by Alan D Jones
Chapter 23 - Oblivion
Isadora’s Particular Corner of Hell.
Four Angels fell from the sky into the pit of darkness. Each landed separate from the others in a corner of her own.
Cil, the oldest, realized immediately that their nemesis Isadora, Queen of the Dead, had managed to separate the sisters as they exited the portal into her world. Cil had opened the portal so they could come to the dimension of the damned. The sisters came to this world to capture the soul thief so that she could no longer visit her special brand of evil upon the living or the dead.
Being dropped in the middle of nowhere, separated from her sisters, was not part of the plan. Yet, Cil was not lost. Her sixth sense always lead her to her objective. Finding Isadora’s palace would not be a problem for her. However, notifying her sisters of her whereabouts and how to find Isadora’s palace would be a challenge.
Death was all around Cil. Isadora’s hell hounds perpetually gnawed on the remains of corpses that were piled into enormous heaps. Cil crossed a valley of wailing souls to a blood-drenched road. Those wailing were the not-yet-dead souls Isadora had snatched. She fed off their suffering as they passed their last days in her realm. She relished in their despair. There are countless evils in the universe of which we are mercifully unaware. Tomorrow there will be more than today. But, Cil vowed that she would make sure that Isadora was no longer in that number.
The hell hounds caught Cil’s scent and descended from the hills of rotting flesh to pursue a fresh kill. Cil allowed them to draw close, close enough for her to smell their putrid breath. When they pounced, Cil struck each one down with a quickness only the blessed would understand. She’d have to slay many more before she reached Isadora’s palace, but she didn’t mind. The long, hard road allowed her to leave a trail that her sisters could easily follow. She took two bones from the hounds and rubbed them together hard and fast enough to set one of the piles of flesh ablaze. This was her first marker.
Deborah descended into this nightmare world in the midst of chaos and madness, just as she had during her troubled days in the waking world. Many days in the psych ward on Grady Hospital’s eighth floor, she knew with all her heart that God had forsaken her. Those days of inconsolable sadness and weariness when she wanted to abandon this life had prepared her for this day. And yet, she was unprepared for this.
“Deborah,” the voice said.
“Mama? What are you doing here?”
“Baby, I fought it as long as I could, but I was bound for this hell from the day I was born, just as much as you are,” said the whispery Lola Few, twenty years gone.
“Mama, I got to go. I’ve got things to do.”
“What and leave me here alone?”
“Mama, you have haunted me for twenty years and for twenty years I have allowed it. But you never cared for me or any of us, for that matter. You never cooked for us, never wiped a nose or a single tear. The only time you ever came around was when you needed something. We all knew to hide our piggybanks whenever you were in town. Cil, Sarah and I figured you out for the most part, but poor little Ruth would still run to you despite how mean you’d been to her the time before. It was sickening. And, what’s worse is that I used to blame Daddy for not being able to make you love him. But I realize now, that the only person you have ever loved has been yourself. So, it ends today – the guilt, the ‘what could have beens, and the sadness. I know that the pain will remain with me in different ways, but it will transition in time and life will fill the void that you have caused. Your madness will not be my madness. You made your choices and now I’m making mine. I couldn’t carry you in life. So, why would I dare try to carry you in death? Goodbye, Mama.”
“I just wanted someone to love me. Is that so wrong?”
“That’s right, Mama. Turn it around. You’re a real piece of work. Even in death, you’re still the master manipulator. My poor daddy.”
“Baby, how can you say such things to me?”
“Yes, that’s been my question to you for my whole life. And now it’s your turn to ask the questions.”
Deborah walked out from the shadow into which she had materialized and into a smoky plain filled with all manner of demonic beast. She could have cloaked herself in invisibility but, at that moment, she felt like fighting. She’s always been a fighter. Now, she accepted it like never before. She cried as she fought. She released her pain into the darkness of her enemies. Her innate intuition showed her the way she must go and the pillars of smoke rising from the fires Cil lit confirmed the way and the truth she’d found.
Hopeless souls cried out as far as the eye could see. In the middle of them it all, at the bottom of that pit Ruth Ann was buried beneath countless number of bodies struggling against one another for higher ground. Their hands grabbed and pulled at Ruth as though she was the last life boat on a sinking ship. Perhaps, she was. The bodies were so densely packed that Ruth found it hard to breathe. She was so deeply immersed in that sea of longing that she could barely tell up from down. What started out as a panic attack quickly became something worse. At the bottom of the lightless pit, buried beneath agonizing hopeless loss, Ruth thought for a moment how easy it would be to simply give up and join those who had gone before her. In the midst of her despair, she heard a whisper in her ear.
