Inferno: Chapter 17 (446 hits)
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Submitted by SoxSexSax (View user info) at 2005-07-02 14:48:36 EDT
Chapter 16: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68845
Chapter 15: http://www.ubersite.com/m/66508
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 17
The light was amazingly bright; Midnight had to cover his eyes to avoid being blinded by the sheer intensity of it. It almost had a weight, forcing him to stumble backwards. A very high pitched, piercing note rang through the air around him. Where was he? What was happening?
Finally, the world behind his eyelids no longer glowed red, suggesting to him that the light had dissipated, and the high pitched noise slowly faded away. Very cautiously, he allowed his eyelids to creep open.
He was standing on almost pure white marble tiles that stretched in all directions as far as he could see, situated between two long lines of tall, stone pillars that climbed so high he couldn't see their tops. Above him was blue sky, without a cloud to be seen, although there was also no sun.
Sitting cross legged in front of him, maybe a hundred feet away, was a hooded figure wearing a long brown cloak, looking, from behind, almost exactly like Obi Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars films.
Midnight tried to call out to the oddly clad figure but found he couldn't produce a sound. With nothing else around him of any interest, he began to walk towards his strange looking new acquaintance.
It should have taken him only twenty seconds to cover the distance, but somehow he seemed to get only a mere fraction closer to his target with every step. It was as if he was on a treadmill that was rotating ever-so-slightly slower than he was walking. He began to jog, but it made little, if any, difference. After nearly five minutes, he had managed to cover only a third of the gap between them.
Without warning and just as he was beginning to suspect that he would never reach the hooded being, the figure stood upright. Midnight stopped in his tracks, panting slightly from the exertion of jogging (he hadn't jogged or ran more than a few feet since cross country running was forced upon him by evil gym teachers at the age of fourteen) and waited to see what the figure would do next.
Whatever it was began to turn very slowly on the spot to face Midnight. Standing, it was shorter than Midnight had expected and looked fairly small in build as well. It began unhurriedly walking towards Midnight, but seemed not to suffer the same problems he had encountered trying to walk in his current environment. It advanced with its head bowed, looking directly at the floor in front of it, and using measured, perfectly rhythmical steps.
When it came within twenty feet of Midnight, it stopped in its tracks. It slowly raised its head, although the hood it was wearing was so baggy that still Midnight could not see it's face (if indeed it had one). It stood completely motionless in front of Midnight for almost twenty seconds as if sizing him up. Eventually, it spoke in a distinctly feminine voice.
"So this is where you've gotten to, is it? I always knew something like this would happen to you."
The voice was not just feminine; it was completely recognisable to him. It was his mother's. "Mum? Is that you?"
The figure slowly raised its arms to its hood and pulled it down. Midnight stared directly into his mother's face with an almost comical look of amazement etched onto his face.
"Of course it's me dear. Aren't you pleased to see me."
"I am...but I'm also very puzzled. How did you get here? And where exactly is 'here' anyway?"
"I think you know the answer to both of those questions, Daniel" his mother replied in the tone of voice she normally reserved for criticising the tidiness (or lack of) in Midnight's house. "Here is hell and I got here by dying."
She was right, Midnight had known that. "He killed you then. I'm so sorry. I had no choice."
"That's all right dear. You had all those other people to think about. All those people who never carried you around in their bellies to save. All those people who never worked double shifts to make sure you had all the new clothes you wanted to consider. I really didn't expect you to do anything differently. What is one life against millions, even if that one life is the only reason you exist?"
"Mum, please. You must understand. If I hadn't done what I did, everyone would have died...you included."
"Yes, yes, I'm sure you're quite right," she replied haughtily. "And I'm sure that having my brain melt like ice cream in a furnace and my newfound role as hell's favourite torture subject are small prices to pay to save the billions of people with whom you have never exchanged a word or emotion. You don't have to justify yourself to me son."
"But I do," Midnight blurted. "I didn't want you to die. But I had no choice! I didn't ask for this...any of it. I didn't want to be sent on this mission. I don't know how I..."
"Listen to you," she interrupted crossly. "'I didn't want to.' 'I had no choice.' Did I really raise you to be a completely self-obsessed little whiner? No. Act your age Daniel, not your shoe size. You made your decision, now live with it and stop trying to justify it to me."
Midnight had barely heard the last sentence. His eyes were fixed on his mother's forehead. It was pulsating; a small lump under her skin was throbbing wildly. "Mum? What's happening to your head?"
She raised her hand to her forehead and felt the lump. "It's nothing," she replied. "One of the pitfalls of dying, that's all."
