The Pentagram Child: Part 2 (Afterlife Saga Book 5) (5 page)

All he had needed to do was whisper a few incantations and gain access to my temple and there was no going back. Oh I could heal her, but it would only be a short fix until the curse would once again take effect. All her old injuries one by one would continue to attack her body over and over until they eventually killed her. And it all started with a cursed necklace ensuring my tie to Tartarus and that massacre in the woods ensuring Keira’s tie to death. That was why I couldn’t just kill the bastard and have done with it.

I looked up and down the raging twister of destruction to see it rising from the pit now it could feel my presence. It reached up, thinning the taller it got, and resembling that of an upturned tornado as it reached the ceiling.

I had little idea as to why it felt the need to do this, as there were only two ways of defeating such a force. The first and definitely the less painful was to find the one who summoned the Aeolus’ eye and get them to renounce its need for continued capture. The second, and definitely the most painful was unfortunately the only option I was left with.

“This better fucking work!” I said gripping the vial tight to my chest and taking a few steps back before doing the unthinkable…

I jumped.

I knew I was screaming in an agony I had never felt before but that was the very point of th
e
Aeolus’ eye. To have something created that even the most powerful of demon would experience and that was simple…

Pain.

For a higher being that spent lifetime after lifetime living with pain as a foreign concept then this was something else. Pain when felt for the first time was more than just an experience for the body but it was first and foremost imprinted on the human mind as a lesson learnt. My kind didn’t have this as such.

Yes we could inflict pain on each other indeed but this was done using certain powers the Gods had granted us. No, everyday pain that a mortal would encounter was more of a state of mind for my kind. A way in such that one could protect any damage to its vessel with the draining energy taken to heal it.

When we fought each other it was more about the damage done to the inner soul we were fighting against. The very nature of what lies beneath the mortal skin and right now, mine was being torn apart. It was as if it started with the unseen seams unravelling quicker than I could heal.

I looked down at myself and felt my lungs caving in on themselves as my screams overpowered my lungs capacity. I saw my skin shredding away like the wind creates waves of sand over the dunes of the Sahara. My flesh followed creating a red mist to follow my vessel’s hide. I felt my fingers being taken away to nothing but the bone and the vial in my fist rattled against its skeletal cage. Every part of me felt lost and for one fleeting millisecond of weakness I almost prayed for a death in which the torture would end.

It finally took hearing my own roar of anguish to realise that my ears had been regenerated. I couldn’t decide what pain was worse, that of being torn apart for endless seconds or being put back together again one cell at a time. At some point I fell to my knees and landed on bare bone as the flesh there hadn’t yet reformed. I threw my head back and bellowed my fury up at the centre of the Aeolus’ eye as the rest of my body came back to me.

When it was all over I knelt there with my bare chest rising like a wild beast that could barely be controlled. I panted, trying in vain to get my body to respond, telling my vessel it once again belonged to me and it was safe.

“I told you I would live on.” I heard his voice as a sensitive buzz rattling in my ears and this told me not only did I need a minute for my vessel to compose itself but more importantly that…

Sammael had been right. 

Chapter 48

Venom of God

I turned around to find just how Sammael had been spending what was supposed to be his eternal imprisonment and it was a wasted effort when trying not to find pleasure in this. It wasn’t possible for me to stay impartial when it concerned my Electus and I certainly wasn’t going to try now. No, I was happy to see my enemy living what one would call a life not just in Hell, but Hell’s own version of Hell.

Because for someone like Sammael, simply being sent back to Hell wasn’t enough. However for a small few being banished back down here was punishment enough as they craved the mortal realm and the hidden power it provided some of my kind. But for others being sent here was just like being sent home, one that fulfilled your every need and fed an addiction you were created into yearning.

I felt nothing but the deepest hatred and loathing for this creature and like I said, I was pleased to see him in the sorry state he was.

“It was nice of them to provide me with a new body wasn’t it…although, it is a great deal more difficult torturing one of us without one and this charming little place wouldn’t have quite the desired affect if it only had soul matter to tear apart.’  I looked down to where a hunched form sat on the floor, one that was covered by black broken skin. It looked like a combination of melted plastic, bubbled around the edges of the multiple holes that it was riddled with and that of worn damaged leather.

What I knew to be his wings barely held any weight to the word. The skin was held together by fractured twisted bones and the knuckles were bent at all the wrong angles, so flight would have been impossible. I took this as part of his punishment, being given wings to taunt a prisoner with something they once had but had now been replaced by something so useless.

Sammael was currently using his to provide a large hooded shelter over his head, so his new form remained a mystery to me. On my next command it became clear why he preferred this position.

“Look at me!”

