The long walk through Hell has begun to find the Hinnom's Valley….to find Lucifer's wings. The sooner the better. Garms aren't the only danger of this place, far from it…
Author's notes :
Hey everyone !
Yes, I haven't finished to translate " Cette guerre et ces jeux " yet. A lot of trouble IRL and exhaustion are responsible. I'm not in the mood to write a lot, too. Sorry for that. I guess it'll come back very soon. I hope so, anyway!
So, I give you another translated chapter. More intense than the previous one (I hope) and longer, too. The next one will be a flashback about Samael's life.
Music advice (Thanks THEJOY69) : The Way – Zack Hemsey
Happy reading !
THROUGH THE RABBIT HOLE
Chloe gently rubbed her arms, looking at the unusual landscape around her, intrigued.
These polished black cobblestones in which she could perfectly see her reflection. These obsidian columns closely grouped together on both sides of this endless path. A narrowed, disturbing path surrounded by them. She lifted her head, looking with some fascination at the columns rising higher than she could see, their structure vanishing within the ashes of this place.
Was there an end to this?
Everything looked infinite here. Devoid of real restrictions.
An infinite chaos.
Chaos.
For Chloe, this word sounded both right and wrong. Maybe it was due to its deep meaning. Chaos supposed a lack of order and some tendencies to decline, destruction… The only things she was seeing here were this cobbled path surrounded by dark rocks. It was a disconcerting landscape but not as chaotic as she might have thought. She had to admit it, Hell didn't look like what she had imagined. Like what the Mankind had imagined so far. It showed them how much they were all wrong about this place.
The detective was firstly surprised that it wasn't hotter than that.
When you thought of Hell, you thought of flames, fierce furnaces and so forth, right?
Yet, Chloe found the air of this cobbled area quite gloomy. A rough cold tickled the inside of her flesh and bones for a long time ; like icy, painful needles. Everything was cold. Lifeless. She almost missed the Garms and the vast space near the Gates, this narrow path increasing her claustrophobia. She squeezed her fingers around her arms, trying with this embrace to stop this emerging fear inside her.
Chloe stopped staring at the disturbing columns to look in front of her. Looking at Lucifer. He was leading the march, walking with a sustained pace despite his wounds, probably as eagerly as she and Mazikeen to leave this place. Maybe much more than her. She was beginning to understand some things about him. And finding out others as they were gaining ground in Hell. It was like a doorway leading to his past. A fleeting and painful vision of his life here.
How could we sentence his child to endlessly rule Hell?
Hell she had never imagined like this, once again. Not so dark and freezing, at least. Nor so silent. The mankind had, for thousands of years, spread a vision totally opposed to the reality. There was no wells or walls of flames where would be burned until the end of time each vile and corrupt soul having one day lived on Earth. There was no ocean of burned and tortured flesh, nor horrible screams begging for mercy.
Not a single scream. Not a sound.
Just this horrible silence. This disconcerting peace interrupted by freezing blasts of air.
A blast of air that petrified every inch of her body, barely touching the skin of her neck. Chloe shivered again with this unpleasant touch, gently rubbing her palms against her sleeves to remove this sensation. The breeze ran along her ear, brushing its inside. A silent touch turning briefly into a whisper. An almost inaudible whisper that quickly grew in her mind. An imploring expressed in this blast of air with an unsuspected strength.
" GivE me My dAugTher bAck… mY daUgther… pleAse… "
It turned Chloe's blood to ice, her heart missing a beat when she heard this begging. She slowed her pace, watching out for any strange movement near her.
There wasn't something really normal here, anyway…
She stared apprehensively at the stones on her right, where this strange blast of air had given way to this week imploring. Weak and still resounding in her mind. Branded by this desperate request. The huge columns only sent her back her reflection, the reflection of her fear.
" You can hear them, can't you? "
Chloe jumped slightly, cursing herself immediately for being so nervous, before turning to Mazikeen. The demon, who was closing their infernal walk until now, caught up with her quickly. They walked together, Chloe tensing once more by hearing another unintelligible murmur, a kind of deep voice this time.
" What is this? ", she couldn't help but asking when she heard this second terrifying begging.
