I looked at the enormous wall of fire and blackened stone that was before me.
"I know that good fences make good neighbours, but this is ridiculous! And you are telling me that this is the wall I must scale in order to reach my friends and free them from Zurk?" I was amazed, and talking to myself never made things any easier.
I stared at the wall again and noted the various guard posts of demons that made the very powerful force that protected the wall and everything that was in it. The wall had already begun falling in some areas while in others gaping holes that were very tempting to enter. I knew however, that such places of the weakened wall were most heavily guarded and in walking towards them would spell my doom if not bring about my second death! I shivered at the prospect, and I wished that it would never happen to me again.
Within the walls, I could hear screaming coming from very many areas around the wall and I could not bring myself into imagining the horrors and the torments that those people were undergoing. However, mine would have been worse if Zurk would ever get his claws into me, and so I knew I had to move with extreme caution. It was my first time to come into these sides of the underworld since only impure souls were lead here, and it surprised me just as much as it would surprise those who would eventually end up within the walls.
Carefully walking round the wall and avoiding the vigilant stare of the guards, I was close to assuming that this wall had been erected only because of my presence here within the underworld, but I was wrong. The wall had been created since the beginning of time, and as I watched, I assumed the wall was only built to keep Zurk inside. I was wrong again.
A slight commotion was going on near the entrance into the city. A doomed and condemned soul headed towards that direction suddenly bolted free of his chains and was running in the opposite direction. He was suddenly chased by a dozen demons who were much faster than he was and he was caught. He was beaten severely and dragged into the city where, if it was possible, I thought I could hear him scream the loudest and the longest that all the other screams faded in comparison. I swallowed bitter spittle and shook where I hid. I quickly said a quick prayer and planned on how to enter into the city using the wall.
My plans quickly fell to nothing when I noticed again another soul trying to escape over the wall. He never went as far as the top-most part of the wall when the fire that had surrounded the wall quickly caught up with him and consumed him whole! The guards that had seen him escape never batted even an eye-lash! They had only watched and waited and when the guy was gone, they continued with their patrol on the wall. I shuddered and froze in fear. Trying to collect myself, I thought that the fire that surrounded the wall only attacked those doomed people, but when I dared to touch it; my fingers were burnt very badly. However, the wall cracked slightly where I had touched it, and I was shocked.
"The fire on the wall burns me, yet it cracked? How is that even possible?"
I began contemplating on this interesting oddity, and then it hit me. I quickly looked at where the guy had tried to escape to see if anything had happened, but there was no sign of any crack to the wall, but yet he had been burnt by the fire. I was also burnt, but I had also cracked the wall.
"Now I understand. Any ordinary fire would not harm us because in the spirit form that we are, we are completely immune to anything that would be within the physical plane, yet this is not the physical plane. This fire, somehow, has been created in such a way as to harm and even kill us, so we are completely vulnerable! However, I cracked it the moment I had touched it implying that I am the special one. I may have been burnt, but because I'm pure in spirit, the crack shows that the wall can yield to light!"
I remembered the brilliant light that had surrounded my mother and the queen and saw that it had somehow managed to create a form of a shield for protection. I could touch them because I was as pure as they were, but if one of these demons would touch them, they would be immediately destroyed.
"The effect here has been maintained! Darkness always yields to eternal light and anything impure also yields to the pure! I can crack the wall because I am pure, but I am affected by the fire because I have no light to protect me. I have no choice but to find a way to enter the city using the front gates."
I turned back and begun investigating the doomed people and how they had managed to enter. I could see that they all wore a dark robe that covered their faces and they had been chained. As they walked towards the city gates, the foreman at the gates would stop them and open a scroll that he had. He would then read them their names and if they nodded, they would pass and then enter the city to their doom. I had to get my way through. Looking around me, I saw the dark robe of the burnt guy had fallen to the ground, but no one had picked it up. I took it and wore it, and immediately could see all the wrongs that the person had committed. It was also very heavy, and I understood why.
Closing my eyes to his numerous sins, I quickly joined in the procession and followed them to the entrance into the city.
"Name?" The foreman asked me, his voice coarse.
I stood still because I never knew the name of the person, and I was suddenly filled with fear. Just before I had made up my mind to flee the area, his name came into my mind.
"Carter." I quickly said, and waited for his reply.
"Carter Willowsmith. Crime; first degree murder to over one hundred women. Classification; serial killer. You may proceed into the city. Next!"
I was relieved! As I passed him, I was very eager to remove the robe because it was weighing me down, but I had to enter the city in order that I would remove it. Once within the walls of the city, I stopped short and stared in amazement in what was before my eyes.
