iCarly: iMeet the Relatives, Chapter 10: Storm Clouds

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I don't own iCarly. Just thought you should know.

Chapter 10: Storm Clouds

{{Uncle Darian? I've news to report.}}

{{You have my attention, nephew.}} Devlin communicated his entire conversation with Sam to his superior. He could sense the latter's surprise—and alarm—in his mental "voice." {{Angel activity? So close? And…this matter of an attack? By a force or forces unknown?}}

{{Yes, uncle. Sam didn't lie to me, of course; you know no human can. If indeed Carly's boyfriend is an angel, and did indeed take the actions attributed to him, for the reasons supplied, then it would stand that the entire Host is on high alert.}}

Darian took his time, considering the matter. {{And, evidently, something intruded into this world, something of sufficient power to actually injure an angel. That…is definitely cause for alarm.}}

{{Do you want me to gather more information? I can check out the destroyed area, perhaps find out something more.}}

{{To do so at this stage, and alone, would be inadvisable. Let matters cool off somewhat. You know the area is no doubt infested with human scientists right now. They will of course find nothing. Let them have time to disperse, and then you can lead a fact-finding mission. I'll send you some accounts receivable clerks, eager to prove themselves. Who knows, this may well be their chance. But for now, wait. Keep on alert for any more angel activity…and any news that could emanate from the humans' research teams. I'll alert our agents on the inside.}}

{{You believe the humans will find something?}}

{{I believe it far more probable that something will find them.}}

Gryphon and Carly missed Sam and Devlin by only a few minutes. "I didn't know this little shop was here," said Carly, looking around. She prided herself on knowing the location of the coffee shops, café's, and other meeting places for young people. But this one was new to her.

It obviously wasn't a new shop. In a world of "nostalgia" businesses, this one seemed to be on the level. She'd come to the point where she could easily spot the fake billboards, ads, the contrived air of "yesteryear" so many tried for. But this one seemed to be genuinely old. "Grif? Is something wrong?"

He'd been looking around, as though he'd heard or sensed something. "I guess not. Just for a minute there….no, it's just my imagination working overtime." He smiled a bit sheepishly. "Guess I'm worried about Aunt Maggie." They got their coffee and took a booth over by the window. For some reason, Grif felt a strange kind of itch when he sat down in the chair. My imagination needs a vacation.

"Now you've got me worried. Grif, I always thought you guys were, y'know, kinda indestructible. Or something."

"Nothing here on this plane of existence is completely indestructible, Carly, though some things do come close. And it depends on what you mean by 'indestructible.' You see, I and the others exist not only here, but also in our home universe. Any force powerful enough to destroy, say, this body," he gestured to himself, "still wouldn't affect us back home. We'd just get new bodies, new incarnations, and return. So, yeah, it's sorta complicated."

Carly thought about that for a moment, sipping the cappuccino she'd ordered. "I guess I can kinda see that. So this thing that hurt her…you believe it was a piece of this Darkness?"

He shook his head. "Sorta kinda. An extension of the Darkness. Something with enough self-awareness to strike at what it perceived as an enemy."

"What is the Darkness, anyway?"

He sighed. "I can't really explain that in words. It…is a, a condition that drains everything out of everything. Like a vampire, I guess you could say, but on a universal scale. Souls that have strong connections to the Darkness—what you'd call 'evil,' even though that's an oversimplification by itself—fall into it upon death of the physical body." He paused again, gathering his thoughts. "Try this analogy: a candle. Normally, you light one, it burns, melts the wax, burns down, etc. But in the Darkness, this process is, is accelerated. And everything the candle had or ever was is sucked off into nothingness. It burns itself out so completely it doesn't even exist anymore.

"Human souls can fall into this Darkness. There, they just….sort of burn themselves out. And they're gone. Totally. Nothing left. No immortal part or anything like that. The soul itself…disintegrates."

Carly shuddered. "That's what awaits people beyond life? Grif, that's horrible!"

"No, no. Not everybody. But…oh, I can't really explain it very well. But not all souls go there. Some go into the Light."

"The Light. How does that work?"

"Souls that leave this plane of existence are accepted into the Light, becoming part of it. Again, I can't really explain it; it's not like another planet or anything. It's…an entirely different state of being."

"And demons?"

He shook his head. "Different order of being. Like us, they can't really be harmed. Their home universe is highly chaotic, with a very high energy signature. Hellfire, you'd call it. Except it's not ordinary fire, of course."

"And they collect souls? Human souls?"

"Souls of humans in particular. They're complete sensualists, feeding on emotion, and feeling. That's meat and drink to them. So they collect souls, especially those of any being blessed with feelings—and that's not everybody, by the way-imprison them in what would look like a, a crystal sphere, and store them in their home universe, which we may as well call Hell, for lack of a better term. Then, they can drink in that soul's emotions whenever they like. Am I making sense?"