The demon didn't answer her immediately, stopping near a big black column, Chloe staying by her side as Lucifer kept walking. She watched Mazikeen lift one of her knives and stroke the obsidian with its tip. The center of this brief touch caused a slight simmering, like a pebble thrown into a pond. A silent echo inside the dark stone. This simmering grew, its curves making bigger and touching the ends of the other columns on both sides. Sharing its echo to them and then to the next one until the detective can't see the phenomenon anymore. It kept spreading upright, too.
Chloe came closer, curious.
The spot where the blade had touched the rock seemed less dark. And it was… moving somehow. A movement inside the obsidian itself. She approached again, almost touching the demon's back, staring surprisingly at this unusual move. Unusual and strangely captivating to look.
It looked like a shadow.
A gray shadow inside the dark column, moving imperceptibly and yet not getting anywhere.
Mazikeen put her knife in her pocket, also looking at the ghost-like shadow struggling inside the rock.
" That's what remains from corrupt souls. ", she explained.
" You mean that the columns are-… ? ", began Chloe, questioning.
The demon nodded, stroking the column with her right hand this time. An almost loving touch. The shadow writhed with this contact, rippling more vividly on both sides of her friend's palm.
" Torturing a human soul is a long and fantastic process. The goal is not just to punish their acts by using their deeper darkest desires against them. It's… much more deeper than that. These torments also take their energy. Slowly and over thousands of years. After that, there's not much left of the original soul sent down here ; just an extremely weak essence that becomes these obsidians. ", said Mazikeen. " That's why they are so big and so many… Each essence is placed on top of the previous ones, mingling with the rest. It's the very last torment in Hell. And probably the most cruel…Because they're forced to endlessly endure their first torture as well as that of the other souls, without being able to remember why they're here or what they could have been before that… Human beings. "
Mazikeen smiled at the sight of these tortured souls, stroking a shadow smaller than the others with her thumb, which seemed to retreat into the stone under her touch.
Chloe wasn't really sure if she was more comforted or frightened by this place with her speech. Fear seemed more appropriate. She shivered from head to toe, hardly swallowing. If she had had a few doubts about the infernal side of this place, they were now totally gone from her mind.
This Hell was as horrible as her previous interpretation. It even exceeded her nightmarish expectations. Just like her interpretation of the Eternal Damnation. Being totally sucked like this…
Much better!
" Right… You know, you really should come to the precinct from time to time. You'd be great to teach good to criminals! Your explanation has a chilling effect, I can assure you! ", the detective told her, feigning to be nonchalant.
Mazikeen finally lowered her hand and turned to her, exclaiming:
" Don't be silly, Decker! Why would I reduce the group of souls I could torture here? Demon, remember? "
She gave her a knowing smile, Chloe also smiling even if hers was probably more tensed than she would have liked. Mazikeen passed the detective and tried to bridge the gap between her and her master, Chloe bringing up the rear. She, however, slowed down after a time, something drawing her attention.
A movement on her left.
She slowly approached a big column, squinting. A shadow – almost looking like the other she had seen earlier – was rippling inside it. It was certainly similar to all the others, but something totally got her attention; she couldn't said why.
Its shape, maybe.
A kind of hazy cloud whose ends were very thin filaments, vanishing almost immediately inside the dark rock. Its shape reminded her of a human body. Like a child. This vision disturbed the young woman who kept coming closer to the column, leaning gently towards it. Its human shape fading rather quickly in favor of another shapeless, greyish form. Chloe approached her face from the stone, leaving just a few inches between them.
A weak begging resounded near her ear.
Not a word. More like sobs from a scared child, deadened by the column.
Slowly and still not knowing why, Chloe lifted her hand.
A voice screamed in her mind, urging her to step back and walk away. Telling her not to touch this rock and this shadow with childish shape. It was muffled by those heartbreaking sobs, anyway. Chloe would have liked to step back, but she couldn't.
Or didn't want to.
She didn't know.
The only thing she knew was that it was essential to touch that shadow. She felt a strong desire to stroke it with her fingertips.
What was wrong with touching this form?
It was just a touch.
Just… a t-…
A firm hand gripped her wrist and stopped her gesture only a few millimeters from the stone. Chloe turned to Mazikeen, confused.
" Do not touch these columns, Decker. ", she warned her while pulling the detective's hand from the previously captivating shadow.
