The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire

by Michelle Dalson

  “Who are you?” I asked, frowning at this strange, rowdy angel.

  The angel drank another cup of wine, and then faced me with a grimace.

  “Who am I, you say?!” He had a loud, deep voice. “Why—you ought to have known who I am!”

  I stared at him with a tired look.

  He suddenly broke out in a loud laugh and pointed at me. “Man, I’ve always loved to see that look on yo face! I am Saint Bernardo! Your guardian angel! Man, it’s ‘bout time that you finally called for me!”

  “What are you talking about?” I winced. “Are you the angel sent for my prayer?”

  Bernardo stifled a snicker, narrowing his drunken eyes. “Why, of course, kid! What? You think I don’t look like an angel, or somethin’? Am I missin’ ma halo?”

  I sighed and gave a sideways smile, for I was thankful that at least one of my guardians had a good sense of humor. “No. You’re just drunk, that’s all. I didn’t expect angels to ever get drunk on wine”

  Saint Bernardo cracked up in another loud, “Bah-ha-ha-ha! Oh, you funny, man! I AIN’T DRUNK! I’M HAPPY! This blood means life!” He held out his hand and another cup appeared. He consumed the wine and let out another refreshing sigh. Then he turned to grin at me. “How ‘bout you try some, young man? Why, you’ve been miserable your whole life! You ought to try some of this and clear up the misery in yo heart!”

  I blinked. “Really? Wine can solve all my problems?”

  “Of course!” The angel wheezed and snickered. “I would have lent it to ya before, but you know Saint Grenada gets crazy and thinks I’m gonna poison you little spirits with this stuff!” He laughed and slapped his thigh. He nearly spilled his wine on me.

  I found myself laughing with him for no apparent reason, and pretty soon, I had already forgotten what I was even laughing at. I had never felt this happy.

  Our loud laughter echoed through the chamber room and Dewey, Cain, and Pete awoke.

  “Whoa! An angel!” Pete immediately shot up in the air, widening his eyes.

  “Zach!” Cain was looking at me with a surprised expression. “You’re…laughing.” He spoke in a quiet, disbelieved voice.

  “Cain!” I faced the spirit with a brimming smile. “My prayers are answered! Here’s Saint Bernardo! We’re going to be saved!”

  “WOOO!” Saint Bernardo raised his hands in the air and spun around. “In yo face, Lucifer!”

  Dewey jumped around, narrowing his eyes mischievously. “Hah! Zach, you better be careful with this guardian! I think he’s had a little too much wine.”

  Bernardo laughed and pointed at the little bird. “You’re so small! Dewelance, did you ever teach this spirit how to have fun?” Bernardo grinned at me. “He’s laughing as quietly as an air type SoulBird! Man, how boring have you been, Dewelance?”

  Dewey gave Bernardo a swift kick. But the little SoulBird started cracking up as he watched Bernardo tumble in the air and hit the wall next to Cain. Bernardo was upside down and kicking his feet in the air as he continued to laugh moronically. Pretty soon, the entire chamber was ringing from the sound of our laughter.

  “Guys…” Cain was peeking up the hole. “I see someone coming!”

  Saint Bernardo gave a wry look. “Huh? Well, that’s nothing to worry about. ‘Cause I’m here to rescue you all!” He broke out into laughter again and spun around in the air. “Da Lord has sent me! I’m here to save ya’ll!”

  Dewey and I continued to crack up. The SoulBird was jumping around the chamber.

  “Guys!” Cain shouted. Pete was burning up with annoyance.

  Suddenly, fireballs fell through the hole and exploded in the chamber. Two imps jumped inside and charged at us. It was Demetrius and Jezebel.

  “Get that angel” Jezebel yelled, pointing at Bernardo.

  “Eeeh! Catch us if you can!” Bernardo flung his wine cup at the imps. As soon as the cup crashed into sharp pieces before their feet, a wave of wine exploded from beneath them and washed over the imps. They screamed with agony and their bodies started to sizzle.

  “Let’s bust this place!” Bernardo grabbed the back of Cain’s shirt in one hand, and grabbed my ankle in the other.

  “Whoaaa!” I hung upside-down as Bernardo carried us out of the hole with Dewey and Pete flying beside him.

