Rise of the Beast (38 page)

The caverns had grown quiet once more as Tim walked with Megan
amidst the crystal light, hand in hand. “They’ll probably sleep for days,” he said, motioning toward a particularly well-lit tunnel. “These are my quarters, my own private refuge, and yours.”

They stepped into a cavern room aglow with crystal light. Its walls were exceptionally smooth and regular, and the light glistened off a floor, which had the consistency and texture of dark glass. “I created it using fireballs from my sword,” said Tim, pride in his voice, pointing at the floor. My small friends shaped the walls and made the chairs, table, and furniture from the rock itself. I then melted the fine dust to create the floor.

“It’s beautiful,” gasped Megan. “It’s almost gothic, and I love gothic things—or at least, I did.”

“You can again,” announced Tim. “This is your place too. It’s our place. I can make you happy; I know it. Hell will never be the same.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Megan, walking over to the far side of the chamber where an intricate pattern had been etched into the wall. “What’s this?”

“It’s a map,” replied Tim, stepping to her side. “It shows the caverns I’ve explored. My friends helped me make it. Pretty cool, don’t you think?”

“Yes,” replied Megan, “it’s pretty cool.” She paused. “But how did it all happen? How did you get away from the demons?”

“I hope you have time,” said Tim, “It is kind of a long story.”

“I think I have time,” said Megan. “I think that is about all we have.”

Tim led Megan over to a sort of bed made of rock. It had several cloaks tossed across it to soften its hard texture. They sat down. Tim told Megan the whole incredible story. Megan asked only a few questions; mostly, she just listened.

When she had heard it all, she asked one final question. “Do you think it might have been God’s mercy that saved you, brought Goliath to you?”

“No, I don’t,” replied Tim. “I don’t think God gives a damn about us. The way I figure it, He threw us away. To Him, we’re damaged goods with defective genes, so He threw us here in His garbage dump. I didn’t ask to be born a homosexual; it just happened. I couldn’t help the way I was, the way I felt. I mean, I only did it twice, you know?”

Megan said, “I’m afraid I did it a few more times than that. I had a steady girlfriend back in Perth. But it wasn’t my lesbian lifestyle that killed me; it was my girlfriend’s father. You see, she was only 16 and I was 20. He warned me to stay away, but I guess I wasn’t smart enough to do it. He caught me in her bedroom with her, and in the process of throwing me out of his house, he threw me down the stairs. I broke my neck. I guess he had it figured that it was ok to kill one of us. I wasn’t a bad person; I wasn’t ready to die. Oh, if I’d only had a second chance, had the chance to invite Jesus into my heart.” She hesitated. “But after today, I don’t know. Maybe there is hope. I’m not so sure God is done with us. Maybe He’s giving us a second chance.”

“No,” replied Tim, “I think Goliath gave us a second chance. Without him, I might have made it into the cave, but I’d have been living in the darkness near the cave entrance. I’d have been better off, but my life would have been empty.” Tim hesitated. “It would have been empty without you. Strange, isn’t it, that I should feel the way I do about you? I never felt this way about a girl, not ever.”

Megan smiled. Never had Tim seen such a radiant expression on her face. “Then it’s not just me? I’ve felt that way about you for so long, but I was afraid to say it. Anyway, what did it matter, you know? We were in that line at the Plunge. What did anything matter?”

Tim’s smile now matched Megan’s. “Oh, this is incredible. What a place to meet.”

This time, Megan laughed openly, yet the weariness in her eyes was really beginning to show.

“You need to rest,” said Tim. “I mean, how long has it been, three years?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, “probably about that.”

Tim rearranged the cloaks on the stone bed, and helped Megan lay down. He gazed into her tired eyes. “You rest. You might have some bad dreams. You might feel sick for a time, but it will pass. It did for me. I’ll be right here with you. I’ll never leave you.”

Tim kissed Megan on the cheek. It felt wonderful. She was actually here. His plan had really worked, at least so far.

It was but a minute later that Megan was asleep. He thought about what she had said. Did God still care about them? He remembered a preacher who
had told him that Hell was forever. Once you were there, you never got out, no matter how you felt or what you did. Was he right? At this point, he didn’t know. Now his mission was clearer than ever—to reshape Hell into a place less terrible. Perhaps it was impossible; perhaps, in the end, Satan would crush him, but he had to try. He found himself asking God for guidance. Strange, he’d never done that before. Perhaps some portion of Megan’s sweet spirit was rubbing off on him.

C
HAPTER
15

Bedillia Farnsworth pushed her white queen forward four squares in an uncharacteristically bold move. “Check,” she announced.

Her good friend, Tom Carson, scanned the board. He hadn’t expected that. It was a good two minutes before he moved, blocking check with his bishop.

It had been a dull duty in Abaddon’s conference chamber. Their main task was to monitor the primary telesphere in case an unscheduled communication came in. There was no more scheduled communication on this shift. Unscheduled communications were relatively rare. The beeping sound that announced an incoming communication caught them completely by surprise. It was Bedillia who walked over to the black marble table in the corner of the room and activated the crystal globe. The globe vanished, to be replaced by a sphere of static, then an image. The face they saw was one of a handsome, middle-aged man. However, this man was dressed wholly in black and had a large pair of bat-like wings. Bedillia recognized him as the leader of the demon forces of Hell, Cordon.

