Inferno: Chapter 13 (889 hits)
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Submitted by SoxSexSax (View user info) at 2004-06-07 04:29:35 EDT
Chapter 12: http://www.ubersite.com/m/34063
Chapter 11: http://www.ubersite.com/m/18528
Chapter 10: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=10676141967013473
Chapter 9: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1066487978166723780
Chapter 8: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=106595175399835122
Chapter 7: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=106549765998947541
Chapter 6: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1064957367793418459
Chapter 5: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1064708642207119853
Chapter 4: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=106445883547967169
Chapter 3: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1064345511408928163
Chapter 2: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=1064195167876012309
Chapter 1: http://www.ubersite.com/cgi-bin/message_get.cgi?message=10639441118252674
Pretty quick work, considering how long between the last 2 chapters. Enjoy.
Chapter 13
Midnight and John stood in the long, modern looking corridor from which they had entered Richard's office.
"Now what do we do?" said John, speaking to nobody in particular.
Midnight was lost in his own thoughts and didn't register the fact that John was speaking. He'd condemned his mother to death. He'd told Inferno to kill his mother. His actions, of which he had been warned of the consequences, were going to be responsible for the death of the woman who had carried him and nursed him and raised him. His body felt numb all over and he couldn't stop thinking that he should have taken Inferno's deal to save her life. He felt as if he were to blame for what would befall her.
Although the little voice that sat in Midnight's head was often sarcastic and contentious, it did occasionally voice the logical arguments that Midnight needed to hear. What do you mean, I'm to blame? Did you kill her? Did you creep up on her with some piano wire when I wasn't looking? Did you cut her brake cables? Did you, or have you, ever hurt a hair on your mother's head? No, you haven't and you never would. You made the choice you had to make. Even if you had taken the deal, you condemn billions to death and you're not even guaranteed to save her life. You made the logical choice, the moral choice and, damn it, the right choice. The one forcing you to choose is to blame. Inferno.
Of course Inferno's to blame, Midnight thought to himself. But I could have acted differently. If I'd been less forceful and more...I don't know...polite, it might have gone better. She might not have been...
For crying out loud, the little voice spat, cutting his natural thought process off. Why are you so anxious to take the blame for something that isn't your fault? Get a damn grip on yourself. It isn't your fault and unless you stop telling yourself that it is and start focusing on achieving what you've been chosen to descend in to this enchanting place to do, you aren't going to succeed in doing it. Understand?
At last Midnight did. The voice in his head was completely right. If he didn't focus fully on the task in hand, Inferno had already won. The anger Midnight felt towards Inferno quickly shoved his own guilt from its pedestal as his foremost emotion. There was only one course of action to take. He had to make sure his mother didn't die in vain. He had to make sure Inferno's devastating plot failed.
At last, the little voice said in a "wasn't that obvious?" kind of tone. Now, I think John's trying to get your attention.
Finally he noticed that his companion was staring at him intently, and had been for almost ten seconds. "Did you say something?" he asked.
"Yeah. I said now what do we do?" said John.
"That's easy," said Midnight. "We can't go back and we have no information to base our decision on which door to go through. Therefore, all these doors are equally dangerous and equally likely to be the best choice. We just pick one and walk through."
"It all sounds so simple when you put it like that," said John. "But this is like playing Russian roulette with a mini-gun. There's hundreds of doors to choose from here, mate. Thousands maybe."
"I've already made my feelings on the way we're pushed to our next goal by some external force well known," replied Midnight. "But I know this much for certain: I am going to do whatever I can to stop Inferno and bring him back here, even if it costs me my life. And I know that to do this, I am going to have to pick a door at random and go through it to whatever dangers may be lurking within. Therefore my decision is made. Are you with me, or not?"
John sighed. "I guess I am. I want you to know that I'm only doing this so that you don't grab all the glory, mate. I'm hoping to take full advantage of my position as modern saviour of the human race when we get out of here. Let's face it, that has to be a great foundation block for a career in advertising."
Midnight smiled. "Somehow, I doubt that many people will ever hear about our little adventure. And even if it somehow did get into the world media, who's gonna believe us? "Computer programmer and plumber deliver an away win against Satan"? That's just below the Roswell incident in the believability department."
"Well if all else fails mate we'll sell our story to the National Enquirer. They'll print anything," said John with a smile, which Midnight returned.
"Touché," he replied. "Come on, let's pick a door."
"What's wrong with this one?" said John, gesturing the door directly opposite Richard's office.