It still sounded like his mother, but her voice was somewhat different now. It had a slightly harsh, almost metallic, edge to it that Midnight found deeply chilling. "What's happening to your voice?"
"I don't know what you mean, darling," she replied, and now she sounded almost masculine. "I've always spoken this way."
Midnight looked on in horror as a large red welt suddenly appeared on the left cheek of his mother's face. Without warning it split open and a foul-looking combination of blood and pus began oozing from it and started to trickle down towards her chin. "Oh my God, mum, you're bleeding."
"No I'm not," she said, and she no longer sounded female. "It's just a little nick, nothing for you to worry your little head about." As she spoke, blood began to gush from her nose and both of her lips suddenly looked cracked and sore. "Maybe you're seeing things."
Midnight took a step back, but this did not seem to increase the distance between them. He felt tears welling up in his eyes again at the sight of his mother falling to pieces. "Mum...what's happening to you," he managed to choke. "Please, if you can, stop it!"
"Stop what darling?" she asked, but she no longer sounded human. Her voice rasped like chalk on a blackboard and she sounded...evil. "I really don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about."
He could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Smoke was rising from the figure (which he could no longer believe was his mother). Her face was covered in sores, blood and foul, yellowy pus. Her body suddenly jolted involuntarily as if somebody had touched her with a cattle prod. She was morphing before his eyes. Her legs were bowing...her skin was darkening...her arms were growing longer. The cloak she was wearing split down the back and two short, stubby wings poked through and began growing at an astonishing rate. He couldn't take it any more. He threw his arm across his eyes. Immediately she screamed, and it was a scream of agony and terror at first, but it soon turned into a primeval scream of pleasure. It didn't just hurt his ears, it hurt his entire mind to listen to it.
"Daniel Middleton Knight, look at me when I'm talking to you," the figure said, and now Midnight recognised the voice once more. It was not his mother's. It was Inferno's.
He didn't want to uncover his eyes...he DESPERATELY did not want to look upon Inferno. But he had no choice; his arms unfolded as if held by two powerful wrestlers. He tried to force his eyelids to remain shut...but against his mind's will they slid open with no resistance. He looked, for the first time, upon Inferno's true form.
The demon looked as evil, sadistic and malevolent as ever...and yet the overwhelming, uncontrollable fear he had been expecting to rise in his gullet did not arrive. Instead, his main emotions were anger and hatred.
"I am your mother now Midnight," said Inferno with a glimmer of a chuckle. "We are one and the same being. She is part of me, just like the millions of others I have taken over the centuries. Although I must say I've had far more fun with her than I've had with most. Such pitiful screams! Such terrified expressions! Your mother is one of my favourite playthings. Thank you for not accepting the deal I presented you...if I had known how much fun your mother's death would provide me, I'd have never offered you it in the first place."
Midnight took a deep breath. "I am not afraid of you any more. I am going to beat you."
Inferno laughed hard, and it sounded just as malicious to Midnight as it had to the five monks who had died at his hands in Tibet, yet it still didn't cause the fear he would have expected just ten minutes before. "Good luck with that Midnight. You're not the first to say that to me. You will not be the last. And here I am, alive and well. Of course, I'm sure you will do so much better than all of your predecessors... the deeply knowledgeable, mighty and religious men that have faced me before obviously pale into insignificance against the power of an atheist computer programmer."
"I'm no atheist," Midnight replied. "I believe in God. And I believe he will give me the strength to defeat you."
"We shall see," said Inferno. "Soon now, we shall see. I am on my way back to hell as we speak. You can measure your life in hours from this point, not days. I look forward to meeting you in the flesh, Midnight. Now, you'd better wake up. John's probably getting lonely by himself."
He clicked his fingers.
*
Midnight's eyes flickered open. He was utterly surrounded by blackness. John was gently shaking him by his shoulder.
"Thank God mate, I thought you were never going to wake up. Don't scare me like that!"
"Where are we? What's going on?" Midnight asked groggily.
"They're both good questions, mate. Highly appropriate. Take a look for yourself."
Midnight slowly sat up and looked around him. Nothing at all was visible in the black nothingness he found himself in; it was as if they had just stepped through one of hell's strange doors and the room within had not appeared.
"So this is the dungeon, huh?" he asked no-one in particular. John answered anyway.
"It would seem so mate. Pretty smart design, I guess. The doors don't work here; I've tried summoning them to everywhere I could think of. Nothing happens."
Midnight struggled to get to his feet, suddenly conscious that the 'ground' beneath him did not actually exist. "How are we going to get out of this, then?"
