by Randi Darren
Of course, the woman bred from a race of planar shock troopers is already up and ready.
“Remind me to get thousands more of you,” Sam said as he got his bearings.
“You’d have to knock me up first,” Wren growled, her rifle moving slowly back the other way it’d come from. “I saw movement. There’s something out there.”
Ignoring her comment about pregnancy, Sam did reaffirm a need to get as many Cambion as he could. He’d flood his plane with them.
Cambion. Thousands and thousands of Cambion.
“Yeah. There’s things out there alright. But for the most part, everything out there is harmless. This is the Void,” Sam said rolling over to his hands and knees. Panting, he slowly got to his feet and almost tumbled back down. “Limbo.”
He was cut off from all his Essence everywhere.
The Void was a place where nothing existed. The Void in fact didn’t exist either, technically.
“This is a waystation between the afterlife,” Sam explained. “Everything here should be crossing over to the lower-plane afterlife or to the higher-plane one. This is where everyone goes to be judged, but also where they go after they’ve served their penance.”
Wren shook her head at that. She looked annoyed and frustrated at the same time.
“I don’t like this at all. We’re a military company, not a bunch of psychic ghost hunters,” Wren groused.
“Oh, yes. This is far more in line with a number of paranormal police agencies and military units. Filled with soldiers named things like Gus and Mark,” Sam said in a groan and stretched out his back. “Yet here we are, chasing an artifact of such great power that I don’t even want to touch it when we find it.”
“You don’t?” Wren asked.
“No. Not unless I have to. The Log isn’t of this world. Isn’t of this existence,” Sam said reaching down to the ground. Grabbing his SMG, he gave it a quick once-over. “The Originator left it here when he was forced to leave. It shouldn’t be here.”
“And what is the Log then?” Wren asked, slowly getting out of her kneeling position. She seemed to be coming down from her paranoid high.
“Exactly what the name implies. It’s a log of all the things that have ever happened. Ever. It also is constantly filling up with what is happening at this very moment,” answered Sam. “Using it, though, will draw the eye of the Silent One.”
“You mentioned that… thing… before. What is it? The Silent One?” Wren asked, coming over to stand near Sam.
All around them, everyone was slowly coming to.
“They’re who beat the Originator. When there were only two gods in the world. The Originator and the Silent One,” Sam said sliding a hand under Carissa’s shoulder and helping the woman to her feet. “The Silent One won the war, forced the Originator out, and then went… silent. They’ve been an absentee god since the second they were the only one here.
“They abandoned… everyone. Their soldiers, their enemies, their supporters, everyone. Went dark and never stirred. There’s very little that causes the Silent One to do anything. The Log is one of them. Use it a bit too much and he’ll come looking for it. So far he hasn’t found it, but… that’s partly because it was in Retribution’s hands for a long time.”
“And Retribution,” Aster said, getting to her feet with a grunt, “was a heartless dickhead in the best of times.”
“Who’s Retribution?” Tiffany asked, raising her weapon up partially.
“Soldier in the Originator’s army,” Sam summarized. “Now, let’s get going. No reason to hang around here. We need to get to the crossing point. There’s no other exit from here, but you can get here from anywhere.”
Sam needed to get out of here. As soon as possible.
He was hungry. Very hungry. His connection to his plane was missing right now and it was hard to think of anything other than grabbing his entire group and forcing them into a massive hours’ long orgy.
Filled with moans, groans, and messy fluids in every direction.
Carissa with her face stained of Decima’s sweet liquids. Tiffany’s face being ridden by every single woman as I work her like a farm-plow.
Everyone getting a turn at Jes’ slit and-
Shaking his head once, Sam cleared his thoughts.
Right now this was the last place he wanted to have an all-out orgy.
No matter how hungry he was.
They were nowhere.
“Which way are we going?” asked Decima. She sounded somewhat nervous but Sam couldn’t place it.
