“Look closely at the steps I’ll take from here to reach the truth that you so much desire, so you’ll know how to cross this on your own.”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
“Darkness, I don’t see anything beyond that,” I said, feeling nervous moving across. The Watchers were taking their time and that wasn’t something that I expected. Maybe no one had thought that Julian could actually help me.
“Probably a way out to another circle,” he said, pacing around the wall and rubbing his jaw nervously. I hated that he was as scared as I was. The tiny voice of reason told me that maybe it was better to stay in here. After all, the Circle of Greed didn’t seem that bad.
I was born on earth, but everything that I knew and cared about no longer mattered. Hell followed its own set of rules.
“I think you should go first,” Julian said. “Your demonic energy is much stronger.”
I wanted to laugh at Julian. He basically wanted me to do a test run to see if I would survive.
“Fine,” I said, knowing that I couldn’t turn around and just go back to the castle. It looked like Mammon was keeping his demons prisoner behind his fortress walls; he wanted to make sure that no one would leave. I took a deep breath and touched the stone wall before going through it. It felt warm for some reason. My heartbeat sped up and I concentrated on my demonic magic.
I felt it rushing down my spine and then my hands. Moments later I squeezed through the passage and saw that there was a huge drop in front of me, leading all the way down. Behind the fortress was just a flat, desert-like landscape. My eyes didn’t register any other buildings. Besides, it was too dark and stormy out there. For a split second I considered staying in here, thinking that maybe I could convince someone to smuggle me back to earth, but that could take a lot more time. And it was time that I didn’t have.
“It’s fine, Julian, come on,” I called from the other side. The dark lord wanted something from me, but I wasn’t ready to find out what it was. I needed to get to his circle and then get back to London. The election was complicating my escape. Also the way time passed in hell was confusing. I felt like I had been here only a few hours, but I had a feeling that full days must have already passed in the world above.
“All right, I’m going through it,” he said and I waited for him to appear in front of me.
Seconds dragged and a burning smell suddenly drifted through the air. Then an agonising scream broke the still silence. Julian began burning alive, lighting the whole space around me. He seemed to be stuck in the passage between the walls. I panicked, not knowing how to help him. He spread his hands and the tingling inside me intensified. This all happened so quickly, and before I could take another breath, he vanished completely right in front of my eyes. I walked up to the wall, but the passage that I created was gone, and the bricks were still warm. So King Mammon used his incredible power to make sure that no one would try to disobey him and his spell must have killed Julian. It was a sick and slimy move that I should have foreseen. A small hole that you could slip a hand through was still there. I sensed someone approaching from the other side.
“Did you see it, the fire?” asked a deep raspy voice. I moved quickly to the side of the wall. The Watchers. I could sense that there were at least two of them.
“That stupid demon that was with the girl must have tried to cross the wall,” said someone else.
“What about the mongrel girl?”
“The wasteland, Dimitri, and then the Ash Forest. She won’t survive out there,” muttered the other. “You know what Mammon has been saying: there is no life beyond his circle.”
I waited a few more minutes, breathing hard and thinking that I had no other choice but to carry on alone. Even if I could get back to the other side I had no idea where to go–who to trust.
My voice of reason told me to keep it together; after all, I was still alive. My soul hadn’t been ripped away from my body and my magic circulated deep in my veins. No one could take that away from me.
I started moving down, my shoes sinking into the soft soil. It was still pitch black in front of me, but at least now I could see shapes, the small ponds filled with water and the flat landscape that stretched perhaps for miles.
The wind was blowing and the sand was getting into my eyes. The temperature was climbing and I was sweating, losing too much water. I tossed my jacket away and ditched it somewhere behind me. I didn’t need it now. Sooner rather than later I would reach the second circle. I wasn’t going to get far without food or water.
I looked back, seeing the castle that stretched far behind me. Several pointy towers disappeared in thick clouds that began filling up the navy sky. That image sent chills down my spine. Someone must have known that I was in Purgatory. Maybe Morpheus was planning to send a rescue mission after me.
My feet kept moving through this gloomy wasteland. Now and again I had to stop and rest my swollen feet in the random ponds filled with water, just to cool down. The air was too dry and I soon became thirsty, but I was too afraid to drink from the pond. It was a risk. My senses hadn’t registered any demons around. I left them all behind in the Circle of Greed.
I noticed that the landscape began to shift. The air wasn’t as dry anymore, and the soil was much thicker and wetter. I spotted some plants and began seeing more tropical-looking bushes on the way. Minutes later I reached the edge of a dark forest. I glanced to my right and left, knowing that I didn’t want to be seen on the road all alone. I began cutting through the thick branches, circling around the wide trees, slowly moving deeper into the forest until I reached a clearer path. Every part of my body ached, so eventually I sat down on the edge of an old cut tree, trying to gather my energy. I must have walked for miles and miles.
Moments later, something soft began falling down on my arms and face. The grey flakes turned into a dust as soon as I touched them. I assumed that I was now in Ash Forest, the one that Watcher had been talking about behind the wall. The flakes were falling down, covering the forest in thick layers of ash. I smelled burning coal and sulphur, but continued walking, hoping that I had the next circle right in front of me.
I tapped into my source, hoping that I wouldn’t have to use my magic at all. The soaring energy riddled down my spine. I massaged my neck, feeling stiff all over the place.
“Watch out, they’re coming!”
I heard a scream and a split second later someone crashed straight into me and we both went down.
“Get away from me,” I hissed, trying to push a female demon off my back.
“Quick, we have to hide; otherwise they’ll arrest us.” She scrambled back on her feet and then began dragging me with her. “Lie down here. Quickly.”
