CODEX Part 3: Between Heaven and Hell

The heart machine that Zoe was connected to in the hospital started to beep uncontrollably indicating signs of trouble in her heartbeats and pulse. Except for the sudden urgency, a deep cut suddenly appeared alongside her collarbone and Ezekiel went into cardiac arrest.

Jasper and Chen took a few steps back and watched in fear as the nurses were going back and forth between the patients.

“Where did the cut come from?” One nurse asked another.

They glanced at the two boys suspiciously before they started to talk about their own things.

The doctor called for help to resuscitate Ezekiel since he was losing blood through uncontrollable peeing. They had never seen something like that. The two young adults were perfectly healthy from every point of view yet their bodies were either collapsing or working too fast.

“Come on! Get it here already!”

The nurse complied.

The doctor took the paddles and told the nurse what volume to raise it to, which was quite high if Chen heard correctly.

“1, 2, 3!” He rubbed the paddles before he pushed them on Ezekiel’s chest.

Another nurse was dealing with Zoe’s wound. When Ezekiel’s body reacted to the electroshock, hers did too.

“Again! 1, 2,3!”

They received the same reaction. Zoe's and Ezekiel's eyes were wide open, which made everyone feel uncomfortable since it felt like they were staring at them, but they weren’t conscious.

“Doctor! It makes no sense! What's wrong with these two?”

Jasper and Chen could hear the fuss from outside. They glanced at each other worriedly and prayed that something wasn’t going to let them die.

No one really felt when an entity entered the room and placed a hand on their foreheads. Ezekiel’s condition stabilized immediately and Zoe’s wound disinfected itself.

“This is not normal.” The doctor trailed while watching the two bodies.

“Chen?”

The younger boy was a mess. He went through the agony of seeing Zoe almost dead before but it never happened with Ezekiel. He only hoped his best friend was safe wherever he was.

“Chen!”

The boy rubbed his face and sighed heavily.

“What? I’m going through a hard time right now!”

Chen was scared and when he was scared, he was impulsive. He was annoyed by everything at the moment and Jasper tugging on his sleeve wasn't helping at all.

“I see it,” the inheritor whispered, glancing between what he could see and what he could touch.

Chen turned towards him with a scowl.

“What do you see?”

“Demons are guarding them.” He mumbled, pointing at the doors.

Chen couldn’t see anything. He remembered the time in The Volunteer Pub when Zoe touched his hand and he could catch a glimpse of the underworld for a short period of time. He glanced at Jasper’s hand before he grabbed it forcefully.

The human got a sudden chill when he saw the two demons. They both had dinosaur-shaped faces, their bodies were incredibly tall and their feet looked like they had been walking through lava. They didn’t have eyes, they had white holes and snake-like noses. The two reminded Chen of a bad version of Voldemort.

“If they guard them, does that mean they are in Hell?”

Chen’s question was legit but they had no way to prove that their friends were safe no matter where exactly they were.

Ezekiel was still in the purgatory. He found his way back into the empty room he arrived in and walked around, sang a few tunes he remembered and even started talking to himself. He couldn't shrug off his chat with Beelzebub and the portraits in the corridor. He couldn't help himself and walked back, straight to the portrait that resembled Zoe. Ezekiel tilted his head to the side and watched in amazement as the face of that woman was so familiar and yet so strange. Whoever painted it captured the life in her eyes and the bravery of facing death just for another day with her lover. She was smiling softly and her face was positioned so that anywhere you were, you could feel her watching you.

“Just like Mona Lisa,” Ezekiel mumbled, touching her hands and chuckling to himself. He didn’t know what he was expecting but nothing happened, "I need a break,”

“Yes, you do.”

Ezekiel didn't have to turn around because he already recognized the voice.

“Mehrdir. How did you find me?”

The demon was standing a few feet from Ezekiel, staring at him from the shadows.

“You have to get back into your body, Ezekiel.”

Ezekiel glanced to the left and right before he faced Mehrdir and shrugged.

“I don’t see any sign that would point towards the exit. I’m stuck here for the time being.”

Mehrdir stared at the human without a word before he approached him and looked at the portrait.

"Did you know that Zoe resembles Beelzebub's dead lover?" Ezekiel asked seeing how the atmosphere around Mehrdir was more mellow.

"No. I don't come to the purgatory often. When I fell, I went straight to Hell," Mehrdir replied and looked at Ezekiel. He was ready to say something else when he suddenly frowned.

Gradually, the atmosphere in the corridor changed and Ezekiel felt a chill down his spine. Much like when you are in the dark and you get the urge to turn your head, Ezekiel felt the urge to move and glance over his shoulder.

"Don't move. Don't turn your head. Don't blink." Mehrdir warned coldly.

Ezekiel's eyes widened when he felt something wet touch his cheek. He clenched his fists and licked his lips, finding it hard not to turn and take a look.

“What’s behind me?” Ezekiel whispered.

Mehrdir didn't move his eyes off the creature but he didn't move to help either.

“You don’t want to know.”

Ezekiel hoped he wasn't going to die out of fear. He flinched when he felt claws touching his waist, squeezing his sides softly as its claws lightly scratched his skin.

Mehrdir glanced to the side and noticed a shadow crawling from behind him.

While the demon was trying to find a way to get the human away from the restless soul, Ezekiel started to hear whispers. It was all over the place and most of them were telling him that he was going to die.

“Um-Mehrdir?”

Ezekiel’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and he started to quiver with terror.

