Chapter 4: The Children of Joseph
He heard voices.
He could smell burnt apples.
He thought he heard several thousand
voices at once, but they sounded slow.
They were moaning. Or grunting...
Pleasure?
He tried to move but felt like he was
inside another type of surface, a thick surface like water where you had to wade
in order to move. Either that, or time was really slow in this place.
He looked around but couldn't see
anything. He tried to reach around... he felt a body, a human body. "Mara?"
Emmanuel asked. A body brushed against him, he realized that this person was
feeling him: "Oooohh.. A fresh demon..." The words came in a thick voice and an
extremely slow tempo. Emmanuel tried to measure time with an internal metronomic
mechanism and thus was able to slow down the tempo of his own auditory
perception in order to be in the same level as the voice: She now sounded
"normal", and in fact, very sexy.
"I can see you haven't been touched in a
long time." The sultry female voice whispered in his ears. "I have to take you
alone; I cannot share you with anyone... Come to my cove..." Emmanuel pushed her
away: "I don't know who you are, stay away from me." There was silence from her
side but he could still hear the whispers and the moans. He tried to walk but
realized that there bodies on the ground, he walked further, there were more
bodies, the bodies were intertwined with each other. Emmanuel stopped for a
moment and realized that those people... All of them, were fornicating with each
other... What form of damned place had he walked into?
"I need to get out of here!" Emmanuel said. The
woman grabbed his hands: "Oh! You are lost!" She said. "My name
is Jehan El-Massa from the Odartian tribe of The Diamond, I can make you shine
with love. My record is seven hundred fifty humans and fifteen demons in a
single session lasting two human weeks. But of course, I see that you are not
in the mood for that, I don't know how regarding you are in Odibil Onretea.
But, I trust that you need my help." Emmanuel didn't speak at first but
decided he needed to. "Alright then,
The girl shook his hand, as if nodding.
"Alright, where do you want to go? And why are you looking at the ground and not
my face... Or my body? Don't tell me you are bashful?"
Emmanuel raised his head: "Actually I
can't see anything." She pulled him closer, he could feel her breath on his face
so he figured that she was looking into his eyes to see what was wrong with
them. He smelt a tantalizing aroma of sweet red apples in her breath... Her skin
smelt of roses.
He was tempted, very tempted, to get
closer and kiss her lips, or touch her naked body and make love to her... But he
refrained... It was wrong, and Enoch could be looking, or so he thought in the
back of his mind.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" Sure
enough, she said it.
"Nothing. There is no light here for me
to see things with." Came the honest but obviously human reply.
"LIGHT!" She shouted with a very shocked
voice. "You don't need light here. Light is just a lazy way of seeing, you have
to wait for light to hit things and hit back into your eyes for you to see them.
Down here, you don't need light. You LOOK with your Soul, it has all the light
you need."
"Even demons?" He asked. "Yes! Even
demons! They are divine too you know!" She replied with a soft chuckle.
Emmanuel sighed, “What a training day!”
the thought to himself. He turned around, saw nothing but darkness. He
concentrated on a specific direction. For a long while he stared...
Nothing? Is that what he was supposed to be seeing? Or
was the girl just fooling him?
He was about to turn around back at
Jehan but noticed something bluish moving with the turn of his head.
He turned back and concentrated, it was two bodies intertwined together... Not male and female but female and female, they were making love... It was a very shocking sight, something that Emmanuel never imagined could happen. He cursed them for their sin under his breath.
"What did you say?" She said, he turned
back and couldn't see her entire face, only her forehead, he determined that he
was taller than she was... He also realized that he could only see one part of
her face at a time, he looked at her blue cheeks, then her blue nose, he looked
down at her lips, and they were rosy, very rosy.
He looked slightly to the left, and saw
her beautiful red hair covering her ear... He looked down and saw her breasts;
they were small and very enticing.
"Go ahead, I know you want to touch..."
She said softly.
He shook his head: "No. I can't..."
She smiled: "Can’t? Or wouldn’t? Why?
Because you are afraid you'll get punished? By whom? Let me tell you something,
darling... There IS no punishment. Only one thing... Aitnegludni."
"What does that mean?" Emmanuel asked.
"It's Nital for Indulgence."
Emmanuel looked at her eyes. His heart
stopped. They were a fiery rosy color, and the color shined... The rest of her
eyes were black... He blinked and realized that it wasn't the color of her Iris
that he was seeing, but the color of her soul.
"Tell me..." Emmanuel asked. "Yes?" She
said, shutting her soft eyes ecstatically, waiting for his rough and rugged
demonic touch on her bare fragile skin. "What is Nital?" He asked.
She frowned: "It is Latin, in reverse.
It is the spoken language of you demons and the Lingua Franca of Hades. Any
other questions you want to test me with?"
Emmanuel took the chance of her
answering his questions. "Yes. What level of hell are we in?"
"That's an easy one!" She snapped. "We are in
Obidil, the
"Come with me." He said.
She smiled: "Yes! I will! Where to?!"
"Take me to Limbo... Sorry, Obmil." He
replied.
Her smile turned into a frown: "Obmil?
