“You what?” I asked him. “You mean, she hasn’t been talking to you through that book? And you’re just now telling me?”
“Because I knew you would react this way, Ira,” said Gauss, his eyes darting away from mine. “If I told you then you would have tried to leave when your training was not yet complete.”
“How long has it been since you last heard from her?”
“Months,” replied Gauss. “Which means hours in the real world. I assumed she was busy fighting back what she describes as a hell that of which she never thought possible. I couldn’t tell you any of these things, Ira. It hurt me to do this but it is what needed to be done. Auracle needed you to be at the level you are now.”
I wanted to say a lot of hateful things at that moment but kept it pinned within me. As of late, a lot of terrible words had wanted to escape my mouth but I knew it wasn’t me that wanted to say them. It was that darker side of me. I’d spent too much time with it and now it was threatening to take over.
And so, not finding anything positive to say, I just nodded my head. The sooner we got out of here the better.
Gauss remained silent for a few moments, a trickle of sweat beading down his forehead and dripping down his nose. “As far as I see it we only have one option.” Gauss looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder, something he’d never done before. “You must find and confront that of which you already know. Use your senses and make your way to the source. Ask your fellow demons where it is and they will lead you, I’m sure.”
Gauss turned to Deborah and put his hand on her shoulder as well. Her face looked green. Over the past months, her ability to speak had seemed almost to vanish.
“Deborah, you will come with me and we will make our way to the Refuge. There, we will regroup with Ira’s mother and help take back that of which is ours. We can do this, you two! We can save Auracle and all of its wonderful people! You’ve both trained very hard and together we will see this to the end. Either way, we will be together in the same place. In the kingdom of the Almighty.”
Chills ran up my arms as Gauss finished the last sentence. To think that I could be dead in only a few hours turned my stomach into knots. I didn’t want to go through with this. All of it still felt so surreal… but this was my reality now and I chose right then to believe that this was my destiny. The Almighty birthed this into me and I would see to the end of his number one foe.
“Let’s do it,” I said.
Gauss smiled at me and nodded his head. The three of us walked around the window and to the altar. That was when Deborah stopped halfway, her arms wrapped around herself. She was shaking.
“What’s wrong, Deborah?” I asked her.
“I can’t do it,” she said, her eyes looking down at my feet.
“Of course you can. It’s like Gauss said, we are all in this together.”
Deborah was shaking her head now, her bottom lip trembling. Her visage had turned from a light green to a dark blue. She was scared out of her mind. But could I blame her? She’d died once already from a demon, did she really want to possibly go through it again? Of course not.
Gauss’ eyes closed and he bowed his head towards her. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. She’d already sacrificed herself enough for this cause. She’d given her life for it. It wasn’t fair to ask her to do it again.
And so, we armored up, grabbed our weapons and… we left her.
Gauss and I put our hands on the altar and imagined ourselves back at the church. The last thing my eyes saw was a frightened version of Deborah I never thought possible. I wanted to tell her how I felt at that moment but was pulled off my feet and forced into the altar.
Much like the first time going through the portal, I could feel myself being stretched and contorted in odd ways. I picked up my head and could see the end destination in a small circle surrounded by spiraling blue, green, purple, and yellow lights as I made my way towards it.
I shut my eyes and waited patiently to make my arrival at the church. But that isn’t where I ended up.
Suddenly, I felt something boiling hot grip around my waist and rip me out of the Stillness Chamber’s vortex. Whatever it was that had a hold of me, it felt as though hot tea was constantly being poured over my open flesh. My body banged against a rough wall and then another. My head cracked against what felt like rock.
Then, there was nothing. My lungs couldn’t pull in oxygen as there was none where I was. My tongue was dry and covered in hot ash. The heat was unimaginable. A strong feeling of depression and self-doubt filled my mind. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know where I was.
Hell.
30
I flew through the portal, hitting the ground hard and kept spinning until my body slammed into a wall. I tried standing up but was so dizzy that I couldn’t help but stumble. I clasped onto my throat as I tried to breath in the hot air. Red filled the entirety of my vision. I was in some sort of tunnel, one made of transparent crystal walls. Beneath this crystal was a flowing orange magma that was oozing from the top and falling on all sides.
And it was like standing in an oven.
The tunnel stretched outward a good fifty yards with a black oval opening at the very end. And behind me was nothing but more tunnel. Going forward would be my only means of escaping this heat and I had to get there quickly before I passed out from lack of air. Already my back was drenched with sweat and my long black hair stuck to the sides of my neck. The only part of me that didn’t hurt was, of course, my demonic arm which had miraculously held firmly to my spear.
I tried to take one last breath, which ended up being more like a gasp before I ran as fast as I could for the exit. Heat burst into my face and I nearly cried out when I breathed it into my nostrils which was like snorting pepper flakes.
The blackness was getting closer and closer and I could feel my lungs already pulsing in my chest, practicing for the air they thought they would receive soon. A sticky something latched onto my right boot, halting my escape and nearly toppling me forward.
I looked down to red burning magma seeping through the cracks and pouring over my feet. I screamed out as the lava melted almost instantly through my boots and touched my skin. I fell to my knees and directly into the scorching puddle. No more screams came out of me because I had no air to do so. The blackness was so close yet so far away. I reached out for it.
A face appeared then. Triangular in shape with almond-shaped yellow eyes. Two massive white teeth jutted from the top lip and over the bottom like a snake. There were no pupils on this beast making it look so much like a mindless insect.
But I knew who it was.
A smile curled upward on my father’s face. I could see from here the yellow eyes rotating as they looked me over. He took a step into the tunnel revealing an extremely thin body which looked to be mostly bone with no meat. Just skin. He was a good fifteen feet tall and looked nothing like I’d imagined him to be. Still, the monster before me radiated insidiousness.
Seeing my father should have scared me. In fact, I think that was his plan all along. He didn’t think me strong enough. He doubted me. He doubted my training and my resolve. He doubted my faith in the Almighty.
Seeing this terrible demonic face reminded me of my months of training. I was surprised as to how easy it was to awaken my unholy bloodline. The horrible burning pain in my legs began to fade as I felt the familiar feeling of the demon blood taking control. I gave my father a reflection of his smile as I stood myself up, the tops of my pants revealing my pale skin turned a dark red. I could breathe now and the temperature around me felt like Springtime. In fact, the smell of molten lava gave me the same feelings as if I was smelling a beautiful rose.
I took a step out of the lava which poured itself back into the cracks of the crystal floor.
“Father,” I said. “I’ll give you one chance to call back your army of demons and I promise no harm will come to you.”
The head of the devil flicked to the left and tic
ked back to the right as he studied me. I expected a verbal answer but what I got was one of its creepy thin hands snapping towards me and grabbing me tightly by the shoulder. With ease, he flung me out of the tunnel and into the abyss of blackness. I floated for a while, my eyes clenched together as I waited to slam into some unseen wall. But nothing like that happened. There was nothing out here.
The devil appeared before me and grabbed me by the waist, stopping me from experiencing a perpetual ride in wherever this was.
“I must show you something,” said the devil without moving his lips.
Slowly, he raised his hand and pointed at the darkness, his face still looking at me. With a snap of his fingers, what seemed like millions of demons appeared in an instant. They did not move and did not even look to be breathing. There were multiple forms of them. Small ones with wings, tall humanoid ones with spears, giants with two heads, and some that even matched the height of mountains. Most of the species I could see weren’t even listed in the books I’d read at the library at the Refuge. Auracle wouldn’t stand a chance against an army such as this. No kingdom could, not even if they worked together.
“Here, in hell, I am the creator. This is my sandbox and from it I can manifest an abundance of anything I like. The mortal side of you comprehends these creatures from a negative viewpoint but I’m here to expand your higher half. The half that makes you a god. There is no good nor evil, son, only perspective. Here, you can experience the bliss all consciously aware species strive for. After all, happiness is the only reason your people do what they do. They work for happiness. They have sex for happiness. They procreate for happiness. They build homes and businesses for happiness. Well, I can give you that with a snap of my fingers. For all of this, I only ask that you help me destroy-”
“Heaven?” I interrupted. “You want me to fight against the army of the Almighty and his angels?”
The devil tilted his head. He looked to be confused but without eyebrows, it was hard to tell.
“I thought you to be a pastor. A man of the good book.”
“I am,” I said, my voice much deeper with the demonic blood flowing freely through me. Half of me wanted to punch this bastard in his face but… I had to hear what he had to say. Maybe he’d give away a clue on how to defeat him.
“Are you sure about that? And your good book told you that there is a heaven?”
“Of course,” I said. “It says that multiple times in fact. It’s very clear. You should read it sometime.”
“You’re a fool. You’ve listened for far too long to that filthy meat sack I laid my seed inside of.”
I couldn’t help it anymore. I threw a demon-fueled punch at the devil’s face but he caught it with ease. He gripped my fist and I could feel the bones creaking, almost to the point of breaking as he brought me closer to his horrendous red face.
“No mortal can know anything beyond the world of senses. They seek for some place of eternal bliss as if it exists anywhere besides within themselves. If only they knew the power each of them held in the depths of their hearts and minds. And that, my son, is why I must destroy them. Who knows? Perhaps one day one of these creatures will figure out the secret and use it to defeat me.”
“And so your plan is to just wipe everyone out? Then what?”
“Then, and only then, can I rest,” hissed the devil. He let go of me and shoved me backward but kept his eyes planted on me.
“Why have you brought me here?” I asked him but really I was just stalling. How could I defeat him if I was on his playing field? He could do and create anything he wanted here. He could set that whole army on me if he wanted to!
“Of course, I’d prefer you to join me,” said the devil. “With that option, you would get your eternal bliss and everything along with it. I could even spare your mother, your trainer, Gauss, and your woman of choice. Don’t think I haven’t been watching you, Ira. You are my son after all and I want you to be happy. That’s all you want, right? Happiness?
It snapped into my head then that I wouldn’t be making it out of this place alive. I just couldn’t see a possible way to defeat him. I would either have to kill it or try and die.
“No,” I said. “That’s not what I want.”
The devil tilted his head once again, this time very slowly.
“Oh? And what do you want?”
“To live,” I answered.
“Then you will die.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “That’s the risk of living. You never get out of it alive.”
31
I pointed the tip of my spear at the devil. He didn’t even look down at it but kept his eyes on me. He moved his arm behind his back making me tighten my grip on my weapon.
Without turning around, the devil poked one finger into the void and pulled down creating a wavering rip. His arm stretched downward as he opened the portal at just the right height for him to fit through.
Slowly, the devil floated backward and through the portal, the last piece of him to vanish being his pointed red chin. I had no other choice. I had to follow him, even though that’s exactly what he wanted.
It took a second for me to figure out how to move in this world, but within a few seconds I was able to float forward with the use of my mind. The flapping lips of the portal blew a breeze that wasn’t there over my face. It tickled my cheeks as I entered it.
A piece of debris rammed into my shin as I landed on the ground. Standing up, I discovered where the devil had brought me. My home. The abandoned church.
I twisted my body around, feeling goosebumps prickle across my arms as I imagined him being right behind me. But there was no one. I scanned the entire church but could make out no signs of life. No devil. No Gauss.
I was about to make my way for the exit when my eyes fell upon this world’s version of the portal book, the one that would take us back to the Stillness Chamber. This gave me an idea.
I grabbed a tattered piece of paper from the ruins of the altar. I pricked my finger and used the blood to write two words onto it.
He’s coming
I opened the book cautiously and sent the note through the portal, being careful not to get sucked in myself. I then slipped the book underneath my chin and behind my silver chest piece. It was an uncomfortable fit, but it fit nonetheless.
The first thing I noticed walking outside wasn’t the devil but the massive portal he was in the process of creating. I caught him peeling a corner of the rift he’d formed and walking with it to make a larger entrance. My brain snapped at to what he was doing, and my legs began running before I even had to tell them to.
The devil was too preoccupied with his portal as I put all my strength into the jab that could save all mankind and all its various races. I felt the spear sink into his surprisingly thin skin until it hit something hard and stopped.
As the dust settled, I was clinging onto a vibrating spear haft and the devil remained still.
“You honestly believe a weapon created in this world can slay a god such as myself?”
That’s when I remembered what Samuel had told me, that the devil couldn’t be killed by a weapon made in this world. It had to be demonic. “You’re no god,” I spat. “You’re nothing but a child with power.”
“Hmm, that hurt more than it should have.”
The devil turned and I pulled my spear out before he took it with him. As he turned around I noticed that he’d morphed one of his arms into a double-edged sword, and with blinding speed, he brought it down on my demonic arm. I had no time to react and so I watched as my black arm fell from my shoulder. It smacked into the ground like a pile of dead meat, leaving the spear in just my human hand. It wasn’t the pain that worried me, but that of my demon form leaving me as it tried to repair itself.
The devil took a step forward, both of his eyes twitching in the opposite directions. They moved up and down as the devil lost more of his human characteristics and took on more of… well I didn’t know what. The yellow bubbly saliva dri
pping out of his mouth told me he was done talking. He moved his hand outward and snapped his fingers.
I could hear loud buzzing, like the flapping of millions of thin wings, coming from behind him. The sound grew louder and louder until hordes of demons flew through the portal like bees escaping a fallen hive. In the midst of these flying demons came the humanoid demons. They carried crossbows, swords, spears, nets, maces, and more! They were black and looked like charred humans and smelled like them too. Behind the humanoids were the giants. Each of their steps shook the ground beneath my feet. Behind them they dragged gigantic clubs with nails protruding.
The demons took different streets and dispersed themselves. The flow of them seemed to be unending. From where my body was standing, I could see the devil observing his work with a smile on his face. He nodded his head turning to look at his work.
If I was going to enact my plan, the time was now.
I slashed horizontally at his throat while taking a step forward, but the devil morphed both of his arms into spears of his own and blocked my attack without even looking. I threw everything I had at him, but these too were also deflected but I wouldn’t give up! If my plan was to work I had to get closer to him, yet it looked to be impossible! He was too fast! And I… well, I only had one arm! My movement speed was cut in half and my attempt at hurting this monster was embarrassing at the least. The devil blocked all my attacks without the slightest effort.
I’d been on the offensive for a while so the sudden strike of the devil took me off guard. He hit the shaft of my spear so hard that it flew from my one hand. It clanged to the ground and rolled too far a distance for me to make without the devil getting to me first. Like it mattered anyway, a spear was almost useless with just one hand.
I looked up into the eyes of my father, my plan having failed and my life about to end.
“Bow to me…” said the devil, his voice not like before. No, now it was wet and ragged, “and I will spare you.”
Defiant Guardians Anthology Page 44