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Death grips my hand tightly, skeletal fingers cast in steel, seemingly molded precisely to entrap my wrist. Death steps into the fiery pit he conjured with no hesitation. His weight pulls me in after him, violently jerking my body, gravity somehow intensifies in his presence. The flames licking the entrance to Death’s domain engulf me but I’m not burned. They feel like ice water flowing across my skin. We begin falling faster, the flames fading away, transitioning into frigid darkness. Did Hell truly freeze over? I haven't even been falling through it for more than five minutes but I’m starting to think it can.
The frost in the air bit my skin, stinging me all over. As we fall, I find myself looking up to where we fell from, thinking of the warmth of the hospital room. It was only minutes ago that I felt the room's comfortable temperature, but the feeling of never ending falling makes it feel like ages ago. I’m so cold, I hope that we will pass through more flames before I pass out from the arctic intensity. The fall feels infinite in every way imaginable, but Death’s grip did not loosen; I can still feel the iron shackle around my wrist as Death pulls me down deeper into the waiting darkness.
I begin to feel my body slow down. We’ve been falling for so long the unsettling sea of darkness starts to feel like we are just floating through it aimlessly for hours. I feel my feet touch upon a cold stone floor just as we come to a gentle stop. Death lights a lantern, revealing that the darkness runs far deeper than my mind can ever fathom alone. The lantern’s warm light dances in the shadows, illuminating in more detail the subtleties of Death's face that I couldn’t see before. I could have lived without ever seeing such grimly chiseled features, but there he stood before me, in the middle of what I thought of as the void of Hell.
“Behold the Hellscape,” Death declares, while smashing the lantern to the ground.
A welcome warmth spreads as the lantern’s flames spill out over the stone floor, tracing everything around us in blue, burning away the nothingness like paper. I watch as the flames chase away the darkness, revealing another layer of damnation. After the flames fizzle out, I look around and find that I’m inside a cave, but when I look up, I can see a sky, smoky gray, moonless, and void of stars.
“What the hell is a Hellscape, and where in Hell are we?”
“David, the Hellscape is Hell, just not as you know it. What you see before you now is a Hellscape, void of emotion. Think of it as a piece of Hell, just dormant.”
His statement leaves me wondering what Death could have meant by it. My surroundings look hellish enough, but emotional? What game is he playing now? Questions again consume my thoughts as I scramble to put the new pieces together in Death's puzzle of the Hell he’s dragged me into.
“What do you mean by void of emotion? My surroundings scream of damnation, but you say it’s void of emotion.”
“David, Hell is what you make it. When a soul enters, the Hellscape reacts to their emotions brought about by their sins, and takes on new forms based on those emotions. Fueled by the perversions of their sins, the possibilities of form that the Hellscape can assume is endless, just as the varieties of man’s sin are. To think that men have conceived of Hell as some sort of complex realm, with levels and demons taking orders. Ha! Not even demons want to be here,” Death states, a half-smile gracing his cold features.
“Wait, no demons in Hell? Where else would they be if not here?”
“Hell is a tool. Like an emotional blender for souls. Put your hand in an unplugged blender, and the blender is just worthless metal and plastic, but plug it in and your hell begins. Demons just make sure curiosity gets the best of you, tempting you to do what's obviously wrong like putting your hand in a blender while it's running.”
“So why is Hell unplugged right now, and where are the demons with the evil kitchen appliances?”
“I’m shielding you from it. I possess the keys to the Hellscape's many doors, thus it obeys me,” Death replies, as he reaches for his waist to reveal a ring of rusty iron keys, exuding a soft red glow.
“Why do you refer to it as the Hellscape instead of just calling it Hell? It's a bit confusing.”
“Hell is a very personal experience, David, but the Hellscape is nothing more than the machine that feeds off your soul’s perversions and twists them into a false reality, forming the ideal torment based purely on the individual's punishment.”
“You keep talking about the perversion of a soul's sins and how they power the Hellscape. What exactly is the perversion of sins?”
“Each time you sin, it leaves a stain upon your soul. These stains are perversions of the human soul. If such stains are not washed away, they begin to build up. Over time they warp and distort the soul as it becomes twisted into something else.
Some souls become lost on earth as they try to outrun me out of shame for their sins. Some become consumed by the weight of their sins as their souls are burned away by the perversions they’ve created within their souls, but the souls that come here and survive are even further twisted. Those souls become demonic in nature.”
“They become demons!”
“No David, they become tools for demons. David, do you remember the dragon from the Book of Revelations?”
“Yes, the one with seven heads. I thought it’s a symbol for the corruption of the kings of men, that it’s an analogy for all the evil within the world.”
“Yes, David, the corruption is true but the dragon isn’t the kings of men. The Book of Revelations is indeed very symbolic. It was delivered to the servant John by an angel through a dream. A very brave angel, for the Dreamscape took hold of him and trapped him. Only few can walk the Dreamscape and not be ensnared by it. The Dreamscape we discussed earlier is similar to the Hellscape, but it reacts to our desires instead of our sins. In desperation to deliver the message, the angel struggled through the Dreamscape, but couldn’t make it to John’s spiritual form in time. So, the angel called out to the Dreamscape, feeding it his desire to deliver the message to John. The angel succeeded, but because of the message’s form of delivery. The Dreamscape struggled to manifest the true desires of the angel and his mission.
Revelations is hard enough to make sense of, as it’s written in such a way that the metaphorical can appear quite literal as well. The secrets that Death revealed to me left me in a daze, struggling to absorb this new information about John and the dragon. It isn’t because my faith is failing, but because it makes sense. Death is slowly rewriting the world as I know it,
“Death if the heads of the dragon don't represent the kings of men, what do they represent?”