The young woman straightened up while stepping back in the middle of the cobbled path, rubbing her aching wrist. She didn't understand what had urged her to approach this column in particular, or why she had tried to touch it. This touch had seemed so essential to her. More important than her own life.
And now… She was feeling dazed.
" Why? ", she asked, puzzled.
Mazikeen glared at the greyish shadow which was moving fiercely inside the dark stone, retreating as far as possible from the demon. It looked like a furious, wild beast that hadn't had what it wanted, struggling fiercely inside its narrow cage.
" You're human. With flesh and blood. You're the perfect vessel to escape from this place, so… Let's try to avoid that, okay? "
" 'Got it… ", Chloe hastily answered, disturbed.
She moved away from the columns, following the demon closely, almost touching her shoulder. Mazikeen didn't take offense at her sudden proximity, keeping walking along the path. The silence came back, only disturbed by the freezing blasts of air.
The black columns around them now were different from the others.
Thinner with larger empty space between them sometimes. Some of them weren't straight and strong. They looked like big dark stalagmites rising their sharp tip in the greyish skies with variable inclinations. Like black and scary fangs shading the disconcerting dimness of the ashy mist. The stone was cracked in many places, showing a lot of fissures along their surface.
Chloe restrained herself from grabbing Mazikeen's arm by feeling a heavy anxiety inside her. It would be ridiculous.
Understandable, but ridiculous.
She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly while still walking alongside the demon. She stopped staring at the nightmarish landscape to look at her partner.
Each look in his direction immediately appeased her fears. It didn't stop them entirely, but-… appeasing them ; that was already a good thing. She gazed at his back, his white shirt suggesting a perfect, brawny body under it.
A much more pleasant vision, according to her.
Pleasant and also raising many questions in her mind.
Questions about Lucifer. Before his Fall. Before that endless chaos to which his family had condemned him. Was his fault so horrible and unforgivable for them? Was it deserve such punishment? Since she had met him, since she knew the truth, Chloe didn't know what to think about this. The mankind always had its own interpretation of the original sin.
Satan.
The manipulative, liar snake hidden in the tree.
The angel jealous of God and humans, yearning to reach the Divine with his tricks.
But after having been with Lucifer, she was seriously beginning to question everything too. Not questioning Lucifer.
Quite the reverse, actually.
She was rather questioning the spiritual founding principles of mankind. She couldn't imagine Lucifer like a tempting angel. Well… doing what he liked without thinking about the consequences was more accurate. On the other hand, her partner hadn't talked about this with her so far. He never lied but didn't always saying the whole truth either.
Maybe it was too painful to tell, to think of his former life?
Chloe, still following Lucifer, tried to imagine him before his Fall in Hell. Was he different now? If so, how was he so different?
She couldn't imagine a purer and more naïve version of him. She thought over this angelic apparition in the old factory. It had looked like a glimpse of his extraordinary powers and not his personality.
" How was Lucifer here? ", she asked to Mazikeen, making sure he couldn't hear their talk from where he was.
" What are you talking about ? "
" Was he different from the man he's now with me ? Is he even different from the angel he had been before all this? "
Mazikeen stared back at her master in front of her, seeming to deeply think about this. Chloe kept walking beside her, waiting patiently for an answer. The demon sighed slightly before saying:
" I don't know how was Lucifer before his Fall, he's never talk about this; not with me, at least. Not once since I've been by his side and watched his back. I guess he didn't see the point to talk about his past or even show what he could feel with a demon being ignorant of this kind of things. A demon that couldn't understand. I was born in Hell, unlike him. I only know cruelty, desire for eons. But as for him… "
She stopped talking for a moment, scrutinizing Lucifer's profile more intensely. The detective was curious to know what could cross her mind right now but she remained silent, too.
" Lucifer is so much more than all this. ", the demon continued, showing the chaotic landscape around them. " Much more terrifying than what you could have met here. That's how he'd always been to me. "
Much more terrifying.
Chloe could easily believe this but wasn't totally agree. Lucifer knew how to be cruel; but only with vile human beings who deserved this in spades. It was never wanton. He never felt real satisfaction by acting so. He feigned it, however. But she had never been by his show. Being cruel with others didn't sound like Lucifer. Not like the one she had right in front of her.