It was Gabriella’s voice, “Get up.” Ruth’s body began to glow and the light within her illuminated all that which was around her. A blue shield formed around her and then, slowly, she began to move that blue cylinder upwards. She gained more and more speed as she rose.
When she reached the top of the heap, Ruth saw that they were far beneath the surface. She refused to leave these lost souls clawing and scratching against one another in eternal torment. This was not of their creator’s plan for them. Yet, they found themselves in this living hell created by a demigod who’d set herself up as God in this forsaken land. Ruth closed her eyes for a moment to focus her energy. When she opened them again, they blazed with a bright blue light.
Ruth stretched out her arms. The ground shook and the caverns rumbled. A bead of sweat formed on her forehead. Her eyes flickered and desperate hands fell from the pit walls. Isadora’s entire hellhole began to elevate. Ruth spun around slowly with her face turned skyward as she’d done so often as a little girl, and sometimes still as a grown woman. Ruth spun and the whole world of these forsaken ones spun with her and slowly ascended with her. After several rotations, Ruth’s ark broke through the ground above. Ruth gently turned the mountain-sized bowl she’d raised from the grave on its side. The prisoners stumbled out and dashed in every direction. Not one stopped to thank her. Ruth shed a tear, not for herself, but for those lost souls. Ruth took a deep breath. She thought, “At least these were finally free from pain for a little while.”
Ruth did not possess the intuition, but she did know her sisters. While she was airborne she’d noticed a pattern: a line of fires burning in a straight line. They seemed to be pointing towards a mountain in the distance. She decided to follow the fire and smoke. Just as she’d resolved to move in that direction, a flaming yellow arrow rose from the East. It was from Deborah’s bow. Ruth flew off in the direction the arrow came from until she found a second arrow rising from the ground.
Ruth called out, “Deborah!”
Deborah walked over smiling and crying at the same time. She grabbed Ruth and hugged her hard. Then, she revealed the reason for her tears, “I’m glad you’re okay. I saw Mama here. She’s one of the lost souls wondering around here.”
Ruth shook her head, “So, where is she now?”
“I would have thought that she would have gone to see you next. But, maybe she took my tongue lashing to heart?” Deborah wondered, “Come, let’s catch up with Cil. She’s got a big head start on us.”
“And, what about Sarah?” Ruth asked.
Deborah rolled her eyes and gave Ruth a hard gaze, “Now you know, they ain’t got nothing here that can hold her. Think about it.”
Ruth s
mirked and grabbed her sister’s hand. She lifted them both skywards to follow Cil’s markers.
Sarah emerged from the portal upon a mountaintop. She saw lush vegetation in every direction. There were cattle and vineyards in every valley and upon every hilltop.
Sarah heard someone speaking to her in a soft voice, “It can all be yours, a world of your own.”
Sarah turned to see a ghostly image of Isadora standing behind her.
Sarah’s eyes blazed.
“Soul Drinker, why do you send your shade to do a demon’s work?”
“Sweet Sarah, I’m confident in my abilities, but I’m not fool enough to meet you in an open space like this alone. I know what you are. Besides, as I’m sure your eyes reveal to you, that what you see here is an illusion. But, you know full well that I can make it a reality for you and your sisters, as real as Elisa’s paradise was to her. The war is over. You won. Leave this life and enjoy your immortality in peace. Surely you see this for the folly that it is? With your gifts, you could live forever. Yet, you risk your life, and that of your sisters, for these damned ones? Your sister Cil’s a fanatic and the three of you have followed her into hell.”
The demon looked around removing the illusion of paradise, so that Sarah might see Oblivion for what it was.
“But, you see clearly don’t you? And, if you do succeed here? If you free them from me, then what? They are still turned away from this love you claim. Destroy me and they will suffer under some different Hell, but Hell nonetheless. What’s the point?”
Sarah replied, “Even if your words were true, I would still not be inclined to allow you to continue your obscenities upon these souls unchecked.”
“And, what of your mother? What if I released her to you?”
“You mean the woman who bore me? The one who abandoned us? The one who mocked my father and pierced my sister Ruth’s soul repeatedly with such delight? The wicked dig their own graves.”