  Chapter Eighteen-

  “Bernardo, can you summon a chariot?!” I was thrashing in his grip. “I hate to be hanging upside-down! I’m going to throw up again!”

  “Heh! Come on, I could be holding my wine cup in this hand! You can at least thank me for savin’ ya!”

  I gazed at the ground below us as the angel flew across the sky. Demetrius and Jezebel were racing across the land, and were waving their arms to throw fireballs.

  “Watch out!” I cried.

  A fireball came hurling toward the guardian, and Bernardo shifted to the left.

  “Whew! Close call!” He panted.

  He shifted to the right as another fireball hurled passed us. I yelled and thrashed in his grip since my ankle was becoming very uncomfortable in his tight grasp. But as soon as another fireball hurled passed Bernardo, he lost his grip and I was falling through the air.

  “Bernardooooo!” I crashed through the trees and landed on the ground in front of a dark spirit. I looked up and realized that a darkly dressed girl was standing in front of a tree with a harpoon in her hand.

  “Mira!” I yelled, jumping up to my feet.

  She stared at me through the shadows. Her face was dirty and full of scorn. She didn’t make a sound as her eyes narrowed at me with disgust.

  “I-it’s me, Zach,” I spoke quietly. She was looking at me as if I had come to shoot her.

  She reached out and touched my bony cheek with the back of her fingers. They were cold and wet—wet with blood.

  Then she dropped to her knees and gasped.

  “Mira?” I gazed down at the girl. Her head hung low and her long black hair covered the sides of her face.

  I noticed a lithe brown snake slinking its way out of a tree branch behind her. It was Igor. He was stretching his head toward her, ready to sink its teeth into her neck.

  “No! Mira!” I yanked the snake from the tree. I gripped him tightly as he thrashed and spat, trying to wriggle free.

  “Foolish kid!” Igor hissed, whacking his tail at my face. I dropped him and he raised his head to face me. The flaps at his neck rattled.

  Then Igor lowered his head and slinked around me. He slithered around my legs and made his way up to my shoulders. “Come on….trusssst me. Your father misssssessss you….he needssss you.”

  “Well, you tell Lucien that I told him to screw off,” I scoffed, eying the snake. I wasn’t going to let him hypnotize me.

  Suddenly, Igor’s gleaming expression turned into a wide-eyed look of horror. The snake let out a long, terrified hiss, and then his eyes rolled back. He loosened his grip on me, fell to the ground, and disappeared.

  I stared with confusion. I turned to see who or what it was that had caused the snake to suddenly vanish. I felt a stab of surprise. A tall shadowy man was staring at me. It was the same Shadow Man in the alley and in the chapel.

  “Hello…..Zachariah,” the Shadow Man finally addressed me with a masculine voice. I looked straight into his dark, faceless body, and felt nauseous. Without another word, I dropped to the ground just like the snake, and everything went black.

  I awoke to a bright stream of morning light. I was lying on a soft nest filled with comfy feathers and mosses. I sat up and saw that I was in some kind of cave. Outside, the sky was white and gloomy.

  “Zach…”

  I whipped around and there was the Shadow Man. He was sitting on a rock, facing me with his dark, blank face. With a gasp of fear, I turned to try and crawl away, but my surprisingly weak body gave way and I clumsily fell on my chin. I cursed with embarrassment. The dim, white light shone upon my eyes, and I had to shut them tightly. My eyes felt extra sensitive right now.

  “Why do you
fear me, Zach?” The Shadow Man spoke gently. He rose and helped me get up and sit back in my nest. “Don’t you realize the reason for your sensitive eyes? You have seen too much darkness.”

  I stared up at the Shadow Man with a narrowed gaze.

  “Who are you?” I muttered. “I’ve met you before. Are you trying to follow me?”

  The Shadow Man was silent for a moment, and then he turned to sit back down on the rock. “You have met me before,” the man spoke carefully, “but you have not met my spirit.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve met you before! You were a spirit at the alley. You gave me back my rosary!” I gasped. “And there was something different about it. It was missing the body on the cross. What did you do to it?”

  “Let me see your rosary,” the Shadow Man stretched out his arm toward me. His entire arm was pure black, just like the rest of his shadow-covered body.

