The demons had set up a proper feast in that never-ending cave, so I stopped worrying about all the things that were out of my control. I instead shoved food into my mouth until I couldn’t move anymore. Everything tasted fresh and super delicious. In the end Edmunda started handing everyone something that smelled and tasted like wine.
I had been sober for a few weeks now, but it was safe to say that after such a horrendous time I deserved a drink. Cyril dropped his guard and took a few sips too. For the first time since I’d woken up in hell I felt that I could really keep going. These demons that were part of the uprising sang, drank and ate. No one cared that I was a mongrel and that made me feel a little better.
Later on I fell asleep on the sleeping bag that someone had given to me, slightly tipsy, but happy for a change.
I was woken up by a stranger demon several hours later. The cave seemed much brighter and a few other demons were already walking around, armed from head to toe. Cyril showed up wearing his kimono-style outfit, looking less thrilled that we had to get up so early. An hour later, Edmunda handed us some bread with water and told us that we needed to start following the demons ahead.
“Unbelievable,” Cyril muttered and told me to look behind.
At least a hundred or more demons were joining us. They were all from the six circles of hell. All of a sudden the uprising seemed much more real. This was none of my business, but after witnessing everything that had been happening in the past days, I understood that they wanted things to change.
Compared to hell, life on earth was a paradise.
“We are truly screwed. The Watchers will wipe them all out in a matter of seconds, no matter how many more will join. Lucifer isn’t stupid or careless,” Cyril said, holding his hand on his sword.
It was difficult to predict what was going to happen. I was pretty much healed, but this wasn’t my fight. We started moving slowly ahead, along with hundreds of other demons.
I kept chewing the bread, thinking about my father. My abilities were unique and Morpheus was keeping all the answers from me. He hadn’t even attempted to find me and bring me back to the dark lord. That for some reason was still bothering me. Now I kind of wanted to find out who the demon was that was my real father. I needed closure.
“If we see a window, then we are leaving. We both know that this isn’t our battle,” I whispered back to Cyril as we passed another pond filled with blood and lava. We saw a few skeletons on the way and some bones scattered around, but no one paid attention to any of it.
“The dark lord won’t allow it. We are now in Berith’s territory and he must know what is going on,” Cyril added.
“Let’s just stick together. I sense a lot of uncertainty amongst the group. These demons are ready, but they are scared too.”
“It’s a good plan, but we have to execute it sooner rather than later, Maxine. I have a feeling that those demons would rip us apart if we even tried to betray them. The fact is that they cherish you. They all think that you’re their sign that there is a new change on the way.”
I snorted, shaking my head, but deep down I knew that Cyril was right. Everyone around here seemed to believe that I was someone special.
That was worrying, because I didn’t feel like my abilities were extraordinary. The old Maxine would have screwed this up, but now I was more mature. Ready to destroy anyone that prevented me from achieving my goal.
As we walked I started seeing more bones and skeletons. The whole structure of hell was much more complex than I thought and there was so much more that I still hadn’t seen.
Edmunda kept running to me from time to time, telling me how excited she was to be part of the uprising. We walked for several hours through the cave, as the landscape began changing slightly.
At some point Cyril pointed out that we’d left the cave behind. The temperature rose again and right in front of me I noticed a freaky-looking gate. On the top there was a Latin sign. There were also three sixes turned upside down. The air in here seemed much drier, and there was a thick mist drifting around. As we got closer to the gate, I notice that the entire structure was made from human or demon bones and skulls. Cyril told me telepathically that we were crossing to the sixth circle of hell now.
A shudder of unexpected fear rolled over my stomach. Berith was most likely waiting for me. As others had told me, the word in hell had spread fast. After all, I humiliated him once, sending him back to his beloved pits.
None of the demons on earth knew what happened after you fell through the cracks down to hell. I wanted to presume that Berith was alive and well.
“Prepare yourself, demons of hell. The Watchers will attack and we will fight back. Once we conquer Berith circle, the dark lord will be next,” shouted the voice in my head. I was waiting for the right moment to sneak away along with Cyril or stay behind, but there were too many demons around. This task suddenly seemed almost impossible.
Cyril was getting anxious when we started crossing what seemed like an empty cemetery. There were masses of tombs and graveyards that seemed overgrown with leaves and the whole placed looked like it was damaged by a strong storm. I walked through, trying to avoid the large pieces of concrete. There were some boards from what looked like an election billboard with large writing that put Berith on a pedestal.
The great Berith is amongst us.
Die or vote for Berith.
The silence was unnerving and I had that annoying feeling in my gut that we were walking into a trap. A strong smell of sulphur drifted in the air all of a sudden and that told me that this was most definitely a trap. Magical and strong energy boiled inside me and my breathing became more erratic. The temperature was rising and I sensed many other creatures around. I wanted to shout that we needed to back away, when somewhere at the back I heard a scream, then another and another. All around demon’s emotions started hitting me hard. They were all scared of Lucifer; they wanted a change, but they weren’t ready to die.
