Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
‘Yes. Now, be on your guard. This is the first official lever of hell. You have reached the lands of purgatory, and I imagine that here, you will need to search much longer for a way out of here. These souls are usually stuck here at all times, so it is not common to find a door.’
“Not common, but possible, right? I mean, we are not stuck here forever, are we?”
‘There will be a door. I just do not know how far you will need to roam before you finally find it. It is not going to be close like the last few doors.’
“OK, and what can I expect here in Purgatory?” I was looking all around me as things started to come into focus. I still wasn’t able to see anything clearly.
‘Purgatory is where those with minor sins go. They get their souls cleansed so that they may join the ranks of the blessed. After they have atoned for their sins, they are either sent to be reborn or to receive the eternal bliss that is heaven. That fate is up to the specific soul and is therefore not set into stone.’
“OK, so I am going to see a bunch of people atoning for their sins so that they can get out of here. Alright. So, there are doors out of here. How often do souls make it out of purgatory?”
‘The timing and frequency cannot be predicted. It will happen at random times.’ OK, that wasn’t exactly comforting, but it was the best that I could hope for.
“M..mommy?” Zayden tightened his grip on my hand as the images around us cleared up for us to see. I could see nothing but dead hills and barren mountains stretching out before me. There were fires that rose high enough to lick the sky. And there were waters deep and dark enough to hide monsters of unknown origins and design.
Stretching out before me, there seemed to be different trials and tribulations going on. I saw people being purified in many different ways that I had never even thought about before. Some of them were expected, like the cleaning by fire, the stoning of others attached to rocks, and a few others that seemed like they were from classic literature.
Others, however, just didn’t seem like the old ways at all instead, these other people, newer looking people, seemed to be getting tortured in many modern ways. I could see a group of people who clearly committed their sins with their smartphones. They were laid out, naked, in a pit of gravel as they tried to crawl straight up the side of a slick mountain face, literally trying to crawl vertically. At the top of that mountain was their phone, ringing and pinging with notifications for the entire duration of their punishments. That was a creative punishment, I guess. I had to give props to the people who created that one, it would literally be torture to some of the people in the world.
There seemed to be more people here than there were in the Hall of Regrets but, thankfully, this place was not as crowded. I was able to move around here comfortably, and that was the major plus for me. Also, there was no weird chattering, chirruping, or whatever you wanted to call it.
This place wasn’t silent. Actually, it was far from it. This place was filled with the sounds of screaming and the wails of woe. I could already hear what they were saying without me needing to focus at all. That was both a blessing and a curse.
I heard their sorrow and their repentance, which I don’t think that I was meant to hear, but it was better than that incomprehensible chattering.
“I think that we should get a move on.” I told the kids as they clung to me. “I don’t want to be here any longer than we absolutely need to. I think we should move out and hurry toward the door. Can you three sense it like you did before?”
“N..no.” Zayden shook his head.
“N..no, mommy.” Zander looked down at the ground.
“W..we can’t s..s..see it.” Zachary sounded so heartbroken.
“That is fine, we will find it soon enough. Just tell me if you start to sense it.” I smiled at them to let them know it was OK.. I could tell that they were upset about this, about not being able to help.
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Riviana
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Before I started to move forward, I looked all around me. I needed to see what was in every direction. If there was something nearby that I should search or anything like that, I didn’t want to overlook it and move in the opposite direction. I needed to be thorough here and make sure that I didn’t inadvertently move away from the door.
I saw that the Hall of Purgatory started approximately twenty feet behind me. Oh, it looked like it went on for much further than that, but there was clearly a barrier there that stopped the debris that was blowing in the wind. The fires that were beyond that invisible barrier looked more like they were paintings rather than actually flickering and alive. It looked like it was just a cleverly painted wall that made people think that they could run in that direction for miles and miles. In truth, if anyone tried, they would most likely smack face first into the wall and slide to the ground in pain.
On either side of me, there were large rock formations that shot toward the sky. They didn’t completely fill the view since I was able to see onto the other side of them. There were several people being ‘purified’ through various tortures so that they could ascend to this underworld’s version of heaven.
I guess, in a way, those rock formations were forming a hall that I needed to walk down. They weren’t close to me at all, the corridor they were forming was quite vast. So vast. in fact, that I could have fit an entire stadium between the formations and still had room.
I decided to follow their lead and walk toward the end of the corridor. It looked like it went on for a long time, but there was nothing but torture on their other side, so there was no reason for me to go over there at all.
I needed to find a door. I was not here to save people. I was not here to interfere. I just needed a door to the next level so that I could eventually get to the halls of eternal torture and damnation.
I felt awkward and uneasy as I walked past all of these people. I didn’t know who any of them were and I didn’t know what sins they had committed. However, I felt like I was invading something personal and private as I made my way past them. It felt like I was intruding on something that I was never meant to see.
I thought that I would be able to continue on the way that I was without issue. I thought that I would have near free range to roam the halls and look for my door. I thought that, since I wasn’t here for punishment, I wouldn’t be subjected to the same rules as the other souls here.
I was wrong.
The further I walked on through that corridor, the more that my view changed. I had seen it in the beginning, but now, I could see that there was a large gate standing at the end of this path that I was on. The gate seemed to be opened to allow souls to enter, but it was also heavily guarded to keep the souls in. This was when I first noticed that there were other people moving around me on that path.
In truth, they had been there the entire time, I just didn’t pay any of them any attention. I had been too focused on what I needed to do to even think about the other souls that were here for their torture.
The souls of dead people that were moving into the halls of purgatory were all naked. They weren’t wearing anything and were not saying anything until their punishments were handed down to them. When they heard what they were going to be doing until their sins were wiped clean, that was when they started to wail and fight against the guards who would drag them off to their new home in purgatory.
Thinking about it, the boys and I were the only ones here that were wearing clothes. Well, us four and the guards. I was still wearing the same things that I had been when I entered the underworld, the three little boys were wearing old fashioned looking pants and dark colored t-shirts. It was like the underworld couldn’t figure out how to dress them so it mixed and matched.
The guards on the other hand, were wearing dark red leather armor. The armor was clearly ancient in style, but it looked brand new. They were wearing the armor over some sort of pants that were black but didn’t look like it was made out of any type of modern day fabrics. The shirts, or rather tunics, that they were wearing looked like they were a dark slate gray under their armor. And all of them were wearing strong-looking black leather boots.
All of the guards also had swords, shields, bows, and a whip. It was a lot for them to carry, but I am guessing that they needed it from time to time. You know, when they needed to put a rowdy soul back in their place.
I wondered for a moment if a soul that was in purgatory could find themselves in damnation if they fought against their punishment? That was an interesting thought, but I don’t know if I really wanted to find out the answer to it.
The gate was getting closer now. I could see the people in the distance stopping one by one as they had their souls scanned and their punishment handed down. The guards had a large stone tablet in their hands, something that they seemed to be checking the souls off on, like a list. Also, the tablets in their arms seemed to emit a strange and eerie looking red light that would move over each soul as it entered through the gates. That must be how they determined where to send the people that were here.
