Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  Days passed into weeks and with every step I took closer to my destination, the more my madness seemed to grow. I knew I needed to be patient. But it wasn’t fair. I should have been let through already. I should have been able to ascend already. Why were so many people going to heaven without me?

  Weeks . . . months . . . time inched by slowly, painfully slowly. Even as I grew closer to those gates, it felt like they were getting farther away from me. Finally, I was tenth in line. My turn would come soon. Then something happened. Someone shouldered passed me and the person in front of me and person in front of them. They forced their way to the front of the line and continued straight on through the gates. That wasn’t right. Why did that person get to skip the line?

  Then another person did the same thing. And another. Suddenly, I wasn’t moving forward anymore. The line had stopped moving as people from behind me shouldered past me, one after another. Each of them walking straight up to the gates and passing through.

  It wasn’t fair. That should have been me. Then a thought occurred to me, why wasn’t that me? Why shouldn’t I shoulder my way forward? I started to take a step forward when someone or something screamed, “Patience!” and I halted and put my foot back down next to me. Not one voice, it was three and they were vaguely familiar.

  I huffed in irritation. I couldn’t place the voices and people continued streaming around me. The only thing I could do was continue watching. I watched as they stepped into the gate, one after another. I watched . . . something darker happening. Those who went into the gate, they weren’t passing through. The golden light I thought was taking them to heaven was . . . it was incinerating them. I barely saw the particles of ash in the air.

  I shook my head. That couldn’t be right. This was the line to heaven. This was my way out of Purgatory, wasn’t it? I continued watching. Where the gates always that tarnished? What was that at the bottom? Was that rust? Is that just gold paint? Since when did the people around me have horns?

  I gasped but didn’t say anything. This wasn’t the line to heaven. I was still in Purgatory. This was my new floor. Envy. I wanted so badly to be one of the people ascending. I didn’t want to see the truth. I didn’t want to see the trap. I was in the wrong place.

  I quickly turned around and my surroundings vanished. I was in a small room, my starting room, but there was no exit. Instead, there was a stairway in front of me leading down into darkness.

  “Oh, thank God,” Asher gasped.

  “Praise be,” Silas agreed.

  “That was terrifying,” Era complained. “Don’t ever scare us like that again.”

  “What was that?” I asked, realizing I was shaking.

  “Envy,” Silas answered. “You nearly fell. If you had walked through those gates, that would have been the end. Your soul would have travelled straight to hell, and you would have dragged us along with you.”

  I shivered. That was terrifying.

  I looked at the waiting stairs. I wasn’t sure if I should go down. “How long was I in there?”

  “A long time,” Silas said. “You don’t need to worry. You may safely proceed.”

  “How long?” I asked again.

  Silas refused to look me in the eyes. I searched for Asher and Era both to give me an answer.

  Seeing I wasn’t going to let it go, Asher answered, “Just over a year . . . I think. It is . . . hard to keep track.”

  “A year,” I said, not quite believing what I just heard. I knew it felt like days, weeks, and months . . . but to hear that it had been a year . . . I had no words. Still, if this stairwell was the end of Purgatory for me? If this was my pathway to heaven? Then a year was a small price to pay. I stepped forward and began the short walk into the dark.

  I sat up gasping for air. I was back in the morgue. I didn’t understand. Was this a transition point? Did I still need to speak with Ramy before ascending?

  “That was terrible,” Ramy said, drawing my attention. He was smiling from ear to ear. “I mean just awful. I’ve seen better performances from a new inmate that didn’t even have their first proficiency.”

  I shook my head ruefully. Of course, he was smiling. And with good reason, I was sure. “Does it really matter? I did it.”

  Ramy nodded and smiled. “You did indeed. I’m afraid your performance didn’t rate any rewards. Better luck next time.”

  “Oh darn,” I said sarcastically. I couldn’t fight the smile on my face. The banter was fun, but there was something much more important to be discussed. I tried to be casual when I asked the next question, but I was sure I failed miserably, I was just too excited. “So, what happens now? Do you take me to heaven?”

