A World Darkly (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 3)

by John Triptych

  Time had passed, and Valerie gradually moved away from her extreme religious fervor when she finally graduated high school. By then most of her older siblings had either gotten married, or were in prison. Even though she stopped going to church on a regular basis, Valerie still believed that she needed to live life the right way. She took a few classes in a local city college and worked part time as a library assistant for a couple of years. Then she applied for a job at the NYPD, and was accepted into the police academy after passing the tests. The hours and stresses of her job, along with her single-minded devotion to move up the ranks, took away most of her free time. Valerie didn’t have a life, but she remembered the teachings of her religion. She had stopped thinking about hell and damnation, her mind was too preoccupied with case files and paperwork. Valerie figured that as long as she kept walking along the straight path, she would have nothing to worry about when it came to the afterlife.

  Then the Glooming happened. Her first brush with the supernatural occurred when she and her partner were investigating a suspected assault on two men. Myron, the senior detective and her mentor was killed, and her attackers slashed her face with an obsidian blade. Although she eventually recovered, the attack left a long, jagged scar on her face. Through sheer strength of will, Valerie forced herself back on the job. She didn’t have anything else to live for since her beliefs of serving the city had been shattered. The country was falling apart, but she redoubled her convictions, thinking that if she just did her part, the world would somehow come back together again.

  Not long after that, she met Paul Dane. He had been the head of a newly organized Federal task force designed to deal with the return of the ancient gods. Valerie had always felt uneasy around academic types. She felt that they were somehow so smarter than she ever could be. But Paul’s easygoing attitude and natural charm had put her at ease. The fact he had had enough sense to keep her as a commander for the police contingent during the raid on the museum had given her added confidence. Although she had barely survived when the god Okeus attempted to manifest itself as a gigantic worm, all her experiences gave her a newfound purpose in life. With Paul she had found a kindred soul, they both had survived a number of unearthly encounters with strange beings, and they slowly gravitated towards each other. Each of them had lost someone they loved, and it was through their mutual grief and experience that their attraction to each other grew even further. After Paul’s return from Boston, he had realized just how much he needed her. For Valerie, the feeling had been the same. Paul was the man she had been looking for all her life, even though she didn’t know it back then.

  When the new Secretary of Defense reconstituted the task force after Paul had quit previously, the mythology professor had immediately demanded Valerie be his liaison officer. Within weeks, they had been able to piece enough evidence to put together a plan. Paul would decide to risk everything in summoning a demon that had once materialized in the museum, and they would try to find answers as to what was truly happening in the world. The operation had succeeded beyond everyone’s wildest imaginings, when Paul successfully brought forth a demon from the netherworld. So much intelligence had been gained when the demon had answered their questions. But Paul hadn't been satisfied. Knowing that the president of the United States had been kidnapped by a separatist theocracy in Kansas, he had manipulated the demon into bringing back the country’s head of state. Paul had succeeded in returning the president back, but in so doing he angered the demon Dantalion, and the infernal creature gained its revenge by taking him back to the dimension that it came from. Valerie of course, couldn’t have let it happen. She had grabbed onto Paul’s hand and struggled to pull him back from the abyss that the demon was sending him to.

  She had failed, and now she was in Hell along with him.

  The last thing she remembered was the darkness unfolding all around her as she kept a tight grip on Paul’s hand, just as the demon dragged them both into the underworld. Both she and Paul were screaming in pain and terror. She tried to draw him closer but she could feel intense forces all around her, as if she was being buffeted through the air in the eye of a tornado. The fury of the howling winds all around her was so great that she was unable to keep her grip on Paul’s hand. Valerie screamed out his name as she trashed about, her body spinning through the blackened vortex of nothingness. It felt like an eternity as the air was so full of fury that she couldn’t even hear her own shrieks of despair.

  When she finally recovered her wits, she realized that everything had gone quiet once more. Only this time, everything was so silent that she couldn’t hear a thing, not even her own cries of anguish. The darkness all around her meant she couldn’t see anything either. It was as if she was totally blind, deaf and dumb. The only feelings that were still operating were her touch and her sense of being. She could still think and move somehow but she couldn’t hear or see anything.

  Valerie could feel that she was somehow lying down on the ground, which seemed smooth to the touch. She very quickly got up and almost fell down again as she tilted forward and spread her legs out for balance. She could still sense the clothes she was wearing as she fumbled through the pockets of her jacket. When her fingers touched the hip holster that still had her Glock pistol, she felt an immediate sense of reassurance, but it was tempered by the fact that she still couldn’t see. She felt neither hot nor cold and wondered if she was trapped in a room or something. Valerie ran her hands along her face and she could feel the thickened skin where her scar was. So maybe she wasn’t dead after all. As she took out her smart phone, she attempted to activate it but she fumbled with the buttons and the phone dropped from her hand. Valerie cried out and knelt down as she tried to feel her way on the ground, trying to find her lost phone. The seconds seemed to turn into minutes as she kept running her hands along the smooth floor, hoping to locate her phone. After what seemed like an eternity, she was unable to find it using her sense of touch, so she cursed out loud and stood right back up again.