No.
" Do you find him different now? ", she asked then.
Once again, Mazikeen didn't answer right away, lost in thought. She finally shrugged, stroking with her nails an obsidian on her right which subtly rippled with this demonic touch.
" Yes… and no. " , she said evasively.
" Yes and no ? ", repeated the detective, puzzled and slightly annoyed.
Her friend shrugged again nonchalantly.
" He can be as merciless and cruel as he was at the time of the Great War, but-… I have to admit that something has changed since our arrival on Earth. Since he met you. It's like he was finally… him. ", continued the demon, pensive.
" How's that? "
" I don't know. I think he has always played some kind of role his whole life. Satan, the Fallen Angel, the Prince of Darkness… But, for some time, he looked more real. The real Lucifer. You know what I mean? ", she asked her.
Chloe nodded, scrutinizing her partner again.
Yes, she knew what she meant. He had told her… that night.
" Whatever you do, anything… wherever you go ; you're just this role and nothing else in the eyes of the world. "
A role.
Lucifer had played a role since the beginnings of his existence.
The obedient angel ; who he had tried to be, at least. The Hellish Monster. And, finally… A playboy enjoying various activities and pleasures. Behind all these false roles, she was able to see the only thing that really mattered.
His own personality.
Not the one given by this place or God. Only him. Lucifer Morningstar.
Arrogant, bad-tempered, unpredictable, playing fast and loose with absolutely everything… And also alone. Vulnerable. Hurt by all these betrayals.
She didn't need to know his past or the angel he might have been billions of years ago.
Who cared?
She wasn't in love with this obedient angel but rather with the rebellious one in front of her.
The rebellious angel suddenly began to walk faster, forcing the two women to do the same. He almost ran to a stone bigger than the others ; a huge stalagmite of the width of several meters. The detective's mind was obviously playing tricks to her because the stone seemed much darker than the previous ones.
And much more troubling, too.
A shiver ran along her spine while she was staring at this… thing. The path was separated in two directions around it, giving the same way with scattered obsidians all along. The stalagmite hadn't stony neighbors nearby. The columns and other stalagmites – smaller than this one - only appeared at a distance of three meters from the huge stone. The fissures on it were deeper, looking like blood-red filaments throbbing inside the stalagmite and mixing with its dark shade.
It looked like it had blood vessels.
She didn't know why, but her whole body was telling her – rather screaming, actually – to turn around as quickly as possible. Chloe hesitated to follow her instinct, knowing that she was constantly struggling against it since she had come here.
Lucifer moved quickly to the stone with blood-red shapes, stroking it with his hand. He moved his palm a little lower, looking for something in particular. The detective came closer but stopped at a reasonable distance from him and that odd black stone, feeling really uncomfortable near it. Her partner stopped his hand right in the middle of the stalagmite. He came closer – Chloe's intrigued look following his gestures – and stroked a tiny recess she hadn't notice before. It was square and extremely small, maybe one centimeter. Lucifer ran his fingers over it before turning to the detective and his demonic sidekick.
" I've found the rabbit hole! ", he exclaimed.
Rabbit hole ?
What hole ? Was it the entrance of that valley ?
Before she could even ask him what he was talking about, Mazikeen let out a disdainful exclamation and crossed her arms on her chest.
" Goody… ", she muttered, walking towards her master. " Too bad there's no white rabbit inside, isn't it? "
Lucifer smirked while replying joyfully – which was odd given their situation :
" You can't know that, Mazie! "
" Exactly! I can't and you know why? ", she asked him, facing him near the stone.
He leaned against the stalagmite and rolled his eyes, sighing with exasperation.
" I don't but you won't keep this information for yourself, will you? Please, do not give in to temptation this time! ", he teased her, annoyed.
The detective stayed where she was, unwilling to take part in this argument. Better to just listen to them this time and wait.
" Because I've never been there! ", spat the demon, on edge. " So do you! You can't be sure to find your wings before they-…! "
They?
Who were they ?
Lucifer's body tensed instantly, a glint of rage crossing his gaze, interrupting her sharply:
" You're right, my dear Maze. But I am the Devil. I know every single nook of this world without having to go physically there, so I perfectly know where my bloody wings are right now and how to take them back! We can't say the same for you, can we? "
" Do you actually know how not to get us whacked ?! That would be really useful, too! ", she replied.
He sighed loudly before mumbling with a feigned dismay:
" I knew I've forgotten something… "
Mazikeen sighed loudly in turn, greatly annoyed by his indifference. Chloe took advantage of this short break in their argument to question her partner, pointing to the big stalagmite:
" What's this? "
He turned to it, gently stroking it and the strange crack in the middle.
" This, Detective, is the door of the Hinnom's Valley. That's where my dear wings are and that's the only thing that truly matters right now! ", he said, glaring at the demon.
" What's really mattered is what's waiting for us behind, Lucifer! ", she told him. " They've been trapped there for millennia, you can't believe th-…! "
Lucifer interrupted her with a sharp tone again, still looking at the recess.
" We'll deal with this later, Mazie. "
She tried once more to express her fear and disagreement about this, opening her mouth. Lucifer clenched his fist against the stalagmite, turning to her and looking daggers at her. This gaze stopped immediately the demon's words in her mouth who scrutinized her master's face with apprehension. From where she was standing, the detective couldn't totally see Lucifer's eyes and face. Only his profile. However, she was able to guess this threatening gleam reflecting in his dark eyes. Her partner's jaw was tensed while he said very slowly with a tone that didn't allow any questioning:
" Later, Mazikeen. "
She stared at him for a moment, feeling both fear about this place and the devil in front of her. She finally gave in, stepping back and cursing her master vehemently. Chloe tried once again to question her partner:
" So, how do we do to go inside this… valley? "
" Well, we just need to place my ring in this tiny recess and the door should appear. ", Lucifer said vaguely without turning to her.
With these words, her partner slowly lifted his wounded hand, clenching it as he approached the black ring towards the uncommon keyhole. The ring lodged itself perfectly in the recess, a strong thwack resounding around them. A simmering throbbed around the jewel, the blood-red cracks throbbing with the same intensity. Lucifer winced with the power touching his wounded hand. A strange rumble raised all around them, the ground trembling under their feet.
Chloe almost lost her balance and looked at Mazikeen who tried to stay upright too.
The rumble quickly turned into a shrill squealing as the simmering also increased on the stone, which began to become totally blood red under her partner's hand. Lucifer seemed to use all his strength to keep this touch between his ring and the stalagmite, tensing each of his muscles so as not to give out under this wrenching power.
Chloe couldn't move, wincing while she heard this piercing sound in the air. She placed her hands against her ears and curled up on herself.
And that is when…
… the silence came.
The earthquake stopped as suddenly as it had begun. Just like this horrible sound. The detective straightened up, panting and looking around her.
What the hell was going on ?
She looked at Mazikeen and Lucifer, worried. The demon was trying to get back on her feet while her partner seemed still stuck to the stone. Chloe began to make one step towards him but was immediately stopped. The stone around his ring became more red than before, almost glowing like fierce fire and blinding the detective before splitting in two – and all along its length – the dark stalagmite with a blood red beam. It touched the ground before the stone, causing a strong shock wave.
Chloe tumbled forward. She vaguely heard Lucifer screaming, his cry swallowed by another piercing sound quickly turning into a terrifying rumble again. The young woman leaned on her forearms, staring at the huge door now appearing inside the stalagmite. The beam became wider, opening thus the two big panels from the stone.
The Gate of the Valley was finally open.
Chloe stopped looking at the Gate, feeling an odd warm touch along her left leg. She winced and looked behind her, confused. She saw an horrible slimy limb wrapped around her jeans, her skin quickly beginning to burn under it.
" What the h-…?! "
The detective noticed another movement near her. While shaking her leg to free it from this thing, she took a look.
The stalagmites and other columns were… melting. Like really melting.
They were turning into some tar-like, disgusting bodies on the ground. Two empty holes replaced the eyes, their skin was this sticky black material regularly dripping on the path. Each stalagmite and column around her was turning into this creepy thing.
And it was heading to Chloe.
She let out a cry of pain as the burning sensation on her left leg increased. She took her gun and shoot on this dark material. The bullets plunged easily inside it, swallowed and mixed with the material. The detective looked around her, freaking out.
Hundreds…No. Thousands of black shadows were dangerously coming closer to her.
She was trapped.
She couldn't see Mazikeen or Lucifer from where she was, these things completely surrounding her. The shadow around her leg turned into a human face. It looked like an ugly Italian mask. She gave an horrified look to this human head that was smiling at her. Chloe heard a whisper that turned her blood to ice.
" MomMy… "
The detective screamed, shaking her leg more vehemently to remove that face from it. It was useless. The rest of this tar-like material kept coming closer to her, whispering as well. Then, these whispers turned into horrible screams near her.
"… iLl her…the mOnEy… "
" I waNt to gO hoMe…I'm inNocEnt ! "
" I had tO kill hEr… I hAd to… "
" ForgIve me ! DoN't huRt me, pleaSe… "
" MomMy ! "
Chloe screamed again, both with the pain inside her limb than the fear that was gripping every part of her body. Every cry and begging painfully resounded in her mind as the other slimy souls advanced towards her. She shut her eyes, tears beginning to appear as she pressed her palms against her ears.
She screamed as loudly as she could, totally trapped by the fear and these horrible things:
" Lucifeeeeeeeer ! "
She didn't want to die here.
Not here. Not like this. She shouldn't die here.
A soft and yet incredibly devastating light stroked her eyelids. The pain in her leg and the whispers ceased instantly, the young woman panting with relief.
She knew that light.
His Light.
Lucifer.
She opened her eyes, the light intensified noticeably around her as she tried to find her partner. She could see the black shadows withdraw, eager to taste this pure brightness they couldn't even tolerate. Her left leg was healed with some snags in her jeans which let see the detective's unwounded skin. The light increased in power, strongly vibrating around her, everywhere. A blazing blast of air brushed her face and the many ashes covering the ground, blinding her for a moment and she placed her arm in front of her eyes.
Then, she lowered it, looking ahead, stunned.
Lucifer was literally radiating divine light.
A powerful and yet a quite different light than the last time. The first time she had seen this, he looked like someone else. The merciless angel he may once have been. Before his Fall.
Right now… It was just Lucifer. Her partner.
A strong glowing light surrounded his body, touching each of his muscles as he was springing out some pure energy from his ring. Chloe couldn't see his face ; her partner was facing these horrible creatures, protecting her with his body. She gasped in surprised and shock. A kind of dome of pure light separated them from the shadows, created by Lucifer.
To protect her.
He tensed his muscles, his palms against this odd dome while the stone of his ring was also radiating divine light. The souls – previously frightened of this destructive and impassable barrier – began to move towards it, banging against it with rage. Lucifer winced, tensing with this assault and pressing his hands more firmly against this dome. He turned to Chloe who looked at him. She could see strong resolution in his eyes.
Then he stopped looking her to stare at a spot behind her.
She followed his gaze, jumping again with each strong noisy assault of the creatures.
The Gate of the Valley was clear, showing this big blood-red space inside it. It more looked like a kind of portal than a real gate.
The detective turned to Lucifer, figuring out what he was planning to do. They shared another look as the divine wall was beginning to crack under each new demonic assaults.
" Go ! ", he screamed her.
Chloe got back on her feet, stumbling a few times. She looked at her partner one last time as a huge crack appeared over the dome. Clenching her fists, she screamed at him beyond the powerful rumble around them:
" If you're not right behind me, I swear I'll shoot you ! "
She rushed towards the Gate, running as fast as she could. She heard another crack, seeing the glowing material all around her becoming fissured as she was filling the distance between her and the entrance of the Hinnom's Valley.
She didn't look behind her.
She wouldn't. It would mean not trusting him.
He could make it. He was the devil, right?
She had to trust him.
She saw Mazikeen cross the Gate and sped up. The ground trembled under her feet and she felt several times. She stoop up as fast as she could, panting, her shoes sliding on the ashes.
Unhesitating, the detective ran to the Gate. A strong blast of divine light brushed her shoulders as she was plunging headfirst into the scarlet opening.
Plunging headfirst through the rabbit hole.
TBC with: " Have a quick chat with God "
Author's notes :
I hope I have some inspiration again. And that this new chapter pleased you.
Until next time !