Enigma of the Soul - Book 1 - Pieces (4 page)

Dimitri follows Death to his judgment as he looks around to see something that no one he has known has seen. Blue stone was everywhere the eyes could see, the floor, the walls; the ceiling was made out of this blue stone. Symbols carved into the walls were foreign to him. Doorway appeared out of nowhere and seemed to lead to nowhere. There were no windows down this corridor. There was enough light being emitted from the red lantern floating in front of Death and Dimitri. The lantern leads the way down the corridor while Dimitri searches for an end that was nowhere insight. It seamed as if they have been walking for days but getting nowhere.

“Where are we?” Dimitri asks.

“We are going to the highest court,” Death replies.

“And where is that?” Dimitri asks.

“Straight ahead. Please don’t talk.”

“It just seems like we have been walking forever,” Dimitri smirks back to Death. “And why the blue lantern? Why not yellow or white lantern? Wouldn’t that help to light the way better?”

“The blue lantern helps me find who I am to find and bring back. The color makes your blood glow for me,” Death grows quiet. “I will say this only once more. Do not talk,” Death quickens her stepping to make Dimitri jog.

Dimitri tries to keep up with Death but quickly falls behind. Death stops and lets Dimitri catch up to her then starts to run again. Dimitri is getting frustrated at Death decides to stop and challenge her. Death stops to see why Dimitri has stopped.

Dimitri yells back to Death. “I am not going to play your silly games anymore.”

“Then you will die,” Death pulls out an aged emaciated wooden stick from her robe and holds it to her side. The stick grows in her hand as she grips it. The bark part on the far end and a long, shiny, blade emerges.

“This blade is as old as the earth itself. It helped create and destroy many people far greater than you. Now it’s going to get a little workout slicing you into tiny pieces.”

Death charges at Dimitri as he stands waiting for her. She gets within four feet of Dimitri then disappears leaving him to stand in total darkness.

Dimitri puts his hands out to feel around, hoping that there is a wall nearby. He finds not a wall but a strange stone altar for which light begins to shine down upon. As he walks around the altar, he notices that it is made from the same stone that the walls are made out of. A loud booming voice rings in his skull as it commands him to sit down on the blue stone altar. The light becomes more focused on the altar as it shows him the way.

“No, not until I know who is giving the orders,” Dimitri yells into the darkness.

“My name is Belial and I will be judging you. Please, sit down,” a light shows Belial location to be sitting ten feet in front of Dimitri on a high throne made of white-gray stone. Belial points to the blue stone altar and then signals downward to Dimitri. Dimitri does what he commands and awaits his judgment.

“I am going to made this as fast and as painless as possible. You were on a one-way ticket to hell until you said the words; ‘What have I done? God, Please forgive me.’ After that, everything changed for you and that is why we are in this very room right now. I am a giving kind of Demon. So what I am going to offer you is a deal,” Belial says taking a drink from his goblet.

“A deal… what kind of deal?” Dimitri looks deep into Belial’s eyes to only find the black nothingness of a void.

“See, you’re special, due to that fact that you repented just before Death brought you here. I am going to offer you a deal that does not come around often. If you make it through the crime and punishment plane then I am going to let you go to heaven,” Belial replies taking another drink from his goblet.

“Okay, I accept your deal. I was just wondering what is in your goblet that you keep sipping on?”

“The sweet blood of the damned souls that couldn’t make it out alive of the crime and punishment plane that you, Dimitri, are going to face in the next couple of seconds,” Belial replies laughing back at Dimitri as he takes another sip.

“I’ll be back to take that sip myself,” Dimitri begins to stand up but notices that he cannot. “What is going on here?”

“The punishment has already begun,” Belial chuckles.

David wakes up in the middle of the night to realize he passed out while talking to Suezy. He tries to cry for his family but nothing will come out. Lying in the bed, David begins to think-talk to himself.

‘Why am I alive? Why did I survive? Where are Markus and Wendi? I hoped that they did not die in the fire. Why was that boy trying to kill my aunt and uncle? What did they ever do to that boy? I don’t think that I’m not going to have a home to go to. I have nothing. No home, no clothes, my family is dead.’

David bursts into tears as he screams so everyone within a fifty-foot radius could hear him. Not being able to move David is bedridden until the pain of his past passes. He cries himself to sleep once more, wanting to see his younger brother and sister again.

