Stein's Lament

Yearn for Ascent

     "...Mammon..." called hell's pinnacle. Mammon stood up slowly, his spine cracking as his slim, toned figure adjusted to full height, then curved again, hunching his stance. "My liege" he bites, and the lord of hell continues "Do you know what day it is?" "...Ah, yes, what of it?" Long brown hair cascades down the back of his neck as he turns his burning red eyes toward Satan, waiting on him to finish his thought, Mammon isn't one for dramatics you see. "Mammon your...friend plans on causing a problem today, go and stop him before he starts." Finished the king. "I seem to remember him being both our muse." Piped up Asmodeus, switching their form back to female, but she was ignored. "Afraid?" Asked Mammon to Satan, "He's quite the issue, even on his own." This answer seemed to satisfy Mammon as he dropped his cards "Another time then Belphagor." There was no response as Mammon grabbed a spear from the wall, resting it over his shoulder, and walked through the cave's exit.

     A bit lower, in say the ninth circle of hell, sat a boy on his knees, physically no more than 16, mentally...well he'd stopped keeping track. His dark skin was clear of scars and his jaw length locs pointed toward the floor as his head hung. He was covered in chains, almost actually to the teeth, pulled so tight it was even impossible to breathe, yet he couldn't die again, so he sat, suffocating eternally. The only indicator of who he could be was his name, carved into the skin of his neck, vertically starting from behind his ear and going down to the base , sat next to the word *Mercy*. "Jasmias." Read the woman next to him, pinned to a rock by a spear through her chest. (Hoz-me-ess). They had been each other's only company for as long as she could remember, she was millennia older than him though, she knew that much. "Your day starts soon Jasmias, are you actually going to try?" She asked, but she knew better than to expect a response. Jasmias lifted his head to look at her, white eyes that could almost be described as cool if not for their burning penance stared back at her as the chains around his jaw almost seemed to shift, he blinked twice. In an excruciating motion, the woman had pulled the spear from her chest and fallen to the ground, she took a couple breaths as her airway reformed, shortly after standing up and hacking away at Jasmias' chains. There's a big crack, and suddenly all of the chains fall to the ground. There's resounding snaps, pops, and creaks as he silently stands, extensively twisting and stretching a body that hasn't moved in forty thousand years. He lets out a satisfying sigh and goes to clear his throat in hopes of issuing thanks to the woman he had named Clara, this action was cut short though, as Mammon himself emerged from the darkness. "Must we do this, Jasmias?" He says, rudely ignoring Clara. "...Thank you Clara," starts Jasmias (if you want to place his voice, in my head he sounds like Zagreus from the hades game) "as for you, Mammon, It's good to see you...was Lucifer not available?" He finished. "What?" Spat Mammon "What the hell-" He tried to continue, but Clara cut him off "I mean come on, the sin of greed...we can handle the sin of greed." She said, and for the most part she was correct, but her error lay in the 'we' part of the sentence. Without a word Mammon summoned the spear from her hands and slung it through her throat, pinning her to the rock once more, gargling for a life she lost ages ago....

Without wasting a second Mammon slings his own spear, plotting the wall behind where Jasmias was previously standing. Mammon crumbles as Jasmias' fist connects with his chin, if he had a brain he'd be fast asleep. This is hell, everyone's either dead or not human, killing them isn't the name of the game but Jasmias has a plan. As he crumbles, Mammon summons his spear back to him. Jasmias catches the spear, spinning mid air and slamming it through Mammon's chest with all of the strength a human could possibly muster, causing his arms to bleed. You see, as a human being your body stops you from using 100 percent of its force or you'll end up ripping yourself apart, since he's dead and his body will heal instantly, there isn't such a problem getting banged up as long as the job gets done. Getting back to it, Jasmias is punching Mammon's face into the ground at full force, using his indestructible body to kick up enough rubble to trap the sin under it. Once he feels like he's done enough he turns back "I'll be back Clara, keep him busy for a while eh?" Clara nods in agreement, getting over her initial shock and pulling the spear from her throat and gasping a couple times before taking one big breath and bracing herself for what's to come. This is where the magic happens, Jasmias starts to climb. He's like an animal the way he bounds up the rocky wall that fights his every progression, burning and cutting his hands all the way up. By the time he reaches the seventh circle he can hear Mammon raging below him, but he's too far, for Mammon's power only allows him to summon things he can visually understand, which is why Jasmias targeted his eyes and let rubble drop in them to disrupt the healing. Jasmias continues to move using divots and footholds and sometimes punching into the rock where there are none. He needs to reach the first circle fast and he's gaining on it quickly. He's at the 5th circle now, bounding up the wall like a panther, faster and faster. Suddenly his ribs crack as something makes full contact with his abdomen and drives him into the wall. He starts to slide down the wall between the 4th and 5th circle, Beelzebub still holding on to his abdomen, squeezing already broken ribs "AAAAHHHHH" Jasmias lets out a deep yell as Beelzebub breaks the rest of his shattered cage. Powering through the pain, Jasmias clasps his hands together and slams them as hard as he can on Beelze's back, sending him rocketing back to the 4th. He turns back to the wall and his muscles rip as he bounds even faster, time is running out! The wall shakes beneath his limbs as Beelzebub claws his way up, you wouldn't even call it climbing, he was more so throwing himself vertically. Jasmias however, pushes even harder, finally making it to the second circle, he can see the portal from here, floating, a blue framed circle in all its glory. Up past the 2nd, closer, he stops on the first as Beelze makes it right after him. No time to waste, his limbs heal and Jasmias readies for a mighty bound, almost seeming to charge his jump. He bends his legs harshly and takes a full powered leap, one he should have made. Him making the jump wasn't in the plan though as a ginger blur rockets past the portal and slams it's fist into his jaw, rocketing him back into the ground so hard he almost went through the bottom of the 1st circle."YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD JUST LEAVE?!" Cries a somber, and angry voice. 'Not this crybaby' thinks Jasmias. In front of him stood what looked to be a fairy built young adult male with a tear stained face, intense brown eyes, and curly, thick, dark ginger hair, Lucifer. Lucifer drops down over Jasmias's body going to slam his fist into his brother's already broken face, the portal growing ever smaller. There's a realm-shaking crack as a bloody spear flies in from the right, hitting Lucifer square in his ribs. A quick glance confirms Jasmias' suspicions, Clara made it to the top, brilliant. The spear isn't enough to fully push Lucifer from his top mount, but apparently it does the job, staggering him long enough for Jasmias to deliver two striking blows. His hands break on his brother's face but in turn Lucifer's face smashes under the force, muddying his vision. Jasmias uses the confusion to push Lucy off and prepare for another great bound but suddenly a better Idea strikes him. "CLARA, ONE MORE TIME!" He yells as he runs toward her. Clara, being the MVP she is gets the message crystal clear. As the portal shrinks at a steady pace Clara plants her feet, locking her knees and interlocking her fingers. Jasmias makes it to her and with everything in them, she boosts him up while he pushes from her hands, sending what's now barely even a blur right through the portal but at a weird angle... The portal closes just as Lucifer reaches it with his jump causing him to slam into a wall and cry out shrilly in anger.

