Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” �" Revelation 21:8

Ace

Steam erupting up from the ground is a faint sound compared to the blood curdling screams of pure pain and terror.  The air smells foetid, with an acrid tinge of decay with sickly sweet perfume over it to cover the smells of death. All of these are subtle enough to not be too noticeable, but are still sickening all the same. The stench of Hell is mainly that of burning flesh and rotting carcasses; the ultimate smell of home sweet home.  Heat constantly radiates from every area of Hell, leaving no room for anything but the heat.  The Hell-ish sky has a blood red hue to it with gas hovering high up.  Inside the gas it reeks of excrement, oil, and smog.  There’s constantly a quiet thunder-like rumbling in the sky with the occasional flash that would remind one of lightning, although the flash darkens the sky instead of lighting it up.  Despite it being Hell, there are no bones lying around.  Well, not where I was anyways.  Deeper into Hell is where skeletons are to be scattered.  Rocks are jutting out of part of the River Styx, also known as the river of the dead, coming to a point sharper than any blade; sharp enough to, if a feather were to land on it, the point would slice it in half.  In the middle of the Styx, there’s a long path made of flat, dark brown rock that has faded blood stains on the ground.

If one were to go south along the path, they’d find themselves going deeper into Hell, towards the Gates that is the official start of Hell.  Going south, the path gets worse; it starts to get jagged and slightly narrower and the river almost reaches level with the path.  The smell of burning flesh gets stronger and the heat only gets hotter, making the gas in the air release more rancid scents.  In the distance, dark, rugged cliffs stand in the river, stating the path’s end and that the Gates have been reached; beyond them is the King’s castle, center of Hell itself.

The Gates of Hell are guarded by Succorbenoth, a sexless demon with leathery, olive-green skin, blood red eyes, and fangs that are sharp enough to tear through flesh in the blink of an eye.  He looks more on the Gargoyle side, only more demonic.  Two chains cross on his chest, making an ‘X’, and cross on his back between his two powerful wings.  His claws are sharper than talons on any bird on the Earth’s surface; an onyx black color.  He’s one of the most unmerciful demons around, and his job is to let the damned in but not out.  At any time that he wants, he’s even allowed to devour the bodies of the damned, seeing as he’s not allowed out of Hell.

If one were to go north along the path, they’d wind up going to the middle of nowhere.  The lands north of the Gates are completely barren; the Styx on one side and nothing but flat, dusty ground in all other directions.  Those that choose to go north are forever damned to an eternity of wandering aimlessly, never escaping the heat or the wretched gas, turning around will do them no good; it’s as if they just magically appeared there with no way out.  They’re left prey to whatever creatures roam on the barren lands, which never come anywhere near the Gates.  The Damned that choose this way would find that some, that were previously stranded, crawling around in the sand in order to find whatever part of the body they’re missing.  Running all over the place are smaller demons, which I like to call ‘Scrappers’, that scratch and scavenge off of what they can find of the Damned.  Randomly scattered are several different tortures that some must endure, other than being torn apart.  And yes, it can get worse than that.  Especially because they end up going through all the pain all over again within a matter of minutes the torture happens.

If one were to go east, they’ll eventually come up to another Gate; one that’s guarded by the black, three-headed dog Cerberus.  With its red eyes, that have no pupils and are fierce, serpent for a tail, and teeth sharper than any demons, the thirty foot tall demon dog strikes fear into everyone that looks at them.  His job is similar to that of Succorbenoth; he guards the whole east side of Hell, gladly allowing the damned in, but when it comes to letting them out, nothing can get him to obey.  Beyond his Gate, would often be called “Inferno Inferno Proprium”, which means “Hell’s own Hell”.  The Damned have a miraculous healing effect upon them, so that they may be tortured for eternity, eternally recovering so that they may be tormented again. The Damned do not breathe, so they don’t need to worry about the rotten stench, not that that’s they’re top concern.  They stand in cages, wearing loose white gowns that are partly open in the front and never burn as they do from Hell’s fire, which does not consume like Earthly fire.  Rather than being consumed by it, the Damned are preserved to burn and suffer and be tormented for eternity, the pain never ceasing.

If one were to go west, they would notice the change in the Styx’s blood flowing current as it changes to a faster moving river of ink-black water, changing from the River Styx to the River Acheron.  The shore of the river is a shiny mud flat that shades into a flat field of dirt that appears to stretch inland for about two miles to some low, brown hills. The hills run up against a high wall that stretches off in both directions to the limit of visibility; it is just about possible to see this wall curving inwards at the limits of visibility. It is hard to tell how large or far away the wall is, and it is impossible to reach anyway. Invisible biting insects sting irritatingly. Underfoot, worms write in the soil in an unknown script.  If anyone physically comes into contact with River Acheron, they will be trapped forever in the river, very cold and very uncomfortable, aware and unable to move.

I enjoyed paying visits to some of the places; it’s one of the more entertaining things for us demons to do while we’re in Hell.  One of our favorite past times is watching the Damned suffer, and for some reason it never gets old.  Sadly, I only managed to get to the cages by Cerberus before I was found, but I’ll get to the middle of nowhere later.  I was summoned to the Gates of Hell by the King, but when I got there, he wasn’t there.  I just lingered around casually, my human form sweating more and more as time went by.  Succorbenoth was glaring at me; he hated me for several reasons; one because I always stand in front of him in my human form and it makes him hungry, but the main reason is because I’m stronger than him.  In fact, I’m the second strongest demon in Hell.  The King created me himself and because of that, I’m one of the few demons created here.  The good thing about that, is that I have more reign of freedom, less rules and more power.  The bad thing, however, is that if the King wanted me in his Court at any time, and he was to summon me, there’s no way I’d be able to ignore him like other demons could.  I’m actually stronger than him, and I could overthrow him anytime I wanted to, and he knows that.  I just don’t really want to.  I don’t want to have to deal with ruling Hell; I wouldn’t have as much freedom or privacy; I’d have to deal with sorting things out and making new Laws and everything I wouldn’t be able to go out as much.  The King himself barely even gets to leave his castle, even if it’s just to go to the taverns.

