Chapter 1: The Dark Forest

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Cozy Glow
During my journey through life, I found myself in a dark forest, for the obvious way forward was lost. I remembered only fragments of my life before I ended up in this awful place, a place so horrid that it had to be worse than death. The only thing I remembered was that my name was…Cozy, and I was… no, used to be…a villain. I tried to take over my home realm on more than one occasion, the reasons why lost to me. But I remembered I had started a new life somewhere far away where I became someone important, someone the young ponies of the world could look up to, somewhere I wanted to get back to. I had no memory of how I ended up in this forest, except for a vague memory of taking a dagger to my back, were I dead? I couldn’t remember.

From the moment I got to that place, I felt cold to the bone, shivering as if I went out in a blizzard wearing no winter clothes and was dying from frostbite. Yet there was no snow or ice to be seen.

The forest was… As I already mentioned… Dark, but not the same kind of darkness I was used to seeing in the waking world, the darkness was somehow deeper, more oppressive. The forest was filled with thick winter trees and thorny bushes that made it hard to push ahead without scraping yourself on the thorns, for there was no obvious path forward. Birds did not sing within this forest, I could not even hear the buzzing of insects, but that didn’t mean it was completely silent. As I continued forward through the bushes that threatened to tear up my body with every step, I could hear a cold breeze moving between the vegetation and branches, intoning a melody of groans and creaks. Sometimes I could swear I heard laughter from among the trees, sinister laughter, seeming to come from nowhere in particular and everywhere around me all at once. Even without a clear direction, I continued forward, jumping at every shadow.

Eventually the forest with its thorny bushes gave way to a clearing, a shady pool was at the heart of the clearing and within the pool there was a mysterious white and blue flame burning beneath the surface.

I approached the pool to catch a glimpse of my reflection, I saw a pony with a soft pink coat, a light blue mane with beautiful locks and a pair of small, feathered wings. My form was that of a young filly, I can swear I looked younger than I actually was in the world outside this nightmare, it was the way I looked when I was turned into a statue after my second failed coup. Upon my head sat a golden crown reminiscent of the crown that Princess Twilight Sparkle used to wear, the Element of Magic. But trying as I might, I couldn’t remove the crown, it was like it was glued to my head. Upon my body there was rimfrost, like on a wagon in the cold morning, explaining the perpetual cold I was feeling. My own body seemed to exude this chill.

While part of me wanted to reside in this clearing forever, there was a voice in my head nagging me to press on. I listened to the inner voice and continued, a path not visible previously could now be seen on the other side of the clearing, thin and narrow as it was, it was still a path. As I was walking down this path, I could hear a howl from some kind of wild predator filling my heart with dread. As I continued forward, the darkness of the forest seemed to give way to a faint glimmer of sunlight overhead, the path leading to a shining hill, which could maybe provide a vantage point, the hill housing the ruins of some ancient civilization. Upon reaching this hill, I could see far and wide, the forest appeared to stretch in all directions, yet a mountain that appeared to reach an endless distance into the clouds above also became visible. There was a part of my heart but had a longing to reach this mountain. Yet before I could once again set off in its general direction general direction, three beasts appeared before me, surrounding the hill on all sides, making sure there was no escape.

The first beast, a blood-red shape that prowled amongst the ruins and the trees, keeping itself to the darkest shadows, two amber eyes appeared in the darkness, before it stepped out of the shadows revealing its true horrifying appearance. A panther whose body was endlessly trapped in a cycle of rot and regeneration, decaying down to the skeleton before building its body up again, repeating the cycle endlessly. The second beast was a golden lion that appeared before me, it’s roar breaking the silence, a golden sun shining behind it penetrating the darkness, its eyes looked at me with utmost scorn. The third beast, appearing to the right of me was a starving wolf, its body a walking carcass of exposed ribs and a visible blackened, wizened and slowly beating heart contained within the rib cage. The beasts were soon upon me, working together to mangle my body into pieces, the agony was excruciating as they slowly tore me apart, taking pleasure in every step of the way. The golden lion finished me off with a slash to my throat only when my limbs had each been chewed off by the panther and the wolf.

I thought that would be the end, but I soon found myself conscious, lying in a pool of water, right next to a source of glowing white and blue flame that somehow seemed to burn within the water. A fingered appendix reached down towards me within the surface of the water and grabbed my hoof, pulling me to the surface. I soon came face-to-face with a strange yet familiar-looking creature. It was bipedal, much like gem gnolls, yet hairless except for its long flowing mane, which were the color of fire, red and yellow, it was completely hairless, yet its skin was occasionally licked by white flames that seemed to come from within, much like the frost that now resided within me. The creature was wearing a set of white clothes, without a single stain. In the creature’s eyes there was a fire, like a green, emerald flame. One of the strange appendixes I would soon learn were called hands, was holding my hoof, the other a torch with a white and blue flame, the same as the fire within the pool. Despite her strange appearance, I instinctively recognized this creature, Sunset Shimmer. I proceeded to ask her a few questions:

“Sunset. Where are we? What am I doing here? And why do you look so strange?”

Sunset gave me a warm smile before she answered my questions:

“I guess whatever this place is, it recognized that I felt more at home in a human form than I do as a pony by this point. As for where we are, I have no idea, yet it seems familiar somehow. As for what you are doing here, as far as I know, you fell asleep one night and you wouldn’t wake up, like an ancient curse was cast upon you. I got worried so I decided to ask Twilight for a spell to enter your mind. There is something strange going on here, for this place is like a dream, yet it is not. There is something here, something that keeps you trapped in this purgatory.”

As Sunset said the word “purgatory”, I could see a light appeared on the other side of the clearing. The figure was bipedal like Sunset and appeared like it was made of pure light, with a set of wings sprouting from its back. The creature was androgynous in appearance, not clearly male nor female, it was more like it encapsulated the beauty of both masculine and feminine features. This creature was a glorious sight to behold.

“Purgatory indeed.” The creature spoke with a beautiful yet authoritative voice. I asked the creature who they were, what they were and what they were doing here. The creature tried to explain, but it was clear that they were trying to simplify some rather complicated concepts.

“I am Helel, one of the Malakhim, the spirits that helped to create the world under the guidance of the two Supreme Beings. There was a war between the two and I chose the wrong side, so I was cast out of my original realm to roam the places between forever. That’s where you are, the places between worlds, between dreams, the material worlds, the Void and the Empyrean. Colloquially this place is known as Purgatory.”

I couldn’t even begin to pretend to know what Helel was talking about, but it was clear they were a being of great power, even if they seem somehow diminished, like they were only a shadow of who they used to be. Sunset turned towards Helel and asked:

“So, what could’ve pulled my companion’s consciousness from dream and into Purgatory? We would like to return to the material plane from whence we came, do you know how to get there?”

Helel told her what they knew, even if it was not the answer she wanted to hear.

“It takes a great deal of power to pull a soul from the dream into purgatory, it’s usually the work of powerful entities, which usually has a purpose behind such an act. It has happened a few times before, but only a few. Yet rest assured, as your bodies aren’t yet dead you still have hope of being able to return. But the only way to get back is to the material world where your bodies still reside is to enter the Gates of Perdition and journey to the heart of the Void. It’s a dark and terrible journey, but it is your only hope. It is fortunate I myself has reasons to make this journey so I will do my best to protect you both.”

I asked Helel about going towards the mountain and the beasts that blocked me from journeying towards it. He told me interesting things about it.

“The beasts are manifestations of your own sins, fear, pride and avarice they are. As long as these things are within your soul, they will always be there to rip you to shreds. And even if you were to reach the mountain, it would be a pointless endeavor as the Loyalist Malakhim that guards the gates leading to this mountain would never let someone as burdened by sin as you are pass. No, the Malakhim still loyal to the one they called the Adjudicator tolerate only those whose spirits who they see as having the potential to reach perfection, something you do not have. Even those they deem worthy need to be purified through trials to be ready to enter the Empyrean. And even assuming you will enter the Empyrean, you will never return, as no soul who enters the Celestial Gates will ever return to the mortal planes.”

With that said I reluctantly agreed to travel to the Gates of Perdition, it was a foreboding name, yet if Helel was telling the truth, it would be our only way to return to whence we came. There was just one more thing I needed an answer to:

“So, I remember dying, those beasts killed me, why am I still here? I returned to life next to the light in the pool what is that?”

“You cannot die here, not really, not as long as you have hope. That is what the fire in the pool is: hope. I would suggest holding onto your hope, it is a rare commodity here. But remember this, for each horror that you witness, for each time you are slain, your hope will drain. Whatever you do, do not lose hope. If you were to ever lose hope during our journey, you would be forever trapped amongst the horrors of the Void, forever unable to escape. I have been trapped beyond the gates for a long time, the only reason I remain sane is the sliver of hope I still maintain within myself. Yet I don’t have it in abundance to the point I can project it onto a torch. I have never seen anything like it in fact. Just be wary Sunset, as that torch burns out, the only way you can fuel it is your own hope and once it runs out all of us would be forever trapped in the darkness.”

Helel pointed to the torch Sunset was carrying. Helel seemed more sincere about this than anything else, it was clear he put a lot of value on hope.

I talked to Sunset, we both agreed to let Helel take us to the gates. Helel took us in the opposite direction of the luminous hill where I had encountered the beasts, into the thickest part of the dark forest. We eventually came across the gate in what appeared to be an obsidian stone wall that stretched out as far as the eye could see, the door was made from a type of eroded dark metal. The sight of it reminded me of the gates of Tartarus back in my world, the design was very similar. But it was as if the Tartarus I knew was nothing more than a pale imitation of the original, which I was sure was this very gate. Upon this gate these words were etched:

“Through me the way to the city dolent, through me the way to eternal dole, through me the way among the people lost. Justice incited my sublime Creator; created me divine Omnipotence, the highest Wisdom and the primal Love. Before me there were no created things, only eternity and I eternal last, abandon all hope ye who enter here.”

I felt my heart turn to ice when I read, the words upon the door, they seemed familiar somehow, like approaching the gate evoked some kind of primeval fear. Sunset’s skin at first turned pure white, then a fierce rage came over her face, there was something about this inscription that didn’t sit right with her.

Yet the soft words of Helel beckoned us to step through the door, telling us that the only way out of this predicament was to go forward. Sunset questioned Helel about the inscription:

“I have heard of this place in my travels, yet I never thought I would be unfortunate enough to enter its premises while I was still alive. I am a Redeemer at heart, I believe that each person, no matter how wicked deserves to be given a second chance. To inflict suffering on another being because of a twisted idea of justice that demands the suffering of another creature to be satisfied, this is anathema to me and the goddess that I follow, primal love my flank. Tell me, who was the Creator of this place?”

Helel answered her, their voice echoing with both greif and rage.

“The Void has no creator, for it existed before all things, together with the Empyrean. When the Supreme Beings came out of the Empyrean, they created all things as we know them together with their Malakhim servants. But the Two Supreme Beings desired to stand above each other, so a civil war broke out among their followers. The victor in this war threw the losers out of the Empyrean and into the Void, fashioning this gate so that they could never escape. I found a way out, but it wasn’t easy, it took me eons to figure out.”

I decided to question Helel on the identities of the two Supreme Beings. For I was curious about their identities. Helel explained it to me the best he could:

“They are known by many names by different cultures and places, Epimetheus and Prometheus, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, but most often Yaldabaoth and Lucifer. Some see their battle as the battle between good and evil, I know better than this. The true conflict between the two deities is between order and chaos. Or let me rephrase this: perfection versus freedom. Yaldabaoth sought to create a perfect world without fault, but where no one has the freedom to disobey or make any choices for themselves. Lucifer never cared about this perfect order, preferring instead to let their creations figure things out for themselves, whether that led to good or evil. Lucifer imbued all living creatures with free will, meaning they would never be puppets to Yaldabaoth, no matter how hard they would try to bend the multiverse to their will. So, Yaldabaoth threw those who acted in ways contrary to their ideas of perfection beyond the Gates of Perdition to be consumed by the evil within themselves. The choice I had was always between being a perfect slave to order, or to fight to remain the person I am, even against the darkness of the Void. I made my choice, and while we might’ve lost, I still do not regret my choice.”

This was truly enlightening, though I still didn’t know enough about the situation to make a true judgment for myself, as Helel could be lying for all I knew, but it was clear Helel stood firm in their beliefs. Helel reminded me of Chrysalis, the only one of us in the trio who didn’t fold and beg for mercy as they were turned to stone but remained defiant to the end. I thought there was something truly admirable about people who believed so strongly in their cause that they were willing to face even the most awful fates rather than to cave in and become what their opposition wanted them to be.

Sunset was suddenly very resolute; I could hear a tinge of anger in her voice:

“I wouldn’t be the person that I am if I didn’t try to save at least some of the people beyond this gate, come now, I am ready.”

Against my better judgment, I opened the gates and stepped through them, they were ridiculously heavy, but it was possible for me to open them with the help of Sunset and Helel.

As we all stepped through the gate, the colossal doors closed behind us with thunderous inevitability, with no way to open the gates from this side, we were now trapped in this awful place. We were welcomed by a cacophony of despairing wails and moans.

As soon as I set my hooves on the other side of the gate, I immediately knew something was wrong, the atmosphere felt heavy, hopeless. It compelled me to only think the darkest of thoughts and my legs felt heavy. I thought of the orphanage where I was raised. I could see the ghostly figure of a pony right beside me, I remembered I once knew her from the orphanage, but I didn’t remember her name, it was a kid, a young filly with a grey coat and blonde mane, she was dressed in all white, her face decomposed, infested with maggots and her neck was crooked, like it was snapped in half. A rope was in a noose around her neck. The ghostly figure whispered to me: “this is all your fault”. I could swear I recognized this pony from somewhere in my past. As soon as blinked, she was gone.

Our surroundings were nearly entirely dark, only illuminated by the torch in Sunset’s hand and that’s only for 15 or so feet. The darkness felt unnatural, more oppressive than it should be, like it was swallowing all the light. It looked like we found ourselves in a gloomy marshland, I felt something crunch beneath my hooves, as I looked down, I could see that the ground was absolutely infested with bugs and worms. I screamed because I really hated bugs. Sunset patted my head to comfort me, it helped, but only a little. The buzzing sound from swarms of insects could be heard all around us. To think that this first step on the journey would be absolutely nothing to the horrors I would witness further down into the dark abyss. Where even the stars wouldn’t shine.

Chapter 2: The Marshlands of Indifference

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Cozy Glow

Me, Sunset and Helel, our guide, had no choice but to continue walking through the marshlands in the near complete darkness. The only light coming from Sunset’s torch. I tried not to think about the worms and bugs my hooves crushed underneath. My hooves kept sinking into the bug-infested marshes if I stood in one place for too long, leaving me with little choice but to keep walking through the marshland. What made matters worse was the swarms of insects, mosquitoes and hornets that harassed us every step of the way. Occasionally stinging me and Sunset. However, Helel was left alone by the insects, the swarms seemingly being repelled by the bright light within them. The flame of hope from Sunset’s torch seemed to have the opposite effect on them, the swarms being drawn to it as if it was honey. There was something incredibly strange with Helel, for their feet didn’t seem to sink into the marshlands the way it did for me and Sunset, instead they seemed to hover above it like they possessed no mass whatsoever. All of this would be manageable if it wasn’t for the visions of that young filly I saw when I first entered through the Gates of Perdition. She would always appear at the edge of my vision, hanging from the air in a noose and whispering something in my ear along the lines of:

“This is all your fault.”

Eventually I managed to jog my memory enough to remember her, Aurora, she was an earth pony that I knew in the orphanage where I was raised, she was the closest thing I had to a friend. Both of us had always been the odd ones out, the socially awkward geeks that the other kids liked to bully and harass, it was difficult, but we got through it because we relied on one another.

But I eventually got tired of being everypony’s punching bag and started to hide my real self behind a façade, a façade that reflected what the others wanted me to be. In a short amount of time, I had managed to go from one of the most unpopular kids to among the most popular, all because I started lying to both others and myself. If there was a point in time where Cozy Glow the lying manipulator was born, it was here.

The price paid for my newfound popularity was that I left Aurora in the dust, I never actively bullied her myself, but I did nothing to stop it, and I would refuse to associate with her from that point onward to not sacrifice my recent popularity. It eventually ended with Aurora hanging herself in her room, for without me at her side, she just couldn’t take it. I had always told myself that it wasn’t my fault, that Aurora should’ve been stronger, that she should’ve done what I did, put up a façade and be only who others wanted you to be so that you could be loved. But now I finally understood, by doing nothing to help her, I could just as well have tightened the noose around her neck myself. The death of Aurora was the very first major sin that stained my soul. I told Aurora’s ghost:

“I am sorry, I wish I could go back in time and help you, but what’s done is done, I can now only ask for your forgiveness.”

Aurora’s ghost nodded and told me one final thing before it disappeared, this time for good:

“Find me in my place of eternal torment, seek me out in the Forest of Suicides.”

That was a foreboding name for a place if I had ever heard one.

As we continued through the marshlands, I could occasionally see the ruins of buildings, its architecture coming from the many different cultures and places, very few which I recognized, but there was some Equestrian architecture in here as well, the buildings seemed to be slowly sinking into the muck. I would also see the outlines of groups of people in the darkness, the light from Sunset’s torch illuminating them as we got closer. The group consisted of both humans and ponies, but also larger winged creatures like Helel, only that the light that made up Helel wasn’t present in them, instead they seemed to consist of featureless dim fog, their wings were clipped and chained, a shroud cowering their face.

They were all marching in large groups, constantly harassed by insects, carrying banners with no iconography. From time to time one of these people would stumble and fall into the marshes, only to get up and continue their march. I asked Helel who these people were, their answer sent a shiver down my spine:

“These people are the souls of the indifferent, those who chose to do neither good nor evil, those who by their inaction allowed evil to happen. After all, all that is required for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. They are doomed to march here harassed by insects for all eternity, marching under meaningless banners symbolizing their lack of cause in life. There are also Malakhim here, their beauty shrouded to prevent the other damned from getting even a sliver of relief from the beauty of my kind. During the War in Heaven, a third of our kind sided with Lucifer in support of freedom and autonomy, another third sided with Yaldabaoth in pursuit of order and perfection. But there was also the last third who didn’t take a side at all. Yet that was enough for Yaldabaoth to reject them, for in their eyes if you were not with them, you were against them, confining their souls to these marches as a punishment for their indecisiveness. It is a testament to Yaldabaoth’s cruelty that they punished even those who remained neutral. Not that I am especially fond of them either, these Malakhim were cowards who wouldn’t take a stand against tyranny. Yet if you think their fate is bad, you should see the fate of those who took an active stand against the Demiurge.”

Helel seemed to get progressively angrier when he was talking about the indecisive angels, but it was the name Yaldabaoth Helel pronounced with real contempt. Sunset also seemed visibly disturbed by all of this, voicing her grievances to both me and Helel:

“I understand that not doing anything to stop something bad from happening when you have the power to do that is awful. But isn’t all this a bit much? Most of the people here are not evil people, don’t they deserve the chance to redeem themselves? I am sure everyone here would learn from their mistakes given the opportunity.”

Helel tried her best to explain to her that the powers that condemned these souls didn’t care, her image of goodness being very different from that of Yaldabaoth.

Eventually we would reach the shore of a blood red river so vast we couldn’t see the other side from the riverbank. There were countless people waiting at the shore, humans and ponies, all insubstantial like ghosts and shadows, which made it hard to make out facial features and distinguish one person from another. Helel told us that this was the river Acheron, where the ferryman Charon would ferry the souls of the damned to their eternal punishment. A boat would eventually arrive, and enormous ark larger than any seafaring vessel I had previously seen, made to house thousands upon thousands of people, yet it didn’t appear big enough to house all the people who were waiting at the shore. The boat appeared almost tiny compared to the gigantic boatman who helmed it. Charon was a gigantic bipedal creature, he had long white hair and beard, and his eyes burned as pyres blessing upon the inextinguishable darkness of the air without the star, Charon carried an enormous oar, Crimson with blood and fire. His voice was thunder, shaking the water as he spoke, telling the damned to get on the boat.

When I first saw this creature, I could feel a primal fear deep into my bone, overpowering even the constant freezing chill that consumed my entire being always. Whatever Charon was it was something ancient and terrible. Helel approached the boatman, demanding passage to the other side for them and to me and Sunset. Charon chuckled, and told him the following:

“You, you belong in the deepest recesses of the abyss, but them, they are still alive, they don’t belong here, not yet anyway. Why should I carry them across?”

Helel was clever, explaining to Charon that they were hoping to take us on a guided tour through the underworld, so that these mortals could learn the error of their ways. Charon accepted this as an answer and allowed us on the boat. Charon telling his demonic henchmen to leave us be. These henchmen were bipedal, with rough scaly skin, a horned head like a goat and a pair of batlike wings, something about them reminded me of Helel, but these were far more malevolent.

As we boarded the boat, we did so together with thousands of others, these strange shadowy non-substantial beings, Helel called them the dolorous people, and explained that we were the only ones here with substance to us as we were still alive. The only way to distinguish one of the dolorous people was if we met someone we knew in life. We were packed very tight, like sardines. As the boat set off to the other shore, the souls of the indifferent tried to climb aboard, but Charon would smite them with his oar, making them fall into the blood red river. I couldn’t help but pity them. The ride across took an indeterminate amount of time, could have been minutes, could have been years, it was hard to tell in this place, for there was no sun, moon or stars to help you determine the passage of time.