Midnight considered it for a second. On the one hand, it seemed true that all the doors were equally likely to be good or bad, as they had no advice to go on. But the door opposite Richard's office seemed ever so likely to be a trap. Wasn't it just too obvious? He expressed these thoughts to John.
"I guess I see your point," he replied, after a moment's consideration. "But it's also possible that the closest door is the one we're supposed to pick. Hey, for all we know they all lead to the same place."
Midnight barely heard the last sentence. He'd had an idea. "Have you got a coin?" he asked. John rooted through his pockets before shaking his head. Midnight's face fell momentarily then brightened. "Doesn't matter. I've had an idea. We'll stand in front of each door in turn and play Rock Paper Scissors. If I win, we don't go through that door. If you win, we go through. You see, if God or some force that's on our side is guiding us through our little quest, this gives them the perfect opportunity to help us out by influencing the result. If not, it's no worse a method than just picking one at random. Agreed?"
John nodded. "Sounds good to me, mate. Let's do this one first."
They stood opposite each other, one of either side of the door. Simultaneously they held their right fists out in front of them.
"One, two, three," they chanted in unison, thumping the air three times with their fists before sculpting their fingers into the shape of their selected object. Midnight had chosen rock. John had gone for scissors. With rock blunting scissors, Midnight had won. They moved up the corridor to the next door.
They repeated the process. "One, two, three." Midnight produced paper, John had opted for rock, which meant Midnight had won again.
Again they moved up the corridor. At the next door, both chose rock. On the rematch, John's paper was cut by Midnight's scissors. They moved on to the next one.
"You know, there's only a one in eight chance of winning Rock Paper Scissors three times in a row," said John casually. "From a mathematical point of view, the more times in a row you win, the more it supports your guide theory."
"Still could be nothing more than dumb luck though," Midnight replied, impressed that John knew that. He'd been thinking almost exactly the same thing.
"True, and even if you won a hundred times in a row, it could still just be dumb luck. But the further and further we stray from the average run of results, the more it looks like your theory could be accurate. That's all I'm saying mate."
Midnight made a mental note to give John more credit in the brain department than he had done so far. "It's a very true point. Let's see if my lucky run continues." They had reached the next door. This time they drew twice, first with scissors and then with paper. On the third contest, Midnight's paper defeated John's stone, increasing the odds on Midnight's winning streak to sixteen-to-one.
Again they moved up the corridor, and again Midnight correctly chose paper to wrap effectively around John's rock. At the next door, they drew with paper before Midnight blunted John's scissors with his own rock. "Sixty-four-to-one against that happening," John remarked after this final loss. "Can't be a coincidence mate. Can't be."
They moved on to the next door and faced each other on opposite sides. "One, two, three," they chanted. When they looked down at their hands, Midnight's tightly clenched fist signified he had chosen rock. John's outstretched palm showed he had opted for paper and had won.
They looked meaningfully at each other. "This is it," said Midnight.
"What if it's just a coincidence?" asked John. Midnight rolled his eyes.
"Not two minutes ago you were saying 'Sixty-four-to-one, can't be a coincidence'," he replied. "And even if it is, we agreed that it was as good a way as any for picking a random door if the guide theory turns out to be nothing. It's this one and I don't plan on hanging about this side of it for any longer."
John shrugged. "I guess sixty-four-to-one is a pretty big coincidence. If it was a horse, you wouldn't bet your savings on it, would you mate?"
"It's not up there with long-shots such as finding the Loch Ness Monster and discovering that he has kidnapped Elvis who's now trapped in a jar at the bottom of the loch with him," replied Midnight imaginatively. "But I'm confident enough that the result means something. Now, are you ready or not?"
John nodded. "I'm ready, mate. Let's go."
Midnight reached out and turned the door handle. The door swung easily outwards, revealing the increasingly familiar blackness that Midnight had grown to detest. He held it open for John to go through, then took one last look around the contemporary style corridor in which he now stood. The little voice in his head considered making a cheesy joke about having truly experienced the office from hell but decided to think better of it. Nevertheless, this was part of the trip that would stay with Midnight for a long time, simply on account of how mind-bogglingly surreal it had been.
Finally he sighed and stepped through the door. He gave John a look in the blackness that said "Here we go again" just as effectively as if the words had come out of his mouth. The door quietly clicked shut behind them.
As with most of the doors they had encountered in hell, at the same second the door closed, the blackness was lifted and their new surroundings became visible to them. They were back in the vast, empty desert and the path they had once travelled was nowhere to be seen. Not a rock, cactus, building or any other landmark was visible. Just miles and miles of the red-tinted sand, bathed in the eerie glow from the strange and turbulent purple sky.