Out of the blue, giant bats started appearing in the sky, dropping light bombs everywhere. Watchers on earth had gleaming gold or silver wings, but in hell they were black. We were suddenly under siege. Watchers were flying above us, and soon the entire sky was covered with their huge bat-like figures with enormous wings. I saw a few with swords landing on the ground, killing demons one by one.
“Maxine, let’s move!” Cyril roared and I followed him. We started running across the cemetery. A few light bombs nearly knocked me off my feet, but I scrambled back and kept going. Watchers were using their magic and swords to kill demons. They had no mercy. I created a ball of light and tossed it towards the tall blond Watcher that was just about to kill a demon from Mammon’s faction.
I wasn’t supposed to get involved, but I couldn’t avoid the temptation. Deep down in my soul I was still a fighter.
I smelled the blood and saw bodies of demons lying around; some were burning and screaming, others were still, probably hit with deadly charms. This whole battle was suddenly turning into a slaughter. The demons around me never stood a chance. The spells and charms were zooming around, charging the air. I wished that I had my potions with me, because that would have made the real difference.
Seconds later Cyril was grabbed from above and was being carried upwards in the sky. I tossed a few fire balls, finally able to use my magic to the full extent. The Watcher was laughing, holding Cyril who was trying to stab him with his sword, when I blasted him with a strong fire ball. Moments later he and Cyril crashed on the ground. He didn’t move again.
I ran as fast as I could, jumping through the broken tombs to get to Cyril, when a Watcher blocked my way.
“Not so fast, mongrel girl. There is someone that is very much looking forward to meeting you,” said a white-haired Watcher with incredible blue eyes. He had grey wings and his energy was beyond extraordinary. His beauty had taken my breath away.
I shook my head, telling myself that he was the enemy. I hadn’t forgotten what had been happening to me since
I got to hell.
I picked up a wooden stick and burned it, hoping to use my fiery magic to wipe him away forever. Mongrel or not, I was pumped with adrenaline and ready to tear him apart. All around me there was havoc. Demons were using their magic and fighting with giant bats that kept reappearing in the black sky.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and started balancing a ball of green light on my palm. Sparks of electricity were moving down my arms, tingling over the nape of my neck, and then the Watcher launched himself on me unexpectedly. I tossed the ball towards him, but missed. He managed to slice my arm with his golden sword and I cried out in pain. I nearly went down as the darkness shattered my vision.
I shrieked with pain, jumping to the side as his sword landed on the concrete tomb only inches away from me.
Then someone grabbed me and I was being lifted above the ground. Blood poured down, and my pain was spreading, numbing my arm completely.
I was dizzy with blood loss, and when I looked down, the demons on the ground were getting smaller and smaller, until they disappeared completely.
Chapter 9
“Through me you go into a city of weeping; through me you go into eternal pain; through me you go amongst the lost people” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
I was half conscious and saw that I was being carried through the thick dark clouds to some other part of hell. I was too exhausted to fully open my eyes. On top of that the pain around my arm was almost unbearable.
The journey didn’t take long. Before I knew it the Watcher dropped me, and the impact of hitting the ground must have knocked me out again.
Moments or hours later drops of cold water woke me up. I sat up abruptly, realising that I was all alone. The pain was even worse than before. Parts of my skin were hanging off my arm and the wound looked like it had already gotten infected. It felt even worse than it looked.
I rubbed my eyes for a second and looked around. There were holes in the ground all around me filled with burning lava, and that brightened the whole space with a red glow. The ground was soft, covered with ash and thick dark soil. It was too dark to see anything beyond that, but I had a funny feeling that I’d ended up in the pits. My body was losing a lot of water, and the air was so hot that I could barely catch a breath. I figured it was at least forty degrees Celsius around here.
I felt like I’d been dropped on the top of an exploding volcano.
Minutes dragged by and I tried to stand up, but eventually I gave up and settled for just lying on the hot ground. Not much later, I spotted a figure coming towards me and my stomach tightened all of a sudden. Sometimes fear pushed people to do desperate things, but I wasn’t scared or desperate anymore. This was it, the end of my journey.
Cyril was now separated from me, and I hated that we didn’t escape before that whole battle began. The silence was thick as a fog until the crackling of a foreign energy broke it, stealing my breath.
“Finally, I have you all to myself, mongrel girl.”
I swallowed hard, instantly recognising that spiking energy and the voice. It was Berith and I wasn’t even one bit surprised. He was obviously waiting for the right moment to get to me. I was clueless, trusting the bunch of demons that fed me and told me that I was someone special.
In his natural setting he was dressed in a crisp white shirt and linen trousers. He was still bloody good looking, and his dark eyes gleamed with satisfaction. He had a joyful smile on his face, and I knew that he was glad that he finally caught me.
I glanced around, but even if I could, I had nowhere to run.
“You’re in the pits and this is my territory. I decide if you can stay or leave,” he snarled. I didn’t sense any demons or Watchers around. It was just the two of us. I swallowed hard knowing that he was planning to hurt me.
“I lost control that day. I begged you to help me and you refused,” I said, knowing that I needed to keep talking, to buy some time. All my potions were back in London and Berith was much stronger in hell. He literally radiated with deadly demonic power.