  Ramy’s smile faded, replaced by a look of confusion. “What do you mean? Why would I take you to heaven?”

  It was my turn to change from smiles to a look of confusion. Was Ramy messing with me? “What do you mean, what do I mean? I did it. I beat all seven deadly sins. I finished my Purgatory. That means I get to ascend, right?”

  Ramy’s confusion was replaced with sadness and a shake of his head. “That’s not how this works. Your time here isn’t over.”

  My confusion was quickly turning into anger. “What do you mean it’s not over? I beat all seven of the deadly sins. My time here is done. I’m supposed to be able to move on. That’s how this works?”

  “No,” Ramy said a little more forcefully. “That is not how this works. You have not defeated all seven of the deadly sins. You have only defeated seven floors of Purgatory. That is all you have done. Now, it’s time for me to go.”

  I wanted to protest and yell but the Dominion was gone, leaving in his place a large sack with tiny crystals and chips of bone spilling out of it. I looked to my guides for help, but they looked just as confused and angry as I felt. The only thing I could do was ask, “Why?” But there was no answer.

  I collected the bag, shoving it into my inventory. I moved listlessly out of the morgue and back into Sin City. The only thing I wanted was sleep.

  Chapter 40 – Retail Therapy

  The next morning, I woke up, rolled over, and went back to sleep. I had never felt so low in my life. The morning after that, I did the same thing. On the third day, Era blasted me with cold air and demanded I get out of bed and into Purgatory before I was erased, and they were made to wait for yet another caller.

  “Fine, fine,” I grumbled, sitting up and stretching. I didn’t see the point in going back. I’d already been told I wasn’t going to heaven. That defeating the floors wasn’t enough. How many floors would be enough? Did I need to defeat six hundred and sixty-six floors? Would that do it?

  Pushing away my irritation, I opened my inventory and pulled out my scroll. There wasn’t much point as I hadn’t received any experience in over a year. Still, the refresher might do me good. And I still wanted to know how many points I could gain in both Body and Soul before I hit my cap.

  I didn’t make it past the third line.

  Name: Victor Goodspeed

  Highest Floor Cleared: 7

  Experience Earned: 17,810,005,174

  “How the-” I gaped, barely able to start the question.

  Asher happily filled me in. “All those flashes of light you saw, were envy demons being destroyed. You got the credit for those kills. Basically, you killed one envy demon every ten-seconds for almost a year. That was worth a lot of experience.”

  “I’ll say,” Era agreed.

  Silas nodded and grunted an agreement.

  “Now, buy your unused points. Buy them all. Then we’ll go check out your new floor and decide how to spend the points later today.”

  I was still dumbfoundedly staring at that number. Seventeen billion experience points. That was absurd and . . . just . . . it was broken. Eventually, I stopped staring at the number and started spending the experience points. It cost ten billion five hundred million experience points and change to gain ninety unused points. That was my cap. Fifty unused Body points and forty unused Soul points. I
had hit my cap and now I needed to see what I was up against before spending any of those points. I was somewhat mollified by that. Sure, I lost almost a year waiting patiently in line, but the payout had been worth it, even if the payoff wasn’t there. I was still going to go back into Purgatory, and I didn’t know why. It still didn’t make sense to me. Unfortunately, the only way I could get answers would be to ask Ramy and the only way I could do that was if I cleared another floor. And do that, I needed to get stronger.

  “What about the rest of the points?” I asked, unsure what I should do with over seven billion experience points left to spend.

  “It’s a risk, but I think you should hold on to them until after you fill out your proficiencies,” Asher answered.

  Silas nodded and hummed, “Hmm, it is risky but wise. Worst case, you can always earn more experience points.”

  Era clearly disagreed, “No, no, no. You promised to increase my level two floors ago. That has yet to be done. I’m afraid I must insist.”

