Fall From Grace

Chapter Three: The First and Second Circle (Limbo & Lust)

Long chapter for you guys, since you've all been waiting so long!

Abyssus faded into the shadows what seems like hours ago. I don't know for sure, though, because time is endless and untraceable here. All I know is that I've been trudging through the dreary, bleak fog of Limbo for an eternity. Hours have passed - or has it been minutes? Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years...I am not sure. I can see how people might lose their sanity here; the promise of suffocating, frozen nothingness for all of eternity would destroy the will of the most stable of minds. It is already tearing apart mine.

"Keep it together," I whisper through numb lips. I am so unbearably cold. The harsh winds whips around me, tearing at my raw skin and freezing my hair. I struggle against the gust, desperately making my way forward, as I have been for however long I've been here.

My body begins to scream in protest. It does not want me to continue to fight against the brutal wind and freezing cold. I am so tired. It would be so easy to just lie down and rest. Only for a moment, and then I could continue my journey, well-rested.

Do not fight your weariness a voice whispers to me. It is a soothing, quiet presence that fills my aching mind. Rest, traveller. You cannot continue on. Rest...

My eyes are so heavy, I can barely keep them opened. I realize that I've stopped walking entirely, and am no longer shaking with cold.  It would be so, so much easier to give up and listen to this voice....easier to forget this foolish journey...to forget Grace...I sigh and lay down on the ground, which is no longer cold and hard, but soft and comforting, and shut my eyes...

A face blazes behind my eyelids, that of a girl. A girl with golden brown hair, and a pale, heart-shaped face, dominated by huge chocolate eyes embedded with flecks of gold and emerald. She is saying something, but I cannot hear it. I focus on her pale lips, trying to decipher what she's saying. The howling wind makes it hard to concentrate. I cannot hear you, I think to her. She must understand, because her face twists with unimaginable sadness. However, her eyes glint with desperation. She begins to yell again, and this time, I can hear her.

Get up! Don't listen to the voice, it wants you to give up! Get up, get up, GET UP, JEFF. Find a way back to me! I need you...Her voice fades away, and so does her face.

Grace. That was Grace. I have been so foolish and weak. I can't forget her and give up. I won't quit now. I will get up and find my way back to her side, where I belong. Strengthened with my sudden resolve, I manage to push myself to my feet, despite the ever-shrieking wind. I won't let it get to me. Once again, I begin to trudge forward, but this time...I will not quit.

A few hours more (or, at least, that's what it felt like) and my feeling of hopelessness is back. Will I ever escape the emptiness of Limbo? When will the desperate cold leave my aching bones? Maybe it won't. Maybe this was all just a cruel joke played upon me by the Elders...maybe, there are no "circles of Hell," just endless blackness and despair stretching on for eternity. Maybe they sent me on a false journey to strip me of my hope and have me walk on for eternity, until I fade into nothingness as so many other lost souls have done here. Maybe I'll never hold Grace in my arms again.

I don't realize I've collapsed until I'm on the ground. But this time, I don't believe I'll ever get up. I close my eyes and whisper, "I'm sorry, Grace...."

"Wake up. Come on, wake up. Please, young one, wake up..."

I feel someone shaking me with urgency, and speaking to me in a high, lilting voice. I open my heavy eyes to see one of the most beautiful women I've ever laid eyes on.

Hair the color of midnight twisting around an oval face and strong, yet elegant, shoulders. Thickly lined topaz eyes that stand out against her bronze skin. Full, generous lips and high, regal cheekbones. I almost can't breathe; she's such an exquisite creature.