  I winced, but something about the way the man spoke made me obediently take the rosary from my pocket and hand it to him.

  I watched as the Shadow Man took the rosary and held it in front of his dark, blank face.

  Then he looked up and handed me the rosary. “Your rosary has been the same as it has always been since the moment it was given to you.”

  I took the rosary from his hand and looked at the cross. To my surprise, the body was there again. It was back. The figure of Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, and it looked as if it had never been taken off.

  I winced and shoved the rosary back in my pocket. I looked at the Shadow Man with narrowed eyes. “Seriously? Why can’t you just say that you took it off? I knew you did something with it.”

  “Zach,” the Shadow Man spoke seriously. “The body has always been there. Like I said, you have seen too much darkness. You’ve almost become blind.”

  “What?” This Shadow Man was flabbergasting me. “That makes no sense. Everyone else noticed the missing body.”

  “Then everyone else was nearly blinded by darkness,” said the Shadow Man. “The body has always been there.”

  I blinked. From the tone of his voice, I could tell that the Shadow Man wasn’t trying to joke around.

  Suddenly, two men approached me from behind. I suddenly realized that they were both angels. Enoch was standing to the left, and Gabriel was at his right.

  “Hey, Enoch!” I stood up and called for the angels. “Where are we? Are we still in the land of Nawt? How did the battle go?”

  Enoch and Gabriel hovered up to me. They were smiling at the Shadow Man behind me. They landed on their feet and then bowed respectfully.

  I winced. “Um…who is he, exactly?” I muttered.

  The two angels said nothing.

  The Shadow Man spoke to them. “Take the spirit to his friends. They mustn’t stay here long. They’ve got a designated place to reach.”

  I winced. So he knew about what we were up to? This man had totally been spying on me. I wondered how much he had seen…

  Cain and Pete were sleeping in the cave, behind the Shadow Man’s rock. Dewey was beside them. He woke up and hurried up to me.

  “Zach!” He hissed. “Jenna and Grace are coming! They should be here very soon, and then we can move on.”

  I blinked and looked around. “Hey, where are Saint Bernardo and Mira?”

  “Hmm? Bernardo?” Gabriel looked at me. “Oh! The silly fool has gone off to find the rest of the band of angels. You guys are traveling with Michael’s angels to fight off the Beast, aren’t you?”

  “Well…I’m only with them because I’m trying to escape the Higher One,” I said halfheartedly.

  “Mm-hmm,” Gabriel nodded. “Bernardo explained everything.”

  “But where are Mira and Shiigo?” I asked.

  Enoch blinked. “Mira? Shiigo? I’m sorry…were they recently with you? You were the only ones we found in the woods.”

  “What?! Where’s Mira?” I rolled my eyes. She must have run away again.

  “Well, Enoch and I found the saint, your SoulBirds and the short guy,” Gabriel nodded toward Pete, Dewey, and Cain. “The Shadow Man found you and took you back to our cave. But we haven’t found anyone else.”

  I sighed. “Forget it, then. I bet she’s just run off because it appears as if I won’t be going to Hell with her.”

  I heard a loud cry in the distance.

  “Ho! The boy’s awakened! He’s still alive!” Saint Bernardo was arriving in the distance with another new angel hovering at his side. Behind him were Jenna, Grace, and an air-type SoulBird.

  The new angel at Bernardo’s side barely resembled an angel. She appeared to be a lady, dressed in a black top with white sleeves. She also had a black skirt with pink and black striped leggings. The left side of her hair was light green and the right was dark purple, and she wore heavy makeup and earrings. She was gothic, and the only angelic feature on her was her halo hovering above her head and her violet, feathery wings.

  “Zachariah!” Bernardo rushed up to me and gave me a playful nudge on the shoulder.

  I gave a small smile and playfully nudged him back.

  Jenna made her way up to me with a stern look.

  “Where do you think you have been?” She sounded annoyed, as usual. “I swear! Enoch and I lost the rest of the angels to look for you!”

  I frowned at her. If she wasn’t happy to finally reunite with us, then I wasn’t going to sound happy about seeing her either.

  “Well, you really didn’t have to,” I scoffed. “It wasn’t my fault I was trapped in hellfire again.”

  “Hellfire!” Jenna raised her voice. “You were with that jailbird girl again, weren’t you?” Her eyes blazed.