Markus and Wendi grew up to become inseparable because she is the baby of the family.

Markus, a stout, dark-haired, and chubby boy with a birthmark on his right inner ankle due to a difficult birth was never as tall as his sisters and brothers, but he was built like an ox, strong and proud. Nicklaus would joke with the rest of the family how one day Markus would be pulling the buggy of the horses instead.

Wendi, with golden, bluish-black hair, was the smallest of the seven children. To this day everyone questioned where she got that hair. Her hair color and skin tone resembles none of her brothers or sisters. They have a creamy color to their skin while her skin has a darker golden brown color. Some people whisper in the shadows that she is of a different race and not that of her family. In the end, she calls Nicklaus and Halie Turner, mother and father.

Dimitri lies on the cold damp blue stone altar with his hands and feet bound by chains made from giant fish hooks over one foot in length piercing his hands and feet through the center. Helpless, he listens to the demons talk amongst themselves. Only understanding what Belial, says he beings to believe that he might make it out alive after all.

Belial lets out a giant roar that quiets everyone in the room. “Now, since you have stabbed a person to death, you shall be stabbed to death. Then, after that, you shall be burnt to death. Last, but not least, if you can survive all of that, we have something special planned out for you,” Belial takes another sip.

“I can take whatever you can throw at me!” Dimitri taunts Belial to do all this himself. “Wait, are you frightened of me?”

“I am not frightened of a little boy that has no idea of pain. In fact, if you want me to do this to you, all you have to do is ask,” Belial puts down his goblet and awaits his answer.

“Bring it on,”

“As you wish,” Belial appears over Dimitri with the same knife that he used to kill David’s aunt and uncle. Belial looks deep into Dimitri's eyes and sees a little boy cowering behind a glass sculpture of Dimitri.

‘This is going to be easy and fun.’ Belial thinks to himself.

David awakes to a damp cloth wiping across his head, cleaning off the dried on sweet from last night. He turns his head to look at Suezy; she smiles back at him.

“Me and Jasp, which is short for Jasper, have always wanted children, but we have had no luck. I think that it was an act of God that we had found you that day. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways. He does that you know. He sends out, His Angels, and they do His bidding whatever it maybe. I am just so happy that we have found you.”

David remembers his mother and how she used to take care of him when he was sick. Suezy is so much like his mother; it is as if his guarding angel was his mother looking over him at all times. Even now, while being nursed back to health by Suezy, he wonders if his guarding angel needs him to see Suezy in a different light or even a guiding light. A guiding light, like a mother figure, that is always looking out for him wherever he may go. David peers at Suezy with love in his heart because he knows now that everything will work out for the better.

Belial, savoring every moment as he stabs Dimitri, making sure the blade hits against the blue stone altar after each thrust. Dimitri cries as Belial licks the blade to savior the pure goodness of Dimitri's blood. Dimitri realizes that he has not made it to the halfway point in the first of three tests he must past to get into heaven.

“Did you think that you would not pay for the wrong that you have done? I hope that you are sorry for the people you killed. If not, you will be after I am through with you,” Belial shouts into Dimitri's ears as he holds the knife to Dimitri's throat. “Do you remember what you said to the nice young lady whose life you took away? I think that it was something along the lines of ‘you have to pay for his sins’ as well,” Belial slits Dimitri's throat from side to side letting him choke on his own blood.

Belial climbs down off the altar and walks to his seat to get a slip from his goblet. He toasts Dimitri as he dies on the altar, “This is the part that I love.”

Dimitri's body begins to heal itself, becoming complete once again. His head and back arches as he gulps in the largest breath of air that he has ever taken. Dimitri turns his head to look at Belial. He sees Belial smiling and raising a toasting to him for making it this far.

“Congratulations, my dear boy! You have just passed the first test. Now, on to the second test!” Belial snaps his fingers and Dimitri's body is set ablaze. “This is why I never get tried of this job.”

Dimitri cries out in agony as he thinks, 'Being burnt to death is far worse than being stabbed to death.'