He raised his head a fraction and I could only see one side of his lip curl in resentment.

“Did you bring my key?” He asked on a snarl.

“First you will look at me” I demanded once again, flexing my fists to get the blood flowing.

“As you wish.” And with that he quickly stood and as a result every bone he used cracked and popped with the stilted movement he produced. The way he moved reminded me of not that long ago when motion picture was still in its infancy. That unnatural way in which the actors were captured in a silent movie always seemed more like watching a trapped soul, one that could scream but never be heard.

I shook the thought from my mind and watched as he painfully unwrapped his wings. The jerked movements were almost robotic and slowly revealed the new face of an old enemy.

His skin was that of an old man but strangely without the sight of wrinkles. It had that papery fragility to it often found with age and was marred with liver spots framing his face. He had no hair and his features were gaunt, with hollowed cheeks. A sloped forehead attached straight to what was a nose that was only distinguishable by the two slits I took for nostrils.

The skin was pulled tight across his face enough to cause his skull’s features to protrude through, looking as though it could tear at any moment. Thin black lips and a pair of blood shot eyes with the pupils slit at the centres stared back at me, as I took in his new appearance.

I watched as he winced in pain when he extended his wings and at first I thought it was just from the broken twisted way this was accomplished. Then I noticed the change in colour in th
e
Aeolus’ eye getting darker and looking to the sides it soon became clear as to why Sammael had been reluctant to move.

The tips of his wings were being stripped away as the space given as his cell wasn’t big enough to house his wing span. It made me wonder if this was in fact the reason for his wings disfigurement or was just a cruel part of his punishment after all.

He stood his ground and even lifted his head when I knew all he wanted to do was fall to his knees in agony. If the very reason for my being here hadn’t been because of his crimes or ones he would soon be committing, I might have respected him for the show of strength. Instead however the sight of his discomfort was a satisfying one indeed.

I gave him a reluctant nod and he at once folded in his damaged wings, ones that were now considerably more mangled than before. One sat lower at his back than the other and as the tips reformed I could see it start to drag along the floor as he circled me.

“It is a proud day in Hell when royalty comes to visit” Sammael said as I turned my head to let my demon scowl at the enemy at my back.

“Proud is not a word I would use for this day.” I retorted as he came back to face me, all the while keeping a suitable distance from the Aeolus’ eye. 

“Oh but I disagree, for I am proud indeed. You see you being here can only mean one thing…” I raised an eyebrow but kept what I knew to myself.

“My successor has succeeded.”

“Yeah...? Succeed this!” I said before I grabbed him by the black rags he wore and threw him into the vortex. I heard his screams of torture but before he could start to regenerate back into the heart of the Aeolus’ eye, I did what I had come here to do. I slammed my hand down into the centre of the eye and as soon as the blood I had poured into my palm touched the stone, the vortex vanished.

I looked up as the last of the destructive force evaporated into nothing and then looked down at my palm to see the blood gone from my skin. As Sammael had been too busy with his speeches of grandeur I had already tipped half of the blood onto my hand. What can I say other than I found it a justified act in getting him to shut up.

“Was that really necessarily?” He asked just as soon as his lips had reformed. I jumped out of the pit, cracked my neck to the side to relieve some of the tension and said,

“Let’s go asshole.” I walked on and cared little for the body struggling to move behind me. With each step I knew a little more of his form had regenerated as pretty soon he caught up to me.

“Give me the key.” He demanded and for that alone I wanted to break him.

“You will get nothing until I know my Electus is safe.” I threatened making him smirk.

“Ah your Electus, how is the little dear…oh wait I gather if you are here then she’s not doing so well…I wonder if she has bled to death yet as I’m sure…” He didn’t finish his sentence as he soon found it difficult to speak with his air supply being cut off by my hand. I slammed him up against the wall of the cell block causing the stone to crumble around him.

“Mention her again and I won’t be able to stop my demon from killing you.” I heard a bone snap before I finally released him. Uncurling my fingers from around his throat was one of the single most difficult things I have done when faced with an enemy. I knew now, right at this very second that my failing, my weakness was not having Keira in my life as I had once thought. It was not being there for her as I should have been.

I thought having me in her life was the cause of her danger but it wasn’t, she was always in danger for being who
she
was, not who
I
was. As with I, the Gods had sent me here to defend life in its many forms and they had sent Keira to me to help maintain that goal. To aid us all when the prophecy came to pass but wait…was it to aid…or more importantly was it to…

Rule.

Was she the one in fact needed to lead this army into battle? She had up until now been unknowingly recruiting all the major players in my world. All the most powerful beings that were allowed to find solace on earth were slowly coming together one by one and everything up until this point had in fact been for that very reason.

