“No. Jon’s dead, and he’s not coming back, damn it,” she reassured herself. I tried to cry when she said that, but I had no tears to shed.
“Are you ready to try this again, Jon?” Charlie said from behind me.
I turned around and said, “I guess you win after all.”
“I always do, Jon. You can’t live again. Things are the way they are. You will be more comfortable after you accept this.”
“I can’t! I can’t just accept not seeing my wife again.”
“You did see her, Jon. You should be thankful for that. Not that it matters. He isn’t listening to you anymore.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I am. I always am. Now are you ready to go?”
“Can I have just a few more minutes with her? You have to understand, I haven’t see her in a very long time. I just want to be with her for a few minutes.”
“Absolutely not. It’s time to go.”
“Fine.” I just accepted it. I knew that there wasn’t any more fighting it. Not this time. Charlie had won, and I was tired of fighting for nothing. I couldn’t possibly win a fight against something as powerful as Hell, as much as it crushed me. I had to just go along with it and hope that Asmodeus would understand why I did what I did.
“Then let’s go.” He waved his hand into the air and summoned a black door. It creaked open and I could hear the hellhounds on the other side. The fear I used to have for them had faded. I almost wanted them to devour me.
“Do I really have to?”
“Stop wasting time, Jon.”
I didn’t say anything. I just trudged my way into Hell. As my foot landed on the other side of the door, the burden of Hell fell upon my soul again.
“Welcome home, Jon. Now, let’s go see Asmodeus, shall we?”
7. I Ascend
I didn’t want to go see Asmodeus and admit my failure, but I knew it was inevitable. And I knew that if I didn’t tell him, that Charlie would. Even still, I was afraid of the consequences that I would undoubtedly have to endure.
“I guess I’ll just meet you there,” I said. I snapped my fingers and went to Asmodeus’ triangle.
When I arrived, Asmodeus was standing before his triangle viewing something. When I looked closer, I realized he was watching me. He was crimson and his flames were licking the sky. I reluctantly walked towards him.
“I suppose you already know what happened.”
“I do, Jon.”
“And I suppose I am in line for a punishment.”
“You are, Jon.”
“So? What are you waiting for? Burn me or something.”
“I am afraid I will not be so forgiving this time.”
“I understand that. So what are you going to do, then?”
“I am going to release you.”
“What? I thought you were going to punish me.”
“You will see with time that my releasing you is punishment enough.”
“I’ve told you countless times that I don’t want to be your follower. How can you think this a punishment?”
“No longer looking to me for guidance is not the only catch to this punishment. You are henceforth stripped of rights to my dominion. You will no longer be tolerated in my home; neither in Hell, nor here. You will never hear my story, and you will never set foot in my realm again. Do you understand?”
“I guess so. So what if I come here anyway?”
“I have a connection with my home. Much like the connection you feel with your spouse. I will sense your presence here. If I am not already here, I will travel here and kill you upon sight.”
“Is that really it?”
“Yes, Jon. That is all. Now go.”
‘He let me off pretty easy,’ I thought. ‘Could he really not want to do anything else to me? I don’t have any idea how this could be worse than him hurting me.’
“I said go, Jon!” Asmodeus burst into a flame the size of the giant triangle he was standing in front of and his voice boomed, “NOW!”
I quickly snapped my fingers and went back to Hell. I figured that Asmodeus was pretty perturbed with me to say the least so I decided to go ahead and leave. I headed for the stairs to the second level of Hell. They were long and the individual stairs were tall. I had to lift my legs high just to move to the next step. There were at least 100 steps, not that I counted. As I approached the second level, the pain grew just a little bit more. Not enough to call for investigation, but I could feel my sins weighing down on me. Just a little bit more.
The second level appeared much like the first, but there were subtle differences. The streets were cobble stone and in the distance I saw pieces of something sticking up next to the buildings, but only the buildings that were on the corners of the streets. All the buildings were still in shambles, but they weren’t as ruined as the buildings on the first level. The people, however, all looked the same. Well, they looked as similar as they could. As I approached the buildings I learned that the strange objects sticking up from the ground were slender piles of rocks. On the top of the piles was a larger stone with words written on them. They were street signs!
“Excuse me sir,” I stopped a random man walking by, “what are these?” I was pointing at the street sign.
“You must’ve just come here from Lust,” he replied. “Those are the street signs. Gluttony is a little bit nice of a place than Lust. Just wait ‘til you get to Greed.”
“What do you mean by “Lust”, “Gluttony”, and “Greed”?”
“Are you serious? Those are the names of the levels. My god you’re green. You better not go up the stairs until you got a better head on your shoulders.” He didn’t wait for a response, he just walked away.
So once again I was alone and lost in Hell. I couldn’t go back to Asmodeus’ domain so I decided to start looking around this new place. It looked to be just as big as the first level if not bigger, but I was just at the entrance so there was no way of telling how big it actually was.
