Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  I wrecked the greed floor. I opened every hidden door, killed anything waiting for me. I ignored most of the treasure meant to lure me in, not that much showed up anymore, not since I’d increased my stats so dramatically. There were some pieces of loot that couldn’t be ignored . . . like proficiency scrolls, even ones I wouldn’t be able to use. That scroll might be the difference between life and death . . . or rather success and failure inside of Purgatory. It would have been wrong not to take it with me and make it available to others like me.

  I killed and killed and killed. One demon after another. And then I was confronted by an unguarded stairway leading down into darkness.

  “Where’s the boss?” I asked, looking at the small room the stairway was centered in.

  Asher hummed, “Hmm, not sure. Maybe hiding?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t know why I was worrying so much. Nothing on that floor had been a challenge that day. I rolled my shoulders to work out any stiffness.

  I took a step into the room and froze. There wasn’t a monster waiting. There was nothing holding me back . . . except the treasure. There was still so much treasure I could gather. I shook my head. I growled angrily, “No! You won’t stop me.”

  I took two large steps forward and just about fell to my knees. It wasn’t gravity or anything physical pushing down on me. It was greed. It was knowing that once I went down those stairs, that was it. There was no turning back. No returning to all the possible rewards that the greed floor presented.

  I gritted my teeth and took another step forward. This time, the air was sucked from my lungs as something pressed down on my chest. A feeling I remembered having before. Not a heart attack, but a panic attack. I’d had a few of those in life, usually when I had a big deal fail to close.

  I forced myself forward. Each step more difficult than the one before. I got to the edge of the stairs and felt something calling to me from behind. And oh, did I want to turn around and embrace it. I didn’t think I could take another step. It took everything I had just to not look back. Instead, I fell. My body tumbled down a few steps before the darkness took me. Embraced me.

  And then I woke up, breathing easily once more. I was in the morgue. Ramy was laying down on the slab across from me. He had one knee bent with the other leg crossed over it. He looked . . . bored but surprisingly happy. Then, he cast his eyes in my direction and he spoke, “You sure did take your dear sweet time.”

  I felt ashamed and looked away from him. There was nothing I could say. That floor . . . it beat me. If not for Theo, I never would have gotten past it.

  Ramy chuckled but I found no humor in the situation. “There is nothing for you to feel ashamed about. That floor . . . it was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. And trust me when I say that. I’ve seen a lot of different floors and that one was evil to its very core. You should feel proud that you were able to complete it at all.”

  I was still unwilling to meet his eyes. The shame was still there. It would be some time before I could shake what greed did to me. I knew from the beginning that greed was going to be my most challenging floor, I just never imagined it would be like that. I never imagined any floor could be like that.

  My first two floors were about resisting the influence of the demons. I assumed that would always be the case. The third floor proved how wrong I was. It made me worried about the future . . . worried about the fourth floor, and what it would throw at me.

  I was waiting for Ramy to continue but he remained silent. I risked glancing up at him, not sure what I would see in his eyes. I thought I deserved disgust. After what he said, I expected sympathy. What I got . . . I had only ever seen that look in my father’s eyes. Ramy was . . . he was proud of me. I just . . . I couldn’t understand why. I didn’t know if it was appropriate, but I asked anyway. “Why do you look proud of me?”

  “You’re here,” Ramy said as if it was the answer to all my questions. Thankfully, he elaborated. “Most souls would have quit if they had endured what you did. If anyone else had been made to suffer under the thrall of demons for so long, they would have broken, perhaps become demons themselves. And yet, somehow, by some miracle, you didn’t. Your soul came out damaged, but stronger for it.”

  I didn’t agree with what he said. I wasn’t stronger for it. And the only reason my mind didn’t break during all that time was because at my core, I was just a greedy old man. Someone for whom enough, is never enough. However, I couldn’t argue with him about not turning into a demon of greed. That probably was a miracle, one which until that moment, I hadn’t even considered. I sent a small prayer of ‘thanks,’ it was only proper.

  Trying to move on, I asked, “I know the answer is probably along the lines of the worst you’ve ever seen, but how did I really do?”

  Ramy smiled and laughed lightly before answering, “Your actual combat was well done. You’re getting stronger and getting stronger quickly. You’ve been a very well-rounded fighter, at least in the physical aspects. Your abilities in Soul combat are still rather lacking, despite gaining the proficiency Asher called a mistake. I would suggest trying to address that and do it soon.”

  Ramy continued, frowning slightly as he said the next part, “Despite taking so long to clear the floor, you are rewarded thus, plus two to reflex, plus five to fortune. You were lucky to have escaped the snare of greed, and that is good fortune.”

  I wanted to argue that it was more than I deserved. But I also knew there was no point. My Scroll of Body and Soul would have already been updated.

  Ramy then laughed. “Asher, your luck might be as good as your caller’s. Metatron is once again proud of you. Your actions saved Victor and have been recognized by the heavens. You are granted another new proficiency.”

  Asher glowed brightly from next to my head. Then I said, “Congratulations, Asher. You more than deserve it.” He seemed to glow even brighter than before.