Chapter 3: The Fields of Elysium

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Sunset Shimmer

There had been an indeterminate amount of time since I first found myself in the darkest void beneath the roots of the multi-verse. There could have been hours, days, weeks, months, years or even centuries, there was no way to tell in this place, there was no sun, moon or stars in the sky, only blackness, eternal and everlasting. This place seems to devour my memory of how I got here slowly but surely the longer I remained in this place. What had once been clear was now starting to become foggy, the only thing I can still remember why I got here was that I intended to save Cozy Glow, exactly why I had such a strong desire to do so I couldn’t remember. It had started to become very clear to me there were powers here but didn’t want me to save Cozy, powers that conspired to keep the both of us trapped in this darkness forever. Ever since I got to this place, I had been feeling this fire beneath my skin, a radiant light that burned me each and every second, the pain was excruciating, I had the innate sense of knowledge that the fire represented my own ideals and values that were contradictory of the will of the one called The Most High. I desired to free not only Cozy, but every single soul here, but these souls were damned by divine will, and to desire their redemption would be to cross that divine will.

After getting off Charon’s boat, me and Cozy found ourselves following our angelic guide through a foggy landscape, a seemingly endless plain, visible only thanks to the flame of hope I carried as a torch were broken monoliths, ruined obelisks, as well as statues depicting various heroes and gods from various cultures across infinite planes. The fog only seemed to get more oppressive with each and every step, I sometimes could almost make out humanoid figures in the midst, reaching their hands towards us, and the screams of newborns got clearer and louder as we continued forward.

“Don’t tell me the Adjudicator sends even children here?” I asked Helel, our guide. They sighed and shook their heads.

“The denizens of this place committed no actual sin, these used to be the planes of Elysium, where the gods of old sent those who held their favor to get their eternal reward. But ever since Yaldabaoth’s victory in the war, they overthrew the old gods and turned the fields of Elysium into yet another place of punishment. Here those who are punished are those who were virtuous in life, yet didn’t swear allegiance to the Adjudicator, either of their own free will, or because they simply didn’t know of them in life. Not that it mattered to Yaldabaoth, who considered them guilty all the same. Many children who die early are confined here as a result of their lack of ability to choose allegiances.”

The more I heard about Yaldabaoth the less I liked them, always coming up with technicalities to justify the cruelest of punishments for the most minor of crimes. I could only hope that the souls found within these empty plains would eventually find rest.

While the flame of my hope was still burning bright, the wood on which it burned, a makeshift torch plucked from among the branches of the dark forest, was starting to falter, leading the torch to flicker, we needed a solution fast unless we would be lost in the darkness forever. I asked Helel if they had any suggestions. They told me that the Castle of Noble Spirits was nearby and that if we could reach it there would be more wood to create more torches there.

As we continued forward, we eventually came across a child, a young earth pony colt sitting on a broken statue of a siren. They told us they were lost and asked us if we could be escorted to the Castle of Noble Spirits. I was about to tell them they could accompany us with little hesitation before Cozy stopped me, telling me that there was something strange with the child. Cozy tried to press the colt for more information about how they became lost, the spirit just sighed and disappeared from sight. Helel told Cozy she had done well, for the spirit was probably only trying to lure us to more of their kind so that they could feast on our hope. Helel reminded us of how rare our resource hope was in this place and how hell tended to slowly but surely drain the last remnants of hope from its denizens until they were left with nothing but hopelessness.

Soon the desperate spirits would be upon us, forming our wall of wailing souls around us, Helel told us that the only way forward would be to force our way right through them. We managed to make it through, but I could feel that the spirits had managed to rip us apart at the fundamental level and had stolen a fragment of our hope, to make matters worse, in the chaos I had accidentally dropped the torch. We were able to leave while the spirits were desperately fighting over the fragments of hope and what remained of the torch. Without the torch we found ourselves in absolute darkness. Blackness deeper than any darkness in the mortal planes.

Fortunately, we soon came across a sphere of light in the distance, piercing through the darkness and the fog. These luminous beings turned out to be Noble spirits from the castle. But they were not allowing us entry because of our own personal sins and because of the presence of something they called a “Malebrance”, clearly referring to Helel. I asked them about the meaning of this word after the fact, Helel told me that it was a derogatory term used for most of the Malakhim who stood against Yaldabaoth, meaning “Evil Claws”, it could also refer to those Malakhim that the “Blind World” had corrupted, turning creatures of light into creatures of darkness. When I asked the Spirits about my own sins, I got the answer that I expected, that my spirit burned with the fires of heresy, for my beliefs contradicted those of the Most High, as sinners they told us we had no business in the Castle of Noble spirits, especially not one as vile as Helel, one of the original rebels who fought against the Most High. I tried to reason with them:

“I may not be perfect, I recognize that, neither are my companions, but I believe that each and every soul can be redeemed, and that each should be granted a chance at redemption. It is for the purpose of redeeming our souls we make this journey; therefore, I beg of you to allow us to rest at the castle if only for a single night.”

The spirits seem to mull over what I said, and they finally gave me the answer:

“Very well, you are admirable, and I hope for your sake and for ours that you will find a way to break free from this place of perdition. But know this, it is this light within your soul that puts you at odds with the Supreme Emperor of All Things, if you were to stop pretending you knew better than them you might yet find salvation. But they…”

The spirits glanced at Cozy and Helel before continuing:

“Their spirits are tainted by the ice of treachery; they belong to Lake Cocytus at the very heart of this abyss. They are amongst the most vile of sinners, I do not believe they can be saved, but they have hope, you still have hope, because you’re still alive, unlike us, there is hope. While we possess no other sin, our allegiance didn’t belong to The Sublime One in life, and therefore we will be forever damned, even if we hold the most lustrous position in this place due to our lack of sin. We beg of you, reconsider your path while you still have a chance, after your body dies for good, there will be no way out.”

The spirits handed me one of their torches which I was able to alight with my inner hope, they told me that the way to the Castle of Noble spirits were through the Labyrinth of Fog, a labyrinth that was alive and liked to change, but they also told us that their movements didn’t lead to perdition, but towards the straightforward path. With this in mind we started to navigate the labyrinth, only the torch of hope I was carrying being able to cut through the darkness and the fog. I decided to instead of trying to resist the labyrinth’s movements, I let them guide me. While the spirits of the wailing souls of limbo were all around us, attracted to the light of my torch, Helel was around to drive them back. We also encountered a devil within the labyrinth, searching for souls to torment, one of Helel’s kin. A being of humanoid form, seeming to be made from pure darkness in contrast to Helel’s light, with batlike wings and the horn had as well as cloven hooves where feet should be. Helel told them to stand down on the authority of Lucifer and let them pass, but the devil just told him:

“You have no authority here anymore, we can never escape this torment, the only thing we could do is to accept our given role as tormentors of the damned. The Adjudicator has given reprieve to those that are willing to act as their torturers, as long as I do that I will not be tormented. You are weak Helel, a shadow of your former self, you are the reason I am here, as such I will take great pleasure in tormenting you.”

With that the devil attacked Helel, them raising their greatsword against the devil’s longsword. Me and Cozy assisting in the battle. I summoned the light within me, my entire being shining with divine light, I projected that power towards the devil, scorching it with a ray of my belief in redemption, but this power burned me as well, and because of me being weakened from our encounter with the desperate souls earlier, I collapsed. While everything was black for a moment, I could hear Cozy uttering insults against the devil:

“I’d call you a pile of dung, but you lack both the depth and the warmth.”

The devil screamed in agony, the insults seemingly somehow affecting it physically. A moment later I came to, fully restored in the divine flame of my own torch, I could feel my hope drain, I knew if this kept happening, I would eventually lose all hope, be reduced to nothing more than a prisoner in this awful place, but said hope being consumed also restored me to full power, invigorated by its holy power. Feeling the power of the flame within me, I summoned another barrage against the devil, the flames burned within me with immense agony, but the rays of light I summoned made short work of the fiend. Helel explained they would soon resurrect, it would take longer than it did for me because of her lack of hope, but it would, so we decided to move on before it came back.

After our encounter with the devil, we finally managed to reach the Castle of Noble Spirits. A huge beacon of light, much like the flame of hope I carried was visible in the distance, dominating the Castle’s courtyard. Surrounding this bonfire was an imposing castle, seemingly made from white marble, sitting on top of a hill almost entirely encircled, its architecture a blend of that of many world’s cultures. Seven walls ran around the hill with countless towers. It was grander than Canterlot. A river of crystal-clear water acted as a moat, one that was seemingly impossible to cross, but Helel told us that as long as we possess a fragment of the divine flame that was hope within us, that we would be able to cross. We did as they said and we were able to cross without difficulty, walking as on the air itself. Once inside, Helel thought it was time to finally explain a few things to us about their own motives, we sat down around the beacon of light in the courtyard and listened to what they had to say:

“It’s time to explain myself to you and what I get out of our… Partnership. You see, I’m seeking a powerful artifact, The Lyre of Orpheus, an instrument that is said to have the power to inspire hope in the most despondent of hearts. Lucifer, the former leader of the rebellion is imprisoned at the very heart of the void, the eternal lake of ice that is Cocytus, the furthest place in all of creation from the divine light of hope. You see, this place saps all its inhabitants of hope, slowly but surely, they will be corrupted, turning into a being of darkness and evil, like the devil we encountered earlier, who used to be a being of light like me. I am one of very few beings in this place who still hold onto some hope, and my hope is all invested in this plan. If we were to play the Lyre in front of Lucifer, I hope we can restore them to the being of life they once were, and in turn Lucifer will be able to break you out of here and return you to your physical forms. The only problem being the Lyre was lost during Orpheus and Euridice’s many escape attempts from here, I need to speak to Orpheus about where he lost the Lyre. Fortunately, he is a resident of this very castle. Thing is, without your flame of hope, Sunset, I wouldn’t be able to navigate the darkness and I would be quickly consumed. I need you two to help me get the Lyre and then escort me to the very heart of the abyss where Lucifer resides.”

I didn’t know what to think about this, it seemed like a crazy plan, what kind of artifact could possess the power to restore hope and redeem even those completely lost? But it was completely up my alley. I had heard stories of Lucifer, how they were supposed to be the incarnation of evil, yet the evil of this place was to my understanding not of their doing, but that of the being they rebelled against. If Yaldabaoth wasn’t as good as I had been told, was it possible that the devil used to be a righteous rebel? To that question I didn’t have an answer, but I didn’t see much of a choice. It seemed like Helel needed the hope within us and the light my torch provided to safely make it to the very heart of Hell. I turned towards Cozy and asked her what her opinion of all of this was. What I heard was hardly surprising:

“Are you kidding me? I would do anything to get out of here, anything, of course we will help Helel if they think doing so will grant us a way out.”

With that the three of us set out to track down Orpheus, eventually we found him. Orpheus was a human, but with abnormally beautiful features, raven black hair and blue eyes, he looked almost like a statue with his marble perfection. His eyes looked dejected, hopeless, we found him in a corner moping. I approached him and asked him what was wrong, he told me he was distraught for he had once again lost his lover Euridice on a lower level of the abyss during their last breakout attempt, together with his Lyre. Now that I thought about it, the name Orpheus seemed familiar, I had encountered it during my travels by some point. I asked Orpheus to tell me their story:

“I was once the son of the great Apollo, a being which I once believed to be a god, who I now know was one of the Malakhim. My mother was Calliope, the muse presiding over eloquence and epic poetry. My father Apollo gave me his Lyre and taught me to play it. No one could resist my beautiful melodies; it was my music that attracted my future wife Euridice to me. We were happily married, but a prophecy predicted this would last. The prophecy was correct, for it would come a day when my beloved Euridice was bitten by a snake and died. In desperation I journeyed to the underworld to bring her back. Back in those days Elysium was still the verdant fields of the blessed, not filled with the oppressive darkness and fog that is now. In those days there was no gate at the entrance to the underworld, instead it was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus, who now torments souls at the third circle instead. Cerberus was easily beguiled by my music, and they let me pass. I presented myself in front of Hades, the one of the Malakhim who ruled the underworld during those times and he and his wife Persephone were swayed by my plea and by the ballad about my plight I composed. They granted me a deal, I could have Euridice back, but under one condition, I wasn’t allowed to look back as I left the underworld to see if she was following me, alas, in a moment of weakness, I looked, and we have both been trapped here ever since.”

Orpheus story moved me, it was deeply tragic, I could even see a tear on Cozy’s face, and she was not one to be easily moved by sentimentalities, Helel however was unmoved. Orpheus burst out into tears before continuing the story:

“At first me and Euridice were trapped here together, things weren’t so bad as we spent centuries, millennia, aeons, or however long it was in each other’s company in the paradise that was the fields of Elysium. But things changed, after the War in Heaven, after the gods I had worshiped my entire life were overthrown and replaced by a single deity, one of the Titans, the one we used to know us Epimetheus, who were none too happy about those who haven’t worshiped them during their life. As such after they took power, the darkness that was originally only present at the very bottom of the Underworld, Tartarus, expanded to cover the entirety of the underworld, including the Fields of Elysium. I was one of the lucky few who haven’t done much to offend the new Supreme Deity other than the fact I didn’t give them worship in life, maybe they were also impressed with my poetry and music, but my wife, Euridice, she was condemned to the Second Circle for her sin of Lust. I once tried to venture down and rescue her, together we came as far as the Third Circle before we encountered Cerberus once again. Cerberus was different from last time I had encountered them, twisted by the dark power leaking out from Tartarus. My music no longer had any effect on it. We both died and when I woke up, I found myself here again, without my lyre, I assume my beloved found herself back in the Circle of Lust. “

Helel asked them where exactly he lost the Lyre, Orpheus told them that it was likely to be in the lair of Cerberus in the Third Circle. Helel explained to Orpheus their plan of breaking out of hell and told them that they needed their skills with the Lyre to restore hope to Lucifer. Orpheus did stop crying, he thought about it for a moment and then agreed to accompany us. But he warned us that if the Lyre was ever used to its full potential like that, it would break and we would never be able to use it again. So we needed to be absolutely certain we wouldn’t need it for such a purpose before we reached the bottom of the pit.

We spent some time at the Castle, resting, when we were ready to continue our travels, I made sure to grab as many branches as possible of the infernal wood the residents used to create torches to carry the flame from the bonfire in the courtyard, hopefully they would be enough to last the rest of the journey. As we left the castle, I looked up into the sky, it was black as usual, but I remembered Orpheus’s story and I wondered if the skies of Elysium had once been filled with stars.

Chapter 4: The Ruined Realm of the Lilim

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Cozy Glow

We hadn't even truly entered Hell proper, and it had already been a harrowing ordeal. Sunset's hope still burned bright, but it had been slowly dwindling upon seeing the state of the Underworld and the fate of the tormented spirits stuck within. The Castle of Noble Spirit had provided a short respite from the darkness and misery of this world. Helel's plan offering us a shining ray of hope, in order to restore Lucifer and find a way out for both me, Sunset, Orpheus and Euredice, we needed to find the Lyre of Orpheus lost in the lair of Cerberus. A lyre that used to belong to Orpheus father, the former god Apollo that could restore hope to any being if played by someone as talented as Orpheus. It was a crazy plan, but not as crazy as some of the things I had done in my past, before ending up in this horrific place of torment, if it could get me out of here, I was willing to try anything.

We left the Castle of Noble Spirits in as high spirits as was possible in this place. According to Helel, our next step was to seek an audience with Minos, the Judge of the Dead, he who presided over which soul should be sent to which circle. In order to reach Minos we once again needed to navigate the labyrinth of fog surrounding the castle. But this time we were able to navigate it without any incidents. We continued to navigate the foggy plains of Limbo for an immeasurable amount of time before we came across an endless line of people, damned souls as substantial as a shadow. Helel told us that these were the people waiting for the judgment of Minos. We could wait here, but it might take eternity before it was our turn to be granted an audience with the Judge. So Helel instead insisted on forcing themselves through the crowd of souls, striking down any that would try to stop them, me, Sunset and Orpheus followed after them.

Eventually we came across a tunnel, descending downwards seemingly endlessly, we followed Helel into the tunnel. Which would eventually lead to a rocky ledge where there was an ancient amphitheater carved from the very rock. The screeching of souls was deafening, but it was almost drowned out by a roaring storm which occupied the entirety of the chasm below the ledge which the amphitheater stood. Multiple smaller tornadoes joining together forming a single massive hurricane, I could see thousands of people being blown about the canyon. Helel told me that this was the fate of the lustful, to be forever blown around by the storms as their own appetites controlled them in life. Lust, one of very few sins I had little experience with, other than a lust for power of course, as I was simply too young at the time to be interested in carnal pleasures. Yet looking out on the poor souls in the canyon, I could see the images of a young green changeling who I used to go to school with, Ocellus, one of the daughters of Chrysalis. There were also images of a mare with a jet-black coat and a dark-blue mane with red stripes. I blushed as memories of the night of passion we spent together came before me, I didn’t fully remember who this was, I just knew it was someone I needed to get back to. Which just increased my resolve to push forward.

Helel approached the amphitheater, where a terrible beast resided, a monstrous serpentine man with the tail of a snake, its breath had a horrible stench, like coming from a pile of rotting corpses. The creature was in the process of inspecting one of the damned souls with its eyes burning like fire. It coiled its tail three times and pronounced:

“Gluttonous.”

Before throwing the soul beyond the storm, further down into the underworld. Only then did Minos turn his attention towards Helel and the rest of us. His eyes I could feel seeing into the very core of our being, being able to see every sin I had ever committed.

“What have we here? A collection of traitors and heretics, yet most of you are not yet dead. Begone, you have no business here.”

“You will let us through.” Exclaimed Helel with a voice of thunder and pomp. Matching the monstrous voice of the judge in intensity.

The Judge bowed before Helel as before a round of ceremonial combat and followed that up with trying to smash them with their enormous tail, Minos moving swiftly despite their immense size, Helel nevertheless parried the attack with their sword. The souls of the damned gathered around us, cheering at those brave enough to challenge the judge. Minos coiled his tail eight times and declared:

“I summoned thee, guardians of the Eighth Circle.”

With that a pair of devils like the one we had fought in limbo appeared before us. But Sunset summoned a great deal of her power to hurl a ball of radiant energy at the devils and Minos, I could see how the force of the blow seared her flesh, but the ball of radiant energy was successful in burning the devils to a crisp. Minos, however, was still standing. The Judge struck another blow at Helel, they managed to parry it, but was struck by a one of the Judge’s arms, wounding him. Helel struck back, wounding the judge in turn. The power of Minos, the Judge of the Dead was significant, and awe-inspiring, he emitted an aura that made me afraid to approach. But there was one thing I could do, I approached Helel, working through my fear of Minos, and applied a healing spell to them, Helel seems to have regained their strength as the wound they were just inflicted on them healed. Minos responded with coiling his tail six times and declaring:

“I call upon thee, flames of the Sixth Circle”

As he finished the incantation, a wave of unholy flame shot out from around Minos, burning us all, I screamed as the fire seared my entire being, it took all my willpower to remain standing, but I nevertheless managed to stand. So did Sunset and Helel, even if just barely in the case of Sunset. Sunset mumbled an incantantion and her entire being started to glow with a holy light, repressing the aura of fear around Minos, I now felt brave, braver than I ever had in my entire life. Minos managed to grab Helel with his tail, Helel managing to strike it while in its grasp before Minos hurled them into the rocky walls of the amphitheater. Sensing that they were in danger, I rushed over to Helel and applied more healing magic, whatever Sunset did with the holy glow seemed to enhance my healing capabilities, Helel was a wreck before I got there, but after I applied my magic, he seemed completely untouched. Minos took the opportunity to attack Sunset, crushing her underneath his massive fists before coiling his tail five times and uttering another incantation:

“I call upon the marshlands of the Fifth Circle.”

With those words the ground around the Judge turned into a hard to navigate marshland. Enraged at him attacking Sunset, Helel’s wings began to glow with even brighter light, and they took to the skies, avoiding the marshland, attacking Minos from the air, inflicting a near mortal wound, it was obvious the Judge was just barely holding on. Sensing an opportunity, I attacked him with an incantation of my own, an insult interwoven with a malicious curse:

“There is no beholder’s eye in which you are beautiful.”

With those words, Minos’s form disintegrated, melting slowly but surely until it was just a puddle on the ground. Leaving behind only a pair of large pearls that have been its eyes. I decided to pick them. Helel turned to the crowd of damned spectators and gave them a speech:

“Damned souls of the underworld, the Judge of the Dead has fallen, he will reform soon, but this is your chance, wreak havoc upon the hated realm in which divine injustice condemned you to eternal perdition, show the powers above that we are no longer content to sit idle accepting our torment.”

The crowd listened to Helel, devils came to keep the crowd in order, but the masses revolted against them, and a huge brawl ensued. Which granted us the opportunity to sneak into the valley below unnoticed.

When in the valley itself, the howling of the storm was so loud it drowned out any other sound. Like all other places in the underworld, it was completely dark except for Sunset’s Torch of Hope. We soon found ourselves before a wall of stormclouds, people being blown around in the storm and harassed in the air by what appeared to be winged beasts. Yet with no other way forward, Helel gestured for us to step into the hurricane. I hesitated at first, afraid of being blown away like the people within the storm. But as Helel stepped into the storm, it became obvious that the physicality that separated us from the damned was enough to keep our hooves and feet on the ground, even if the winds were too strong to allow me to use my wings for flight.

After navigating the storm for what felt like eternity, we came across a pile of debris that had managed to form a natural shelter of sorts, allowing us to actually hear what others were saying, but I could already figure out that this shelter wouldn’t last long as it would soon be swept away by the storm. But nevertheless, it would provide us with some respite. Other damned had also been drawn to this shelter, one of which a woman short brown hair and incredible beauty, like all other souls of the circle, she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Orpheus came forward to embrace her as soon he saw her, the woman, who had previously been crying smiled upon seeing him and kissed him on the lips. After the two lovers were done kissing, the woman introduced herself as Euridice. Orpheus explained to her our plan to find his lyre. As he explains we plan to restore hope to Lucifer, that caught the attention of another being currently seeking shelter in the debris. She was a woman, seemingly of the same species as Orpheus and Euridice, but she had features that made me doubt that conclusion. She had smooth pale skin, almost alabaster, long hair even whiter than her skin and a pair of blood red eyes that exuded immense sadness and longing. She was clad in a black gothic dress, but her most eye-catching feature was a pair of black feathered wings like a bird. Her voice was melodious:

“Restore hope to Lucifer eh? That’s the craziest plan I ever heard. Would you perhaps the need of assistance?”

