Inferno (Ch. 9)

It's not like I thought it would be here. Actually–it's significantly colder than I imagined. The portal dropped us off in a desert of snow and icy winds. Over there! Four pyramids, each one larger than the one before it. Tilly doesn't even seem to flinch at the butchering winds as we trek forward. I try my best to keep up without complaint.

"Which one do you think they're in?" I ask Tilly.

She looks at me with certainty in her eyes. "The largest one."

We walk forward, but Tilly stops suddenly. A beautiful blue swarm of energy encapsulates her. How is she doing that?!

"Maybe we save the light show for when we're there?" The energy surrounding her begins to increase in intensity. "Tilly?"

"I'm not doing this! It has to be Dante." She reaches into her blouse and rips off her necklace, tossing it to me swiftly. "He will still think I have this. Adrien, he cannot get his hands on this Emerald. If Dante escapes, it will be much worse than your wildest dreams, and you would be none the wiser."

As quickly as the energy appears, Tilly vanishes, and I start to feel an uneasiness in my chest. It feels like the air is being stolen from me. I can feel my bones being shredded. I've never been this aware during a projection before. How is he controlling this?!

I don't have the time to ponder such unremarkable revelations. He'll get exactly what he wants if I still have this on me. I look out into the icy planes. There's nowhere I can throw this that he won't find it. I wonder–

I close my eyes and focus on the gem in my hand. I feel the ice beneath me. I focus on the ice. I can feel each of the molecules, slow but still vibrating gently. I can feel them huddled together, connected. I follow this chain of comradery until I can feel myself ankle-deep in the ice. I maintain my focus, keeping my third eye on the gem in my grasp until the ice reaches my solar plexus. It's not until I can feel the ice above my crown that I feel the Emerald is safe to release.

I drop the gem, and it seems almost instantly that the pain begins to clear itself. For a moment, darkness covers half my eyesight. I can only make out half of the frozen lake I've seemed to phase myself through. My lungs are in full panic now. Then–

Total darkness, just for a second, before hazy focus returns, and I can feel the air rush into my body. Three figures standing. Where is she? I hear faintly, my ears still ringing from transport.

"Where is she?" I ask.

"Your daughter walks among the weary now," a voice replies.

"I will–"

"You will do nothing! Because you are capable of doing nothing! Your ignorance has only been made obvious in your disobedience." I can hear walking. Well, not walking exactly. More like a slight trot.

"Great, the boy is here." Before I could blink, I could feel Dante's hands around my throat. Hands. Human hands. I know speaking is going to take more energy than I have to give right now, but I can't hide my shock.

Everything that Shaman said about you was a lie. You're not a beast at all. You're–you're–

"–Just. A. Man." I can feel his anger squeezing me.

"Just a man." The words echo in my mind as I struggle to get back on my feet. The anger in Dante's heart beats violently as he tightens his grip around my throat. My vision returns and I see that he has turned his full attention to me.

"Wrong, child! You are just a man. I am an angel forgotten." His grip tightens further.

"I am the fallen son," he says with passion as his grip tightens even more. "I am the morning star! I am Dante, The Dark Lord!"

"Dante, stop! Please." My body hits the ground with a thud. He turns his attention to Tilly.

"Your sentiment for them has always been your downfall, Lilith. Even after all of the gifts I've bestowed upon you, you've betrayed me with the inescapable disease of your humanity. Even when you were allowed to transcend to so much more."

I glance over at Dante and recognize his face and voice. It's the angel from my dream. Lilith?

Using what little energy I have left, I start to lift myself up. "Where is the Emerald?"

"I don't have it," I manage to say before he disappears and reappears behind Agustin. He snaps her neck before she can even turn to see the last light in her husband's eyes.

"No!!!" Her cry echoes through the cavern.

"Any lord, even a dark one, knows when to show mercy and restraint," I say, doubling over and hoping that my words will buy me some time to regain my strength.

Before I can rise fully, I feel a hoof pressing down on my spine. Then, as quickly as the pressure comes, I can feel his weight shift upward.

"No!!!" Her cry is even louder this time and causes some rocks to fall from above. I brace myself for impact.

Clack-clack-clack! I hear the uneven hobble of the volatile giant getting further away from me. Then he stops and I feel myself being picked up again. My body is completely void of energy to fight. I hang limp as he carries me toward Lilith.

"Am I not the great deceiver, Lilith?"

"You are, my lord," she responds brokenly.

He leans into her face, snarling. "Honestly, I am more offended that you think I have forgotten you. Your smell. Your face. You reek of desperation."

He jerks her head upward, setting her eyes on me.

"You cry for this child more than you do your own husband."

She looks him in the eyes. "Because he is just a child, Dante! An innocent child! Deceived–"

"As you wish to deceive me!" His snarling intensifies. "Your priest has not only made you weak; he has also made you think I have grown weak with stupidity. This boy lost his innocence the moment you gave him the Emerald, didn't he?"

"I don't have it anymore..." My words go unheard.

"Dante, I swear!"

"Your oaths are empty, Lilith. You've sworn to me before. LIAR."

"That was before–"

"Before what?"

"You changed!" Her eyes turn red with fury and terror. "Michael betrayed you. He lied to the Divine, and you fell for offenses that were not your own–" she raises a hand to his cheek.

He flinches slightly, pulling his hand off her face to grab her hand–but he doesn't move it.

"But you became every bit of the monster he made you out to be," she says as she rips a hooped earring out of his ear.

I finally see him - the monster from my dreams. The one who stood over the shaman's lifeless body. The one who told me to find Amaranth. The one who has been controlling my every move.

He stumbles backward, dropping me to the ground. The sound of my body hitting the ground is muffled by another noise - it sounds like an explosion. The ground beneath me shakes and I wonder if Dante has also been knocked down. I might have a chance to escape and get back to Shaman. I know how to get to Dante now. Together, we can stop him before he gets away.

To my surprise, Dante is still standing. The ground shakes again and there is another loud bang, this time coming from the room we're in. I look up to see Amaranth, healthy and panicked. She runs over to me, but her panic turns to confusion when she sees Lilith.

"Mom?" Lilith cries.

"Ammie?" I reach out to grab Amaranth's hand. "Ammie-- has a nice ring to it," I say with a small laugh. She rolls her eyes.

"We have to go now. We need to find your shaman. Whatever you were talking about before, I believe you. I believe all of it!"

I'm confused. "Amaranth, I don't even believe what's going on can we slow this way down?!"

"No time to explain!" She grabs me and materializes in front of her mom... just like Dante did moments before breaking her dad's neck. "Mom, is it really you?"

She glances over to see her dad hanging there. "Dad? No...no...no!" The weight of her pain is palpable.

Her third eye opens, and it's completely white. "You will pay for what you've done," she says.

"If I do, it won't be by your hand, child," he replies.

"Ammie, we have to go - now!!" Her third eye closes and she takes hold of me and her mom, projecting again. This time, I can see into her mind. She's not just escaping the pyramid, she's taking us home. I hope Shaman is okay.