Feeling the flames burning his skin off his body as it tries to get at his muscles is a feeling that he never wanted to know. Now he gets to experience it first hand. His ears, nose, and lips are melting off him like hot butter being spread over steak. His eyes hurt the most, cooking in his skull, and turning into hard boiled eggs. Dimitri's bones begin to cook, turning his muscles into meat. Lying there, wishing for it to stop, he realizes that the flames are starting to die down but he cannot move.

“Who's hungry for ribs? How about a nice thigh? It is as juicy as it ever going to get,” Belial says to the other watching demons. Belial walks over to Dimitri and breaks off a rib to nibble on.

Dimitri cannot see or hear, but he can feel everything. Screaming with excruciating pain, Dimitri lies motionless while demons devour his cooked body for their mid-morning lunch. Some of the demons fight over the pieces so they can relish the bittersweet meat of Dimitri's body. Belial jokes with his’ leg bones and uses them as swords to play fight with another demon. After a couple of minutes, his body has become a few bones on an altar. One of the smaller demons is chewing on one of Dimitri's rib bones when Belial orders all of the bones to be put back on the altar. The little demon pays no attention to Belial orders. All the other demons do as they are told. Belial strides over to the little demon and holds out his hand. The little demon turns his back to Belial and continues to chew. Belial punches straight through the little demon's head and retrieves the remaining rib. Belial puts it on the altar and watches Dimitri's body regenerate.

Weeks pass as David body heals, but his soul does not. The agony of not knowing what had happened to Wendi and Markus is tearing at him. Search parties combed through the burnt house to find any evidence that could lead them in the right direction. The remains of the boy who killed David’s aunt and uncle were found, but the knife that he used to kill them was never recovered. Nobody in the surrounding towns saw or heard any news of Markus or Wendi whereabouts. It is as if they just disappeared off the face of the earth.

David stands in front of a mirror for the first time in months to see the scars for himself. Standing up with the help of a pair of crutches, David gazes at the damage to his body. There are cuts from head to toe with large gashes across his arms. He stands there and wonders how he made it out alive. His ribs are still sensitive to touch. After that horrible day, David knows that his life has changed, but for the better or worse is yet to be determined. David collapses to the floor shaking and crying as he moves into the fetal position, wishing for Merlin.

David and Marnina are working in the garden, planting some new vegetables before the rain hits. Thunder and lighting dance together in the far distance as they hurry to finish as the large white clouds over them change to dark and angry.

David comes to the end of his last row of planting and realizes that he has finished first. Smiling, he laughs as he watches his aunt work like a penguin digging in the dirt. The closer she gets to him, laughter fills her lungs, and it gets harder to keep a straight face. Marnina tries hard to stand as she slides her dirty, soil-covered hands down the sides of his face. David stops laughing and stares at her stone faced. Marnina stops laughing and stares at David as she waits for his next move. They both breakout in laugher for a couple of minutes then run out of steam and go silent.

“You know, Marnina, there was one man that I heard of when I was just five years old. His name is Merlin. My father told me that he was the greatest man that ever lived. He can do things that no other person can do. Some say that he lives backwards through time, but I don’t think that is true because how could he talk to us?”

“So, you would love to meet Merlin. How about you make a wish on the next shooting star that you see in the midnight sky and maybe that may come true,” Marnina stares up at the dark clouds as they ready to pour buckets of rain on the whole countryside at any minute. “I think that we should be getting in.”

“Do you know how I can meet Merlin? Do you know anyone that would know him? I would do anything so that I could meet him. I think he would be a very interesting person to talk to for hours upon hours. His life, where he has been, what he has seen, and anything else that I have not thought of yet,” David just ignores Marnina as he stares up picturing himself talking to Merlin.

“Come on, it’s starting to rain, and you need to wash off your face before dinner,” holding out her hand, Marnina helps David up off the ground.

David smiles back at her, “You know, I could just stay outside and let the rain rinse off the dirt.”

Marnina musses David’s hair then takes off running towards the house. David laughs as he tries to dodge the raindrops while running after Marnina. They both make it to the house before the heaviest rain hits.

Zebedeo is standing in the kitchen as they barge in laughing about being soaking wet, “I see you two had a good time planting.”

“Yes, but Marnina made my face all dirty and now I have to take a bath before dinner. I’m starving; can’t you see I’m wasting away,” David rubs has stomach and sticks out his tongue.

Marnina and Zebedeo break out in laughter at his face then wave him out of the kitchen and up to the bathroom.