Demon Gate: Beyond the 9th Circle: The Rapture Was Just The Beginning. (29 page)

“You’ll never win; go home while you
can still get out.”
“We will,” Vince said “When we find our
friends soul, maybe you can help us.”
The man widened his eyes, he was impressed.
“You’ve got a lot of brass on you.”
The man stepped away.
“In order to get to Satan’s castle you need
to first know where it is, then you need to know
how to get inside.” The man said and then turned
back to Vince. “That’s the tricky part, and it’s
damn tricky, it is.”
“Well, you seem to know a lot about
hell.” Jessie noticed.
“Which way do we go?” Vince asked.
The man smirked.
“Stay on this road for another six hours
and you’ll come to the River of Anguish. Follow
the river upstream and into the Mountain of
Misery, you will find the castle deep inside an
ancient volcano. To get in you will need to find
the door by the river that flows from the top of
the surrounding cliff face; it flows through
Satan’s castle of pain before flowing
downstream. If he expects you, then he will do
everything in his power to stop you, which is
why you must not try to get in through the front
gate.” The man urged.
Vince and Jessie thanked the man for the
information before heading out of the attic and
into the hallway; they descended the stairs and
headed out of the house.
After untying the horses, they mounted
and headed down the road as fast as they could.
After five hours hard ride Vince could see the
mountain the man had been talking about. It was
still three hours away, but it was close enough
that they could both taste the coming fight. Vince
and Jessie soon came to the River of Anguish
which was a broad swath of blood red water that
carved its way though the unforgiving landscape,
a bridge crossed the river, but Vince and Jessie
didn’t cross, instead they turned and followed the
river. Soon they could hear screams of torment
and moans of sorrow.
They had finally made it to the heart of
Lucifer’s territory. But were they too late? Was
Spencer a lost cause? Was it too late to save
Gretchen and her unborn child? They had no
idea how long they had been trapped in their
nightmares. The unborn child had only a short
amount of time before it would pass away
without its mother’s soul. Each kept to
themselves the fear that even if they saved their
friends, the baby would have died before they
could get out of hell. IF they could get out.
The smell of pain filled the air as Vince
and Jessie noticed a trail that passed under a
drawbridge that lead up to the castle, the trail ran
along the rivers bank around the left side of the
castle. The trail was fifteen feet below the
embankment they currently occupied, so Vince
and Jessie dismounted and sent the horse running
off before climbing down to the hidden trail.
The trail led to a hidden door.
“This is it.” Vince said before pushing the
door open, inside there was no light.
“I don’t like this.” Vince said, his
instincts were to high tail it out of there, but he
stepped in, knowing that he had to go forward,
Jessie tried to stop him, but she too knew the
time to turn back had passed.
The door slammed shut and around the
perimeter of the room, a dozen torches exploded
to life, burning a faint red-orange glow, the walls
were made of stone and covered in cobwebs
filling the room were several demons, and
Spencer.
“Spencer?” Jessie asked when Spencer
pointed at her and Vince.
“Take them.” Spencer ordered.
The demons swarmed in and bound Vince
and Jessie’s hands and escorted them out of the
room.
What could be said? It was obvious that
Spencer betrayed them. Was it to spare Gretchen
and his child? It didn’t matter now, or did it?
Spencer did not appear to have been transformed,
could the transformation be ongoing? Could it be
stopped or reversed?
Spencer led the escort into a hall that
boasted some intricate architecture; several
stones that looked like they were cut in the
likeness of human skulls randomly adorned the
wall. Vince looked closely causing the
procession to stop, and then he realized the
stones were not stones, they actually were skulls;
several other bones also adhered to the wall in a
haphazard arrangement.
In disgust, Vince backed away from the
wall covered in human bones, not thinking about
the opposite wall until a boney, completely
decomposed hand landed on his shoulder. Vince
almost didn’t react until the hand started to close
as it tried to grab his shoulder, Vince moved from
the wall to examine it, and found a half of a
person being used as part of the wall, the body
was built into the wall, and it was trying to get
out and scramble to freedom, but ultimately
falling short.
Spencer struck the hands that tried to grab
for Vince before resuming the escort to the main
audience chamber. The chamber had a balcony
that looked over a courtyard that allowed Lucifer
to observe his troops as he prepared for his attack
on Heaven.
Lucifer caught the sound of footsteps
entering the chamber and retreated from the
balcony to greet the new guests.
“These are the intruders, Master.”
Spencer said.
Lucifer approached Vince and Jessie.
“Mr. Masters and Ms. Monroe,
welcome.” Lucifer greeted them with a depth of
charm that almost put them at ease. Vince
glanced out through the archway that Lucifer had
just come from and saw a tower in the distance;
he glanced around and noticed a large black stone
with a mirror-polished surface hovered above the
stone floor. Outside the archway, there was a
walkway that extended out over the ground
below leaving two ramps. Vince assumed they
were to allow Lucifer’s troops access to the
castle. Was this room the launch point for
Lucifer’s invasion?
Jessie glared at Spencer.
“I’m sorry it had to be this way.” Spencer
apologized.
“You sold us out.” Jessie spat.
“I HAD TO DO SOMETHING TO
SAVE MY SON.” Spencer yelled. “But you
wouldn’t understand, you can’t understand.”
Spencer finished.
“You think I can’t understand having no
other options?” Vince demanded, “What
happened to the nightmare I know that we all had
to suffer through before waking up here?” Vince
chastised. “I know you must have seem some
horrible things, I had to listen to the woman I
love being tortured and all I could do was hear
her screams, begging for help, and then being
asked to end her suffering.” Vince finished, then
glanced at Jessie to her smiling at him.
“I was buried alive, and sentenced to die
for a crime I didn’t know anything about, I can
only imagine the hell that you were forced to
suffer through.” Jessie added.
“You.” Lucifer shouted interrupting the
squabble directing an order to the demons
holding the prisoners. “Take them to be
converted.” Lucifer ordered and the demon
nodded before it and several other demons forced
Vince and Jessie from the room.
Spencer turned to Lucifer who was
standing by a glyph on the floor that glowed a
bright, and otherworldly green color.
“Master, I was given your word they
would not be changed and that Gretchen would
be restored.” Spencer reminded. “We had a deal.”

