Theo and Jaxa walk through the streets of hell, and the occasional breaking of glass and gunshots ring through the streets.
"Is it always a warzone down here?" Theo asks, picking up his pace, getting closer to Jaxa.
"Not usually, but this past week has been the Hell games, and in heresy where deals are made, bets are the most common kind," Jaxa replies.
"I see... the debt collectors you mentioned," Theo says, keeping his focus on his feet, trying to make sure he doesn't run into another aggressive sinner. Jaxa looks down at a dead sinner, and she begins scavenging the body. "What are you doing?"
"Your damn blonde hair's going to get us killed." She says removing a hoodie from the dead sinner. The hoodie has bullet holes and a damp stain of fresh blood. She tosses the hoodie, and Theo catches it reluctantly. "Put that on and keep your hood up."
"My blonde hair?" Theo asks, putting on the hoodie and placing the hood over his head.
"Yeah, blonde hair is reserved for the most infamous of sinners." She says, placing her hands in her pockets.
"Like Lucifer?" Theo asks. Suddenly, Jaxa forces her furry hand over Theo's mouth, her ears slamming down against her head.
"Don't fuckin say that name." She says, hushing him. Theo struggles against her grip.
"Why?" Theo asks, breaking her off him.
"The king of hell, the original sinner. You really want people looking at you more?" She says with obvious annoyance.
"What can he hear us when we say his name or something, like the villain from that one book series?" Theo asks.
"No, but that name plus your appearance could cause some issues if a sinner that works for one of the Sins hears. The king of hell and the princes don't exactly get along." Jaxa says as the two continue down the street.
"Got it, don't talk about the big players in Hell," Theo says, gesturing a zipper over his mouth, then grinning.
"You're going to get me killed, you know," Jaxa says with her own grin. A few minutes pass as they keep walking down the neon-lit streets.
"So you mentioned the Hell games, what are they about?" Theo asks.
"Every few hundred years, the Sins from all the rings hold a competition of extreme sin for a cash prize. It's about the only time that they work together for something. It's a pretty big deal down here." She explains. Theo nods in understanding. "The winners also get to contract with a Sin of their choice, granting them influence and the gifts of the Sin they contract with."
"Interesting. Have you ever-" Theo begins to ask.
"Nope, only suicidal freaks would risk getting erased in those games. Plus, getting contracted to a Sin isn't all it's cracked up to be; you basically become a slave to the temptations they create." Jaxa says, her tone switching from her carefree attitude to a low mournful mumble.
"Figures," Theo replies.
The two continue to walk towards a large building that looks like a cathedral. Large stone walls with intricate carvings and stained glass windows, with a large bell tower with a clock on it.
"A church in Hell?" Theo asks, looking up at it, his hood nearly sliding off his head as he tilts his chin up to see the top of the building.
"No... It's our ticket to Greed." Jaxa says as she walks over to the stone walls, running her claws across a small crack. Theo looks around, seeing a line of Sinners coming from the cathedral doors.
"This will take all day," Theo says with a sigh, seeing how slow the line is moving.
"That's why we go this way," Jaxa says as she pushes her claw into the cracked stone and twists her finger like a key. Theo could hear a muffled click from the other side of the wall as a small hole began to form in the stone, the hard surface dissolving into a smooth sand as an opening appeared in front of the two. Theo grinned with a look of approval on his face. Jaxa walked through and then turned back to look at Theo. "Move your ass, human." She smirked. Theo followed her into a dark room, the only light coming from the doorway that had formed behind the. The hole began to reform behind Theo, leaving them in complete darkness. Jaxa took out her phone and turned on its flashlight.
"Where are we?" Theo asked.
"Purgatory, just stay close; if you move too far from the light, the poor sinners moving through the layers of Hell for eternity will snatch you." She says her eyes focused on her steps as they moved further into the darkness.
"Purgatory? This isn't like what I went through." Theo said, remembering the gray room where he had met that angel.
Heaven and Hell have two different kinds of purgatory. You must have been stuck in heaven's judgment room." Jaxa said with a smirk.
"Well, I was definitely judged," Theo said, looking into the darkness swirling around the phone's faint light. "So sinners can get trapped in purgatory?"
"When a human dies, they are placed in purgatory based on the actions they took before their death. They could be waiting in purgatory for years before getting their final judgment." Jaxa says her ears are twitching slightly. "A few years of solitude can bring out the truth inside." She says as they keep walking. "It's why most sinners are prone to behaving depraved in hell, that and the absolute freedom to do what they want."
"Makes sense, luckily I was only in there for a few minutes," Theo replied. Suddenly, Jaxa's light goes out as they hear an earth-shattering shriek. Jaxa quickly grabs Theo's arm, pulling him closer.