However, they were not alone. Just over a hundred feet in front of them were two demons, furiously locked in combat. One was a minotaur, a demon with a massive but humanlike body coupled with the head of a bull. The other was bright yellow, with scaly skin and a head similar to a crocodile's. The minotaur held a giant battleaxe in its hands. The yellow demon was wielding a long, curved scimitar with a nasty looking serrated edge. They were too far away for Midnight to work out which was winning, but the fight certainly looked pitched and vicious.
"I think I preferred it on the other side of the door," said John, whimsically. Out of curiosity Midnight reached out and tried the handle of the door they'd just entered through that now stood conspicuously unsupported in the desert. It was locked, as usual. He turned his gaze back to the battling demons.
The demon's weapons continued to clash as they circled each other, both looking for a gilt-edged chance to slaughter their opponent with one clean hit. Bright sparks flew as their weapons collided, but the exchanges between the two were so fast and furious that neither John or Midnight could work out who was doing what to whom from their distant vantage point.
Despite the immense influx of cautious advice being offered his way by the little voice in his head, Midnight felt a strange urge to get a better view of the contest. It was as if some invisible force was willing him to move to another location to see better, and no matter how many arguments his normal cautious mind could produce, the impulse just wouldn't fade. Finally he made up his mind to heed this seemingly mystical influencer. "Let's get a better view," he said to John.
John looked more than just a little worried and surprised by this. "You want to get closer to them, mate? Are you nuts?"
Midnight had already dropped to his knees. "It'll be fine. We'll crawl army style, nice and slowly. Just don't make any noise."
John shook his head in disbelief at what he was about to do, then sighed and did it. He followed Midnight to his belly, and the pair of them began slowly pulling themselves forward across the sand using their forearms. They quickly made covered forty feet before Midnight stopped at the back of an ever-so-slight dune in the sand. They had a much better view of the battle now, so they lay there side-by-side, perfectly still and watched the end unfold.
It looked very much as if the minotaur had been winning, and it showed no sign of letting up its advantage. It let out a mighty bellow and rushed in at the yellow demon, swinging its axe in front of it as if it were made of ice cream wafer and not solid oak and iron. Blow after blow rained down on the visibly weaker demon's weapon, and Midnight could see it was only a matter of time before the minotaur finished the job completely.
As he suspected, the minotaur relentlessly attacked the obviously exhausted yellow demon, and finally managed to ground it with a surprise heel kick to the torso. It lifted its axe high above its fallen foe then brought it hurtling down executioner-style towards its neck. Somehow the floored demon managed to roll out of the way, avoiding decapitation by an inch at most. Its escape was foiled though, as the minotaur reacted quickly and swung a crunching right boot into the fading demon's head, knocking it to the floor in a complete daze.
The minotaur took a step towards its fallen opponent, heaved its massive axe above its head once more and brought it down with tremendous force on the yellow demon's right leg. The grounded demon let forth a piercing shriek of pain that hurt Midnight's ears. He saw that its right leg had been cut clean off just below the knee. Thick, black blood was already beginning to flow freely from the injured stump.
Before John even had time to register the fact that he'd moved, Midnight was up and sprinting towards the minotaur, which was standing above the crippled yellow demon, its axe raised menacingly. He ran with a set, determined expression on his face and a confidence about him that John had only briefly seen in their confrontation with Richard. He looked as if he was ready to fight.
And he was. Thirty feet from the demon, he slowed to a quick walk. "Oi," he shouted. "Leave him alone and take on me!"
The minotaur wheeled around on the spot, momentarily alarmed by the presence of an intruder. As soon as it laid eyes on Midnight, it visibly relaxed. Then it tilted its head back and bellowed long and loud into the air. Although reading the bellow of a minotaur was not something that he'd had any experience with, Midnight got the distinct impression that the minotaur was laughing at him. And this made him even more determined to kill it.
"Yeah, that's right, I'm talking to you, hairy," he shouted, still advancing but much more slowly now. "Are you afraid of a little human, you big fat lump? What are you waiting for? Fight me!"
The minotaur unhurriedly brought its head down and hoisted its axe into battle position. It then spoke, using English but with a very deep and odd accent. "That will be the last noise you make of your own free will, human!"