“Yes, and yet, she still belongs to you. And, perhaps you could offer her another opportunity at redemption.”
“You do, indeed, take me for a fool. Don’t you?”
“Well, yes, I do. I take most of your lot as fools. But, if you’re fool enough to come here after me when you have nothing to gain of it, perhaps, you’re fool enough to try and save your mother.”
The image of Isadora vanished. A legion of foot soldiers took her place. Each was armed to the teeth and their weapons were trained on Sarah as she stood alone on the mountaintop. An instant before they fired on her, she smiled.
High atop a mountain was a large plateau where a castle as large as a modern city stood. The residents could go a thousand years and never encounter an uninvited guest. Well before reaching the mountaintop, the screaming, crying, pleading and agony of thousands of lost souls would turn any such visitor away. A moat, a black river at least 40 miles in circumference, encircled the castle. Anything that fell into that water was never found again. The outer stone wall looked uninviting because it had no gate. It needed no gate to protect the compound. The wall lived off the flesh of anyone who touched it. Queen Isadora herself had to create an opening to pass through it. The carnivorous wall only fed from its sides, so all manner of winged beasts perched on top of the wall. Even more terrifying creatures lay inside the walls of the compound.
Cil reached the mountain first. She reasoned that Isadora had warped time in her home world causing the sisters to be separated by time as well as distance. Since she was the first one to enter the portal, she arrived first in this hideous world. Deborah entered the portal merely one step behind her, but likely didn’t materialize in Isadora’s world until an hour later, perhaps longer. Cil surveyed the target from the foot of the mountain and weighed her options. Finally, it came to her. She would tunnel underneath the castle city and enter behind its walls and outer defenses. Cil twirled her staff faster and faster as she did when she opened portals between worlds. This time, instead of warping time and space, she moved dirt. It was a relatively simple task for one such as her.
Ruth flew towards the damned city from the western sky, drawing volley after volley of fire from Isadora’s forces lined atop the city’s walls. Unbeknownst to her attackers Deborah, invisible and silent, was already inside the city walls. Deborah took the time to knock a few unsuspecting guards off their posts along the top of the city wall. She didn’t do it because Ruth needed the help. She was just being Deborah. It was funny to her. Ruth did not have Sarah’s extra-sharp vision, but she could see a progression of guards along a certain portion of the wall mysteriously become airborne. She smiled.
Ruth maintained her distance from the city. She floated close enough to be seen and returned fire whenever it appeared to her that she did not have the full attention of Isadora’s troops. She worked at drawing their fire while Deborah commandeered transportation to Isadora’s palace. Ruth assumed Cil was somewhere doing the same thing. The more resources they brought to bear on Ruth, the better for her sisters. Ruth would launch a more sincere attack if she witnessed any of the regiments disengaging and heading back to the palace towards her older sisters or until Sarah showed up, whichever came first.
Ruth didn’t have to wait long. In the distance to the north, the sky lit up as Sarah began her assault on the northwestern wall. Ruth then launched force beams into the hungry wall lining the city and into the structures beyond it causing anything combustible to explode. Sarah sent a fireball up into the heavens in acknowledgement. Ruth Ann adjusted the pink lock across her forehead, stuffing it beneath a well-placed clip and began the task of destroying Isadora’s forces in earnest.
Sarah was hammering Isadora’s forces. She was, indeed, meant for this. Nonetheless, she kept a look out for Ruth. Sarah’s concern for her was much greater than her desire to get Isadora. The Queen of the Dead’s offer of a paradise of their own had been insufficient. What Sarah really longed for wasn’t physical freedom, but emotional freedom. As long as those who had pursued them for so many years were free, the sisters never would be. Thus, capturing Isadora and all of their enemies was all a part of a bigger goal – a chance to live something close to a normal life, free of this battle between saints and sinners.
Sarah landed in front of the wall. Staring at that wall, she could see the souls it had consumed on Isadora’s behalf. It sickened her to her core. Still ablaze, Sarah stretched out her hand and touched the wall. The wall burst into flames. The wall’s many tongues flailed about. With each movement a tormented soul was released. Sarah did not know what awaited them, but they were free of this prison. In minutes, the hungry wall that lined the city would be ash. As Sarah walked through the flames and departing souls, the demons in the courtyard scattered like vermin before the light of day.