I walked down one of the side streets and come across a small square with people gathering and chatting away. Each more hideous than the next, yet some of them seemed to be happy. I couldn’t understand how in a place so wrong and painful how people could actually manage to be happy. How could people that were supposed to be punished be so happy? How could they just forget everything that they once had?
“Moronic, isn’t it?” a familiar female voice said.
“What’s that?” I asked turning to see Callista standing beside me sans her guards.
“How they are just gathering and letting time pass. They could be seeking power through seeking dominion with the Elohim, idiots, all of them!”
“Maybe, but what’s the point? Why try to gain power?”
“Why not? Why lament all that you have lost when you can look forward to all that you might have?”
“I’ve been down that road. I wasn’t happy with where it was leading me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was becoming a monster. I was doing things that I never imagined myself doing in a thousand lifetimes.”
“That’s all in the fun of it.”
“Beating on innocent people, committing crimes, taking what isn‘t yours?”
“Sure. The way I figure it, I’m stuck here forever so I might as well enjoy myself, right?”
“Enjoying yourself is one thing. I don’t enjoy what they would have me do.”
“Asmodeus isn’t that bad. He is probably the most lenient Elohim I have ever come across. Wait until you meet Beelzebub or Mammon. They are a couple of Elohim that I would avoid if I were you.”
“Or Satan.”
“I’ve never met him, or her. Whatever. In fact, he is rarely even spoken of in Hell.”
“Really? I thought he was like the ruler or something.”
“Not really. The Elohim respect him for leading the rebellion, but he doesn’t have a role in governing Hell. Thus, I have never seen or heard him.”
�
��That’s strange. On the other hand, most of what I learned on Earth about Hell hasn’t been coming true.”
“That’s how it works around here, never a dull moment.”
“Speaking of that, I wasn’t expecting to see you anytime soon.”
“Nor was I, you. I heard about Asmodeus exiling you from Lust. You are too lucky. That last time someone crossed Asmodeus, he torched them in the street as a reminder to us that he is in charge.”
“So, what are you doing here?”
“I was on my way to Greed and I spotted you from across the way. So, I decided to grant you a visit.”
“Without your guards?”
“Oh, they are around. Just because you don’t see them, believe me, doesn’t mean they don’t see you. Asmodeus put them in charge of taking a bullet for me, and they are all well aware of his wrath, as merciful as it may be.”
“I suppose that means that Asmodeus sees something in you as well.”
“You could say that. I knew him when I was alive, so when I approached him to be his child, he felt obligated to protect me.”
“Why is that?”
“Because he is Asmodeus. Did you ask him about his tale?”
“I did, but he wanted me to prove my worthiness to him.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“I was going to, but then I realized he put me closer to me eventual prize, and I wanted that more than his story.”
“Well would you like to hear it?”
“I guess so. I suppose that since I was banned from Lust I have plenty of time to kill.”
“Okay then. Should we tell him? Yes, I think we should.”
“Oh my God, you talk like him too?”
“Ha ha. No, I was just getting into character.” I let out a chuckle. “So after that rebellion and before the creation of Hell, Elohim were allowed free roam of Earth, Asmodeus included. They were allowed to interact with the world around them. However, God decreed that no Elohim should actively interfere with the affairs of mortals, such as you and me. They could only speak to us and guide us along their own path. God was using it as a sort of way to test people. Personally, I think he was just running out of ideas and getting lazy.
“But anyway, Asmodeus was a little different than the rest of the Elohim. He didn’t necessarily want to destroy the lives of those around him; he wanted to be a part of it. You see before the fall some of the Elohim decided to side with Satan, not because they disagreed with God, but because they envied the mortals.”
“What do you mean they envied us?” I asked.
“They wanted to be like us. They wanted to live a life and then rejoice in Heaven instead of serving us and Him.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“Back to the story: Asmodeus was traveling through a village one day and he spotted a woman. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen and he fell in love with her. He wanted nothing more than to be with her. Not just lie with her, but live with her. He asked God to grant such a thing, but was denied. Asmodeus was in love and wanted to marry her, but God banned him from speaking to her. He was invisible to her eyes and mute to her ears.
“So, Asmodeus swore, that as long as he was able to, he would not let her be with any man. She had countless suitors and was betrothed to a man named Eric. Then the day was upon them, they day they were married. The ceremony went off without a hitch and they rejoiced and had a magnificent banquet, but that night, Asmodeus sent his puppet into the bedroom. Then as she entered, she found her new husband murdered before they could consummate their marriage. This happened 2 more times and after the third time, the village accused her of being a murderer and a whore. To escape death, her father moved their family to another town. When it happened again, he was forced to believe the lies and he killed her.”
“I thought it was going to be a beautiful story, but I guess not.”
“How was it not a beautiful story?”
“Because he was just taking vengeance for not being able to marry the person he loved.”
“Do you not love someone, Jon?”
“I love my wife.”
“Asmodeus felt the same way about her that you feel about your wife. Don’t you want nothing more than to be with her?”
“Of course that’s what I want.”