"In all honesty mate, I am inclined to believe that we won't," John replied, in a resigned tone. "How can you escape from somewhere that has no doors, ceiling or walls?"
Midnight looked up. "To the vortex," he said loudly, hoping against hope that a door would arrive. Nothing happened.
"I've already tried, mate. To the vortex, the channel master, the well in the desert, the warlock's bridge...I've tried them all. The door never comes."
Midnight sighed. Surely they were doomed? Even if Inferno didn't come for them (and Midnight had no real doubts that he would), thirst and hunger would claim them both very soon. His throat was sore and his mouth barely able to create enough saliva to even speak. His stomach rumbled constantly and was filled with a dull ache. He felt, in a word, terrible.
"I just don't accept it was meant to end this way," he said. "Why would God have sent us to fail?"
John shrugged his shoulders and offered no reply. However, the little voice in his head had something to say on the matter. Let's face facts Midnight, it ventured. The most likely outcome from the start has indeed transpired. Travelling into the devil's home to do battle with him can only have one ending, can't it? Sure, at various points along the way our situation has looked promising. But you can't seriously have thought we were going to win?
Well, yeah I did actually, countered the other side of his mind. I may have only believed in God for a couple of days, but it's not like you grow up without finding out a few facts about Him. I thought He was the most powerful being in existence...and when you're sent on a journey by the most powerful being in existence, you expect to be victorious. It stands to reason, doesn't it?
I think you're forgetting that it was the same God who allowed His son to die on a roman crucifix, the little voice countered. It was the same God that sent a plague to kill all of the first born sons of Egypt when their pharaoh refused to acknowledge His existence. It was the same God who told Abraham to sacrifice his own son to prove his faith. What makes you so convinced that He WANTS you to succeed?
Why else would He have sent us? If He just wanted to be sure we died, He could have left us on earth.
The Lord works in mysterious ways you know. You don't know what He wants...nor what He is thinking. If he wanted you to succeed, why are you trapped in a dungeon waiting for Inferno to come and execute you?
Maybe we did something wrong. Maybe we weren't supposed to come this way. Maybe we should have been more polite to Richard.
Rubbish, the little voice retorted hotly. There haven't been any choices for you to make. Things occurred the only way they could possibly have done so. And yet you find yourself trapped and facing death. How much more evidence do you need?
I'm not listening to you any more, Midnight told the little voice firmly. I'm sick of your negativity.
I'm not being negative Midnight. You know it's the truth...we are the same person after all. I'm just being realistic. I'm telling you what you already know.
John interrupted Midnight's internal argument. "We've failed, haven't we mate? We've failed to save the world."
Midnight sighed. "It seems like it. We've failed to save the world and we've failed to save ourselves. Colossal failure if I ever saw it."
"Failed? On the contrary, you have done rather well," came a calm voice from behind them. Both John and Midnight swivelled around on the spot. Standing before them, still wearing the same blue jeans and white T-shirt as the last time Midnight had encountered him, was Paul.
"PAUL! How the...what the..." spluttered Midnight. John managed slightly better.
"I've got a bone to pick with you, pal," he said, with real anger in his voice. "What's your game, putting me into hell without even asking my permission? And why did you have to put me in a cell with a damn demon, huh?"
Paul bowed his head to the Australian. "I understand your anger John, and I do owe you an apology. If there had been any other way of doing what I had been asked to do, I would have done it. I did what I did to make sure you and Midnight met each other. Feel free to be furious with me, but please don't let that get in the way of what you have to do."
John stared intently at Paul while he spoke. Finally he replied. "OK. I forgive you for now, but if we get out of this alive, I demand you come and apologise to me once more."
Paul shook his head sadly. "If I could promise you that, I would. Unfortunately, I can only appear to mortals when I have been told to. You have my word however that I deeply regret everything that has happened to you both and that I would put it right if I could."
John sighed. "I guess that'll have to do. OK, I forgive you mate."
"You're a magnanimous person John. It is one of your finest qualities," said Paul. "And you are both as brave and intelligent as any mortal to ever come before you. I can tell you that God himself is most impressed with your progress so far."
Midnight finally recovered the power of speech. "Inferno told me you were dead. He even showed me your body. How do we know it's really you and not some demon in disguise?"
A faint smile crept onto Paul's face. "You know by now that Inferno and his servants lie without remorse. You cannot believe anything he or his minions tell you, even if they assure you they speak the truth. However, there is a question you could ask me that would prove it beyond all doubt; neither Inferno nor his underlings would lie in answering it...they would give you the answer they believe to be true."