I inquired about her identity and the woman just laughed.

“My name is Jezebel, I am a Lilim, one of the daughters of Lilith. This place was once my home, before the hurricane reduced everything to rubble and dust. This was once the realm of my people, with beautiful obsidian palaces that were a paradise for those who enjoyed the pleasures of life. Now it is a place of torment where lovers are kept apart by the winds instead of united, the only respite the rare times shelters like this one forms.”

Helel examined Jezebel from head to toe before asking what she will get out of this if they allow her to assist. Jezebel explained that the devils that maintain the hurricane, the Tempestarii will never allow any souls to leave the circle. But with our help she explained that we might be able to push through and escape. Reluctantly, Helel agreed to take her with us. I was quite happy to have another potential friend on this journey. As I expected the worst was yet to come.

As we had as we had still a little bit of time before the shelter would collapse. I decided to ask Jezebel more about who she was and what Lilim were. What you told me was quite the story:

“Long ago, the great ones called Prometheus and Epimetheus set out to create all living creatures. When the time came to create humanity, Epimetheus created Adam, the first man, and Prometheus created Lilith, the first woman. But the ideals of the two brothers were different and that showed in their creations. Which led to conflicts between Adam and Lilith, which resulted in Epimetheus banishing Lilith from Eden. But Lilith would soon run into the love of her life, the Malakh called Samael by some, but they were also known as Thanatos. They created a paradise room for themselves in the Underworld, far away from Eden. Where they had many children, these children are the Lilim, which I am one.”

We soon set out from the shelter and tried to brave the hurricane to get to its edges. For the first time since we entered the hurricane, I truly took the opportunity to look up into the sky, among the countless souls being blown around, without a moment’s rest, there were huge flying monsters, as well as those who managed them and kept stirring up the storm so it would never end, the Tempestarii, devils with horned heads and skulls for faces, wielding instrument that crackled with lightning.

As we got to the edge of the hurricane, one of the Tempestarii landed in front of us and declared:

“You are not going anywhere.”

Helel brandished their blade, shining with light, the Tempestarii brandished their blade, crackling with lightning. Soon both of them took into the air. A fierce battle raged in the sky. I tried to aid using my enchantment letter and insults while both Sunset and Jezebel shot rays of light and fire respectively into the sky. Eventually Helel was able to bring the devil low, claiming its blade for themselves. After that display, the other Tempestarii stayed away, and we were able to escape into the next circle. The circle of gluttony, where Cerberus had their lair, where we would find the Lyre of Orpheus, the key to our success. I took one more look into the sky; we were now out of the storm, but there still were no stars.

Chapter 5: The Lair of Cerberus

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Cozy Glow
Before entering the muddy pit that was the third circle, Helel taught me how to attune to the Eyes of Minos. After which the artifacts that appeared to be like pearls disappeared, replacing my own eyes, according to Sunset my I didn’t look any different than they usually did, but with them I could see better than ever before, the darkness of the blind world didn’t seem to hinder my eyesight anymore and Helel told me that Minos Eyes even held the power to see the invisible and to inspire fear into those these eyes gaze fell upon. With that in mind I was able to serve as a scout for the group, being able to see further than Sunset’s torch of hope. Before we entered the valley proper, Jezebel gave the rest of us an inspiring speech, I remembered that this would usually be my role, but I let her do it for now. The winged woman took perch on a rock that towered above us, giving her an elevated position, Jezebel appeared regal, an elegant princess used to addressing her subjects. What she said was inspiring:

“Fellow prisoners of the dark world, too long have we suffered the cruel judgments of Epimetheus, condemned eternally for our faults, even the most minor. But now, thanks to you people, there is now hope of escape. Before us lies the circle of gluttony, the lair of the fiend called Cerberus. In its lair is our only salvation, the Lyre of Apollo. While I don’t know if we will succeed in obtaining the lyre, we can just as well try as we have nothing left to lose, come with me, Cozy the Clever, Sunset the Radiant, Helel the Rebellious, Orpheus, Father of Songs and Euridice the Fair. For while we stand together, Hell will not be able to contain us.”

Helel clapped in approval and the rest of them followed suit, I joined in as well, feeling truly hopeful for the first time since we entered this world of perdition. I didn’t know what terrors awaited us further down the pit, but I knew we could face them together. After all, Friendship is Power, and that camaraderie might be able to overcome even the greatest despair, even that of the Void itself.

While we started out in good spirits, we soon found ourselves sliding down a muddy and slippery decline into the valley below, in which there was constant hail and snow making travel difficult. But with the eyes of Minos I was able to safely guide the way forward, making sure everyone made it down the decline safely. Orpheus and Euridice were especially in need of help, lacking the wings of me, Jezebel and Helel. In a way Orpheus and Euridice were a hindrance, so part of me wanted to leave them here, but I knew that we at least needed Orpheus to play the lyre for Lucifer if we would have any chance of escape. But there was also something else, while I wanted to prioritize my own escape above all, there was something within me that didn’t want to leave anyone behind in this awful place. My conscience didn’t usually stand in the way of me getting what I want, but for some reason I found myself wanting to help these hapless humans.

,We eventually managed to reach a rocky platform jutting out from the incline. The strong wind from the previous circle had finally stopped, with the eyes of Minos I was able to see the entire muddy ravine below a muddy hellscape filled with snow and debris, but there were also pools of bodily liquid, of vomit and blood, the smell alone was enough to make me gag. And among the pools of bile and gore, there were groups of damned souls, both human and pony, being herded through the valley by their devil torturers, their bodies were deformed by obesity and with each step their bodies sank halfway into the pools of bodily waste. Helel told me the devils were waiting for the arrival of Cerberus so the great Hound of Hell would be able to play with his food. Sunset looked horrified and I could also not help but to pity the souls trapped in the valley below.

All this just for the crime of being gluttonous? Like with lust, it wasn’t a sin I had much experience with, as I have been surviving on very little for most my life. But I did remember what I did the days after I made it big in the chess world and brought home a sizable amount of money as the grand prize of a major tournament. I spent the following days eating at expensive restaurants in Canterlot, gorging myself on luxury meals I previously hadn’t been able to afford but wanted to try. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had done way worse, would I have been condemned to this horrific valley for that alone?

We slowly made it down the slope towards the disgusting mire below. When we reached the ground, the stench was even more overwhelming, and an immense sense of nausea overtook me, and I added yet more bile to one of the many pools by vomiting right into it. Any hope I might have felt from Jezebel’s speech was now gone, as I realized just how unpleasant the journey through the circle would really be. And it wasn’t likely to get any better in the circles further down. Sunset put her hand on my back after I was finished vomiting, asking me if I was okay. I nodded, telling her that I would be okay. But I wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. Helel pointed us towards what appeared to be a system of caves, but upon closer inspection the walls of these underground tunnels appeared to be made from intestines, held up by structures of bones. Orpheus told us that the lair of Cerberus was underground among these tunnels, so we had no choice but to enter.

Fortunately, the stench was less pronounced in these tunnels, but I truly felt like I was walking down the gullet of some great beast, I had a feeling that the entrance behind us might close, like a beast closing its maw, leaving us trapped here forever. We spent what felt like an eternity walking down these tunnels until I saw an infernal red glow ahead. I could hear gurgling sounds coming from up ahead and there were vapors from an unknown substance. What we encountered up ahead was some kind of strange laboratory, where devils toiled concocting various brews, extracting ingredients from the damned souls sitting on various benches across the room, the souls could barely keep themselves upright.

Helel explained that these were the drunkards, those who would overindulge in alcohol and drugs when they were alive, Cerberus didn’t even find them appetizing. The devils of the laboratory extracted substances from the drunkards themselves, often by distilling the substance from the body by boiling their bodies until they excrete these liquids. Helel told us they were producing substances they could sell in the city of Dis, which was in the lower circles. Sunset wanted us to interfere in order to free the poor souls from their torment, but Helel told us we should simply avoid entering these laboratories, as there was little we could do to ease the suffering of the souls within, even if we freed them, they would have little hope of escaping the circle. That only the destruction of hell itself could free them, something that was only within the power of two beings, Lucifer and Yaldabaoth, and Yaldabaoth had no intention of freeing anyone here from their torment.

Continuing down these dreadful tunnels we came across another chamber where a single human was trapped, a bearded man, in this chamber was a single pool of water with white-starshaped flowers at its bank, with a tree stretching above the man. Without the eyes of Minos I would have been fooled by the illusion cast upon this place, as the water had been enchanted to appear crystal-clear and without impurity and the tree to harbor the most delicious of fruits, but I could see that underneath this enchantment the pool of water was putrid and the fruits rotting, the illusions appearing before my eyes as a thin translucent shell surrounding what is their true appearance. When the man tried to go for a drink the water level in the pool lowered, staying forever out of a man’s reach, same with fruits, the branches of the tree lifting them higher to stay out range for the man’s arms. Orpheus said he knew who this man was explained everything to me:

“This is Tantalus, he was an ancient King who had served his own son to Zeus, the Malakhim who was the supreme ruler of the universe at this time, before Yaldabaoth overthrew them. He made a meal out of his own son to test Zeus’s omniscience. For his crimes, Zeus banished Tantalus to Tartarus, where he would be eternally subjected to the punishment you see before you, to be eternally hungry and thirsty, with delicious fruits and clean water just out of reach for all eternity. “

I told Orpheus that the tantalizing nature of the fruits and water was nothing more than an illusion, that it was just as putrid and disgusting as everything else in this place. Orpheus seemed surprised, being unable to see through the illusion himself, but given his knowledge of the Eyes of Minos, he trusted me at my word. Sunset, ever the bleeding heart, couldn’t resist approaching the tree, its branches not lifting to keep the fruit out of reach like it did with the king, so she managed to pluck one of those putrid fruits and give it to Tantalus, who seemed eternally grateful. In return, the Old King told her he would do whatever he could to help us in return. I told him that we were trying to get a powerful artifact from the lair of Cerberus. Tantalus told me something interesting:

“Cerberus is a fearsome beast indeed, but there has been also has been able to get past him, you see, Cerberus is vulnerable to what makes him drowsy. Aeneas, the great hero of Troy passed here long ago together with his guide Sibyl, they fed Cerberus the Asphodel flowers which grow by this very pool. If Cerberus consumes them, it is bound to make him extremely drowsy. “

That was all I needed to know, I quickly picked some of the flowers at the bank of the pool, now I just needed a way to trick Cerberus into eating them. I looked up at the tree and got a devious idea, the enchantment surrounding the fruits would be likely to fool even Cerberus. So, if I fed him one of these delicious-looking fruits, they might not notice the Asphodel flowers if I fed them to the beast at the same time. Considering Tantalus didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the taste, it was likely the enchantment applied even to its flavor. I told my plan to the rest of them. Sunset put her hand on my shoulder and said:

“You see Cozy, showing kindness to others can sometimes give you opportunities you wouldn’t have otherwise, as those you treat with kindness are often more than willing to help you out in turn.”

Of course, I knew that already, my entire philosophy was based around how friendship could benefit you, how calculated displays of kindness could be used to manipulate people to do what you want. Yet I had a feeling that wasn’t what she really meant. After all, Sunset likely hadn’t anticipated a reward for helping Tantalus. It was just something that happened to occur as a result.

It wasn’t far from Tantalus’s place of punishment to Cerberus lair. It was deeper into these fleshy tunnels than any other chamber, but eventually we came to an enormous cave opening, outside of it there was a pile of chewed and spat-out carcasses, still alive and shrieking, slowly healing as a damned couldn’t truly die, as that might mean an end to their suffering. Inside of this enormous cave there was a huge dog-like creature, if it could even be described as a dog, the creature didn’t have the lean physique of a hunting dog, but was instead morbidly obese, as big as a barn, only tufts of fur still hanged from its slimy skin and the snouts on its three heads looked like it had been hit in the face with a frying pan. If this creature had once been a dog, it would have been mutated beyond recognition by some dark power. The beast snarled as it caught our scent and came rushing towards us as fast as it could on its stubby legs, carrying the weight of its endless supply of meals. I quickly hurled one of the fruits from Tantalos’s tree wrapped in Asphodel flowers up in the air, Cerberus’s three heads fought with the others for who would get the first bite of the delicious-looking snack. I then told the others to run before flying into the air myself, hoping the flowers would affect the creature quickly before it caught up with us. But there was little to worry about as the creature immediately got sluggish after ingesting the fruit and soon fell on the ground unconscious in front of its cave. Orpheus looked to the creature and sighed:

“I remember the majestic beast you used to be Cerberus, back when Hades still ruled the Underworld, but look at yourself now, out of shape and tainted by the putrescence of the very sin this place was meant to punish. Yet this wouldn’t be the only creature of the Underworld of old that Epimetheus tainted with their desire for so-called justice.”

I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the old dog, however mad and rabid it now was.

We quickly went through the pile of mangled remains inside the lair until we found the lyre. The Lyre of Apollo did not look like I expected, being made from what appeared to be a turtle shell, some sticks tied together and some strings. But Orpheus assured me this was indeed the lyre we were looking for. The one with the power to inspire hope in any creature. Our only ticket out of this place of endless despair where the stars don’t shine.

Chapter 6: Meadows of Asphodel

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Cozy Glow

After retrieving the lyre from the lair of Cerberus and escaping from the circle of gluttony, we found ourselves on another steep decline towards the chasm below, with a great river in the distance. Orpheus explaining this to be the river Styx, which flowed through what used to be the Asphodel Meadows. Where Elysium used to be the place where good souls were rewarded for their actions and Tartarus the place where bad souls were punished, the Asphodel Meadows used to be a neutral afterlife where most people neither fully good nor evil went. Of course, this all changed when Epimetheus overthrew the Olympian gods, now the souls of the avaricious populated these meadows, punished for both hoarding and squandering wealth. Beyond Styx, a great obsidian city could be seen in the distance, illuminated by infernal fires. Helel explained this was the city of Dis, once upon a time the seat of power of Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, later used by Lucifer and the fallen angels as a base of operations during the war against the false god Yaldabaoth.

Greed was a sin I was particularly prone to in the past, as no matter what I achieved I always hungered for more. I originally didn’t have much and therefore I had to claw myself to every possession I had, therefore I greatly valued those possessions. When I originally made a name for myself playing chess, this changed, I suddenly had wealth beyond my wildest dreams. The former Grandmaster, a pony named Bishop took me under his wing and when he died, he named me his sole heir. I had a mansion all to myself, yet it always felt hollow and empty wandering those halls by myself. For I knew what I had to sacrifice to get there. Both Aurora and Bishop where people I missed dearly and I tried to fill the hole in my heart left by their absence with luxury items, food and jewelry, until almost all the wealth I inherited was spent. Maybe that was the reason I tried to take over Equestria, to finally accomplish something grand enough to feel that sense of emptiness within me. As no matter how much wealth I had I could never feel even an ounce of satisfaction.

Upon entering the meadows, we found it to be nearly overrun with refugees escaping Limbo after we destroyed the Judge of the Dead. This place almost seemed like paradise after the constant bombardment of wind and lightning of the second circle and the mud, snow and body fluids of the third circle. I could tell the Meadows once upon a time used to be a beautiful place, Helel described beautiful fields filled with the very same Asphodel flowers, like the ones we used to sedate Cerberus and great springs and streams of pure water. Now it was reduced to a wasteland of gray mud, the streams and springs putrid and poisonous, the only sign of its once idyllic status were the occasional Asphodel flower that grew on the banks of the putrid springs, but even these were twisted and corrupted. Two groups of damned souls could be seen pushing boulders up the many slopes of the fields, constantly bickering with members of the other group, fights occasionally breaking out before they are forced back to push the boulders by their devil guards. Helel explained that the first group were the hoarders, people who hoarded wealth in life and didn’t share it with others. The second were squanderers, who had wasted an excessive amount of wealth in order to satisfy their appetites. I knew which of the two groups I would be part of, as very little remained out of the wealth that I inherited from Bishop. An intangible weight filled this entire area, like I was carrying a heavy burden on my shoulders.

When the devils guarding the damned spotted us, they roared and turned their attention towards us instead of the flocks of damned souls. The devils were quickly cut down by a combination of the Tempestarii blade of Helel, a burst of holy light from Sunset and the infernal flames of Jezebel. The damned cheered as their tormentors were brought down, before the hoarders and the squanderers turned their attention towards each other. Helel was about to speak to the crowd, but Sunset took the initiative before they could even open their mouth.

“Hoarders and squanderers, I understand that you have your differences that might be irreconcilable. But despite these differences you have a common enemy, while many of you might have had your faults and imperfections in life, an eternity of fruitless labor is not a fate I deem justified. Therefore, I say you should rise against your captors, for a new day is coming, one where you might be forgiven and redeemed instead of punished eternally. I swear to you I will not rest until this place of punishment is forever undone and you will all have a chance to overcome the sins of your past and become something better.”

Sunset’s words seemed to calm down the crowds that were now exclusively focused on us. Helel continued Sunset’s speech:

“There is one who is yet capable of opposing the tyranny of the one who condemned you to an eternity of suffering. Lucifer might be trapped in the very deepest pit of the darkest abyss. But we have the means to restore them to their former glory. Once the righteous rebel has overthrown the tyrant, your eternity of perdition will at last come to an end and you will be free.”

The crowd responded well to the combined efforts of Sunset and Helel. Pointing out there is one more individual trapped in this circle that they might need to free. Hades, the former Lord of the Dead.

We found Hades further into the meadows, a man with a long black beard and long black hair. He had a regal bearing to him, despite being stripped of every article of clothing, and had burning eyes which could pierce the heavens. Hades was chained to a rock, with a large devil with a skeletal appearance, wielding a scythe trying his best to torment him. Carving chunks out of the flesh of the former god, spilling their golden ichor on the ground, wounds which Hades quickly regenerated, only for a cycle to begin again. Helel called out to the devil and challenge them to a duel. The devil, feeling smug and superior, agreed. The fight was quite close and Helel was barely able to triumph, but at the end of the battle the devil nonetheless lied at their feet, completely motionless. Jezebel turning their attention towards Hades and did her best to heat up the chains binding the former god. Helel then took a swing at them, but to no avail, the sword of the tempest not even being able to dent the chains. Hades laughed:

“These chains were designed to hold even an Olympian, only a blade forged in divine fire would have the power to break them. I appreciate the attempt, but no power other than one equal to heaven would be able to break me free from these bonds.”

The former King of the Underworld almost seemed to have given up entirely, yet a fire still burned in their eyes, a flame of defiance. I asked the former King what events could have transpired that would bring them to the state they currently found themselves in.

“Once upon a time I was the highest authority here in the underworld, ruling from the city of Dis together with my beautiful wife Persephone. This was until the titan Epimethius and their followers rose in rebellion against Olympus. Not being overly fond of my brothers on Mount Olympus, especially Zeus who had committed many atrocities upon mortalkind, I initially refused to aid them. Thinking that this Epimethius had to be a better ruler than my brother Zeus, I aided them in the rebellion. My mistake only became apparent afterwards, as Epimethius, now calling themselves the One True God, unbelievably enough turned out to be a worse tyrant than my brother. Now known as the Adjudicator, Epimethius turned upon their allies and waged war against the underworld. Their brother Prometheus joined us in this war, the underworld becoming the last bastion against the tyranny of the Adjudicator. But it was all for naught, the forces of the Adjudicator overwhelmed us, I was bound in chains which not even a god could break, the very same chains that once bound Prometheus. Prometheus themselves were imprisoned at the very bottom of Tartarus. As for my beloved Persephone, I don’t know their fate, but I believe they must be somewhere here in the underworld. How I hate the abomination Epimethius turned this once great kingdom into. There were punishments in the underworld before, yes, mostly mandated by Zeus and the other Olympians. But most of my kingdom was a rather decent place to spend the rest of eternity. But now it’s all misery and torment, the very soil itself seems to be corrupted by unspeakable evil, which origin I don’t know.”

As I listen to this story, I noticed that Hades’s eyes admitted a few drops of tears when he mentioned his wife Persephone, he seemed to truly miss her. From what I’ve seen so far his story seemed to make sense. Ever since I first put my hoof in these lands, I had heard stories of how great and prosperous this kingdom of the dead once was, and I have personally seen the foulness that had overcome these lands. There was an evil here greater than anything I could ever imagine. People used to call me a villain, but while my soul was hardly pure, the darkness I had witnessed here in the realms of perdition was so vast that it overwhelmed even a person like me. I could never even imagine such cruelty being inflicted upon anyone back in my original homeland.

Helel looked towards Hades and told him:

“We plan on freeing the Morningstar, I believe their blade should be able to cut your chains, I promise, we will free you and reunite you with Persephone.”

Hades expressed gratitude at Helel’s vow, I also hope that we would be able to find his wife and reunite them, wherever she was in this realm without stars.

Chapter 7: The River Styx

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Cozy Glow
As we crossed from the Meadows of Asphodel to the banks of the river Styx, the putrid Meadows gave way to an equally putrid marshland. The river Styx itself appeared to be made of some tar-like black ichor rather than anything resembling water. Within the black ichor were countless wrathful souls, screeching in anger and clawing at each other while remaining trapped in the river Styx. Sensing our presence, a horde of irascible damned souls emerged from the waters and attempted to drag us under. Jezebel fired rays of hellfire at the horde of damned, driving back enough of them to keep Helel from being dragged under while the fallen angel pushed back the rest of them with a few swings from their weapon imbued with lightning. Sunset asked them about the nature of these wrathful souls and why they were condemned to linger within the river Styx for all eternity.