“Well, have you accepted that she is probably sleeping with another man right now?”
“Don’t you say that! Don’t even talk about her!”
“Exactly. Do not think you are so different than anyone else you may meet in Hell. You may have different views, but when it comes down to it, you are always going to be just like them.”
“I suppose you’re right.” I didn’t really think she was right. I just said I did so that she would stop talking about Shannon. I couldn’t stand the thought that Asmodeus and I actually had something in common. I didn’t want to associate with him at all. “Well that took about five minutes, now, what to do for the rest of eternity?”
“I can’t really help you with that, Jon. I can offer you some company, though.”
I didn’t really know what to say. ‘Why does she all of a sudden want to spend time with me?’ I asked myself. ‘What do I have to offer her? I can’t say that I would mind company, but I didn’t think I would be getting it from Callista. I was sure that after my encounter with her on the rooftop that she wasn’t too partial to me, but I guess she is just full of surprises.’
“I don’t see why you can’t tag along, Callista.”
“Good. So where are we going?”
“I have no idea.” We both laughed.
“I forgot that you’re still pretty new to Hell. How would you like me to just show you around Gluttony? If you haven’t been here before it can be pretty confusing.”
“Why is that?”
“A lot of the streets look the same because Gluttony was built in pattern.”
“What kind of pattern?”
“Gluttony is a big circle. There are four quadrants each with a square in the middle. The easiest way to figure your way around is to remember that the street that goes around the squares are named after the square itself. Their names are Terentu, Zellbreet, Malphalgor, and Mephistopheles. In the center is a four story tower where Beelzebub stays. If you spend enough time in Gluttony then you‘ll figure it out.”
“He lives there in the tower?”
“Whenever he isn’t out terrorizing mortals. By the way, don’t go flashing Asmodeus symbol around. You aren’t in his domain anymore and it could cost you. He isn’t respected outside of his own realm as much as you might think. So just keep it covered.”
“Okay.” I pulled my sleeve down a little bit so only the bottom half of the triangle was showing, I couldn’t get any more of it covered without drawing attention to myself. I hadn’t noticed until then, but the symbol wasn’t glowing anymore. It was as dull as a tattoo.
“Also, if you see flies buzzing around, run in the opposite direction.”
“Flies? What are you talking about?”
“Beelzebub is lord of the flies. You know how Asmodeus usually appears in the form of flames?”
“Sure.”
“Well Beelzebub appears in the form of a mass of flies that group together to resemble a man. The difference is that Beelzebub can’t shape shift like Asmodeus can. He can move the flies around to make them resemble something else, but he will always appear as a swarm of flies. So, unless he summons you or starts speaking to you before you can escape, just run away and avoid him altogether.”
“Okay. Is he really that bad?”
“Beelzebub is one of the cruelest. He tends to rejoice in torturing the mortals in his realm. I swear, he belongs in Pride he is so evil.”
“Alright then, anything else I need to know about this level of Hell?”
“I don’t think so. If I come up with anything else on our tour, then I’ll let you know.”
“Okay then, where are we now?”
“You are standing in Me
phistopheles Square. That’s the first one on the right if you are entering from Lust; to the left is Malphalgor. If you continue past the tower, to the left is Terentu, and to the right is Zellbreet.”
“I thought you were going to give me a tour, not directions?”
“Ha! You get what I give you, Jon.”
“Oh, okay.” I wasn’t sure if she was being impatient or just joking around with me. She had a smile on her face, so I decided to take it lightly.
“So, do you want to see the rest of Gluttony?” she asked as she started walking away. I followed suit.
“I don’t have anything better to do.”
“You keep saying stuff like that. Were you so busy on the first level?”
“Actually, I was.”
“Really? What were you doing there?”
“I was working for Charlie and Asmodeus. They were trying to help me get back to Earth.”
“Back to Earth? Charlie can’t get you back to Earth. I don’t know about Asmodeus, though. I’m sure he possesses the strength, but I don’t know that he would be willing to do so.”
“He told me he was willing to do it. Charlie was the one that suggested it, but Asmodeus was right behind him. They were going to help me get back to my wife, but I guess I’ll have to find some other way there. I haven’t seen Charlie since I left. Does he come here often?”
“Charlie goes almost everywhere. He is one of the few souls allowed to venture back to Earth.”
“I noticed that. I went there a couple times.”
“You did? What was it like? I haven’t been there in such a long time. Did you see the sun? Did you smell any flowers? Did you eat? Did you have sex?”
“Whoa,” I laughed, “slow down. How long has it been since you were on Earth?”
“I can’t remember. I’ve been here so long that I can’t remember almost anything about my life on Earth. I decided a long time ago to give up on being sad and lonely. I tell you one thing; it has helped me survive in this godforsaken place. Not to mention I got a lot of help from Asmodeus. He was there for me when I needed it.”
“Well Earth was more amazing then I could possibly remember it being. Everything was new and exciting like I was experiencing it for the first time. Can I ask how you died?”
Hellbound: Chronicles Page 12