The High Order

3. Silence of the damned

3. Silence of the damned

1. After repelling the attacks of ravenous crows on a barge on the River Dis, Dan had slept off the talking creatures as a mere fantasy of the mind. In the regular human world, he thought, animals did not talk at all, except for parrots and people. The next day, he got up and decided to head over to the mainland from the Isle of the Damned in order to clear his head, and what better way to get over the illusion of talking animals than going to Hell's own zoo across town in the district of The Fallen. 

This district was one of the main tourist hotspots in Hell, with hotels, casinos, wedding chapels and the zoo. The front gates were made of corrugated steel and barbed wire kept the animals inside from the rest of the city. it looked like a regular zoo, with lowered enclosures and small habitats for the animals, but the animals were the only problem. Excited by the prospect of free admission, Dan walked into the zoo, gazed upon by many a tourist face, either with curiosity or disgust at what he looked like, a benevolent angel mashed together with a malevolent demon. 

At one point, a group of teenagers took a picture with Dan, as if he were the next biggest tourist attraction to add to the collection. The enclosures were filled only with the demonic versions of animals from the human world: dogs, cats, wolves, tigers, bears. In Hell, Dan was expecting to see a dragon or giant snake or something weird and enticing. He took a breather on a wooden bench in front of the dingo exhibit, then turned around to see the wild dogs galivanting around their lowered play pen. One solitary dingo was staring straight at Dan, making him slightly spooked.

"is that permanent or wax on, wax off?" the dingo talked, making Dan jump up off of his seat.

"did you just talk?" Dan pointed at the dingo.

"do you understand the shit coming out of my mouth, of course I just talked. God, humans seem to get dumber in the afterlife" the dingo spoke again.

"that's not possible, someone must have drugged me" Dan felt himself in a cold sweat.

"hey mate, I'll let you in on a little secret. All these animals here are here because they did something evil back in the human worlds. You've got your man eating lions, rabid dogs, predatory tigers, killer crocs, and us dingoes who ate aborigines, men in funny hats and babies in the outback" the dingo continued.

"you're not joking" Dan stood closer to the enclosure.

"we have another secret of the zoo, something you might be interested in, stranger" the dingo continued.

"what would that be" Dan raised an eyebrow to the animal.

"we were all put really because we got caught doing bad stuff in Hell. other demons look down on us as much as they did when we were alive. Me and the others stole a chest of treasure from some pirate types and buried it by a cabin in Atro-city park. You break us out, we will find you the treasure and give you a share. What do you say?" the dingo proposed.

"as if this day couldn't get any weirder" Dan had paused for a second then reached into the dingo enclosure and threw an energy ball at the secure plexiglass of the indoor walkthrough below the pen. The hounds immediately dashed passed the resident zookeepers and began to run through the zoo, unlocking the other enclosure doors with their paws and jaws. Soon, Dan was among a Noah's ark of naughty creatures as the dingo led Dan and the rest of the zoo's animals through the city towards the park while the alarms at the zoo continued to chime.

2. Taking off from his palace, Lucifer the prince of darkness was driving across Hell in a polished crimson red Lamborghini. He was in search of a man who may have the answers that he needed. With the coming Blood Moon Day prophecy, Lucifer was tensed at the thought of leading the primary forces to fight the angels of Heaven at the final battle. He had never had to fight a precise war or command anyone directly or intelligently before. This left him with a dilemma that could only be resolved by the mentoring of an old master. On the other side of the city rested the suburbs of Niflheim, an up market of luxury mansions between the urban jungle and the cold forests of dark pine, held in an eternal permafrost.