me reeked of ill intentions. Stratus was the Betrayer. And he was giving me a deadly smile.
“Ahhh, she’s with child. This will be my greatest triumph ever.”
Suddenly he was in the air coming at me in full fury and because I was higher up than everyone else he had such a perfectly clear shot at me. And he would have reached me too if Hadrian and Dorian hadn’t jumped up together and caught him in their grip. The angels and devils parted their protective circle to let Deveraux walk through them and Stratus smiled.
“Such a fool,” he said.
I felt a hand over my mouth and I was struggling against my captor. I had to be careful so that Keilyn wouldn’t be hurt but I could feel her urgency in me escaping whoever had me right now.
“Would you like to know my gift, whore?” A voice whispered in my ear. “It’s to cast illusions of myself. Now hold still, we’re going for a ride,” the real Stratus said as he opened the Earth and we fell fast into the Below.
Twenty Three
Keilyn saved me from the frost that we first fell through. Shards of ice and a chill worse than the bitter cold was the deadly greeting into the Below. Large icicles came after me like vicious warrior swords, trying desperately to impale me.
Stratus kept a tight grip on me as we fell threw another layer, this one made of heavy caverns of mud and sand. The weight alone would be enough to crush anyone was unlucky enough to get stuck there.
I closed my eyes, because I didn’t want to see any more of the fall.
Then we landed.
Looking around I saw that we stood in a stalagmite field of stench and death. There was a glowing green river in front of us that forked off in many different directions and a large wooden canoe was sitting, waiting patiently by the shore surrounded by bodies of the damned floating around. Some were dead; others were alive and screaming in pure agony. The dead ones would come to life and gnaw at the ones that still had life as they passed by them.
I saw a man with a large white scraggly beard and dead white eyes standing waiting patiently for us to board the canoe. Stratus dragged me toward him and I fought with everything that I had inside of me to stay away from the boat. I knew who that was even though Stratus couldn’t see him for what he was. I knew that was Death.
Picking me up he threw me into the canoe and Death in the form of this old Ferryman looked down at me with his dead, accusing eyes. Stratus boarded the canoe and told the Ferryman to take us to the Ninth Passage and threw coins on the deck.
Death looked down at the fare, and then began to turn the canoe in the direction of the forks, when suddenly I heard a loud trumpet blare on the Earth and just like that, he disappeared.
I wasn’t sure at first what happened.
I knew that in the Below, time moved faster than it did in the Above. From what was explained to me it was to increase the punishments to their highest potential.
Stratus was desperate to get us to the forks, so he grabbed Death’s oar and began to paddle through the green river, careful to keep his body away from the boat edges, so that he wouldn’t be snatched in. I lay on the bottom of the canoe, my hand on my stomach, my mind desperately screaming out for Deveraux.
Oh please, Dev! Please be able to hear me! He’s taking us down the third fork to the left!
I closed my eyes and shook at the sounds of torment and anguish as he paddled us slowly down the dark tunnel. I could feel the heat emanating off of the walls and my curiosity took over. The walls were covered in rubies and yellow diamonds that would melt into molten lava every time one of the damned would try to touch one.
“Greedy, bastards,” Stratus mumbled, as he paddled through.
This must have been the torment for Greed; putting such precious jewels in front of you that are priceless to see if you can curb your Greed. Obviously those that were in this tunnel were not passing the test and kept being recycled in the glowing
“Ahhh, she’s with child. This will be my greatest triumph ever.”
Suddenly he was in the air coming at me in full fury and because I was higher up than everyone else he had such a perfectly clear shot at me. And he would have reached me too if Hadrian and Dorian hadn’t jumped up together and caught him in their grip. The angels and devils parted their protective circle to let Deveraux walk through them and Stratus smiled.
“Such a fool,” he said.
I felt a hand over my mouth and I was struggling against my captor. I had to be careful so that Keilyn wouldn’t be hurt but I could feel her urgency in me escaping whoever had me right now.
“Would you like to know my gift, whore?” A voice whispered in my ear. “It’s to cast illusions of myself. Now hold still, we’re going for a ride,” the real Stratus said as he opened the Earth and we fell fast into the Below.
Twenty Three
Keilyn saved me from the frost that we first fell through. Shards of ice and a chill worse than the bitter cold was the deadly greeting into the Below. Large icicles came after me like vicious warrior swords, trying desperately to impale me.
Stratus kept a tight grip on me as we fell threw another layer, this one made of heavy caverns of mud and sand. The weight alone would be enough to crush anyone was unlucky enough to get stuck there.
I closed my eyes, because I didn’t want to see any more of the fall.
Then we landed.
Looking around I saw that we stood in a stalagmite field of stench and death. There was a glowing green river in front of us that forked off in many different directions and a large wooden canoe was sitting, waiting patiently by the shore surrounded by bodies of the damned floating around. Some were dead; others were alive and screaming in pure agony. The dead ones would come to life and gnaw at the ones that still had life as they passed by them.
I saw a man with a large white scraggly beard and dead white eyes standing waiting patiently for us to board the canoe. Stratus dragged me toward him and I fought with everything that I had inside of me to stay away from the boat. I knew who that was even though Stratus couldn’t see him for what he was. I knew that was Death.
Picking me up he threw me into the canoe and Death in the form of this old Ferryman looked down at me with his dead, accusing eyes. Stratus boarded the canoe and told the Ferryman to take us to the Ninth Passage and threw coins on the deck.
Death looked down at the fare, and then began to turn the canoe in the direction of the forks, when suddenly I heard a loud trumpet blare on the Earth and just like that, he disappeared.
I wasn’t sure at first what happened.
I knew that in the Below, time moved faster than it did in the Above. From what was explained to me it was to increase the punishments to their highest potential.
Stratus was desperate to get us to the forks, so he grabbed Death’s oar and began to paddle through the green river, careful to keep his body away from the boat edges, so that he wouldn’t be snatched in. I lay on the bottom of the canoe, my hand on my stomach, my mind desperately screaming out for Deveraux.
Oh please, Dev! Please be able to hear me! He’s taking us down the third fork to the left!
I closed my eyes and shook at the sounds of torment and anguish as he paddled us slowly down the dark tunnel. I could feel the heat emanating off of the walls and my curiosity took over. The walls were covered in rubies and yellow diamonds that would melt into molten lava every time one of the damned would try to touch one.
“Greedy, bastards,” Stratus mumbled, as he paddled through.
This must have been the torment for Greed; putting such precious jewels in front of you that are priceless to see if you can curb your Greed. Obviously those that were in this tunnel were not passing the test and kept being recycled in the glowing
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