Chapter 5 – Revelations

The Devil's palace is a large, castle-like manor surrounded by a high, spiked wall. It sits in the middle of the Forest of Flame, a vast, eternally burning forest that contains countless tortured souls. The isolated palace is mainly protected by the burning forest around it and therefore the gate to the palace grounds is unguarded. The grounds are well maintained but appear empty. It seems almost abandoned.

Barry finishes observing the palace from the air and returns to the ground. Dean turns to look at him as he lands. "Anything?" he asks.

Barry shakes his head. "No guards or servants. It looks like we could walk right on in," he says.

"We could, but we need the Devil to believe us," Dean says. "We can't save his life if he thinks we broke in. Unless…" His eyes widen. "Maybe Elsa already killed him."

Barry doesn't believe that. "I don't believe that," Barry says in disbelief.

"It's a possibility we can't ignore…" Dean says.

Barry jumps as suddenly Dean sprints toward the steel gate and starts climbing up it. Before he can react, Dean drops himself on the other side of the wall and begins to run across the palace grounds. Barry snaps out of his stupor and leaps into air, hovering over the wall on tiny, inelegant bee wings that, according to all known laws of aviation, shouldn't be able to keep him in the air.

Barry is flying close behind Dean as he runs toward the palace doors. Dean comes to a stop in front of the doors and Barry lands next to him. Dean steps forward and tries the door handle. It's unlocked. The hinges creak as the large door swings open to reveal a lavish interior just as devoid of life as the surrounding grounds.

"This doesn't look good," Dean says. "I'm afraid I might be right about Elsa beating us here."

"Well, if she beat us here and killed the servants and guards, then where's all the bodies?" Barry asks.

"I already told you," Dean answers. "Demons have a mineral called plotdevicium in their blood that makes them explode shortly after death. Remember what happened to the Baron?"

"You didn't need to remind me," Barry says. "If the demons all exploded, where's the holes? Or craters? Or even scorch marks? The place looks brand new."

Dean places his hand on his chin and ponders for a few seconds. "It must be an automated maintenance spell," he says. "There were signs of conflict. They just got cleaned up."

"Well, with that thrilling mystery now solved, are we going to go in now?" Barry asks sarcastically. "We need to know if the Devil is actually dead or if he's just hiding in some bunker in the basement."

"I suppose you're right. We have been wasting time out here," Dean says with a chuckle. "We should split up to make this go faster. I take the second floor, you take the first. Yell if you find anything."

Dean walks off to the stairs before Barry can respond. Once Dean is gone, Barry starts looking around the main hall. Opposite from the front doors is a grand staircase leading to a second floor balcony with several hallways coming off of it. The main hall has a couple hallways on either side of the staircase, however Barry's attention is primarily drawn to the large doors on either side of the hall. There are only two doorways, one on either side, but they are both large and covered in intricate designs.

Barry walks over to the door on the right and pokes his head in. Inside is a massive dining room large enough to fit every demon lord in Hell. On the other side of the room is a large fireplace with a painting hanging over it. The painting is of a very human-like demon, with deep red skin, pitch black hair, a prominent chin, and long, curving horns. It can only be the Devil himself.

Barry decides to examine the room in more detail later and walks over to the left door. Inside is the largest library that he has ever seen. If he squints, he can barely see the other end of it. Barry looks up to see that the library has more floors than the actual mansion. He groans. Of course the Devil's palace would have weird, spatial bullshit.

Barry would've turned around and went back to the dining hall, but he finds himself convinced that one of these books is going to be one of those switches made to look like a book. Like in a Scooby Doo episode or some shit. Barry pauses. Why did he think of Scooby Doo? Barry B. Benson has never watched Scooby Doo. So why was that the first thing he thought of? He shakes his head. This place is just fucking with him.

He forces himself to focus on the task at hand and starts going through the library, pulling on each book as he goes. They're all real so far, which shouldn't be surprising considering he's right by the entrance. However, no one would expect the switch to be right there. Which is why it's the perfect spot to hide it. Of course, it's not on the first set of shelves and Barry is just wasting his time.

But before he can waste too much time, he hears Dean's voice echoing through the palace. "Barry!" he yells out. "I think you might to see this!"