“Good question, David! I so enjoy this subject, but David, listen closely because I hate repeating myself.
Each deadly sin has an archdemon that rules over it; each lost soul is weighed in its torment to see what archdemon will be given possession over the soul. Once a soul is claimed by a sin, it then becomes tormented by that sin until it loses its mind. Once the lost soul becomes mindless, its consciousness becomes bound to that archdemon in a hive mind. Lost souls that have been claimed will fight for their ruling sin, just like worker bees fight for the preservation of their queen.
Oh, but David, here is the most interesting part: some souls resist the mind erosion process, so they become what we call agents of sin. These are the classic demons of mortal myth that show up to buy souls in exchange for desires granted. These demons still belong to the sins, but now they use such sins to bring souls to their archdemons in exchange for greater powers.”
“Let me make sure I'm following. Damned souls fall into the Hellscape, their personal sins are used by the Hellscape to twist their souls into mindless drones.”
“That is correct, David.”
“Then the archdemons claim such souls to add to their own personal armies, but some souls are too strong and become henchmen of sorts, for the same archdemons that claimed them, so both the stronger souls and archdemons can gather more power just to peddle more influence.”
“Correct, David! Thank the Father that you listen so well. I was reaching my wits’ end after some of our previous conversations,” Death utters, with demented glee.
“Death, when we’re done here, you may want to get yourself checked out. You seem a little manic. Oh, and before you threaten me, remember we’re already in Hell, so you really can't use that threat on me anymore.”
Death appears taken aback by my statement, but quickly recovers. He didn’t seem angry though, which threw me through a bit of a loop, but I press on anyway.
“All that aside, where does my mother come into this? Where is she? Was your comment just to stir me up, so I would lose my composure, just so you would have another opportunity to threaten me? Is there even a chance that I can help her escape this place? Answer me!”
Death, intrigued by my response, looks surprised, and a touch curious. I can tell by the look on his face that he knows I fear him no more. He turns his body to the side, facing slightly away from me as if to ponder his next move. He turns around to face me hastily, cloak dancing as it follows his movements through the air.
“Tell you what, David, let's make a wager. I'll let you attempt to save your mother’s soul from her own personal hell if you pass my test. If you fail, you’re also to be damned, even if your fate was originally to end up in Heaven. Do we have an agreement, David?”
I know that I have a good chance at going to Heaven, and that Death is just excellent at shaking up one’s faith, but I’m not going to fail my mother, not without a fight. I am what I am because she gave me a chance. She shielded me from a monster so I could live life like a normal child instead of a tormented one. To risk my own salvation to save her is worth it, for my salvation did come at the cost of her life.
“You have a deal. What do you need me to do?”
“Bravo, David, your bravado is truly inspiring. To make it through your mother’s hellscape, you must be able to resist the essence of Hell to begin with.”
“What do you mean by ‘resisting the essence of Hell’?”
“I want you to sit down with an agent of sin, one from each of the seven deadly sins. Together you’ll have a lovely chat as they attempt to corrupt your very soul. Survive all seven conversations without a corrupted soul, and you will gain the right to roam Hell freely. But, you must also talk your mother out of her own personal Hell and find your own way out. Are you sure you want to do this, David?”
“Bet your soul on it, Death. Just work your magic so I can get to my mother and get us out of here.”
Death reaches into his cloak and produces a small leather bag. He stares at the bag as if it’s full of hope, a very small bit of hope for the bag looks just like a child’s bag of marbles, or at least it did in Death’s broad hands.
“When you're ready, open the bag and follow your heart as to what to do. Decide incorrectly, and it will cost you your soul; follow your heart truly and you will, at the very least, make it to the start of your seven trials,” Death chuckles.
I snatch the bag from Death’s clutch and he fades, like smoke fleeing embers. Seeing him leave so suddenly is unnerving. Knowing that the one being with the power to take me away from this nightmarish scenario just vanished in a puff of smoke, without saying a word, it leaves a strange feeling in my gut. I feel like I’ve swallowed lead, and it’s just sitting there inert in the pit of my stomach.
Cautious, I open the bag to find seven marbles, warm to the touch. I look closely and see that each one has a vivid-colored flame of light dancing within. I am nearly paralyzed with dread, unsure of what comes next, but I know that no matter the cost I must free my mother even if it means my damnation. She’s sacrificed far more in her life than I ever will, even in this foolish act.
I remove one marble from the bag, grasping it tightly, and bring it close to my chest.
“Here we go,” I speak aloud, anxiety lacing my voice with what might sound like excitement.
I hold the marble, unsure what to do with it. Death painted a vivid picture that suggested if I make the wrong choice as to what to do here, it’s game over. He will cash out his chips and collect his winnings. My mother and I’s souls.
“Focus David, you can do this. Just slow your breathing and try not to think. It will come to you, it always does. I’m talking to myself while somewhere in Hell, but you only live once... well die once I guess. DAMN. Just focus. Focus... Focus.”
As my mind clears, I remember Death smashing the lantern on the floor. It altered the form of the Hellscape. Fire must be the key to changing the form, so I grip the marble tight, pulling my arm back above my head, preparing to smash the marble against the cold stone floor. I know at this moment I am following the path God has laid out for me, for even in the darkness I can feel his light guiding me from within.
“Father, no matter what happens to me, I accept it with peace, for your Grace is far greater than anything I can claim to understand. I feel you with me now and I walk into the unknown with a heart full of love as I prepare to do battle in your name, Amen,” I say, throwing the marble to the ground.
The glass shatters freeing the flame from its prison. It bursts outwards as if it were a bomb, burning away the Hellscape, transfiguring the void around me into the first trial I will face. No matter what appears before me, I know I am ready. I know because I am ready to let go of all I thought I knew, to be teachable in the moment, even when facing my fear.