  Ramy nodded his agreement then spoke again. “I am afraid, due to the length of time it required for you to complete the floor, there are no additional rewards available.”

  I nodded at that. After seven months under Purgatory’s thrall, I most certainly did not deserve to be rewarded. I didn’t want the rewards I’d already received.

  “I wish you luck with the next floor,” Ramy said then vanished. There was no hint of movement or slowing fading out of view. He was just . . . gone. There one moment and gone the next.

  I shook my head. I put my hands on the edge of the stone slab and pushed off, landing lightly on my feet. Looking from where I woke up to the exit, I wondered aloud, “Why is it that I’m always so far away from the exit?”

  “No idea,” Asher answered, not realizing I didn’t actually want an answer to my question. Then again, maybe he did realize it and was just being . . . well, Asher.

  Shaking my head, I left Purgatory behind. Not feeling any interest in getting caught out again. I went right back in. It was time to see what Purgatory was going to throw at me.

  A vault door. I was staring at a massive, steel vault door with a combination puzzle that needed to be solved to open it.

  “Any idea what I’m looking at?” I asked.

  I should have known better than to ask, but Asher answered the question. “A vault door.”

  I sighed. “Why am I looking at a vault door? What sin is this?”

  “The obvious answer would be greed, but seeing as you just finished the greed floor, I wouldn’t count on it. We’ve learned by now that looks can be deceiving,” Asher answered.

  I sighed again. I looked at the vault door. There were no numbers on the combination lock, instead there were symbols. They could have been written in an ancient, or even dead language, but I had no idea what I was looking at.

  Then I was looking around the room for any hints at the puzzles solution but saw nothing. The combination was not written down.

  I turned the dial, trying to feel the action. I had no idea if I would be able to feel the tumblers in the lock. I wasn’t sure
if I was just lacking perception, but I felt nothing from the wheel as I turned it. I tried moving is slower thinking I maybe went too fast but still nothing. With a sigh, I spun the wheel quickly, because why not spin it quickly. However, it was in spinning it quickly the symbols formed an image. I don’t remember the name of it, but I remember my son had a toy like that. Not exactly a top, but he spun it extremely fast, and it formed a picture of a cartoon character. In this case, it formed the face of a grinning demon like something out of old Japanese folklore.

  I waited for it to stop spinning and formed my mace. I spun the dial again and grinned back at the demon face. Then I swung my mace. It rebounded off the steel vault door with a loud clang. I clicked my tongue, “Oh well, it was worth a shot. You have any ideas Asher?”

  “Try spinning it the other way, maybe it will give you a different image?” Asher answered.

  I should get the same image. I spun it the other way. And it gave me the image of a halo. “Huh, that was odd.”

  I spun it again and the image changed to a demon face. I spun it back the other way and saw a halo. I spun it again, another halo. I decided to try it the other direction and got a halo followed by one of the steel tubes that held the vault door in place disengaging with a loud clang. There was a number ‘3’ engraved on the tube. I couldn’t help but note that was the number of times I saw the face of a demon. I felt a pit forming in my stomach. That couldn’t be good.

  I spun the wheel again, two demon faces appeared side by side. I reversed direction and got a single halo. I grumbled, “I wish I could figure out if there was a pattern.”

  The lock seemed to be random. The good news was, it was a fifty-fifty chance and if I got it wrong, just needed to spin it the other direction.

  When the next steel tube disengaged it displayed an ‘8’. Then one after that displayed three demon faces if I got it wrong. That one finished with ‘15’. Each subsequent unlocking sequence increased the number of demons faces by one. The fourth lock was my luckiest yet, I only got it wrong once giving me a four. The fifth unlocking sequence started requiring more correct answers. By the time I unlocked the tenth and final steel bar holding the door shut, it displayed a whopping ‘80’.

  “How many is that?” I asked, adding the numbers up in my head. Three hundred and two. That seemed like bad news. If I was about to face off against three hundred and two demons, I might be in a lot of trouble.

  Asher’s answer echoed my concerns, “Too many. If that’s the number of demons waiting for you on the other side of the vault door.”

  “Shall we take a look?” I asked.

  Asher bobbed. “It’s not the end of the world if you die. At least then we’ll know what you’re up against.”

  I agreed with the sentiment. Unfortunately, death was not a fun prospect. It hurt . . . usually a lot.

  I called out my mace again and waited for my SE to regenerate. Once it was full again, I activated Raphael’s blessing of regeneration. I pulled on the door and saw a very large room with three golems made of solid gold. I felt an instant desire to claim that gold. I wanted to kill the monsters and strip their bodies for the gold. I never wanted something so much in my life and it disgusted me. If the pull of greed on the last floor was subtle and insidious, this was a blunt force instrument.

  “Greed,” I growled. “It’s giving me greed again.”

  Asher’s growl joined my own.

  Purgatory had made a mistake making me confront the pull of greed again.

  I tried to charge into the room but there seemed to be forcefield stopping me from entering. On the other side of the door, one of the solid gold golems started marching toward me. It was painfully slow. I wanted so badly to smash that thing to pieces . . . and take the gold.