Barry quickly leaves the library, thankful he doesn't have to search the whole thing. He runs up the stairs and heads down the hallway he heard Dean's voice coming from. At the end of the hall is an open door, leading into a room filled with a deep, red glow. Barry steps into the room and sees the walls covered in glowing pentagrams and other arcane symbols. In the center of the room is Dean, crouching over a large circle filled with detailed writing. Unlike the other drawings, this one isn't glowing.

Dean points at a set of symbols on the wall. "That's the cleaning spell I talked about," he says without looking away from the central circle. "It's set to go off every eleven hours and six minutes. Naturally, this room is excluded from the spell. Wouldn't be much use if it erased all your blood runes twice a day."

Barry is wondering if that's all Dean wanted to show him, when Dean stands up and gestures at what he was crouching over. In the center of the circle is the man from the dining room painting. The Devil. He looks exactly like he does in the painting with only a few differences. Most notably, the pained expression on his face and the perfectly circular hole punching straight through his chest.

"The wound is significantly colder than the rest of the body," Dean says, still staring at the Devil's corpse. "He was most likely killed by an icicle through the heart. Went clean through him and kept going, if that puddle in the corner is anything to go off of."

"Elsa…" Barry says.

"Sorry Barry," Dean says with a sigh. "It doesn't look either of us are going home now."

Strangely, this news doesn't make Barry feel sad. "Even if we never see the real world again, we at least have a chance to save it," Barry says with determination. "It's too late to stop Else from taking control of Hell. She's probably preparing for war with Earth as we speak. But, it's not too late to stop her. Even if we have to fight against the infinite legions of the damned, I'm willing to do it. For Shrek."

Dean nods. "For my brother, Sam."

"Now, where did the Devil keep his army," Barry asks. "I'm confident that she'll be there."

Dean shakes his head. "Before we leave, we might want to consider another way of stopping Elsa," he says before gesturing at the large circle the Devil's corpse is laying in. "It's clearly magic, but I can't decipher what it does. It seems like the Devil was killed before he could activate it, so it must have been meant to stop Elsa. It could give us an advantage or it could be unfinished and backfire horribly. Still, it's certainly less risky than fighting a literally infinite army of demons."

Barry looks at the text within the circle again. It appears to be written in some ancient language. Barry can't tell what it says, but the text forms a circle within the circle. There is nothing to indicate that the spell is incomplete.

Dean yelps as Barry reaches out to touch the circle, but Barry no longer hears him once the spell activates. Everything goes black.

Barry is once more adrift in the void as a disembodied consciousness. But this time, there is no burning. Instead, Barry feels an unburning. As if the pieces of his soul that became ash were coming back to him. His memories begin to flash before him in reverse order as he is slowly rebuilt. He sees Shrek killing him in. He sees himself being dragged into Shrek's yard by that fake Donkey. He's getting close to remembering that shithead's identity. All he needs to do is remember the ritual. The one where his soul was sold by someone else in exchange for Donkey's body.

He suddenly feels a cold, concrete floor beneath him. He looks around and sees a dark warehouse with a shadowy figure walking towards him. He looks down to see himself tied up on a pentagram drawn from blood. This is it. This is the memory.

He looks up to see the shadowy figure standing over him now. They're no longer in the shadows, yet Barry still can't see who it is. Almost as if their identity is censored.

"Shrek will soon be mine," the figure says in a vague, undefined voice.

Barry focuses his entire mind on remembering who did this to him. He has to remember. He feels something click into place and immediately knows that the memory is now whole. His body feels strange but he just ignores it and looks up to see the face of his mysterious enemy. And it's…

Himself.

That can't be right. How is there another Barry? Perhaps a shapeshifter? But then why sell Barry's soul if they could just become Donkey on their own? And why does his body feel strange now?

Barry looks down once more and discovers that his body is no longer his own. His turtleneck sweater is missing. His yellow fuzz is replaced by gray fur. And his hands and feet have been turned into hooves. He's in Donkey's body. What the hell is going on?

Barry's mind begins to race with the possibilities. Perhaps there were multiple rituals and that's why they had to sell his soul instead of their own. Perhaps his captor can transform people on their own and the ritual was for something else. Parallel universes? He's pulled out of his thoughts by the other him starting to chant in Latin.

Barry starts to squirm in his strange body as the pentagram grows hot underneath him. As it burns, he feels his soul being sucked out of him. Then the burning stops as a demon appears in a burst of flame.