Midnight didn't know what he was doing. It was as if some external force had taken over his body and made him rush to face the minotaur. He would never have been as brave or foolhardy as to challenge a demon to a fight when there was still the possibility of going undetected. The little voice in his head would never have allowed it without some form of divine influence.. And yet there he stood, twenty feet from a minotaur he'd just insulted, armed only with a weird ring that undoubtedly had great powers if only he knew how to wield it. If he'd ever had any doubts that someone or something was following and aiding their progress they were completely extinguished.
As would be his life, if he failed to speedily think of a clever trick, because the minotaur had charged forwards immediately after speaking, it's axe hoisted across its back, intending to deliver one colossal blow to finish Midnight there and then. He could hear it snorting and snarling loudly as it thundered towards him and he saw that it's eyes were dark red and narrow, giving it a ferocious appearance.
He raised his left hand out in front of him, clenched in a fist with the demon ring pointed directly at the minotaur. He was half expecting, half hoping, that the ring would light up and ignite the minotaur quickly and fatally as it had done to the demon he'd killed to free John.
The ruby on top of the ring stayed obstinately dull.
A second passed. The minotaur closed the gap to 15 feet.
Another second passed. No sign of life from the ring. The minotaur was closing the ground between them at great speed and Midnight, or the ring, were running out of time to do anything.
Oh God, I haven't got the faintest idea what I CAN do, if the ring doesn't work, flashed through his mind.
WHAT? screamed the little voice in his head indignantly. You made us rush to face this vicious, evil demon without even an inkling of how to do it? You IDIOT!
I didn't make us. Something told me to. A spirit or something.
Oh, great. Fantastic. Is that spirit standing here, about to be sliced in half by a bloody minotaur for crying out loud? Is it taking on a more fearsome opponent than it's ever seen before armed with a ring that doesn't even work? No. We are. Nice going.
It wasn't my fault, damn it! It was...
Suddenly he lost complete control of his body. One millisecond he could feel all of his limbs and body parts as normal, the next he couldn't. He felt as if he was just a mind, a mere essence floating above his now vacant body; a similar sensation to smoking cannabis.
Although he felt detached from his flesh, blood and bones he could still see from his eye's point of view, but his vision was distorted and blurry, like he was looking through a lightly frosted pane of glass. He saw his body take a half step backward, then hold its left hand high above its head. The minotaur was no more than seven feet away now, and was readying itself to swing its mighty axe. There was no more time. It was upon him.
In a split second, the axe was cutting its way through the air towards his head. Simultaneously his body pulled its left arm down in an arc motion and shouted "Defend" in a loud and commanding tone. There was a mighty, noiseless flash of light. Immediately, with what can only be described as a mental jolt, Midnight found that he was back in his body with control over its actions as usual. He blinked a few times until his vision straightened, then turned to look at the minotaur.
The minotaur's axe had come to a stop about two inches from his head. But the axe and its owner would not be cutting anything ever again, because the minotaur was now a perfectly lifelike statue carved from (after Midnight had tasted it) salt.
He heard footsteps quickly approaching behind him and whirled around. It was John, and he chastised himself for not remembering that the other demon was pretty unlikely to be doing a fun run with its newly acquired disability.
"What the hell just happened, mate?" John said, panting slightly from his jog. "It looked pretty spectacular from where I was cowering, I can tell you. How on earth did you know how to do that, mate. I'm speechless."
Midnight didn't answer. He'd noticed that the injured demon had crawled and hopped its way quite a distance and he really wanted to ask it some questions. Any information about hell and Inferno had to be useful. "John, I'll tell you all about it in a minute or two, but first we need to catch up and interrogate that yellow demon. I'm sure something forced me to do what I just did...and the only reason I can see is that we're supposed to talk with this other demon. Come on."
"Okay," said John simply. He turned and started jogging fairly quickly after the demon. Midnight joined in, suddenly wary that a door could very well fall on his head at any second. The fact that the sand hurt his feet far less than the pebbles in the path had done was quite considerable compensation for this risk, however.
It didn't take long at all for them to catch up with the demon, understandably as it was severely injured. It was currently making its progress on its stomach, crawling doggedly in a straight line, clutching its severed leg to its chest with its elbows. When they were no more than ten feet behind, Midnight called out "Stop and answer my questions or die like the minotaur."
"Leave me. Let me die in peace," it called back in an evil, rasping voice that nevertheless contained fear, pain and weariness.
"No. You WILL answer our questions. This is your last chance. Stop and turn around, or burn."
The demon stopped crawling, then slowly and with considerable effort the demon rolled from its front to its back, and half raised its head to look at Midnight. The second its gaze came to rest on him, the demon rung suddenly started glowing brightly and fiercely. The demon immediately noticed this, and its body clenched in fear.