"Well, I can kind of follow what you're saying. How do they get these souls? Do people really sell their souls?"

"No, it doesn't work like that. That's a total fiction. A soul has to be given to one of them, given freely and with the individual knowing what they're doing."

"But…why would anyone do anything like that?"

He shrugged. "There could be lots of reasons. And demons are experts at finding those 'reasons' and amplifying them, working on them, until the person is quite willing to give that demon his or her soul. And they do."

"And…they're here? In Seattle?"

"Apparently. Adriel was warning me; she wouldn't have warned me unless they were in the vicinity of my own operations."

Carly thought. "You say these demons are, like, physical beings, like you and I? I mean, they're not like in The Exorcist?"

"Oh, no. That was a work of fiction. Demons, even if they were able to take over human bodies like that, wouldn't act that way. How many souls d'you think they'd get, going around spraying people in the face with pea soup? I mean, that'd be silly.

"The most dangerous demons…are the ones who befriend you."

…..

Hell: The minor demon set to guard the lava fields in the northernmost parts of the first circle noticed it first.

It wasn't her fault, that time, that that scuzzy angel had interfered! Everything had been going so smoothly! But nooOOOooo. That do-gooder hadda go an' get all involved. Nobody asked him to butt in! Waste of a perfectly good soul, if you asked her.

But the Black Throne didn't care to hear "excuses," so here she was, stripped of her rank and exiled to this dump, guarding the Uncollected in the molten sea below. While it was true the job came with some perks—the endless moaning and waves of general misery from below never got old—still, she was stuck here, unable to advance, not allowed to start her own collection. She had to make do with scraps, as it were. Scraps.

Well, all right. So be it. She'd bide her time, and work her way back up. Surely it wouldn't be too long before somebody noticed that she was doing a good job, was dependable, reliable, etc. She could be promoted to Teller, and then could once again be allowed in the Earth realm, to collect her first soul.

She shifted on her rock, high up on the mountain jutting out of the lava, pulling her shadowcloak around a bit tighter, gripping her trident. She might hate being out here so far from civilization, a basic nobody as far as Hell was concerned, but she did have a responsibility here. The best way to achieve promotion and get off this rock and back to where she belonged was to do her job and do it well.

What was that?

She perked up and raised her head, her inhumanly perfect vision zeroing in on a spot far out over the vast plain of lava. It looked like a momentary distortion, a heat mirage….except she knew her eyes weren't affected by such illusions.

She'd always suspected that the job of lava field guard was just a made-up job, make-work, one created solely to humiliate those assigned to it. But now….

Now, all of a sudden, she wasn't so sure.

She stood up, the rocky ledge she'd been sitting on breaking off from the main mountain, and levitating smoothly over the lava fields. Chunks of the basaltic rock from her flying perch broke away and fell down into the lava. {{Sir?}} She contacted her supervisor, {{I just saw something peculiar, out here in sector 37f.}}

{{What?}}

{{I couldn't tell. It looked like some sort of distortion. I couldn't get a good look at it.}}

{{You're sure you saw something?}}

{{I'm sure I saw something. I just don't know what. I'm going to investigate.}}

{{Good. Maintain this link. I want to see what you see, should you see it again.}}

{{Yes, sir.}} She levitated her rock over the area where she saw the anomaly, cautiously lowering it down towards the lava. The lava couldn't hurt her, of course, but she was understandably wary of whatever it was she could have-*

Vice-President and CEO Darian benDarian was taking a brief interlude from his many meetings, soaking up some good feels from his collection of souls, when the call came through. {{Sir? Something perhaps you should be aware of.}}

{{You've caught me at a rare moment; I actually have time to listen. What is it?}}

{{One of our minor guards out on the lava fields has suddenly ceased to report.}}

Darian frowned. {{I'm sure there's more to that story than just that, else you wouldn't be bothering me with it.}}

{{She reported seeing something she couldn't get a good picture of out on the lava fields, sector 37f. She went to investigate, remaining in contact with her supervisor, as protocol requires. Then, a few seconds later, all contact was lost.}}

{{And the supervisor….?}}

{{Has no more answers than we do. All he knows is, she was there one second and gone the next.}}

{{I know you've investigated enough to know that she didn't just break off communication.}}

{{Of course, sir. We sent a scout; he found nothing. Not even any trace of the rock she was levitating on.}}

{{Alright. You've reported this. I'll send some account manager interns to look into it. In the meantime, maintain a careful check with all the other perimeter guards. Have reinforcements ready for dispatch at a moment's notice.}}

{{Yes, sir.}} benDarian could "hear" the undercurrent of surprise and disbelief in the other's mental "voice." The notion that someone or something might actually be launching an invasion of Hell itself was one that had not crossed anyone's mind since the first protozoa formed in Earth's seas.

But he knew one thing: Hell had gates for a reason.

To be continued….