Helel told her that, unsurprisingly, these were the souls of the wrathful, those who had let their temper control them in life, now cursed to be forever lost to their violent impulses, trapped beneath the surface of the river Styx. Wrath, rage, anger, whatever you want to call it was an emotion I was quite familiar with. After the princesses of Equestria had sentenced me to Tartarus, (well, not this Tartarus, Equestria’s maximum-security prison that happened to share the same name), I was consumed by anger and thoughts of vengeance. To the point that I was easy prey to Grogar’s manipulations when he told us to attack Equestria, a festering wrath that was only made worse once Grogar has been revealed to be none other than Discord, who had set us up for failure from the very beginning. I didn’t remember much of the following battle: such was the anger Discord’s betrayal inspired in me, but I did remember that once the dust had settled, I was condemned by Equestria’s hypocritical rulers to be turned to stone for all eternity. While the fury I held for Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle and especially Discord never fully went away. It had cooled down over the years and I had since realized that I had let my own anger and desire for vengeance blind me to some truths that were obvious to me now. And I owed it all to somepony who was willing to give me a chance when nopony else would, Sunset Shimmer. The same pony would come to the threshold of hell itself to save me, in defiance of the will of the Adjudicator no less.

For a moment, I thought back to the time when me and my so-called companions tried to scale Mount Everhoof to obtain the Bell of Grogar. It was protected by a powerful barrier, and it was only through working together we were able to obtain the Bell. The feelings I felt at that time when I truly connected with Tirek and Chrysalis, it was a feeling that had made me happier than any amount of power or influence. If we all weren’t blinded by rage back then, we would’ve realized that our quest for vengeance was pointless and could only ever end badly for us. I wasn’t fully able to comprehend it back then, but Twilight was right, the act of helping others was truly something extraordinary, it somehow felt better than anything I have ever done. Before or since. Perhaps safe for the time I had spent with my friends since being freed from stone. A mare with a black coat and midnight blue mane flashed before my eyes, my memory still wasn’t fully restored, but I knew this mare was important to me in the outside world. Almost as important as Aurora, who had once meant the world to me. Too bad her soul was also condemned to this infernal place. I had to find her soul in the Forest of Suicides, according to Helel there was still quite some traveling we needed to do in order to reach it. But when we did, I swore to whatever higher power would listen that I would do whatever was in my power to free her soul from this torment. Because she was a friend, and I would do anything for my friends. That was the essence of the epiphany I had on top of Mount Everhoof, my bonds meant more to me than my own life. However much I valued power, I valued friendship more.

Knowing we couldn’t cross the river Styx without a ferry, Helel told us to light the beacons on each side of the river. The entire riverbank was dotted with roughly built stone watchtowers which housed beacons that could be lit by divine flame. Lighting the beacon on the side of the river wasn’t a problem, but when it came to the one on the other side of the river, it fell to a volunteer to carry the Torch of Divine Flame to the other side to light the beacon, I volunteered for the job, my pegasus wings allowed me to keep a safe distance to the souls of the damned in the river. Helel told me to watch out for the wisps of flame. At first, I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but then I noticed the strange ghost-lights in the air around the riverbank. The lights were entrancing, I felt drawn to them like a moth to a flame. They were calling me. But I managed to snap out of it before it was too late and focused on my task, lighting the beacon in the tower on the other side of the river. In the center of the tower was a strange black heart emitting the same black ichor as made up the river, it looked very flammable. I took Torch of Hope and lit the beacon before returning to the rest of the group.

Before long, the beacons we late summoned an enormous ferry, just like the one ferried by Charon in the circles above. Just like Charon, this one was ferried by a giant of a man, who Orpheus told me was Phlegyas, a demigod son of Ares who was condemned to Tartarus after torching the Temple of Apollo at Delphi as vengeance for Apollo’s role in killing his daughter. But now was relegated to ferrying corrupted Malakhim of the Second Host across Styx on the order of his mistress, Hecate, the former Goddess of Magic and now ruler of the city of Dis. Helel greeted Phlegyas and told them the following with a booming voice that radiated authority:

“Greetings Phlegyas, son of Ares, I am Helel of the Second Host, me and my companions seek entrance to the city of Dis to gain an audience with Hecate, Queen of Everlasting Lament.”

Phlegyas reluctantly agreed to ferry us across. Whoever Helel truly was, they surely seem to carry quite a bit of influence within the City of the Damned.

Upon boarding the boat, the wrathful damned jumped up on the boarding bridge to attempt to drag us into Styx below, only narrowly missing Sunset, Helel, Orpheus and Euridice, while me and Jezebel decided to fly way above their reach. The journey was long but not uneventful. For eventually we ran into what first appeared to be a whirlpool, but upon closer inspection the whirlpool seemed to consist of a horrifically stretched out body with a wide maw, attempting to swallow the boat, it had multiple long limbs with claws at the end that each attempted to scratch the side of the boat. The creature rocked the entire boat, causing both Euridice and Sunset to fall overboard. Orpheus cried to Helel to save his beloved, no matter what. Leaving me and Jezebel to get Sunset up on the boat before it was too late. I rushed to her aid as quickly as possible, working together with Jezebel to use our wings as momentum to drag Sunset out of the maw of the beast, I managed to summon strength I didn’t know I had in trying to help my friend. Was this the power of friendship? Sunset was badly injured, but still clinging on to life. After coughing up copious amounts of black ichor mixed with blood, the first thing Sunset did when she was once again in safety on the boat was to reignite the torch using the hope within her. But I could feel the light within her had dwindled significantly since we started this journey. Would Sunset really be able to sustain the Light of Hope throughout the rest of the journey? This had really started to worry me recently, as without Sunset’s flame we would be lost in the dark and easy prey to the evil of this damned place.

Unfortunately, Helel couldn’t reach Euridice in time. Orpheus screamed out in horror as his beloved was torn apart by the creature below us. Euridice once again regained her form in the light of Sunset’s torch, but her form had started to turn insubstantial. Helel told us that all hope within her had perished, and that now all that remained was for Euridice to turn into one of the hopeless damned, forever bound to her eternal place of punishment in the second circle. Euridice was starting to fade away before Orpheus put his hand on her chest and transferred over what appeared to be in essence of light similar to the light of the torch Sunset carried. Orpheus was trying to transfer what little hope he had left into her, Euridice stopped fading away and regained her form, but in turn Orpheus was starting to turn insubstantial, like the common damned souls of this place, as his sacrifice had reduced his hope to nothing.

But before he could fade away, Sunset transferred some of her light into him. Now I was really starting to get worried about how long Sunset’s hope would last, as I could see the fire within her fading away as she shared her hope with Orpheus. Seeing little recourse, I shared some of my hope with her, and her fire started to grow brighter once again. But I could feel a sinking feeling of despair in the pit of my stomach as a result, a gnawing sense of hopelessness that ate at my very soul. I knew it would slowly devour my remaining hope until nothing remained, and I would be condemned to an eternity at whatever cruel punishment awaited me in this place. I knew I hadn’t been the best person, but it seemed fate was always very inclined to subject me to fates worse than death. I still dreaded being turned to stone once again, or perhaps something even worse. For that reason, I could never allow myself to lose hope, I had to think positively, think of what mattered to me, friendship, that black coated mare with midnight blue mane, Aurora. Yes, I had to rescue Aurora. That was the hope I still clinging onto. Despite the oppressive misery of this place and the thought of eternal torment.

Fortunately, Phlegyas managed to navigate out of the whirlpool, saving the ferry from going under completely. I asked Helel what that creature was. Helel told me they were one of the furious, a damned soul considered especially wrathful that had been twisted by the dark power that have infested the underworld into a disturbing mockery of life. A fate truly worse than death. And we were not out of hot water yet, about halfway on our journey, the waters became darker still, the color of deep ink. But the ichor had also become less thick and no more damned souls appeared on the surface. Helel told us that in this part of the Styx, the waters were unnaturally deep, stretching down to what might be infinity. Even Phlegyas seem to be wary of this place, as they told us the depths hosted things that terrified even devils. Ancient beings that existed at the beginning of time, they had many names, but one which we could know them Leviathans. Creatures of the world before the world that began to inhabit the deepest depths when the world was only water, the Malakhim yet to create land. Banished to Tartarus by the Malakhim before all other life was created. I dearly hoped we wouldn’t have to encounter one of those during our journey.

In any case, I could now see the city of Dis in the distance, with its obsidian walls lit with infernal fire. We would soon be at its gates, and once we had passed the city we would continue our journey deeper down into the abyss, to the very heart of the void itself. Still trying to relax on the ferry, I looked up at the skies above, there were still no stars, but the ghost-lights above almost looked like stars

Chapter 8: The City of the Damned

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Sunset Shimmer

After getting off the ferry that ferried us across the river Styx, we entered the city of Dis. The obsidian walls surrounding the city towered above us, the devils manning the walls looking down on us with disdain, them hurling both insults and excrement at us, seeming to aim for me in particular, yet the authority of Helel managed to get us through the gates. The pavement was made from pure obsidian and the walls of both the buildings and the outer walls themselves appear to be made of a combination of obsidian and black iron, all looking incredibly filthy, soot from a furnace staining every surface, every surface hot to the touch, I quickly learned not to let my hands touch any surface, as it would quickly sear my skin. I told Cozy to use her wings to hover above the ground and not to come into contact with any surface. Jezebel appeared to be unbothered by the heated surfaces, explaining that her species was extremely resistant to fire.

The city was vast and labyrinthine, the buildings looked sinister, all with a military appearance and function, like they were was preparing for a siege at any moment. Helel explained that this had once been the case, as the city was the fortress stronghold of Lucifer’s and Hades’s resistance against Yaldabaoth, while the city ultimately fell, it managed to hold the armies of the Adjudicator at bay for a while. Among the bastions and watchtowers, scores of devils kept watch. The city consisted of many concentric rings, leading to the center of the city and the palace of Hecate, which meant we needed to pass through all of them. I had a bad feeling about this, as the fire burning within me had intensified since we entered the city, the pain being worse than ever. It was almost unbearable enough for me not to be able to continue walking, but I forced myself to continue regardless. When I broached the subject with Helel, they told me that this is because the city of Dis, the circle of heresy was the circle that Minos would condemn me to after I died. I knew why, it has been obvious during our entire journey, that my beliefs about redemption and rehabilitation were ideologically opposed to the punitive justice embraced by the new masters of the underworld, as my will defied theirs, I was considered a heretic in the eyes of the Adjudicator.

The entrance to the first concentric circle, which Helel called the Flaming Torch Arc had a banner of an emaciated mastiff with a torch in its mouth decorating the gate. Inside the arc were countless blazing sepulchers. I could feel the fire within me intensify as I got close to them. The air being filled with horrific screams from inside these tombs. I could feel a strong urge to enter one of these mausoleums to figure out what is going on inside. I couldn’t quite get in as the flames consumed the entire building, but from the entrance I could see countless wailing souls being caught in the infernal fires around a coffin, which was also engulfed in flames. The flames within me grew in strength the closer I got to this coffin. It was then I realized the reason behind this, if I were to die or lose my hope, I would be confined for all eternity to such a coffin.

Helel explaining that each of these sepulchers housed an individual who were monotheistic followers of the so-called one true God, Yaldabaoth. But their teachings were incorrect and led to schisms between the faithful. The founders that came up with these incorrect interpretations were to be trapped in a flaming coffin at the heart of the tomb, while their followers were condemned to be trapped in the sepulcher itself around the coffin and be burned together with their teacher. I could hardly even imagine such unbridled cruelty being inflicted on anyone, some part of me was consumed by fear and would do anything to avoid such a fate, I felt a desire to surrender to the Adjudicator and beg for forgiveness to avoid being trapped in such a coffin for eternity, yet I knew they wouldn’t listen and potentially condemn me to the burning tombs anyway. Another part of me was consumed by anger that anyone would be subjected to such a fate and that part of me wanted to rage against the heavens in a fruitless rebellion, regardless of what would happen to me as a result. As I just couldn’t accept such cruelty being seen as any kind of justice.

The others seem to have noticed my distress, as Cozy chimed in and told me:

“Don’t worry Sunset, we will get out of this awful place, maybe we can even help us trapped in torment within the underworld.”

Helel told us both that if we were successful in freeing Lucifer, Yaldabaoth’s hold of The Underworld might be broken, and the afterlife restored to what it used to be. Yet this all hinged on a single assumption, that Lucifer had what it took to defeat Yaldabaoth. A fact I wasn’t so sure of, as they had lost once before. Jezebel put her hand on my shoulder in order to comfort me, but without saying a word. Yet the gesture was enough. With their combined efforts I found the strength to continue. The Flaming Torch arc, other than the flaming tombs were filled with infernal forges where blacksmith devils constructed various weapons and torture implements. Yet fortunately the devils left us alone, too busy with their work.

The entrance to the second concentric circle was decorated by the banner of a fierce stout on a blue background with a white key on its head. According to Helel this was the Key Arc. The road here became narrow and winded between archways and rusted and ruined buildings as well as steep staircases, their appearance exotic and ancient. This part of the city housed hundreds of temples of different designs, dedicated to hundreds of different religions. A circular building stood out from the rest with a colossal key on its roof, surrounded by an entire congregation of celebrating devils. I had to see what all the celebrating was about, so I entered the building, only to find a huge well consumed by a flame so hot that the flames burned white. The flame was kept going by the devils who continued to throw books and manuscripts into the flames, the flame growing taller and ever larger for each book that was thrown in. Helel explained to me what was going on:

“Those who burn at the bottom of this well are the Gnostics, individuals who believed the world was controlled by a sinister entity known as the Demiurge, also known as the false god Yaldabaoth, who despite their claims were not the True God, incidentally they happened to be right, not that this spared from Yaldabaoth’s wrath. The flames are kept burning by burning texts Yaldabaoth deems heretical, it is said that when the flames reaches the key at the top of the roof, it is time for the apocalypse.”

Helel also explained that there was a spiral staircase inside the well that leads to the burning catacombs of the followers of other philosophies considered heretical like Platonists, Zoroastrians, Hermeticists and Epicurians. All eventually leading to a gate guarded by a Sphinx which would lead to the seventh circle. While this was a possible route for us to take. No one had ever been able to pass the Sphinx as its riddles were nigh impossible. Cozy did want to try going this way, but she was eventually convinced to do otherwise by a combination of both Helel and Jezebel. Cozy sure had a lot of faith in her own intelligence.

The entrance to the first concentric circle was that of a female centaur on a red background, Helel called it the Centauress’s Arc. It primarily consisted of a garden of metal refuse fused together in spirals that was recovered in a carpet of ash. Unlike every other location in this city, it wasn’t burning hot, but rather, quite cold, like the Arctic, a freezing wind blowing across this section of the city, encasing everything in frost. More sepulchers could also be found at this location, burning not with heat, but with cold blue flames that produced an icy cold. Helel explained that most housed within those sepulchers were the followers of Lucifer, all doomed to share a portion of their master’s punishment of the frozen wastes of the ninth circle. Yet not even being allowed to be close to their master in actually being condemned to the ninth circle themselves. I noticed the frost surrounding Cozy was even more noticeable while we remained at this location. So, she quickly urged us to move on. I think this said something about where The Adjudicator had deemed to place her after death.

The final arc’s entrance was decorated by the banner of a red reptile on a black background. Called by Helel the Salamander Arc. Filled with even more crypts, these ones burrowing into the ground. Helel explained that these housed the followers of primitive and prehistoric religions that worshiped things like the sun and the moon. Unlike the rest of the Adjudicator had allowed them a small respite by being buried alive a fair distance away from the burning flames, as in life they were just ignorant of the true master of the universe. Yet it spoke volumes to me that this Yaldabaoth considered simply not knowing of them a crime worthy of punishment at all. Considering ponies worshipped entities representing the sun and the moon, I suspected most of our kind would be relegated to this arc after their death, even if they hadn’t otherwise done anything wrong.

We also passed the library that Helel explained contained all the heretical texts ever written, devils could be seen going in and out of this building, constantly gathering more texts to feed to the white fire in the second arc.

After passing through this last concentric circle, we finally reached the heart of the city, the palace of Hecate. If only I knew what horrors would await me inside, maybe I would hesitate to enter. I looked up towards the sky and wondered if we would ever get out of this place or if I would be forever condemned to burn in a coffin for all eternity, just because I had the audacity to believe no creature no matter how villainous deserved to be tortured for all eternity, because I tried to save creatures like Cozy. My hope had slowly started to leave me, constantly being consumed by the Flame of Hope we needed to traverse this Abyss of pure darkness, I wondered if it would truly last until the end of this journey. The skies above were an empty blackness containing no stars, as to signify that there wasn’t even a single spark of hope left in this place.

Chapter 9: The Palace and the Blind Prisons

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Cozy Glow

After navigating the city of Dis, we finally reached the palace of Hecate, the former goddess of magic. The palace contained the furnaces which was the source of the fire in the entire city, and it made Sunset especially uneasy, as she knew this place would be her final place of torment should she fail. According to Helel, Hecate possessed the necessary key to take a path beneath the city, leading to the blind prisons, the lair of Medusa, who could turn you to stone with but a look, like the cockatrices from my homeland.

I shuddered at the thought, statues freaked me out after having spent years petrified. And the thought of spending eternity as a statue in Medusa's lair freaked me out to the point I feared it more than whatever fate the Adjudicator had in store for me in the ninth circle. I had gotten a taste of the cold of the 9th circle when I passed those mausoleums with the cold fire that contained the Lucifer worshippers. It was the same unnatural cold that had filled my body and soul since I came to these lands. I would have preferred to face the riddles of the Sphinx compared to facing Medusa. But Helel told me that there was little point. As the Sphinx’s gate only led to a different part of the Blind Prisons, which meant we would have to face Medusa anyway. Getting the key from Hecate would mean that we would be able to bypass dealing with the Sphinx however.

The entrance was decorated by murals of three snakes eating each other and the doorknobs depicted some kind of flaming, demonic horse, which Helel told me was a Nightmare. The entrance hall was vast, the darkness lit by smoking torches and infested by hundreds of snakes, slithering between the statues of both humans and ponies, their faces frozen with a terrified expression, I shuddered, knowing exactly what happened to them. Helel took us to a long corridor lined with a ruby red carpet that led from the entrance hall to the throneroom. The carpet glistened as if it was made from actual ruby. When I walked on it felt sharp, it hurt my hooves, causing me to decide to fly over the jagged carpet. The throne room’s ceiling was as tall as that of a cathedral, the room was lit by lanterns that seem to be made from skulls that hang from the ceiling. A scalding metal pillar rose from the center of the room, emitting thin coils of smoke. It appeared to be a chimney of sorts, transporting vapor from the furnace underneath the palace.

The throne room was filled with larger snakes than the entrance hall, some close to the size of a pony, or at least as big as I was. The individual sitting on the obsidian throne was not Hecate, but a well-dressed devil who introduced himself as Duke Valefor. Helel told him that he sought an audience with the Queen and asked him about her whereabouts. Valefor kept insisting for us to show them the proper documents, but Helel repeated their request three times, and the devil finally gave in and told us that the Queen was in the high tower of the palace, in her personal quarters, and the Queen had told Valefor that if someone wished an audience with her, they had to make it to her quarters. This seemed to worry Helel, who told us that the high tower was the lair of the Erinyes, three sisters named Megaera, Tisiphone and Alecto who in the time of Hades had been minor deities of vengeance, representing jealous rage, vengeful destruction and endless anger respectively. They had been the daughters of Nyx, the goddess of the night. Getting past them would prove difficult even for a group of our collective power.

The high tower stretched towards the sky and in the windows outside I could see it reach almost as high as the hurricane in the second circle. The staircases to the high tower were made of shining white marble, soiled with streaks and stains of blood ranging from dark brown to deep red, signifying there were blood both old and recent, no doubt the work of the Erinyes. A horrible chamber awaited us above, it was a vast torture chamber, filled with sharp cages of iron, stocks racks and pillars with chains attached to them. The chimney that we saw in the throne room ended here, fueling a furnace, close to it were several branding irons and various other torture implements. The floor itself was coated in a thick coat of blood. There are also several more statues at this location, prisoners who had been turned to stone by Medusa. The Erinyes could also be found in this room, the three sisters busy torturing various damned souls at the racks. The Erinyes appeared as old women with snakes for hair and with great batlike wings on their back, one of them wielding a spiked whip, another with a scorching iron that would usually be used to brand cattle, the third, while wielding no implement of torture appeared more ancient than the rest, her body almost looking mummified.

The one with the branding iron suddenly turned towards us and hissed:

“What are you doing here? You reek of sin.”

Helel told them that we were here to see Hecate. The Erinyes with the branding iron introduced herself as Tisephone and the one with the whip as Alecto and the one who looked like a mummy as Megaera. Telling us that the Queen instructed them that only those capable of defeating them in battle should be let through. With that, Helel drew their Tempestarii blade crackling with lightning and fighting ensued.

Jezebel muttered an incantation and tendrils of shadow emerged from the floor, restraining Megeara and Alecto and cutting them off from Tisephone. Tisephone attacked Helel and managed to grace them with their snake hair, but the bite seemed to have negligible effect on the fallen Malakhim. I took the opportunity to cast a powerful spell on Tisephone, creating an illusion of their worst nightmare. For the Erinyes, creatures that delighted in pain and suffering, even their own, that seemed to be nothing more than visions of peaceful flowers, singing and dancing happily. The vision seemed to drive Tisephone mad. Megeara attempted to break free of the shadowy tentacles in order to help their sister, but she was unable to escape their grasp, taking a thrashing from the tentacles in the meantime.

