Where All Souls Meet (2 page)
Read Where All Souls Meet Online
Authors: S. E. Campbell
"Find the girl at all costs," Satan said. "I always thought I wanted the Earth more than anything else, but now, I long for the girl more. She has irked me to the point all I can think about is exacting my revenge. When you find her, don't be gentle. Terrify her until she can't remember who she is."
Agares was the first to speak and bowed at the hip. "Lord, it will be my pleasure."
A slow grin crossed Donovan's face.
I wish I could be there to witness her destruction. The girl does not stand a chance.
He once again took up his kneeling position.
Eden Schmidt was on Horace, formerly the holy continent of Zemiothstai, aka Purgatory, the land where the dead went. She glanced at the ground, which used to be covered in grass but was now endless plains of eroded brown dirt. All around her, the world was covered in un-ending blackness so thick she swore she could breathe it in. The darkness would not lift in Purgatory, or on Earth, until she fixed what had been done by the Blood Stone ceremony. Luckily, souls glowed, lighting the pathway ahead of her.
Just some time ago Purgatory had been a place where the dead were given tasks by Saint Peter. These souls had to accomplish their tasks either in Purgatory or on Earth, and once they were successful, they would be able to reach heaven. If a soul was injured while in Purgatory, it would spend a brief moment in the "other world”, a transit system that would usher souls back to Earth. The soul would then reincarnate in a new human body with little to no memories of its past life. The Blood Stone ceremony changed everything, and so did the task she was given afterward.
Satan had concocted a plan using the Blood Stone, a stone made from the blood of billions of humans, and had used the power of evil to close the gates of heaven. It threw Purgatory, as well as Earth, into a state of darkness. Demons and Satan Spawn â evil creatures that had demonic abilities to harm souls â attacked people left and right, and soon, the population of the humans dwindled.
It was Eden's mission to stop this from happening. After the Blood Stone ceremony, she had been given the task to re-open the gates of heaven by God. She had to find five souls, each who loved someone so deeply it represented the ultimate power of good, and bring them to the Blood Stone chapel in Gabriel in order to break the spell Satan had placed upon the Earth. She remembered the words of Natalia, her guardian angel, who had first given her the task in a vision.
"Find the five people with great love," Natalia said. "You have already found two of them. Bring them back to where the worlds connect, the place where your journey began. Hatred shut the gates of heaven, but love can open them again. This is your task to get to heaven, Eden."
She had located three souls â her best friend, Adanna, the ex-demon soldier, Aaron, the man who was closest to her heart, Yuri, and the man who worked under him, Jared.
"Are you okay?" Yuri asked, touching her shoulder and drawing her from her thoughts. Eden gazed at him, once again struck by his bright green eyes. She had a sudden urge to run her hands through his jaw-length chestnut hair with flecks of gold. "We've almost reached Gabriel. You said you wanted to meet your friend? What was her name again?"
Aaron elbowed her aside and leered at Yuri. "It's
Thema
, Yuri. Get it right."
"Sorry, Eden." Yuri scratched the back of his neck.
"It's okay." Eden scowled at Jared. "It's an interesting name."
They fell silent as the sound of whispering could be heard around them. Eden went rigid and stopped, her lamp waving in her hand. White Raider's fog fled from the light in fear. Everybody in her group had one, to be safe. The others paused too as she searched around.
I don't like it when I hear things. Asag was able to reach me through mirrors. Maybe Satan sent First Beast after me.
The thought of the first beast, who he had used in order to raise his two million horsemen from their prison in the center of the earth, made her stomach twist.
"Eden, what's wrong?" Yuri placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Something is talking," Eden said. "I can hear it. Can't you?"
Everyone exchanged glances.
"It's probably just the Raiders, Eden," Aaron said. "You know how they talk through the mist. They're just trying to get you to drop your lamp."
The white mist swirling on the ground was actually an evil Satan Spawn called a Raider. When Eden and her party didn't have a lamp, the Raiders formed tall female figures who stole soul energy. Though Raiders didn't kill, they transmitted a disease called Morsus. It was Satan's illness, an illness which caused souls to see evil images. There were evil souls who lived in a constant state of Morsus, but for good people, it was truly a curse worse than death.
"I don't think it's Raiders," she said, stepping forward. "I think it's something else."
She stared through the thick mist. The whispering came again, familiar. Raiders had the ability to imitate voices of loved ones, but not like this. This voice caused her heart to fill with worry. She knew it was not a good soul or creature speaking, though she could not place the name of whom it belonged to.
"Do you think we should go see what it is?" Yuri asked.
"I think we should get out of here as fast as possible," she said, taking a step back. "Gabriel is near, isn't it?"
"A mile or two," Aaron said, grabbing her arm to get her attention. "We've come a long way. Maybe walking so far has gotten to you."
"I'm a soul," Eden said. "We don't get tired physically."
They began to walk again, and she heard the whispers once more. They were low and deep. She swore she heard the words,
"I see you, Eden. I see you."
