Murmur

I felt frozen where I stood, temperatures well below freezing. My eyes refused to work, but I could feel the goose bumps all over my body. I was laid onto the cold ground in the fetal position, hearing voices speak all around me. Continuous voices that could make a man psychotic. They must've surrounded my body as their voices got louder, just above a murmur. A murmur. Murmurs from the television would always calm me down before I'd fall asleep at night. I wish I could be in the warmth of my comfy bed. That sounds better than the cold ground. A murmur...

My eyes shot open, bloodshot. The voices had stopped as well.

A dirt pillar is what I was laying on. Below was a nothingness that not even Satan himself would want to plunge into. Though that's where I knew I was. I knew that I was in Hell, even though I was chilled to the bone, it was how I thought Hell would look like anyhow.

People associate Hell with fire in the over world when it is actually stone cold. Though what was above me looked like a fire sky, too bright to look into, but providing a dim light to see what was near.

I stood myself up on wobbly leg. I was sore and scared. People say you must talk to God before you are sent to a Heaven or a Hell, but I was never sent to any god. There was no god to save me, not like I ever believed in one anyway. My life was simple, I was a kind person. If there was a god, how could he have just sent me to Hell without a reason? Obviously Christianity was wrong with their religion, this is nothing like what their Bible depicted.

All around were other pillars of dirt, mostly the same height as the one I was on. With my poor vision I could barely make out the figures on the other pillars, but they looked barely Human. More like deformed skeletal figures, huddling around each other. I guess they noticed my movement because they were all looking towards me.

Suddenly I felt a gust of wind from above me, along with a shadow casted onto the dirt. I shielded my face with my hands as I tried looking up to see what had passed above me, when the creature lands itself onto the opposite end of my pillar. It's large wings covered most of it's face as dirt was flung in the air from it's quick landing. I also had to shield my face once again as the dirt enveloped me.

I coughed as the dirt cleared, peaking out from where my face was hidden, when I saw the great vulture-like creature. It had on golden armor as if it was owned by a warrior. I was right. Soon after I caught sight of a pale warrior looking creature. He resembled that of a Human but with feathers that resembled the vulture that was covering his skin.

He laughed, and it resonated in the air. His voice sounded raspy and dark, almost grating. As he laughed, the voices returned to my ears, making my eyes widen. Evil spirits and creatures could be seen closely to me out of the corner of my eye, covering their mouths as they whispered to me, but when I tried to look them straight on they wouldn't be there.

After a moment I grasped the side of my head, clenching my eyes shut. I couldn't quite make out what any of them were saying, but it was unnerving, slowly driving me insane. Then a shrill hissing of "Silence" rang in my ears, causing the voices to leave my side.

I looked up to the warrior who had gotten off of his griffon. His smile was venomous as he looked me up and down, coming closer to me. He took a sharp inhale, breaking the silence. "Welcome," he spoke as he exhaled. "So you were known once as one of the greatest philosophers of Canada, hm?" He settled one of his talons under me chin.

I inhaled sharply as well as I gained myself to say, "Yes, I was." I did not yet know why this demon was concerned with that, but I kept myself controlled.

He retracted his talon and gave another laugh, "Well, for the sake of your life, you better be."

I let the words sink in. 'For the sake of my life?' I thought I was already dead, why should I still be concerned with my life? What is this creature playing at?

He then continued to speak when I had not spoken up. "Well," he dragged out, "it's not very common for a demon to speak to God, let alone make a deal with him." He smirked at me. "It just so happens that you are the pawn of our deal."

I cocked my eyebrow in questioning. "What deal did you make?" I asked him.

"Well it can get kind of boring here. The underworld isn't very entertaining. So I found a way to ask God if I could play a little game." The creature tapped its chin in amusement.

"A... Game?" I asked confused. "How am I involved with this game?"

He widened his arms out smiling widely, "You're the main event, the best part! Without you, there'd be no game." He gave my shoulder a pat and let his clawed hand rest there. "I was given the opportunity to ask any philosopher that has died relatively recently one question, and if they got it right they could live again!"

"...And if I don't get the question right?" I hesitantly ask.

His grip got tighter on my shoulder and his aura became dark once again. "I get to torture you however I please, forever."

Forever. The word was unbearable to think of. If I get his question wrong, I will be living a nightmare for longer than anyone could ever imagine. There were no limits as to what he could do to me, and that was something I was afraid of. The God that people worship sold me for nothing. How could anyone worship such a God?

"Then what is your question, demon?" I ask more confidently then I feel.

"Ah, you are such an eager one. Well, it's a very simple question," He gave me an evil smirk, "What is my name?"

My eyes widened. I didn't have a slight clue as to know who he was. I never read up on demonology and never planned to, but now all of a sudden I was expected to answer something I didn't know. "H-How much time do I have to answer you?"

"I'll give you fifteen minutes to answer. Or you can take my hint and only get ten minutes." He held his hands together at his front as he spoke.

I doubted that I could get the creatures name right, but there was always a chance. Just like the story of Rumpelstiltskin. So I took the hint.

"Ah, a risky one. Let's see..." He though for a moment, coming up with his hint. "Some portray me as a vulture when I simply am not, and I share your interest in philosophy." He closes his eyes in pleasure. "That is my hint for you, and now you have ten minutes to tell me my name." He flipped an hourglass over onto the dirt, sitting himself down to watch the grain fall. "Good luck," He laughed.

His hints were pointless to me. I could've came up with those two things myself. All it did was lose me five minutes of time. I knew that nothing would come to mind, so I sat down and thought about what I could've done with a new life. My family was still mourning my death most likely, but with a new life I could've went back to them and comfort them. I could've went farther into my career, possibly learning more about demonology. Not knowing about such an odd topic was about to cost me my life. A life that I now know that I should've spent more wisely.

Warm tears fell down my face as I saw the last few grains of sand fall. I looked up to the demon as he stood up and asked, "Well, did you come up with an answer?"

I rubbed my eyes to rid of the tears as I whimpered out a 'no'.

"I had high expectations for you. What a shame." He shook his head at me.

"C-Could you give me your name? I want to know what name cost me a second chance at life."

The voices of the spirits and creatures slowly made their way back to my ears. Their constant whispering of the same word over and over again. Finally I understood. They tried to tell me before, but I was too startled by what was happening to me to notice what they were saying. But it didn't change the fact that their constant shushed voices were grinding my brain and driving me crazy. Over all of their voices I could hear the demon speaking to me, but he did not hush their voices this time.

"This is your punishment for not knowing my name. For the rest of eternity they will bombard your soul with my name repeatedly. Murmur."

Murmur

Murmur

Murmur...