Purgatory: The Devil's Game

by M. A. Carlson

  It may have been a rash decision, but I decide right then that Billy had to go. I was still floundering on the Envy floor with no clear path forward. I had no idea how long it would take for me to finally clear envy. I didn’t know if I would ever truly clear envy. But I did know one thing, I made a promise on my first day in Purgatory and it was time to see it through, even if it cost me everything. It was time to make good on that promise. I just didn’t know if I could do it alone. Naturally, I went to the one place where I might be able to get some help.

  “Ah, there’s my friend,” Theo said cheerfully as he took a seat across from me, quickly being joined by Theodore and Rebecca. Those two had changed a lot over the last few years.

  Theodore filled out and had stopped touching his face where he used to wear glasses, the nervous habit had long since passed. He was also significantly more confident than he used to be. There was also the ‘him and Rebecca thing’. At some point, those two had become an item, something they were cautioned against due to . . . well, Purgatory, but it didn’t stop them. I just hoped whoever was left behind when it was time to ascend, wasn’t left so heartbroken, they fell instead.

  Rebecca also carried a greater confidence than she used to. After getting the bow proficiency she was so desperate to get ahold of, she began to focus on healing soul proficiencies. When I had given the Body strengthening potion to her, I hadn’t known she’d done almost nothing for her Soul. She maxed out her Body first with the plan to eventually work on her Soul. Well, now she had, and she’d blossomed. I still didn’t know how it was possible I’d reached my stat cap in both Body and Soul before she had. Something that shouldn’t have been possible if she’d had so much more time in Purgatory than I. Then again, I was foolishly finishing floors as quickly as I could and getting massive rewards for my trouble.

  “Theo, Reb-o-dore,” I greeted them with a teasing smile for the couple. “Or are you going by Theo-becca today?”

  Theodore rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but complain, “Please, it’s Theodore and Rebecca. We are not a single entity.”

  “I still think it’s funny,” Theo said with a grin to match my own. “So, what’s the good word?”

  I took a pull from my scotch and slowly set the nearly empty glass back on the table. I swallowed once then started talking. “When I got here, Billy tried to ruin me and set me on a path that could only lead to my eternal damnation. I promised myself, I wouldn’t be leaving Purgatory until I paid him back. Since then, I’ve learned just how evil he really is. We all know he’s in league with the demons, he’s almost said as much himself. I don’t know if I’ll ever finish my time in Purgatory. I’m not sure I’ll ever get past envy. But I do know that if I move on and haven’t dealt with Billy then I’ll regret it for the rest of my existence. I intend to confront him. I intend to kill him.”

  Rebecca immediately protested, “But that’s a one-way ticket to hell. Are you crazy?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not crazy, maybe a little buzzed, but not crazy. Look, I know it sounds nuts, but Billy needs to be stopped. No, it’s what I’m going to ask next that’s crazy. Will the three of you to help me do it?”

  All three looked at me like I was even crazier.

  I spoke before they could say anything, “Look, I know how crazy it sounds, but I don’t know how strong Billy is. I don’t know if he’s limited like we are or if he’s found a higher level because of his pact with the demons. If you can help me to bring him down, I promise, I’ll deliver the final blow and face whatever consequences come of it.”

  “You really are insane,” Theo said, all cheer was absent from his voice as he looked at me seriously before asking, “Do you really intend to go through with this?”

  I nodded.

  Theo didn’t say anything, just lifted his mug to his mouth and started drinking until the mug was empty and his bearded upper lip was covered in froth. Again, without saying anything he stood and walked back to the bar to get a refill.

  “I know, I owe you,” Rebecca started nervously. “But this . . . I don’t know.”

  Theodore added his thoughts, “I do know. We’re not doing it. You want to get yourself cast into hell or possibly have your soul destroyed, that’s up to you. Count us out.”

  Theodore also stood from the table and took one of Rebecca’s hands in his and pulled her from the table before storming out.

  I sighed. I knew that was likely to be the response, I just hoped they would at least support me a little. “I guess we’re on our own.”