I figured out that it was better if I simply obeyed, rather than stand there and argue. In the end it was a good choice, because I suddenly sensed Watchers approaching.
Moments later two of them flew through the same path where I stood just a second ago, their enormous wings spread wide wafting the air, and strong satanic energy followed them. Three of them were in their true forms. They were nudging two demons in front with sharp wooden sticks, flying only several meters above the ground.
The female demon was literally squishing my face to the ground and I could barely see what was going on in the road. I smacked her hand and lifted my head, taking some oxygen in just after the Watchers had vanished.
The female was a full-blooded demon, part of Asmodeus faction. I must have crossed over to his circle earlier on.
“Scums,” the female demon muttered to herself rising back on her feet.
“Who were those demons?” I asked, skipping the introductions. She obviously had just saved my butt.
I thought about Julian and my stomach jolted uncomfortably. He helped me and now he was dead because of that. This time around I was going to try to get out of here on my own.
“They were spreading word about other candidates by the entrance to Leviathan’s circle. Asmodeus is repressing anyone that is campaigning against him. The Watchers caught them, but I managed to run away,” she explained, eyeing me up and down with a wary look on her face. “And who are you? And why are you hanging around the restricted section?”
I figured that I had to be honest with this demon. She looked tough and reminded me a little of Emma. My life on earth wasn’t over as long as I was still in hell.
“I’m Maxine, and you don’t want to hear my story. It’s very long and complicated. I don’t want to trouble you. I’m crossing over to the Envy Circle,” I told her, lifting my hand to shake hers. Maybe this was odd, but I wanted to be clear from the start that I didn’t expect anything from her.
She smiled at me and we shook hands. She had enormous wide-set hazel eyes and long dark hair. She wore a tank top with combat trousers and had a hunter’s knife tucked into her belt at her side.
“I’m Dominica. I have lost my demon lover. He was taken to the pits,” she told me, and tears started falling down her cheeks. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be so miserable, but whenever I think about him my heart starts bleeding.”
I patted her on the shoulder awkwardly. Still, after everything that I had been through I wasn’t very good with affection. In moments like this I wished that I had a bottle of liquid magic. Yeah, I was done with that shit for good, but that craving still burned my throat from time to time.
“No, don’t apologise. Only a few hours ago I lost someone I loved,” I said, thinking about Arthur. I didn’t even have a chance to grieve over him, to remember everything that happened between us. “I need to get to Lucifer’s circle. Do you know where Lucifer punishes sinister humans?”
“Don’t know. Asmodeus controls this circle and I have never seen any humans here.” She pointed at me. “You’re a mongrel from the outside.”
“How do you know that?” I asked her.
“You don’t have a partner. Everyone has partners around here.”
I didn’t understand what she meant, but there was no time for explanations.
“I need to get to the next circle. Would you be able to show me the way out?” I asked, hoping that she would at least steer me in the right direction.
“A way out?” she asked, sounding baffled. “It’s election time. All the circles are on lockdown. It was hard to move around before, and now it’s almost impossible.”
Julian had mentioned that the election had complicated the movement between the circles. My daughter needed me. I wasn’t planning to give up of leaving hell just because Lucifer couldn’t keep his people in line.
“All right, can you at least show me where the exit used to be? Does the forest cover the entire circle?”
“Mostly, but there is a town too. I’m going there now, so I suppose you can tag along,” she said and I agreed. At least for a change she was making sense and I didn’t want to be stuck alone. I brushed the leaves away from my clothes and started following her.
“When do you think Lucifer will open the polls?” I asked, thinking that maybe that information could indicate how long all the circles would be on lockdown.
“Not sure. The Asmodeus demons haven’t had the go ahead from the dark lord yet. The polling stations were supposed to be opened seven nights ago,” she explained.
“So what happened? Does anyone know?”
“I have no idea,” she explained shrugging her shoulders. “The Watchers had promised that I could visit my lover. They took him to the pits and told me that I had to wait three nights, but it’s been fourteen and I still haven’t seen him.”
Then she started sobbing again and I felt even more awkward. I didn’t want to ask her about nighttime or how she knew when the day started or ended.
I figured that several hours must have gone by since I left Mammon’s territory.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” I said.
“It’s all right. I’ll find him. We love each other very much, you know.”
Soon we reached the end of the woodlands and the path led over to a small demon populated town. I noticed that all the houses were the same, built from grey brick. Flaming torches lit the concrete road. Demons were walking around, and everything seemed perfectly ordinary apart from the fact that every single person here was paired. Female and male demons were walking around and holding hands. So far, Dominica and I were the only ones without partners.
I felt oddly left out and thought about Zachary for a moment. He told me he loved me, not caring for the world that I was a mongrel girl. He, Paul, Ricky, Emma and even Nameless were probably trying to figure how to get me out of hell.
There was no way that I could keep a low profile around here. Demons were staring back at me, whispering among themselves.
We had entered the Circle of Lust, which was interesting and intimidating at the same time. I just figured that every male demon in this circle was linked to a female one. Dominica was already sensitive about being alone and I needed to keep her calm for at least five minutes.
“Should we be worried? Everyone is staring at us,” I hissed to Dominica as we were walking through the busy street. My energy danced at my back, reminding me that my abilities could be useful around here.
“Because we don’t have lovers. Don’t worry, soon enough they will get used to it. I’ll die from a broken heart anyway,” she told me, wiping more tears away. I didn’t say anything to that, knowing that she was exaggerating. It was just a figure of speech. No one had ever died from a broken heart, but then I remembered that I almost did, after I lost Arthur.
We reached the town square and right in the middle of it someone had set up a stage. I heard a female demon shouting towards others that were passing by.
“Gold, anyone with gold. These mongrels are fresh from earth, ready for sale!”