John nodded. "I get it. Who is the most powerful being in existence?"
Paul smiled. "Well done John. The answer is God."
Midnight nodded slowly. "OK...so what are you doing here? Helping us, I hope. And how did you manage to get here, anyway? Surely they didn't just let you through?"
"Inferno seriously underestimates God's power," said Paul. "I'm almost sure he doesn't know that God can access and use any open channel far more easily than even Inferno can. Although I had to be a little cunning to get past the channel master undetected. But it wasn't really very difficult at all, to be honest. As for why I am here...well, I come with a plan to trap Inferno in hell. I'm sure you have realised by now that you cannot defeat Inferno in physical combat...he is immortal, after all. But there is another way to fight him. You can challenge him to a mind duel."
"Forgive me for asking the obvious question, mate," said John, "but what the hell is a mind duel?"
"It's a contest of Inferno's own creation. Two beings occupy a single body then fight using their minds for control over it. The loser must submit to the victor's will."
"OK, but if Inferno created it, surely he's very good at it?" asked Midnight. "How can we hope to beat him at his own game?"
"You are perceptive and intelligent Midnight," Paul replied solemnly. "It is true that Inferno has never lost one of these contests. However, they invariably last more than an hour. And that gives us a window of opportunity."
"Opportunity for what?" asked John.
"For one of you to travel back to earth with the demon ring and kill Kyriss, Inferno's link to the mortal world," replied Paul, matter-of-factly.
Midnight listened to Paul's words with astonishment. He wasn't serious, was he? "You're joking, right? You want us to separate and fight two demons on our own?"
"If there was another way Midnight, I would suggest it. This is the only possible solution. While Kyriss lives, and she will live forever unless someone kills her, Inferno will always be able to travel between the two worlds."
"What about the vortex?" asked John. "Can't Inferno just use that to get back to earth?"
"No he can't," said Paul. "Greater demons cannot use the vortex. It is a spiritual law. To get to earth, a greater demon has to be summoned by a mortal."
"Hang on a second," said Midnight, in a puzzled tone. "Are you telling us somebody deliberately asked Inferno to come to our world?"
"Not exactly. They tried to summon a lesser demon called Kian. Unfortunately, Inferno killed Kian a couple of centuries or so before...meaning that he was summoned instead."
"Who would want to summon any demon?" asked John incredulously. "As far as bad ideas go, that's up there with putting your head in a starving crocodile's mouth!"
"Not everyone thinks like you John, I'm afraid. Some people are only too happy to have an evil demon do their bidding. I would not like to even imagine what God will do to the five souls who were responsible for this when judgement day does finally arrive. It's up to you to make sure that is later rather than sooner."
Immediately after speaking, Paul visibly stiffened. A pained expression leapt onto his face and his arms and legs began to tremble ever so slightly.
"Paul? What's wrong?" asked Midnight, alarmed.
"He...is...back," Paul struggled to say. Immediately he collapsed to the invisible black floor in a heap.
"Paul! Are you all right?" Midnight rushed over to their spiritual guide and dropped to his knees by his side.
"I...will...be...give...me...a...few...seconds," Paul panted. His face was literally dripping with sweat.
It was more like a minute before his laboured breathing finally began to return to normal. "Oh, how I hate it when that happens," he finally managed to say. He got back to his feet in a tremulous and unstable fashion.
"What was that all about mate?" asked John with a look of concern on his face, a look that was also shared by Midnight.
"Inferno has returned to hell," Paul replied, wearily. "Our window of opportunity has opened."
He reached into one of the pockets in his jeans and pulled out a small, shiny object. Midnight identified it at once as another ring. "What does that ring do?"
Paul held it up so the two companions could see it more clearly. It looked very similar to the demon ring on Midnight's finger, but the stone that sat upon it was a bright blue sapphire rather than a ruby. "Everything in existence has an opposite. God, Inferno. Fire, water. Night, day. A demon ring, a spirit ring."
"What..." began John. Paul held up his hand to stop him from asking the obvious question.
"Inferno has no interest in keeping the forces of good and evil nicely balanced. When he commanded the harbinger to create the demon rings for him, he had no intention of levelling the evil forces that would be created. Yet again God was forced to act to keep Inferno's demonic intentions in check. The spirit rings are God's response."
"But what do they do?" asked Midnight. "Can they get us out of here?"
"I hope so," replied Paul. "I admit I have not tested their power in hell before...actually I have never been to hell before. But I am confident that they will. Let us see."
He slid the ring onto the middle finger of his left hand and raised it high above his head. "Exit!" he said firmly.