  Almost by instinct, she started to walk forward. Although her first steps were slow and short, she soon figured out her stride as she began to walk briskly. Valerie hoped that there was a light source somewhere, the only way to find it was by moving and she would stumble upon it by pure luck. She could sense her eyelids blinking, even though there was nothing but a jet black, inky darkness in front of her.

  This went on for a long time. Valerie just kept on walking, her movements had become almost like an exercise. She hoped that she was not walking in a circle as she used her sense of balance to try and walk in a straight line. On and on. Step by step. Place one foot forward, and then the next one. Keep going. Keep it up. If you’re in a darkened place, then it must lead to somewhere, she thought.

  As she kept on walking, her thoughts began to gradually metamorphosize into a gnawing pit of despair. Valerie kept trying to push the negativity away, but as time seem to pass on, the temptation to just give up and lie down began to manifest itself in her deepest subconscious. Her once long striding began to slacken. The seemingly endless darkness had begun gnaw at her very soul. Dark thoughts that she had seemingly thought she had suppressed now returned to the center of her mind in an unassailable fury of helplessness. By now, her rapid walking had become a slog as her feet became leaden, each step had become agony. Within moments, the despair had become so great that she finally stopped.

  For a long while she just stood there, in the pitch-black space of oblivion. A sense of gloom permeated all over her body. The fact that she was in an endlessly dark place with no visible means of an exit meant that she was already dead. All she had to do now was just to sit down and stop thinking about it. If she cleared her mind, perhaps all the self-doubt, all the misery, and the pain would stop too. After all, she gave it all she got. There was no shame in giving up. She could forget about everything now. All her problems were over. It was time to stop struggling, since in the end it was all pointless anyway. If she could get some rest, then she would final
ly be at peace. Yes, there was no need to go on anymore.

  Just as she was about to give in and lie back down on whatever surface this place had, a small kernel of thought had seemingly planted itself at the back of her mind. It started out as no more than a drop in the ocean, but it soon transformed itself into a wellspring of a memory. That was when she realized why she was here. The image in her mind began to coalesce.

  Valerie let out a big sigh that her ears failed to pick up. She realized that even though she couldn’t see or hear anything, she could think. She was aware that if she could think, then she must exist somewhere. The words and thoughts in her head began to form themselves into bright paintings in her imagination. Yes, she could think abstractly. She wasn’t guided by instinct, but by reason and logic. The comprehension of her thought processes increased with a newfound awareness. Could she use logic and will to get herself out of this mess?

  That was when she remembered her time with Paul. Even though the world had turned into a nightmare, the last few days before the summoning had been happy ones for her. Despite the gloom all over their heads, she still found some solace in his companionship. It was the little things that mattered after all. As Valerie’s thoughts turned to Paul, she suddenly had a new source of hope. That was it! The reason why she wouldn’t give in now was because of her caring for him. Damn all the gods, she thought. I don’t care if I die trying since I’m already dead anyway. Hell won’t stop me.

  Valerie sensed that she was still on her feet. Her legs no longer felt like they were chained to giant boulders. She placed her right hand on her hip once more and felt the cool, reassuring touch of the gun still holstered there. If I was put in here like some sort of prisoner, then there must be a way out, she thought.

  A crazy idea manifested itself in her mind. What if something was holding her senses back that kept her from seeing the exit? Could she will herself out of this place?

  Valerie began to picture a door in her mind. It was like a rectangular opening, an aperture that led into a roomful of light. She tried to make a guess as to which direction it was. Valerie started to pivot her body clockwise until she sensed where the breach was. Then she started walking, only this time, instead of a desperate stride, it was on a slow but confident pace.

  As the minutes of eternity passed, she soon noticed a tiny pinprick of light out in the distance. It looked like it was hundreds of miles away and her tiny pulse of hope almost flew away at the thought that it would take weeks or even months for her to reach it. Valerie immediately placed the darkening thoughts away and concentrated as she started to run towards it.

  For long while, it seemed that she wasn’t any closer as she kept on running. Valerie couldn’t sense how much time had elapsed but she wasn’t feeling winded at all. She could feel her legs moving underneath her torso but the point of light was forever distant, like a faint, twinkling star. It wasn’t getting any closer.

  “Come on!” she shouted as she started pumping her arms back and forth. Valerie gritted her teeth but it felt like she was running in place. She could feel her neck muscles tighten as she strained to get closer to it, but it didn’t seem like anything had changed.

