Inferno: Chapter 20 (616 hits)
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Submitted by SoxSexSax (View user info) at 2005-07-19 18:34:37 EDT
Chapter 19: http://www.ubersite.com/m/70997
Chapter 18: http://www.ubersite.com/m/70350
Chapter 17: http://www.ubersite.com/m/69845
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
(Oh my God, two Inferno chapters in two days??? WTF is going on, I hear you scream. Search me...I just work here.)
Chapter 20
John stepped through the white door and found himself standing on the devastated front lawn of the White House. He noticed immediately the charred, smouldering hulks of metal that had once been tanks, helicopters and police cars and then with distaste the various decapitated and dismembered corpses and skeletons that had once been their operators. The stench of death about the place was both unmistakable and nauseating. It was eerily silent and just as eerily motionless; John could not see even a single fly, gnat or mosquito buzzing through the air around him.
He looked skywards and gasped in horror at the sight. He had been sent into hell by Paul before the sky had darkened and although Midnight had described it to him, nothing could have prepared him for seeing it with his own two eyes. It was still as black as the darkest night and red, wispy clouds still glided swiftly through it like blood-soaked wraiths. Forks of lighting still crashed down onto the planet with an unnatural frequency, although none seemed to come near the White House. He saw a fireball in the distance arcing down towards the earth's surface before it finally disappeared from view behind the White House. It wasn't raining, or at least it wasn't raining where John was, but he could see that it certainly had been at some point...heavily, to say the least. It was a struggle for him to pull his eyes away from the sight and look towards his destination.
Just days before, the White House had been a majestic and splendid symbol of freedom, hope and justice. Now it was charred and devastated. The vast majority of the windows were broken and there were holes of varying sizes smashed into the walls. The white paint that remained was stained grey from the ash and smoke all around it. It looked like a citadel of evil; a place that Inferno would be only to pleased to call home.
John took a deep breath to calm his nerves, then started to walk steadily around the oval shaped path towards the front of the building, trying his very best not to look at the corpses strewn all about him. However, when he came to the large, round fountain that was situated right outside the front, he nearly vomited with revulsion. A number of severed human heads were floating in it, and the water was a crimson colour and practically opaque.
So this is what evil looks like, he thought to himself. No wonder most people are generally good...who could stomach this all day every day? He wrenched his eyes away from the terrible sight with a great effort and stumbled forward towards the White House's front, his stomach churning horribly.
Three short days ago, he would have had to walk around the side to gain entrance. Now, all but two of the large plate windows behind the fountain were devoid of glass, and he climbed through one with no problems whatsoever. He purposefully made his way out of the room he found himself in (a scorched, devastated mess of an office, that's door had been torn from its hinges) and into the main lobby of the building.
The sight before him almost made him vomit again. It was strewn with at least ten bodies (the exact number was hard to identify, owing to the fact that not one of them was in a single piece) and absolutely covered in nearly-dried blood. Every picture had been ripped from the walls and replaced with a severed body part; hands, legs, a torso, a head. It was like a scene from a low budget B-movie, only more real than even an unnaturally gifted director could possibly have managed. The stench of dried blood and decomposing flesh was almost overwhelming and thoroughly unpleasant.
I cannot believe this, he thought to himself...and then he realised that he could. What did he expect to find in the place Inferno had chosen as his domain on Earth? He also realised that he didn't want to spend a second longer in it than he absolutely had to. And that meant he had to find Kyriss. Fast.
Well she could be anywhere, he thought. This could take ages. But she must know I'm here, she's a demon. Why won't she show herself, damn it?
"Mortal, you are very brave to walk into my lair," came an evil, grating yet distinctly feminine voice from the balcony above him, as if in reply to his thoughts. "Extremely brave in fact, or extremely foolish."
"I'd like to think brave," replied John, more firmly than he felt. "Yes, you can call me Captain Bravery, if you'd like."
Almost immediately a figure leapt from the balcony above him, performed a perfect back-flip in the air and landed immaculately about fifteen feet behind him. John swivelled on the spot to face this acrobatic demon.
She was beautiful and terrible at the same time. She looked so human and yet there was something about her face that looked unnatural. Her eyes were wondrous; dark-brown and wide with immaculately trimmed eyebrows. Her lips were thin and sneering but of the deepest red he had ever seen on a woman. She had straight brown hair that hung perfectly down to just above her waistline and her skin was quite pale but not so pale as to look pasty. John found her to be both gorgeous and horrific simultaneously, and he was almost certain he had found who he sought.
