by Jared Stone
Schuntz stepped forward, closer to the old man. “The powers which have arisen to seize the key are quite formidable,” he stated seriously. “We do not yet know to what end their aspirations aim, but, if they were to succeed, it would surely result in disastrous consequences for this world. The name Lósófán has even been spoken, and we fear they wish to set him free. We seek to locate the key and ideally relocate it so that its whereabouts remain unknown to those who would misuse it.”
The man stayed silent, scrunching up his face as he thought hard on the matter. He carefully surveyed each of the three men who stood before him. Finally, he sighed.
“A’right,” he concluded with a nod. “I’ll grant ya access through th’ first port’l. But, be warned: the challenges waitin’ on th’ other side are tough n’ deadly. Yer not the first t’ pass through this gate; but I’ve yet t’ see any’ne r’turn.”
Lucian didn’t like the sound of that. “Are you saying that there’s more than just this one portal?” he then asked.
The old man nodded. “Yup,” he affirmed. “There’re sev’n port’ls ya gotta get through t’ reach th’ fin’l realm. Th’ mast’rs who sealed th’ Great Deceiv’r n’ locked ‘way th’ key were wise n’ pow’rful, and they made sev’n tests t’ make sure only those who should have th’ key would b’able t’ get it. Ya gotta get through them if ya wanna get th’ key!”
“What are the challenges?” Blake asked with naïve optimism.
The man cracked a smile and shook his head. “That’ll be fer ya t’ discov’r fer yerself, young’un,” he stated. “That is, if yer brave n’ determin’d ‘nough t’ take th’ first step.”
After saying this, the man walked over to the portal and reached out to touch it. Upon making contact with the cold hard surface, the interior space burst forth with a brilliant purple glow. What once was emptiness was now filled with a swirling vortex of purple energy, shining brightly between the two sloped arches.
“I wish ya good fortun’, trav’lers,” the man said earnestly. “R’memb’r t’ stay true t’ yer virtues n’ true t’ yerself. Jus’ do that, an th’ only pos’ble outcome’ll be success.”
Lucian turned to look at the portal. Now that it was lit up, he could see some sort of square placard over the central apex of the opening. Into its solid black surface, some foreign symbols were carved.
“What does that say up there?” Lucian asked aloud. Blake and Schuntz also turned to look up at it.
“That is Lí’ísedón, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz clarified, squinting ever so slightly to focus on the symbols. “The so-called ‘Language of the Gods.’ It says “Mímórkún” – something to the effect of ‘defilement of the desiring of pleasure.’ I supposed the closest translation into English would be ‘Lust.’”
“Well, that’s kinda weird,” Lucian said. Turning to address the man who had activated the portal, Lucian opened his mouth to ask the significance of the strange word; but he found no one. Looking around them and past the gate, Lucian discovered that the man was now nowhere to be seen.
“Of course he did…,” Lucian mumbled to himself.
“It appears that we now have a choice to make, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz stated. “We have the opportunity to pass through this portal and retrieve the key before our adversaries are able to do the same. Yet, the way is fraught with many challenges, some of which might kill us…, or worse. Are you ready to make your decision?”
Lucian took a deep breath and exhaled. “I’m ready,” he stated resolutely. “Let’s do it.”
“Yeah, man,” Blake said. “I’m ready too. Let’s get that key!”
Schuntz nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Then let us proceed.”
Lucian stepped up to the portal. Reaching out, he gingerly touched his fingers to the swirling purple energy. As they made contact, he could feel a slight tingling shoot through his skin and up his arm; not in an uncomfortable way, but almost like touching one of those glass orbs filled with electricity from the science museum when he was a kid. Taking another breath, he mustered up his courage.
“Well, here goes nothing…,” he stated, determinedly stepping into the portal.
9 - Lust
???
Lucian, Blake, and Schuntz cautiously emerged from the first gate and stopped just past the threshold. Entirely unsure of what they might encounter on this other side, they paused to survey their surroundings.
