Hopes and the Damned
Jim Brown
He stood before Leviathan, his entire body shaking violently from pins to soles. Leviathan was searching his mind to understand what had happened. Everything he had thought, and schemed, and did, came out into the open.
... and with an incredible burst of soul-wrenching pain, so did Eliot.
That had been the root of the problem all along, Leviathan realized. It had been Eliot in there scheming and planning. The Cenobite had made Andrew, and Eliot had infused Andrew with a conscience. So while it had put this Cenobite in high standing instead of demoting him for letting Andrew's mother go, the child had grown up outside of Hell, and was now Earth's best chance of winning.
Eliot disappeared into the maze below. Leviathan was tempted to rip up the Labyrinth to catch him, but the damage would not be worth it. The Labyrinth was its main source of power. No matter how many dimensions were taken, this place needed to stay intact. It had sustained Leviathan since time beyond memory and if all portals were suddenly and permanently sealed, it could still keep the god conscious and aloft all through eternity.
Nevertheless, it attempted to reach down into the maze with various devices and extensions, but with no success. If Eliot had shot into the sky, it would have been all over, but instead Eliot went into hiding.
After a short time, Leviathan stopped its hunt, collected any souls that had escaped from inside it during its activities, and sent out the word to the Labyrinth to watch for Eliot. He was to be destroyed on sight. Someone who possessed the level of knowledge which he had concerning the Order of the Gash would be able to do great damage to the tides of pain that flowed through Hell's maze. It was not worth the risk.
Turning its attention back to the lone Cenobite standing obediently below, Leviathan ripped it open and removed its ambition to build its own Hell, leaving only the desire to serve, and if it was again presented with a chance to take Earth, it would follow strict behavioral patterns and not try to second guess anything. Once it felt satisfied that the adjustments were complete, the god sent him back into the Labyrinth, and waited for word about Eliot.
Leviathan decided to allow Cenobites their human memories from this point on. Eliot had pulled off his treachery because The Favored One had not known about him lurking inside. One Cenobite's ignorance of its true origin could very well cost Leviathan deeply. Never again.
... and so, Eliot Spenser, a British soldier who had solved LeMarchand's configuration, had been worthy enough to become a Cenobite, had meted out decades of suffering, had created many more Cenobites, had escaped Hell and sacrificed himself back into it to save the Earth, and had turned what could have been Hell's greatest moment into possibly its greatest enemy, was now a spirit roaming freely in Hell's hallways, looking for way out. He decided that if he had the chance, he would appear to suffering souls and try to offer comfort. He would have to keep moving on, as whatever was torturing the soul would most likely sense an increase in hope and would return, but he knew all the ways to make someone suffer exquisitely, so he knew he could come up with some interesting ways to make someone feel joy.
Also, his son was still out there somewhere, and if the Wolves of the Water were what he hoped they were, and his son was able to gain their aid, this might spell the end for the puzzle box god. Then again, if his son failed, Eliot knew there was a chance he would end up spending eternity in Hell with only his hopes and the damned for company.
Perhaps given long enough, he could find enough goodness in him to set against his own evil, but that was a long way off, and he had much work to do. He would be watched for, of course, but if he was clever and quick, and luck was on his side, he just might make a difference.
With that thought, Eliot headed down into the bowels of the Labyrinth, and tried not to think too loudly.
The instant Andrew arrived in the new dimension, he tried to jump to Earth, but found he couldn't. He was hovering a few dozen feet above an immense sphere of water which made up the center of this universe. The lighting was minimal at best, but he could sense it nonetheless.
Andrew was becoming less and less reliant on the standard five senses and was now used to his newer sense. He could now see without eyes, hear without ears, smell with no nose, feel something's texture though he was far from it, and know the taste of something from the same distance. There were also other details that came by just thinking about an object: how much force it would take to move it, its surface area, its atomic structure, and much more. The more he used his mind to read others, the more he concentrated on his own adjustments (he was now to the point where he could survive on light alone, not even needing to breathe), and the more the Guardian raged inside him, the more his mental abilities expanded.
He turned his attention towards the sea below. The water was literally full of life. There were creatures as large as cities all the way to others so small, they would be lost on the head of a pin. There also seemed to be no two alike. A great mouth fifty feet across and edged with long sharp teeth opened and swallowed hundreds of other creatures, almost breaking the surface before moving back into the depths. Another creature just stared at him with big black eyes three feet across and little else before it was knocked aside by a large yellow-green eel-like beast trying to escape an immense luminous spider with fins. The water was quite choppy due to all the violent activity in it. He rose further above it to be sure he wouldn't become a snack for one of the bigger creatures.
Above the watersphere floated clouds in constant flux, some light and airy, others dark and storming. Above that, it was black. No stars, nothing. The light of the place came from the life below, and this light lit the undersides of the clouds, creating an effect like holding a flashlight under one's chin in the dark.
Various under-lit clouds and water teeming with life seemed to be all that made up this dimension.
Something moved.
He wasn't sure how he knew it, but he felt something massive shifting itself. He could not pinpoint any direction or distance, but he thought he felt the air change. He wasn't even sure if it was a move that could be classified as physical in nature. It was just a feeling that something very, very immense had just shifted.
A very low rumble began, lasting for a few seconds, and then was gone.
The Guardian inside Andrew was very quiet and still. Andrew suddenly found himself grateful for its company. If worse came to worse, he could always set it free to help him against a common threat.
"Yeah right," he said aloud, "That's all I need."
