Kill Me

"Be careful not to overdue your stay, you can always try again. Remember to remember that, alright?", Benoit bid us farewell as we headed into a huge chamber that was previously locked.

He then led us closer to a huge and dark iron door that was chained to keep it shut.

"Beyond this point I can't help you much. Try to make it back in one piece", he instructed us.

I kept forgetting to ask what we were supposed to do down there. In any case, since Prophet was ready, I agreed to follow his lead if things went downhill.

We were given a few minutes to prepare before the door was unlocked and the charms removed for safe passage.

Benoit left the chamber as we stood in front of the dark door that was leading to the underworld.

"Are you ready, Prophet?", I turned his way, only to find a shivering Prophet, sweating head to toe.

"Y-yes...", he muttered.

That wasn't encouraging but regardless we weren't going back. The dark door began to open slowly. Something began to ooze out of it and surround us.

"That's enough, isn't it?", Prophet said when the door had opened enough to pass through just barely, "Err, we shouldn't let it open all the way."

I agreed and we jumped right in. The door closed behind us and we were wrapped by whatever darkness was oozing out.

We were slipping down some endless realms of darkness and were surrounded by it from every side. I was completely motionless, all the power in me had seeped out. In fact, I did not even wish to move.

"Seraph!"

I think it was Prophet's voice. It sounded like it was coming from miles away.

"Come over", a very close voice caught my attention instead. It was a child's voice, or perhaps a women's. But it was the most soothing call I'd ever heard. It kept on repeating until I was drowned in it. I wanted to open my eyes and look for the source of this heavenly voice.

"Seraph!", Prophet's crying voice finally broke through.

And thus, I opened my eyes, only to find his wicked crying expression.

"Ah!", he smiled wickedly, "Thank the good Lord!"

He brought his hands together in a prayer and closed his eyes firmly. Prophet was a devout worshipper. His God was the greatest to him, he never forgot Him in the times of worst despair. I guess that was the one thing that set him apart from all the rest of the Valkyries. He was holding onto a hope, something greater than his own power. I suppose a belief like that was such a rarity to see among the rest of them that I couldn't help but admire Prophet.

"Prophet", I said as I got up to look around the place, "This is hell, isn't it?"

He looked glum, guilty and broken.

Sniffing, he replied with a weak yes.

The place was nothing but fire all around us. Barren and rocky red mountains, bare trees on fire, lakes of lava, in short, purgatory at its best. It was almost unreal how hell was exactly what you'd imagine it to be. There were gusts of wind that felt like they would melt the skin right off your bones, it was impossible to see too far and breathing hurt your lungs more than it helped your system.

"I feel like I'll die here", I murmured.

"Well...you, err, wouldn't", Prophet answered.

"Why not?"

"Huh?! Because, umm, death doesn't exist here."

Isn't that great? I thought to myself while wishing to stop breathing and seeing and moving and talking and existing in that place any longer. Indeed, I was in agony, yet I gave no thought to giving any reactions to that pain. I was standing there like a man looking at the calm of the sea. That's right, nothing was swaying me.

"So", I asked Prophet, "What are we here to do?"

"Eh...I...Seraph", he looked down, "here...please kill me."

I kept staring at him emptily.

"Huh?!"

In the end, we decided to walk on until both of us were feeling in the right mind. He later told me that we were here to clean the place up, basically, to destroy this hell. Apparently, this hell had outlived its time and it was to crumble and disappear. Yet, it hadn't. He proposed that there could be some sort of residual anger and evil spirits formed into demons keeping the place alive. In any case, he said, we should head out and see what we find.

I was glad that he wasn't talking incomprehensible anymore. As unbelievable as it may seem, and it did to me too, he eventually loosened up and things got easier to convey. I guess he just needed to be encouraged the right way. Naturally, no one else back home was generous enough. He seemed much more calm than our first day.

He told me a lot of things, like time and demon laws. For some reason, he knew those things. Apparently, time was twisted in this realm. A million years in this world wouldn't mean a thing in our world, yet it didn't effect things living down here. In other words, we wouldn't age in a million years in this hell, but the time in our world wouldn't have passed.

"Well, we've walked a long way", I mentioned, "There really isn't much around here, maybe we should head up that there mountain. What do you say?"

"Ah...yes. I suppose so", he replied meekly.

I led the way.

"Seraph, I wasn't...joking back there", he said as he followed, "Please stay prepared to kill me."