“Doesn’t matter. Every direction is the same, we’ll end up at the crossing point no matter what. Just… everyone make sure you keep your head on straight,” Sam said. “You’re going to see some things you’ll love or hate and you just need to ignore both.”
“Really?” Wren asked as everyone started to form up.
“Yeah. One side will be the lower end of afterlife and the other the higher end of the afterlife,” Sam explained.
“In other words… heaven and hell,” Carissa said from directly next to Sam. She hadn’t moved away from him.
Shrugging his shoulders, Sam could only nod at that. “Yeah.”
Trooping forward slowly, through the infinite grayness with neither a ground nor a sky, the Inc-Suc PMC moved.
He could feel the tension rising in each person as they went.
Irene’s soul seemed the most distressed however. She was wrapped around Irene’s head like a turban and looked to be holding on for dear life.
It wasn’t until Sam noticed the soul’s hair starting to lift up from her head in what looked like a breeze, that Sam wondered how it’d affect her.
A disembodied soul in the Void was likely to be a problem.
Up ahead, he could also see what looked like the crossing point in the distance. A roiling mass of blue, red, white, and green streams of energy spraying out in every direction.
Moving over to Irene’s side, he reached out and grabbed the poor soul by its core.
“Ahhhnnn,” Irene moaned, missing a step. Glaring at Sam, she looked like she was about to yell at him.
“Just taking her in hand in case something goes wrong up ahead,” Sam explained. “Not trying to be a dick. I just don’t want her getting pulled away.”
The soul had responded by wrapping itself around Sam’s arm like a sleeve. Her head resting up against his shoulder even as he held tight to her core.
“Fine. Fine. Just… don’t squeeze it,” Irene muttered. “You can play with me and her later. Maybe kill me with that sexy cock of yours finally. Make my heart burst. I’ll suck your dick till your nuts turn blue, too. But not right now.”
Always so much more honest when I’ve got your soul.
And foul mouthed.
Marching ever onward, Sam could actually feel the pull on Irene’s soul. Pulling her in every direction and trying to take her clean away.
Limbo was a very strong mechanism in the universe.
A dull, low roaring sound had started up as well. It was a whooshing that sounded a lot like static.
“What is that?” Aster asked, coming over to Sam. “The sound.”
“It’s Limbo. This is where everyone goes to be judged. You’re hearing the voices of multitudes as they face their fate.”
Aster shook her head, clutching to her weapon.
“I’m an Elemental, this isn’t somewhere I should be. When I die, I’ll just rejoin the earth,” Aster grumbled.
Good point. I wonder what she’ll see here.
“Dad?” Carissa asked, looking off to the left hand side. There was a large glowing white orb there, floating along beside them.
“Don’t go over there,” Sam said before Carissa had even taken a step. “It’s probably your dad, yes. But if you try to go over there you’ll die.”
In what seemed like a response to Sam’s words, the orb shuddered. Then zoomed much further away, but it didn’t leave.
“That’s my dad,” Carissa said, star
ing at the distant orb.
“Yeah. And it seems he’s nervous you’ll do something stupid,” Jes said. Reaching out the Succubus grabbed the back of Carissa’s belt. “So don’t do something stupid and we’ll see if he’ll come back.”
“I… I won’t. Dad!” Carissa called, waving at the orb. Trying to get it to come over.
Slowly, more and more orbs appeared on their left side. Collecting themselves and watching the procession.
Jes was staring at those orbs now as well.
Sam realized what was happening and wondered if he should call a stop so they could have a chat.
How often does one get to actually see and speak with their loved ones?
A roaring red ball of spitting anger and hatred became a flaming fence of fire on the right. Hundreds appeared faster than Sam thought possible, forming what looked like a giant burning wall of fire hundreds and hundreds of feet tall.
And they were all there for Decima.
Flinching away from the evil she’d done and the evil she’d disposed of in her previous life, Decima slid around to the other side of Tiffany. Putting the Were between her and the wall of loathing.