Stretching out before them was a vast, flat plain of dry, cracked earth. The fissures cutting through the ground had forced up sharp chunks of hard-packed clay peppered across the landscape, giving the whole scene a jagged appearance that was both treacherous and chaotic. It seemed that nothing could possibly grow from this barren wasteland, so deprived was it of the elements to sustain life. The sky above them was blanketed with thick clouds that whipped and whirled in an endless frenzy, blocking out much of the light which attempted to punch through. From what source this sparce light shone, Lucian could not tell.
The boy was, above all, relieved to see that the open space was deserted for the moment; no monster was waiting to kill them, at least not visibly. This quickly turned to panic, however, when he looked down and saw a mass of bones scattered just inches from his feet. Off to the side of this collection, a human skull stared up at him through black, hollow sockets, and Lucian swore it still held an expression of deep longing and sorrow.
“Maybe this was a bad idea…,” Lucian said, his eyes now fixated on the ground. Blake and Schuntz also cast their gazes down. “Let’s just turn back. There must be some other way.”
Turning and looking behind them, Lucian saw that the swirling vortex of purple energy had completely vanished, and the space within the arch of the great gate was now transparent to the other side. Through the portal, Lucian could only see more of the vacuous expanse of despair which entirely enveloped them.
“It appears that such a thing will not be possible, Mr. Aarden,” Schuntz stated with his displeasure seeping into his words. “It seems that we have already made our decision and must now accept the consequences. I suggest that we continue forward to find the next gate, lest we remain here and perish all the same.”
Lucian’s stomach sank at these words. They had barely even begun, and already the grim spectre of death warned the boy not to continue any further. As if I even have a choice at this point, Lucian thought to himself. Why did I ever think that traveling to a Hell Realm was a smart idea!?
“C’mon, man! We can do this!” Blake encouraged, slapping Lucian on the shoulder more roughly than Lucian would have liked. “We’ve both been through tougher stuff than this before, and we came out just fine!”
Lucian mulled over his roommate’s words for a minute. “No, I really don’t think we have…,” he countered apprehensively.
“When one has no other options, the way forward is clear,” Schuntz stated resolutely.
Lucian sighed. He really did not feel confident in pressing on. Looking up, he strained his eyes to peer into the distance, hoping to catch some glimpse of something that could aid them. On the horizon, he swore he saw a little black dot. Continuing to stare at it, it seemed that the image became gradually clearer and more defined.
“What’s that?” Lucian asked his two companions, pointing out toward the unknown object. He knew his eyesight was not the best, and, though he had never needed glasses before in his life, he was confident that the other members of his party would be able to see things in the distance better than he could.
“I think…,” started Blake. “I think it’s another gate!”
Schuntz held his thin hand up over his brow and squinted through the thick lenses of his glasses. “Yes, I believe that you are correct, Mr. Valenti,” he said. “It would appear that there is, indeed, an archway out there.”
The professor paused for a second as his eyes further scanned the horizon. “In fact, it would appear that there are several archways.”
Lucian narrowed his eyes until they were almost fu
lly closed, focusing his vision and clarifying the blurry images which seemed to pulsate far in the distance. Now that Schuntz had pointed it out, the boy could also make out quite a few gates scattered incrementally across the horizon. It seemed that these gates were arranged in a perfect circle around the central door at which they stood, with every other gate roughly equidistant from the travelers’ location.
“Well, crap,” Blake exclaimed. “Which one do we go to?”
Lucian glanced at Schuntz, but a slight tilt of the professor’s head and furrowing of his brow indicated he had just as little idea as the boys. “Well, I guess just the one directly ahead?” Lucian offered.