  “Are you sure you wish to go through with this?” Silas asked.

  Era added a quick, “Yeah, are you sure?”

  “He’s sure,” Asher answered for me. “Billy needs to be stopped.”

  “But what happens to us if he gets . . . you know . . . sent . . . down there,” Era said, trying and failing to be delicate.

  “I imagine we’ll go back where we came from,” Silas answered. “We are divine spirits, we cannot exist within that realm.”

  “And Victor will go to hell,” Asher finished. “If he’s willing to make that sacrifice, how can we do anything less?”

  “I still don’t like it,” Era said, accepting the decision for what it was.

  “Now, how do we find Billy?” I asked, hoping my companions would have some ideas.

  I was surprised when Theo sat down heavily across from me and said, “We don’t. I’ll help you, but don’t go thinking too much of it.”

  I smiled at my friend. “Thank you. Okay, what do you mean we don’t? Does that mean we let him come to us? That could take years, you know?”

  “Not exactly,” Theo said. “No, Billy has his habits and patterns. He likes to watch the exit for fresh meat. We’ll do the same. Just be sure you go into Purgatory at least once a week and come back out. Wouldn’t want you to get erased if you stay outside for too long.”

  I nodded. “Basically, we’re looking for someone like me, back on the first day I arrived.”

  Theo nodded. “Be patient, we might be waiting a while. It’s not every day someone new shows up and even when someone new does show up, there is no guarantee Billy will make a move.”

  I was surprised again when Rebecca came back, dragging Theodore along. When they reached the table, she pushed Theodore into the seat next to me then sat next to Theo.

  “You changed your mind?” I asked, confused by their decision to come back.

  Theodore frowned, “Yeah, well . . . we heard something just after we stepped out. Some poor girl got taken in by Billy. She’s gone missing now, not sure if she died or just . . . well, you know. And . . .” he paused to scratch the back of his head, “I kind of owe you after you clued me into the solution to all this. Look, I’m not cool with going to hell or anything, but yeah, the guy needs to be stopped.”

  I nodded gratefully. It was still sad about the girl, but that was exactly the reason I was willing to do this. “Thank you, I . . . I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

  Theodore nodded, “Just make sure you land the killing blow. I have no interest in going to hell.”

  I was relieved for the help. Ramy’s warning about how strong Billy was, still worried me, even from way back then. I was honestly still worried that even with the four of us, he’d be too strong.

  “Now, I have not fought alongside of one my brothers in a long time, we need to figure out how we’re going to go about that,” Theo said.

  That was a factor I hadn’t even considered. I’d never fought with any of these people. We’d talked some about how we fought and what we’d been up to, but . . . it could have all been lies, couldn’t it?

  We managed to rent out one of the less used weapon schools, my weapon school to be specific. Seeing I was one of the very rare fighters that used a blunt weapon, it kind of made sense that my school would be available. The school manager wasn’t very happy about it, but he didn’t say no to the tiny crystals.

  Theo started us out by having us fight against each o
ther in what he called a sparring match. In truth, it was mostly him slicing us to pieces using a pair of daggers to do it. And my God was he good. His skill was beyond what an advanced rank weapon proficiency could do.

  “How are you so strong?” Theodore asked after a particularly vicious session.

  Theo laughed. “I’ve had thousands of years to practice. And just so you know, my skill with weapons is all me.” He paused to chuckled, then leaning in closer, he added, “I’m going to let you in on a little secret . . . I don’t have a single proficiency.”

  I didn’t even know that was possible.

  As if she read my mind, Rebecca said the same thing, “I didn’t even know that was possible.”

  Theo grinned wider and nodded. “Proficiencies are there to help those with no skills at all. I was born with a weapon in hand. Trained with them under my clan’s watchful eyes. Used them in bloody fighting from the time I was ten winters old until the day I died. You don’t forget the kind of training that’s been cut into your flesh and bones.”

  Theo really was a monster in human skin. I knew from history lessons that the Vikings could be, and often were, savage. They raided and pillaged as a way of life. I never thought of Theo being that way because he was such a good guy. Or was it that Purgatory had changed him that much?