“Time to go,” Sam called. “Move it, double time or what the hell ever.”
Everyone picked up the pace and started to move considerably quicker. Sam could see that off to the right the wall of nasty was growing. Expanding further in each direction.
Damn. Just how much evil did she bring to the world or send here in one way or another?
Lady Decimation indeed.
The static was growing now, going up in volume. Ever increasing, it just rose higher and higher until it was a maddening roar.
Sam couldn’t hear his own thoughts over the absolute blaring of sound.
Ahead of them, he could see what looked like a large white pavilion. Elevated a few feet above the ground and with a low wall surrounding it, it appeared empty inside.
Soundlessly, Sam pointed toward it. He needn’t have bothered though. Everyone had seen it and were making for it already.
Decima was the first to reach it. Spurred on—and clearly wanting to escape—she vaulted up over the side of the pavilion wall and literally vanished. As if she’d never been there.
That didn’t stop Tiffany and Hillary from doing the same.
Sam didn’t think he had anything to fear here, but he also didn’t want to linger. Moving up to the base of the structure, Sam put his back toward Abigail and made himself into a launch pad.
“Thanks, dear,” Abigail said as she grabbed him by the hips.
She took the assistance and clambered up over the top of him, dropping into the pavilion.
Followed by everyone else who hadn’t gone up yet.
He was positive the one that squeezed his ass—and gave him a few humps from behind—was Aster.
All that remained was Sam and Irene’s soul. Which was held tightly in his hand, but was being twisted one way and then the other by both sides.
Pulling himself up and over, Sam entered the pavilion.
Almost instantly, the racket from outside was cut off. As if it never existed and wasn’t their problem anymore.
Getting back up to his feet, Sam was surprised to find nothing.
There was no one sitting in the Seat of Judgement.
No one to determine where someone went.
Outside of the pavilion was a never-ending line of souls. All waiting to be sentenced one way or another. A stream of souls that ranged from young children to elders, all which needed to be delivered to an afterlife.
“I think—” Sam started. “I think Irma’s mother did herself a favor by not going through to the other side. Something’s very wrong here. Very wrong.”
“How long ago did your Dad die?” Hillary asked.
“Twenty years ago? I’m thir—”
“Holy shit, you’re in your thirties?” Aster interrupted. “You look like you’re barely in your twenties. I’d card you and still be afraid you were jail-bait. I mean, I know cyclops age slowly but… wow.”
“So for the last twenty years at most… no one’s crossed over, is that what I’m getting out of this?” Stacia asked.
“That’s what it seems to be,” Sam confirmed. “I’d been nervous about the whole situation when Irma’s mom had mentioned there not being Tenders.”
“Pushy bastards,” Decima complained. “They just about threw me through the portal rather than let me make up my mind.”
“To be fair, knowing who and what you were, I imagine they were sent to make sure you went over,” Sam murmured.
Decima shook her head, staring at the very long and likely never-ending, always growing line.
“What’s happened?” Decima asked.
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “I don’t know. Whatever it is, though, has seriously screwed things up here. Thankfully it’s not our problem to solve. We just need to figure out which way the thief went and get out of here. We can go through the ‘upper’ afterlife and make it back through there. The reincarnation gates are just a one way portal really. Since we’re still flesh-clothed, we can just walk through to the other side.”
“When do you think our friend with the Log passed through?” Irene asked. She looked rather pale right now and seemed to be feeling the pressure put on her soul.
“Oh,” Sam said, making the connection. “That’s… huh. I guess… maybe it could be our problem. But… I don’t get it. Why would anyone go for the Judge? They hadn’t left this spot since they were put here. Not for the Originator, not for the Silent One, not for anyone.”
Everyone stood there, staring either at the empty chair in the middle of the pavilion, or the near infinite line waiting for something to happen that never would.
“I think we should do something,” Jes murmured, shaking her beautiful head. “We can’t leave it like this.”