  I growled again and moved to the side of the door and looked away from the monster. I couldn’t look at the thing.

  “Tell me when to attack,” I snapped irritably.

  Asher bobbed but his face looked hesitant.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Well, once again, and I hate to keep repeating it, but . . . I can only see what you can see,” Asher said.

  Right. I knew that. And one of these days that information was going to stick. I sighed. I still wasn’t willing to watch for the golem to slowly march toward me. Instead, I leaned against the wall and settled in to watch the entrance. The golem made the poor decision to enter headfirst. It barely looked my direction when my mace smashed down on it, denting it but not killing it.

  The golem swung at me with one of its large fists, though it moved as if it were stuck in molasses, which annoyed me. It was bad enough I felt the pull of greed from the monster but what really annoyed me was its extreme lethargy. I was able to duck the attack with ease. I smashed my mace into its gut, then swung from below, uppercutting the metallic chin with a resounding clang and a snap as the metal keeping its head connected snapped. The large chunk of gold hit the ground with a loud thud followed by the body similarly toppling to the ground.

  I watch in muted horror as the gold golem liquified into black blood and reabsorbed into the stone floor. It left behind a handful of crystals and a small gold nugget about the size of my pinky fingernail.

  It went into my inventory, joining a growing stockpile of monster parts that needed to be processed into essence. I made a mental note to spend a day finishing off my extraction and purification of the pride demons. I hadn’t even started in on the lust demon flesh . . . was it lust demon flesh? Or was it greed? I made another mental note that I needed to find out what all the different demon bits I’d collected were actually were good for.

  I chanced a look into the room on the other side of the barrier. I could see one of the golems had just started to move toward me. Like its recently departed brethren, it moved with a glacially slow pace. It was maddening.

  “Let’s leave after these four are eliminated,” Asher said.

  I was tempted to argue with him. I wanted to put as much hurt on these monsters as I could, regardless, or maybe because of, how slow they were. That and they were greed demons. Greed deserved destruction. Greed deserved as much pain and suffering as I could make them face.

  That was about the time I realized something was wrong. I was angry at greed. Rightfully so. But this was so far beyond angry. I felt a pressure building in my chest that I had never experienced before. This was more than greed. This was a lot more than greed and I didn’t like it.

  “If we leave now, will I lose what I’ve looted already?” I asked.

  Asher bobbed. “It’s like the arena. Until this wave is defeated, you either can’t leave or if you leave, you’ll lose any of your gains.”

  I nodded. “Asher, I know this might not be easy. But when I finish this group off. You need to ensure I leave. There is something else going on here and I can feel it clouding my judgment.”

  Asher bobbed again. “I’ll try my best.”

  “That’s all I can ask for,” I replied.

  I fought three more of the gold golems. Killing each of them with relative ease and a lot of anger and frustration. When they were dead, I was eager to start the next round. Thankfully, Asher came through and convinced me to leave. As soon as I was outside, I felt a relief. I felt the anger that had just been pulsing through my veins fade and a sleepiness take over.

  I stumbled back to my bunk room and crashed hard into bed. I couldn’t remember ever being so tired . . . so drained. I would sort out my thoughts in the morning. For that moment, I just needed to sleep. I slept hard.

  Chapter 28 – Wrath

  I woke up with a small headache. It was nothing compared to coming out of my greed haze, but it was something.

  I was barely awake when Asher asked, “Are you feeling alright?”

  “I think so,” I said, wincing a little from the headache. “Small headache.”

  Asher bobbed, acknowledging my statement.

  “That was strange yesterday. I was . . . angry. I mean, like, really ang
ry. I don’t think that was a greed floor. I think the greed aura from those golems was a setup. I think we’re on a wrath floor.”

  Asher bobbed again, this time with understanding seeming to light up behind his eyes, “And Purgatory knew exactly which buttons to push to make you feel wrathful. It knew what it did to you with greed. It used that greed aura from those golems to make you angry. To bring out your wrath. That’s just . . . evil.”

  I completely agreed. It was evil. Really and truly evil. “I hate this place.”

  For once, Asher didn’t say anything snarky. Instead, he commiserated with a simple, “Me too.”

  I sighed and rubbed my face and eyes, clearing away the last cobwebs of sleep. “Okay, let’s get to it. Now that we’ve seen the new floor and it’s taken its baseline for my stats, we should be good to upgrade . . . except that we basically don’t have enough experience to upgrade anything.”

  I pulled out my Scroll of Body and Soul and spread it out.

  Name: Victor Goodspeed

  Highest Floor Cleared: 3

  Experience Earned: 104,299

  Hierarchy: 4th

  Rank: 12th

  Title: Sinner

  HP: 400/400

  EP: 200/200

  SE: 150/150

  Body

  Experience to Next Point: 4,353,835

  Unused Points: 0

  Strength:

  20

  Reflex:

  30

  Constitution:

  40

  Recovery:

  20

  Soul

  Experience to Next Point: 1,202,977

  Unused Points: 1

  Faith: