̷̷𝕋ℍ𝔼 ℂ𝕌ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕆ℝ ✔

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It was all blue. Gabriel thought it was a pathway through life and death.

He wasn’t ready to die, even though he had one way or another imagined himself in the beautiful silver city, he never assumed it will be so soon.

He followed the old man quietly, watching him do nothing but stand still, holding his staff as the blue swirl tunnel led them to God-knows-where.

Getting to their destination, Gabriel  tapped his feet exasperatedly, robbing his shaky hands together, looking left and right and seeing nothing but the aged man.

“I don’t want to die.” Gabriel managed to say.

The aged man smiled briefly and said “You are dead, in case you haven’t noticed; your body is being tortured in a fiery furnace.”

“So I’m in hell, I’m in hell?” He exclaimed with buldged eyes, causing the old man to fidget.

“Sort of, but I’m here to help you get your body back.” He turned his gaze to Gab and pointed sideways.

"You? Who are you?" Gabriel asked but got no reply. His eyes followed his outstretched arms to a pool of volcanic fire. He found his body secured across the pool with the aid of a glowing purple robe attaching his arms and legs to the four lithic pillars erected from the ground. Gabriel found Fiends at each point of the pillars holding spherical shaped talisman. And whatever they kept pressing on the object,  lowered his body further into the fire.

“Is that me?” Gabriel asked mystified, not sure if the person tied up was truly him.

“Your body." Succinctly, the old man replied.  "But since you are here with me, you might just have a chance to survive. They are only looking for something.”

“What are they looking for?”  Gabriel asked, very much interested on not dying.

“The Golden key.”

Now, Gabriel's perturbed iris enlarged to accommodate the souless rays emitting from the old man's eyes. The long stare they had at each other sent pain to Gabriel nerves, it was a familiar pain but at the same time strange because he couldn't quite understand them.

“Julie has told me about a golden key. One of the curator must have it, she said that there was a mole in the group or something.” He said carelessly.

“It’s not a group or something! It’s a sacred home of divine beings. Blessed to protect the world from Fiends.”  In a thunderous voice, laced with anger, the aged man corrected, as his staff responded to his emotions. Igniting the top of his staff with blue flames.

Gabriel took two steps backward “What are you yelling at me for? I don’t have the key. I’ve seen no gold key in my life before, Julie only told me about it.”  Gabriel tried to explain in a trembling tone.

“You have no idea.”  The old man shook his head as the flame quenched.

Gabriel let out a quick sigh of relief. At least his soul won't be consumed by the old man's fire. Yet.

“if only you knew it was your idea from the beginning.”

“What was? The key? I already told you, I’m not with the key” Gabriel defended.

“And how did that get there?”  He asked, looking straight ahead at the Fiend holding up a shiny gold key

“What, How—” He stuttered hoping to blurt out the right word but got interrupted by the force that pushes through him.

Emy walked right through him, heading to the Fiends then paused.

“Can she see us?” Gabriel ask almost quietly.

“Unless you are dead then she’ll eat your soul.”

“huhh!” Gab gasped “I’m—” unable to understand the old man's sense of humor, he paused.

“No, but she can sense us. We need to leave here.” He said tapping his staff once on the floor and they disappeared.

Emy walked further ignoring whatever she felt earlier.

She grabbed the key from the Fiend holding it, held it close to her eyes “He isn’t all that useless after all. It’s a pity though, I had to put his sexy body through this torture.” She said, giving a make believe sad face as her fingers ran through his handsome face “Get rid of his body.” She ordered the Fiends as she moved to the other room.

“Yes ma’am!” one of them replied while another untied the robe on Gab’s legs and arms.

They dropped his body on an empty wheel barrow and wheeled him out of the room into the woods.

What surprised no one was how, despite all the fiery torture, his body still remained the same.

They stopped at the center of the woods, where the tall trees gave a little distance from each other, under the night clouds with the full moon shinning directly above them.

One of the Fiends bent low, scooping the sand with his hand while the others carried Gabriel and laid him on the earth.

The Fiends harmoniously, let out a loud roar, causing the night bat flying out of their nest as the fiends took sand, walked round Gabriel’s body and poured the sand around him in a circular motion.

Then, the fiends took few steps backward, forming a circle around Gabriel. They stamped their left foot at once on the floor and roared, bending low to his lifeless body. A ring of green fire formed round Gabriel and then, the fiends disappeared.

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What do you think about this story?

Who do you guess is the old man with Gabriel?

What do you think about Emy's character?

Please, let me know in the comments.
Also, don't hesitate to vote.

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Words (938)