Inferno: Chapter 15 (649 hits)
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Submitted by SoxSexSax (View user info) at 2005-05-17 18:48:06 EDT
Chapter 14: http://www.ubersite.com/m/65131
Chapter 13: http://www.ubersite.com/m/35192
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
Chapter 15
Inferno sat cross legged on the front lawn of the White House...or, rather more accurately, on the charred smouldering ash heap that had once been the front lawn. The city of Washington D.C. was almost entirely silent. There was the faint sound of multiple fires crackling in the distance coupled with the odd owl hoot or two, but that was about it.
He was meditating on the progress of his invasion, and it had been a pleasurable meditation indeed. Nearly five percent of the world's population had been culled, almost four hundred million people. That number was increasing with every passing minute as his small but terrible army of demons rampaged freely over every country on the planet. He knew that his enemy would soon have little choice but to declare that judgement day had arrived for the human race, and with that came the end of his enemy's reign of goodness and light and the start of Inferno's reign of terror and darkness.
A pleasant memory fought its way to the topmost point of his consciousness: the memory of the president's face when they had finally met one another.
When the president of the USA had been informed that the destruction all over the world was the work of something that appeared to be a supernatural creature, he understandably decided that the best course of action would be to take his family and closest aides deep underground into a top secret bunker in the Nevada desert (the precise location of which was known to less than twenty people in the world).Obviously all bunkers are sturdy and secure, as that is their sole purpose, but this one was special even by the United States' military's standard. It had been designed to withstand explosions three times more powerful than the deadliest of bombs ever created by mankind. It had only one way in, but three doors to pass through (with three different ten digit security access codes to enter as well as a retina scan at the first), each one eight inches thick and made from solid titanium. The interior doors were also made from titanium and were themselves a not inconsiderable four inches thick. The roof of the fully fortified bunker area (a small set of rooms at the back of the bunker even more heavily fortified than the rest) was about twenty-five feet beneath the ground and was thicker and sturdier than even the main doors. Eight handpicked FBI special agents with assault rifles guarded the third exterior door day and night. To summarise, this bunker was a fortress.
After performing a perfect landing directly in front of the first exterior door, it took Inferno a little under four minutes to melt all three heavily fortified doors, incinerate all eight FBI agents, kick through five interior doors as if they were made from plywood and grab the president by the scruff of his neck in front of his terrified family and associates.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked in a vicious tone of voice, staring intently into the aging president's terrified face with the flames in his pupils flickering wildly.
"No," the president barely managed to whimper.
"Retribution," replied Inferno in the same tone of voice. Then, with a savage scream that burst everyone's eardrums immediately, he lifted the president off of the ground by his neck and slammed his head into the wall with unbelievable force. The president's head cracked like a coconut. Inferno's cruel laugh drowned out the screams of all the others, not that they could still hear themselves. He then set about quickly ripping the president's friends into little pieces. It didn't take long.
Retribution. Yes, that was the right word. I am your retribution, humans, Inferno thought to himself. Every time you tell someone you worship and respect God with your mouth but then go on to ignore some of his most basic principals, you get yourself a visit from me. Every time a Muslim cheats in Ramadan, he gets a visit from me. Every Catholic skipping church on a Sunday to do some spring cleaning gets a visit from me. Every Jew who eats a packet of bacon flavoured crisps gets a visit from me. Every Sikh with an organ donor card gets a visit from me. I am your retribution for your sins. Every atheist...oh how they shall suffer! You were warned I would come, all of you. You were warned that I would be terrible. And yet more and more of you turned away from rightness to a life of pride and gluttony and wrath and envy and greed and sloth and vanity. You made your choice, but choices have consequences. I am your retribution.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. He knew at once that it was Kyriss, and also exactly what she was about to tell him.
"Master, the Channel Master has sent a message to you. Midnight has taken the door to the vortex."
"Thank you Kyriss. Leave me."
Without a word or second look she turned and walked swiftly back to the White House. Inferno waited for her to get back inside before nonchalantly rising to his cloven feet.
"Come to me, old friend. I have a task for you," he said loudly in his rasping voice.
Barely a second later, after a flash of intensely bright light, a second demon stood before Inferno...perhaps the only demon in hell with a more fearsome appearance than its master.
"The champion and his helper are in the vortex chamber," said Inferno immediately. "Now is the time to show them the futility of their journey. Capture them both and place them in a cell. I shall return shortly to instigate their final suffering."
The last word had barely left Inferno's lips when a second flash immediately lit up the entire garden like a stadium floodlight for a mere instant. After, Inferno stood alone in the garden once more. And a smile formed on his evil lips.
What had started as a pure unlucky mistake by five foolish monks was now his greatest chance to rule the entire world. Inferno was not without a sense of humour and found the irony that the monks had tried to summon one of only two demons out of the thousands that existed in his domain that would have allowed him access to the world to be frankly hilarious. The rule on the matter is very clear and completely unbreakable:
Spiritual Law 23: If one demon slays another, then in the case of the fallen demon being subsequently summoned, the slayer will go in its place.
Inferno had only ever killed two demons personally, Kian most recently for failing to execute a direct order and a greater demon called Vinidai. More than seven hundred years previously, Vinidai had been Inferno's second in command. But he had grown resentful and envious of Inferno's power and also critical of the fact that their enemy was doing so much better in the acquisition of souls during the dark and middle ages. Eventually he challenged Inferno to a battle, which Inferno had no choice but to accept. As with all battles that involve Inferno, it was quick, violent and ended with the total incineration of his opponent. He then chose himself a new lieutenant and for seven-hundred years he had never been let down by his choice of right hand man (demon).
He was confident that this would not change on its current mission.
He looked up at the sky and smiled even more widely. "Hear me, my enemy," he shouted upwards, his evil voice echoing slightly as there were no other sounds at all to muffle it. "When do you want to call it quits? Today? Tomorrow? Or right after I kill your little champion? I warned you freewill was a mistake, but you knew better. You fool. You arrogant, conceited fool! It doesn't matter who's winning at any given moment until the very last second. And you are about to lose it all."
God gave no indication of having heard that Inferno could see, but he KNEW that his enemy had heard every word, and was pretty sure (but not positive) that his enemy was gravely worried by the current situation. Although, he had to admit, it was hard to tell with God sometimes.
Soon it wouldn't matter what God thought. Soon Inferno would be the one calling the shots. All that remained to be done was to kill Midnight in a way that befitted a champion.
He ended up dedicating more time to planning that than he had taken to plan the entire invasion.
User Reviews
Submitted by freebie (user info) at 2005-05-17 19:27:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Congratulations. You wrote something that took time and effort. I for one am glad to see this among all the trash that passes for posts nowadays.
Submitted by thorpe (user info) at 2005-05-17 18:56:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 because I'd never heard of this series so I will have to go through and read them now. Well, later.
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-05-17 18:56:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome as ever... you wanna have my babies?
I know, I know... do you?