The city extended as far as my eyes could see, and it seemed to stretch on forever. Everywhere I looked, it was divided into very large tracks of fields, mountains and valleys and only separated by walls that seemed to snake their way everywhere. The city wall itself stretched in accordance to the vast expanse and ended only where my eyes could see. In each and every divided section of the city was reserved for as many punishments as would warrant the doomed person. Punishments like being burnt in a golden river that was reserved for those who prided in their riches, being chased by very ferocious dogs being reserved for those that had prided in their own safety, being eaten by very scary monsters as reserved for those who were proud of their food and many more very worse and unimaginable punishments and tortures that I could see. I felt like fainting.
Those who had entered after me only looked and began walking towards their destinations of punishment. They all seemed to be under some form of a trance, and even by me shaking them would not have stopped them. I realised then that this was surely the worst fate someone would have brought upon themselves, and I was thankful that I had decided to live my life in purity. I had to move since I realised that if I was to stall longer, I would easily be noticed, and so began walking. I had earlier spied Zurk's enormous castle and had noticed that even there those who had done the worst of the worst crimes would go to be personally tortured by him. I thus decided to follow those that were going in that direction.
As we were walking in silence, the only sounds being the screams of terror and the crack of whips or other gadgets, I couldn't help but wonder where in the wide expense of the city the burnt guy had come from. His crime of murder would surely fit his punishment of maybe being killed over and over in the most ruthless way possible, or being forced to watch his crimes again and again or even being his victims and being killed like they were. Whatever his punishment was, I shuddered to think about it. Those that were walking ahead of me would detour into the various pockets of their punishments and there immediately suffer, but I continued walking with those that I knew were destined to face Zurk.
We passed very horrifying scenes that were within each and every pocket, each different and unique than the last one. I was very scared, and it showed by my visible tremor under the dark robe, but I had to keep myself strong. We would occasionally meet with a group that would be heading in the opposite direction, and as I watched, they would enter as many pockets as they would and undergo very different and numerous punishments that I would have collapsed if I were to ever undergo such horrors. I realised they may have committed as many sins as they had done and so had to be punished for every one of them.
We neared the castle of Zurk and immediately I felt a stinging sensation within the robe. I wondered why that had to happen, but I immediately got my answer. We were directly at a crossroad that was leading to two pockets. The first one led directly into Zurk's palace and the second one led to a pocket I figured the guy had escaped from. The stinging I felt had signalled that I had arrived at where I was to be punished, but as I looked at those who were ahead of me, their stinging was much worse and it showed in their faces. As they branched accordingly, I realised something had already began happening to my robe. Since I had no desire to follow into a punishment that, thankfully, was not mine, the robe had begun to push me towards that direction, and I feared. I had to quickly remove it or else I would suffer just as much as everyone was. However, the robe was impossible to remove, and I found myself being dragged towards the second pocket. I immediately cried out for help and just before I entered into the pocket, I suddenly hit an invincible wall! No matter how hard the robe tried to pull me in, the wall could just not budge! I was then stuck right before the entry into the pocket that I could see was full of fog. The robe pulled and pulled until it tore, and the force of it threw me backwards and away from the entry into the pocket. The robe, meanwhile, disappeared into the fog.
"Incredible! That was painful, but amazing!" I was bewildered.
I walked back towards the entry and extended my hand to see if I could pass it through the entry and into the fog, but I hit the wall again. I turned to see if the wall would affect anyone else, but they just passed through the entry like there were nothing in-between them! I was amazed. I turned and tried it on the other pockets that were a little further up and realised that I could never enter any of them since I was the only one being stopped by the wall!
"Thank you Agnark!" I said. Indeed, I never belonged here at all, and I was more thankful for being a pure spirit than I ever was.
However, I was not sure whether the wall would also stop me if I was to head in the direction of Zurk's palace, but I had to try. Finding my way back into the line that was heading in that direction, I held my breath as we neared the entry into the courtyard that would lead into the palace. I stepped forward and...crossed through! I turned and looked behind me and thought that it was my mind that was playing tricks on me. I walked back and attempted a second time, but found out that I could pass! I was relieved, but suddenly I became fearful.
I was in the stronghold of Zurk's kingdom, very deep into his realm and very far away from the heavens and the eternal light. I suddenly felt despair and hopelessness, even depression, and I silently cried for those who were lead here and punished for eternity. The loneliness that I felt here saddened me, and I could feel how a life would be without the ever-present light to shine on them. This was truly the worst punishment to endure, so bad was it that it would have been better to endure the rest. At least there, there was no feeling of emptiness and hollowness as deep as the one that was felt here. Everywhere I looked I could see the souls of men, women and children that were here being tormented. They only sat around, but were doing nothing. Looking into their eyes, I saw nothing, no sign of life or an expression of pain or humiliation or anything! There was only eternal darkness that could be seen, a darkness that scared me and probably even scarred me for the rest of my eternity. I turned my face away from their eyes, even as tears began to fall from my eyes and drop to the ground.
