Chapter Nine
As Antithesis passed through the gate, he immediately noticed that this was the brightest circle he’d come across. There was benevolent warmth surrounding him as opposed to the harsh heat of the other circles. There was a light breeze and he could hear the sound of rustling shrubbery. It resembled Heaven. Had he gone so far down into Hell, he reached Heaven?
As his eyes adjusted to the light, he could see groups of souls doing daunting, impossible tasks, such as trying to drink from a lake that would recede everytime a soul got close to its lips touching the water. Or other souls trying to reach for fruit from a large tree that would grow taller so the fruit was just out of the souls’ grasp.
“Welcome,” a soft, male voice said. Softly. Antithesis turned to see an angelic-looking being with several black angel wings that resembled Athan’s. “What brings you here, lost one?”
“I am searching for the demon that slaughtered me and my family,” Antithesis said plainly. “If you know which of your brethren did it, tell me.”
“Hmmm… I did not know of this,” the being said. “Let me see if any of my brethren do know.”
The being snapped and 11 beings, alive and dead, appear before him, the only live ones being Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Mammon, and Belphegor. The other seven are slumped over as they were already slain by Antithesis’s hand.
“Lucifer, I was eating!” Beelzebub said.
“When aren’t you?” Mammon asked, then snickered. “Don’t take that joke. That’s mine.”
“Guys don’t fight,” Belphegor said. “Though if you did, I wouldn’t stop you.”
Asmodeus peered around at the seven dead bodies as Lucifer’s gaze pierced through Antithesis.
“What is the meaning of this?” the Heavenborne demanded.
“You tell me, Mr. Lee,” Lucifer, the archdemon of pride said. “Satan, Leviathan, Intipas, Sygril, Rajeloth, Nokturn, and our beloved Hell Dragon, all slain by you. And you expect me to help you?”
“Pride won’t let you, heh heh,” Mammon said chuckling. “That joke is also mine.”
Lucifer’s beautiful self sighed.
“You let those idiots live, but killed everyone else I liked?” the archdemon asked.
“They are not idiots, for they are still alive because they let me pass,” Antithesis said. “As you should.”
Lucifer snapped and the 11 disappeared as they appeared, with a wisp of black flames. The tortured souls stopped their pursuits to gaze at the two apparently angelic beings.
“Why do you appear angelic unlike your fellow fallen?” Antithesis asked. Lucifer, ever so slightly, cocked his head to the side.
“You don’t know my story, James?” he asked.
“Do not--”
“Well, essentially I’m a fallen angel. I became too powerful or-- in the Creator’s eyes-- too ‘prideful’, and challenged it. Instead of recognizing my strength, I was cast down to Hell to watch over souls of the damned with the other spawns of Decimus,” Lucifer informed.
“You were the first archdemon sent here?” Antithesis asked.
“Of my own doing,” Lucifer said. “Samael, the archdemon of death, was already here, along with Lilith, Decimus’s daughter, and firstborn. Then came Athan, the failed son that went through the same things I did, except he didn’t start in Heaven. And finally the new, dumb one, Damian.”
“You seem to control much more than the others, including them,” Antithesis said. “So how is it possible you do not know who killed my family?”
“Likely wasn’t one of us,” Lucifer said. “I feel my ‘fellow fallen’ could’ve and quite possibly did tell you that already.”
Antithesis thought back to the times that the demons told him that it wasn’t them. He came to the realization that “they” meant the demons as a collective didn’t kill him or his family.
“By that look on your face, I’m guessing you realize just how idiotic you’ve been,” Lucifer said.
“Tell me who did,” Antithesis demanded, still determined to fight to reach his goal. His eyes began to flare.
“No. I don’t know who did it,” Lucifer said cackling. “Look at you. Gone on another rampage killing someone that you could’ve avoided killing. I think you like it.”
Both of the Heavenborne’s eyes flare with white and gold and his fists catch on fire as well.
“Maybe. I. Do.”
Instead of immediately swinging at the archdemon, the spectre decided to test Lucifer’s battle style and blasted fire in his direction. Lucifer stayed in place and raised his hands, creating a small hellfire shield to deflect the blast, which worked in his favor. Antithesis frowned.
“Seems like your flames have gotten weaker, spectre,” the archdemon taunted. “How long have you been down here?”
Antithesis, instead of answering swung his chains out at the archdemon, but Lucifer simply caught them. They then struggled, tugging on the chains back and forth to see who could best whom in a battle of strength.
The Heavenborne overpowered Lucifer and began to pull the archdemon toward him, but Lucifer put his wings to use and stabbed them into the ground to prevent him from moving any further. Antithesis gazed at the wings in amazement.
“They’re much stronger than they look,” Lucifer said before yanking the chains and sending Antithesis flying straight into his grasp. As the wraith struggled to break his neck free of the clutches of the archdemon, the archdemon of pride smiled in his face, taking a second to gloat. “You honestly think you can best me. I have been around nearly since time began and you think you can best me. We’re constantly warring with the angels, so I’m never out of shape for battle, but you come into my circle enhanced by some bullshit my old brothers gave you, and you think you can best me?”
“I had no trouble killing your… brothers and sisters before… me,” Antithesis said.
“The sweat dripping down your forehead says otherwise, spectre,” Lucifer said before squeezing and nearly breaking the spirit’s neck, but Antithesis was able to escape by opening his mouth and breathing the plasmic holyfire that rested within him onto Lucifer’s face.
The archdemon screamed in pain and immediately let Antithesis go. Antithesis then withdrew Dimension Splitter and stabbed it through the archdemon’s side and through the ground, pinning Lucifer. He then raised a blazed fist and began to wail on his face. But the archdemon began to cackle once more, causing the phantom to cease.
“I told you, I don’t know,” Lucifer said.
Antithesis dropped the archdemon’s body and looked ahead at the next gate.
“Then I will continue until I reach someone that can tell me,” he said. With this, he walked through to the next circle. Lucifer sat up and turned toward the souls that watched the entire battle.
“What are you looking at?” Lucifer said, glaring at them. “Go back to being tortured.”
Just then, Asmodeus appeared of black hellfire behind Lucifer.
“Why didn’t you kill him?” the archdemon of lust asked his brother.
“Because I want one of the Damned to,” Lucifer said and his face completely healed.
As Antithesis entered the next circle, he felt nothing but despair come over him. There was no hope of seeing his family. No hope of eternal glory. No hope of there even being an afterlife for him. The threat of his soul entering a void, a limbo, hung in his thoughts. Nothingness.
As the spirit attempted to make his way to the next circle, he felt the pressure of despair increase exponentially as he struggled to see a cloaked figure standing utterly motionless in the exact center of the circle. He approached it and tried to see its face, but the lack of light would not let him. He leaned in to try and get a closer look, but as he did, he felt like giving up and committing suicide right then and there. He immediately leaned back and felt a little less depressed.
It was then he found out that this demon was the one giving him the dark thoughts and feelings. The phantom decided if the demon would let him go, then he would make his way to the final circle of damnation.
As Antithesis approached the gate and looked back at the motionless demon, he wondered if even he could not best it. Unbeknownst to him, it was good he avoided conflict with Samael, the archdemon of death.
Antithesis entered the final circle and, like but unlike some of the other circles, this one was completely different. This one did not resemble Heaven and it did not resemble Hell, or darkness, or even fire. This circle resembled Earth.
As the wraith approached a large, modern house, he wondered why this was the case. Did beings that originated from other planets see something different? He would not get his answer before the door swung open into a black void. When he saw this, his mind forced him to immediately remember the house. This was his.
He could hear nothing from the void, but he had a feeling it was calling to him and that it held the answers he was looking for. Cautiously, the spectre entered this replica of his house. Inside, nothing was there. He expected his old furniture to appear, but all that happened was the door closing behind him and he was left alone in the darkness, unable to even see the hand in front of him.
Then a deep, distorted, echoing voice called out to him.
“James Lee, what knowledge do you seek?”
“Who are you?” The spirit found it odd his voice echoed as well.
“I am called many things, but most refer to me as the Devil,” the voice answered back.
“What brought you to the final circle of Hell?” another voice called. The spectre could tell by the tone that this voice was younger. This was Damian, the youngest of the three hellspawned children of Decimus.
“I seek the murderer of my family.”
“Yet, you come to Hell?” a rather cynical, distorted voice asked. This was Athan, the middle child, but the most powerful of the three.
“I was told by the archangels, the sources of my power, that a demon committed the act.”
“It was not one of us,” an echoing female voice said. This was Lilith, the firstborn and leader of Hell’s armies.
“Then who?”
“Apothael.”
“WHAT?! WHY?!”
“Ask him yourself,” Athan said. “You weaved your way here. Weave your way through Heaven.”
“I… apologize for the trouble I have caused,” the Heavenborne said, humbly.
“Oh, it’s no biggie,” Athan said. “Since you killed them in the dimension they were born in, they just reincarnate in a little while.”
“We are, however, banning you from entering Hell again. If I detect your presence again, I will kill you myself and see to it you are tortured by all the ones you’ve slain,” Decimus said. “You do not belong.”
Antithesis nodded and the door behind him opened once more to the outside. The three hellspawns appeared to watch the Heavenborne leave, their father floating over them.
On the outside of the void, the spectre looked at his hands, relieved to see them once more, then checked the Dimension Belt before teleporting to Heaven.