The demon would no doubt try to find a way to open a doorway to Hell, and he wouldn't allow that to happen, even if it meant his own death. Besides, the Guardian had been with him all through this adventure, and he took no small pleasure in forcing it to watch his quest unfold. Perhaps if Leviathan was destroyed, he'd set it free to finish it off, making it the first and last of Hell's kind he would deal with. It had a nice symmetry to it.
A dark violent storm which was rapidly moving past him suddenly stopped. Lightning continued to flash as the storm hovered in place. Something was behind it, he could sense it. Whatever it was, it was huge, and then it appeared.
Staring at him, standing above the clouds, was a wolf. A very, very, large wolf. It was as if the wolf was looking over a small fence, except that the small fence was many miles away and had to be a mile above the water. The wolf was too dark to tell what exact color it was, but it's eyes glowed yellow.
Andrew never felt so small in all his life as he did at that moment. The Guardian inside him whimpered.
The wolf started towards him.
He turned and flew as fast as he could away from it. He even tried again to jump dimensions, but again to no avail. He made his wings as large as he could and beat them as hard as he could through the air. After a few seconds, he glanced back.
The wolf filled the sky.
Before he turned back, Andrew caught a quick glance at its feet. The wolf seemed to be walking on top of the water. He couldn't afford to keep looking however so he turned back around to make sure where he was going.
... and almost ran headlong into a mountain covered with fur.
It was another foot, and this one was indeed on top of the water. The water glowed around it and in the glow, new life was being born and quickly speeding away.
The clouds above him parted and, looking down, was the rest of the wolf that the foot belonged to. This wolves eyes were red and they seemed to burn into him.
Andrew froze in place, barely having the wits to keep flapping.
Suddenly his mind was searched, and violently. There was no hiding from them. He felt like a blade of grass in a tornado and wished that he could change into one and hide in the foot-mountain ahead.
The Guardian squealed in fright as the wolf discovered it.
The wolf let out what might have been a growl for a normal dog, but in this case, was a clap of thunder that shattered Andrew's ears (luckily, he could make more). Andrew realized in that split-second that the wolf wanted the Guardian and not him, so he expelled the demon as fast as he could. He then raced away.
He was right. The mind probe stopped as soon as the demon solidified. Andrew was now a good half-mile from the Guardian. The wolf shot its head down and snapped at the Guardian. The Guardian dove into the water as the wolf came down at it. Surprisingly, the wolf did not break the surface of the water. Instead, it started pawing at it. It may as well been pawing at a frozen lake, thought Andrew, and he realized that it was exactly how it was happening. These immensely powerful beings could not interact with the liquid. Instead, they created life in it.
That would explain the name of them and this place. He was in the realm of the Wolves of the Water, and for now, they were hunting the guardian. The other detail he remembered was that this universe was only about the size of the Earth's moon. He did not have a lot of room to hide, especially if it was just water and clouds from end to end.
Still he continued to put as much distance as he could between him and the rest. He could no longer see what was happening with the wolves and the guardian as he was going around the water and away from it to the edge of the universe. He began to feel queasy and he could not shake the feeling, no matter how he altered his body. He looked up into a fuzzy, black wall. Trying to probe further, he discovered there was nothing out there.
The queasiness he felt was quite simply the edge of existence. Nothing could exist any further past a few feet ahead. The wall he encountered then was not a solid wall on its own, but instead was the result of molecules in his body running up against other molecules ahead that were frozen in place. Further on, he guessed, the molecules would have faded away into nothingness, if they didn't run into ones ahead that were stopped.
Why then isn't every molecule (including mine) frozen like these are? He asked himself.
The universe did not reply. He guessed that it might be a localized phenomenon near the edge of the universe, but that could easily be wrong. The fact was, he could move freely up to a point, then it became like moving in very thick liquid that got increasingly thick to the point where it felt like a solid wall. In this way, the edges of this universe acted like a container.
He turned around and there stood a third wolf. It was jet black, had bright blue eyes, and judging by its features and size, it was a pup. A very large, massive pup, but one nonetheless.
Something was moving very fast towards him from deep down in the life below. As it came within a few feet of the surface, he realized it was the guardian. It broke the surface of the water and shot straight at him and hit him full on. It then latched on to him and would not let go no matter what Andrew did.
The wolf pup came at them, growling a growl so loud that even the earlier storm's thunder would have barely qualified to be one of its echoes.
The guardian was trying to bring about Andrew's destruction, even at the cost of its own. It might have worked if the wolf pup had simply tried to take out the guardian, but it didn't. Instead it came up on them and barked. This made a shock wave which propelled Andrew and the guardian into the wall above them, to which they went far enough into it to where they became completely stuck. The guardian tried to pull itself out of the wall, but the going was too slow.
The pup's blue glowing eyes came closer, and then again, Andrew was in the grip of an immensely more powerful mind. The probe escalated. Andrew was not able to hold anything back. His entire life flashed before his eyes, including everything that had happened since he 'awoke'. His war against Leviathan seemed to be getting the most attention as did his memory of the sight of the puzzle box god itself. Interestingly enough, his encounter with the little boy Andy also garnered some extra attention as well.
Then he was let go again, and just hung there, a fly stuck to the ceiling. He also began to work his way out, but honestly didn't know what he would do once he was out. That wasn't important right now. Staying out of that mental probe was, since during it, he had begun to fell his sanity slip.
Up came one of the pup's front paws, and it blocked out everything else. It then began pawing at the wall to his left, slowly moving over towards him. The guardian was stuck a good twenty feet away in the same direction, and was trying to make its way back out into the free air as well. The pup became quite agitated and continued to swipe closer and closer.