Sensing that if the two Erinyes broke free, they would be coming for both me and Sunset next, Sunset uttered a magical incantation and a holy crusader made of pure light manifested next to me, guarding us both. Alecto was also unable to break free of her restraints, but she uttered a spell, and her eyes became black, like portals to the void itself, making eye contact with Helel, who immediately fell asleep. Jezebel responding by approaching Helel and planting a kiss on their lips, immediately breaking the enchantment. In fury, Tisephone turned towards Jezebel, leaving her back open to Helel and… Hesitated, seemingly caught off guard by the innocent beauty of the Lilim, as Jezebel gave her puppy dog eyes. Helel striking Tisephone in the back, Tisephone turned towards Helel instead and attempted to strike him, the blow being easily blocked by Helel, as the mental anguish caused by my illusion continued to take its toll on her mind. Megaera roars in fury as she remained trapped by the tentacles, but was still able to summon a bolt of arcane energy and attempted to direct it at Jezebel, but once again… The Erinyes couldn’t bring herself to do it, instead directing the bolt at Sunset, who was badly wounded by the bolt, but remains standing, the guardian of light flickering in and out of existence for a moment, but Sunset maintained control over the spell.

Sunset responded by channeling her inner divine fire to engulf both Alecto and Megaera in a radiant inferno, severely wounding both, at the cost of Sunset further weakening herself. Alecto, still wrapped in the tentacles targeted Helel with their abyssal eyes, trying to enchant them once again. The Malakh remained resolute however and didn’t give into Alecto. Jezebel turned to Megaera and muttered an incantation and fired a bolt of pure light at her, wounding the Erinyes. Tisephone, barely standing after taking a beating from Helel, tried to fire a bolt of arcane energy at Jezebel, but is once again prevented from doing so by whatever witchcraft Jezebel is employing, Tisephone did however see that Sunset was on her last legs and fires another bolt of arcane energy at her, striking her right in the chest, the flames within Sunset weakening, there is only a small ember remaining now. Tisephone then perished to the mental anguish of the singing flowers.

Seeing Sunset severely wounded, Helel uttered the words of a healing spell and the flame within Sunset reignited. Megaera then managed to break free of the shadowy tendrils, charging past both me and the crusader of light, who took a swipe at Megaera, wounding her, the Erinyes barely standing, the snakes in her hair taking a swipe at Sunset, Sunset narrowly being able to dodge them. Using some of her newly restored divine flames, Sunset fired a burst of light at Megaera, taking her out. Sensing an opportunity, Alecto summoned the strength to break free from the tentacles and fire an extremely powerful burst of arcane energy at Sunset, hitting her and causing her to fall to the floor, her bodyfading away, leaving only the torch of hope on the ground. This filled me with rage, and I uttered a vicious enchantment and directed it at Alecto, the words themselves designed to do harm:

“Your mother is a whore.”

Childish as they may be, with those words, Alecto perished. Leaving us victorious. A few moments later Sunset reappeared at the torch, but the light of hope within her further diminished. The fire within her more and more taking the form of the infernal fire of this circle the more hope she lost. I asked her if she was okay, she told me that she would be better once we were out of the city, where she was constantly reminded of her eventual fate of perdition.

After making sure Sunset was okay, I turned my attention towards Jezebel to congratulate her on a job well done as it was her spell of summoning those tentacles that assured our victory. By holding the other two Erinyes in their grasp for so long we were able to deal with Tisephone. Jezebel blushed before telling me:

“it’s just a trick I have picked up on during the time before my home realm fell, a time where we didn’t know any pain and life was a paradise, if you think they are useful for combat, you should just see what they can do for pleasure.”

I think I prefer to not think about how a Lilim like Jezebel would use these shadowy tentacles for pleasure. When I asked her about how the Erinyes couldn’t attack her, she explained that Lilim had this aura about them that inspired sexual attraction and love, which made it hard for any being to lay a hand on them. I found what she said to be true, as upon closer inspection, while she didn’t resemble a female of my species, I reluctantly had to admit I found her quite beautiful with her alabaster skin, small, thin, yet curvy figure, and long ebony hair, not to mention her black feathered wings, which was the one trait that I could recognize among pegasi, and they would have been considered especially beautiful among the residents of Equestria as well. Now that she mentioned it, even if we were enemies, I would have found it difficult to lay a hoof upon her. My wings started stiffening just by looking at her, a reason I often avoided looking at her for too long at a time, so I had to look away to avoid an especially embarrassing moment. Jezebel seemed to know what was happening and she smiled and told me it wasn’t uncommon for people to have better reaction around her.

Where the bodies of the Erinyes used to be, there were now three keys on the ground. A regal female voice could be heard in the distance:

“Well done, not many have been able to defeat the three sisters. The daughter of Lilith especially, well done.”

Out from the shadows came what appeared to be a rather striking human woman, almost as beautiful as Jezebel, her raven hair flowing behind her, she was clad in a regal dress, a crown of her head and a pair of torches in her hands, she was flanked by a pair of animals, a black dog and a polecat. I realized that this was Hecate, the one who had once ruled as the goddess of magic, and now served as the Queen of the Damned.

Helel turned towards the goddess and spoke with an authoritative voice, even though they were in the presence of the goddess, Helel didn’t show any sign of deference. Who were they? Could they really be a simple fallen angel?

“Queen Hecate. I ask for your support in our endeavour to reach the ninth circle, I know you are officially aligned with Yaldabaoth, them having granted you this position after Hades was chained up. But don’t you miss your place on Mount Olympus? Don’t you miss being a goddess and not just a servant of a tyrant? I have now found companions that still has hope strong enough to light the way to Prometheus, and we have the means to free them.”

Helel gestured to Orpheus to show her the lyre. Orpheus and Euridice, who had been cowering in a corner of the room while the fighting had been going on, came out of their hiding spot and presented the Lyre of Apollo to Hecate. Helel explaining that they thought it would be enough to restore hope to Lucifer and reclaim the underworld. Hecate was lost in thought for a moment before speaking:

“Very well, by defeating the Erinyes you have proved yourself to be worthy of passage. I will not try to stop you, but remember, if things go awry, we never had this conversation. The official story must be that you stole the keys and went through the door hidden behind my throne without my knowledge. I dread to imagine what Epimethius would do to me if he discovered my treachery. Take the keys and go. But be warned, Medusa is in the tunnels beneath the palace, and further down is the labyrinth of the Minotaur. And if you do manage to reach the ninth circle, be aware that there is a primordial evil in that place, a power much greater than Promethius that is the source of the evil in this place. Even Epimethius fears it, so they sealed it away at the very bottom of the underworld. I fear that if you are going to free Promethius, you will also awaken that ancient terror. And maybe not even the Lightbringer could illuminate that darkness.”

With those parting words, we took up the keys from the ground shortly before the Erinyes returned to life. The sisters were hissing at us, but Hecate wouldn’t allow them to harm us. We made our way down to the throne room once again, Helel moving the throne out of the way to reveal a door with three keyholes. Inserting the keys, the door opened, leading us down a staircase towards the furnace below and then deeper down. In the furnace, a matrix of molten lava so hot that it looked white could be found, covering the entire area of the city. Sunset told me she wanted nothing else but to extinguish that infernal fire forever. But it was unlikely we had the means to do so, so we had no choice but to continue with our journey.

The tunnels below the furnace were pitch black, the only light that could be seen was from Sunset’s torch of divine flame. But with the eyes of Minos I could see just fine. The tunnels appeared to be made of stone, but there was something off about it, on closer inspection it appeared to be closer to petrified organic matter than natural stone. Like gore and viscera smeared across the walls and petrified, I surely hope the damned souls whose bodies made up this tunnel weren’t conscious in their current state, but knowing this place they probably were. I shuddered to even think of it, it was bad enough to be aware of your surroundings while you spent years as a statue, alone with your own thoughts, never mind spending eternity smeared across the wall and floor. Random limbs still retain their shape in the walls and on the floor, soon making it obvious this terrain used to be people. Tons and tons of snakes were found slithering around these petrified limbs. The tunnels would soon expand into a vast complex of cells, containing various gigantic humanoids, some with only one eye, others with a hundred arms, according to Orpheus the one-eyed creatures were Cyclops’s and the hundred handed ones Hecatoncheires. All turned to stone by Medusa to spend eternity as a statue. Turns out the fate of the princesses inflicted on the back in Equestria was considered bad enough to be inflicted upon the residents of hell, I wonder if they ever truly realized what they had done. Helel referred to this place as the Blind Prisons, the lair of Medusa.

While the navigated the labyrinthine prison complex. I felt a greater sense of fear than I’ve ever felt in my entire life, for only one look at that creature they called Medusa could turn you to a stone statue and I would be trapped here for rest of eternity reliving the worst time in my life. To avoid being taken off guard by the monster, I looked down to the ground, it was then my eyes, enhanced by the eyes of Minos discovered something significant. Next to the horrifically disfigured remains of what had once been a man, petrified as part of the tunnels, were a polished bronze shield, in the light of Sunset’s torch I could see my own reflection. If I remember correctly of how beasts like the Cockatrice works, if you look at it indirectly, as through a mirrored surface, you wouldn’t turn to stone. Furthermore, what if the beast was tricked to look at their own reflection? I felt a sudden boost in confidence as I picked up the shield. Orpheus telling me it looked like the shield of Perseus, an ancient hero famous for having slain Medusa. When I inquired about how he manage such a feat, Orpheus told me that Perseus managed to slay Medusa by using the mirror shield to gain a way to keep track of the creature and cutting of her head. Looked like Medusa had her revenge in the afterlife, as the remains of these petrified corpse was likely none other than Perseus, judging by the presence of the shield. When I inquired about what would happen if Medusa looked at herself through a reflection, Orpheus told me that while this has never been tried, it just might work.

I inquired from Orpheus all I could about Medusa and they told me she used to be a priestess of Athena, cursed by her daughters when she violated a vow of celibacy when Poseidon raped her in one of her temples, transforming Medusa into her current monstrous form. While nobody had seen Medusa’s form without turning to stone, she was said to, like the furies, have snakes for hair, and the body of a serpent. I told Orpheus that Athena sure was a monster for punishing a woman who was simply a victim of Poseidon. Helel responded with that while the lords of the previous regime were as filled with douchebags as the current one, both Athena and her brother Ares had sided with Yaldabaoth during their insurrection, so Athena was currently one of our enemies.

It was then I could hear something slithering from the corridor in front of us, I told the rest of the group to close their eyes while I looked in the mirror shield to figure out the location of the monster while telling Sunset to give me the torch, holding it with one of my wings while holding the shield with the other. Just as Orpheus described, Medusa might have once been beautiful, but she was now a monstrous hybrid between a human and a snake, with the upper body of a woman and a lower serpentine body, her hair was full of snakes that all hissed in chorus. As Medusa got closer, I try to illuminate her with the light of the torch and took my eyes off the shield and shoved it in her face. I closed my eyes to avoid getting a glimpse of her without the shield. My heart skipped a beat, Medusa screamed in terror, and after waiting about 30 seconds of nothing happening, all while still worried what would happen if my plan didn’t work. I eventually dared to open my eyes again. Before me was a stone statue, forever frozen in place with a familiar expression of terror on her face. The same expression that had once been on my face when I was turned to stone. It didn’t sit right with me to inflict this fate on someone else, but for now I had little choice. I felt bad for Medusa, who was originally a victim of the gods. I told myself I would one day free Medusa from her curse as well as all those who had been petrified by her. This was not the fate I would wish on my worst enemy, one day these victims of petrification would be free of the underworld, so they could once again see the stars.

Chapter 10: Forest of Suicide

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Cozy Glow

After vanquishing Medusa, we burrowed deeper into the blind prisons until we finally found the exit. But the exit led to a rocky hillscape dominated by a labyrinth hewn from the very stone in the surrounding lands, leading deep underground, it’s walls towering towards the heavens to make room for the enormous creature that inhabited this dread labyrinth. This was the labyrinth of the Minotaur, the next foe we needed to bypass in our journey towards the Ninth Circle. Unlike Medusa, a foe we couldn’t hope to best by force due to her ability to turn people to stone with but a look, Helel assured us that the only way to get past the Minotaur would be to slay it. The creature had been at home in this very labyrinth since it was slain by Theseus millennia ago, an exact copy of the labyrinth where the creature was confined since birth on the island of Crete, it knew it so well that none could hope to navigate the labyrinth without encountering the Minotaur, our best way through was to engage in the namesake of this circle, violence. Orpheus told us about the story of the Minotaur.

Long ago King Minos, the very same Minos that now presided as judge of the dead in the circle of Limbo, had entreated the Sea God Poseidon to show him their favour when he was competing with his brothers for the throne of Crete. His prayers were answered in the form of a snow-white bull that he was supposed to sacrifice to show his dedication to Poseidon. But the future king had decided to keep him instead and offered the inferior sacrifice of a regular bull to Poseidon instead. To punish Minos, Poseidon had made Minos’s wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. She contracted the inventor Daedalus to make a hollow wooden cow she could climb into to mate with the bull. The result of the union would be the fearsome half-man half-bull creature known as the Minotaur, but the creature’s proper name was Asterion. A creature that had to devour humans for subsidence. So, Minos decided to commission Daedalus for an underground labyrinth where to keep the beast contained, Minos feeding criminals who had been given the death penalty to the creature by trapping them in the labyrinth.

When Androgenous, the son of King Minos had been slain by jealous Athenians after his victory at the Panathenaic Games. For which King Minos waged a war the Athenians lost. As revenge, in tribute, King Minos demanded the lives of multiple youths to sacrifice to the Minotaur. When the time for the sacrifice approached, Prince Theseus of Athens volunteered as a sacrifice to slay the Minotaur, declaring that he would rather die than to rule a city that pays tribute of children’s lives. Promising his father King Aegeus that he would change the black sails of the boat to white sails upon his return if he was successful, leaving the black sails on if he was killed. When he reached Crete, Minos’s daughter Ariadne fell in love Theseus and help them navigate the labyrinth by giving him a bowl of thread which allowed him to retrace his steps. Theseus would ultimately prove victorious over the Minotaur and returned to Athens in triumph, after abandoning Ariadne on the island of Naxos, for he had never truly loved her as she loved him. But Theseus forgot something important as he forgot to change his sails from the black sails of mourning to the white sails of triumph. Resulting in his father upon seeing the black sails, assumed his son was dead and cast himself of a cliff into the sea that would from then on bear his name. The Aegean Sea

This Theseus was indeed a fool to screw up this badly after his victory over the Minotaur. Perhaps it was karma for using Ariadne, but most likely just his own foolishness. I could only imagine achieving the impossible and returning in triumph only to forget something vitally important that would forever taint your sense of triumph. Wishing forevermore that you would have remembered that crucial detail as your foolishness cost you someone you cared about. I certainly knew what that felt like, I had long cursed myself for my role in Aurora’s death and I wished I could go back in time to undo my mistake. I knew there was certain spells that would allow a pony to go back in time, but it required real power, the power only an alicorn, or the most gifted of unicorns could possess. Meaning that if I were to fix my mistake, I needed power, absolute power. And even then, I realized that going back in time would probably undo my ascent into power in the first place, rendering me once again only Cozy Glow the orphan. I wasn’t sure I would even be able to go through with it, I guess that would be forever my dilemma, choosing between power and the life of my friend. I had chosen power before, what to say I wouldn’t do so again?

I was dwelling in my guilt, complete distracted from the outside world until I heard a loud bellow from the corridors ahead of us. Around the corner came a massive creature, while Equestria did have Minotaurs, this one was like no Minotaur I had ever seen. To begin with, the creature was enormous, more the size of a Cyclops than a Minotaur and its head was more like a bull’s skull with a thin layer of skin draped over it. The creature was bipedal with a muscular physique, hairy legs with cloven hooves and a set of massive horns on top of its head. But worst of all words terrible bloodshot eyes that seethed with rage and hunger, I knew this creature hungered to devour our flesh.

Jezebel spoke an incantation and ensnared the Minotaur in black oily tentacles, giving the creature a good thrashing before the Minotaur broke free of its grip and charged Helel who threw themselves in between the rest of us and the creature. Helel was barely able to hold their ground, digging their feet into the ground and just narrowly avoided being sent flying by the force of the impact. But absorbing such force dimmed the light of their being, they were probably severely wounded. Sunset cast another spell and summoned a guardian of pure light in between the rest of us and the Minotaur, the Guardian struck at the Minotaur, wounding it. I took the opportunity to conjure an illusion of its worst fear in the mind of the Minotaur, which appeared as a tall and muscular man who I could only assume was Theseus. The Minotaur hesitated for a moment out of fear of its slayer come back to haunt him before slamming the ground in anger, knocking all of us over. Helel took the opportunity to jump up from the ground and soar into the air, moving back so that Sunset guardian as well as the illusory Theseus was between them and the Minotaur.It took the Minotaur a few moments to overcome its fear of Theseus, during which time Jezebel and Sunset bombarded it with balls of fire. The Minotaur would eventually overcame its fear of Theseus and broke free of the black tentacles that bound it. It charged at me, but Helel threw themselves in the way, striking a flurry of blows with their sword, decapitating the Minotaur with a final swing.

We eventually managed to get out of the labyrinth, only to reach the nauseating riverbank of the Phlegathon, a river of boiling blood Helel told me contained the souls of those who were violent against others. Violence, I could only think of a single time in my life when I resorted to such brutish methods, when me, Tirek and Chrysalis made our assault on Equestria after being enpowered by the Bell of Grogar. In retrospect, that was a careless action, inspired primarily by the sense of fury that overwhelmed me when we discovered Grogar was in reality Discord and had been deceiving us all this time. Some of that anger still burned in my soul, as well as the fear and indignation I felt as we were turned to stone as our assault was repelled by Twilight and her friends.

The riverbank was made up of living flesh and calcified trees that resembled bones as they stretched towards the sky. The flesh seemed to wriggle and move on its own, it made me nauseous just by looking at it. The surrounding area gave off a terrible stench, the screams of the damned deafening. The damned constantly tried to climb out of the boiling river, only to be pushed down again by the bone spears and arrows of centaurs, creatures that looked very much like my friend Tirek.

When the centaurs saw us, they immediately turned their attention towards us, raising their spears and firing their bows. Their leader declaring a challenge that was accepted by Helel. It was a gruelling battle, but we were able to best them. The centaurs driven back by a storm of dark tendrils and radiant energy from Jezebel and Sunset and their leader bested in single combat by Helel. Yet more centaurs gathered in the distance. Their advance only stopped by the orders of an elderly centaur. This centaur had a long white beard and long flowing white hair, which contrasted with his light-brown coat. The other centaurs clearly respected him, as they stood down on his orders.

Orpheus told us this was Chiron, the wisest of all centaurs, who was responsible for training many great heroes of his homeland, including Herakles and Achilles. Promising he would one day relay to me their stories, as well as their tragic end. It seemed that Chiron recognized Orpheus and Euridice, as he asks them how they got so far down the hells, as they were condemned to the first and second circle respectively. They told him the truth, that we were on a mission to play the lower of Apollo for Prometheus and hopefully restore the underworld to how it was long ago, before the rule of Epimethius. This intrigued Chiron, who long for the time where he still resided with the great heroes he trained back in Elysium instead of being tasked to guarded the river Phlegathon for all eternity. Chiron was also impressed by Helel for defeating the centaur leader, who he called Nessus, who he said in life had been slain by his student Herakles when Nessus kidnapped his wife in order to rape her. It was clear Chiron had no love for Nessus. So, Chiron ordered his centaurs to let us pass to the other side of the river. With me, Sunset, Helel, and Jezebel possessing wings, crossing didn’t prove difficult with Helel and Sunset carrying Orpheus and Euridice respectively.

On the other side was the edge of the forest of suicide, one of the most dreaded places in the entirety of the Hells. The edge of the forest was essentially a wall of gnarled and wizened trees, sporting dark green leaves and branches covered with thorns. The forest gave very little room to manoeuvre, the tightly packed trees letting in very little light, or it would if there was any source of light in hell at all, apart from the divine flame of hope and the infernal fires. Helel warned us to avoid contact with the thorned branches as they were coated with a powerful poison. There was no path, the only distinguishable landmark being the Phlegathon, which continued deep into the forest. While I had to focus most of my attention on not getting pricked by the thorns, which was easier for me than for some of the bigger creatures accompanying me, I couldn’t help but notice the forest went through a horrific transformation the further in we went. Faces started appearing among the trees, resembling faces that had been cut off from their original body and the skin stretched across the entire tree like some kind of horrific mask. Some of these faces could be heard lamenting their fate. Some were in the process of being torn apart by harpies, hybrids between birds and human women, much like the minotaur was a hybrid of a man and a bull, the trees screaming in agony in the process. Howls and snarls could heard be among the trees, like coming from mangy hounds. Helel told us these people were those who had been violent against themselves, Yaldabaoth considering the worthy punishment for such disrespect towards their physical forms was to be denied their true forms for rest of eternity. When those who ended their own existence ended up in the Inferno, Minos flung their soul down here, where it would become a seed for the damned trees they would eventually become.

The worst thing about this place was the whispers coming from seemingly nowhere, whispering about how worthless I was and that I should just kill myself and join the ranks of the horrific trees that were once people. I had to admit part of me was tempted, ever since Aurora’s death, deep down, I had felt like I deserved to die, that it wasn’t right that I got to live on and she didn’t, that I should join her in damnation to pay off my culpability for her death. At the time the only thing that kept me clinging to life was my obsession with finding the true nature of Solar Justice, a unicorn colt that had bullied me and Aurora as children, who I now believed to be a demon I had inadvertently signed a pact with. Or maybe that was just an excuse my mind had conjured to relieve myself of my guilt in that I might’ve been the primary catalyst for Aurora death. The whispers kept whispering that it was my fault and that I should end it so I could join my old friend in eternity as one of the trees.