  Theodore took a different lesson from the explanation. “If you can’t get past Purgatory with all that skill, what hope do the rest of us have?”

  Theo rolled his eyes. “Boy, I lived a bloody, savage life filled with murder and rape. I probably should have been sent straight to hell by God’s standards. And yet, here I am. You should have hope because you’re not me. You also have an idea of what Purgatory wants from you thanks to Victor. I still have no clue what I’m supposed to be doing. So, I’ll keep fighting. Keep seeing friends ascend. Keep being left behind until either God shows me mercy or I die the final death.”

  Theodore looked slightly surprised by the statement. “You know . . . you’re really not a bad guy.”

  Theo smiled sadly, “No lad, I am a bad guy. But better a bad guy trapped in Purgatory than a bad guy fighting for the demons. But enough resting, back to fighting. Two on one, Victor and Rebecca, you’re up against me.”

  Theo spent days training us. Theo called it training, but it felt more like a never ending, painful, exhausting, and soul crushing punishment. Still, I couldn’t deny his methods. He knew what he was doing. It wasn’t long before coordination started building between us . . . well, between Rebecca, Theodore, and me. Theo always played the villain. Unfortunately, the only thing Theo couldn’t do was use any of Billy’s proficiencies, of which, we only knew he had a stealth of some kind and as well as a charm proficiency. Odds were good he had a lot more than that.

  One day, I tried asking around at the various merchant stalls and in the proficiency dealers if anyone had ever sold anything to Billy. Either the Cherubs couldn’t remember, or Billy never bought anything. The other possibility was that Billy had a disguise proficiency, so no one would have known if they sold something to him or not.

  In the end, the only thing we could do was train and learn to fight together. The only problem was the lack of any experience from fighting together. Without an actual opponent to fight, we couldn’t know how we’d fight together as a unit. It reached a point where we simply accepted the risk and started our stake-out.

  Theo wasn’t kidding about Billy being scarce. We watched the tower for months waiting for him to show his ugly weasel face. We hid in the woods though I can’t say how effective that really was. I only know that I was growing tired of the wait.

  “You know, as soon as we give up, he’s going to show up,” Theodore said. It was a statement I heard from him at least once a day.

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, pushing off the tree I was leaning on and twisting left and right. “Who’s turn is it to get food.”

  “Yours,” Theodore answered helpfully.

  I tried to remember the last time I went on the food run, “I just went this morning.”

  “That was yesterday,” Rebecca said.

  I sighed, “Alright, I’ll be back shortly.”

  “And get something other than meat on a stick!” Theodore called after me.

  Yeah, we weren’t very stealthy at all. I took my time going to the marketplace, I was tired of watching day in and day out for the guy to show up. I bought meat on stick just to spite Theodore.

  My feet tread the familiar path back to the tower where my friends were still waiting for a wannabe demon that seemed to have no intention of ever showing up. I was just thinking about trying something different when something near the tower exploded.

  I ran without thinking. Did Billy finally show up? Did my friends start fighting him without me?

  I activated locomotion and started building up speed with each step. I needed to get there faster, even if that meant a short burst of speed for one hundred feet at a time.

  The bottom of the tower came into view slower than I hoped it would. Theo was engaged with the rat, Billy. They were trading blows in a blur of speed that was hard to make out from my current distance.

  I watched helplessly as Billy scored a slice across Theo’s upper arm then retreated as a stream of fire shot from the trees. I saw Theodore stalking out, slinging one soul proficiency after another. He wasn’t conserving anything. I didn’t understand what was happening, this wasn’t the plan.

  I activated speed boost, burning through fifty more EP in an instant, but that twenty seconds of increased speed would get me there that much faster. I just hoped I still had some EP left by the time I got to the fight.