“I changed the deal.” Lucifer said. “Your
love will remain here, with you.”
Spencer had known that Lucifer would pull
something like this. He worked to keep any
expression off his face.

“As you command, my Master.” Spencer
said before excusing himself.
Vince and Jessie were taken out of the
main chamber to an adjoining corridor. The
architecture was starting to remind Vince of a
nightmare about being forced to kill Jessie, his
heart began to race; his breathing soon matched
the chaotic rhythm of his heart. Vince and Jessie
were forced into a room with a table that looked
like it was meant for medical examinations, or
something dark and sadistic. She was strapped to
the table first while a brawny demon restrained
Vince, and all remaining demons left the room,
but Vince refused to give up his attempt to
escape and save Jessie and Gretchen, despite the
futility.
“I’m going to kill Spencer when I get
through with this.” Jessie seethed.
The demon that restrained Vince
chuckled.
“I said the same thing before I was
changed. Now I serve Lucifer.” The demon said
as the second demons hand reached up to a large
switch. “This will take a couple of hours.”
Vince’s struggling quickly escalated to
violent thrashing, but he was still not able to
break free, time was running out, wasn’t there
room for a miracle?
Jessie looked away not wanting to face
her grim future as a demon. She waited for the
sound of the demonic gas, but it never came,
instead a gurgling sound emanated from the
demon that was ready to throw the switch.
Jessie looked at found the demon falling
to the ground, standing over the demon Spencer
hefting his sword.
“So, you want to do it yourself?” Vince
challenged.
Spencer realized what Vince was insinuating.
“No,” Spencer corrected, “This wasn’t a
part of my plan.”
“Plan?” Jessie asked.
“There was only one way out of that
dungeon cell, and one way to save my son.”
Spencer began.
“Put on a show. You needed to make him
think you were loyal to him.” Jessie said with
understanding.
“Right, and now that we’re all here, let’s
go finish what we started.” Spencer said releasing
Vince and Jessie from the shackles that held
them.
Spencer led the way back to where he left
Lucifer, and he still stood by the shimmering
glyph on the floor.
“Mr. Garza, what are they doing here?”
Lucifer demanded, “And why have they not been
changed?”
“Being the great deceiver I would have
guessed you knew a lie when you heard one.”
Spencer mocked, Lucifer smiled a sinister smile.
“You told me what I wanted to hear, hell
is already corrupting you. How utterly
delightful.” Lucifer mused.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Spencer demanded.
“I won’t have to convert you. Simply
your being here will be enough to do that for
me.” Lucifer laughed, reaching a maniacal
climax.
Spencer raised his sword and rushed at
Lucifer only to pass straight through.
“I ought to warn you, that I’m not really
here, I left when I sensed you had betrayed me.”
Lucifer warned, “But if you want to find me then
step onto the glyph and I’ll be seeing you real
soon. Once you have arrived you will face ‘the
challenge’, a labyrinth that only one has
successfully navigated, bristling with booby traps
around every corner, you will have six hours to
complete it.” Lucifer advised.
“You have entered into my realm. None
will escape from me! You will be forever lost in
the Darkness before you can reach me.” Lucifer
said in a hysterical fit of laughter before
vanishing.
All eyes fell to the glyph in the middle of
