorry, Zach, but by the time we entered the building, we were told off by Serenity Grace—the angel that saved you all. She told us that something terrible was going to happen if she hadn’t been retrieved to have heard about what Lucien was doing in there. She told us to stay behind and wait until she handled everything and destroyed the place after rescuing you.”

  “Did the rosary call Serenity Grace?” Dewey asked.

  “Yes!” Snapped Grenada. She turned to glare at me. “And I’m surprised she didn’t let you sink in with the rest of that building.”

  “Oh, sister Grenada!” Cried Annabelle indignantly.


  “Well, anyone who ventures in that building deserves to die with it!” Said Grenada. “Why do you think it locked you two inside?! Hell drags you in and you can never get back out!”

  “Well, we were trying to drive the hell creatures back inside it!” Said Dewey.

  “It doesn’t matter,” snapped Grenada. “The place is gone and we won’t have to worry about anyone coming in it to call upon the devil anymore.”

  I scorned. “So you ought to be thanking me.”

  “But that doesn’t mean we’re defeating Hell,” said Jenna. “Lucien just tried to summon a Beast.”

  “Exactly,” scoffed Grenada. “That Beast had been locked up in the abyss within Earth, even before Creation. It wasn’t until the apocalypse was over that the Beast would unleash its power over Earth.”

  “Right,” said Annabelle. “I get goosebumps just hovering around here! Let’s leave this place! We’ll find a better area to chat about this.”

  We walked away from the place, heading back up the hill toward the city. But I cast a glance back at the empty place where the Harg building once stood. Lucien was truly going to be furious. I dreaded returning back to the palace.

  Chapter Fourteen-

  Grenada and Annabelle discussed our escape plans with us. Enoch had contacted Hannah, Michael, and the rest of Michael’s squad, and they would be here in about one week. They would fight their way through the stage of Bhad, and then meet up at the Bhad Chapel of Spiritual Graduation, which was where the successful Mediums would graduate.

  But for the rest of that week, I saw no sign of Lucien in the palace. I didn’t even hear from him for the rest of that week.

  But I knew he was far from being defeated as easily as that. Flocks of devil SoulBirds still continued to arrive at the palace, bringing in loads of more prisoners from the upper lands. Even though Enoch and I continued to sneak them out on their third arrival, the Higher One never turned up to the palace.

  One night, Enoch and I were discussing Lucien’s sudden absence and the disappearance of Harg.

  “Lucien’s in the world of Hell,” Enoch told me. “He is furious about the destruction of Harg, so he has been strengthening his armies in Hell. They’ve been appearing farther into the upper lands of Purgatory now, and there have been traces of Lucien and an army of hell creatures up north near the land of Primal.”

  And we were continuously getting reports of Lucien’s activity in the upper lands. Many spirits were becoming corrupt with devilry since there were so many hell creatures.

  At this point, Enoch was starting to make more quick visits to Hannah in Heaven. Enoch would come back, explaining to Dewey and me about a vicious battle that Michael’s angels were planning. Lucien was going too far with his activity in Hell, Earth, and Purgatory. The angels had found out that he was planning to overrun the whole world of Purgatory with hell spirits, and then he would make room for the arrival of the dreaded Satan Beast to come. This Beast was the same Beast I had seen in Harg. Dewey taught me that this Beast, forenamed Nero, was an ancient Roman Emperor who had persecuted thousands of righteous followers of the Messiah, and had burned down the entire Roman Empire. He had already returned to Earth to stir up the apocalypse for Satan. So if Lucien would bring his presence into Purgatory, it would also be bad news for the Purgatory world.

  I was anxious to hear that Hannah and Michael were planning to battle the Beast when Lucien summoned it. According to Dewey, Michael had fought the Beast once before, when Satan was inside the Beast. Michael had beaten the Beast when Satan’s soul was within it, and he was determined to do the same to the Beast with Nero’s soul this time.

  One cloudy day, I decided to meet Hannah for myself. Dewey and I strolled to the city’s academy, and found Hannah in front of the gates. She was already accompanied by Enoch, Jenna, Grace, and my two guardians.

  “Zach, I think it’s best if you and Dewey accompany me and Michael as soon as possible. We must get you out of this city, before Lucien returns,” Hannah was speaking to me. “Michael is already assembling his angels for a battle against the Beast. Since Lucien has failed to bring it forth from Harg, he will now prepare a new place for the Beast to safely enter Purgatory.”

  Enoch nodded. “There has been intense activity in all the lower lands now. Bhad, Pryde, and Nawt are all suffering equally, and Primal is Lucien’s next target.”

  Jenna scoffed. “Something tells me Lucien won’t go too far after he targets Primal.”

  “Zach,” Enoch spoke to me. “For the rest of today, keep away from the palace. Meet us over at the front gates of Zellux at dawn. Hannah and I will have Michael and his angels ready for invasion.”