“I offer greetings to you, Bedillia Farnsworth,” said Cordon. “Hello, Cordon,” said Bedillia. “How can I help you?”

The look of concern on Cordon’s face told Bedillia that there was trouble. She had a bad feeling about this.

“I must speak to Abaddon on business most urgent,” said Cordon.

“I’m afraid that he is in the lower chambers conducting an inspection,” replied Bedillia. “Is there anything that I might help you with?”

“Perhaps,” replied Cordon. “I wish to request permission to gate over to speak to you directly. We do have a problem, a very serious problem. I prefer not to discuss it over the telesphere.”

“Of course,” replied Bedillia. “You can gate straight over from your ring to ours. How would ten minutes be?”

“Acceptable,” replied Cordon, no emotion whatever in his voice.

Bedillia definitely didn’t like the sound of this. Cordon was usually very friendly and outgoing, but not today. “I’ll do my best to get Abaddon to the ring room in time to meet you.”

“Very well,” confirmed Cordon. “I will be in your ring room in ten minutes.” The image immediately faded.

“Wow,” said Tom, “who put a bee in Cordon’s bonnet?”

“I don’t know,” replied Bedillia, “but can you get Bill to go looking for Abaddon? He should be in his lab. Abaddon said he would be down in area seven. Then come on back and watch over the telesphere in case we get another incoming call. I’ll meet Cordon in the ring room.”

“Right,” said Tom, heading out into the corridor.

Bedillia paced back and forth across the conference room floor several times. She wondered if this communication had anything to do with the taking of two young women from their places of torment. He had agreed to it, hadn’t he?

Abaddon arrived in the ring room just a few minutes after Bedillia. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“No,” replied Bedillia. “I got the feeling that he didn’t want to say anything over an open channel.”

About a minute later, the ring filled with mists and Cordon stepped alone through the ring without fanfare. He turned to Abaddon. “We need to talk in private.”

“Then we shall go to my conference chambers,” said Abaddon.

“I’d like to be present at the meeting, if I may,” said Bedillia.

Abaddon turned to Cordon. Cordon only nodded. The three proceeded down the hall. Cordon was uncharacteristically silent. Usually, you could depend on Cordon to be relatively cheerful and full of small talk, but not this time.

They hadn’t even taken a seat before Cordon began. “My friends, there can be no secrets between us now. There are things I must know. Have you taken part in any attacks against any of our facilities, taken any humans from us since our last meeting?”

There was no hesitation in Bedillia’s response. She turned to Abaddon. “Sir, may I answer that question?”

Abaddon only nodded. This would have to be an issue that Bedillia resolved with Cordon.

Bedillia turned to Cordon. “Sir, there were members of our security force that went into unguarded regions of Hell’s underground and took their wives from their torments. They just couldn’t stand the thought of their wives suffering any longer.”

“Yes, yes, I am well aware of that,” said Cordon, impatience in his voice. “I had assumed that Mr. Tesla had already conveyed to you my consent on that issue. Indeed, I was there during both rescues in the event of some unseen problems. I would have released them to you myself, but I am in a rather delicate situation. My people already view me as being soft on the human issue. If it became common knowledge that I had condoned the release of two human females simply because they were the Earthly wives of members of the Refuge military, matters would have become, well, complicated.”

“I can see that,” said Bedillia.

For the first time, Cordon smiled, though slightly. “I have been working closely with Nikola Tesla for many months on a variety of projects. We talk often and very frankly. I count him among my closest friends. He had spoken of the desire of some citizens of Refuge to rescue loved ones in Hell. He had sought to intervene with me on their behalf. We arrived at the plan that has already been carried out. Your people rescued them. For my part, I made sure that the books were altered in such a way that they would not be missed.”

“We appreciate your efforts,” said Abaddon. “It was very compassionate of you.”

Cordon nodded. “It was an act of kindness between friends. However, that is not the incident I am referring to.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ve lost me,” admitted Bedillia. She looked to Abaddon who returned her puzzled look.

“Then you don’t know?” asked Cordon.

“Don’t know what?” asked Abaddon.

Cordon seemed to become more relaxed. “My friends, I think that I might owe you an apology. You truly don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” asked Bedillia, who had grown more frustrated by this whole state of affairs.

“About the incident at the Plunge of Desolation in the Valley of Noak,” replied Cordon.

“You are correct,” said Abaddon. “The last time we were there was shortly before the war in Heaven, two years ago.”

“Very well, these are the facts, as we know them,” replied Cordon. “Sometime between 7 and 29 hours ago, 64 of my people and approximately 3,000 of yours vanished without a trace from that place.”

Abaddon looked on incredulously. “How could that possibly be?”

“That is the question I have asked myself: how?” continued Cordon. “I do know that there have been numerous attacks by your small creatures reported in that area, more than in most other regions of Hell. Your creatures attack my people and humans alike.” He paused. “I truly do not see why you created them. What were you thinking of? They are a general menace.”

“I created them for a different time, a different situation,” said Abaddon. “I could not have foreseen this current age. My creatures have an instinct to feed; they are carnivorous. But they also have the ability to discern the contents of the soul. Their instinct is to attack and feed upon those whose hearts are filled with darkness. Others will be left in peace.”

“That is curious,” noted Cordon. “Rolf and I have encountered them on several occasions, but they always seem to leave us alone. Indeed, they have even alighted upon me on no less than three occasions, but they didn’t attack; they simply flew off.”