  Finally, I was within a hundred feet of Billy and could better see what was going on. Theo was doing his best to keep the dagger wielder at bay, but the weasel faced man was faster than the Viking. Meanwhile, Theodore was burning through SE faster than I’d ever seen anyone burn through it and couldn’t understand why. And where was Rebecca? Disregarding her absence for the moment, I activated my locomotion again and charged into the fight.

  I grinned as I blindsided and trampled Billy. I savored the attack only for a moment, I wasn’t sure how strong Billy was, but I wasn’t going to let this opportunity to stop him go to waste. I turned and struck at the downed man with my mace but missed. The man was fast, but not fast enough to completely avoid the roots that sprung up below him and ensnared one of his arms. It was all I needed. I brought the mace down and hit an energy shield.

  Billy grinned up at me from below his shield. “You’re late to the party. I’m afraid I got things started without you.”

  Fire splashed down the shield forcing me back, so I didn’t also get burned.

  “Era, chill him if he tries to run,” I ordered.

  “On it,” the ball of air replied.

  The fire seemed to have failed to kill Billy or even break through his shield, but it did manage to burn away the roots that were holding him in place.

  “Careful now, careful,” Billy said. “You’ve already lost one friend due to carelessness tonight. You wouldn’t want to lose another.”

  “I’ll kill you!” Theodore screamed, hurling a ball of fire from each hand. It was the first I looked at the young man. He had tears streaming down his face.

  Billy shook his head and clicked his tongue. “Now, now, that will get you sent straight downstairs, that’s not what you’d want now is it? And besides, I’m not the one that killed her. You’ll need to take up your grievances with Emma. She delivered the finishing blow . . . though I do suppose you’ll need to make your way to hell if you want the chance to even the score. I might know a guy that could help with that,” he finished with a wink.

  I was frozen. Did I hear that right? Was Rebecca . . . did she? No, I shook my head in disbelief. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. “Era, cut through that shield no matter what it takes!” I shouted, moving in again and hammering my mace into the scumbag’s shield with as much force as I could muster.

  �
��Oh, temper, temper,” Billy teased. “You keep attacking like that and you’re bound to hurt yourself. You’re not getting through my armored shell like that.”

  Armored? I grinned. “Want to bet?” He shouldn’t have told me that energy shield of his was armor. I had a proficiency meant to get around armor. I swung again, this time with crushing blow. My mace hit the shield and energy reverberated inside, knocking the rat from his feet, and dropping him to a knee.

  Billy grunted and spat black blood, “What was that? You . . . you hurt me. That shouldn’t be possible.”

  “Get used to it,” I said, striking again with crushing blow, cracking the shield ever so slightly and sending more waves of damage inside the armored shell. Billy was knocked completely from his feet with that blow and skidded across the grass, black blood leaking from his nose as the damage registered.

  “Not . . . possible,” Billy grunted as he pushed back up to his feet.

  I wanted to move in and strike again but my EP was dangerously low after that last crushing blow. I needed to play defense for a few minutes. Thankfully, Theo seemed to have recognized my situation and stepped in to unleash several attacks with a pair of hand axes. He was slowly but surely chipping into the shield only to suddenly leap back and shout, “Theodore, now!”

  A tornado of fire poured from the sky into the hole in Billy’s shield that Theo made.

  I grinned excitedly, I hoped that would be enough.

  A black shadow leaped from the fire filled orb revealing a smoking and slightly charred, but very much alive, Billy. “Phew, that was a little warm in there.”

  Theodore growled and raised his hands to send another fire ball or something similar after the weasel only to drop to a knee, barely able to hold himself upright.

  Billy grinned, “What’s wrong? You didn’t spend all your SE already, did you? That’s a real shame. Say hello to Rebecca if you see her wherever you’re going. Cid, now!”

  My stomach sank with that order. I turned and activated speed boost by reflex, draining the little EP I’d recovered. I tried to get there in time. I really did try. I could only watch in horror as a young man stepped into being and swung down with a large ax. I wasn’t fast enough to stop it. Theodore’s head fell from his shoulders and the killer Cid laughed as he was engulfed in black flames. When the flames cleared, his killer was gone and only the headless corpse remained.