  “Yeah? Why do you care?” I replied simply.

  “Argh!” Jenna rolled her eyes and stomped her foot. “Zach, don’t you realize how stupid it is to trust any of those spirits from the Punishment House? She’s crazy! She was supposed to have gone down to Gehenna! And she escaped!”

  Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed me from behind and hugged me. I smelled the strong scent of perfume and a loud female voice laughed in my ear.

  “Ahaha! How hilarious! I’m just glad you’re alright, my child!” It was the gothic angel that arrived with Bernardo. She hugged me tightly and then let me go to face me with a devious smile. “How are ya, my darling?” She had a loud, friendly voice.

  Saint Bernardo hovered to her side with another cup of wine in his hand. He gave the saint a rough nudge that nearly tipped her over.

  “Waha!” Laughed Bernardo. “Sorry, Zach! But they were all I could find! Jenna and Enoch were the first ones I met. Apparently, Michael, Hannah, and the band of angels must have already left. But hey! Meet another one of your saints! She’s worse than me.”

  I stared with a narrowed look as Bernardo nudged the gothic angel beside him.

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “No angel is worse than you, darlin’,” she gave Bernardo a shove.

  She turned to me with a cool smile and flicked her hair from her eyes. “Sweetie, lemme introduce myself! I am Saint Hoshinda. I’ve watched over you since the time of your birth when you were just a tiny little baby!”

  Bernardo huffed and crossed his arms. “Embarrassing, huh?” He gave me a wink. “If you ever think there has been something wrong with you, it’s because of her blessing,” he elbowed Saint Hoshinda.

  “Ach!” Hoshinda let out a loud huff of disgust and elbowed him back. “All the mistaken accidents with Zach have been your fault, you drunken fool!” She had a loud voice, and I felt a little uneasy. But then she laughed and faced me with a humored smile again. “Sorry, hun! Where were we? What seems to be your problem now?” She looked at me and then at Jenna.

  Jenna huffed. “Nothing! Zach’s just wasted our time again.” She walked passed me with her head held high.

  Saint Hoshinda raised her purple-colored eyebrows as she watched her go.

  “Meh!” Hoshinda stifled a snicker and looked at me. “What’s her problem?”


  I shook my head and walked away. “I dunno.” I made my way to the corner of the front of the cave and sat down. I thought about what must be done next. We had to leave soon and catch up with those angels. They were the only spirits who could keep me safe in this forsaken world. I didn’t feel secure with any of my guardians, and I really wasn’t happy with the situation I was in.

  Enoch came over and sat by my side. “You feeling okay, Zach?”

  I didn’t meet his gaze. “Yeah,” I lied. “When should we leave? I mean…can’t you contact Michael or Hannah and ask them to wait for us somewhere?”

  “Oh, we can’t tell them to wait,” said Enoch seriously. “I just contacted them with my SoulBird.” He nodded at the new air-type SoulBird hovering beside his shoulder. “This is Ace. He just contacted Chelsey and we’ve learned what they’re up to. They are headed for the land of Pryde and they will be arriving in Primal within the next few days. That is the stage where Lucien will unleash the Beast you saw inside Harg. He is already on his way, so the angels must not waste any time. They can’t wait for us.”

  “So what are we going to do?”

  The Shadow Man crept up behind me and spoke. “There is a tree that grows along the northernmost border of Pryde. This tree is known as the Evergrown Tree. It is as tall as an entire layer, so the top of the tree reaches the next stage of Primal.”

  “The Evergrown Tree, you say?” Said Enoch. “I’ve been thinking about that, but are you sure? The tree is filled with…unholy spirits. They have never been exposed to the world outside of their tree.”

  “The Evergrown Tree is the quickest route,” said the Shadow Man. “At the border of each stage, there are high cliffs that must be climbed, in order for a spirit to make it to the top where the next stage will await them. This tree, however, grows at the end of Pryde, and is tall enough to reach the top of those border cliffs. It will save a lot of hiking, and we will get to the higher stage of Primal much faster.”

  I blinked. The border cliffs at the end of each stage were incredibly high. When I thought about how Jenna must have made it to this stage, I predicted that she must have gotten help from some of the angels that Grace called for her.