  It cost nearly fifty million experience points to level up to her next proficiency threshold.

  “And which improvement do you want?” I asked, reviewing her proficiency options.

  Available Attacker Proficiencies:

  Era’s Air Impact: Passively cause blunt melee attacks to knockback opponent.

  Era's Improved Chilling Breath: Actively cause a cone of freezing air that damages and slows enemies in a single direction.

  Era's Improved Wind Blades: Actively increases the number of wind blades by one.

  “Wind blades if you please,” Era answered haughtily.

  I touched the last line on the page, updating her ability.

  “There, are you happy now?” I asked.

  Era bobbed, “Indeed I am. Thank you for honoring your word.”

  “Good,” I said, rolling up the scroll and putting it away.

  “What about us?” Asher asked.

  Era answered before I could say anything. “We had a deal. I needed the improvement, you did not. He will improve you when it is necessary.”

  I winked at Asher and Silas, “Don’t worry guys. Your turn will come soon.”

  Asher frowned but bobbed his acceptance.

  Silas chuckled slightly. “Do not worry. I have faith that you will do right by us.”

  With Era mollified for the moment, I headed back out into town. I only had one destination in mind, Purgatory.

  My safe room looked the same as the last floor but that didn’t mean anything. “Do I take a peek or walk away?”

  “Walk away,” Asher, Era, and Silas answered together, making me laugh a little.

  I left the room behind and went back into town. I didn’t see anyone familiar as I walked toward the proficiency dealers. I had a lot of crystals to spend and needed some proficiencies that would really be amazing to fill in my last few slots. Nothing like a little retail therapy when you’re feeling down.

  The first floor had plenty of the basics. A few of which Asher strongly recommended for helping to build my base of skills. The only one that went down as a possible was a Body proficiency that would allow me to channel energy points into a short-term speed boost.

  The second floor was a bust. Plenty of interesting proficiencies but nothing that fit with my combat style.

  Third floor had six stalls selling an assortment of proficiencies, the least expensive of which started at ten thousand tiny crystals, a Soul proficiency simply called silence. It was both rare and valuable for its ability to stop demons from using their version of a soul proficiency . . . I was informed it was also capable of stopping another human’s soul proficiency.

  “Opinions?” I asked.

  Being the first to speak, Asher grinned wickedly and asked, “Can you use it on Era?”

  “Well, I never,” Era responded looking extremely put out by the suggestion.

  Silas, ever the old man, was a bit more measured in his response. “A valuable tool is a valuable tool. And now that you have access to your SE again, this might be the right tool for the job. However, I will remind you, this will use up one of your two remaining Soul proficiency slots. Also, a stun from your shield slam is just as proficient at stopping a proficiency as silence would be.”

  As useful as it might be, Silas had the right of it. I put the scroll back and moved on to the next stall.

  “Exorcism,” the female Cherub announced proudly. “A bane to the demons and the damned souls alike, this proficiency is guaranteed to knock the horde of hell down a peg or two. Yours for only two hundred thousand tiny crystals.”

  If I was a pure soul caster, that might be the way to go. I shook my head and moved to the next stall.

  “Blessing of reflection,” the young male Cherub said when I approached. “Reflect a portion of incoming damage back to your enemies. Five hundred thousand tiny crystals and I’ll throw in recover.”

  “What’s recover?” I asked, curious. Reflection sounded like a good proficiency for me. I was built to take hits. Being able to reflect some of that damage sounded very good to me.

  The Cherub boy smiled a smile that looked more ‘greasy salesman’ than ‘servant of God’. Still, it had me curious. “Recover is a passive Body proficiency that allows you to recover from knockdowns, knockbacks, and stuns faster. Level it up enough and you’ll hardly notice when such a proficiency is used against you.”

  “It’s overpriced,” Asher said, which was his usual reaction.

  “And you’ll need significant experience to level both proficiencies up,” Era commented, confusing me slightly as she knew well enough that I had a ton of experience burning a hole in my pocket.

