To Hell and... Battle

The passage to Hell was cold. That in and of itself was something surprising, although maybe there was a good reason for it. Leo guessed that it was to offset the absolute and infinite heat of the depths of evil, but he would have to find out with his own senses.

'Are you sure you're ready for this?' Raphael was hand in hand with him, lightning propelling the two of them through this long dark tunnel made of black and red stone.

'Am I ready to see the person I loved most on Earth in the place that makes you eternally suffer?' Leo asked with venom on his tongue. He quickly reigned in his frustration, remembering what danger the archangel was going through just to get him here. 'I don't think I could ever be. I can hardly imagine what she's been through.' Something welled in his stomach like a seething mass of acid–rage. He did his best to keep it down, but he hadn't needed to do that for an eternity, so it was difficult.

Raphael had made the arrangement to come down here on the grounds that he was to complete a routine check of the gates which was normally completed by a group of regular angels. He had told the other archangels that he received reports of a troublemaking demon at the gates. In short, he had lied. Raphael may very well have been the first lying angel since the dawn of creation. All this just to fulfil Leo's request to simply see the woman he loved. Raphael really was playing favourites.

'Stay close to me at all times,' Raphael instructed. 'And do not reply to any demon, do not even look at them. To them, you will be the most exciting thing since the last of humanity poured into these gates.' Raphael's eyes were dimmer than before, his lightning weaker. It made sense that he would have less influence here. He continuously clutched a leather bag at his side, which Leo found a little odd for an angel to have.

The path ahead splayed open until it ended in black metal bars with dim green masses of ooze running down them. Black skulls lined the walls, embedded and still looking like they were screaming. The gates of Hell. Everything beyond was entirely quiet, a grey mist blocking all view aside from a few red pinpoints of light like tiny flames. The lights multiplied, moved and cackled. Demons.

'Hold on.' Raphael pressed forward to the gates, then placed a hand on the bars. 'Gatekeeper!' he called with a voice that thundered louder than any storm.

In immediate response, three pairs of eyes moved into view, revealing six separate heads connected to one grotesque and hairy body. Each face was completely inhuman, with massive uneven teeth and faces contorted by protruding noses.

'Archangel Raphael!' the middle-left head exclaimed.

'A pleasure.' The far-left head smiled and bowed lightly.

'What do you want?' The center-right head's lips curled like a mad animal.

'I need to visit a soul, Ozis.' Raphael reached into that bag and drew out a golden skull, decorated with white gemstones and golden leaves.

'The holy guide offers me a King's Skull?' Ozis' center-left head tilted with a look of psychotic madness in its eye. The other heads were practically drooling at the object. 'Why do you have the precious skull of a holy human? There were so few of those around when the End came.'

'I ask for no questions and swift passage to meet a particular human's soul.' Raphael offered the object through the bars and Ozis snatched it with foam pouring from the far-right head's mouth.

'Granted.' Ozis middle-right head bowed.

The black bars shattered into shards like glass, allowing Leo and Raphael to pass through. Distant clattering filled the abyss, and revealed itself to be a path forming itself from brimstone and human remains. The hideous bridge carved the way for them, and all that was left was to trust in a bribed demon.

'You're lucky,' called Ozis' far left head the evil creature was left behind. 'The big guy isn't patrolling at the moment.'

Leo didn't even think about Satan until that moment, and the fear of that terrible being gripped him. He realised that at any moment, they could run into him, the Prince of Darkness.

Hell had no temperature at all, it seemed. A short few minutes of being watched by evil eyes passed before Leo and Raphael arrived at a barren patch of black rock. The only place that stood out was another set of black metal bars, but they were set in the ground like an oversized drain.

'So, it's come to this.' Raphael gestured for Leo to look inside. Down in the depths of darkness, a body lay bare and still. Her platinum blond hair smouldered with burning tips, and skin was mottled with terrible burns like the spots of a leopard. Something black and mossy ate away at her skin at the same time. She seemed to be sleeping, or was dead. Either way, she had been broken and humiliated.

Leo cupped both hands over his mouth and fell to his knees. Stifled sobs shook between his fingers, but he brokenly said, 'Hazel!' He tried his hardest to not wail. There was probably nothing more pleasurable for the demons wandering nearby to hear. He refused to give them that satisfaction.

'She must have been a good person. This eternal torture is the lightest possible in this place, and is given to those who do not deserve the more… creative forms.' Raphael leant into Leo and tried to pull him close, but Leo refused the touch. He didn't want any comfort. The rage within him bubbled at the edges. Whose idea was this? Should he blame the demons? Was it God's fault?

'Ah,' a sodden voice cooed. 'My prisoner has visitors.'

Leo managed to turn his face enough to see a tall figure crafted from darkness itself. It was human-like, but tall and had no features but a thin, sinister smile.

'It's a shame, really. She broke within a hundred Earth years or so. Most humans scream for longer than that.'

Fury sparked like pain in Leo's chest.

'I tried to get creative, use different techniques to get her to speak again, but she was broken.'

An all-consuming fire swelled.

'Honestly, if she hadn't said she would live through anything in hopes of seeing her partner again, I wouldn't have burned her from the inside out. Broken toys are simply broken, I guess.'

The fury broke its banks, and Leo punched a demon.