"Shit!" She yelled, her fur standing on end. "Stay close and run!" Jaxa says, dragging him behind her as they run through the void of utter nothingness. Theo keeps running as his arm is tugged forward. Suddenly, he is tripped by something. Theo collapses to the ground, his thoughts racing as he is plunged into a helpless darkness, losing his only connection to reality. "Theo!" A worried cry echoes through the darkness.
"Shit!" Theo says, trying to stand. Suddenly, he feels the recognizable grip of a hand clutching his ankle. Theo pulls his leg back from the dark's grasp. As soon as he pulls away, he hears the sound of a scream in the distance. "Jaxa!" He yells his own voice echoing into the void. Theo feels his ankle tighten as more pressure is put on it, a wanting, hungering grasp pulling him to his knees. Then more, as he feels the same pressure around his body like hundreds of hands pulling him down. Then he feels it, the sensation of his throat being crushed and his lungs collapsing. The feeling that he had felt too many nights, the unforgettable experience of sleep paralysis, but this time the demon was real. Theo's breath leaves him as he thinks about what Jaxa said. The Light. He thinks as his arms move from his neck to his pocket, as he pulls out a small metal item. He brings the metal object up, flicking it open, revealing a small knife, then he stabs it deep in his shoulder. As soon as the blade enters his flesh, the bright glow of his holy blood expels from his body in a bioluminescent stream of golden light. Theo's teeth clench from the pain as the sudden shine of his blood causes his eyes to adjust, seeing a shadowy figure above him that quickly disappears into the darkness as he lets out a choked breath. Theo gets up, holding his shoulder but letting the blood flow over his hands as he moves forward. "Jaxa?" He says his voice is faint but panicked. He suddenly sees a figure moving through the haze of dim light coming from him. Out of the haze, Jaxa moves slowly towards him, her ears and tail identifying her in Theo's mind.
"Shit, human, good thinking. My damn phone ran out of battery." Jaxa says, patting Theo on the back, causing more paint to run through his stab wound.
"Thanks." He says still catching his breath. "Next time we should bring a flashlight." He says, grinning.
"But that was interesting, wasn't it?" She replies, smirking. Theo rolls his eyes as they continue to walk through the darkness.
"We should probably pick up the pace. My wound heals quickly, and I'd rather not stab myself again if I don't have to," Theo says.
"We're close, don't worry," Jaxa says, taking a few steps in front of Theo, then stopping. She sniffs the air, then pulls out a small vial of liquid. "Get close, human." She says, pouring the vial on the ground as a sudden burst of green energy erupts from the darkness. Theo quickly stands next to her as his vision is filled with green mist. Theo feels his pocket, placing his knife in before covering his wound completely with his hand. His vision begins to focus as the mist dissipates, and they appear in the middle of an empty street. Theo's eyes widen as he looks around, seeing a marble fountain with gold statues. Looking around, he sees giant skyscrapers reaching the roof of Hell with large zeppelins flying around with giant television screens with what looks like stock scales fluctuating. The sky is filled with dark smoke stacks from distant factories. He turns to see a few sinners walking around, one a man with a fancy suit and gold-plated shoes who nods at him as he passes by, and another a woman with dark purple skin and fish-like gills on her neck, partially hidden by a fur coat and fancy ruby earrings. "Welcome to greed," Jaxa says, turning Theo's attention to a large set of stairs leading to a rose quartz mansion with gold speckling.
"This is about what I expected," Theo says, grinning.
"This is the nicer part of greed, meant to welcome people to spend money until they make a bet they can't pay on, then they get moved to the slums to rot in their own decisions. Which is where we are headed." She says, dragging Theo towards a dark alleyway. As Theo is pulled, he sees one of the giant screens flash with the picture of Mammon, his grin wide and his eyes inviting, but Theo can see through the false smile, only seeing the truest of evil glints in the picture's canine eyes. Jaxa slings Theo forwards. Theo tries to catch his balance as he comes to the end of the alleyway, his eyes widening as he launches himself to the ground. In front of him is a sheer cliff that drops straight down. He lets out a gulp as he looks over hundreds of small buildings hastily crafted with scraps.
"What the Hell?" Theo says, looking out into the slums.
"That's the difference between true wealth and poverty obtained by greed. The ironic thing is that most of the people down there are richer than most people in any of the other rings." She says, looking out, a faint gust of wind is blowing her fur gently.
"Really, why don't they just take what they have and leave?" Theo asks.
"Because of the chance they could make it up here, the greed of ever wanting more, and the envy of wanting what they will never be able to obtain is like a chain, one they put around their own necks." She says her eyes never falter from the view. The slums of Envy.