She stared determinedly at the ground and Yuri twined his fingers through hers. She held his hand as they walked, and as she grew more anxious, she wondered why the others didn't too. A big part of her wanted to run, but she knew in situations with an unknown follower, doing so could only make things worse. Maybe she was being herded, like she had been in the Blood Stone caverns where she had discovered Satan's plan to close the gates of heaven. Shadow demons had herded her into the worst part of the caves. The incident had brought her into this mess to begin with.
As the voice continued to speak
â "I see you. I see you."
â she wondered whether she should acknowledge it. The necklace, her cross which guarded against evil, blazed up in cool, holy flame which could only mean a demon was near. She gazed down, grasped her necklace, and exhaled. As she took a step forward, she sunk ankle-deep into something which felt warm and wet. She peered down and saw she had stepped in red fog.
Something isn't right.
She cried out, jumped back, and almost dropped her lamp.
"Eden, what's wrong?" Yuri asked.
Adanna took a step toward her and touched her arm gently. This was the closest Adanna got to speaking. Her stomach still churned with the pity at the thought of the fire which had caused Adanna to become mute.
"I seeâ¦
I see
â¦" She stared down at the ground and saw the blood had disappeared. "It's⦠gone. But how?"
Yuri's mouth was tense. "I was afraid of this."
"Afraid of what?" she asked.
"We did one over on Asag, didn't we?" Yuri asked. "What if his friends are angry?"
She gulped. Yuri could be right. The two of them had used mirrors, a picture of God, and holy water to force Asag to gouge his own eyes out. He had been following them in an attempt to take her prisoner and get rid of Yuri, and it had been the only way to stop him. He had been so angry afterward he had screamed her name repeatedly, though he could not find her without his eyes.
"Let's just keep moving," Aaron said, running his hand over his short dark hair.
"If you see something we don't, ignore it and just squeeze my hand to let me know," Yuri said. "Demons are like bullies. If the demon doesn't get a reaction, maybe it'll stop."
She knew Yuri was just trying to be optimistic for her sake. She knew demons and so did he. It didn't matter if she reacted or not. The demon would keep torturing her until it got what it wanted. Unfortunately, what it wanted was probably her.
****
Eden continued to hear the sound of whispering in her ear. She shivered, hating the way the voice sounded. Which demon was it this time? Or had she finally done it and angered Satan so much that he was pursuing her freely? If that was the case, then she was going to have to be careful. Unfortunately, it would be hard. It wasn't like she intentionally drew attention to herself, but she had waist-length blonde hair and one green eye and one grey eye. She was also tall and abnormally thin, a trait she had gotten from her mother. As far as girls went, she didn't exactly fit the norm.
"What is
that
?" Jared asked, drawing her away from her thoughts.
She turned and stared where he pointed. At the base of a hill several yards away, there stood a large castle-like fortress which had a moat of glowing orange lava, making it easier to see. There were no lanterns to keep out the Raiders. In fact, the mist appeared to be even thicker around it. Her necklace, which hadn't stopped glowing, pulsed with more fire. It reminded her of a campfire surging with flame as it devoured wood.
"The souls couldn't have built something this big in such a short amount of time," Aaron said, running his hand through his hair. "How long were we gone? Four, maybe five, months?"
"It is odd." Yuri took a step toward the castle, and then paused. His eyes narrowed.
I don't like it.
A strange smell filled her nostrils, but one she recognized. Eden took a step back, repulsed. It smelled so sour it left a bad taste in her mouth, but there couldn't possibly be any corpses in Zemiothstai. Purgatory had only souls and Satan Spawn, which disappeared in a wisp when they were destroyed. The smell grew stronger and stronger, until she was forced to put her hand over his nose to block it out.
She heard footsteps behind her and whipped around, her lantern swinging once again. There was the sound of high-pitched, cold laughter. If she had a heart, it would have thundered in her chest. Instead her hand quivered as she held her lantern.
"Yuri," she said nervously and then cast a look over her shoulder.
To her dismay, her friends had meandered closer to the castle in their curiosity. Yuri had not heard her. She opened her mouth to yell for them to come to her quickly, but she was stopped by the sight of the mist forming into a mass which was twice her height. The mist figure was built like a football linebacker, only bigger.
This can't be happening.
Her mouth dropped open.
The Raiders are all women.
The mist figure sucked up all the mist completely, then tossed back its head and gave an inhuman howl. It opened its mouth and she saw strings of mist between its lower and upper lips. It turned and gazed straight into her eyes. The eyes glowed an eerie golden hue, reminding her of a stray cat peering between garbage cans. When she took a step back and gasped, it smirked, even though it was still misty.
"G-guys!" she screamed. "
Guys!
"
With another howl, the mist figure began to charge toward her and stopped seconds before it reached the edge of her lantern's light. She screamed and fell on her butt in the dirt, almost dropping the lamp in the process. A pudgy Blood Worm that looked like a white cocktail sausage climbed onto her lap and fed from her soul, unaffected by the lamp. She didn't care. She could not take her eyes off of the massive, hulking beast which stood before her with glowing red eyes.
"What's the matter?" the mist figure whispered. "You look
scared
. I thought somebody like you would be tougher than this."
She remembered Yuri's words.
