kings of babylon [completed]

soul

Hell looked as one might imagine it to be. The skies were a murky, tomato soup red. Gray clouds rolled around at times, usually crackling with lightning and screams. There was no grass or plants, only ruddy brick colored dirt, hard packed and warm. Oh, it was always warm, which Eve liked.

Eve was not opposed to Hell, not really. It was alright. He figured that the novelty would wear off, that was why he was content, but it'd been a month and he often found himself sitting outside of Luc's palace and watching for hours, not because he was bored, but because he liked it.

Luc's palace itself was very nice. Eve didn't know what it was made of, but it was brown and, unlike the rest of Hell that Eve had seen, the material was cold. It looked almost like a cathedral, with spires and decorative pieces made of darker material around long, narrow windows.

The palace was seated on a cliff that jutted out from a canyon. Eve could see what felt like all of Hell when he sat outside the doors on what one might call a lawn. There were canyons and mountains and gorges, ravines of fire and black, toiling water. It was interesting to watch.

This scenery, though, was bare of life. Eve almost never saw the souls trapped here, never glimpsed a man burning alive or a woman drowning. As a matter of fact, Eve had no idea how the people here were even treated. If they burned alive or were tortured or what.

The only time Eve ever saw the inhabitants of Hell was the brief glimpses he got inside of the palace.

Luc tried to spend copious amounts of time with Eve, though the boy didn't allow it. He knew that Luc was neglecting some of his duties, and that he was too protective and worrisome, even if Eve got lonely at times. Regardless, Eve liked to find out how Luc did his job, though he wasn't let in on the logistics often, and didn't want to be.

Luc did two of three things most often: travelled around Hell doing God knows what or, travelled to the land of the living (as he called it) to take care of business. The third thing was meeting people in his throne room.

The latter happened the least frequently and Luc was the most secretive about it. But on these days, when Eve woke up on what he assumed were mornings, Luc was already in his throne room, and the people seemed to come to him. They came into the palace and almost never lingered, only went to the throne room, came out, and left. Eve had seen it happen all of four times.

The first time, it was a stunning woman. He'd barely caught a glimpse of the breathtaking girl, only seen a shock of orange hair and flawless skin caked in Hell's dirt before she vanished into the throne room. She did not come out. Eve had felt sort of nauseous after seeing her, and spots had danced on his vision for several minutes after.

The second time was an ordinary man. He was sweating profusely, but looked calm. When he came out of the throne room, the tunic he was wearing was soaked through on his chest, back, and armpits and he looked on the verge of tears. When he'd seen Eve, he sprinted out of the palace.

The third person was clad in a filthy cloak and Eve did not see their face. Eve hadn't even noticed them as he roamed the halls until they crashed into each other and Eve was hit with the same wave of nausea and disruptions in his vision as had with the first girl. The person had grabbed Eve with an almost burning warm hand and righted him, and then entered the throne room without another word.

The fourth person... if Eve could even call them that. Yes, myths said that demons traipsed through Hell, but Eve did not believe it, he had no reason to. Then something walked into the palace on red, bare claws, with legs structured like a dog's hind legs. They wore no clothing on their eight foot tall body, threaded with muscle. Long, ash gray hair dragged across the floor as they walked, their completely black eyes seemingly focussed on nothing. Without any pupils, Eve couldn't tell.