“Eh, that sounds fine to me,” Blake stated resolutely, taking a fearless step forward onto the cracked earth to begin his trek. “Let’s just get this part over with and onto the ne-”
No sooner had Blake taken the third step away from the gate than a tremendous wind kicked up over the plains, discernible only by its thundering whooshing sound and its casting into the air what little dust lay independent from the chunks of solidified clay. This gust rushed up and collided with the boy with such intensity that he was knocked to the ground and slid forcibly back to his starting point at the foot of the gate, sending discarded ribs and femurs scattering in his wake. Once he had come to a stop, Lucian and Schuntz both bent down to grab Blake’s arms and help him back up.
“What the…!?” Blake exclaimed as he clambered back onto his feet, shaken but unharmed. “What the Hell just happened!?”
Lucian shook his head. “I have no idea,” he admitted. “But I think it’s not gonna be so easy getting to where we want to go.”
Schuntz nodded. “Yes,” he agreed, folding his arms across his chest contemplatively. “It seems our way forward will be significantly impeded.”
Blake shook his head. “Nah, it’s fine,” he countered stubbornly, straightening out his jacket and assuming a determined stance. “I just wasn’t prepared for it, that’s all. There’s no way that some wind is stronger than me!”
Before the other two could caution him any further, Blake intrepidly took another step out onto the arid expanse. Immediately, the wind picked up again and pushed relentlessly against the boy, and Lucian and Schuntz were both forced to flatten their entire bodies along the side pillars of the gate behind them for support. Blake stood still for a moment, tensing every muscle in his extraordinarily strong body and leaning with all his power against the oncoming gale. With his hands out in front of him to protect his eyes, Blake then slid one foot forward across the ground in defiance of the elemental forces which battered him. Once he had gained sure footing again, he brought his other leg up to brace him as he inched his whole body toward the gate in the distance.
“Yeah, Blake!” Lucian cheered as loudly as he could, though he was uncertain of whether or not his roommate could even hear him over the deafening sound of air flying past his head. “You’re doing it! You can make it!”
Blake continued to creep forward, slowly but surely. It seemed, for now, as if he had truly triumphed over this adversarial force of nature after all. Establishing a good foothold by lodging one shoe into a crevice in the earth, Blake turned slightly and gave a thumbs-up to Lucian.
“Yeah!” Lucian cried out, throwing his hand up into the air in triumph. Even if he was not able to make it himself, he hoped that at least Blake would be able to reach the gate in the distance and complete this trial for all of them. With any luck, the wind would then cease and allow them all to progress onward.
As Lucian was celebrating their victory in his head, he suddenly felt the wind pinning him against the gate change direction and blow at him from the right. Sliding around the pillar, Lucian was able to once again prevent himself from falling over, but Blake was not so fortunate. With all of his weight shifted forward, the abrupt change in wind direction caught the dark haired boy completely off guard, and he fell to his side before sliding several feet to the left. Then, just as quickly as they had shifted a second ago, the diabolical winds altered their direction yet again, sending Blake skidding back across the dirt like he was nothing more than a rag doll being dragged by a sadistic, invisible toddler. He careened across the ground before he crashed to a halt at Lucian’s feet once more.
“Dammit!” Blake cried out furiously from below. He slammed one of his fists into the ground, sending chips of shattered clay flying everywhere and leaving a craterous indentation under his knuckles.
“You clearly do not understand the basic concept of drag,” Schuntz grumbled roughly, straightening out his glasses and brushing off the dirt which had caked his otherwise pristine suit.
“What!?” Blake snapped, pushing his torso up from the ground with his arms and glaring at the professor.
“Drag,” Schuntz repeated, peering down at the boy. “A very elementary dynamic of physics. The greater the surface area, the more force the wind will exert upon your body. You have no hope of making any significant progress while standing.”
“So, what do you suggest, professor?” Lucian asked.
“Well, in order to minimize wind resistance, Mr. Valenti would be best served by crawling along on his stomach,” Schuntz advised. “While not the most refined of strategies, I believe he has a far better chance of success. Additionally, it seems that the naturally-formed cracks in the earth might function well as gripping points to anchor oneself.”