Beneath the city, Cil worked her way towards the palace. She stumbled upon on one of Isadora’s many maze-like tombs. Most people would have been hopelessly lost within the complex paths. Cil, however, was never in doubt. She moved rapidly, turn after turn, toward the palace throne room.
Down one corridor, yellow eyes glowed. The lone torch on wall revealed only five of the fifty demons Cil knew were there in the darkness. The spirit-thirsty beasts were not used to resistance from their targets. As Cil began to twirl her staff, each of them sensed that this day would be different from any they’d known before. All at once, they charged Cil, but only two or three of them at a time could attack due to the narrowness of the tombs. Cil cut through them like a lawnmower through dry grass and was soon running through the darkness again.
Deborah hopped onto one of the transportation sleds that Isadora’s guards used to scurry back and forth. Instantly, she knew how to operate it. Deborah made her way towards the city’s heart shielded in invisibility. Her doppelgangers operated and were apparently slaughtered all around the city. As each replica met her fate, Deborah felt a pang in heart, before gaining a sense of wholeness. She was diminished a bit. Deborah rode past acts of unfathomable cruelty and torture as she
moved closer to Isadora. She wanted to stop and, if she had Ruth’s sensibilities, she probably would have. But, Deborah knew the best thing she could do for the tormented souls all around her would be to cut off the serpent’s head.
At last, Deborah reached the Isadora’s palace. Deborah remained invisible as she stepped off of her ride and was greeted by a legion of armed spirits who appeared as ghostly vapors. By their reaction it was clear to Deborah that they could see her.
Their leader said, “Hello, Deborah. We’ve been waiting for you so that we might slay you for our Queen. The living have no place here!”
Deborah removed her sword, “So, you’re not the welcoming committee? Well, if this is the day that I should die, so be it. But if I were you, I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Deborah raised the sword she and her sisters crafted for her and kissed it softly.
“Come get some,” she said.
Cil lifted the floor grate and climbed into the palace pantry. That pantry was unlike any pantry mortal eyes had ever seen. There were shrunken souls captured in jars like fireflies. They were once just as mortal as Cil; now, they were misshapen, warped. Cil encountered sadness upon sadness but she pushed on. Cil crept through the corridors to Isadora’s throne room. The main door was guarded by two large stone gargoyles. As Cil ran towards them, they drew their weapons down to engage her. Their speed seemed to match Cil’s and their skin was an unearthly stone that did not yield to Cil’s blows when she did land them. Slightly bruised with several cuts on her arms and legs, Cil reestablished herself five meters in front of them. Her eyes turned black and she began to swirl her staff. She swung it faster and faster until the fabric of time and space began to warp. Cil was in Gatekeeper mode and, as such, her will was unforgiving and unyielding unto the stone beings. Both gargoyles were consumed and cast into The Pit for all eternity.
Her path now clear, Cil spun and kicked the double doors leading to the throne room faster than the human eye could capture. The lock on the door buckled. Cil slowly pushed the huge doors open. Isadora clapped as Cil entered the humongous gold-lined room.
Isadore said, “Well done, mortal. You’ve found your way to your own death. You might think that me versus you would be a fair fight, but you should know by now that I don’t fight fair.”
Isadora lifted her scepter. The dust on the floor began to swirl into several pillars. Each pillar then took shape into beings in godly attire.
Isadora laughed, “I know it’s politically unwise to raise one’s rivals from the grave, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I present to you the old gods of Egypt, Osiris, Set, Isis and Ra.”
Cil responded, “Those who came before me vanquished them once before and, if the Lord of Light should allow it, so it shall be again. Thus, it matters not how many gods you raise, what shall be, shall be.”
Osiris sighed, “Ah, the young one has raised us from the dead. So, I guess she’s not as dumb as we thought and has come to understand the old ways. But what is this new harsh language she speaks. It sounds so argumentative even when there is nothing to debate.”
Isis responded, “My love, it is the language of the ruling class in this day. Thus, it is fitting that we use it, so that this new world might understand our instructions and praise us accordingly. Isadora, who is this woman?”
Isadora addressed her elders, “This one is a demigod from the age of man. She is a descendant from one of the half-breeds who vanquished the old gods.”
Set chimed in, “Yes, her stench does foul the air in a familiar way and she is a gatekeeper. Thus, I cannot wait to taste her flesh. But, another enters the room who is like her. One who is also part Nightwalker.”
“I guess y’all been dead for so long you just come back saying anything.”