the floor. Spencer, Vince and Jessie stepped on to
the symbol and were suddenly standing before
the entrance to a labyrinth.
Spencer scanned the horizon and found a
tower in the distance, Lucifer’s last bastion of
safety.
Spencer turned to Vince and Jessie.
“For the record.” Spencer paused, for
him, what he suffered through was nothing short
of hell.
“I lost her.” Spencer said, “I couldn’t find
her anywhere, and when I did find her, she
disappeared, and I had to try to find her all over
again.”
“Did you ever find her?” Jessie asked.
Spencer nodded with great difficulty.
“She told me that she hated me, and that
my son wasn’t my son.” Spencer said before
looking Vince in the eyes. “He was yours.”
Spencer said with a smile.
“In my anger and jealousy I killed you.”
Spencer said, the pain of his admission caused
him to shed tears of regret.
Vince smiled.
“Don’t worry, this is almost over.” Vince
assured. “What will happen to us when we return
to earth?” Jessie asked.
Vince took Jessie’s hand “Whatever we
do, as long as we’re together I don’t care what
happens.” Vince replied.
“Come on, let’s end this.” Spencer said
proceeding into the labyrinth.
“How are we going to get through this in
six hours?” Jessie asked.
Spencer pulled a familiar book from a satchel he
was wearing.
“You might need this.” Spencer offered.
“I’ve already marked the page that has the map
of the labyrinth.”
Jessie took the book and opened it.
As they crossed the threshold of the maze
Spencer noticed words scrawled on the floor.

Strength lies in unity.
Weakness fills division.
Only through trials can you gain true strength.

Spencer eyed the words, and glanced
around suspiciously.
“I don’t like how that sounds.” Spencer
said as apprehension took over, but they had little
choice they had to go in.
Taking the first step into the maze
Spencer immediately saw a single long hallway
that vanished in the distance, the main hall had
several off shoot passages
“It looks like this main corridor comes to
a wall after a quarter mile. Most of the secondary
passages are dead ends, but this on looks
promising.” Jessie said referring to a passage
near the back of the main corridor.
Jessie lead the way as she had the book,
but Spencer covered her, Vince brought up the
rear.
“What I wouldn’t give to have a celestial
sword right about now.” Vince mourned.
The secondary tunnel approached and
Jessie entered.
“Do you hear that?” Spencer asked.
“I don’t hear anything.” Vince admitted.
“What did you hear?” Jessie asked.
Everybody stopped to listen, but heard
nothing for several seconds before continuing on.
Ahead there were three other branches off
the secondary corridor. Spencer, approached one
of the corridors, and then turned back to Jessie,
“Which way do we take?” Spencer asked.
Jessie looked confused.
“Jessie?” Spencer asked.
“Any route will take us to the labyrinth
exit, looks like each rough has one major
obstacle in our way, the book describes them as
‘puzzles’.” Jessie said.
Spencer pulled a face that served to say ‘that was
easier than I thought’ and that’s when everything
took a turn for the worse.
A wall shot up out of the ground behind
them and then two walls erupted out of the
ground between Spencer, Vince and Jessie.
“VINCE, JESSIE.” Spencer called.
There was no response.
“VINCE, JESSIE!”
But it was no use, he couldn’t hear either of his
compatriots, and he guessed they couldn’t hear
him; they were each on their own with no choice,
but to try and complete the labyrinth, alone.