“Silence, mongrel whore. I didn’t give you permission to speak,” he snapped, taking a few steps towards me.
I spit on the ground, and wiped the sweat off my face. I wasn’t going to be humiliated by him yet again.
“You stole your abilities from another demon on earth and you’ll pay for it now. Only Watchers can summon the gates of hell and you aren't one of them,” he said and I just stared at him slightly baffled.
“What? I didn’t steal any magic. I was born with it,” I told him. Seconds later he was beside me, grabbing my injured arm. I screamed with pain when he pressed his thumb into the wound and squeezed it hard. The pain spread to every part of my body and I wished that the pits had swallowed that motherfucker forever.
“Stop lying. No one has this kind of power, only Watchers, and no one has ever dared to remove the great Berith from earth,” he hissed, finally releasing his grip. Fresh blood poured down my arm, and tears threatened to slip from my eyes. I kept my breathing steady, reminding myself that I couldn’t give him the satisfaction of breaking in front of him.
“You’re no one, just a mongrel that wasn’t supposed to be alive. I need to know— why does the dark lord want you so badly?” he asked.
“I don’t have a clue,” I said.
“That’s okay, it doesn’t matter anyway. Soon you will be taken to the mine cave by one of the Watchers.” He started wiping his bloody fingers with a pure white handkerchief, still staring at me like I was some sort of worm that he intended to squeeze until I let go of my last breath. “It’s the only place in hell where all the evil humans are forced to do hard labour all day and night. They can never rest; they have to keep carrying heavy stones up the steep hill in unbearable heat. They can never see an end in sight. If they close their eyes or try to rest, they are back to the bottom of the hill. I believe that would be an appropriate treatment for you.”
“Go fuck yourself,” I snapped, and spit at him. I had been doing that a lot lately. I think that I’d reached the point when I was done with being nice Maxine.
He kicked me hard and I started coughing with blood. This was bullshit. I was supposed to be dead by now and yet I was still alive, pretty much aware of everything that was going on around me.
Berith continued his boring monologue. “Hm, maybe the cave won’t be such a great punishment after all. I’m only fulfilling Lucifer’s wishes. He would be happy that I’m treating you the way you deserve. Fredrick, it’s time!”
I thought about Summer again, glad that she was safe for now, away from all this drama. My future looked bleak, but she still had her whole life ahead of her.
Then someone grabbed me, and I screamed, feeling dizzy with pain. Soon I was lifted above the ground presumably by the same Watcher that brought me in here. I was still bleeding and in too much agony to look up.
“Toss her into the volcano of pain. She will continue to suffer there forever,” Berith said and then started to laugh.
“Yes, master,” the Watcher responded.
I tried to tap into my source, but my shattered soul refused to obey me. The Watcher carried me upwards to the dark sky in hell. I didn’t have any strength in me to fight him. I just needed this pain to end, it was too much.
I lifted my heavy lids slightly and saw a volcano filled with red-hot lava. The heat suffused my skin, consuming in its intensity and frightening with its unbearable heat. My breathing was frantic now. This was it—there wasn’t a way out of this. Hell had finally succeeded. The time had come to pay for my sins.
The Watcher had his arms around my waist, holding me above the pool of hot lava. I heard voices down below, screams and moans. I knew that if I looked down I would see other humans or mongrels tortured in the masses of fire. The pits were real and I was going there next.
“Go down, mongrel girl,” he hissed and then he released me.
I was falling.
Slowly my life on earth began flashing in front of
my eyes. Time must have slowed down because I started seeing people that were close to me. I saw Arthur too. He was smiling at me. I saw us together in the palace. Then, I was experiencing giving birth to Summer and then seeing her for the first time. I saw Emma, Ricky and Zach. Everyone was there, saying goodbye. I was grateful for everything and afraid of Berith’s words. I wanted this pain to end, but soon the volcano would swallow me.
I never dipped into the hot lava—someone or something caught me in the air.
Later on, when I was more lucid I figured out that I must have landed on this creature’s back. The cooler air instantly made me feel a little better and I managed to see that I was sitting on some sort of monster. He flew over the pits, moving higher and higher as its wings batted the air. The creature had bat-like wings with no feathers and hands with six fingers. Its body was covered with human skin. For some reason everything about it filled me with peace and I thought that maybe this wasn’t my end yet.
My heart pounded loudly in my chest. I had no idea where I was going. Maybe this was supposed to happen, maybe that was Berith’s plan after all. The tortures were meant to come later.
I spread over the creature’s back, trying to find the most comfortable position. We were moving through the dark clouds over wide empty land. The creature never tried to drop me or frightened me in any way.
We started going down after some time, and the creature spread his wide wings wider. The concept of time in hell still unknown, maybe hours had passed or maybe minutes. The monster with three human heads finally landed on the flat surface in the middle of what looked like a dry desert. It was difficult to see anything beyond the darkness.
“It’s time. Are you able to jump off my back by yourself?” the creature asked. It sounded like a human man.
“I can manage,” I said, not wanting to look like a complete loser. Using my good arm I did slide down. That wasn’t a wise move, because I lost more blood and nearly stumbled on my feet.