Silas is convinced of his soul’s journey to hell during sleep, but he doesn’t know what to do about it. Knowing the truth and changing it are very different things. So Silas has decided to lean into it. He doesn’t sleep in the same bed with his wife anymore; there was an incident where he was lashing around wildly in his sleep and she insisted that he seek medical help for night terrors. He used that experience as an opportunity to confirm the truth that he had been slow to grasp. The sleep study that he was subjected to yielded inconclusive results, but he knew that his condition couldn’t be explained by science. Now when he sleeps, Silas follows his demon guide through hell very earnestly, hoping that if he fulfills some unknown mission he will be freed from the torment.
Tonight, Silas comes home after his house has settled into sleep. His wife had called him earlier while he found things to do at the desk in his office and he made the regular excuse that he had too much going on to make it home before midnight. When he does make it home, he creeps to the bed in his guest room where he makes himself comfortable for the journey he is about to make. Lately during his visits to hell, Silas’s demon guide had been making the point that the human notion of sin did not always line up with the metaphysical rules that condemned men and women to the eternal suffering of hell. He made this point by showing Silas the people who had lived admirable lives by most human standards, even by the standards of some religious faiths, but still endured constant torture and torment in their afterlife. Sure, the obvious bad actors of history were burning there; Silas smiled to see Hitler enduring waking vivisection at the hands of demons with blond hair and blue eyes, but others shocked him.
There were many former popes of the catholic church that Silas did not know well enough to appreciate the brutality of their torture and he was surprised when his demon guide stopped the torture of a man on multiple occasions so that he could speak directly to Silas. If Silas paid closer attention to the news he may have recognized the name, but Silas was neither Catholic nor interested in contemporary news coming from the church. The man that he talked with was recently named a saint by the current pope.
The Saint of North America suffers for the sins of the continent. When it was New Spain and explorers from the European continent rode over it in search of fame and bounty, he was there to save the savages whose ignorance of the true God and worship of their false idols would damn them to eternal suffering. It would seem that he has found that fate for himself.
Tonight, as Silas breathes deep and braces himself for the coming journey, he wonders if he does what the burning saint asks, then maybe this will all be over. Then his eyes are heavy, and when he opens them again he knows where he is.
The demon guide smiles at Silas eagerly. “I don’t normally do this, but the saint asked so nicely. He has a request that I intend to fulfill. He asked me to show you one of our father’s nasty beasts.”
“Your father? The devil?” Silas asks.
“Call him what you will, but this realm is his. It hasn’t always been, but it has been for long enough that none of us really care about his predecessors. I was curious why the saint would ask me to show you this particular beast, but I visited it earlier and I get it. This will definitely frighten you and I am eager to see your reaction. The fear I encounter in this realm is mostly stale, yours is coupled with a skepticism and ignorance that I hardly see anymore.”
“I believe you now. I don’t understand it for sure, but I accept this as real.”
“You say that, but you have the luxury of returning to your physical body and that keeps your skepticism alive. I have proven myself to you, but I can sense the rationalizations that you employ to maintain your sanity. Nevertheless, this probably won’t shatter that, but I want to see you react. Come.”
Silas follows behind the demon guide into a corner of hell that he had not seen before. They reach the edge of a rocky cliff and Silas is afraid to approach the edge where his demon guide stands and looks down almost gleefully.
“One could walk this place for eternity, there are so many nooks and crannies, places that even I have not yet explored. But I remember this place, the thing that lives down there. Come Silas, don’t be too afraid just yet. Remember that you cannot be harmed here. I cannot push you over the side, I cannot touch you.”
Silas inches close to the edge and looks over. It is an abyss. He can see the rocky wall of the cliff where he stands down a ways before it is swallowed by the darkness. “How far down is it?”
“Deep enough to house the wretched creature that I was sent here to show you. You must understand that this place, hell, is not where horrible things are created, it is the place where horrible things are housed. And as I mentioned before, the devil was not always master of this domain, there were previous rulers who were never allowed to leave this place. The devil found ways to contain them. Down there is a thing with the power to rule hell, to rule the realm of existence that you know, its powers are great. The devil made an abyss and threw it down there to sleep and be forgotten. But your realm is in chaos isn’t it? The souls on your plane of existence are stirring it and it is awake. Listen closely, you can hear its body sloshing and oozing over itself, gaining strength, trying to rise to your realm. It has followers you know?”
“What will it do if it gets to my realm?” Silas asks.
“Oh, truly wretched things. But many of those things are already happening and that is why it might make it there. The burning saint wishes to warn you so that you can warn humanity,” the demon guide laughs, “like anyone will listen.”
Silas shakes his head. “So that’s it? You want me to believe that the saint is sending me on a useless mission to stop some horrible creature that will bring horror to humanity? You want to see me be afraid of this?” Silas laughs. “Good try, save your Halloween stories for someone else. This is bullshit.”
“There it is!” The guide explains. “There is that naive fear, you stink of it. You think that just because you bravely deny it that it will not come to pass. Oh, it smells wondrous. And to answer your question, the simple story is not it.” The guide looks down at the abyss and snaps his monstrous fingers. “This is what I wanted to see your reaction to.”
Silas watches as purple tentacles grow up from the abyss and it is a horrible sight. The tentacles are wet despite the heat in hell and they have throbbing boils on them that pulsate and throb. Silas inches backward as they advance toward him and he hears his demon guide laugh. “I cannot touch you Silas, let’s see if it can.”
Silas thinks to run, but then the tentacles have him and they wrap his body head to toe. The tentacle don’t squeeze him but hold him firmly, and Silas can feel the hot slime on them. He gags and when he opens his mouth a tentacle rushes inside of his mouth and he feels two more in each of his nostrils. He panics, but he has no need for breathing where he is now. He feels the tentacles probing his insides, going deeper in search of his soul. And almost as suddenly as it had been upon him, the thing from the abyss begins to subside and released him. Silas falls.
“You looked terrified. I need to get a camera to record your reactions, they are priceless.” The guide is very amused.
“What just happened?” Silas asks.
“I can’t say for sure, but I imagine it is the reason why us demons cannot harm you while you are here. You do not posses the wretched soul that things from the abyss feed upon. Are you shocked to hear that?”
Silas closes his eyes and tries to force himself awake.
“Oh, don’t go just yet. Don’t you want to speak with the saint? There is a wonderful lesson to be learned here today.” The demon guide looks at Silas disappointed.
Silas ignores him and eventually he is jarred awake by his alarm.
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