  Then Silas joined in, surprising me even more. “And there is the cost of using reflection to consider. Such blessings are not inexpensive to apply.”

  “Come now, come now, you can surely see the benefit of such a proficiency,” the boy countered. “However, I do understand your concerns. How about if I were to cut the price, let’s say . . . four seventy-five?”

  Asher scoffed. “Are you trying to rip us off? Four hundred.”

  “Now who it trying to rip who off?” the boy scoffed. “Four-fifty is the best I can offer.”

  “And yet you won’t get a crystal more than four twenty-five,” Asher said.

  The boy hesitated for a moment before relenting with a nod. “Deal.”

  Asher grinned victoriously. It was a look shared by all three guides. Shaking my head, I paid the Cherub.

  As soon as he’d been paid, the boy disappeared into an unseen back area. He returned a minute later with a new scroll.

  Smiling upon seeing me, the boy started anew, “Decided to stick around, did you? Well, have I got a deal for you! Blockade. A body skill for a shield that prevents enemies within a certain range from getting around you. Yours for the low, low price of one hundred fifty thousand tiny crystals.”

  That one was a no brainer in my book. Thankfully, Asher and the others agreed, and the negotiation started all over again. While Asher negotiated, Silas explained it was a passive footwork proficiency that would help me move to block the path of any enemy trying to get past me. It was the perfect balance to stand firm, where the proficiency I already learned required me to hold my ground and not move, something that was great against a single opponent. The new proficiency gave me a freedom of movement I needed when facing multiple opponents. I ended up paying one hundred and ten thousand for it.

  His next proficiency was a soul proficiency and one I wasn’t very interested in, called soul explosion . . . okay, that was a lie, I was very interested, but I also knew it wasn’t a good fit.

  I moved on from that stall to the next where another soul proficiency, pure waters, was being sold. It allowed the user to create a fountain of pure water that would heal the user and damage demons at the same time. I was tempted, but I only had the one slot left. I couldn’t help but think about the fact that I could still get another divine call and make it a healer. I passed.

  The la
st stall was yet another soul proficiency, Cassiel’s Blessing of Haste. A speed and perception boosting proficiency that had me most tempted. Silas helpfully informed me that Cassiel was the Archangel of Time. It was extremely tempting. However, when Era told me the cost was likely the same as Raphael’s blessing, I changed my mind.

  Then there was the fourth floor. Based on the way the previous floors showed fewer and fewer proficiencies, I had expected the same to be the case. I was wrong. There were more stalls than on the third floor but less than on the second. I counted eight in total.

  The very first booth stunned me, both in what it had on offer and what they were charging, “Call Divine Spirit Sword: Long Sword, yours for twenty million tiny crystals.”

  I whistled and moved on. I had a lot of tiny crystals left but I wasn’t sure I had that many. I wondered if there was an easy way to find out.

  Most of the stalls on the fourth floor carried Soul proficiencies. The only soul proficiency that was slightly tempting was a Call Divine Bow: Short Bow. If it had been a recurve bow, I might have gone for it. I moved on.

  Surprisingly, one of the few Body proficiencies available was crushing blow, a proficiency I had already found inside of Purgatory. There was a Body proficiency for bow fighting. I wondered if it was the same one Rebecca wanted. Was she trying to resell it? Putting it out of my mind, I moved on.

  The last body proficiency was interesting but not ideal for me. Sword triangle was a fencing proficiency that increased attack and parry speed without losing any damage potential. It wasn’t surprising it was the most expensive of all the proficiencies at ninety million tiny crystals.

  I picked up the speed boost proficiency on my way out of the dealers back on the first floor. I would be back another day and hopefully they would have something better for me.

  With my shopping done, it was time to put my new purchases to work as well as apply my unused points.

  Back in my bunkroom, Era was questioning me once again. “Are you certain you want to spend all the points now? Don’t want to save any for a rainy day?”