Hellsfire

Chapter Three

Levi stands at the Gate between his world and the human world. It's one of seven Gates that exist, and the closest one to where he lives. So close, in fact, that it is within walking distance, which is convenient because Levi is too stupid to drive a car.

He's here for a reason. There's a very compelling reason for him to return home that isn't just 'I Want To Go Home'. There's a Problem. He just... doesn't know what the problem is yet.

This particular Gate is called the Lydian Gate because it led to the kingdom of Lydia in the underworld. Lydia itself is ruled by this cool person called Lucifer who sounds scary but is pretty cool once you get to know them. It's fortunate for Levi, because he has to cross through Lydia to get back to where he's meant to be which is called the Kingdom of Locria and it's obviously the best one because it was his and it's really cool.

Anyway, the Lydian Gate is disguised as an old house and had at one stage actually been a house where people lived, until they got sick of demons walking through their kitchen during dinner.

Levi has done a lot of reading on this subject. He knows far too much useless information about it. He doesn't need to know what the gate is called, or what its past was. All he needs to know was how to open it.

Conveniently, all he needs is two things he carries with him at all times.

Fire.

And blood.

He lets his blood drip onto the shitty old carpet and lights a fire on his finger. He presses it to the carpet in an attempt to light it up but the carpet is wet because the windows are broken and boarded up and this place is a desolate wasteland. It smells like garbage and mold. It's probably a health hazard for him to be here.

Cobwebs hang in every corner and snakes live in the fridge, which is definitely not where snakes normally live.

He tries again but the carpet is still wet. He'll probably have to dry it out. Levi sits on the floor and misuses his sick fire powers.

They're supposed to be for beating the shit out of his enemies. not a glorified hair dryer.

As he sits and waits, he looks around the room. All there is to do is to sit and think, which he tends to do a lot of in this room because all he does is fail to open the Gate.

He's been here several times before, and nothing has ever worked. He spray painted a pentacle on the floor, he graffitied the walls, he wrote Levi wuz here next to the window where everyone else's graffiti was and he peed on the floor, not because he thought it was going to help, but because he was annoyed and he wanted revenge.

But this time it was going to work. This time he's done his research instead of assuming all his knowledge would help him. He doesn't remember jack shit about how the Gates work, so this time he sucked it up and went to the library.

A string on the carpet finally catches alight. Thank God, he was starting to get bored. Now it's time for the real fun to start.

White light shines out from the fire until it engulfs the room. There is no room now. There is only white and. There's not much of anything else. It's a nothing room. He can't see which way is up or down or left or right or where the roof or floor is. All he can see is white flames nothingness.

And a . A figure. A person.

Oh. Of course. The Guardian. He's forgotten about those, too. He's forgotten most things, and this is a relatively important thing, because it's probably going to set him back years depending on who it is guarding the gate.

She's sitting on the floor, watching something on her phone, straight-faced. Emotionless, almost. Maybe he can sneak past her. She doesn't seem to be paying attention or anyth-