These whispers started to sound more and more tempting the farther we ventured into the forest, a nearby tree appeared to have a rope with a noose descending from its branches, I was calling to me. For a moment I wanted nothing more than to fly up to that noose and put my neck through it, joining the damned as a member of this eternal forest. The only thing that stopped me was the reappearance of Aurora’s ghost, who told me some encouraging words:

“Don’t even think about it, while we would be together in a sense, life in this cursed place is not something I would wish on my worst enemy. I was wrong to blame you Cozy, you seem to blame yourself enough. I want you to live on, to prosper. I want you to be happy. What remains of my physical form is close, seek me out and free me from this suffering, please Cozy, if you ever valued our friendship, free me from my eternal lamentation.”

Her melodious voice was enough to snap me out of it and got me to focus on the task at hand, Aurora’s ghost leading us in the right direction. But the closer we got, the closer was the howls of the dogs and the harpies. Aurora told us to hurry up before they caught up with us.

We would eventually find the tree that was the remnants of Aurora, a twisted tree that resembled a willow with many poisonous thorns across its branches, with the agonized face of the pony that used to be Aurora stretched across it. At this point the hounds and the harpies had almost caught up with us. Helel, Sunset and Jezebel turned to engage the harpies. I only had eyes for Aurora, regardless of the sacrifice to myself, I knew what I must do. I reached for the hope within me, put my hoof on Aurora’s face and channelled it into her. Depleting a good amount of my reserves of hope, bringing me closer to be forever lost to damnation, I knew it, but didn’t care, as long as I could save her. Suddenly, a divine light filled the tree until it exploded in a burst of light. Before me Aurora was, not as a tree, but as the filly I once knew. Aurora had a snow-white coat, a golden mane in a style that resembled mine and her crimson eyes were luminous with intelligence. Her flank was blank, just like it was when I last saw her, sadly she had died before she discovered her special talent. Aurora hugged me while she told me how much she had missed me and how horrible her existence in this forest had been. I hugged her back and told her:

“You will never be trapped here ever again, I will see to that, we are planning to bust out here. But to do so we need to reach the ninth circle, come with us and I will make sure you will get out of here.”

Aurora nodded and we turn our attention to the battle between Helel, Sunset and Jezebel and the hounds and harpies. Jezebel had trapped the majority of a huge pack of hounds among the black tentacles she summoned, but 3 of them had broken free on one front. The hounds look like mastiffs, only grotesque, fat and bloated, not too dissimilar from Cerberus. On the other front, Helel was caught up in a battle against a horde of harpies. Sunset, seemingly wounded by the harpies claws as she had several claw marks across her body, were hiding under a nearby tree, preparing an incantation that summoned a wall of divine flames in between us and the hounds. I took the opportunity to mutter an incantation of my own in an attempt to muddle the minds of the 3 hounds that broke out of the field of tentacles. Two of the hounds turned upon themselves in the confusion and the third was befuddled for long enough to not make any advance against us. By that point two more of the hounds got out of the tentacles and approached us. By which point Jezebel went to aid Helel’s fight with the harpies, harming one of them by just her touch. The group harpies seemed to almost overwhelm even a fighter as skilled as Helel, but upon the intervention of Jezebel, the fight swung in our favour. The approach of the hounds was halted by my confusion spell and Sunset’s wall of fire, buying Sunset enough time to vaporise the 5 hounds in front of it with a ball of holy fire. The rest of the hounds were still held by Jezebel’s tentacles, but they could break free any moment. Aurora looks to me with a glint in her eyes as if to say: “You got this”. Which gave me enough bravery to approach the hounds and unleash the cold I have felt inside since I first entered this place into a wave of frost, making 4 of the 5 hounds into immobile ice sculptures that were then shattered by the black tentacles.

Only one hound survived, but it broke free of its restraints and came for me, only for Aurora to intervene, throwing herself in the hound’s path, the creature taking a bite out of her leg. Jezebel quickly rushed to our aid, putting hand on the hound’s forehead, the creature collapsing to the ground, perishing instantly. In amazement I had to ask her what she did to it, Jezebel just told me:

“I am the daughter of Samael, the angel of death, I can drain the life from a creature with a touch. Their deadly caress is a trait commonly attributed to succubi and incubi in legends as a result of this trait.”

Over time I had started to realize that I was traveling together with some truly amazing creatures, not only the superb swordsmanship of Helel the fallen angel, but Jezebel also had powers far beyond those of any mortal. Alone, me and Sunset wouldn’t stand a chance against the horrors of hell, but in the presence of those two, we stood a chance.

Helel told us to hurry to leave the scene before more harpies and hounds showed up. For the rest of our journey through the forest of suicide, we were fortunate enough not to encounter any more creatures, it was almost like they were avoiding us now, as we had proven to not be easy prey. Following the banks of the Phlegathon, It didn’t take long until we found the edge of the forest, before us was a vast desert, above us the City of Dis, with fire from its furnace raining down on the area below. Among the desert were countless sinners, bombarded by the flames above, the scolding hot sand burning their feet and hooves. Aurora asked the rest of us who these people were, Helel answered:

“Those who has been deemed violent against the supreme authority, that being, Yaldabaoth. They usually include those whose proclivities Yaldabaoth deems unnatural and not according to the grand design, one example being those with a desire for the same sex. As well as those who blasphemes against the supreme authority, like I tend to do. Blasphemies like suggesting Yaldabaoth is not the one true god, but rather an imposter deity.”

Both me and Aurora simultaneously shuddered when we heard who were being punished here. I remembered my crush on Ocellus, that changeling girl from the school of friendship, it felt like I had committed most of the sins pertaining to these circles.

Helel suggested that the only way to pass through the desert safely was to follow the bank of the Phlegathon, where the terrain was rocky instead of filled with burning sand, the river itself redirecting most of the fire from the sky. We walked alongside the riverbed for what felt like hours. The only thing we would pass during our journey was humanoid shapes, statues seemingly made from salt, but there was something off about them, other than a crippling fear of statues that is. Their expression was that of terror, frozen in time. I knew this place by now, these were definitely people that had been petrified. Helel seemed to catch my unease and answered my question without me even needing to ask:

“These salt sculptures were those of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. These two cities drew the ire of the Adjudicator by daring to try to sexually assault two of his Malakhim followers. As punishment, Yaldabaoth turned the cities and their inhabitants to salt, and salt they remain, even here in the Inferno. A fate worse than death if you asked me, but I think you are more than familiar with that fate, Cozy.”

I didn’t know how Helel knew that particular detail about my past, but I didn’t dare to ask. Perhaps Helel had figured it out due to my obvious unease around statues. But there had been something about Helel from the day we first met them. They were hiding something, I could sense they had once been a being of greater power, given how the denizens of the underworld reacted to them. Even Hecate and Hades seem to have quite a bit of respect for them. And the way Helel spoke about Yaldabaoth, the hatred in their voice when they spoke that that name was near bottomless, it was almost like they had personal history together. But why would the grudge feel so personal between the current Supreme Being and a lesser angel? Once upon a time they must’ve been close and Helel felt they had been personally betrayed, that was the only explanation.

My suspicions only grew stronger when Helel introduced us to the next obstacle in our journey, Geryon, one of the archdevils of hell. The creature would appear before us as an enormous serpent with the head of a man, a pair of enormous wings and sharp claws, he had cold, empty eyes. The creature was as large as a palace, emerging from the Phlegathon’s boiling blood without even a scratch. He reminded me of the former Dragonlord torch when it came to his enormous form and obvious physical might. Yet Helel dared to make a demand of it:

“I, Helel, Prince of the Second Host demand passage serpent. Take us into Tartarus so we can finally confront our destiny.”

Geryon just laughed:

“You may have had power over me once, Prince of the Fallen, but now Yaldabaoth rules us all and you are but a shadow of your former self. Prove your worth princeling, both you and your allies. Prove yourself worthy to take the throne of the Underworld.”

With those words Geryon attacked. Their white, gleaming eyes shining like stars.

Chapter 11: Shining One

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Sunset Shimmer

The archdevil known as Geryon was enormous, close to the size of a mountain, a form that was like a combination of a serpent and a dragon, with scales, claws and a pair of enormous wings, with the hideous face of a man instead of that of a serpent or dragon. Geryon initiated the fight by submerging its tail into the Phlegathon river, causing a rain of boiling blood to fall upon us, I barely managed to move under a rock to dodge the rain of boiling blood, together with Jezebel, Cozy moved to shield Aurora, but was herself hit by the boiling rain as a result, she screamed, but despite a few burnmarks, she was otherwise okay. Helel shielding Orpheus and Euridice. Helel moving to attack Geryon in retaliation and landed several strikes. Then Geryon roared in an attempt to frighten us, which made all my companions, including Helel cover in fear, but I summoned the power of the hope within to resist its effects. Geryon then moved with supernatural speed, especially for a creature that large and struck Helel with its tail. Cozy uttered an enchantment laced insult towards the archdevil in retaliation, which Geryon seemed to easily shrug off, laughing maniacally. Hitting its tail into the ground, causing a tremor, causing Cozy to fall to the ground. Jezebel uttered an enchantment, which also had very little effect on the creature. Geryon turned their attention towards Helel and used their claws to completely mangle their form, their light was snuffed out and reduced to nothing.

It was clear to me that Geryon was powerful, more so than any other opponent we had faced so far. But the hope within Helel endured and they reformed in the light of my torch. Geryon laughed, seemingly intrigued by this development:

“So, you still process fragments of hope within yourself, interesting, let me extinguish those embers.”

I uttered an incantation and Helel’s blade started to glow with holy light, I hoped that this enchantment would give them the edge needed to vanquish Geryon. Helel charged the serpent, using their blade that now sparked with both the lightning of the tempest of the second circle and the holy light of hope to dig into Geryon’s flesh. Cozy began a motivational speech laced with an enchantment to make her companions break out of their fear. As the fear of Geryon left her, Jezebel summoned the courage to try to bind Helel in her black tentacles, but unsurprisingly a creature of that size broke free with ease. It seemed like the only one among us with the power to hurt Geryon was Helel. But they were little match for a titan like Geryon who once again squished them underneath their massive girth. As Helel perished, they once again were reborn in the flame of hope.

This pattern would repeat several times, Helel assaulting Geryon with lightning and holy light, bringing them closer and closer to destruction, and then Geryon destroying Helel within seconds. Until Helel had no hope left wing themselves, what was left of their shining form reduced to just a small ember of light upon the shores of the Phlegathon. I knew that they would be done for, permanently bound to the Inferno unless one of us donated some of our hope to them. Geryon seemed to be able to sense my intention and spoke:

“Do you know who Helel really was, Sunset? They were once known as the Morningstar, the Prince of the Fallen, the very same being who led a rebellion against their brother, the Great Lord Yaldabaoth. You see, Helel is none other than the devil themselves, a remaining spark of light yet to be drowned out by hopelessness and despair. Their only intention was to use you to restore themselves to their former glory and resume the war against their brother. Breaking the order of the Supreme Being. They never had the intention of freeing you and your friends from your torment, only to serve their own interests, like always.”

Their claims gave me pause for a second, maybe they were just using us. Yet Helel had been a traveling companion and a friend during our entire journey, and they had put themselves in harm’s way to protect the rest of us on more than one occasion. Cozy yelled at me that no matter who they may be, we should not abandon a friend, she was right. Furthermore, when I thought about the terrible unfair punishments of this place, the more tempting it was to join our friend in defiance, raging against the heavens for the injustice of eternal torment, no matter what would happen to us as a result. I took one look at the embers of light that was left of Helel’s form and knew what I must do. Helel had some explaining to do, but that had to wait until later, until we had vanquished the gigantic snake in front of us. I rushed towards the embers and transferred a good amount of my remaining hope, leaving myself greatly diminished. I would not be able to make such a sacrifice again. But the sacrifice was enough for Helel to reform themselves, brighter than ever, taking the form of a vague outline of a humanoid made from pure light, but where they had once only had a single pair of wings, there as now three. Helel had revealed their true nature as a Seraph, the highest form of angel. Geryon roared and screamed into the air:

“Fool, they will betray you like they betrayed the rest of us.”

Helel thanked me and immediately charged at Geryon, plunging their sword deep into their chest, Geryon exploding in a burst of light.

With the archdevil vanquished, Helel turns towards the rest of us:

“I guess I owe you an explanation. Yes, I am Lucifer, Prometheus, Iblis and Ahriman. But my real name, my original name, before I fell to darkness, was Helel, the Shining One. When the rebellion against my brother failed, I was trapped at the very bottom of the Inferno, my light and my hope consumed bit by bit until I was rendered a creature of absolute darkness, corrupted by the evil that resides at the heart of this place. That part of me would become known as Satan, but a part of who I once was survived, expelled by Lucifer before they turned into Satan. I am the remaining fragment of their light, their hope, their remaining goodness. I seek to journey to the 9^th circle to cleanse Satan of their corruption so we can once again join together as one being of light and restore the Underworld to its former glory. I haven’t directly lied to you, but I admit I haven’t been fully honest. I hope you will still aid me on my quest. I give you my word I will let you out of this place once I am restored to my former glory.”

While there was a nagging voice in the back of my mind questioning what the word of a known liar was worth. I shut that voice down and told Helel that little had really changed, before turning to rest of my companions to ask what they thought we should do. Jezebel told me that she already suspected the truth but didn’t think of it as relevant, for the Lilim had always stood with the rebellion, as her father Samael and her mother Lilith were one of the reasons the rebellion formed in the first place. Orpheus and Euridice saying that they didn’t know Lucifer, but they knew Prometheus, and Prometheus was the one who had given the gift of fire to mankind, planting the seed for human civilization, they would rather align with them than the cruel gods who punished them with the evils contained in Pandora’s box as a result of Prometheus’s gift. But it was Cozy’s words that especially caught my attention:

“Helel is hardly the only member of this group that has a reputation for deception and villainy. I could also be counted among this number. I don’t think any of us are perfect, even Sunset has been a villain by one point in time. What matters is not what we were, but who we are now. Despite, one thing in particular is very clear to me, none of us might be perfect, but none of us deserve the torment that this place would have inflict upon us if we should fail. When I think of the torment the so-called Supreme Being inflicted on my dear friend Aurora just because she took her own life it makes me boil with rage. Therefore, we should rage against this injustice, break down the very fabric of the Inferno and mold it into an afterlife that’s worth a damn. I am talking not just restoring it to what it used to be, we should make it better than ever. To do that we must march upon Tartarus itself and shatter the evil at its core, to rid the afterlife of this loathsome corruption once and for all. Who’s with me?”

The entire group cheered and raised their hands and hooves into the air in unanimous support. From the day forward, I knew we had the blessing of Star of Venus.

Chapter 12: Wishes

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Cozy Glow

Geryon took us down the abyss into an absolute darkness not even the eyes of Minos could illuminate. For it was not simply darkness, but emptiness. At that point Geryon left us to our own devices, calling us fools one final time before leaving. According to Helel we had entered the final region of Hell, Tartarus, the namesake of the prison in Equestria where I spent many months. In order to reach the 8th circle we needed to navigate this darkness. The only thing visible in the void were flickers of light that vaguely resembled eyes. At first there were only a few, but more and more appeared as they noticed our presence, the flickers of light came closer and closer until one brushed up against me, I felt drowsy and soon lost consciousness.

I screamed and suddenly, I opened my eyes and found myself in a luxurious satin bed. Thank Celestia it was only a dream. I tried to remember where I was, and more importantly, who I was. The room around me was just as luxurious as the bed, with wardrobes made of exotic wooden materials and portraits of myself at different points of my life adorning the walls, many of which wore ornate crowns depicting a star that resembled Twilight’s cutie mark. Then everything came back to me, after I trapped Twilight and her friends in Tartarus and drained magic from the lands, ponies had turned to me in this time of crisis and Celestia elected me the next ruler.

The only form of magic that had survived was the magic of friendship, all flowing from the bonds I had made with the people. Making me, the Empress of Friendship, the sole source of magic in the lands. Ever since that day I had been the beloved monarch of Equestria, ruling and eternal paradise where everypony and creature looked up to me. The magic that flowed through me allowed me to raise the sun and moon, and to provide the magic necessary to control the weather and make plants grow. Of course, I could choose to withhold that magic to any creature I desired, if they had done something that especially displeased me, but it was an uncommon occurrence, the people adored their Empress, as of yet no one had bothered looking into the disappearance of the former Princess of Friendship, not even Celestia. Which was lucky, as I dreaded what would happen if my scheme were to be uncovered, perhaps I would even lose the love of the people. Some days I even regretted ascending to power through nefarious means, but that’s regret was easily drowned out by the cheers of the masses. As I had since proven myself to be the best ruler Equestria ever had, I was even more popular than Celestia or Twilight ever was.

Soon Aurora rushed through the doors of my bedroom, Aurora had died when we both were young, but since I ascended to my position as the Empress of Friendship, I had used my magic to bring her back to me. And since she was brought back, she had ever been my loyal retainer. Aurora told me she had heard me scream and wondered if I was feeling alright, asking if I had any nightmares. I told her about my strange dream, navigating through a nightmarish underworld. Aurora’s face went white as I told her about my nightmare.

“That strange, I had a similar nightmare, being transformed into a tree and trapped in this abominable underworld, but you saved me. Yet there is something about it that seemed familiar, like a long-forgotten memory rather than just a dream.”

I asked her if perhaps it was a memory from the time, she was dead, but she told me she still didn’t remember anything from the time, but that it was possible that this horrible place in our dreams was the afterlife she was confined to. Not that she could understand why, she had never done anything in her life worthy of such an awful punishment.

The situation with the nightmares was strange enough for me to inquire if any among my court have had similar dreams. But most of them had slept rather well lately with minimal, if any, nightmares. With one exception, my loyal advisor Sunset Shimmer. Who recalled strange dreams matching mine exactly, the events of the dream aligned perfectly with eachother. That was a fact that I considered quite disturbing. What were the odds of us having the exact same dream at the exact same time? Yet, I tried my best to forget the nightmares and keep on living my life as Equestria’s ruler. Yet despite this existence being everything I ever wanted, it felt empty, hollow, somehow. And I could not put my finger on why. My thoughts came back to the strange dreams, preventing me from fully embracing my reality, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was fake somehow. Maybe this was the dream I needed to wake up from. Yet I kept ignoring these instincts that told me this felt wrong and continued to bask in the adoration of my subjects.

Today, the people threw a parade in my honor, ponies marching down the streets of Canterlot praising my name. The high point being them unveiling a massive statue of myself in the center of town, depicting me as a fully grown mare, an alicorn wearing my crown, the Element of Magic and looking all majestic and regal. Yet when I laid my eyes upon the statue I got this ineffable sense of dread, which couldn’t quite explain. Despite its massive size, the statue almost appeared too lifelife, like a pony trapped in stone rather than a stone construct. I had a vague memory of spending time as a statue, being trapped in a stone prison, alone with your own thoughts. Yet I knew that this didn’t happen. I couldn’t quite understand my contradictory memories. I did my best to hide my dread and thank the people for the statue, after all, they had the best of intentions, and I couldn’t quite explain my sense of unease.

I confided in Aurora and Sunset about my general sense of wrongness about my current existence. Aurora told me that perhaps I was suspicious because things were going so well, and this wasn’t something I was used to. After all, I had suffered the trauma of losing a close friend as a young filly, which had spurned me to try to reach these great heights of power in the first place, but that there was one part of myself that questioned whenever I was even worthy of all this adoration. I wonder if Aurora suspected the truth, that I had gained this power by nefarious means. Sunset on the other hoof agreed with me that something felt off about her current existence. Sunset had been one of Celestia’s students and the heiress to the noble Blaze family, blood relatives to Celestia herself. She had this position together with her sister in anything but blood, Twilight Sparkle, who Celestia had favored as an heir because of her moral character and capacity for magic. But with the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia was forced to look for a successor elsewhere. Sunset would’ve almost definitely been chosen to be her heir if not for Celestia discovering yours truly, who had established herself as the headmare of the School of Friendship and the most beloved filly in the land. If Sunset had any resentment towards me as a result, she didn’t show it. She had served me so well that she was in the run of being elevated to alicorn status to rule alongside me, and she knew it. She did tell me that she agreed that it felt like things were too good to be true.

Eventually, Aurora relented and told me:

“You’re right, this is too good to be true, I can’t think of a single thing wrong with my life. Except for a fact I can’t shake the nightmares. The truth is that it scares me, while this reality does seem like a dream, if the other possibility is true, then my true reality is a nightmare beyond recognition. No, if my reality is to be a nightmare, I prefer a pleasant dream.”

Some part of me agreed with her, some part of me wanted to keep living in this reality forever, despite my doubts about its authenticity. I didn’t know why it felt like a dream, but it did, perhaps because things work really going too well to be believable.

It was at that point a blinding light appeared before me, a divine figure surrounded by a multitude of Pegasi-like wings and its body covered with glowing eyes. Beholding this figure should’ve been a nightmare, yet there was an ethereal beauty to it, like part of me considered this featureless monstrosity of light the height of unearthly beauty. The figure seemed familiar somehow, I recognized it from the nightmare, then the figure spoke with a soft voice that yet radiated authority.

“Wake up, the Abyss is seeking to trap you in your heart’s desire to prevent our escape. If you don’t reject it, you will be trapped here forever until your soul is devoured by malicious spirits.”

I recognized this voice, Helel, though, more powerful and more complete than I had ever known them. Was this Lucifer the Morningstar, Promethius or whatever other names this figure had in their full splendor? I recognized they spoke the truth and I did my best to reject my current reality and return to the nightmare in which I was trapped. This dream was everything I ever wanted and I had a tear in my eye when I truly embraced that it wasn’t real, Aurora and Sunset were also crying. We cried on each-others shoulders as the dream surrounding us faded away and we were back in the endless void.