"Are you Kyriss?" he asked. A look of mild surprise formed on the demon's face.
"You know my name mortal? Interesting...very interesting. I have only gone by that name for three days now. Please permit me to me guess at yours...Midnight?"
"Afraid not love," replied John with a wry grin that he had to force onto his face. "The other one."
"John Stevenson then, I assume?" she said, with a grin of her own.
"The very same. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Kyriss."
"Likewise, I'm sure, John Stevenson," she replied. "Forgive the mess; had I known I was expecting company, I would have surely made many efforts to...prepare it more appropriately for you."
"Oh don't worry about it," said John, in a casual manner that belied the fact that he had almost vomited twice since arriving. "I've seen much worse than this in your master's charming domain."
He hadn't, of course; he'd never seen anything more revolting than the room in which he stood, and, presuming he survived, he doubted he'd ever see anything more disgusting again. But his mind was now firmly fixed on the task at hand. Midnight was most likely to die facing Inferno. John was NOT going to let his companion's great sacrifice be in vain.
"But of course you have!" she replied, as if this were some great revelation. "How could I have forgotten? I do hope he wasn't too hard on you, he does have a bit of a temper when he gets annoyed."
John forced a chuckle. "What Inferno? Ah, he's just a big cuddly pussy cat at heart, love. It was as pleasant a stroll as I can ever remember undertaking."
"Well that's good to hear John," she replied with a large smile that contained not an ounce of warmth. "I do apologise for assuming you were Midnight...your accent should have made it obvious. I feel like such a dunderhead today."
"I can't imagine you've spent that much time back in Oz," said John. The stench of the blood and rotting corpses made him want to retch, but he managed to fight it back. "Too warm, too sunny, too picturesque for a being of your...tastes, I reckon."
"But I have been there," she said, still smiling. "Very recently in fact, I visited the city of Sydney."
Alarm bells started ringing in John's head. "What takes a demon, and not just any demon or so I'm told, to Sydney."
"Surely you can guess, Captain Bravery," she replied, and the grin she wore now was one of pure malice. "As you should have already learned, my master does not make idle threats."
John steeled himself before asking his next question. "Did you kill my wife, Kyriss? Answer me!"
"Of course I did John. What do you expect to happen when you refuse my master's offers and ignore his warning. And I didn't just kill her either. I tore out her throat in front of your snivelling parents. The look in her eyes was quite...exquisite. Terror so pure and undiluted, so...erotic, almost."
John stood stock still at this news. He had feared it...he had even expected it, if he was honest with himself, but to hear it from the lips of the one responsible still cut into his heart like a knife. His hands started to shake visibly and his eyes narrowed to slits. Kyriss feigned mock surprise.
"Did I do wrong? I only did what you wanted me to do. Surely you realised what would happen when you CHOSE to disregard my master's warnings? You cannot be so naive as to think there would not be retribution. And you were fully warned what that retribution would be, were you not?
John could feel the anger and hatred welling up inside of him. How DARE this...thing that stood before him make such light of the death of his most beloved companion? How DARE Inferno order the death of the one person John had ever truly trusted (before meeting Midnight)? He didn't just have to slay Kyriss...he WANTED to.
"I am going to kill you bitch," he said, slowly but steadily. "I am going to kill you for my wife and any others you've slain."
She laughed, and it sounded mesmerising, beautiful, grotesque and malevolent at the same time. "I have my doubts about that, John Stevenson. I think it is I who will kill you."
"We'll see," he spat furiously, then lifted his hand with the demon ring above his head.
The ruby upon it began to glow a fierce and fiery red. Kyriss took one glance at it and the look of amusement she had been wearing was immediately replaced with fear. With a yelp she turned and leapt unbelievably high, her fingers wrapping themselves around the white banister. John held the ring as high as he could, standing on his tip-toes to reduce the distance between the ruby and his foe as far as possible. Kyriss attempted to pull herself up over the banister, a task that would have been simplicity itself for her at any other time. But the power of the ring was too much; she couldn't find the strength to pull her legs up with its massive power concentrated fully on her body. With a cry of dismay, her grip gave way and she plummeted back to the floor with a mighty crash.
"IT BURNS! IT BURNS! STOP IT...MAKE IT STOP!" she screamed, in such a horrifying tone that John could barely stand to hear it. Her body flailed and bucked crazily on the floor before him. "PLEASE! HELP ME! HELP ME!!!"