The guardian won the race as it shot out into the open air and dove for the water.
The pup lifted its paw back away from the wall, but did not set it down. It watched the guardian intently and seemed to be waiting.
At the point where the guardian was about mid-way between Andrew and surface of the water, the pup struck. It made one quick jab with its leg and flicked up its paw, which slammed the guardian deep into the wall again, but a good half mile away from Andrew. Now the pup was merciless. It began pushing into the wall with the paw, forcing the guardian deeper and deeper into it.
Andrew felt the guardian's mind breaking up and then all at once, the guardian was gone. The pup had effectively pushed it out of existence.
Those bright blue eyes again turned back towards him. Andrew knew he didn't stand a chance if the pup decided to do to him what it had done to the guardian, so he decided to try and communicate.
Will you help me against Leviathan? He thought.
The pup cocked its head to one side, obviously surprised by this.
Again the mind grabbed him, and his mind was filled with a voice that was a mixture of growls, barks and yelps.
WE ARE TRAPPED HERE.
His head throbbed with each word and he felt an almost overwhelming urge to throw up. Adjustments to his body did not help. It was his mind that was reeling.
I can open a doorway for you, he offered, dreading the reply.
YOU ARE NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE US WHERE YOU WANT TO GO, THE SHARP-EDGED GOD WILL KEEP YOUR OPENING FROM BEING LARGE ENOUGH.
Then please let me be so that I can continue the war. My world is in danger. More innocents... like Andy... are going to be sucked into Hell. Leviathan could find a way to open a door... permanently. You have to let me go... please.
The pup sniffed the air and stepped back. Other wolves were now visible. There were the first two he saw along with two others, one that was also dark but with green eyes and the other was white with black eyes. They were all sniffing the air and looking about as if something were approaching, the tops of their ears almost brushing the 'wall'.
YOU WILL GO TO YOUR WORLD AND OPEN...
The white one growled for a few seconds, which Andrew realized had been the first rumble he had heard.
...I AM ANXIOUS TO LEAVE AND SHOULD NOT SPEAK TO YOU SO, CHILD OF THE ORDER OF THE GASH. THE CHILD NAMED ANDY IS MORE THAN YOU KNOW... ...WE NEED TO FIND IF MORE OF ITS KIND EXIST. TAKE US TO YOUR WORLD SO THAT WE MIGHT ENLIST THEM IN OUR WAR.
More of its kind? Our war? His head was still spinning, but he pressed on.
If I help you leave this dimension, I want aid against Leviathan in return.
WE ARE SPARING YOUR LIFE, INTRUDER. YOUR PAYMENT TO US WOULD BE OPENING A WAY OUT... THE GOD AND THE HELL YOU ARE FROM DID NOT EXIST WHEN WE BECAME TRAPPED HERE...
He wasn't sure, but he thought he might be getting used to the power of the pup's communication. Perhaps the pup was tuning it down. Either way, the headache wasn't as sharp as it was and the nausea went away.
WE HAVE AN ANCIENT ENEMY WE NEED TO FIND, THE ONE WHO TRICKED US HERE... BUT WE WILL HELP WHERE WE CAN. WE WILL NOT ENDANGER OURSELVES NEEDLESSLY.
This was better than no help.
Agreed, he thought.
Andrew then dug his way out of the wall and soon he was flapping his wings in the free air.
Without the strain of containing the demon he had kept inside, he began to feel stronger. It was like being free of a heavy backpack that had been carried for days.
He was wholly in control of himself, feeling clear of mind as he never did before. He decided to jump to wherever the box was on Earth and destroy it before the Guardian knew what hit it, then he would open the doorway, and the Wolves would most likely come through and finish off the new Guardian as well.
Thinking of the box and how he would destroy it, he crossed over...
... into the cold vacuum of space and a mess of debris.
An instant later he was back with the wolves, his body reassembling itself as the wolves jumped back.
What the hell?!
He had went where the box was, but it was in pieces amongst other debris he could not identify. Had an alien of some kind destroyed the box?
Once he collected himself, he smiled at the wolves sheepishly and then thought of his old apartment (where he had spent the last chapter of his life as a 'normal' human being) and jumped.
Nothing happened.
His apartment was gone. It was no longer in existence. This was scary.
Andrew thought of the air above the city where he had met Andy and tailed Kenneth.
Still nothing.
Had Hell broken through somehow and destroyed everything he had done during his last couple of days on Earth?
Well, there was still Fisherman's Wharf. He had visited it once while staying in San Francisco years ago. He remembered the sea lions near Pier 39. They had been allowed to take over a stretch of docks, and it was quite a sight. Dozens of sea lions barking and basking in the sun. Tourists flocked there to gawk at them and he was no exception. He also remembered going inside a moored World War II submarine (of which he couldn't remember the name). That had also been quite an experience. War was such a frightening unknown to him at the time and he nearly laughed thinking of his innocence...
Andrew would try somewhere near there. He imagined a point part way out into the bay, up above the water's surface a good fifty feet and tried again.
This time he went, and was quite surprised to find water as far as he could see, except for one other thing, the top of the Golden Gate bridge barely sticking out of the water.
California dropped into the ocean while I was gone?!
Below him in the depths he discovered a small group of people were intently listening to a tour guide. They were in some kind of submarine and were all staring out its windows.He heard a voice in their minds.
"Over to our left you'll see what is left of what was called Fisherman's Wharf. It was quite a tourist attraction back before this area dropped under water over three hundred years ago ..."
Over three hundred years ago! What the hell happened?! This is the future!
He tried his best to collect his wits...
Now I can jump through time? ...but why did I end up here and not back when I first visited the Wharf?
One way to find out. He thought of the wolves again and went. He was gripped by the pup's mind as soon as he reappeared. Again his mind was probed, he had flashes of everything he had just seen, including the jump into space. The pup let him go and sat back on its haunches, its mouth hanging open and its brow furrowed. If Andrew didn't know better, he'd think it was shocked.
What's wrong? he thought, I seem to be able to jump through time now. Maybe I can take you back to when you were trapped here...
TIME IS SLOWER HERE THAN THE OTHER PLACES, boomed the pup's thoughts, YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE THROUGH TIME.
It's only been about a half an hour! Centuries have gone by everywhere else while I spent a half hour here?!
YES.
Now it was Andrew's turn to be dazed. He couldn't believe it. Everyone he had saved and had planned on going back to fully heal had grown old and died.
Oh no... Thomas.
The first person he had saved had been Rebecca. Then her brothers Jonathan and Nathaniel. Thomas was the most innocent and most difficult to get to. Those three siblings, and their older sister Joleen, had also grown old and died while Thomas was trapped in Hell. Hundreds of years of suffering.
He had to jump before more time passed.
I will go back and open your way to Earth. Once you sense the doorway, come through as fast as you can. Oh yeah, promise me you'll help me?
YES.
As he jumped, he wondered how he could possibly make a god honor a promise.
Copulas stood by as the latest human to solve her puzzle was rewarded for his labors by the other Cenobites she had made. She thought of all the years she had spent as a human making that puzzle, and all the centuries she had spent welcoming its lucky victims.
It had taken twenty years to pull it off, but finally she achieved it. She pulled out the memory and relived it, something she hadn't done for quite some time.
In the middle of the night, she and the latest programmer she had taken in (who could hardly believe his luck since he had a folder devoted just to her) compiled her program for the hundredth time and executed it. He was a wizard with artificial intelligence programming and had served her well. The computer's circuitry hummed with increasing energy as the screen began to flash patterns of light and color. A few seconds later, the screen went black except for a small dialog box which said...
What's your pleasure, sir?
Below it was a blank field with a drop-down button next to it. The skinny, balding man jabbed at it with his finger. The list appeared and the only option was Hell. He selected it with the same jabbing motion as well as the subsequent 'ok' button.
A question appeared asking what a specific number would be when converted to another number system. The answer was quickly typed in and he tapped the enter key. The screen flashed bright blue and then returned to black as a single short tone came out of the speakers. A second question came up asking how many days a week he would like to have sex.
He turned and smiled at Mindy as he tapped the '7' key without taking his eyes away from her. She gave him a small smile and nodded towards the screen. He turned back and jabbed the 'ok' button. The screen flashed the same blue and then added red as the speakers emitted a second tone after again playing the first. The screen was once again black.
This continued with the questions getting increasingly difficult and more personal, and each success added something new to the pattern of lights and sounds.
Three hours later, he was sweating, naked and typing and jabbing like a mad man. Just as he answered a combination question which really pushed his knowledge of dimensional shifting and drew him to the limits of his sexual experience with a question about the mixture of various massage techniques, Mindy sensed a subtle change in the air.
The one window in the room, which had always been a convenient source of lighting due to a street light a few feet away, slowly went dark.
A license agreement appeared on the screen. He started to read it and then laughed and started over, reading it aloud.
"By clicking 'Accept', you are agreeing to grant Hell exclusive rights to your soul, in which you will endure eternal suffering with no hope of reprieve. Hell will guarantee, for a time period lasting no less than eternity, that a) There are conditions of the nerve endings, the like of which your imagination, however fevered, could not hope to evoke, and b) We have such sights to show you. Further, should you be selected, you may serve as an administrator of pain and be provided with the latest tools with which to perform said function. Your title will be 'Cenobite', which is defined as 'demons to some, angels to others'. If you are not selected for this honor, you will still be used as a test subject for various explorations into the further regions of experience..."
"Wow! This is too much!" he said, laughing, as he jabbed the "Accept" button.
The agreement shrunk to a dot, which pulsed and changed colors. The sound of a bell tolling was coming from the speakers. He moved his face up closer to the screen and squinted at it in an attempt to see it better.
Hooks and chains shot out through the screen and imbedded into his hand and face. His head was pulled into the screen. His screams were muffled as he was hooked with more chains and violently yanked into Hell.
Now it was Mindy's turn.
"I was Copulas and I have returned to reclaim my place. This new puzzle needs a guardian to keep it current. My last action as a human is for me to send it out to a few common places. It will bring Hell many, many souls."
In the middle of the blackness (and the blood around the edges of the screen) appeared the interface for moving files. She waved her hands in front of it with the proper motions and soon it was out there on the net, a doorway for the 21st century.
Kenneth had died Amish and full of cancer, amongst friends and family. She thought it was an unfitting end to what could have been a glorious damnation as the Harvester. Damnation goes on, Mindy thought as she climbed through the screen (it was just big enough for her to squeeze through) and into Hell, finally back to her home. A few hours later, Copulas stood facing her mentor, and was indoctrinated as Copulas, Lead Cenobite of the Sect of the Compiled Configuration.
... and in that position she had spent the next four hundred years, bringing across more souls than had ever been culled with any other puzzle, and had administered the kind of suffering that had become legendary, even in Hell.
She put the memory away.
Copulas had occasion to work with her mentor, which reminded her of her first life in Hell, a time that over the centuries also became a powerful memory. Since she made it back into Hell, she had aided him during the crisis when his human soul had led a revolt that nearly overthrew the Labyrinth and had only been stopped after the Cenobite destroyed him (a persistent rumor circulated that the soul slipped into him, where it had hidden until his destruction).
Leviathan had not known who lead the revolt as it had been severely weakened by the waves of joy that had splashed against it. The puzzle box God was quiet for quite some time afterwards and when it did speak, it seemed to not care to discuss the event and declared the subject off-limits throughout the ranks of its servants.
Copulas now found she missed the Favored One's presence since his demise at the hands of a LeMarchand descendant. The distant offspring of the man who had made the box had used it to set a trap, and a few minutes after her mentor, Angelique, and the Twins went into that dimension (having completed their disciplining ages ago and returned to the fold), there was an explosion which destroyed the box, presumably taking the Cenobites with it. The story taken from the minds that she welcomed to Hell shortly after confirmed it.
... and humanity had been made aware of Hell's existence and did everything it could to prevent more from crossing over. There had been a marked decrease in souls, but after a couple of decades, it picked back up, and reached an all-time high, since the next generation had devoured all things Hell in order to separate themselves from their parents and achieve their own sense of identity. So in the end, it all balanced out and was now back to a level that satisfied even Leviathan's appetite.
In all those years, however, no one had been able to get a permanent foothold in Earth. There had been more attempts to understand how the Guardians were able to get through, but no progress had ever been made. In a specific spot in a specific room in a specific corner of Hell, there was a doorway open to Earth which only the Guardians could use. Many other beings had tried and been destroyed. It was also a one-way trip where the Guardian was randomly dropped somewhere. This had been confirmed as Guardians sent reports back through via the newly damned. The Guardians could see all that was happening in Hell, but could not interact with it. Each puzzle allowed one guardian through, which meant the doorway had something to do with the puzzles themselves, but that was as far as the greatest minds in Hell could get.
The moon was full and the air felt much warmer. The Golden Gate was completely submerged this time. Andrew reached out further with his mind.
The first thing he noticed was alien minds all over the planet. Earth had apparently made contact with other worlds and now had many extra-terrestrial visitors. The spy satellites that he had sensed were gone. Either humanity had discovered them and got rid of them, or whatever alien race made them had scooped them up before landing.
Six hundred years of history flooded him. The natural disasters which had been predicted had come to pass. Yosemite blew which blanketed the great plains in five inches of ash and plunged the planet into a dark, sunless winter for over a decade. The great earthquake that had been due to hit the Midwest in 1989 had hit a dozen or so years later and many times since, causing great suffering to millions...
There was so much more but the story of aliens on Earth interested him more. They first came as colonists, declaring Earth for their kind. Humanity had suddenly been shoved aside as 'primitive natives' and later enslaved. Quickly adapting, they threw off the yoke of slavery. The last hundred years were peaceful as humans got over their bitterness and Earth became a favorite stop of many races, including their former masters.
The bad side had been what had happened to the environment. While Earth had been running out of resources, there had been a concerted effort to preserve and conserve nature. Once we hit space and found plenty of materials from elsewhere, wasteful attitudes came back. The Earth was now a cesspool where cities existed above it all, floating on various mechanical constructs that allowed them to avert most natural disasters.
One such city, New Angeles, loomed a few miles away near the ever moving inward shore of the Pacific. It was moored by large heavy engines on the sea floor which could be started and moved as the need arose. Various vehicles flew in and out of the city in great numbers. It reminded Andrew of flies buzzing a carcass.
Since people now had connections to the net in their heads, reading their minds allowed him to peruse in detail, all recorded history. He searched for anything resembling the box and picked up on the story of his father's demise.
A descendant of the man who made the box had built a giant version of it in space near Mars. With this trap, he successfully destroyed the real box and four Cenobites, one of which was his father. He skipped to the final few moments. The final trick had been the young genius using a hologram on his father to keep him in place while he got away.
Why hadn't he been able to second guess this? Andrew wondered. He had a strong enough mind to keep me from pushing him into Hell, but in the end was undone by a light show? Something must have happened to him after I left.
Maybe if he was lucky, Hell itself had grown dumb and lazy too. He searched for more and was glad to see Hell had been exposed after this, but it didn't last long. It was soon written off as a hoax and business went back to usual. Humanity had let the Earth go to Hell on its own and if Leviathan had been getting more and more souls, he guessed it wouldn't be long before people found out how much a hoax could hurt. He sensed that Hell was indeed closer. There were more puzzles in place and the line between dimensions was starting to thin.
Andrew was thankful he got out of the Wolves realm when he did, or he might have jumped right into a Hell infested Earth.
Speaking of the Wolves, time to make some waves.
He flew a little further away from New Angeles and the shore and then opened a doorway. He reached out and felt for the Wolves minds. They were coming through and starting to speed up.
Andrew concentrated with everything he had, but it felt like trying to pull a pillow through the head of a pin. He did this for hours and then he felt the minds on the other side reaching for him. He was amazed at their speed since to them, it had probably been a nanosecond or less since the doorway appeared.
He met their minds and let them take over. Soon they were moving much faster and it was increasing at an exponential rate. He started to feel his mind ripping, as the sheer power of their will pushed through him and expanded his abilities. Andrew was about to end it as he began to lose his mind. One wolf was part way through and there were still four more to go...
Suddenly, the doorway flew wide open and out onto the Pacific spilled the Wolves of the Water.
Leviathan shuddered and came to a stop.
Copulas forgot what she was doing for a moment, and accidentally took a large chunk out of a wall next to her, instead of the bleeding man hanging in front of her.
Word spread throughout the clouds of Earth that their creators were back, and they sped towards the place with the rapidly sinking land.
The Order of Healing mustered it's troops and headed to Earth, Andy among them.
A lonely, depressed, masochistic, disheveled, sorry excuse for a person decided not to click 'Accept', turned off his computer and started cleaning his apartment. As he opened an old beat up cardboard box that hadn't been touched in ages, he discovered the stained dusty teddy bear that he had been given on his first birthday. That bear had been his angel through countless childhood hells. He fell on his knees, buried his face in it, and through a storm of sobs, began his journey back to joy. Soon the bear was soaked, but it didn't complain. It just smiled as it always had and soaked up more...
On one of many small retro farms floating in the sky, a calf pulled its head free from a gate. Before laying down, a old cow stamped the floor, scaring a tiny kitten out of harm's way. A big fat cat sat watching a mouse, and then feeling hungry, went and ate cat food (the mouse continued enjoying its cheese). Another mouse, about to climb up to the warmth of a leg, caught the smell of the cheese and instead sped at that. A hammer hit a pin, securing a gate, and a farmer wiped his brow and called it a day.
The Wolves of the Water were standing quite close to each other. Under each paw, the water was glowing, as it was in the small universe, and life sprang from it and sped away. Then the light from each one began to mix with the light from the others. Andrew felt a sudden shock as a bright flash shot out from under the Wolves. It was some kind of an energy wave and it expanded out, not losing its power in the least. As it hit the shore, it changed a pile of oily barrels into bright blue flowers. The wave continued on, changing everything that leaked and stained and corrupted into something healthy and alive. It spread across the planet and picked up speed. One minute later, the Earth was remade. The charcoal gray planet returned to the blues and greens of the past.
Clouds were collecting around the wolves legs, storming and flashing and rumbling, and Andrew discovered the truth.
The clouds are alive?!, he thought. Wait! Water evaporates into clouds. The Wolves have been here before. I wonder...
A bright light appeared in sky far above him and increased to the point where it became painful to look at it... with any of his senses. It was like a star had formed above his head. The Wolves squinted and growled, drowning out the rumblings of the storms. Clouds blew away in panic, even though the 'star' was far higher.
From the ball of light came the Order of Healing. Dots of light shot out from the star and began to fill the air, becoming a blizzard of brightness in just a few seconds.
But not all its members were glowing. Some were pitch black, some were translucent, and most were something in-between.
A group of them headed over to the Wolves, who bared their teeth in response. The white one snapped its mouth, catching some of them. The remaining ones fled back towards the star.
After a few seconds, the wolf opened its mouth and out came many dots, who promptly shot back to the rest.
"Temperamental gods, aren't they?" said a voice behind Andrew.
He spun around to see Andy floating behind him. At least it was Andy's face and voice. The rest of him seemed to be made up of light, which shimmered and sparkled with every thrust of his light, nearly transparent wings.
"Andy?"
"Yes, it's me. I just couldn't help but stop down. The look on your face is priceless Andrew."
"But..."
"I know, I know. I am a member of what we call the Order of Healing. We've been after the Order of the Gash for ages. I'd guess you'd say I'm an angel. ...well, those who love suffering would think of me as a demon, but that's another discussion... anyway, the time has come to take on Leviathan directly. It will no doubt be ready for us, but we have to try. Hell has been taking more and more innocents and it's time to end it."
Andrew looked at all the other dots flying around above them. He suddenly snapped his head back at Andy.
"Why didn't you tell me this centuries ago when we first met?! I thought I was alone in this. If I'd known there was an 'Order of Healing' we could have taken Leviathan on long ago. Do you have any idea how much suffering we might have stopped?!"
"Truth is, Andrew, we did take on Hell, a few years before you were born. We went through all the dimensions into which Hell had spread and tried to weed it out. We lost miserably and have only recently gotten our numbers back to where they should be. At the time I met you, we were too busy trying to heal ourselves, let alone start another conflict."
"Well, are you ready now?" Andrew said with much more sarcasm than he intended.
"Yes, yes, we're ready now. We've just been waiting for you to reappear so you can get us into Hell."
"You mean you can't..."
"No, we can't. We can go anywhere else, but not the source. You, my friend, are our one and only ticket to Hell."
Andrew turned and looked at the Wolves...
How about you? Will you come with us?
The answer, as usual, came from the pup.
NO. OUR VENGEANCE COMES ABOVE ALL ELSE. YOUR WAR WITH THE SHARP-EDGED GOD DOES NOTHING TOWARD THAT GOAL...
... and with that, they bounded over him towards land, where, as their paws hit solid ground, they leapt out of existence. Immediately, the clouds began weeping, and a thick heavy rain began to fall.
"We could have used their help, but the forces of creation, being unpredictable as their are, do not make good battle mates..."
As Andy talked on, extolling the virtues of an organized front, Andrew realized something about the Wolves. They were able to jump dimensions but could only do so from solid ground. That was how they had became trapped in the small universe. They had no land from which to leap. Their enemy certainly was clever and Andrew hoped he'd never have to face that particular God (if that's what it was).
"... so then, are you ready to go?" Andy asked.
"Ready," he replied, and rose into the air to make sure he had plenty of room.
As he rose, Andrew looked around himself at the warriors. They were all, each and every one, the souls of children. Most were not human, but he could sense their youth and innocence nonetheless. He collected himself and opened a doorway. The Order of Healing, becoming a swirling mass of hope, began spiraling into Hell.
... and the clouds continued weeping, falling to the Earth below.
Before jumping with them, he stole one last glance at the Earth below... and through the rain, saw a newly formed group of lakes, full of life, in the shape of giant paw prints.
Then off to hell he went.
Hell was in utter chaos as Leviathan hung motionless above.
A call shot out through the Labyrinth. Everyone was to get within view of Leviathan, and were to bring every weapon possible. Souls were hastily secured as the Order of the Gash readied itself for war. Within a few minutes, there was a mass of Cenobites, Guardians, and various other denizens of Hell along the top of the maze. Millions of glistening eyes stared up at their god, waiting for a sign.
Leviathan started to turn. Slowly but surely, it began to spin again, a sound like fingers on chalkboard echoing through Hell.
... and every mind was filled with the voice of their god...
DESTROY THEM.
Then the sky ripped open, and through it, came...
... the Wolves of the Water.
As soon as they appeared they started to growl, their thunder rolling across the sky. They moved out in a circle around Leviathan, keeping their distance. As they passed through clouds, a bright flash of light, not unlike heat lightning, traveled out away from them. The clouds turned dark and moved in towards Leviathan, lightning flashing to the maze below.
A few seconds later, a bright light appeared in the distance, and the Order of Healing spilled through, followed soon after by Andrew.
Hell's winged took to the air, as the ones on the ground began to hurl weapons up at the many new dots in the sky.
"What are they doing here?" Andrew shouted to Andy, who hovered within earshot.
"I don't know."
A winged Cenobite came up in front of Andy. A long spear erupted from it's chest. Andy barely got out of the way and then flew right at the Cenobite. He hit it full on and clamped his hand onto its face. A shock went through it and suddenly, it was a normal man, who fell to the maze below...
... into one of the many Cenobite creation chambers that had risen from the depths, which swallowed him and immediately started to change him back into the spear-shooting Cenobite that he was.
Andrew was attacked by another Cenobite who was being carried by a gnarled, four-winged dog. Andrew just opened a doorway behind them and shoved them through, healing both as he pushed.
The battle had begun. All around him, Hell was engaging the invaders, in the air and on the ground. There was not an organized volley anywhere. It was millions of one on one confrontations, a immense mixture of hope and hate, of compassion and wickedness, and Hell was the home team, and benefited from having the maze below. It was able to take its beaten, redo them, and send that back into the fray. The Order of Healing was slowly losing.
Above it all, stalking through the battle filled air around them, were the Wolves.
They said Leviathan wasn't around yet when they were tricked into that other dimension. What are they up to?
MAKE THEM LEAVE, came the voice of the pup. THIS IS OUR BATTLE.
What? I thought you said you weren't going to...
NOW!
I can't. I just open doorways, I don't run the show.
WE WILL DESTROY THIS GOD OURSELVES. ONCE THAT IS DONE, WE CAN ATTACK THE OLD ENEMY.
What? I don't get...
He felt the pup's mind turn away, back towards Leviathan. He was not going to be getting any more answers. He flew over to Andy, who had just dispatched another of Hell's army.
"The Wolves want us out of here. They are taking on Leviathan on their own and we'll only get in the way."
"No! We've waited far too long for this! Besides, if the Wolves destroy Leviathan, we'll need to be here to collect the souls and get them to safety. Otherwise they will fall into the maze below and who knows what will happen to them."
The white wolf lunged at Leviathan and nipped at the one of the corners, quickly pulling back (smashing and knocking aside many of both orders). The other wolves began to join in. Everywhere they stepped, the maze became liquid, but as they lifted their paws, it reverted back to what it was. The new life that was made fell squealing into the maze. Creation chambers were waiting for them as well.
One of the sides of Leviathan began to open up.
"Oh, shit!" yelled Andrew. "Andy watch out! Leviathan is going to..."
The black beam shot out, and right into the white wolf's face.
It let out a roar that shook Hell and everyone in it as it went up on it's hind legs. It violently pawed at the beam, but after a few seconds it fell forward, crashing down onto the maze.
A cheer rose from the Labyrinth as Hell began to swarm over its body, stabbing and cutting it viciously.
The dark wolf with red eyes came next at Leviathan, but this time got up on its back feet and slammed its front paws into it. It reached down and bit, pulling a large chunk of metal from it. It quickly shot back and flung the metal where it crashed miles away, taking out an entire army of black, elephant-sized spiders that were coming along the top of the maze.
That's what Andrew saw anyway. The spiders saw a dark, thick chunk of skin blot out the sky before they died.
The Order of Healing wasted no time. It started diving into Leviathan and pulling out souls (the ones that didn't spill out on their own).
The wolves all let out a howl which shook the Labyrinth to its core and then leaping right up on top of the god, started taking out pieces before jumping off.
The black beam lashed out again and again from the new openings, and caught many of the Order of Healing in its swath. They fell from the sky, singed black and smoking.
Andrew suddenly felt a sense of deja vu. He looked down and saw all the Cenobites and newly healed people running around below. Some people were trying to escape, some were willingly jumping into creation chambers. At this distance, however, it reminded him of the dream he had the night before his 'awakening' as he was looking over the grove.
There was one Cenobite standing still looking right up at him.
Copulas.
She just stood there staring.
A woman slammed into her as she was trying to escape another Cenobite. Copulas grabbed her and snapped both her arms before throwing her over the edge of the maze, into a creation chamber that closed on the woman like a Venus-flytrap and then disappeared below.