But... But that is in the first circle, with Purgatory... I don't want to go
there... I was told that I may lose my Odartian status." She lamented as he
forcefully grabbed her arm.
He felt a strong flow of energy here, as
if he could do anything he wanted without anyone objecting; even crush this very
annoying creature if he wished to, without regrets.
"I said. TAKE ME TO OBMIL!" He shouted,
with his bellowing demonic voice. He pulled her arm closer to himself, his claws
were digging deep into her skin, and blood was now starting to gush out.
"Oh please... Don't hurt me, demon...
Don't!" Her attempt at shouting seemed meek, it was like she was mocking him. Or
was she? Was she enjoying the pain?! "I will kill you if you don't come with
me." He said.
"Die? I'm not scared of dying, I will
just be reborn. But to lose my status... That means I won't be able to enjoy
myself anymore, I'll be guilt-ridden again and I can never go back to that
state!!" She lamented frantically, obviously distraught.
Emmanuel sighed. He shut his eyes and
let his energy distribute through his body instead of concentrating on the
emotion of anger. "Alright," he sighed "What is Odartian status? What does that
mean? I don't understand this human language you call Latin. I only know Hebrew,
Egyptian and Ionian."
She nodded: "Alright, I understand. When
shades learn to accept guilt and absorb it rather than repent, they are given a
chance to "Oneila" or let go their devotion to a supreme God and instead embrace
the life-force that is known as the devil, which is, the only God. If they do
that, they get taken down to the lower levels and are judged according to their
arche-psyches to be in one of the levels according to their favored indulgence
on earth. In my case, I...."
Emmanuel snickered: "What? Was the whore
of the town?"
She blinked: "No... I was... Cut..."
Emmanuel shook his head: "What?" She sighed:
"I lived in
Emmanuel let go of her arm in shock:
"What? They mutilated you?! Who did that?" She shed a tear while she looked at
him: "My mother... She said..." Jehan sobbed: "That she was allowing me to
eradicate evil from my life. She cut me when I was only eight. I bled for days."
"Oh... For males, I can understand
because it’s a Hebrew tradition, but females? That is just… Inhumane!" Emmanuel
said, sounding a little odd for a demon.
Emmanuel sighed. "I'm so sorry..." he
tried to rub her cut but his skin actually scratched her more. She flinched, but
Emmanuel didn’t notice because he could only see her arm at that moment.
She smiled: "You know, I'm glad it
happened. Because of it, I hated my family and cursed God. Thankfully, after my
death, it led me here, where I can indulge myself. For ever!" She said that and
Emmanuel looked at her mouth and noticed that she was smiling, but her smile
wasn’t sincere, and Emmanuel could feel it.
Emmanuel shut his eyes and took a deep
breath: "But that is not all that you want, is it, Jehan... You want more out of
your after-life. Perhaps, one soul whom you can share forever with?" She looked
at him. Tears were now flowing freely down her face: "I've been here for three
hundred and eighty six years, if you could count it with human years... And I've
not been happy not even once." Emmanuel hugged her, trying as softly as possible
not to hurt her with his rugged skin.
"Honestly," Emmanuel said. "I've not
always been a demon. I was once a human, like you. And I may have hated my
life... But one thing's for certain, Despite of God, it has taught me to care
about others more than to care about myself."
Jehan sobbed with a smile and wiped her
tears: "I guess that's a cue for me, isn't it." Emmanuel nodded with a smile.
"Yes, it is."
Jehan nodded: "Alright, I'll take you
there. Even if it means feeling a little bit of shame once again in my life...
Just promise me one thing, that after I show you that place, you would come back
to visit me again some day?"
Emmanuel smiled: "Yes, I promise, if it
is ever possible." She smiled: "Thank you." He looked at her: "What for?"
She held his hand: "For listening to me
and making me feel happiness."
Limbo
Up here was a little easier for
Emmanuel’s eyes. There was light here and there from small bits of fire that
came out from scarred cities.
There were burnt carriages that seemed
to be able to be drawn without horses... There were tall broken buildings and
dark pools of blood. There was a scream from a distance, Emmanuel looked up and
saw a man clothed with strange black pants and a white shirt, jumping from the
very tall building. He fell to the ground, forming a large dust cloud.
"I hope you find what you are looking
for quickly." Jehan said. Emmanuel looked at her and realized that she was
covering her breasts with one hand and trying to cover her under parts with her
other hand. He knew it wasn't because of the cold wind because she was
specifically covering her private parts. She was starting to feel shame.
"This place gives me the creeps." She
murmured.
There was another scream. Emmanuel
looked back at the tall building and saw the same man falling to his death
again. "Why... Why does he keep falling?" Emmanuel asked.
"This is Limbo. Mostly for people who
committed suicide or people who gave up on trying to repair their karma. That
guy killed himself by falling from that building; he therefore will keep on
doing that."
"For ever?" Emmanuel asked. She nodded:
"And ever."
He sighed, thinking about his own wife.
They walked on.