I couldn’t believe it but it took looking into the slitted eyes of evil to come to the crucial decision that Lucius had been right. She was the flame to not only the biggest moths but also every creature out there with wings. It wasn’t loving me that put her in danger, it had been the Gods loving her that had.

“Fuck!” I shouted and tore myself away from the soul I wanted to destroy. Before he could say anything I barked out my order,

“Let’s get this done!”

We had been walking for what must have been a fair distance, that or my impatience had me close to breaking point. The self-discovery of the true nature of why Keira had been born to the Earth was of little matter to me. Yes, the realisation certainly had its impact on me but it merely cast a heavenly shadow behind her perfection. I wanted Keira back for my own selfish reasons, none of which had anything to do with any damn prophecy! She belonged to me, body, mind, heart and soul and the rest of the world and realms above and beneath it could be damned!

My obvious foul tempered demeanour was all Sammael needed to keep his distance and not speak again as there was no telling what my demon side would do. I could feel it growling beneath my skin, pacing like a captured beast with the bars of my will buckling with every thought. I needed to find my calm in the storm raging inside me and with the lack of my heavenly side to aid me, this was proving even more difficult with each step I took. It was as though the deeper into Tartarus I got the louder my demon became. In fact by the time we finally got to the centre of the mountain I was shaking with unleashed fury.

“It is a gallant show of control, however I am afraid it will not help you here.” Sammael spoke just as we walked through the last archway needed before coming face to face with the prison of Gods.

“Not what you expected?” Sammael said as I took in all that was before me.

The prison was nothing like I would have imagined and it was now confirmed that all stories about this place were exactly that…just stories. Chinese whispers that had lost words of truth along the journey on the winds of time.

At the belly of the mountain, in this cavernous vast space stood a magnificent Aztec shaped pyramid. It was built with stepped blackened lava blocks with veins of magma glowing through each giant sized brick. Up the centre of each of the four sides ran a river of the molten liquid, defying gravity and flowing upwards towards the flattened top. At the four corners stood huge Roman pillars of pure white that looked as if they had burst through the lava stone at their bases.

From up here it was clear to see that the small rivers of lava flowed over the top and around each corner where the pillars were each situated. The cooled black rock that stood at each base had burst upwards like an exploding star, so lava couldn’t touch it.

It was as though this was all that was left of the other half of the lost Temple of Olympus and its gleaming white marble was therefore untouched by any damaging force below it. It was the only reminder left that this had once been a holy place of worship and it was a staggering sight to behold.

With nowhere else for the destructive force to go, it poured down into the centre of the Pyramid. I could see well enough from up here that th
e
Pyramid was hollow, stepping down in on itself and inverted inwards, creating a smaller version and in the shape of a V.

All around the inside of the mountain was built up of not just rock but years of growth from soulweed roots that had burst its way through the mountain to get to the surface. Looking down at the sea of lava that surrounded the pyramid I realised it was also a feeding ground for the roots of the soulweed. And in turn they acted like a network of electrical cables keeping this place fed with energy.

I looked down at the steep staircase that was so crudely cut into the rock that it barely merited the name. It snaked its way down around the rock face and used each and every natural crevice as a footing. It would take us at least another hour to get down the trail before we even reached the thin arched bridge. One that was the only part connecting you to the rest of the mountain.

“I think not” I said grabbing Sammael by the wings as he started to take on the staircase before me. Then before he could get out a word of protest I jumped off the arched ledge, taking Sammael with me.

We both fell and plummeted down as I refused to open my wings until the last possible moment. When I finally did they acted as a parachute, rapidly slowing our decent enough for me to drop Sammael, forty feet from the bridge. As his body fell I watched as my suspicions about his useless wings were confirmed. He slammed into the narrow stone as my own wings guided me down to where I wanted to be and just in time to grab Sammael before he rolled off the edge.

“Oh how you must want to drop me right now.” Sammael mocked looking up at me and knowing full well the inner battle I faced. Just one tiny movement, one slight loosening of my grip on his arm and the threat to human kind would be eradicated. The realms above and below would continue as before and a new day would at least see the light of the sun once more. But if the Titans were released then the only thing that new day would bring is fire and death…Ironic really that the blood spilt from the war of the Gods bred new life in that of mortals and now those that were defeated wanted that life back.

“Oh don’t worry, your death will come soon enough, but for now we have business to conclude.” I said forcing myself to move in a way that would set him back on his feet. I watched as he straightened the black worn rags he was wearing. It was in the similar style to that of what Buddhist monks would wear only with the added addition of the iron chains that dragged along the floor under the torn skirt.