"Great Agnark, this is surely the worst punishment that they can endure. Nothing can be seen in them! Complete emptiness and hollowness, that it frightens me so much! Forgive them, great father", I prayed, but even then I was not even sure if my prayer had been heard. I too couldn't feel his presence down here!
I took in a deep breath and faced forward, even as I tried to avoid those blank stares. I walked into the dark castle and found myself within a very long hallway. I looked around to see if I could find anything, but other than the endless rows of pillars and the same blank stares coming from the souls that were inside, there was only a large door at the end of the hallway. I unsheathed my sword and cautiously walked over towards it, trembling a little but silently praying and drawing on the strength that I had been given. I looked at the door and trembled even more at the inscription that was engraved on it:
Enter, ye lost and hopeless soul, into the darkness and the void,
Enter, ye in dark clothing, and suffer for eternity!
I cautiously pushed the door to see if it would open, and to my surprise, it did! I peeked through the small opening I had created and saw a larger room that was full of many doors in every direction. I opened the door even further and inspected the room. It was as large as any room would have been, only this one felt like it would have held over one hundred giants! At its centre stood a device that was slowly ticking, its dials moving every second. Next to every door was a table and some chairs that were arranged in a hexagonal pattern, and at least almost every chair, except those that were on the far end of the room, was occupied with more blank-staring souls. Before them was a meal that had been prepared for them, but none touched it or even looked at it. They never even acknowledged the presence of each other! As I walked towards them, I realised that it was a pattern that I was seeing. On each table was a king, queen, prince or princess and their loyal advisers. I realised that they were the pinnacle to Zurk's campaign against the belief of the gods, and it never surprised me at all. They were at the high table in his kingdom, but just like everyone else that I had seen, they suffered and were tormented.
The food before them smelt good and looked good to eat, and I was tempted to reach out and have a bite. As I stretched out my hand to grab a very large red apple from one of the tables, I was suddenly stopped by a voice that seemed to whisper right to my ear:
'Don't let the food tempt you,
The fate that they suffer will be yours too!'
I froze with my hand mid-air. What just happened?
'Don't touch anything you see,
Avert your eyes and you will be free!'
"Ok...I'm officially scared right out of my wits. Who are you?"
Silence. I took a few steps back and just looked around me, not sure where I should go or what I should do. I turned to face one of the doors and before I touched it, the device that was in the room chimed a little and as I watched, all the food that was before them suddenly changed into a very tantalising breakfast, but as previous, they did not notice anything at all. I turned away from the very scary scene and approached the nearest door and turned the handle. It was locked.
I walked around to the other doors and tried them, but all were locked except the last door that was near some of the empty chairs. Holding my sword tighter, I entered the room, and for a moment I couldn't see inside due to the darkness that was there. I took a step inside when I was sure that I was not being followed, and immediately I entered, the room was suddenly lit up with pale blue flames that amazed me. As I looked around the room I saw that it was similar to a throne room. Torches around the room next to the walls provided the eerie blue lighting that felt cold to the touch. The room itself was covered with dark cloths and was filled with dark weapons that I couldn't see earlier. Ahead of me was the throne that was just like the one that would have been at the Holy Court, although it was a poor copy of the original one. It was empty, and I was relieved.
I looked around the room and in a very small corner, right behind the throne, was another door that was wide open. A noise came through it, and I walked towards it. Peeking through, I saw a rather beautiful crystal-filled room that was a stark contrast to the gloomy room that was right behind me. The room was filled with colourful cloths that together with the normal-coloured flames cast a very warm and inviting look. I walked further into the room, and right at its centre was a large crystal ball on its stand. There was movement within the ball, and as I took a closer look at it, a hand suddenly showed, and it startled me.
"Is anyone there? Hello?"
The movement within the ball intensified and although the face was not as clear to see, the voice was unmistakable.
"Malique? Is that you?"
"Skye!"
I dropped my sword and run towards the ball.
"No! Don't come near the ball or else..."
I couldn't hear the rest of the sentence because immediately I had touched the ball, I was hit by a very powerful blast of light that both burnt me and temporarily blinded me and to top it all I was flung across the room and landed with a loud clatter of weapons that were hidden beneath the cloths. The force of the impact knocked out all the air in me and I passed out right where I had fallen.
"Malique, no!"