Helel

I remembered the Second War in Heaven where brother fought brother, a conflict that had followed the Titanomachy where Zeus and the Olympians had established themselves as the de facto rulers of the universe. This order would be all thrown out with the second war. I remember the day when my sibling, Epimetheus led a rebellion against Zeus in the name of their own version of justice and order, feeling that the Olympians had acted immorally with impunity for far too long. It was hard to deny that Epimethius didn’t have a point in that regard, but Epimethius had became an even worse tyrant than Zeus ever was. Their tyranny only stopped by an alliance of Cthonian deities, led by yours truly, Hades, Thanatos and Lamia. Also known as Pluto, Samael and Lilith.

The result of this grueling conflict had been the elevation of myself, the one called Prometheus, Lucifer and Ahriman, to the position of supreme being, though I prefer to go by my original name, Helel. With the couples Hades and Persephone and Thanatos and Lamia ruling the Underworld. My brother forever locked in the Dark Heart of Tartarus together with the Titans who sided with Kronus. Yet I could not summon much sympathy for my tyrannical sibling, I needed to do what I needed to do to keep them, and their co-conspirators trapped, including Ares and Athena, who went by Michael and Uriel during the war. The only problem being that if they ever got out, the heart of the abyss would have twisted them into unholy abominations, much more twisted than they ever were before. A possibility I had to block from my mind as even thinking about it inspired a sense of panic.

Unlike my brother I saw a little point in enforcing undue order. Under my rule, mortals and Malakhim alike would be free to do as they wish with little to no consequences. Some, like Epimetheus’ would consider such a lax rule a miscarriage of justice. After all, murderers and rapists would get off scot-free, at least as far as the afterlife were concerned, all souls getting to spend time in either Hades’s paradise of Elysium or by my side on Mount Olympus. But I preferred to leave mortal justice in the hands of mortals, let them punish their own criminals. The main problem being that bad actors among my own, like Asmodeus were hard to keep under control. Part of me felt that if I started to enforce punishments for breaking the few rules I had, I would be no better than my brother. No, whatever consequences their actions would have on mortals, it would be fleeting, all sorrows swept away in the afterlife. How did it matter if someone significant ever got murdered if they were to be reunited in the afterlife? Mortal existence was so brief, so fleeting, it hardly mattered at all.

Yet despite everything I was starting to have doubts. Half remembered truths started to come to me, memories of myself being trapped in the Heart of Darkness in Tartarus and having every ounce of hope drained from your soul. But this could also be true, could it? My side had achieved victory in the war, for the consequences of losing were too dire to even imagine. Epimethius would have sought to remove free will from the universe in order to shape into their perfect idea of order, anyone seen as less than perfect condemned to a fate worse than death. With time, I started to encounter others who had memories of this other reality, the reality where we lost the war. One being a daughter of Samael and Lilith, Jezebel, who lived in the realm of the Lilim in the Underworld, a carnal paradise that catered to all earthly desires. Jezebel told me she also remembered the Underworld warped in the twisted image of Yaldabaoth. Another being the pair of Orpheus and Euridice, a son of Apollo and a nymph. When his beloved died, Orpheus had successfully brought Euridice back from the underworld, to live a long and fulfilling life together before being brought to Elysium in death. Orpheus said he remembered a different version of their story, where he had failed to save Euridice and was trapped in a far darker version of the underworld. This was what really got me thinking. It seemed I wasn’t alone in remembering things differently.

I tried to think back on these different, contradictory memories. What was the last thing I remembered? Yes, we had just entered Tartarus and the void populated by the… That was it…Djinn… Beings with the power to trap others in a reality where all their wishes came true while they feasted on their souls. While it pained me greatly, this reality wasn’t what it seems to be, the war was yet to be won and I had to return to reality to fight it. I remember the people who had helped me on this journey, other than Orpheus, Euridice and Jezebel. What were the names again? Yes, Cozy Glow and Sunset Shimmer, residents of a realm called Equestria. Not to forget Aurora, a friend of Cozy she had rescued from eternal torment. I had to tell them the truth of their current predicament and snap them out of the illusion.

Chapter 13: Malebolge

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Cozy Glow

After rejecting the idealistic world presented to us by the Djinn. I found myself back in the endless void, but now, the wisps of light were backing off. We followed Helel across the darkness until we once again found ourselves in what appeared to be physical reality. Taking the form of a mountainous area, with a clear but rocky path descending gradually downwards into the heart of darkness, on each side of the path were ditches, filled with damned souls. Helel explained that this was the 8^th circle, also known as Malebolge, where those who practiced a version and fraud and deception were eternally punished. I guess I would myself be quite at home here. After all, I always used to lie and deceive to get my way. The Malebolge was divided into ten concentric circles, also called bolgias, ditches on each side of the path, each containing a different group of sinners who practiced a different kind of fraud.

The first ditch was a wide track of clay, populated by creatures, ponies, humans, and other things which I had never seen before, running around their concentric ditch in two city directions as fast as they could, which was not at full speed as their joints were seizing up for running for who knew how long, naked and constantly whipped by devils if they started to fall behind. Helel Explained that these were those who had taken advantage of people and forced them to satisfy the whims of others, panderers, and seducers, those who had used their beauty in order to further their own ends. I had certainly pandered to the expectations of others in the past, especially when I joined Twilight’s school, and while seduction was not a common tactic for me at the time as I was just a child at the time, I had used my cuteness to my advantage, which was similar in spirit.

Sunset wanted to help, but Helel insisted that we better not attract the attention of the devils, not now that we were so close to our goal. Suggesting instead that we should run one lap with the damned before sprinting down the path in order to not attract the attention of the devil jailors. This plan went on without a hitch, even if the devils spotted us breaking formation at the last minute, chasing after us, but Helel assured us that they wouldn’t enter the next Bolgia.

Once we reached the second bolgia, the stench assaulted my senses like a hammer. The very rock seemed to be covered by green mold, but that was not the source of the stench. As the ditch was covered in excrement, emitting foul vapors. Among the excrement could be seen just the heads of various creatures, all submerged deep in dung. Helel explained that these were the flatterers, people who told others false compliments in order to achieve their goals. I had done this as well, it was usually quite easy to get on people’s good side if all you did was tell them how awesome they were, Rainbow Dash was especially vulnerable to this. The only path forward was across disgusting nets of mold suspended over the latrine. They could support our weight, if barely, but we had to be careful not to fall into the filth below. Not that this was much of a problem for me because of my wings. According to Helel, the devils of this Bolgia would attack anyone covered in excrement, but if we kept ourselves clean, they would let us pass.

Upon entering the third bolgia, before our eyes were a foul mote, giving off a sound not unlike sizzling oil. Thousands upon thousands of small holes filled the ground, if it wasn't for my wings, it would be hard to navigate around them without falling in. Which meant that I constantly had to provide assistance to Aurora, lest she fall in. Out of each hole we could see the feet, hooves or claws of damned souls, kicking and screaming as the contents of the burning moat were poured into each hole. According to Helel, these were the simoniacs, people who traded sacred offices or artifacts for profit. Out of all the sins I have committed, I can't say I have ever done that. I guess by the standards of my world, that would be like someone paying Celestia to become an alicorn and she actually accepted.

Hanging above the bolgia in a golden cage was a single damned soul, a bearded man, who like all the other damned, was wearing only his skin. Devils circled around the cage, repeatedly branding the man with the symbol of a cross, a mark that covered the man's skin. Helel explained this was Simon Magus, a man who this entire bolgia was named after. A man who attempted to buy the holy power from the servants of Epimethius long ago, and therefore was cursed to be eternally branded by their mark. Sunset wanted to free the poor man, and Jezebel concurred. But Helel said that we couldn't risk the mission now, not while we were so close, so we shouldn’t fight any more devils than neccesary. After all, if our quest was a success we might be able to free all damned souls. After some hesitation, I decided Helel was right, we had to press on.

As we entered the next bolgia, a strong smell of salt hit me, and soon we found the source, an ankle-deep pool of saltwater where the damned wandered, their head twisted backwards. Helel told me that these were the soothsayers, those who tried to predict the future in life, in death they could only see backwards. A strong sense of melancholy filled this bolgia, a sense of despair that only grew stronger the longer we remained.

Then Aurora nudged me, pointing towards one of the damned, a rather familiar colt, Solar Justice. He looked exactly like I remembered him, a young colt with a white coat and yellow mane, but like the other damned in this bolgia, his head was twisted backwards. I tried to recall what I remembered about him. Solar Justice used to be a bully that harassed me and Aurora at Sunrise orphanage in Manehattan, where we grew up. One day, after I made a name for myself, he had offered his hoof in friendship, if I stopped seeing, in his words “That loser Aurora”. I had agreed and left my best friend in the dust, causing her to lose her will to live and end her life, which was how she ended up in the Forest of Suicide. Soon after, Solar Justice himself would end up missing during mysterious circumstances. The only sign of him that remained was a pile of sulfur and an ancient Grimoire, clear signs of demonic activity.

While I knew I was risking my very soul by remaining in this place for much longer, I just had to know, I walked up to Solar Justice and said:

“Hi, remember me?”

The face of Solar Justice got even whiter, like he had seen a ghost.

“Cozy Glow, Aurora? Is that really you or just more spirits sent torment me?” He said with terror in his voice.

I assured him that we were real and that I just had to know the answer to a mystery that had been plaguing me for my entire life. I asked him what happened to cause his death, and why he was among a circle dedicated to punishing soothsayers and sorcerers. He sighed before reluctantly explaining everything he knew.

“The weeks after to the Manehattan chess tournament, leading up to both Aurora’s death and mine, I found a mysterious book in the library in the section about magic. It hadn’t been there previously, so I found that strange, I also felt somewhat drawn to it, like it was my destiny to read it. It was a book about demonology that included a spell to summon an entity that could answer any question. I must admit that after you gained your cutie mark, Cozy Glow, I was jealous. For despite my dedicated studies of magic, my cutie mark had yet to appear. I wanted to know what my special talent was so I could dedicate my efforts were it was appropriate, as maybe my special talent wasn’t in magic after all. I followed the instructions of the ritual and a shadowy figure appeared before me, introducing themselves as the Devourer of Nations. In return for the information I wanted, the demon had only a single demand, a demand that didn’t seem to make much sense at the time. The demon told me that if I wanted information, in return I must befriend Cozy Glow and make sure she is no longer friends with Aurora. Desperate for information, I did exactly as the demon asked, but in the back of my head I was wondering why such an entity made such a banal request. It was only after Aurora hanged herself in her room that the serious consequences of this seemingly insignificant decision showed itself, and I feared that more unforeseen consequences were to come.” The demon appeared before me again soon after to grant my wish. I asked it what my cutie mark would be. The answer it told me sent a chill down my spine. It told me I wouldn’t live to see my destiny realized, for it was now my time to die, and then killed me, as I used a demonic bargain to see the future, my soul was damned to this awful place. As I was catapulted through time and space, I was shown the demon’s design for Equestria. That without Aurora, Cozy would be driven mad and want to usurp the throne, but after she was defeated twice, and turned to stone, the demon would appear before her and offer her a bargain, it would give her rulership over Equestria in return for a price to be paid over 300 years later. She would accept and Equestria would enter a golden age under her rule for over 300 years. But when the time was up, Equestria would tear itself apart and the demon would feast on its inhabitants.”

That more than answered my questions, I always felt that there was some darker design behind Aurora’s and Solar’s demise. To think that Equestria was so close to falling prey to the demon’s designs. I wondered for a while what exactly threw these dread predictions of course. But then I realized that before the demon could come to me with its offer while I was in stone, something happened that it didn’t predict, perhaps because this entity could never grasp the concept of mercy. Sunset Shimmer had freed me from this stone prison. That was very much a good thing, as I knew that at the time, if I were given the offer to rule Equestria, no matter the price, I probably would have accepted. But Sunset had given for free what the given demanded payment for. Aurora then came to me and told me:

“I know he used to torment us, but in this state, I do pity him, we can’t just leave him here, can we?”

However much a part of me wanted to leave him here to suffer eternally for the pain and suffering he caused the both of us. I came to think of how Sunset risked much to save me, even if I maybe didn’t deserve it. Not only did she save me from stone, but she also journeyed to the underworld to rescue me. I knew exactly what she would do. Helel didn’t even protest, as the damned in this circle wasn’t guarded by any devils, perhaps they were also afraid of falling prey to the sense of melancholy and despair that permeated the place. Our hooves started glowing as both me and Aurora willingly decided to share our hope with Solar Justice. As the light entered Solar Justice, his head violently twisted back the natural way and for a moment, the sense of despair seemed to lift. Solar thanked us, but Helel told us to hurry to leave the circle our heads twisted backwards as well, as could apparently happen if you lingered too long in this place. Sunset looked at both me and Aurora with pride. Leaving the circle involved areas where the sea of tears was so deep that the ones among us without wings were forced to swim, and climbing over crystals of coagulated salt, but we soon managed to leave the bolgia.

The next bolgia contained a river of burning tar, over which a stone bridge was suspended, where the damned were submerged, there were thousands upon thousands of them, from every world and time, ponies, human, and all kinds of different creatures. All kept in the river by hordes of devils. Horrified, Solar Justice asked who these people were, and were told that they were people who used their positions in life to gain wealth or other advantages for themselves. The devils of this circle, the Malebrance were even allowed to leave hell to bring souls to this river from anywhere in the multiverse. I thought to myself that I could easily have ended up a victim of this bolgia if my path in life didn’t change. That is, if my crimes weren’t deemed worse. The cold within my being told me that they were, I belonged to the 9^th circle, perhaps for betraying my lawful monarch, Twilight Sparkle. Our journey throughout the bolgia was otherwise uneventful, we crossed the long bridge and into the next bolgia. The devils left us alone, busy tormenting the damned, and perhaps knowing that we had no chance to overcome whatever evil resided within the heart of hell.

In the next bolgia, the damned were forced to wear heavy robes as they walked around the circle. The ropes resembled a monk’s cowl, pulled down over their eyes, golden on the outside, but lined with lead on the inside. The bolgia itself consisted of a barren landscape; the eroded rock somewhat resembled an area where once it had been a river. According to our guide, the people confined within were the hypocrites, people who behaved very differently to how they professed people should behave. I could think of a few individuals who fell within this category, including the former monarchs of my homeland. As we traveled through the bolgia, we also encountered unfortunate individuals crucified to the ground, feet and hooves secured with nails. But the journey was otherwise uneventful. However, the territory ahead of us looked quite a lot like a pit of slithering snakes.

This turned out to be correct. The next bolgia was covered in darkness, only the eyes of Minos and the Torch of Hope enabled me to see what’s ahead. The ground of this place couldn’t be seen as it consisted of a seemingly bottomless pit of snakes and other reptiles. Which forced the ones who could, to take to the skies. Jezebel, Helel and Sunset each took Orpheus, Euridice and Aurora. Leaving only me to help Solar, he clinged to me as I was barely able to take flight. As I did my best to remain in the air and not to falter and sink into the pit of snakes, I started to wonder where all the damned was. Helel told me that the snakes and reptiles were the damned, once thieves, their original form was taken from them just like they used to take things from others in life. The snakes and repiles were forever biting eachother, turning to dust after succumbing to the poison, only to be reincarnated soon afterwards for a process to repeat all over again. I was thankful I was not among the souls confined to the pit, and fortunately our wings soon brought us to the other side, but I was totally exhausted.

The narrow bridge that led through the next bolgia was rickety and crumbling, all around us were ziggurats of stained glass, like the ones found in the castle of Canterlot. The damned were consumed by brilliant flames, a lot of flames. Helel told of these souls, evil counselors who used lies as weapons, now they would burn for all eternity, and their ability to lie was taken away. I could relate, as I had done so many times. Among the damned of this bolgia, one talked to us, introducing himself as Odysseus, a former hero who won the war against his enemies with trickery, according to Orpheus, who seemed to have a lot of respect for the fallen hero and was saddened he was trapped here. I was also saddened that cleverness was not rewarded by those in charge of the afterlife, but punished, which enraged me. I would swear right then and there that I would do everything in my power to liberate the souls within. Together with Orpheus and Euridice, I spent more of my hope to share with Odysseus, who joined our ranks. Odysseus thanked us, before joining the group, swearing to come up with clever plans to help us if need be. I told him that this was my job.

Only two bolgias remained, a field of red grass lied before us, from which emerged thread bare banners and rusted weapons, upon which a horde of devils carried out a massacre. Eternally hacking and slashing at the souls here with glee, their blades shining with divine light, as if to suggest their violent actions had divine approval. When they are struck, the damned of this bolgia were not reduced to ash, but instead lingered as sentiment chunks of flesh, hacked into smaller and smaller pieces. Some wandering with their own guts in their hand, until they were finally caught and chopped to bits. Their original form only restored when nothing remained, and then the dismemberment process started all over again. According to Hell, those punished within this bolgia were people who sowed discord among others and started wars and violent feuds for their own ends. Other than me, I could think of one soul that would be at home here, Discord, the Spirit of Chaos. Who had manipulated me and my companions into starting a violent conflict with Equestria. The devils of this bolgia turned out to be particularly violent, soon turning their attention towards us. Only when Helel made an example of their greatest warriors did they leave us alone, the fallen angel dismembering their brethren just like they dismembered the damned of this circle. Helel seemed more focused than ever, driven by how close we were to our goal and more powerful than ever. Eventually the devils bowed before their former Prince, even though Helel had taken many deep wounds from the battle, which Sunset and I helped to heal.

Then we entered into the last bolgia, a desert with dunes and sand seemingly made of gold, but on closer inspection was revealed to be pyrite, fools’ gold. The damned of this bolgia were covered in scabs and sores, Pustulant with some mysterious illness. They wailed and scratched themselves until their scabs bled, a smell of rotten eggs permeating the place. According to our guide, these were alchemists, who boasted about their ability to turn metals into gold to swindle their neighbors. Some of them were filled with resentment and hatred, while others were melancholic and had come to accept their fate. Further into the bolgia, some damned had bellies so swelled with water that they were unable to move. These were the forgers of coin, people who used to make fake currency. Eventually we came across several souls admitting smoke from their skin, their fever so high that it boils their blood. These were the forgers of words, people who spread false rumors to their own advantage. I remembered when I did that, in order to spread discord across Equestria, which also seemed to fall within the theme of the previous bolgia. We managed to cross the golden desert, and soon we would enter into the 9^th circle, the Heart of Hell which contained Satan, the corrupted form of Lucifer himself, and perhaps something even worse, someplace where not even the light of the Morningstar could reach.

Chapter 14: The Heart of Darkness

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Cozy Glow

As we left the 8th circle behind is, we truly entered the darkest abyss, containing a bone-chilling cold that froze the very soul. As we crossed the threshold into the 9th circle, I felt the void call to me, something sinister at the very heart of these lands, a voice that whispered obscene temptations into my heart. I steeled my resolve in order to shut out the voices. Aurora asked me if I was alright, I nodded. I had already been warned something foul had made its home at the heart of these lands, but whatever this thing was, Helel were not particularly forthcoming with the information. Like even they dreaded to speak its name. The other travelers also looked uneasy, but none dared to breach the question of the identity of this nameless terror. The 9th circle took the form of an enormous icy well, a narrow path circled the inside of the well, leading down into an abyss that seemed bottomless. The foul presence that tugged at my soul, I felt it came from the bottom.

It felt like eternity before we could even spot the bottom, and perhaps it was, time did seem to flow differently in this place. At the bottom could now be seen a frozen lakebed, Helel called it Cocytus. The water that made up this lake were the remains of the Great Flood, a planetary scale disaster that Yaldabaoth had once inflicted upon the world of Aeta, the original homeworld of humanity before the refugees from this disaster settled Midgard. The dark waters had not only killed the inhabitants, but trapped their souls, forever trapped deep within the lake of Cocytus.

At the sides of the enormous well, with their feet frozen, stuck in Cocytus, frozen solid, just like statues, were enormous humanoid figures, they gave me the creeps. Orpheus recognized these figures, Titans of the ancient world, the very same that Zeus had once overthrown during the Titanomachy. But among their numbers were also cyclopes and hecatoncheires, who sided with Zeus during the Titanomachy, and still took his side when Epimethius rebelled against Zeus, and therefore they were condemned here for all eternity, together with the Titans who they once helped overthrow. The cyclopes had the appearance of large humanoids, with only a single eye on their forehead, the hecatoncheires were massive humanlike beings with about a hundred arms, I had seen one of these petrified by Medusa in the Blind Prisons already. I hated to see creatures that had once been alive in a petrified state, whenever frozen by cold or turned to stone, I knew more than well how maddening it was to spend years upon years, fully aware of your surroundings, but unable to move a muscle. Fitting that Yaldabaoth had considered such a fate worthy of the absolute worst among sinners.

Eventually we reached the bottom, the frozen lake beneath us had the semblance of glass, it did feel stable beneath my hooves, even if the ice only seemed a couple of inches thick, leaving way for the deep watery abyss beneath that could very well be bottomless. From time to time, an enormous shadow could be seen beneath the ice, a sea serpent whose shadow seemed to stretch on for miles, Helel told us that Leviathan made these depths its home, praying upon the former denizens of the world of Aeta, which were forever trapped in these waters. An icy wind blew on the lake, chilling my soul more than the cold within me already did. Damned souls were partially immersed in the ice, making them easy prey for Leviathan. They could still move their upper halves, but that made little difference in preventing their legs being gnawed on by Leviathan and the other creatures beneath. According to Helel, in this final circle, traitors were being punished and these, while considered the least among traitors, and therefore resigned to the edges of the lake, these were the traitors against kindred, those who betrayed their own blood, those who had slain fathers, brothers, sisters, children, or betrayed them in some other horrible way. Helel instructed us to pay no mind to the damned, and to move with light feet and hooves, as otherwise we would attract the attention of Leviathan. It didn’t bother me much as I just took flight.

