ARMAGEDDON

4: Daniel

Daniel brought me to a hidden entrance in an abandoned part of Tokyo. Like, completely devoid of people. He lifted up a camouflaged hatch, and ushered me in. He closed the hatch and locked it behind him. Inside was a warmly decorated concrete bunker. He had maps from around the globe, pins in locations he's probably been to.

But he only looks to be in his thirties. He should be almost eighty or ninety years old. How?

Daniel seemed to read my mind.

"If you're wondering how I'm so young for an old man, I've got a long story to tell you." He said.

"How long?" I asked.

"Long enough." Daniel said flatly.

He sat down on a nice king sized bed and began talking.

"I know who you are, and why you're here. You are Jason Archer, the grandchild of my best friend, Moses."

He took out a bottle of Jack Daniels and took a swig from the bottle.

"You've come here looking for answers, because he's dead. Godammit, I told him to maintain those wards on his house every five years.." Daniel said whike looking mournfully at a WW2 helmet.

"We were both in the Rangers, he and I. But we also were something else." Daniel grinned as if remembering some old juvenile joke that only he and my grandfather could understand.

Daniel took a deep breath and said, "We were both Hell Walkers. We've literally been through Hell and back on multiple occasions, fighting a threat that is almost invisible to the human race."

He began to talk about the Hell Walkers, people chosen by either angels or God Himself to beat back the demonic hordes. My grandfather was one, and that I was probably also a Hell Walker. Daniel also revealed to me that my grandfather grew tired of fighting after World War 2, so he stopped hunting demons and raised a family.

It's also the reason why my grandfather aged. Hell Walkers are immortal until they stop killing demons within a certain amount of time. Daniel had tried to help him by placing wards on his house to keep them away for as long as possible. But he didn't restore the wards because he started to suffer from dementia. Eventually, the Demons found him, and took revenge on him and my family for their brethren.

"So you have absolutely no attachments to the regular world? No family, no friends, nothing?" Daniel asked me.

"Well..yes. I don't have ties to the normal world." I replied.

Daniel grinned and said "Good. Because we're gonna test your blood to see if you're a Hell Walker."

Daniel took out a device that had a needle protruding from it. He took a sample of my blood, and looked at it under a microscope. It turns out, I am a Hell Walker. God tends to leave behind a message with something called a "Crucifix cell" which is unique only to the Hell Walkers. Supposedly, a Crucifix cell is what allows the Hell Walkers to be the only humans capable of going into Hell and survive.

"So now what?" I asked.

"Now, I train you." replied Daniel.

He walked over to a wall, and pressed a button. The wall turned out to be a secret door, and it revealed an armory. On a table in the room, sat an M60 machinegun, a beast of a weapon.

Daniel grabbed it and said "This is my gun, touch it and I will end your life."

Daniel then moved over to a shelf, opened it, and took out a .22 pistol.

"First, we'll start you out with the smaller guns. Practice makes perfect." said Daniel.

Months passed as I learned how to kill things. It got to be where I had almost perfect accuracy with any weapon. After I turned out to be an excellent marksman, Daniel taught me how to use bladed weapons. Anything from a small knife to a full sword, he taught me to use.

"Hell Walkers have to be able to adapt and overcome any circumstance. There's only a few thousand of us at a time, and we have to learn to adapt to any situation. You don't get to be old in our line of work if you can't overcome certain circumstances." Daniel said at the time.

One day, he approached me when I was reading a book. I saw him walking towards me and so I put the book down.

"Jason, the time has come for your final test." said Daniel.

"And what would that be?" I asked him.

"In order to gain  the power of a Hell Walker, you must go to Hell." Daniel said solemnly.

He then said "I will open a small portal into Hell, from there you must find a portal that leads back to Earth."

"How many survive this?" I asked.

"Depends. I made it through, and so did your grandfather. I trained you, so I believe you'll make it." Daniel said proudly.

"What all can I take?" I asked.

"You can only bring a dagger and rations. You will be fighting the clock. The air in Hell slowly turns a human's blood into solid iron, and it is a very painful death. Your arteries and your heart valves will clog, and your veins will be ripped apart by your blood suddenly solidifying. You will be allowed to bring a respirator, but they only last so long." said Daniel.

I agreed to do it anyway, and as I gathered my supplies, I saw the portal that Daniel opened. Inside of it I saw a realm that was fire and brimstone, with ancient rusting machinery that told stories of a once great civilization, but something caused it to collapse suddenly. It looked like a place where gods went to die, and where time itself seemed to die.

In short, I was in for a long ride.