Jumping Someone Else's Train

snippet oo6

{ Damnation }

There aren’t any flames frothing up to the surface from the belly of Hell. It is not ablaze with fire, there is no brimstone, no red creature with hooves and a pitchfork. It is cold in the underworld. Forsaken souls sleep embedded in the earth’s core. They are eternal dreamers caught in the threads of their own harrowed nightmares.

If the buried dead don’t believe that they’ll rise up singing, they sink beneath their caskets into the soil as their muffled dissent is carried skyward by the wind.

There are murderers in heaven. Con artists. In Hell there are priests. There are loyal spouses. It doesn’t matter how they lived through their small and mournful existence. Those without faith and those with heavy hearts belong to the seven Princes of Hell. And they are starved for souls.

They had simply come into being, born out of mortal admission, and proof that thoughts become solid gold truth if enough trust is put into them. There are seven of them, each with a corresponding level amid the Hell and a collection of souls that they feed off of until they burn out into extinction.

The demon Asmodeus wins millions of souls through aphrodisia; the demon Amon can shake the world with his rage; the seventh and youngest, the demon Belphegor, is lazy and hedonistic. He does little more than construct delusions for the damned to suffer in. It is a crucial task, tedious, and time consuming, so that he rarely leaves his haven of dreams. Belphegor had never seen the upper world beyond the ring of excrement his summoners lay down to call on him.

{ Benjamin }

That was the name he had settled on upon his embarkation to the human world. The demon Lucifer sent him, because he had heard that there was still such thing as faithful marriage, and he wanted to know: was it so? What was the modern world like now? It was a cruel joke to ship him out, of the seven of them, but that was just the type of game Lucifer wanted to play. Belphegor, now Benjamin, a dreamy eyed, dark haired youth, created a fairly attractive mortal shell for himself, and rose from Hell.

It took a bit of convincing. It took bribery and charm to get him to rise, but Lucifer is everything in Benjamin’s eyes: proud, seductive, powerful, and very good at what he does.

Benjamin sees no harmony in the human world.

There is no such thing as faithful marriage, if there ever was. Discord runs through their society like the blood through their veins. They are possessed by their cellphones, trains, cars, their films; things that marveled him in his first few weeks. Technology may be the most effective demon Benjamin has met.

He is learning to cause belligerence among men by overruling their subconscious. He’s gained three apartments out of human selfishness. He’s tempted his real estate agents, bartenders, bus drivers with riches. He’s being more productive than he’s ever been, in fact he’s enjoying himself so much he just might stay.

 { The fog in Greenland }

Is so thick, he would be able to taste it if he could.

Foaming clouds that look like gossamer.

It reminds him of how Lucifer describes Heaven. Benjamin knows very little about it, but he’s been told that the dead also rest there. It is their second chance, their shot to repent for the mistakes they made while they were alive. The souls in Hell aren’t given a second chance, but Benjamin has also heard desperate cries from behind the pearly gates.

Angels are beautiful.

They must be, for this one is, and he must be an angel.

Benjamin has been lingering behind him for a long time. He follows his movements; he watches his hair ripple like silk and he watches the stranger’s bleeding hand. He thinks of approaching him, and when he does, he wants to ask him if he is an angel.

He asks.

It is just the two of them in the mist, somewhere in Greenland, and Benjamin finally feels the weight of his mortal shell.

Author's Note

{ a demon meets up with an angel. }

Reviews

[Dane Osborne]

This is f*****g great. This is very imaginative and I loved the part about technology being the most effective demon. I think what you were trying to say with that is that it is our sense of oblivion and distraction that keeps us from recognizing our own humanity, it gets to the point where we are automatons with flesh who are blinded and deluded by all the pretty flickering colors around us. Atleast thats what I got from it. The only thing constructive I can say is that it seems a little bit incomplete. There seems to be gaps in it but this is just a snippet so I can understand why. This is a very strong peice and you realy should expand on it KUDOS:)

[GTVile]

This was f*****g fantastic from start to finish. You took just enough time to set the setting then went into a brilliantly detailed and very well written piece.

[Two Timer]

it does seem a bit incomplete but you know what! it leaves one thinking. love your version of heaven/hell. who are the demons? who are the angels?

[Doctor JKC]

And such is karma. Unyielding and mathematical.
Though gods are tedious and jealous.

I don't see harmony; only learning.

Angels are beautiful because they have no memory.
If one has recollections, they are human or demon.

A gorgeous piece so well done.
Please go on!
Jack