Kobal
“Magnimus has been extremely busy over the years,” I said as I took in the booths and buildings lining the thoroughfare before me. Red, yellow, and orange banners hung limply from poles in the breezeless darkness surrounding us. “What is this place?”
“It’s a carnival. Something the humans once went to for fun,” Corson said, his voice holding a note of disbelief. “I didn’t think Magnimus watched the human world.”
“Neither did I,” I muttered as my gaze slid over the empty booths and the creatures and demons of Hell gathered on some of the shelves. “But then, we haven’t known what the demon of illusions has been up to in years.”
“I don’t trust him,” Bale said as she looked around.
“He was once an ally and friend,” Corson reminded her.
“And then he became a coward and retreated into his own world,” Bale retorted with a snort.
I didn’t respond as I hunted for River’s scent amongst the stands we passed. It was nearly impossible to detect her through the aromas of cooking flesh and the sweet scent of prury fruit on the air. Still, I was drawn to a booth with small creatures hanging from the hooks in the ceiling.
My lips curled back when I spotted the baby barta demons swinging their claws at us. The bartas had been locked behind a seal thousands upon thousands of years ago. They were mindless animals with a need for violence and blood. That endless need had driven one of my ancestors to lock them away in order to protect others from their voracious appetites.
“The fifty-fifth seal,” I sneered.
“You’ve still felt nothing from the hounds?” Bale inquired as she stared at the bartas in disgust.
Beneath my flesh, Crux and Phenex stirred as they sought answers for what had happened to their kin. The seals continued to fall, but I felt no loss of a connection to any of the hounds I’d left within Hell to guard them. “No.”
“Why does Magnimus have bartas here?” Corson inquired. “Why not slaughter them outright? He knows how dangerous they are.”
“I don’t know,” I said as I turned away from the hanging creatures. My gaze ran over the booths, the banners, and lights as I searched for some sign of River, Hawk, or Magnimus. Nothing stirred and no one moved amongst the aisles running through the carnival. “But I’m sure he has his reasons.”
“Yeah, that he’s joined Lucifer’s side,” Bale replied.
“He would most likely be with Lucifer then and not here,” I replied. “I don’t have any trust in Magnimus anymore, but if he joined Lucifer, Lucifer would be using him right now instead of allowing him to hide away here.”
Spinning on my heel, I hurried further down the dirt road. All of what surrounded us was an elaborate scene interwoven by the demon of illusions, but it seemed so real that I could feel the grains of the wooden booths surrounding us when I trailed my fingers over them.
Within this area of Magnimus’s world, his illusions had taken on a life I’d never seen in them before. He’d always been able to create a scene out of thin air, one that would throw off any attacker, but it could also be easily discredited if the attacker ran through it.
It must have taken hundreds of years of elaborately interweaving the scene over and over again for it to come this alive.
“Why did he build something like this?” Corson asked.
“Who knows why Magnimus does anything,” I replied.
I stopped and scented the air. Beneath the sulfur and fiery scent of Hell, the cooking flesh, and the more animalistic and musky aromas of the bartas, I caught a hint of River on the air. Turning, I strode down a side alley, past food carts and a cluster of barns housing some of the more innocuous animal species of Hell.
***
River
Glancing over my shoulder, I was relieved to find the aisle behind us still empty, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t coming. “Go faster,” I said when Hawk started moving again.
I followed behind as he broke into a brisk jog toward the front of the tent. We had to get free of this place, now. A flash of movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I spun toward it and spotted one of those “bear” things moving in another aisle. Its image was distorted by the glass jars stacked on the shelves from floor to ceiling with their gruesome contents, but I still recognized what it was.
Unlike its smaller brethren, this thing stood almost ten feet tall and had no hooks holding it back.
“Holy—”
Hawk’s words were drowned out when the thing released a roar that rattled the walls of the tent before it charged at us. It had no qualms about plowing into the row of shelving separating us from it. I leapt back as the shelf full of jars tilted precariously beneath the impact of its bulky body.
Not on me! Not on me! The words screamed through my head as I dashed to the side. The jars hit the dirt floor and exploded outward, along with all of their contents. I danced back to avoid the rush of liquid spilling toward my feet. Not on me!
A smell, unlike anything I’d ever experienced before in my life, instantly caused me to gag. Rotten eggs, month-old garbage, and decaying bodies all mixed together smelled better than the aroma those broken containers emitted. I’d assumed the contents were dead, but as they spilled across the floor, some of them came back to life. The cute little chinchilla looking thing released an ear-splitting screech before leaping forward to devour a snake-like creature in one bite.
Fire burst to life from my fingers and raced all the way up to my elbows as the “bear” stalked forward on its two hind legs. I stopped caring that I’d had no intention of revealing what I could do to the bastard who had lured us in here; there was no way I was going to allow that thing to touch either one of us.
Its claws clicked against the dirt floor with every step it took as it stalked us. Its eyes shone like blood in the dim light as it bared its lethal-looking fangs. Bits of flesh still hung from its teeth, and the fleshy remains swung back and forth with every step the creature took. Winnie the Pooh this thing was not, but for some reason my panicked mind grasped on the name and it became Pooh Bear in my head.
I’d blast this thing back to the Hundred Acre Wood if it became necessary. Turning sideways, I edged past the shelves blocking me from being able to release a blast of fire.