  “Don’t give up! Don’t give up! We’re almost there!” Valerie shouted at herself. The point of light wasn’t any closer, but she could feel a shortness of breath now. Instead of discouraging her, that sense of hardship only made her running even faster. She realized that if she could feel her body working, it meant she was still alive. At that very moment, she could see her hands in front of her, as she parted a wall of dirt ahead and then kept on pushing until she was blinded by the light ahead of her.

  Suddenly, her eyes opened wide as she stared out into a grey, overcast sky. Her vision had returned while she heard her own heaving gasps as she seemed to breathe for the first time. The next thing she knew she was on her knees. The ground was grayish mud. Everything around her was grey. Valerie had a sense that she had somehow been buried beneath the muck of this place and she had apparently clawed her way up to the surface. The whole area seemed like an endless sea of muddy hills. There were no plants, or trees or even buildings, just small mounds of drab clay.

  As she stood up, she noticed some sort of movement stirring in the dirt beneath her. Valerie was confused for a moment before realizing that there were other people trapped beneath the mud. She cried out as she knelt down and started digging with her hands, but every time she pulled out a few handfuls of muck, the seemingly human faces that she had expected to find underneath had disappeared back into the ever shifting sludge.

  Valerie looked around. She could see patterns of faces that would form in the dirt all around her, but they all seemed to fade away after a few minutes. At that moment, she felt a kindred empathy for them. She realized that they were in the same predicament she had been in. They too were trying to come out from the mud, but where they failed she succeeded. A sudden, terrifying thought manifested itself in her mind. What if Paul was trapped beneath the mud as well?

  “Paul!” she screamed, hoping to find a reply. All she could hear was the occasional bubble of air that escaped from the endless puddles of muck.

  Unwilling to give into despair, Valerie stood up. That was when she realized that the mud wasn’t sticking to her hands, the liquid dirt seemed to just drop away back onto the soggy ground. Even her clothes were dry, when she would lift up her foot, the mud would just slide off her shoes and pants. The one thing that did bother her was the smell, the whole place reeked of an abominable filthiness, it was as if the gods were using this whole world as their cosmic toilet.

  There was nothing to be gained by staying where she was, so she picked a landmark and started moving towards it. It was the highest hill that she saw across the horizon, but when she finally got close enough to make out its details, it seemed just like the other mounds of dirt in the entire place. Everywhere she looked, it was all a series of dirt hills overlooking puddles of mud. She kept on moving, even though she didn’t know where else to go. That was because she felt a curious sensation every time she stopped, that was when her feet would start to become leaden and numb. Valerie sensed that if she stood still for too long, the unceasing mud would somehow swallow her up once more.

  Her sense of time had pretty much waned. As she kept on moving, Valerie was no longer certain as for how long. The grey, overcast sky above her didn’t change one bit, even though she was sure that she had been walking around for days now. The landscape stayed the same as well, it became a concern for her that she thought she might have been moving around in circles, though the fear of being sucked back into the mud was of an even greater worry for her. Since Valerie felt neither the need to eat or to rest, she just kept on going.

  It was during one of these endless walks that she spotted something in the distance. What it was she couldn’t be sure, but it was definitely not part of the landscape, so she started moving towards it. As Valerie got closer, she soon realized it was another person. It looked like a very corpulent man who was sitting down in the center of one of the mud puddles. When she got near enough, he noticed that his long dark hair hung low over his sagging shoulders. The man was naked. The folds of his fatty skin covered his body like a pink, fleshy coat. His large, sagging breasts were suspended above his rotund sides and bulging belly. He sat cross-legged in the middle of the quagmire of muck.

  Valerie moved around until she stood a few feet away in front of him. “Hello,” she said as she put one hand up. “Do you speak English?”

  For a few minutes, the man didn’t react. Then his sad, heavy lidded eyes looked up and focused on her. He tried to lift up his double chin, but the effort seemed so taxing that he gave up. His eyes kept trailing her as she shifted slightly to his right. His flabby arms stayed glued to his side. His whole body seemed rooted in the mud.

  Valerie leaned forward so their eyes met. “Are you alright? Do you need help to get out of that puddle?”

  There was a brief ray of hope in the man’s eye
s before he suddenly returned to his lethargy. When he finally talked, his voice was like that of a shrill parrot. “Who are you?”

  Valerie smiled. At least she could understand him. “My name is Valerie Mendoza. I’m with the New York Police Department. I don’t know how I got here but you’re the first person I’ve seen. Do you need help?”

  The man’s eyes shifted until they were downcast again. “I never heard of you. Or of that place. I once lived in the kingdom of Hungary. I was a nobleman. But now…” His voice trailed off.

  Valerie bit her lip. “Okay, where I come from really doesn’t matter. It looks like you’re stuck there. Do you want me to try and help you out of that mud puddle?”

  “Yes, alright,” the man said slowly as he put up one of his hands, the drooping flesh on his arms wiggled as he tried to reach out, but the effort seemed to tax him greatly. In the end, he withdrew his hand, just before Valerie nearly clasped it.