There was a mighty-yet-brief flash of light that seemed to emanate from the sapphire. When it cleared, two doors stood side by side just to the right of them. Both were wooden and looked identical in design to all of the previous doors they had encountered. However, one was painted bright white, while the other was the deepest black.
"Phew...I was more than a little worried about that part, I must admit," said Paul, relieved. "But that is what I expected. One of those doors leads back to earth...close to where Kyriss is currently waiting for her master's summons. One leads directly to Inferno. I assume you can guess which is which."
Midnight looked straight at John. "I will face Inferno. He has appeared to me in my dreams, so I already know what to expect. He has toyed with me the whole way, and I want to be the one who defeats him."
John stared him right in the eyes. "Are you sure, mate? I am willing to do either, but I feel awful about letting you face him alone."
"I'll be fine," replied Midnight firmly. "He no longer scares me. I want my revenge. For my mother, for your wife, for every damn soul he's claimed that wasn't rightfully his. Even if he defeats me and tortures me for all eternity...it'll be worth it if you can kill Kyriss and trap him back in hell."
John nodded slowly. "OK, mate. You take Inferno, I'll handle Kyriss."
"It is decided then," said Paul solemnly. "Midnight, you'll need to give the demon ring to John. It will not be of any use to you now."
With no hesitation Midnight pulled it from his finger and handed it to his companion. "Look after it," he said to John. "It's saved our lives plenty of times."
"Don't worry mate, I won't be losing it," John replied. "It's bloody tight, to tell you the truth."
"I must leave you now, before my presence is detected," said Paul. "If Inferno knew I was here, everything would be lost. I wish you both the best of luck...and remember that God is with you. He will help you if He can...I am sure of it."
He turned his back to them and made as if to lift the ring again. Halfway through the motion he paused, then turned back to face the two companions.
"I nearly forgot. I think I can help you in another way," he said. He held the spirit ring high above his head once more. "Nourishment," he said loudly and clearly.
The flash of light that occurred this time was far smaller and less intense. As soon as it faded, Midnight saw that a jug of pure, clear water had appeared by his feet, along with two small glasses and two loaves of crusty, fresh, white bread.
"Wow," he said. "Thanks."
"It is I who should be saying thanks to you, my friends," replied Paul swiftly. "Along with every other being in existence, mortal and spiritual alike. If I cannot offer the saviours of humanity food and water, what kind of spirit would I be? But eat and drink quickly...the window grows smaller with every passing second. Now I really must go."
He turned his back once more and lifted the ring above his head. "Return," he said loudly. There was another brief flash of light. When it cleared, John and Midnight were alone.
John immediately stooped and filled both glasses from the jug. He held one out to Midnight, who all but snatched it from his companion and began to drink. Never before had water tasted so crisp and wonderful to him. It soothed his burning throat and pleasantly cooled his warm innards. "I truly never believed the taste of water would ever make me this happy," he said to John, as his companion picked up the loaves of bread and handed one to him. He took a large bite out of the bread and chewed it ferociously. Even without butter or anything else to moisten it, it tasted delicious.
"Thank you very much God," said John, rather unclearly through a mouthful of food. "Thank you very, very, very much!"
They ate quickly as instructed by Paul, relishing the taste of the bread and the dissipation of their hunger pains. With every mouthful he swallowed, Midnight felt hope and optimism returning. Their plan sounded feasible. Their physical strength was returning. And God had not abandoned them...He meant to help them succeed. Who could stop them now?
As soon as they had swallowed their last mouthfuls, they made for their respective exits. Midnight stood before the black door with no hint of fear in his mind. In fact, he was almost looking forward to what lay the other side of it. He turned to John.
"Good luck," he said. "Give her hell!"
"I will mate. And good luck to you as well. If you get the chance, tell him that I have nothing in my heart but contempt for him any more. And that I don't fear him half as much as he should fear you!"
"You bet I will. Let's do this. Hopefully I'll see you again when this is over."
"I hope so too, mate. Now let's go. See you soon Midnight."
Simultaneously they opened their doors, stepped through and shut them behind themselves.
User Reviews
Submitted by Yes (user info) at 2005-07-06 14:01:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
So much awesome.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-07-03 02:28:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome!
Wow man, when you write this do you keep re-reading the old stuff you wrote before? I mean, how do you keep everything straight for so long?
I smell an epic battle on the horizon!
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2005-07-02 18:44:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by GodLovesALittleLovin (user info) at 2005-07-02 15:56:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This deserves a +2. A little long, hard to keep interest at some points during the middle, but that's probably because I don't know enough background on the characters. Did you enter UMIII?