Lucian couldn’t believe that he hadn’t thought of it before, but the professor was right. All of his years training in track and field had taught Lucian a thing or two about wind resistance, yet the thought had never crossed his mind in this strange environment. He looked down at Blake.
“Do you wanna give it a try?” he asked.
Blake shrugged. “Worth a shot,” he mumbled, still sounding a little dejected by his most recent failures. “Am I still going for the one in the center?”
Lucian pondered for a second. “Yeah, why don’t we still aim for that one,” he suggested. “It’s not like it seems any easier to get to any of the other ones out there!”
Blake nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense to me,” he agreed.
Lucian sighed. “Sorry I can’t try it myself,” he said. “But you’re definitely the strongest out of the three of us. If you can’t do it, I don’t think we even have a chance.”
“It’s fine, man,” Blake said as he shifted around on the ground to lie on his stomach. “I’m sure we’ll need you to figure out some of the other challenges….”
With this, Blake set off again, crawling along almost flat against the earth, slipping his fingers and shoes down into the cracks beneath him for stabilization. The boy inched forward, moving with considerably greater ease than he had before. To Lucian, it seemed as if he was watching a rock climber scale a vertical face, with any misstep or loss of footing ensuring an immediate descent back down to the ground. The wind howled and whipped against Blake with savage intensity, seemingly made more enraged by the boy’s defiance of its power with every inch farther he crept.
Blake continued on like this, alternating placing his hands and feet in cracks and pulling himself ever forward. After he had advanced several yards in this fashion, he grabbed hold of one chunk of earth that was not firmly attached to the ground. The force of the wind against the boy’s mass was all it took to wrench the handhold loose from its place in the dirt and, with it, Blake himself. Though one foot stayed lodged in the ground, this unequal distribution of support caused him to spin uncontrollably to the left, prying his last foot free and sending him tumbling back toward the gate. He came rolling in with such velocity that Lucian had to actually jump to the side to avoid his roommate taking out both of his legs. Unfortunately for Blake, however, Lucian had been standing against one side of the arch. The dark haired boy slammed his side directly into the hard surface, and Lucian swore he could feel the whole earth around him shake at the impact.
“Owwww!” Blake cried out after he had come to a stop. He rolled over and rubbed his flank
angrily, clearly no longer as impervious to harm as he had been with Zagan inside of him.
“Sorry,” Lucian offered meekly, feeling both guilty he had not tried to cushion Blake’s landing and, at the same time, relieved that he hadn’t.
“This is stupid, man!” Blake exclaimed. “Clearly I’m never gonna make it to that gate out there! The whole thing’s rigged against me!”
Lucian thought about this for a minute. “Just try to get to any of them,” he finally recommended. “If the wind blows you one way, just try to make it to the closest door in that direction. No use in fighting the whole time if the wind is taking you in a different direction, I guess.”
“Fine,” Blake consented, seeming more fed up than confident. “Let’s give that a try then, I guess….”
Blake stopped rubbing his bruised side and once again assumed his position on his stomach. He began crawling forward in the same manner he had before, with the wind kicking up as soon as his first hand crossed over the threshold. He struggled against it for a moment, then felt it shift, and he did his best to just allow it to carry him. Every time the direction of the gale would shift, Blake would quickly scurry along with it, making significant gains in distance before the direction shifted once more. At this point, the dark haired boy would again ride the tide as far as he could. From Blake’s own perspective, this meant that he must have been thousands of feet out from his starting point within minutes. From Lucian’s and Schuntz’s stationary perspectives, however, Blake continued to zigzag back and forth in a square formation that ultimately led him nowhere.
“What is he doing??” Lucian screamed over the cacophony of whistling wind to Schuntz at the other pillar.
“He has lost perspective,” Schuntz hollered back. “He no longer has a directional reference point. By focusing on each new gate in his sight, he has forgotten the greater purpose of his efforts.”