"Demons are like bullies."
Grimacing, she stood up and did her best to not back down, though the mist figure's crimson irises caused her spine to stiffen.
"I am not scared of you," she lied. "Who are you? Some new form of Raider?"
"I? I am more powerful than a Raider," said the mist figure.
So it is a demon.
Only a demon would be so prideful he would hate to be on the same level as the most feared Satan Spawn in Purgatory.
"So who are you then?" she said. "I took care of Asag, and I can take care of you. You think just one measly demon or Satan Spawn will frighten me? Think again."
At least, it was what she told the demon. When she had faced Asag, she had been terrified, but that did not make a new foe any less menacing. She wished her friends were here. They should have heard her cry by now.
The demon began to chuckle. "A valiant feint, girl. You may not find one of us frightening, but what aboutâ"
Suddenly, many voices â male, female, deep, high-pitched â joined together. "â
all of us.
"
Within seconds, more mist beings appeared. It was like she peered into a world of glowing red eyes. The mist figures were all massive, but some were women and others were men. The only thing they had in common was the fear they brought into her mind.
"Wh-what is going on?" she asked.
"Did you honestly think you could get away with hurting a major demon?" a female to her right said. Even in mist form, she had a fish-like face. "Our lord wants you now. He wants you more than ever."
She thought back to when she had been in pain with Morsus and Satan had controlled the agonizing memories she saw. At the time, he had had major demons surrounding him. She searched her thoughts.
There was a demon who, instead of hair, had a bald head and slimy scales that covered her entire body. Her face was narrow and elongated like the front of a fish or a dolphin. There were shriveled wings upon her back.
Yes, she could see the resemblance. She was sure it was the same demon. But what was her name?
"Lady Midday, Abyzou," Satan said, first turning toward the auburn-haired teenager who had been the auburn beauty and then the fish-faced, now middle-aged woman. "Clear off the land and prepare to summon the two million warriors."
She began putting the pieces of her memories together as she gazed at the mist figure. Her hands trembled at her side as she tried to fight through her thoughts. Where had her friends gone? The fact they had wandered away so carelessly and left her behind made her want to scream. She was alone now; alone with demons that could get rid of her within seconds. Even if she ran, she would not make it three feet without floundering.
"Agares," she said. "Abyzou, Lady Midday."
Stunned silence filled the circle.
"She knows us," Abyzou said. "How can she know us? H-he must have given her powers."
Though she quivered with fear, she heard the quaver in Abyzou's voice.
Are the demons scared of me?
"Don't be foolish," Agares said. "Satan has made her watch us. She recognizes us from her visions. The girl is clever, but then, she would have to be."
Abyzou made a horrible squelching sound as if she didn't believe him.
I have to get these demons out of here.
As she gazed at the mist, she wondered whether her lantern would work against demonic mist figures like it had with Raiders. Even though she was paralyzed with anxiety and the intimidating stares made her feel horrible, she knew what she had to do.
"Are you controlling the Raiders?" Eden asked. "Making them look and talk like you?"
"The Raiders belong to us," Agares boomed.
"Thanks for letting me know," she said. "Now
get lost
."
"How dare you?" Agares roared, drawing nearer to her with his mouth open wide.
Her first instinct was to step back and run away. It took every bit of control she had to walk into Agares and Abyzou. Agares didn't expect her to move forward because, while Abyzou darted backward and away from her, Agares was caught right in the middle of the lantern's glow.
Screaming in pain, Agares tossed his head backward and, like steam over a boiling pot, began to float upward and then disappear. All that was left was the smell of sulfur.
Abyzou hovered just outside of the light, and when Eden took a step forward, she cringed.
"I'll do the same to you," Eden threatened. "Go away and leave me alone."
"We will never leave you alone," Abyzou said. "Our lord has sent his demon legions after you. You will be his before long."
Though Eden was afraid, she stepped toward Abyzou; the demon threw up her hands, hissed, and then disintegrated before Eden could reach her. The other demon figures with their glowing red eyes soon disappeared into the darkness too. All that was left of them was the white mist upon the ground, surrounding her. She shuddered as she gazed at it.
I may have been cocky with them, but I'm in a lot of trouble.
She covered her mouth with her hand.
The demons are done playing with me. Now they want me for real.
"Eden, come over here," Yuri said, wrenching her into reality. "You shouldn't walk away by yourself. What were you doing? You could have gotten yourself into real trouble."
She whipped around and saw she had indeed wandered away from her friends. They were several feet away from her, and judging by their wide-eyed expressions, they had been looking for her.
This means they didn't hear me cry out.
That's not good, either. I didn't even know demons had this kind of power over souls.
Yuri grabbed her arm, pulling her to him.
"Eden, what's wrong with you?" he asked. "Are you all right?"
Looking over her shoulder, she sighed. "Yes, I'm fine."
Last time she had been in trouble, Yuri had become a target too. Maybe if she kept him and her friends out of it, they would be less likely to get hurt. After all, Satan didn't know they were the keys to open the gates of heaven and it was her job to protect them. And her friends getting hurt was the last thing she wanted in the entire world.