Deborah made herself visible as she made her way to her older sister’s side.
Isadora said to Cil in a thundering voice, “If the two of you bow before me now, I will allow you to serve me in death. Hesitate at your own peril.”
Deborah laughed, “Really? You weren’t talking that big back on the island, were you?”
Isadora, feeling the gaze of the old ones, hesitated, “I…”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Deborah mocked.
Isadora quickly pivoted, “Forefathers, execute your vengeance on the prodigy of your enemies!”
The Old Ones smirked at Isadora’s request but abided nonetheless. These were the descendants of those who drove out the old gods across the globe within a thousand years. While Isadora had only just resurrected the four of them, they felt as confident in their abilities as ever. Lightening erupted from Set’s fingertips and into Cil’s staff. She withstood the charge and sent it back at him. Set laughed.
Set’s laughter was cut short by sound of the west wall of the throne room caving in. They watched Ruth descend in a glowing blue orb. Just as the Egyptian gods took in the new combatant, a blinding light came from their right as Sarah blazed through the north wall melting the stone in the process. Ra nodded towards Sarah.
“Yes, Ra, an opponent worthy of you,” Isadora confirmed.
Ra took to the air to engage Sarah.
The sisters were at a numerical disadvantage, but they didn’t have to worry about collateral damage.
As Set charged toward Deborah, he called, “Come here, you of the shadows. Let me show you what real darkness is.”
Deborah’s eyes narrowed, “My pleasure, wicked beast. I have picked out a special blade for you.”
Set beat a mighty wind with his wings seeking to knock Deborah off balance. Like a cat, she landed on her feet. Set nodded in appreciation of her skill, but he had little doubt that he would be victorious. Osiris, too, believed he would be victorious in his battle with Cil. His power was superior to hers, but he sensed her natural talent.
Osiris thought, “This one has knowledge beyond anyone else here. Thus, I will slay her first and the others shall wither.”
Osiris was a mighty warrior who had never been defeated except by treachery.
He proclaimed, “You’ve slain many a demon, but now, you face a true god.”
Cil replied, “Who are you to speak such things to me? I am as you, and they are as me. Yet, we are all the same to the most high.”
Isis set her sights on Ruth. She called to the rubble created by Ruth’s entry and immediately the stones sprung arms legs and teeth. Worse yet, they began to multiply as they attacked Ruth. Ruth responded by rolling her arms from the outside inward, sweeping up the deadly stone critters into a glowing blue bubble which she quickly launched out the hole in the wall to places unknown. Isis lifted a brow in recognition that she did indeed have a fight on her hands.
Isadora tried to hide behind her throne. These old gods prided themselves on being warriors, but Isadora always saw herself as more of a manager. Ruth, however, had no intent of allowing her to skip this battle. Ruth intended to quickly dispatch Isis so that she could focus on Isadora. She had to pay for turning Gabriella into stone. Ruth fired a force beam towards the throne driving it and Isadora into the back wall. Ruth knocked Isis into the opposite wall then walked briskly towards Isadora. Isadora struggled to push the large ornate thrown seat off of her. Isadora saw Ruth approaching and cast a spell. It was the same one she’d used on Gabriella. But, the spell could not penetrate Ruth’s personal shield. Instead, it ricocheted and turned a golden basin to stone. Ruth grabbed Isadora by the collar with her left hand and repeatedly punched her in the face with her right hand.
Isis came up behind Ruth and tried to wrap a whip around her neck. Ruth easily dislodged the goddess by flying the two of them backwards into a wall.
Ra struggled to hang on to Sarah. Her fire was hot, even to his touch. He attempted to pare her with his sharp, unforgiving tongue, but she repeatedly squirmed free of his grasp. Yet, his speed surprised her, as did his power. Still, the white hot beams from his eyes did not kill Sarah as intended. His rays did, however, slow Sarah down e
nough for Ra to regain his advantage. Sarah wasn’t sure exactly what would happen if that long knife he used as a tongue were to make contact, but she didn’t plan to find out. Sarah emitted a series of fireballs from her own mouth, which pursued Ra like guided missiles. They landed on him one after another to bind him. She doubted that they would hold him for long, and they didn’t. They did allow her a couple of seconds to figure out her next approach.
“Why are you here, young one?” Osiris asked Cil as they sparred, “Surely, you know these were wicked ones long before they arrived here? This is a hell of their choosing. So, why do you come here to fight for those who will never know what you call heaven? Do you do this for some reward?”