Standing there, I was looking up at the Arch that was over the Gates and Succorbenoth was still glaring at me.  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that he was hungry; starving to be exact.  I chuckled quietly, making him shift a little bit, which meant that I caught his attention.

“Is the text above the Gate humorous to you, Eurynomous?” His raspy, feral voice was humored and mocking. “After knowing it for century after century it shouldn’t still be humorous to you.”

If I were to translate the text above the Gate from Latin, the original language it’s written in, into English, it says:

Through me you pass into the city of woe:

Through me you pass into eternal pain:

Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:

To rear me was the task of power divine,

Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.

Before me things create were none, save things

Eternal, and eternal I endure.

All hope abandon ye who enter here

I’ve memorized the text after my first week of being created, so being around for centuries can make it seem like it’s an everyday saying for me.  I’ll admit, it actually comes in handy when the female humans ask me what the one thing I memorized first was; or if I just want to show off, which is usually what it comes down to. Relating back to Succorbenoth’s question, it kind of was still humorous to me; well, the last line of it was anyways.  Who would still have hope after they’ve seen where they show up?  There’s no need to tell them to abandon what’s already been destroyed upon arrival.

“A little; but do you know what’s funnier?” I squared my shoulders and looked straight at him with a grin on my face that made his show even more aggravation.  He turned to me more, holding his five foot long double battle axe tighter. “You’re stuck here every second of every day and you can’t leave to go eat or party.  I can.” I teleported, also known as shimmered, out of Hell just as Succorbenoth got ready to swing his axe at me.

Hell’s heat and smell were the first two things that I notice every time I shimmer out of it, and is replaced by cool air and a moist, slightly dusty smell, which told me that I was in the underground caverns.  It was as crowded as ever, demons sitting all over; on the rock ledges and a few on the floor, but most of them were dancing around to music, sitting on tables, and drinking at the bars.  Loud music was blaring from the highest level sound system around as red lights illuminated the dark cavern.  My first question about that was: ‘How is a music system able to work in an underground cavern when there are no outlets?’ but the answer to that was easily found out as soon as I saw the demon behind the system.  He used his power to create enough electricity to run the whole system for six hours at a time; he had the plug-ins jammed into a block of steel and he’d put his power into that.

The bar that was carved into the side of the cavern was just about as busy as ever as demons demanded drinks.  The good thing about being a demon is that we can’t get drunk or any form of organ damage from drinking, smoking, or doing any other kind of drug.  That’s why a lot of demons will be seen smoking; we don’t get anything human smokers get.  No smoker’s cough, we don’t smell like cigarettes, no lung cancer…no one would ever know that we smoke unless they saw it.  According to the female demons that have kissed, or tasted in my words, another demon that smokes, smokers don’t even taste like cigarette’s like humans supposedly do.  Every drink we have in the caverns gets smuggled out of stores and bars in town, which is why some demons typically go for the bartender or store manager before going for anyone else; it just makes things easier.

“Think fast!” The bartender hollered loudly over the music, and without looking, I held my hand up and caught the bottle of beer he tossed at me.  I tipped it at him and grinned before popping the top off and taking a quick swig of it.  The liquid was cool as it went down my throat, my body all too used to the burning it comes with at first and I barely noticed it.

“Eurynomous!” The melodic and seductive voice of the demoness that’s been after me for centuries sounded over all the noise, making me look up.  Zona’s long, silky, raven black hair hung to her lower back and framed her heart-shaped face, her straight bangs hanging half an inch past her eyebrows, making her feral looking bright green eyes stand out.  Her perfectly straight, white teeth shown from behind her perfectly glossed lips; all of those features stood out against her pale skin, which was almost ghost white.  I watched as her long, lean body, perfectly proportioned came skipping over to me, her perfect curves standing out in the tight, low-cut black dress that went no lower than her mid-thigh.  The sexy black heels she had on strapped around her ankles, complemented her long, slim legs. “Hey there sexy demon.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a sly smile.

“How many times have I told you not to call me that outside of Hell?” I took another swig of beer and grinned down at her, having a hard time keeping my eyes on her face.  I kept catching a glimpse of the small, black widow spider tattoo that sat on her left breast, slightly hidden by the low-cut lace of her dress.  The tattoo was no bigger than a quarter but was still filled with incredible detail.

“It’s so much hotter than Ace…Prince of Death…who wouldn’t like to be called that?”

“I don’t care; in these caverns and up I’m Ace.” I gave her a sharp look and watched as her smile turned to a pouty lower lip as she crossed her arms over her chest, pushing her chest up more, making more cleavage show.  I tried even harder not to look down from her face but failed miserably, and when she noticed, her smile came back.  She grabbed the bottle of beer from my hands and took a drink, keeping her eyes on me. “Ready to go now, sexy thing?” I eyed her from head to toe slyly as I turned around and started walking away.

“Yes sir,” she laughed. “Are we gonna have some fun tonight?” She winked at me and licked her upper lip tauntingly as she hooked her arm in mine.  I knew what kind of fun she was talking about; not killing people fun…hot and steamy fun that we have occasionally.

Zona and I aren’t dating…we aren’t even a thing…we just goof around for the fun of it.  Demons don’t usually feel emotions and as long as I don’t get her pregnant, I’m safe from any form of commitment.  I looked down at her and shrugged casually with a small grin. “Maybe.”