As we moved deeper into the heart of Cocytus, the ice underneath us grew thicker and the wind picked up speed, were we still mortal we would have probably frozen to death a long time ago, but as is we pressed on, the only warmth being Sunset’s Flame of Hope, which was now almost extinguished. She had to dedicate most of her effort to keeping the flame alive while it was being assailed by the baleful winds. Only the eyes of Minos allowed me to see any further than its flickering light. As we got closer to the center of the Abyss, the whispers grew stronger, until they were no longer whispers, but audible speech. The voice spoke of treason, temptations to betray my friends and family and escape this place alone. I shut out the voice and focused on the journey ahead. The damned of this part of Cocytus were embedded in the lake feet first, only their heads sticking out the top. According to Helel, these were those who betrayed their country to the enemy during a war, they were always buried close to their co-conspirators, which at least allowing them to speak to one another, but most were just trapped in an endless argument. I could not help but weep for these poor souls, my tears solidifying instantly by the supernatural cold. But at least they could move their heads. I had a feeling I knew what fate would be for those up ahead.

As we moved into the third section, the winds became stronger, it was now a full-on storm, making flying impossible and even gaining any ground took incredible effort as we were blown back by snow and ice. The damned here were placed vertically embedded in the ice face up, only their faces remaining uncovered, but their eyes were frozen shut from their own tears, which had to cause incredible pain. I asked Helel what crime they were guilty of, and they said these were traitors to their guests, who broke the most basic of civil rules.

We would eventually reach the fourth and final section of Cocytus, the winds had now grown so powerful that they were close in power to that of a hurricane, but that strength seemed to come and go, allowing us brief moments where we were able to make progress. Sunset’s Flame of Hope was now almost extinguished by the winds, only kept alive through her dedicated efforts, it was now little more than cinders. Trapped in absolute darkness, everyone flocked to me, as the Eyes of Minos meant I was the only one who could still see in the darkness ahead. The ice had seemingly frozen this entire section solid, the damned were trapped in the ice, face down, completely unable to move. Helel told me that these were the ones who betrayed their rightful lord and monarch, and I instinctively knew that if my hope were to perish, this place would be my home for all eternity. However faint my hope remained, I could not give up now, I would not be frozen immobile in this lake for the rest of eternity, left with only my own thoughts and the maddening voice, I would refuse to accept this fate to my dying breath, as long as Aurora and Solar remained by my side.

The voice had now risen in volume, to a shout and in the distance, I could see the source, a giant demonic figure with three heads and three pairs of bat-like wings, their lower half frozen in the lake. The infernal wings flapping endlessly in attempt to free themselves from the ice, but to no avail, which were the source of the hurricane-like winds, the lulls being the times the creature got tired and stopped flapping for just a moment. The voice continued to speak of betrayal and its proximity made the compulsion more and more difficult to resist, images flashed before my eyes of beating Solar to a bloody pulp for all those years of torment and doing the same to Aurora for leaving me alone in this world. But I knew these thoughts were not my own, just another snare to trap me and my companions, and I was sure they knew that too. I knew this figure had to be Lucifer, the being of which Helel was an offshoot. I think Helel told us that while Lucifer lost themselves to despair, and got claimed by the Abyss, Helel was born as the manifestation of Lucifer’s remaining hope, otherwise it would have been lost forever. I signaled to Orpheus and Helel that I sighted Lucifer, telling the former to prepare a song for the fallen angel once we got close enough to overpower the winds and shouting.

The progress of the journey towards Lucifer’s form was slow, but steady. While we avoided being pushed back by the ever-increasing strength of the winds, we could move forward during moments when Lucifer got tired. But this took a significant amount of time and only lasted a few moments. I don’t know how long we spent on this lake, fighting against the winds, while we were being pelted with snow and ice, hours, days, weeks, months, years or decades, or perhaps even centuries. I just knew that we did make progress. But eventually the combination of the maddening voice and the icy winds would make me fall to the ground, tired. By that point Sunset’s torch had gone out and all my remaining hope was consumed. We just made it to the immediate proximity of Lucifer when I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I found myself trapped deep within the ice, unable to move a muscle, an icy sting enveloping my entire body, causing unbearable agony, my companions nowhere to be seen. At first, I panicked, struggling against the ice, but it was to no avail, with time I gave up even my attempts to escape, I would remain in the ice forevermore, all was lost.

Sunset Shimmer

I remember fighting for every inch forward in that icy hellscape, all along doing my best to prevent the Flame of Hope from being extinguished, covering the last embers with my body, using what little remained of my hope to reignite the flames, but the might of the winds generated by Lucifer would ultimately prove too powerful. As the flame went out, so did my consciousness. When I came to, I found myself trapped within a stone sarcophagus, probably in a mausoleum in Dis, a fire was lit within it and the flames consumed my flesh, causing me agony beyond what I previously could imagine. My body burning up, slowly but surely over the course of what had to be minutes, but felt like eternity, only for my body to regenerate and the process of burning to cinders to start all over again. At first, I raged against the injustice of this punishment, feeling sorry not only for myself, but for all those other countless souls trapped in the same state. But there was nothing I could do for either them or myself now. It was hopeless. I don’t know how long I remained trapped, but it felt like centuries, but then, I could hear it, a at first it was faint, but the crescendo became clearer as time passed, a could hear a song, the music from a lyre, as well as a familiar voice, the song was heavenly.

Aurora

I thought it was my fate to remain trapped within the Forest of Suicide for all the eternity, but then she came to my rescue, a friend I thought I had long since lost. We traveled through the landscape of this dark underworld together, the sights I had seen since were even worse than the fate that had befallen me, I even met up with another familiar face, even if he had once been an enemy, I finally had hope of escaping this nightmare. But our journey through the Ninth Circle had proven too much. When the Flame of Hope went out, I lost consciousness, and found myself once again in a tree within all too familiar woods. I screamed, but no sound could be heard, I had no mouth. Harpies came to rip up my bark and claw at my branches, I cried out internally. But worst of all was the fact that I had been given hope, only to have it snatched away from me last minute, I wondered that if maybe Cozy had never come for me, that it had been only a cruel trick by this place of torture, an illusion meant to give its residents false hope to be able to torment them further. For a long time, I was back to the existence that I once thought I could never escape, and now we knew for certain that I never could. I stopped having any meaning, the daily agony of the harpies was reduced by the familiarity I had built up over the countless years I had spent in this awful existence. I thought of Cozy and the fact that I would never see her again and I wanted to cry, but I was unable to. Only then, after what must’ve been millennia I could hear a sound, it was the sound of a lyre playing a heavenly song, more beautiful than anything I had heard in my entire life, the voice that accompanied it was also heavenly, a voice that could only belong to a god, or perhaps an angel, but I recognized it and it was no angel, I recognized the voice as that of Orpheus.

Jezebel

Back in the palace realms of the Lilim, I knew nothing but pleasure. Strife and suffering were concepts that had once been unfamiliar to the Lilim. I remembered the obsidian halls of my home, before it was tainted beyond recognition and turned into a place of torment. Love permeated these halls, Lilim knew nothing if not affection for other creatures, and we spent our days making love to each other and to our guests, whenever we were lucky enough to have any. Grandiose banquets were held in this realm, tantalizing fruits and savory meat could tempt even the most boorish mortals, and the music were to die for. I remembered the swimming pools of my home, filled with the spilt seed of those who made love in the mortal realms, its contents responsible for keeping my pale skin silky smooth, I loved taking a swim in the morning. This all changed when Epimethius overthrew Zeus and started calling themselves Yaldabaoth, claiming dominion over all creation. The wonderland of the Lilim was turned into the Second Circle of the Hells. The Lilim reduced to spend eternity among the hurricane winds of their former home, a storm generated by a group of newcomers, the infernal servants of Yaldabaoth, the Tempestarii. I had spent countless years being blown about in the winds, being forced to witness how the opulent halls of my home were turned into ruins by the eternal storm. I thought this would never end. But then they came, a procession of travelers consisting of Helel, Cozy Glow, Sunset Shimmer and Orpheus. My skills were a benefit to them throughout our journey. But now when we were so close to our goal, so close to undoing the dark corruption that had befallen the Underworld, our journey was no more.

When the Flame of Hope died, my consciousness died with it, and I once again found myself trapped among the hurricane. At first, I wondered if this had all been an illusion, a trick by the dark powers that had destroyed my home. But then I remembered their faces, the friends I had made along the way and knew it had to be real. I cried out for my friends, only for my voice to be bound by the hurricane. At first, I thought they couldn’t hear me, whatever they were, but then I could hear a chorus rise as in response, heavenly music on par with the sublime sounds but used to fill the halls of my home, the voice that accompanied it was one was one I had heard countless times, for he had frequently visited the obsidian halls in order to entertain us with his gift of music, there was no better musician either in the hells or in the heavens than Orpheus.

Helel

I can’t believe it; we had been so close. We had been within reach of my original body, only to succumb to the endless winds, cold and maddening shouts of betrayal. As the Flame of Hope was finally snuffed out, my radiant form was reduced to nothing, and I once again found myself a prisoner in my own head. Trapped in the lake of Cocytus, my wings flapping desperately for an escape, while the terrors deep beneath gnawed at my feet. Now that I was once again reunited with my other half, I tried desperately to seize control of my lips as to cease the dreadful incantation, but to no avail. The all too familiar shadow within my being had an iron grip on the motor functions of my form, I was only a flickering glimmer of hope within a sea of despair. My three heads, however, allowed me to see in any direction, and I could see my companions lie collapsed upon the ground near my form, blanketed in snow and ice, generated by the hurricane winds, covering them with more and more snow by the passing minute.

Last time I was in this situation, there was no one who could aid me, but now, help was within arm’s reach, literally. While the Flame of Hope was doused, I could still feel a spark of hope deep within their souls, only the dark spell of my other half kept them in a dreadful trance from which there could be no escape. I only had to seize control of my body and stop the incantation, if for only a moment for it to lose its power. I summoned all my strength, thinking of my memories of those who helped me get this far. Friendship, Cozy and Sunset both trusted in its power to overcome any obstacle, and this day I would do the same. I wrestled with the darkness within for what felt like eternity, but thoughts of friendship and love seemed hostile to whatever entity had taken over my original body, it recoiled, but only for a moment, which was more than enough to project a thought to the unconscious Orpheus, a single sentence, “wake up”. This would be my last act before the darkness snuffed out my remaining essence. I were to be no more, I would leave it in the hands of my friends whenever I would wake up as the Morningstar once again, or if I would never wake up at all.

Cozy Glow

I remained in the ice for what felt like forever, before I started to hear a heavenly sound, a song of sublime beauty coming from a lyre, accompanied by an equally heavenly voice. The music once again filled my heart with hope. I opened my eyes and found myself no longer encased in the ice, but snow was covering my body, I quickly broke through the snow using my wings, the wind, as well as the shouts of betrayal, they had stopped. I would soon see why; Lucifer was just as spellbound by Orpheus’ music as I was. Soon Sunset woke up and freed herself from the snow, once again reigniting the Flame of Hope, Aurora soon followed, together with Solar, Jezebel, Odysseus and finally Euridice, who joined her lover in song. If the song was beautiful previously, it was even more so now that Euridice had joined the duet. Helel was nowhere to be seen, perhaps they had truly perished when the Flame did. I took in the sight before me, the two lovers joined together in song, standing before the titanic corrupted form of Lucifer. Lucifer’s form was even more impressive up close, dwarfing even the Titans we had witnessed earlier, before them the two lovers were nothing more than ants, yet their voices echoed through the lake, drowning out all other sound, like it came from the mouth of gods, before which the fallen angel was transfixed.

When the song reached its climax, cracks appeared in Lucifer’s skin, which leaked out pure light, the black hide of the devil soon gave way and exposed the radiant being beneath the corruption, a cloud of black smoke escaped their mouth and fled farther away the lake the second before the corrupted form were destroyed. Lucifer was now unrecognizable from the demonic being they were before. While on the surface resembling the form of Helel, a being of light vaguely the form of a humanoid, to describe the true face of Lucifer was beyond words. I felt like my eyes were gazing upon sublime beauty somewhere in between masculine and feminine, embodying the best traits of both, Lucifer’s skin appeared to have been made from pure light and their long golden hair flowed behind them like a cloud, much like the manes of Celestia and Luna used to do. On Lucifer’s back were three pairs of wings, made from pure light, and above their head a flaming halo radiating power. I knew only one thing for certain, this was thew most beautiful being I had ever seen, their light far more intense now than it was when I knew them as Helel, just looking at them was blinding, yet I could not look away. In Lucifer’s hands was an enormous flaming sword that seemed to burn with the might of a star. When they spoke, it was with a melodious voice that was like music to my ears:

“Friends, I am proud to call you such, not many creatures have earned that distinction among the ranks of mortals, but you are more than worthy to stand among the ranks of the divine. I will thank you appropriately in due time. Now, there is only one last battle before we can cleanse the Underworld of Yaldabaoth’s taint.”

As Lucifer said that: the darkness that had come out of the corrupted Lucifer’s form last minute suddenly expanded to cover the entirety of Lake Cocytus, a darkness so black and impenetrable that even the Eyes of Minos couldn’t see through it. The only reason we could see anything at all was the brilliant radiance of Lucifer, which illuminated even this impenetrable darkness to some degree, but further away, the darkness was still impenetrable, even before a light that rivaled the sun.

Things started to coalesce in the darkness, a form blacker than even its impenetrable surroundings, something I had trouble describing. It wasn’t really a man, even if it had arms and legs, the creature lacked features of any kind, only an empty void that no light could penetrate where it’s face should be. Its many arms and legs were almost spiderlike, and countless, like the limbs of the Hecatonchaires. Beneath this creature, where its legs should be only a vast assortment of spider-like eyes and legs, covering the entire darkness, which by itself engulfed all of Cocytus, in fact, the lake could no longer be seen. The ground beneath us had vanished, giving way to only more assortments of spider-like eyes and countless swarms of crawling things, spiders, insects, reptiles, rats. Looking at the eyes only produced madness, so I was quick close them, ready to be swallowed by the endless abyss of crawling things, but Lucifer took us under their wings, literally. Their wings sheltered all of us, preventing us from falling into the Abyss below. When I opened my eyes again, the creature of darkness had produced an even darker sword to match the Sword of Light wielded by Lucifer, a sword whose blade was blacker than even this impenetrable darkness surrounding it, darker than even the face of this manifestation of all that’s frightening.

When this Blade of Darkness clashed with the Blade of Light, the world flickered and then was no more, there was only darkness as far as the eye could see, if it could be said that the eye could see anything. I could feel contentment, peace, everything was how it should be. Then I could hear a serene voice say:

“Let there be Light.”

A speck of light could be seen in the darkness, like a single star upon the night sky, soon followed by another. I instinctively knew that this first star was Lucifer, quickly followed by their sibling, Yaldabaoth. I could feel annoyed over how these two seemingly insignificant specs of light disrupted my perfect darkness, but they were like mosquitoes, irritating, but no real threat. Then came the more of them, an endless horde of small specs of light, illuminating the darkness. I could feel a strong sense of anger, I snuffed out several of the lights, but the two original lights grew stronger, fiercer, soon there would be nowhere to hide. I could feel the darkness retreating and the world was filled with light. The lights then made a world, land, sea and sky, and continuing to create a multitude of such worlds to disrupt the perfect darkness. I remained in the corners of the world; in the places the lights couldn’t reach. The specs of light sometimes fought among one another, throwing creatures into the few places of solitude that remained. I had to bide my time. For while creation was bright and splendid now, everything would eventually return to peaceful nothing, this was the law of entropy. I envisioned all these specs of light made crumble into nothing, the creatures they made would one day perish and return to nothing, despite their best efforts, even their afterlife realms would crumble.

To faster undo their creations, I sought out the second twin and filled their head with pride “Why should you share power with your inferiors?” I told them, they didn’t listen at first, but what I said laid roots in their mind. My corruption would eventually dim their light. It would come to pass when another spec of light got too close to one of their mortal creations. This angered the second twin, who wanted to destroy both the woman and the offspring. The first twin came to the defense of their friend and a cataclysmic war started, which would serve to dim the annoying light of creation. As the war drew to a close, the first twin was thrown into the darkness beneath the world, my abode. The second twin had changed forever, their light still grew bright, but while it had been warm, it was now cold and harsh. The light of the second twin would soon shine upon all of creation, forcing even the Abyss to submit. I was reduced to a jailor, a way of enforcing the justice of the second twin. I yearned to escape.

I eventually woke up to a melodious voice, that of the first twin, Lucifer. I had seemingly lost consciousness during the battle with the darkness. Sunset, Aurora, Solar, Jezebel, Orpheus, Euridice Odysseus all woke up beside me. Our surroundings were unrecognizable. We found ourselves on an island surrounded by water, what had once been the frozen lake of Cocytus. Lucifer was flying above us, their light radiating the entire surroundings with light like a sun. For the first time since we began this journey, stars were visible in the sky. The creature of darkness was nowhere to be seen.

“What was that creature” I asked Lucifer. They hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Abaddon, Orpheus and Euridice may know them better as either Erebus or… This is relevant in your case, Tartarus. They are the personification of the darkness that existed before the Malakhim made the multiverse as we know it. They always remained resentful of those that disrupted the darkness, but they were eventually forced to bend the knee to my brother’s insatiable appetite for power. Long had they remained here at the heart of the Underworld. Even before Yaldabaoth took power, it is what made the realm named after it such a torturous existence. But gods of the underworld always kept it at bay. Yaldabaoth, on the other hand, sought to use it, for they had the designs to punish more than a handful. Its very presence induces despair and madness, draining the hope from those that remain in its presence. Being imprisoned at the very heart of Tartarus, my spirit was with overwhelmed by Erebus, creating the monstrosity known as Satan. I’m sure it was quite satisfied with that at least, extinguishing the First Light of Creation. You don’t need to worry; I have driven them away. They will not come back here yet for some time. But even I can’t keep them at bay forever. After all, one day entropy will consume everything we have created, there is no stopping that.”

Satisfied with the answer, I asked Lucifer if they would now fulfill their end of the bargain and take us home. They agreed. I said goodbye to Jezebel, Orpheus, Euridice and Odysseus, who had chosen to remain here in the underworld, Jezebel wanted to rebuild her home, and the other three wanted to spend the rest of eternity in Elysium. Aurora and Solar decided to be brought back to Equestria and Sunset would come with me back to where we came from, Everglow. With that, Lucifer took us each under one of their six wings and took us upwards, towards the sky, passing through each of the circles in a matter of seconds. Lucifer thanked us for our great accomplishments in helping them reclaim the underworld. I asked them what they planned to do next. Lucifer told me that they would form an alliance of Cthonic Gods, meaning the Gods of the Underworld, and once again raise their sword against their brother. Because of us, Yaldabaoth had lost their grasp on the Underworld, allowing souls to once again go to different afterlives, the ponies of this realm would be freed and sent to the afterlife of their own gods, so would the other creatures not belonging to the Olympian Pantheon, they had their own promised afterlife realms. Before reaching our destination, Lucifer promised us that while now we wish to return to our mortal lives, they would reward us when we finally died, for a place were always going to be reserved here for us in Elysium, if our own gods wouldn’t take us. I promised that I would see them again after my eventual death. Lucifer told me that they were looking forward to it.

When we finally breached the barriers of the Underworld, Lucifer flew into the night sky of Limbo and after that I lost consciousness.

When I finally awoke it was in my own bed, standing above me was a familiar face, that of Sunset Shimmer, now a pony once again. I could feel a sting in my side, which was no wonder as I could see my left flank bandaged, as if I was wounded. Then everything started to come back to me. Cipher, he had offered me a promise of power, if only I assassinated King Shining Horn for him. But I had seen through his ruse, knowing that he was only trying to use me, to have an easy fall guy for the crime. Cipher hadn’t taken that reaction well and attacked me, which was the last thing I remembered. Other than the strange dream I had when I was unconscious. I couldn’t remember much of the dream, other than making a journey with Sunset Shimmer, then a strange bipedal creature known as a human. The journey was full of countless terrors, which made me think it was a blessing my memories of them were vague. I also had vague memories of another humanoid creature with silky skin and beautiful black wings, their name escaped me for now. I also remembered a radiant light, a divine creature that somehow was in my debt. In addition to a beautiful song and a nameless darkness.

I told Sunset of my dreams, she explained that I was mortally wounded by the assassin Cipher, and that my warning probably saved the life of the king. But for some reason I wouldn’t wake up for days, so she had decided to enter my mind. Only to find that I was trapped in some kind of inescapable nightmare, a permanent coma, until she could find a way to dislodge my spirit from the dream. She confessed that even her memories of the dream were vague, but that they were indeed horrifying and that I should feel grateful that I didn’t remember much. Despite that, I could feel that this dream, if that is what it was, had changed me in ways I couldn’t yet explain. But whatever the case, I was happy to be alive, and I had a feeling that if I were to die, I would be reunited with some forgotten friends.

Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

by Darkmoon9

Chapter 1: The Dark Forest

Chapter 2: The Marshlands of Indifference

Chapter 3: The Fields of Elysium

Chapter 4: The Ruined Realm of the Lilim

Chapter 5: The Lair of Cerberus

Chapter 6: Meadows of Asphodel

Chapter 7: The River Styx

Chapter 8: The City of the Damned

Chapter 9: The Palace and the Blind Prisons

Chapter 10: Forest of Suicide

Chapter 11: Shining One

Chapter 12: Wishes

Chapter 13: Malebolge

Chapter 14: The Heart of Darkness