     Flying through the portal at blinding speeds Jasmias collides with the ground making a crater in the dirt. Opening his eyes he looks around, it's early night, the dark blue sky painted with stars and the rustling leaves of swaying trees welcoming him. He sits for a while, his arm got clipped in the portal, it was a magic wound so it wasn't healing any time soon, but all in due time. Spotting a small house in a nearby clearing, he gets up and makes his way over, a creature of hell now, no longer human. You see in hell he was a dead man but now that he's left hell he technically counts as a supernatural creature, the power boost that comes with that should come in handy soon. As he makes it to the house he swipes a blanket from a clothesline and fashions a gladiator skirt from it, thinking about taking a shirt but ultimately deeming it unnecessary. "Creeeeak" Jasmias stops dead in his tracks and turns around, spotting someone run back behind the house. The ground under his feet gives way as he speeds over behind the house (the ground here is softer, he'd have to keep that in mind). He comes face to face with a girl, white eyes drilling into her dark brown ones. Her black space buns waving very slightly in the night air as her brown skin seems to shine in the moonlight and her features lay fearful on her face. Beautiful features... in Jasmias' "humble" opinion. Before he can say anything though, there's the sound of a horn blowing  and beating of wings. "Get away from the girl and go back from whence you came, I will not ask again" comes a gentrified voice, Raphael of the seven archangels followed by a legion of god's soldiers behind him. One angel in particular catches Jasmias's attention, her halo shines a light blue as she stands next to Raphael, his lieutenant maybe? Jasmias must have exhausted Raphael's patience because he waived his arm and down rained a sheet of flaming arrows. Jasmias grabbed the girl under him and ran to avoid the assault, placing her in one spot and then running to another as to keep her from the line of fire. Instead of running though, she fell on her bottom, transfixed by the beauty of not only the beings, but the spectacle in front of her. The arrows weren't working so the angels decided close combat was the better option. They flew down in fleets, not even watching where they were going they were moving so fast. Most of them missed him completely, and the ones that got close either got sidestepped or had their necks broken, until her that is. She flew a bit faster than the others, Jasmias was not prepared. She made full contact, grabbing his shoulders and snapping one "I AM RACHELLE, ARCHANGEL LIEUTENANT AND I COMMAND YOU TO RETURN TO HELL!" Jasmias was greatly confused, Just who the hell did she think she was, did she not know who he was? Did she not know why heaven and hell were uniting to keep him from escaping? She was about to find out. Jasmias planted his feet and brought their motion to an abrupt halt and used the energy to flip her and slam her into the ground, creating a mighty dust cloud. He took a top mount position (runs in the family I guess) and wrapped his hand around her throat, crushing it. She punched up at him, or at least tried, before she knew it he had grabbed her arm and ripped it off, throwing it to the side. She cried out in agony as he continued to push on her throat burying her deeper into the soil, but then he noticed something. Her light blue halo, he'd never seen one like it, and he'd been around for a while. His grip loosened and then left all together. "What's that all about?" He thought aloud to himself. He bent down and grabbed the halo. As soon as he started pulling Rachelle began to cry a shrill, ear splitting scream. In a quick but excruciating motion he ripped the halo from its almost magnetic spot above her head. In his hands he held the halo of an angel, and the light in her eyes seemed to die a bit. Seeing this, Raphael rushed to his lieutenants aid, but he was too slow, The halo had already taken station above Jasmias' head...