Caught in the Fire

Chapter XXVIII: A Chance to Atone

Mazikeen walked through the door and into the Hell Loop, still holding on to Michael to support him, and before them was the ancient city of Babylon. She recognized its architecture, beautiful hanging gardens, and a river splitting the city in two. She looked up at the towering structure in the middle of the city, then she sighed loudly and kept pushing forward, thinking that they were so close and yet so far.

Around them, she could see countless damned souls and hear them trying to communicate in a multitude of languages. Some ran in fear, some screamed in terror, some desperately ran from soul to soul trying to communicate, and some knelt and prayed for forgiveness in whatever language they knew.

"What a mess," she said to herself. At least they were damned souls and not demons, but there were so many. This was one of the earlier loops and it was clear to her that her siblings had had a lot of fun throwing just about anyone in here, regardless of whether or not they even spoke the same language. This being so close to the gates made it even easier for them to throw just about everyone they deemed fit in here. "My siblings love irony, I guess."

Michael, who had been slipping in and out of consciousness, finally spoke up. "Where are we...? Why do I hear... so many languages..."

"We're in the station. There are a ton of damned souls here sharing the same loop." She looked up at the towering structure before them, cringing. "Don't look them in the eye. Just keep walking."

"Ah..." He sighed and slumped against her again, but she nudged him with her shoulder, startling him awake. "Are we... almost there...?"

"Almost. Keep talking." She walked on, approaching the tower, coming to terms with the daunting task ahead of her. She stopped as someone ran past her, screaming in some language that was unknown to her, then kept going.

"Was that... Sumerian...?"

"Don't think about that," she answered quickly and picked up the pace. Another damned soul ran up to her and desperately screamed at her in some other language she wasn't familiar with, and she just shrugged helplessly, the damned soul ran off crying, and she kept going. "If they could stop getting in my way, that'd be great!"

"Odd," Michael said under his breath, still keeping his eyes closed, "That sounded like Hebrew... Sumerian and Hebrew...?"

"Just let it go, Michael."

"...Was that... Aramaic...?" he asked suddenly after another damned soul ran past them, praying desperately for help, "Why... are there... multiple ancient... languages...?"

"Trust me, just let it go."

"But souls did not start... sharing Hell Loops... until recently..."

Curiosity getting the better of him, he finally looked up and he noticed an unfinished tower in the middle of the city with countless winding floors, reaching higher and higher, so high that the structure pierced through the clouds. The tower looked unfinished through and through, especially the top of the tower which still showed the inner structures of the building.

"This is... the... Tower of... Babel!" he cried out.

"I told you not to think about it!" She gazed upwards at the top of the unfinished structure. "It's smaller than it looks?" He gaped at her, and she shrugged helplessly. "Look, you wanted a train station. There it is. We just need to find the right door, and we'll be home free."

"Is it near the... top...?"

"Um... yeah, kind of. Sorry." He groaned in frustration and hung his head, and she rubbed his back, trying to reassure him. "I mean, it's kind of ironic, don't you think? Humans built that thing to try to reach Heaven, and now we're using it to get out of Hell."