“Heaven does not hate anyone, for our God loves all, even these. Those who love the light have returned to the Creator. And, those who have chosen darkness are damned wander in a hell of their own creation, but not of yours. For it is unfitting for any mortal to damn another. We serve the call on our own lives. We were born of light, we live in light and…”
Cil swung at Osiris, but her staff passed through him.
“…and to light you shall return. Yes, I know. When I was mortal, I believed in such foolish things too. Set revealed to me the error of my ways when he murdered me. I was reborn as god of the underworld.”
Osiris waved his hand and Cil was thrown against a stone wall.
“A god who inflicts his will rather than a silent one who allows his subjects to do as they please.”
Smiling, Cil regained her feet and began to twirl her staff faster and faster before Osiris.
“So, once again power corrupts. It’s an old story. Must it always be?”
Osiris nodded, “Yes, but it is also true that every hero who lives long enough will someday be a villain.”
“Thus, the blessings of mortality.”
The portal Cil created engulfed Osiris and took him to a level within The Pit that was reserved for demons. Cil knew that The Pit would not hold Osiris. He would reappear in moments. Cil quickly surveyed the scene and saw clearly that her sisters were struggling. Ra’s speed was troubling for Sarah. Deborah was too crafty even for Set, but she didn’t have the raw power needed to finish him. Ruth was more powerful than Isis, but she was contending with Isadora as well. Cil knew that with her own speed and tricks she could find an opening to defeat Osiris. She’d defeated others like him in the past, but that would take time. In that time, she could well lose Sarah or Deborah, or both. So, she made the call.
Osiris was enraged when he returned from The Pit.
Cil said into the atmosphere, “Let everything which has breath…” before she whistled and then shouted, “Sarah, shut it down! Ruth and Deborah, grab that heifer!”
Cil twirled her staff to open another portal on the other side of the room beneath the throne. Ruth created a protective blue sphere.
Osiris protested, “Woman, there is nowhere that you can send me from which I cannot return.”
“This door isn’t for you,” Cil replied.
One by one the old gods looked up to see Sarah’s aura change from day to night. Her skin darkened as an eclipse over the Sun. With her eyes rolled back and her arms stretched out, Sarah began the process of bringing an end to time. Her opponents didn’t fully understand what was happening, but they soon would. Cil rushed over to the battered and bruised Isadora who was being held by Deborah and Ruth. Cil clocked Isadora with an uppercut knocking her out for the trip home.
As the room began to spin and time warp, Ruth touched Cil’s arm and said, “Here. You take Isadora. I’m staying with Sarah. I can’t leave her here alone.”
Cil nodded and tugged at Deborah’s arm. Together they took an unconscious Isadora through the portal Cil had created.
The old gods could feel their world shifting beneath them and sought to restrain Sarah. Ra, the mightiest of them, attempted to grab her. As her black fire touched him, it spread up his arm quickly consuming him. The other gods realized this was no longer a fight for their world or their legacy, but rather, a fight for survival. Osiris sent forth a burst of energy that obliterated the ceiling. The throne room opened to the sky so that they might escape. Before the sister’s entered Isadora’s hell, the sky had been a hellish red. Now, it was now pitch black with tornados of black flames descending from the sky consuming all they touched. Isis covered her mouth in horror. Each of the gods realized that their brief resurrection would be coming to an end in moments.
At last, the tortured souls and the screams of the old gods were gone. There was nothing left, save Sarah, Ruth, and the fading portal Cil had created. Sarah had the appearance of a human nebula. What humanity remained in Sarah motioned for Ruth to go away. Ruth was under pressure to literally hold her own atoms together.
She sighed, “Sister, I can’t live without you.”
Even in her altered state, Sarah comprehended Ruth’s words. She tried to let go of the destruction flowing through her body. Ruth took her sister’s hand and pulled her close enough to wrap her arms around her. Sarah shook and shivered to revert back to something close to human and Ruth pulled both of them towards the fading portal.
At the portal’s entrance, Ruth hesitated. She looked one last time into Sarah’s face searching for her best friend in the darkness. Not seeing the assurance she so wanted, she started to allow the worm hole back to Earth and away from this collapsing existence to dissipate. Then, she saw the slightest hint of a smile on Sarah’s face and she knew that beneath it all her sister was coming back. Ruth returned her smile and pulled them both through the portal and back to life.