Hawk cried out as the cute thing ran over his boot and launched itself onto his leg. He tried to shake it loose, but it clung like a burr, its claws tearing into his pants and shredding the material as it edged its way upward. Hawk grabbed at it and yanked to try to free it from his leg. It squealed loudly and reared back to sink its fangs into his thigh.
“Son of a bitch!” Hawk exploded and backhanded the small creature so hard he snapped its body from its head.
We both gawked at the spectacle of the tiny creature’s head still attached to his leg while the body flew across the room. Hawk glared at the head before grasping it and dislodging the fangs from his thigh. Blood spilled from the bite marks as he tossed the head aside.
When his gaze met mine, I felt his desperation to get out of here as keenly as my own. Backing around another row of shelving, we entered a more open area where I could get a good blow in against the creature stalking us from behind another row.
A small, fish-like creature flopped past us, an escapee from one of the jars determined to get to the exit. I didn’t blame the thing, but I highly doubted we’d make it there without being attacked by the beast across from us. Pooh turned the corner, its four-foot-wide shoulders hunching up as it drew back its head and bellowed. We were a good fifteen feet away from it, yet my hair blew back from my face as its fetid breath washed over me.
Lifting my hand, I released a ball of fire that hit it dead center in the chest. The blow staggered it back a step as fire licked over its coarse fur, but instead of engulfing the creature, it shook off the flames like a dog shook off rain drops. Releasing another bellow, it charged at us with a speed that belied the size of its large body.
Leaping to the side to get out of the way, I seized Hawk’s arm and jerked him into another shelf. The shelf rocked precariously, the contents of the jars sloshing back and forth. Hawk pulled me away before I could go over with the jars falling and shattering onto the ground behind us.
Pooh had charged past us, but now he turned to look at us once more. Its snout pulled back to reveal its lengthy fangs. It stomped its foot like a bull and charged us again.
“Nuke it with some life,” Hawk said and clasped my hand.
The flood of his life filled me, but fire continued to lick across my fingers as fear ruled me. My heart raced too fast; adrenaline had my muscles quivering. I tried to concentrate on bringing my other ability forth, but flames continued to leap over my hands and around my wrists.
“River!” Hawk shouted.
We flung ourselves to the side seconds before Pooh would have eviscerated us with those six-inch-long claws. Another shelf of jars crashed to the ground, but this time neither of us were able to avoid the foul liquid as it splashed over our feet and the bottoms of our pants.
I tried to dodge the creatures slithering free, but I stepped on the tentacle of one that looked like the love child of an octopus and a stingray with its flat body and tentacles. It screamed and jerked its tentacle out from under my boot. It slapped against my boot to show its irritation before slithering away. At least none of them tried to attack us; they were far more focused on escaping.
Bending, I snagged a jagged piece of glass off the ground. I spun as Pooh came at me again and ducked back when it swung at me. Its claws made a whistling noise as they sliced through the air. Jumping repeatedly back, I barely managed to avoid its lethal blows as it continued to swing at me. It relentlessly pushed me backward through the jar-lined aisles.
When I darted to avoid what would have been a fatal blow, the world around me faded away and my ability took hold of me. Instead of the rows of shelves and the walls of the tent, all I saw now was the monstrosity across from me coming persistently onward. Seconds before they occurred, its moves unfolded in my head. I ducked its next swing, dodged to the right to avoid the follow-up blow, and leapt into the air before it kicked one of its legs at me.
On the downward descent, I screamed as I swung out with the piece of glass. I drove the shard straight through its temple. Blood from my sliced palm and the piercing wound I’d inflicted on the creature sprayed over us both. The creature howled as it threw itself back. I tried to move to the side, but I was unable to avoid the paw descending toward me. White lights exploded before my eyes when it bashed against the side of my face.
Lifted off my feet, I was thrown ten feet across the room. The air rushed out of my lungs, and pain lanced down my back when I smashed into the glass case of the bearded woman. I gasped to get air into my empty lungs as I fell to the floor, but my lungs refused to let air in. Struggling against the unconsciousness trying to claim me, it took me a minute to breathe again and for my vision to clear enough to see the tent once more.
The bearded woman acknowledged me now as her eyes followed my movement with an enthusiasm that led me to conclude being in this cage was her penance for some atrocious deeds done while she’d still been a human.
I hadn’t asked Kobal about it, but maybe the souls sent here could retain their human forms. Or perhaps this was what they looked like before the demons started feeding on them and turned them into wraiths. If that was the case, I now understood how painful it was for the souls considering how twisted and warped those wraiths had been when I’d gone with Kobal to watch him feed.
My arms wobbled, and my head pounded, but I managed to get my hands underneath me and shove myself into a seated position. Pooh’s claws fumbled with the shard of glass as the creature tried to tear it from its temple.
Hawk charged around a corner with another piece of glass in hand. Leaping forward, he crashed onto the back of the “bear” and wrapped his arm around the creature’s neck. Jerking back, he pressed the glass against Pooh’s throat and sliced deep.
It threw itself back as blood sprayed from the gash across its throat. Hawk somehow managed to release it and jump out of the way as the thing flipped itself onto its back in an attempt to squish Hawk beneath it.
I forced myself to my feet and took a staggering step toward them as Pooh finally succeeded in yanking the glass from its temple. Its eyes shone brighter than rubies in the sun when it spun to face us.
“Shit,” I whispered when I realized it may be bleeding profusely, but it wasn’t done.