The other Barry laughs maniacally and gives a small bow. "I gave you a soul, as promised," he says with a grin. "Now let us discuss what I get."

The demon grins back. "Of course, Mr. Benson," it says. "Make your request."

The other Barry gestures at the real Barry. "This bastard stole the man of my dreams," he says.

That's utter bullshit, Barry thinks. Donkey stole Shrek from both of us.

The other Barry continues. "In order to get Shrek back, I want to take his place. Give me his identity. I want his body and everything. Shrek can't know."

Why's he talking like I'm Donkey?

"That is doable," the demon says. "There is just one issue. What of your identity?"

The other Barry shrugs. "I don't need it anymore," he says with a laugh. "Just give it to Donkey."

Barry freezes. What did he say? 'Just give it to Donkey'? That can't be right, I've always been Barry! Right?

The demon laughs. "I like the way you think, mortal," it says.

The demon then snaps its fingers and disappears. The other Barry doubles over in pain as his face starts to extend and his hands harden. Barry himself tries to scream through the gag in his mouth as he experiences the opposite. Before long, Barry is back in his own body, but it feels strange this time. As if he's inhabiting his own body for the first time.

The fake Donkey stumbles over to him, unused to walking on four legs. He bends down and looks Barry in the eyes. "I already told you, Donkey," he says to Barry. "Shrek belongs to me."

Suddenly, Barry is back in the void. He simply floats as he continues drifting backwards through memories that are no longer his. He remembers waking up in a hospital and traveling back to Duloc. He remembers being kicked off a cliff by himself. He remembers Shrek. Oh, how he misses Shrek. He remembers planning his proposal. He remembers countless dates and passionate nights. He remembers that one, fateful night. Two men, both new to town, meeting each other through sheer luck at the Duloc falls. Barry, if that's even his name anymore, can't help but think that this is true love.

He sheds the name Barry as his soul continues to repair itself. He isn't sure who he is anymore, but as his true memories continue flowing into his mind, his true identity grows clearer. His name is Donkey and he was Shrek's boyfriend until he died. His face and name have been stolen by Barry B. Benson, who now dares to love Shrek in his place.

As Donkey becomes whole again, he makes a promise to Shrek from beyond the grave. He swears that he will return to the land of the living, kill Barry B. Benson, and reunite Shrek with his true love. Then, he can finally give Shrek the happily ever after that he deserves.

Donkey wakes up on the floor of the Devil's magic room with Dean standing over him looking worried. He stands up on four legs and is happy to discover that he's got his real body back. Well, his hellish spirit body or whatever this thing is.

"So, uh, Barry," Dean says, rubbing the back of his head. "You seem to have already noticed that the spell turned you into a donkey. I'm guessing that was meant for Elsa."

Donkey smirks. "I don't think the spell turns people into donkeys," he says. "All it did was turn me back into the real me."

Dean looks confused. "What, you were supposed to be a donkey this whole time?" he asks.

Donkey smiles. "Yep," he says. "Remember what I said about that fake Donkey running off with Shrek? Well, I found out what happened to the real one. It was me the whole time! I only thought I was Barry because the real Barry sold my soul to get a demon to swap us around. So, Barry runs off in my body to be with Shrek and I go to Hell thinking I'm Barry."

Dean starts pacing. "So it was a changing ritual. Steal someone's identity and temporarily become them," he explains. "But I've never heard of someone giving up their own identity permanently. Typically it's put into an object so they can change back later. The ritual is only ever used to steal, never to trade. To do that just to be with someone…"

"Don't look into it that much. It's not love, just obsession," Donkey says. "He's tried to kill Shrek multiple times."

"Yeah, that makes more sense, Ba- Donkey," Dean says, correcting himself. "Now, we need to focus on the task at hand. Stopping Elsa. Going to the Hell Barracks would be suicide, so we won't be doing that. Luckily for us, the Devil was supposed to give a speech at the city in the center of Hell. If I'm right, that's where Elsa will announce herself as the Queen of Hell. We can stop her there."

Donkey nods. "Sounds good," he says. "But I didn't know there's a city in the middle of Hell."

"Trust me, it's not pleasant," Dean says with a shiver. "But, we have no choice but to go there."

"It can't be that bad," Donkey says.

Dean sighs. "Donkey, we're going to Gary, Indiana."

"Oh."