“Of course, we can. Not our problem,” Tiffany said.
“Not in the least our problem,” Wren agreed.
“But it could be our problem,” Hillary disagreed. “What if we died? We’d be in that line. Or if anyone you’ve known has died in the last twenty years, they’re out there.
“Or what about Roger? He’s out there. We didn’t run long with him, but he wasn’t an ass or a creep. He was funny.”
Decima’s face hardened at that. Turning, she faced Sam head on.
“Husband, as your wife, I’m asking for you to help me,” Decima said. “How do we fix this situation? There should be a judge.”
“I… there’s nothing I can do to fix that though,” Sam said. “I’m not part of the Silent One’s retinue. Or the Originator’s. I came after both of them. I can’t make that qualification.”
“But I was,” Aster said holding out a badge in the shape of a circle. On the front of it was a lightning bolt crossing from one side to the other. “I was part of the Originator’s host. I fought alongside his daughters and sons. I was there.”
“Okay, and what exactly do you plan on doing? You can’t be the Judge, you’re living,” Jes said.
“I can assign someone else to the position. It doesn’t have to be me,” said Aster.
“I could do it.”
Looking over, Sam found Alisa leaning over the side of the pavilion from what would classically be described as heaven. Or at least, an ephemeral projection of the woman.
Sam couldn’t make out the details of her, but he knew it was her. She was, as always, unmistakable.
“For a while at least,” she said with a grin. “I find that since you summoned me over—and I’ve been watching mind you—that I’m not as angry as I was. I think I could judge people appropriately.
“And if I find someone I’m not sure of, I can set them aside for the Judge when they get back. I could at least get working on the line.”
“Fine,” Sam said, motioning to Aster. He actually didn’t care much, but he trusted in Alisa. Her judgment in the end had been better than his by a considerable margin. “Give her t
he title and let’s get going. We’ll swing back around later with the Judge once we get this figured out. You should call the Tenders as soon as you get your portfolio, Alisa.”
“Oh, the little grim reaper people? I hadn’t realized they’d stopped working as well,” Alisa said. “And do forgive me for not mentioning the missing Judge. It was forbidden knowledge that can’t traverse to the land of the living.”
Sam felt angry and annoyed.
Then realized he was being somewhat short with those that mattered because he was hungry.
Turning his head, he found Stacia not far away.
“This’ll take me a bit,” Aster said. “I never really… invoked his powers or anything. I avoided them for the most part. Was always afraid the Silent One would come looking.
“He’d gone after Retribution a number of times, you know.”
Walking over to the Vampire, Sam leaned into her, putting his forehead to hers.
“I’m starving. I need you,” Sam said honestly.
“Oh,” Stacia murmured, laying her hands to his chest. “Alright. We can just take care of it here. I don’t mind. Help me out of my pants?”
Sam immediately went to work at undressing the Vampire.
“Tiff? Help me feed Sam?” Stacia called shimmying out of her pants.
“Huh? Oh. Uh… uh… in front of… uh… alright,” Tiffany muttered, coming over to Stacia and Sam. “You got watch, Wren.”
“Fine,” Wren said. “But when you’re done, tag me in.”
“I’ll join in,” Irene said, coming over. “Just a quick little barrier and—”
Irene flicked a hand to the side and a small space around them was enclosed in a dark fabric-like material.
“Oh, perfect. Thanks,” Tiff said, turning to Irene and unbuttoning her pants.
“Thanks,” Sam muttered. “So hungry. I’m cut off from everything out here.”
“Oh, me too, me too,” Jes said, pushing between the fabric and joining the growing orgy.
“Yes, as many as whoever’s willing,” Sam said. He was going to indulge heavily for as long as he could.
There was no telling what would come next.
Stacia got down to the ground and spread her legs wide for him. She’d only gotten her pants down to her ankles but was otherwise still fully dressed. Combat vest and everything.