Demon Gate: Beyond the 9th Circle: The Rapture Was Just The Beginning.

by Heath, Joel

  against stone seemed to accelerate, he looked up,

  and sure enough the ceiling was coming down

  noticeable faster. He watched the speed and

  guessed he had maybe five minutes left; he must

  have made a mistake that cost him half of his

  time. He examined the tiles to try and figure out

  where he went wrong and realized what he

  thought was the ‘eight’ tile was really the ‘seven’

  tile.

  “I told you, you let me die, and now

  you’re going to join Lucifer’s arm and serve him

  for all eternity.” Stewart gloated.

  “Crap.” Vince said as he pried out the

  ‘seven’ tile and found the ‘eight’; he took an

  extra couple seconds to make certain it was the

  correct tile, Vince doubted he could afford to

  make another mistake.

  Vince slapped the ‘eight’ tile into place,

  and then started placing the remaining three tiles. “Seven…six…two.” Vince said placing

  the last of the tiles, to his great concern the

  ceiling accelerated again leaving Vince with maybe thirty seconds to correctly fix the order of

  the tiles.

  “You’ll never escape from hell; you’re an

  evil, selfish person.” Stewart warned, but Vince

  tried to ignore the image of his friend.

  “Crap, eight, one and six, Make fifteen.”

  Vince said as he pried out the six and the seven

  and switched them.

  Vince’s head was now an inch below the

  ceiling as his chin rested on the podium. Vince

  pulled his head out and went for the door hoping

  that it was enough, and then the ceiling stopped

  and the door behind Vince opened.

  Vince scrambled out of the death trap that

  was almost his tomb and looked back to see the

  image of his friend was gone.

  “I’m sorry, Stewart.” Vince said then took

  a minute to calm down before climbing to his

  feet and ran along the passage.

  “Hold on, Jessie, I’m coming.”

  Soon Vince came to an overlook that

  gave him a view of Jessie, she was swinging

  across a chasm before landing on a platform, and

  then she slowly made her way over to a solitary

  door. She was trying to call to someone beyond

  the door, her hand wrapped around one of the

  doorknobs and as she did she briefly caught sight

  of Vince before she pulled the door open. Jessie slowly walked down the tunnel as

  she passed into another secondary hall she was

  joined by the sound of footsteps, not heavy, but

  light footsteps, as though they were made by a

  child.

  “Hello?” Jessie asked. There was no

  response, Jessie pressed through the labyrinth for

  another few minutes before she heard a child. It

  was definitely a little girl, maybe eight or nine,

  and she was crying, but Jessie couldn’t see the

  little girl.

  “WHERE ARE YOU?” Jessie called. “I’m scared.” The girl replied, the sound

  was muffled as though the girl were locked away

  but Jessie was able to follow the sound to a sort

  of obstacle course comprised of four legs, a fifty

  foot tumbling cylinder that Jessie would have to

  traverse, three platforms that had no discernable

  support, a series of six swinging scythes over a

  platform, and a rope that Jessie would have to use

  to cross a thirty-five foot expanse finally ending

  at two separate doors.

  Jessie got a running start. As her foot set

  onto the cylinder she managed to keep her

  balance until she neared the end, she knew that

  she would have to leap. The distance was no

  more than three feet, which Jessie easily made. As she landed on the first platform, it

  became obvious that something was amiss, the

  platform was sinking, she acted quickly and leapt

  for the next platform and it, too, began to sink so she leapt for the third before continuing on to the suspended platform that boasted six swinging

  scythes.

  Jessie charged through the first, and

  latched onto the second, riding it briefly before

  dismounting it and rolling through the third

  before jumping over the fourth, Jessie dodged the

  fifth and sixth before grabbing the rope and

  shoving off the platform and swinging to the

  opposite side.

  The platform was just another hall with

  two doors next to each other, the hall went on for

  two hundred feet in each direction, an overlook

  hung over the labyrinth at Jessie’s right, she

  glanced over and saw stairs that lead from the

  upper level to the lower level.

  Jessie turned her attention to the pleading

  voice of a child, she knew that she had to be

  moving on, but she couldn’t turn a blind eye to

  this girl. Her humanity clouded the fact that she

  was in hell, and she couldn’t trust anybody or

  anything.

  “Help me, please!” The voice pled, the

  voice was vaguely familiar, but for some reason

  he just couldn’t place the voice.

  “I’m in here.” The girl said.

  “I hear you.” Jessie said as her hand

  closed around the door knob, she turned the

  knob, and briefly looked back to see Vince on the

  overlook, and then she pulled the door open. A cloud of dark of demonic spores poured

  from inside the door, Jessie couldn’t escape fast enough, she didn’t inhale a lot, just enough. She could feel the spores infesting her body, her heart seemed to slow down, her skin felt hot, sweat poured off her body, and she lost most of the strength in her legs causing her to collapse. In the chaos of her infection came the most disturbing revelation of all: the girl emerged from the doorway, and Jessie instantly recognized her, she saw her younger self, the younger Jessie was

  perhaps five or six.

  “You killed your mom, you deserve to

  burn in hell.”

  A second figure emerged from the door, it

  was her mother, wounded and bleeding, as

  though she had just been in the car wreck,

  Jessie’s tears began to flow, not out of fear, but

  from the sorrow of the last time she saw her

  mother.

  “I loved you Jessie, why did you do this

  to me?”

  “I’m sorry, Mom.” Jessie begged, tears

  streaming down her face.

  “You killed me, and I will never forgive

  you, I hate you!” Jessie’s mother spat.

  “MOM, NO!” Jessie wailed as the two

  images faded to leave Jessie to her fate.

  Vince ran for the stairs that would allow him, as

  he did he nearly ran over Spencer who had

  emerged from a tertiary corridor.

  “Vince?” Spencer asked.

  “Spencer, it’s Jessie.” Vince said, “She

  got hit with Lucifer’s gas.” Vince declared. “What?” Spencer demanded, sinking into

  a stated of shock.

  Vince pushed past Spencer and ran to Jessie. Reaching Jessie Vince held Jessie in his

  arms as Jessie lay on the labyrinth floor.

  Spencer arrived seconds later and lifted Jessie’s

  shirt a couple inches to determine the extent of

  the transf
ormation, also checking her lower legs

  and arms.

  The curse was obvious and spreading. “How long does she have?” Vince asked. “I would say two hours, maybe three.”

  Spencer admitted.

  Vince saw a look on Spencer’s face, and instantly

  objected.

  “No!” Vince defiantly declared, “I can’t

  kill her.”

  Jessie spoke up.

  “Spencer, don’t kill me yet. You have to

  go face Lucifer alone, Vince and I will handle his

  invasion force.” Jessie offered.

  “How?” Spencer asked.

  “He infected me, but that gives me access

  to the knowledge of what he is planning. He’s

  going to launch his attack from the room with the

  glyph within the hour. I can get Vince and I back

  there, and we can at least slow them down while

  you do what we came here to do.” Jessie offered

  clearly withholding something.

  “What are you telling me?” Vince

  demanded.

  Vince and Spencer helped Jessie back to

  her feet.

  “Here Vince, take this.” Spencer said

  handing his sword to Vince. “You’re going to

  need it.”

  Jessie handed the book to Spencer. “This

  will do more good for you than it will for me.”

  Jessie said.

  Spencer opened the book to find the

  quickest path the Lucifer.

  “I’m sorry Jessie, I failed you, but I will

  avenge you.” Spencer offered before charging

  away while Vince and Jessie headed to the head

  of the labyrinth to stop the invasion force. After twenty minutes of running though

  the halls of the maze he finally found the exit to

  the labyrinth, it was a straight shot to the tower.

  Reaching the tower Spencer looked up to see a

  man on a ledge near the top, he was saying

  something.

  “Now is the time, we march on Heaven

  for glory and for revenge!” a demon shouted to

  the rousing cheers of the demons below. Time

  was almost up, Spencer pushed the unlocked

  door open to find stairs leading to the highest

  point, and he began to climb.

  Vince and Jessie arrived back at the

  beginning of the labyrinth. Jessie’s demonic

  powers were developing and she was able to use

  them to reactivate the glyph because she still had

  control over herself, for now. Vince and Jessie

  stepped onto the glyph and disappeared. Spencer entered reached the room at the top of the steps and stepped into the darkness, as Spencer’s eyes adjusted to the lack of lighting he noticed that the floor was made of mirror polished obsidian which reflected the image of thousand of disembodied souls floating around the room, giving the illusion of walking through space. In the darkness the voice of Lucifer called

  to him.

  “Welcome, Spencer.” Lucifer greeted, “I

  knew you would make it here, so I’ve prepared

  some suitable entertainment for you!”

  Lucifer offered as he came into view, he

  was surrounded by a pyramid of energy that

  glowed with a pale, unearthly green light which

  was also reflected in the mirror polished obsidian

  floor, the green pyramid looked to be a light

  screen which levitated off the ground and rotated

  around Lucifer.

  A sort of crystal ball faded into view from

  the darkness and on it an image appeared, an

  image of Jessie and Vince.

  Lucifer grimaced as he saw Jessie

  walking around.

  “You know, she really shouldn’t be

  moving after being exposed to my curse. It only

  makes it worse.”

  “How long are you going to let this sick

  game continue?” Spencer asked.

  “Until I have conquered every corner of

  Heaven and I have destroyed God, himself.”

  Lucifer vowed.

  “Just because God cast you out, from all

  accounts he kicked you out of Heaven because

  you opposed him.” Spencer countered.

  “I had an independent thought, and he

  blew me off.” Lucifer shouted.

  “Your ‘independent though’ stole from

  every man woman and child the one thing that

  was crucial to the point of mortality.

  “Mortality.” Lucifer smiled as he scoffed

  at the idea. “Just think how meaningless

  mortality is. You live in such a fragile state,

  honoring a being that claims to be perfect but he

  is so close minded, and allows such horrible

  things to happen, like war and cancer.”

  “God has no more control over that than I do.

  Good or bad things happen to good or bad

  people. Do you have any evidence that he control

  who gets cancer, what nations wage war against

  each other, who lives and who dies?” Spencer

  retorted.

  “He never said it would be easy. He only

  said it would be worth it.” Spencer concluded.

  The comment only seemed to enrage Lucifer. “How dare you defend him in my

  kingdom!” Lucifer spat.

  “You have no right to impose your will

  when you were opposed to it to begin with. You

  forget that it’s not the net result of ones life that

  matters, it’s the day-to-day concerns, the personal

  victories, and the celebration of life and love!

  That’s more than enough if people are able to experience the joy that each day can bring!”

  Spencer defended.

  “And have you found your ‘joy’, in your

  nearly dead world?” Lucifer asked.

  “Yes!” Spencer replied. “I know what

  love is. It’s less about love than it is worrying

  about them more than yourself.” Spencer

  explained.

  “But what about your love, has she come

  to forgive you for abandoning her?” Lucifer

  wondered aloud, at those words a gossamer

  image of Gretchen faded out of the darkness. “Gretchen.” Spencer said moving

  forward, but dozens of the disembodied souls

  moved to bar Spencer’s path.

  Lucifer turned to the image of Gretchen. “Have you forgiven him for what he has

  done to you?”

  Spencer looked upon Gretchen, fully expecting to

  hear the her voice declare forgiveness.

  “He abandoned me, I’ll never forgive him

  for that!” Gretchen spat, but it not quite her

  voice, it was lower, maybe by less than half an

  octave, but it was not her voice.

  “YOU’RE LYING!” Spencer challenged,

  “That isn’t her.”

  Lucifer huffed, “Do you really believe

  she could forgive you?”

  “She already has.” Spencer defiantly

  declared, much to Lucifer’s shock. “And I have

  you to thank for that, letting her know how I felt about her and the strength she is to me.” Spencer

  affirmed.

  “This is sickening … you sound like a

  cheesy romance novel. As much as I hate to

  admit it, you’re right. But her soul is still in my

  possession, so prepare yourself for my next trick;

  I will now extinguish her soul.” Lucifer said

  raising his hands in a grand gesture like a

  magicia
n preparing for his finale.

  “Stop, don’t do it.” Spencer begged. Lucifer paused and lowered his hands. “What fun is it if no precious souls are

  lost?” Lucifer sadistically inquired. “I command

  the darkness, the greatest power in the universe.”

  Lucifer boasted.

  “Please, let her go.” Spencer urged. “What could you possibly offer me to spare her soul from eternal damnation?”

  Lucifer hinted.

  “Me.” Spencer offered, “I challenge you

  for her soul, if I win, then I will bind you and I

  will leave with her soul and mine.” Spencer said,

  he had thrown down the gauntlet, and wasn’t

  going to back out. “I will not allow you to harm

  her any more.”

  Lucifer smirked. “Many have challenged

  me; none have succeeded, and if you wish to

  continue know that your soul is on the line.” “I’m well aware that three souls are on

  the line.” Spencer admitted referring to the soul

  of the unborn child.

  “Very well, as you are the challenger, I

  will let you decide what the game will be.”

  Lucifer offered.

  “Poker.” Spencer smugly said. Lucifer was stunned at the boldness that

  Spencer portrayed. The slightest hint of worry

  crossed Lucifer’s face but he quickly wiped it

  away.

  “I accept the challenge.” Lucifer hissed

  and then snapped his fingers. Spencer quickly

  realized he was not in the tower anymore. He was

  in a casino. He was seated at a poker table, green

  felt covered the table and Lucifer sat across the

  table, to his right was a dealer. Dozens of people

  comprised a crowd, each person was wearing an

  extravagant outfit and gaudy jewelry, and some

  sported tattoos, Spencer noticed a moderate pile

  of poker chips next to his left hand as the dealer

  dealt the first hand, declaring that fours and jacks

  were wild cards.

  “We will each start with twenty thousand

  dollars in chips. Once your poker chips run out,

  you belong to me.” Lucifer declared.

  Spencer noticed an hourglass next to a

  large flat screen television that displayed Jessie

  and Vince appearing on the glyph, a second

  showed his armies marching toward Vince and

  Jessie.

  “You shouldn’t focus on your friend,

  she’s squandering what little time she has left

  before her conversion is complete, and when she’s been converted then I will order her to kill

  Vince.” Lucifer foretold.

  “I won’t allow that to happen. Let’s play