"NO! Don't burn me!" it shrieked loudly. Midnight looked down and saw the brightly glowing ruby on his finger.
"Oh hell...how do I stop it," he yelled.
"Cover it with your hand! Cover it with your hand!" the demon shrieked in fear. Midnight quickly grabbed his left hand in his right. The glowing subsided a little, but did not go away.
"You fool!" shouted the demon. "What did you expect would happen if you walk towards a demon carrying a demon ring?"
"I don't know," responded Midnight truthfully. "It didn't do anything to the minotaur until I made it."
"Minotaurs are not demons," it replied, angrily. "Minotaurs are mortal...they just live for many thousands of years. They are known as super mortals. Then you have lesser demons like me. I will never die from old age, but I can be killed by physical force or magic. Finally you have the greater demons, such as Inferno or the Harbinger, who are completely immortal."
"I didn't know that," said Midnight slowly. "And I apologise for nearly causing you harm. However, I wish you to answer my questions, and if you fail to do so or I suspect you are lying I will uncover the ring and let you burn. If you answer, we shall do you no harm. Do you understand?"
The demon nodded its head sulkily. Midnight smiled inwardly at this. "How do we get out of hell?" he asked.
The demon replied immediately. "There are three ways to leave hell. The first way is to speak with Inferno and get his permission to use one of the main entrances. He does not look favourably on those who ask for little reason though. The second way is to use one of the open channels to the mortal world. These are kept and guarded by the Channel Master, one of Inferno's closest servants. The third and final way is to use the vortex."
"What's a channel?" asked John.
"A channel is an energy link between the spiritual world and the mortal world. Walking through the entrance to a channel, represented in hell by a large mirror, takes you straight to wherever in the mortal world the channel's end is located."
"How do you know where a channel ends?"
"The image in the mirror will not be your reflection...it will be the view from the channel's end."
"OK...what's the vortex?" Midnight asked, almost overwhelmed by the influx of new information they were receiving.
"The vortex is a magical creation that allows anyone with the key to travel to any point in the mortal world. Before it is activated it looks like a simple pool of crystal clear water. Only greater demon's can have access to the key, and only with Inferno's permission."
"OK, so let's say I'm standing in the vortex holding the key, how do I use it?"
"The same way as the normal transportation system down here," replied the demon, with a puzzled look.
"Well, how do you use that?" asked John, and the look of puzzlement on the demon's face extended to full-blown surprise.
"You have come this far into hell without knowing how to get from place to place?" it asked. "You are deserving of praise indeed. To go anywhere in hell, merely announce your required destination loudly. A door will soon arrive to take you, no matter where you are."
"What?" said John. "Are you saying that we walked all this way when we could have just said...uh..."
"We had to do it the way we did," interrupted Midnight. "How could we have gone anywhere without knowing where to go?"
John conceded the point then turned his attention back to the demon. "OK, how do we get the vortex key?"
The demon shook its head. "You will not be able to. It is always kept by a greater demon, and your ring will not help you there."
"Put yourselves in our shoes," said Midnight. "We are enemies of Inferno and we need to leave hell. What would you do?"
"The only possible option is to try sneaking past the Channel Master. You are very unlikely to succeed however, and the Channel Master can summon Inferno very quickly. Neither of the two other choices is even remotely worth considering."
Midnight looked at John. "Anything else you want to ask it?"
John thought for a couple of seconds then shook his head. "Can't think of anything. Thanks, Hop-along."
The demon made absolutely no response to John. It silently rolled back on to its front and resumed its slow and painful crawl across the desert, clutching its severed limb to its chest. John and Midnight looked at each other and shrugged. What could they do?
"Looks like we're paying a visit to the Channel Master then, whoever that is," said Midnight when the demon had gone about fifty feet..
"Yeah. But first you're gonna tell me what the hell happened in that fight with the minotaur," replied John.
"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that. Well, it was really, really bizarre..."
He filled John in.
User Reviews
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2004-06-07 14:33:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
S^3 R0xX0rs my B0xX0rz
Submitted by Tom (user info) at 2004-06-07 14:24:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
wtf i cant read all that
Seriously. What I read was good. I'll take the rest later.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2004-06-07 13:59:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
please keep them comming.
I'll wait.
Submitted by youarsoghey (user info) at 2004-06-07 13:21:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I've been reading these and not rating for whatever reason..sorry, I'll get around to it someday. But this was a good addition.
Submitted by reallybored (user info) at 2004-06-07 09:23:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This series is awesome.