  I chuckled. “What do I do until then?”

  “There are some new spirits from the Bhad academies whom Lucien has brought into Earth. He will throw them into the Gehenna Volcano, and they will become new allies for the underworld. You and Jenna can rescue them in the meantime.”

  I rolled my eyes and groaned. “What?! You’re telling me to rescue these spirits?”

  “Shut it,” snapped Jenna. “We’re here to rescue you, so you ought to do some rescuing, yourself.”

  I headed back to the palace while Enoch and my guardians visited Heaven to prepare for the invasion. Hannah stayed at her academy as nurse and Jenna awaited me by the Gehenna Volcano.

  Dewey and I freed six prisoners that were due today. After reassuring them what I was really going to do with them, Dewey and I left the city of Zellux and traveled up the land. The prisoners followed us up to the volcano, anxious that they were going to be freed.

  I stopped and looked around when we got to the region of the terrible volcano. I looked ahead where I saw a line of spirits hiking up the Gehenna Volcano. From the crazed behavior of the spirits, I could tell that these were not like the innocent prisoners we were freeing. These spirits were from the Punishment House.

  I watched as each the moaning spirits as they were thrown down to the Gehenna Volcano, one by one. Today must have been their due date to Hell.

  Dewey whistled with awe and I turned to the scared prisoners behind me. “You’re too innocent for that. Don’t worry. You’ll be free again, as long as you’re not captured a second time.” I gave them a wink.

  Jenna was approaching my right with Grace walking beside her.

  “That’s it for today?” Jenna winced at the small group of prisoners behind me.

  I shrugged. “Unless I left any behind, these are the only ones.”

  “Why didn’t you just free the entire room of prisoners?” Jenna’s eyes flashed. “If we’re not going to be here anymore, you should’ve freed as many prisoners as you can!”

  I shrugged. I looked down at Dewey. “Why didn’t you remind me, Dewey?” I spoke sarcastically.

  “What?!” The SoulBird jumped. “You’re not blaming anything on me right now! I’ve got too much on my mind! You don’t know what it feels like when Heaven is planning an angel invasion for a devil-populated place.”

  The volcano suddenly rumbled and the punished spirits were grumbling at the top. I yawned. “Um, these poor innocent spirits are getting scared around this place. Do you want to guide them to the border or not?”

  Jenna huffed and gave me a sharpening stare. Her glasses flashed. “Fine then. But before I do so, I’ll have Grace free the last prisoners so that I can take them all to the border at once.”

  She turned her back on me.

  I sighed and gave them a sideways look. “Sorry, but you’ll have to follow the crazy redhead from this point. Good luck.”

  Jenna let out a contempt hiss, but didn’t turn her back to face me.

  The spirits all gave Dewey and me thankful looks.

  “God bless you, spirit,” said a lady as she passed me.

  I raised my eyebrows. If I ever deserved to be blessed…..

  “You too,” I replied quietly. I really didn’t know how to respond to a comment like that.

  As I watched them leave with Jenna and
Grace, Dewey and I turned to the volcano to watch one of the escorts throw in another spirit into the volcano. I piercing scream ran through the air.

  “Whoa!” Dewey hissed. “I’m sure glad I’m not that crazy to deserve that!”

  “Hey, you’re just as deserving as I am, SoulBird,” I replied sourly, turning away from Dewey. “You’ve helped me with nothing. All you’ve done is just irritate me and follow me around.” I muttered.

  “Hey! If it weren’t for me, you’d still be in that academy, or lost here on Earth. You would have already been defeated by those hellish spirits! I was the one who called for Hannah’s SoulBird and bring help for you when you were stuck on Earth.”

  I said nothing and continued to watch the escorts at the top of the volcano. They continued to throw each of the punished ones down the volcano, one by one. Near the back, I caught one of the escorts struggling to hold down a punished one. The punished one was trying to escape the spirit’s grasp, and was kicking and yowling with anguish. I stepped forward to get a better look. It was a dark haired girl, and she was skin and bones. I could see her ribs through a dark, low-cut shirt. Her wrists were covered in cuts, and her face was scorched.

  The girl was screaming angrily. She thrashed in the escort’s grip and struggled to break free. The escort was strong and muscular, but he had a hard time dealing with the girl. He looked like he could easily snap her. But surprisingly, the girl was going crazy. She kicked him between the legs, and escaped his grasp. She dashed down the volcano and disappeared behind a crowd of bare trees.

  Feeling anticipated, I hurried after the spirit. Dewey angrily followed along.

  “Oh great! Where do you think you’re going now? You can’t run away from me! You know that!” Dewey was shouting behind me.

  I spotted the dark haired girl sitting by the Gehenna River that flowed down from the back of the volcano. She was cursing and spitting under her breath, and she was struggling to yank off a long, sharp boot from her foot. It must have been very uncomfortable. I remembered the punishment garments that I had to wear at St. Gretchen’s Academy.