It seemed like they were walking for
days. There were different cities, the further they walked, the less strange the
cities looked and the more familiar they became. Suddenly, he felt a strange
feeling crawl up the back of his head. He turned towards a small cubicle... It
looked like it was extracted from a house... The architecture of which was
definitely Egyptian. "Mara!" Emmanuel said as he walked towards the cubicle.
Jehan waved at him: "Goodbye, Emmanuel!
I've had true pleasure in meeting you. But I have to go now!" She walked away,
Emmanuel didn't look back.
Emmanuel knocked on the wall. There was
no answer. He walked in. A woman sat there and looked onto the air with lost
eyes. She probably didn't even notice Emmanuel was there. She looked around, as
if confused. Her eyes were red like she hadn't slept in years. "Mara..."
Emmanuel whispered with a broken voice. She looked up at him, then stood up with
a fright and ran to outside: "NO! Stay away from me you monster!!" She screamed.
Emmanuel turned himself back into human
form but as he took a step forward a piece of broken glass cut the sole of his
foot. He realized that he was naked. He could feel the pain on his foot, and he
could feel the cold wind. Apparently, the demon body was made to be adaptable to
the extremities of hell, unlike the human body.
He walked outside the cubicle, careful
not to cut himself with any rocks or glass. "It is me, Mara! Emmanuel!" Mara
covered her face, weeping: "Emmanuel! Thank you for being here! I was so scared!
I don't know where I am and there are monsters everywhere!"
They hugged. "I am here now, everything
will be alright." Emmanuel said with his soft, human voice.
Suddenly she let go of him violently and
pushed him away with sheer strength, making him fall to the ground while the
tears continued to stream down her face. She ran to the table where a cup of tea
was placed and drank it. "NO!!!" Emmanuel screamed. "It's poison!!!"
She looked at him with a puzzled look
and fell on the ground... She was dead.
Emmanuel sat there, not knowing what to
think or do.
A few minutes passed. She got up again.
Emmanuel went to her and held her hands. "My dear! You are alive!" He smiled,
the tears streamed down his eyes. He was being tortured more than she ever will
be.
She stuttered, not knowing why she felt
so tired and drained: "Yes, of course I am.... Where am I? And why are you
crying? I thought... I thought you were stabbed, by..."
"No. They are lies. All lies. The
Egyptians killed me, not Moses." He said.
"Killed? How can you be dead, you are
right in front of me!" She said. He shook his head: "Never mind that. The
important thing is that I'm here and I'll never leave your side, not for
anything!" She smiled and touched his soft human face with loving eyes.
She kissed his soft lips and told him
how much she loved him. She looked around. She saw the cup on the table and
reached for it.
"No!" Emmanuel shouted, flinging the cup
away. It shattered and spilt the poisoned tea across the ground. But before he
could look back at Mara, the cup was right there on the table, as if Emmanuel
never even touched it. "What the hell..." Emmanuel grimaced.
"Come, let's go away from here." He
said, pulling her away.
"But where are we going to go... And
what is this place? What happened to our house? It looks like there was war
here." She asked.
She walked with him. He held her firmly.
"We are in Hell." He said. "Hell? But that place doesn't exist! You told me so!"
She said.
"I know, but somehow, it does exist. I
don't know why, or how. Mara, you killed yourself, do you remember?" He asked.
She thought for a moment. "The...
Poison..."
He nodded. "Yes, and I think you are
being punished, but don't worry because..."
"The poison!" She screamed and ran back
to the cubicle, Emmanuel ran behind her and tried to push her away from the cup
but some strange benevolent power overcame her and she jabbed through his ribs,
breaking them as he flew across the air, breaking the wall with the sheer force.
She grabbed the cup as if she was about
to die of thirst. She downed the drink, stood there for a moment then fell down,
dead.
"Why!!!" He screamed, looking upwards as
if someone was up there, listening to him.
He tried to stand up but realized that
he broke his arm and a leg. How was she able to push him so hard? Even with his
own above-normal strength??
He managed to heal his wounds on his
own, apparently his alter demonic form had some sort of Immortality ability. He
stood up and looked at his dead wife.
Minutes later, she woke up again.
She stood up. "Emmanuel? What are you
doing? Why are you naked.? And where am I?" Emmanuel sighed. He realized that
there was nothing he could do. "Don't you remember? I already told you, you are
in hell! You are being punished!"
She looked around and started to panic,
crying uncontrollably. "Hell?! I was told by my father that Hell did not exist!
YOU told me it doesn’t exist!"
He shook his head: "It does! Look around
you! Do you think you are in a dream?!" She nodded: "Yes, I hope so... I
thought… I thought you were dead!"
He shook his head: "I told you... We are
in the after-life, can't you remember anything?!" He looked at her and his heart
drooped. It was hopeless. She was damned, and now, this was her home. They stood
there, he didn't know what to say or do. Suddenly she grabbed the cup again and
drank it.
She stood there as a tear rolled down
her face:
"I love you...." She said.
She collapsed and died again.
Emmanuel wept as he sat next to her and
pulled her body close to his. "WHY!!!" He screamed. He wished there was
something he could do to break this awful spell that was upon him. But there was
nothing, THIS was all the real that was left.
Emmanuel turned back to his demonic form
and walked away.
His choice was now clear.