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By
Christopher A. Kouse
Christopher A. Kouse
Chapter 3
It was known only
as the Second Beast of Revelation; a deceiver of man and a product of evil
created for one momentous occasion; but that time had not yet come. For now the
creature found itself in a loathsome position, that of worker demon. Fixing the
walls and filling the cracks was what had been commanded of him. It wasn’t a
task it would have preferred, but it knew the time was coming when Purgatory
would come crashing down under its unstable foundation and his life would be
given new meaning; but until that day he would do as he was told.
The creature
carried with it a bag of nails that it used to repair the deteriorating walls
of Purgatory. The nails that the creature would produce from its bag were no
ordinary nails; these nails were forged from the blood of Karninfaux. The beast
would merely need to think of the nail it needed for the job and retrieve it
from its pouch, a pouch that would never cease to produce. The bag was
virtually weightless, although its contents were massive in weight and size;
and even though the creature had its limitations it was never hindered; but the
hammer on the other hand kept him grounded. The Second Beast, although it was
capable of flight, had never gotten much more than a hovering distance from the
ground due to the weight of the massive hammer chained to its torso. It had
always been there and felt like an anchor more than an extension of its being.
The hammer was something to be admired, but its intricate design and etchings
foreshadowed a much higher purpose.
The beast
finally came to the massive gap in the wall in need of repair. All day long it did
its task; find a hole and fill it up. It pulled from its bag a massive nail
that would suited its task and dropped it to the ground with a loud thud. To
the beast it wasn’t really a thud but rather a plunk in a bucket. Lifting the
hammer high above its shrouded head and down it came with a massive crash. In
the nail went, but from the hole out popped an unexpected sight. A tiny man now
stood before the beast. This is
unexpected, the beast thought to itself. In all of its years working its
tasks, it had only encountered one other man who had escaped his cell; if he
could truly be called a man. Regardless he was face to face with the tiny
figure whose stance appeared more frightened than heroic. The beast observed
him but wasn’t prepared for what he saw in the man’s eyes. The light hidden
within them was the same as his masters.
This can’t be right, he thought, but
this would explain how this human’s ability to endure such an unforgiving place. Contemplation came over the beast as to
whether he let the tiny man live or devour him where he stood and be done with
it. No, the voices of a million damned
angels rushed through his mind. The beast was always at odds when it came to decision
making. He was comprised of the remnants of lesser angels who had denied God’s
will. As such his mind was not his own, but rather one connected with the lord
of Purgatory. All angels living and cast out shared this bond, but what made
the creature nervous was that if this young boy had the same light in his eyes
as Karningfaux, he may have been able to connect with himself. Regardless, the
voices had said no and that was that. The decision was made, but the human
could not remain here.
The beast
stretched out his hand and the boy flinched in terror; as he reopened his eyes he
saw the beast with its long arm stretching towards the path, towards the
continuation of his journey. The man slowly, but cautiously, began to walk in
the direction the monster pointed and disappeared around the corner. It was
only after his departure that the beast could hear the voices in his mind
repeat over and over again. Follow him.
***
He
felt as if his heart would burst, but Valen was glad he escaped the beast with
his soul intact. Some time had passed since his encounter with the giant beast,
but it wasn’t long before he stood before a massive stone door. This is it, he thought, happy to be at
the end of his journey. He hadn’t expected to be greeted by a closed door though;
he knew there had to be something else. The door had a symbol on it surrounded
by what appeared to be an ancient language. Valen couldn’t understand it but
somehow his eyes made it clear as to what the writing said. Valen read the
passage aloud.
“Separated
by Design,
Unified
by Revenge.
Three
to Harmonize,
One
to Remand”
The symbols
engraved into the door were comprised of four emblems set into a pattern. At
the top rested a star which filtered down to what looked like a droplet; from
the droplet two lines split into a depiction of a flame and the other into an
icicle. Valen stared dumbfounded at the design.
“Weird” he said.
“What am I supposed
to do now?” he cried out in frustration, scratching his head while considering
there may be another way inside.
“No, I have come
too far to quit now.”
Valen
noticed a tiny shimmer of light was coming from inside the droplet figure.
Slowly he reached towards the symbol while applying the lightest of pressure.
With a loud crack the door separated and for a brief moment light flooded his
vision. He raised his arm to protect his eyes from the blinding light and
stepped forward beyond the threshold of the doorframe with the utmost caution.
Once inside the door sealed tightly behind him; stone smashed against stone,
and then all was silent in Purgatory except for the screams that echoed its
halls.
Valen
pushed his way through the archway until his vision began to recover from the pure
light that showered his face. There, sitting before him rested high upon a
throne, the broken body of the angel Karninfaux. Valen looked away in horror
for he was unprepared for the ghastly sight. The angel’s body was ravaged by
the roots strangling every appendage whilst the thorns lay dormant inside the
angel’s flesh. His wings had been raised high above his head in a majestic fashion
pinned to the wall by the thorns, never to be released. His face was little more
than a skeletal figure; his eyes had been removed and from their empty sockets streamed
tears of blood. Valen wasn’t entirely sure but he swore he could see the angel
smiling; it disturbed him beyond all belief. Below the throne the angel’s blood
poured from his wounds like a waterfall, cascading downward into the chasm. As
the blood fell to a certain threshold a bright light emitted from it. Its
temperature rose and it became molten lava; it was as Riesen had described. This
blood was the true foundation in which Purgatory had been built; Karninfaux’s
blood pumped through the walls like veins, and here high above it all rested
the heart of living death.
“Am
I not what you expected?” the angel spoke. “Come, entreat me. You are the first
guest I have had in a very long time, Valen.”
Valen
jumped at the unexpected breaking of silence from the motionless figure.
“Karninfaux?”
Valen asked.
“I
am a shell of what remains of the Archangel Karninfaux,” the angel responded
while lifting its limp head to appear as if he were looking at Valen, yet the
angel had no eyes to see. Valen guessed that his newfound sight was all that
remained of this angel’s eyeless sockets.
“So
then I have you to thank for my vision,” Valen said.
The
angel sat quietly for a moment before responding. The silence didn’t ease the
tension for Valen.
“I
have been in this place since the beginning of your kind, forced to watch as
what I had created allowed such an evil to enter the world of man. I ask you…,”
The angel asserted himself. “Does my punishment fit my crime?”
Valen,
not entirely sure of how to respond, thought it was best to avoid that
question. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to answer; rather he didn’t know how to
answer.
“I was sent here
by a demon named Riesen, he told me to work my way up the chasm and to find the
highest tower, I have succeeded have I not?” Valen asked.
The angel
clearly uncomfortable with Valen’s neglecting of his original question pulled
at his bonds and with a voice that carried the depth of the abyss screamed in
agony, “Is my punishment justified?” The walls shook with the question echoed
throughout the chamber.
Valen felt a
chill run down his back; and cold was one thing he hadn’t felt since his
arrival. Again he was worried, he had no justifiable answer for this creature,
and yet he still persisted. The thought ran through his head of what the angel
might do to him if he rejected his answer.
“I am not one to
judge God’s will. I can give you no answer that would ease the pain that you
are feeling. You asked me to seek out and destroy the tree which you created,
the tree that brought about your punishment and exile. I will do as you ask,
nothing less,” Valen declared.
At that moment
the thought of Rachel passed through Valen’s head. He wanted to see her again,
if not for only one more time; to leave this place and tell her he was sorry.
His guilt of not being there for her now left him lost in his thoughts that
transcended this dreadful place.
“Rachel.” The
angel spoke.
Vale’s eyes went
wide. “What did you say?”
“You’re beloved
Rachel,” again the angel mocked him with no explanation.
“What about
her?” Valen asked.
“You have my
eyes Valen Saint, I can see your thoughts and feel your love for her. Do you
not know that together we are linked as one?” The angel asked rhetorically. “I
once loved as you do for this woman, but my love was for God; but the years
that I have been witness to the horrors of this place have caused my heart to
wither. Now I only wish to atone for my sins with the destruction of the tree,”
The angel continued. “You have answered me truly Valen Saint, but still you
will need more help, for your journey has been in vain thus far. You have not
the tools in order to pass the barrier into the world of the living. Only one
who possesses the key to Purgatory may pass into the world of the living.”
Valen
thought to himself for a moment looking away from the bound angel. Riesen hadn’t said anything about a key.
A
vision flashed through Valen’s mind. The
key etched into the hammer.
“The
giant I encountered, he had a hammer that had a key etched into, was that it?”
He asked.
“Yes,
the Second Beast has such a key; he is a mammoth of a creature that restores
Purgatory when it is need of repair. Purgatory was not meant to last forever
and will eventually become obsolete once Hell has been opened during the second
coming.” Karninfaux said.
Valen
looked worried, although he knew where the key was, he couldn’t fathom how he
was going to be able to obtain it. The size of the key alone meant it would
take all his might to lift it, and then he would have to deal with the Second
Beast, which he had no wish to revisit. Those dark eyes were not something any
normal man should be subject to.
“Valen,”
The angel said breaking the silence. He could clearly sense the boys worry and fear.
“I fear that I must bestow upon you another gift. Much like the eyes you
currently possess that will allow you to pierce the dark, alone they will not
be enough. I must give you the requiem.”
Valen
knew this word, it was a term used to describe a song commonly performed at
funerals.
“The
requiem is a source of immense power
fueled by the sounds of suffering from the countless souls in Purgatory; its energy
mixes with my blood to create Purgatorie’s structure, but it is also what binds
me to this place. I am willing to share all of this with you, but be warned
that your blood will become as blood and in doing do it will allow you to
manifest objects from your wounds and give you strength equivalent to that of
an angel.”
Valen
couldn’t understand how it was possible that the scream of agony his fellow
inmates had been emitting could be a source of some energy that he could
harness; but he felt that he had no other choice for the sake of obtaining the
hammer, and for Rachel. To see her again was now part of his mission.
“Alright,
what must I do?” Just as Valen agreed, the roots wrapping around Karninfaux
shot towards Valen wrapping themselves tightly around his body. Valen let out a
scream of pain but it was muffled by the cocoon of roots that enveloped him.
The vines tightened and the thorns dug into his flesh causing a shock to
Valen’s system; he convulsed in pain. He wanted it to stop, but could do
nothing about it; the pact had been made; the blood tribute needed to be paid.
The thorns digging into his flesh began to churn and twist, slicing his skin
open and transfusing his blood with that of the angel Karninfaux’s. As it began
to pour from each wound, the blood began to harden and consume Valen’s entire
body in a shell; as it did, the thorns fell to the ground exhausted from their completed
task.
The
last of the roots fell to the ground and receded back to binding the angel; as
they did, Valen fell to the ground, weak from the ordeal. His body convulsed,
he had never felt so alive; the crimson armor seemed to meld itself to his body
and pulsed with a ferocity, the likes of which he had never felt before. Valen
looked towards the heavens, his eyes pale white with the energy that was
erupting from his blood. Purgatory was now fueling him, and the power raged
against his mind, tearing at his soul; and for one brief moment he could hear the
screams of the requiem unify into one
beautiful melody. Valen let out a cry that shook the heavens and blacked out.
***
The
Second Beast stopped for a moment to hear the loud cry that came forth from the
pillar atop the spire. It clenched the hammer in its right hand. Looking down
at the massive key he knew all too well that the time had come to serve in his
task. The voices in his head cried out for blood, and so the decision was made
once again, it would fight. Turning from the cracked wall which it was tending
to, the beast’s shrouded mouth opened and its razor sharp teeth formed into a
smile; and so began the Second Beast’s ascent up the coiling stairwell towards
his master’s keep.
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