Andrew let out a roar, forgetting the remembered dream and dove straight at her. An instant before he struck her, he shot out massive wings and came to a stop two feet above her head. She had swung at him and just barely missed, but now was off balance. He reached out and grabbed her, sending his healing powers as well as a doorway opening charge into her.
Copulas clenched her teeth and, glaring at him, successfully resisted both. She then swung up at him and nailed him in his surprised face.
"Never again!" she shouted and shoved him into the waiting creation chamber that had risen up behind him.
Doors snapped shut and the chamber descended rapidly. Needles and arms plunged into him, trying to fill him with some vile, lifeless liquid. Time to jump...
Nothing.
Andrew quickly made himself as malleable as he could and shut off his nerves, expelling what the chamber had put in him. He began searching with his mind for a way out. There was none. The chamber was too tightly sealed. He sensed nothing but machinery in his close proximity, and he could still feel the battle above.
The Wolves were winning.
Damn them! They messed it all up. So many members of the Order are being destroyed and all because they couldn't wait, or fight in an organized fashion... one in which the Order could have found a weakness to exploit... but they are here to help... they only care for themselves and... need to be destroyed, as Leviathan commands... as I want to save Thomas... so he can be put back... in Hell... what's wrong... with... me...
The doors of the chamber slid open, and out onto the maze stepped a pale blue Cenobite. One who knew the secrets of Shaping and of Opening. It wanted to make it's father proud. In honor of his memory, lines of light appeared around its head and then contracted. The light faded, leaving a grid work of gashes in his skin, and a long, metal pin imbedded at each intersection.
The one who pushed me into the creation chamber is gone. The battle is not going well. Perhaps she fled. I can turn the tide... for I am the way... look at them... gone to Hell's heaven...
A man ran by and the Cenobite reached out and caught him. When the man looked up at him (he was squinting as if he was trying to get used to the light), he screamed and desperately tried to pull away. The Cenobite searched the man's mind. He had been pulled out of Leviathan by one of the Order of Healing, and had to be set down as his savior had been attacked and severely wounded.
"We have... such... sights... to show you... Larry Cotton," said the Cenobite. He then reached out with his hand towards the man's face. He thought how appropriate he'd look with mouths for eyes...
He was struck from behind by something warm and the man was knocked from his grasp.
It was Andy. He bore into the Cenobite, infusing him with his own life energy. It quickly spread through the Cenobite's system as he stood up. Flashes of Andrew's memories ran through his mind.
Who is this Andrew? Ah, he is a brother of mine for we share the same father. He chooses to aid Earth and the Order of Healing. He is not well. He needs reconditioning. But why would one need that if they were already... on the side... of good... I... remember...
"I... remember... who... I... am!" and with that, the air was suddenly sprayed with a blue liquid as Andrew fell to his knees screaming. The man named Larry lay still on the ground, afraid to move.
Andy was gone. He had given himself to bring Andrew back. Andrew reached over and put his hand on Larry's leg, healed anything that was damaged, and sent him back to Earth.
Andrew pulled himself to his feet and turned to look up at Leviathan, the echoes of his and his father's voice still echoing in his mind. There wasn't much left of the puzzle box god, with pieces of Leviathan laying all around. There were huge ones miles and miles across, as well as much, much smaller ones. It looked very much like a garbage dump, piles and piles of broken machinery. Clouds had swarmed the area, a light rain falling as they sought to wash the liquids of Hell away, or so he guessed...
He decided he would try to communicate with the clouds of Earth, once he got back... and thinking of the clouds, he searched for the Wolves.
The wolf pup was all that remained of the Wolves of the Water. The rest lay dead around the area. The pup was nudging the one with green eyes. It then let a lonely howl into the sky, forcing a tear out of anyone who heard it, no matter which side they were on, for the lonely wail of a god can pull sympathy from the coldest of hearts...
The battle was still going on, even though both Orders had seriously diminished in numbers. Hell was vast, and more and more combatants were coming from all over, races that had never been anywhere near Leviathan, nor cared to be, but followed its dictums nonetheless. They had been tending to their own outlying regions and hadn't gotten the call to arms soon enough.
That wasn't all, however. Apparently, other dimensions also heard, and enemies of Leviathan were poring in. Puzzles were solved and in came more and more races, intent on taking out the Labyrinth itself...
Andrew guessed the after affects of the war would last for ages, as wars tended to. All he knew was his part was done. Although he wasn't there for the final clash, he had been its greatest facilitator...
... and for a short while, he had been a Cenobite. He shuddered to think of what he would have done if not for Andy's sacrifice.
He suddenly noticed that there was still something of Leviathan floating in the air. He couldn't see it through the clouds, but he sensed it just the same.
It was a single mind.
Perhaps it was the first soul Leviathan consumed. Andrew took to the air and headed towards it, wondering if he had power enough to heal a soul that had been trapped at the center of the god of Hell.
1999.01.18 Mon 2:06 AM Okay. That's Part IV. I wanted the whole story done by Friday, but Part IV on Sunday will have to do (okay, it's after midnight, but still feels like Sunday to me). Got 2900+ words done tonight. Hoped you enjoyed it half as much as I did writing it. With that, I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow, it's on to the final part... which should be done in a night or two... I think I'm also going to do an afterward, where I'll give as much history about this story as non-boredom will allow. As a matter of fact, I should maybe do a foreward too, where I mention that the genesis of this thing was a two page story in the first Book of the Damned Hellraiser comic... where a woman falls in love with Pinhead. We'll see... 9766 words for this part. Not too bad for a guess of 8000.
Hellraiser é ±998 Miramax Films.