John had absolutely no intention of helping Kyriss, no matter how terrible her screams sounded. He took a step closer and lowered the demon ring to point directly at her. He could see her skin begin to melt; little bubbles were forming under the surface of it as if she had a nasty outbreak of hives. Her hair was falling from her head in giant clumps and her eyebrows were already totally incinerated. But her agonised suffering caused him no revulsion...in fact he was happier in seeing it than he had felt for a very long time indeed.
"PLEASE!!! I DID WHAT I WAS TOLD! DON'T KILL ME! I HAD NO CHOICE!!! ARGH...IT BURNSSSSSSSSS!!!"
"You enjoyed it, bitch," John spat. "You called it erotic, if I'm not mistaken. And guess what? I'm enjoying this. The sight of your flesh melting is really brightening up my day. Now die!"
"MASTER! MASTER!!! HELP ME!!! HELP MEEEEEEEE!!!"
"He can't save you demon! He's in a mind duel with Midnight as we speak. And when he emerges, his channel will be shut. Good riddance to bad rubbish!"
Kyriss' left ear fell from her head in one big splodge. Her screams were getting softer and her flailing was less emphatic. "NOOOO...NOOOOoooooooo...nooooo..." she at first screamed and then whimpered.
John took another step forward, almost oblivious to the foul smell of melting demon, aiming to finish her once and for all, when suddenly he heard a mighty crash from behind him. He wheeled around on the spot, confident that Kyriss was going nowhere...and looked straight into the dark face of the harbinger.
"Oh shit..." he began, but he got no further. With two huge steps it covered the short distance between them in an instant, grabbed his still outstretched arm and literally tossed him into a wall like he was a rag-doll.
John hit the wall hard and at a very nasty angle. He felt and heard a sickening crunch as his left elbow shattered upon impact, and then a thud as his body hit the floor. Before the pain even registered, the harbinger was standing above him once more. It grabbed him by his already crushed arm and threw him effortlessly again into the opposite wall. This time he hit it head first and his dazed body fell limply to the ground. It was above him in an instant and this time aimed a brutal kick into his stomach, rupturing his spleen instantly and pushing one of his ribs through his left lung. Blood began to literally pour out of his mouth. Finally, the harbinger savagely kicked him in the head...again...and again...and again. It kicked him until it was absolutely sure that the mortal known as John Stevenson was well and truly dead.
It reached down and tugged at the demon ring on John's lifeless finger. When it wouldn't come off with ease, it simply tore the entire finger from his hand. It grasped it tightly in its clawed hand and whispered an incantation. "Nullios Eterni".
When it opened its hand, the demon ring no longer glowed brightly. The ruby no longer had flames dancing within it. It was no longer an intense, powerful red...it was now a flat, dull shade of crimson.
Kyriss moaned in agony, her body disfigured almost beyond recognition. The harbinger strode towards her with large, purposeful steps. In a smooth, graceful motion it bent down and lifted her up in its mighty arms, before carrying her up the staircase, back to the oval office. It did this not out of any kindness, for it possessed no such emotions. It did it because it knew its master required her to survive. And although it could not heal her appearance (most of her face had quite literally melted away from her skull, and the flesh elsewhere on her body was in no better condition), it could heal her sufficiently to live and continue serving her master as a channel.
Which was all it, and Inferno, really wanted from her anyway.
User Reviews
Submitted by William_Q_Percy (user info) at 2005-07-20 11:30:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
alright!
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:59:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by SoxSexSax (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:49:32 (#)
Ranking: 0
There's only 3 chapters left...so yeah, 3 years sounds about right. ;)
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I'll still be around.
Submitted by nitty34 (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:51:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have yet to read any of these chapters, but maybe I will one day.
+2 for the effort it must have taken to write an Ubernovel.
Submitted by SoxSexSax (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:49:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:46:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
HOLY SHIT THIS IS GREAT!
now I think you are probably gonna go 3 or 4 years before finishing this."
There's only 3 chapters left...so yeah, 3 years sounds about right. ;)
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:46:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
HOLY SHIT THIS IS GREAT!
now I think you are probably gonna go 3 or 4 years before finishing this.
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-07-19 18:39:34 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Oh my God, two Inferno chapters in two days??? WTF is going on? "
EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING.
Now to read.