Divine Diligence

Chapter 4

Martius 7th, 2206.

"Avunculus!" Imperator Grecundo exclaimed. "Wake up, we're leaving!" I opened my eyes to find myself lying in the same spot where I'd fallen asleep the previous night and though it was undoubtedly morning, no sun appeared in the dark, black sky.

Surveying my surroundings, I saw Nepos Meus gazing down at me whilst Propinqui Mei were speaking to a spirit. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ahmed," Fratres Meus said. "Likewise, your imperialness," he replied. "I was actually sent to escort you." "By whom?" Princeps Azuro questioned. "Domina Aurora, your grace," "Angelos Determinationis!?" I asked. "Yes," he answered.

I was still confused by what was occurring, so Imperator Grimus asked Ahmed to explain his story. As I previously mentioned in the beginning of this tale, Ahmed was once a servant to the dark Imperator at some point during his reign.

What I failed to mention was that the passage was at least partially incorrect as it stated that he was just the first of many random souls we met on our travels when in fact he was sent to escort us through the Anulus Acetiae by Angelos Determinationis herself.

"We appreciate the assistance Ahmed," Fratres Meus said. "You're welcome, Sir," he said. "And I hope this does indeed help you on your path to redemption." While we were gathering our belongings in preparation, Ahmed looked inside a large white sack, revealing a strange box filled with gems.

"What are those?" Imperator Azurus asked curiously. "I highly doubt they're still being used but this is a medical kit made especially for fire wolves and aethers. As for what it's for, I shall explain later." By the time Ahmed placed the box back into his sack, the rest of us were ready to depart.

Before entering the city however Ahmed explained how Tartarus operated. Each ring represents a set of Remissibilia Peccata souls can commit with each Anulus' punishment becoming more torturous the further down a soul is placed.

He was able to persuade the gatekeeper to allow us entry, explaining that he was sent by the Angelos Determinationis to collect us. Typhon agreed to let us pass however after entering something strange occurred. Azuro began feeling stomach cramps which only worsened as we approached the center.

"Are you alright Azuro?" Prince Henri asked, growing concerned for Eius "Quartus Consanguineus" wellbeing. "I'm fine, it's just a stomachache," Princeps Azuro answered. "Bro, you look like you're about to puke," Principe Pedro retorted. Imperator Grimus noticed that the pups were stopped following and instructed Ahmed to halt. "Azuro are you alright?" he questioned. "I'm fine Bis Proavus," he answered.

"You don't seem fine," he commented, pointing to the way he was clenching his stomach. "I'm just hungry," he stated. If we were in a safer location, Fratres Meus would've kept asking more questions, but given that we weren't, he simply asked me to give him some meat we packed for the journey and we entered Tartarus proper.

The first ring we entered was Anulus Mortem reserved for the souls who committed suicide. The souls always preferred to have good fortune showered upon them by the gods without having to work for it and while already Acetic on its own, whenever the negative effects of their Acetity caught up to them, instead of facing these consequences and repenting for their behavior, they instead committed suicide, thereby also disrespecting the gods by harming the bodies they were given.

It's for that reason that Anulus Mortem is described as a forest, as the punishment for committing suicide for Acetic reasons is having that body taken away and transformed into a tree, after which monstrous harpies would swoop down day by day and claw at the wood until it oozed blood from its bark.

Whilst witnessing one of these harpy attacks, Princeps Azuro who by that point already had been experiencing stomachaches, headaches, and chest pains, vomited large amounts of lava as the pain increased before finally losing consciousness.

We didn't have time wake him however, as one of the harpies noticed us and gave chase. Imperator Azurus secured Princeps Azuro to his back and managed to escape as we sat for a minute to recuperate and after a while, we made our way to the next subring.

After a walking for a while, we soon arrived at Anulus Indifferens. Souls who ended up there had little to no concern for others due to the fact that doing so required effort, so they made up stories to justify their actions. As such this was also the ring for child neglectors as their Acetity caused their children either serious injury or death.

About halfway through the right, we bumped into a soul by the name of Antonius Cicero, a brown-haired witch the appearance of a vagabond, who died and got sent to Tartarus in 2052. Surprisingly, despite having no memory of him of him or how he died, Fratres Meus became defensive and attacked him.

"HOW DARE YOU BUMP INTO US YOU WRECHED WASTE OF A SOUL!" he yelled. "YOU'VE MADE IL MIO MADRE ET DILECTUS' LIVES TARTARUS FOR THEIR ENTIRE CHILDHOODS AND NOW YOU TRY TO HARM POSTERIS MEIS!" Admittedly it was Acetic of me to just sit back and watch whilst Imperator Grimus exploded at Eius Socerum In Lege Et Nonno Materno however my anger towards him blinded me to this fact.

Thankfully for Antonius, Ahmed was able to restrain Imperator Grimus long enough for the worst of his rage to subside, and we allowed Antonius to explain his story, though it hardly excused his actions as pretty sure most of it was nothing more than fabricated created by his Acetic mind.

Born into a wealthy family, Antonius' Parentes never supported his dreams of pursuing the arts, and became indifferent towards his as over the years, which eventually led him to neglect his own children. Afterwards, we decided to move on for the sakes of both Meus Et Fratres Meus' sanity because I wasn't sure how much longer either I could've tolerated his presence.

Finally, we arrived at Anulus Segni, the subring for souls who're either too Acetic, to try and use their resources to ease the suffering of another. Whilst the souls trapped in the second subring were merely forced to wonder through a field of mist that never cleared for eternity without rest, the souls in the third, and final, of Anulus Acetiae's subrings faced a much worse punishment.

Souls who'd shown themselves to be extremely Segnis were bound by their arms, and legs, forced to helplessly watch as a winged daimon plucked out their liver every morning. Not only that but every night whilst their livers regenerated, their loosened, only to tighten once more if the souls tried to ease their suffering, just as they failed to do so for others in life though it's worth noting that some of these souls are also found just at the entrance to L'anneau De La Cupidité.

When we approached the end of the first Anulus of Tartarus, Propinqui Mei, and I saw a mysterious white light coming that seemed falling towards us almost like a star falling from the sky, indicating we had found who we were searching for.