Tenebrae (Fyren Trilogy #3)

Part 7

HELL

Arella slowly felt her senses return to her body, the hard wet concrete against her body and cheek, the overwhelming silence around her, so silent it hurt. She opened her eyes and realised she was lying on her side, and as she stretched her painful body and slowly stood up, she finally realised why it was so silent.

Everything around her was frozen, stopped in their tracks, as if time itself had stopped. She reached out and touched a raindrop, like a diamond hanging in the air, letting the cool water flow down her finger, and she giggled. She looked around her and saw sights which were less amusing. Newlings and members of the angel's army locked in combat, their eyes cold and inhumane, splatters of blood hanging in the air. She looked up to the skies and saw the angels and demons frozen as well, balls of soulfire and shadowflame hanging in the air like Christmas lights, the frozen raindrops like a bizarre curtain, blurring their figures. A fork of lighting was frozen in the air, like a strip of luminescent paint against a black canvas, looking no less powerful or awe-inspiring. She spotted Fabian among them, his eyes locked on Marcus and she gave a small smile.

She spotted a weird cloud of smoke in the distance, and realised it was Haze and Ash, both of them half being and half smoke, like some sort of spirit. She looked around her more closely, but could not see either Christine or Denise. Arella hoped they were unhurt.

She turned to her right and saw Xavies, his eyes wide with horror and anger, his mouth wide open, his right hand stretched out at her but clawing at the air. Arella gave a shudder of dislike. She hoped she would never see him again after all this was finished. That would be up to me to make sure that happens, she thought.

A low humming sound, so low it could have been imagined. The sound was there, but Arella could not locate it. She turned to what she thought was where the sound came from, and slowly made her way towards that direction. Her face quickly became wet as she brushed against frozen raindrops hanging in the air. She weaved her way among frozen figures, careful to try not to touch anything, or anyone. But there was nothing there. She looked back at where she came from, and the sound seemed to come from there now, behind Xavies. She made her way back again and stood in front of Xavies, looking over him, brushing her wet hair away from her face. There was still nothing. She gave a sigh and moved a step to the side, and something blinked into existence.

From its side, it was not there at all, nothing at all, like it never existed. But when Arella moved to a certain angle, it popped into existence. A rectangular stone doorway, about 6 metres high and just wide enough for a car to pass through, it radiated awe, fear and an odd sense of familiarity, as if one had seen it before somewhere, but yet did not want to remember it.

The Gates of Hell.

Arella took a few steps closer and lightly touched it, and it felt real enough, the roughness of the stone against the smooth of her skin. Now that she was closer, she could hear voices from within, soft haunting whispers that overlapped one another, voices of lost and forgotten souls. She could see through it, into the red mist inside. Her hair was standing on end, and she felt scared. But she knew she must do this, she must finish this.

She closed her eyes, took a step forward, and she was in.

*

Before she opened her eyes, she felt herself engulfed by a strong heat, an uncomfortable and boiling heat. She thought for a moment she could smell her skin burning off her flesh, but that was just her imagination. Arella opened her eyes, and for the first time, set her eyes on Hell.

Hell, the place of eternal suffering and damnation. She could see pillars of fire holding up a ceiling of darkness, the ceiling too high and far to see. She looked down at her feet, and saw what looked like fire or lava burning under a red transparent like surface, and for a moment thought she would fall through it. Columns of smoke were pouring from some parts of the ground, causing the red light that filled the entire chamber to waver; making the environment all the more like one was standing on a volcanic area. She turned around to look at the Gate, but it was already gone. The walls, if they were any, were swallowed by the darkness, making it seemed to stretch away indefinitely.