When the voices entered Ezekiel’s mind, Zoe’s soul felt a change, like an overwhelming sense of danger. Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she caressed her cheek softly and inspected her face. Her fingers were long and the number decreased to only three, her nails were sharp and without realizing it, she made a cut just above her cheekbone, looking like a tear made out of blood falling down her pale cheek. Her chin felt lighter because half of it was gone; half of her face looked remotely human but the other half was monstrous. She had fangs on one side, while the other was normal.

Two things didn’t change much: her long black hair, which just became shorter, and one of her blue eyes. It was rather intriguing how half of her face looked normal while the other was a monster.

“But for how long?” She wondered out loud.

While she was admiring herself, Zoe felt a high-pitched scream in her head. She closed her eyes tightly and flinched when she felt pain in her waist.

She opened her eyes widely when she felt like her body was being resuscitated and she started hearing voices mumbling and screaming at her.

Zoe screamed and started to tear up when the voices became louder and uncontrollable. She grabbed her head in pain and growled, feeling like she was going to get eaten alive. The woman moaned and fell on her back, her spine bending forward in pain.

“Help me!” She had barely enough energy to stand awake so walking was not a choice.

Her hands were trembling and her ears were bleeding when a blurry figure entered the room.

The demon bent next to her and blew air in her ear.

“Help yourself, Zoe.”

Zoe wasn’t sure what happened next but she was sure someone interfered. She could hardly see but she caught glimpses of another demon coming in and kicking Mepalham out of the way.

He grabbed her like a sack of potatoes and walked out of the room. For the whole ride, she was in tremendous pain and her soul was aching. The demon entered a long corridor and threw her on the ground.

On the other side, Ezekiel was feeling a softer version of Zoe's pain yet with different side effects. Since he was still pure, he wasn’t allowed to see any entity except the demons he already met through Zoe, therefore, muscles started to contract in weird ways for no apparent reason.

For example, his hands bent backward and one of his knees turned around. It hurt but the pain in his head was worse.

Zoe and Ezekiel were connected to each other so, as the master, Zoe was getting the bigger doze in physical pain.

Ezekiel screamed once the creature cut his side before it growled and licked his neck. He wasn’t completely aware of what was going on because he couldn't concentrate with all those voices swirling in his head. The human could only scream for help and hope that someone would save him.

Mehrdir couldn’t do that, though. He wanted to but someone of a higher grade didn’t allow him to. The demon could only watch as the human was struggling with pain caused by an Izmedu.

“Let me save him or his soul will be eaten,” Mehrdir threatened the elder hiding in the shadows, squirming to get out of his magic but his power was insignificant next to the other's, “Leviathan,” Mehrdir growled threateningly.

The dinosaur-like demon walked into the light proudly, his face scrunched into a disgusted expression.

“No.” His response was short.

His eyes were staring intently at the squirming human. Leviathan could see Zoe’s mark glowing fiercely on his forearm yet the commander was nowhere to be found.

The Izmedu scratched Ezekiel a few times, ravishing his clothes in the process.

“Izmedu are fractions of souls left in between the worlds. They live in the purgatory. Ezekiel has to realize that the only way to fight against it is to find his voice,” The prince said.

“He doesn’t know that,” Mehrdir added glaring at the prince.

“He will soon enough,”

Mehrdir glared at the envy prince and looked to the side, not having any desire to see Ezekiel getting killed. He looked up only when he felt Zoe’s energy close. The mark on his wrist stung and he started to feel dizzy.

“You better go tend to your mistress. She needs someone to be there when she wakes up.” Leviathan said approaching the two, but not enough to cause the Izmedu to kill Ezekiel.

“Why?”

“Because the war is about to begin and she needs to leave this place.”

Mehrdir’s frown deepened and took one last glance at Ezekiel before he left. Leviathan leaned against the wall and turned his attention to the struggling human.

Ezekiel couldn’t hear anything but screams. The Izmedu threw him against the wall and sniffed him.

Leviathan spent another five minutes before he tapped the wall softly, the noise reaching Ezekiel through vibrations. It was weird but he could feel the tap as his hand was still on the wall. Through that big mess in his head, he found a soft voice telling him to listen. There was nothing he could do anyway and had nothing to lose so he complied. Among the tapping noise and screams, he realized there was a very small and soft voice speaking, repeating something. It was a language he had never heard before but had some kind of familiarity with Latin.

Vocem intus. Nomen dicunt. Inter mundum. Audi.

Both Zoe and Ezekiel heard it and they both opened their eyes and cried out in pain. Leviathan took a step forward and smirked. Maybe he gave Ezekiel a nudge but the human figured it out on his own.

Unlike Ezekiel, who collapsed, Zoe’s inner demon surfaced for real. She growled like an animal and lost all rational thoughts, kicking whoever was next to her, which, by the way, was none other than Gakhas, and she sprinted down the corridor.

Leviathan wasn’t surprised when he heard her savaging growl, he actually chuckled and got out of the way.

The Izmedu didn’t even know what killed him and the only thing left from him was a pitiful cry and ashes. But Zoe already lost control and forgot who was Ezekiel or that he was even there. She turned towards the portrait and realized the similarities between the dead woman and herself.

Zoe tilted her head and watched with melancholy. She reached out and touched the woman's hands curiously.

Gakhas walked next to Leviathan and stared in bewilderment as the person whom he had seen go through terrible times was acting like a beast.

“He-” She whispered. "Heidi,"

Gakhas’s eyes widened in awe. He walked towards her but didn’t get too close.

“Heidi,” Zoe whispered again and caressed the hands in the portrait.

“She looks so pitiful.” The sloth demon remarked, taking a step back when he felt high energy walking past him.

Beelzebub grabbed the back of Zoe's head and pulled her in his arms. Zoe squirmed and screamed but he didn’t let go. He threw her against the wall and kept her there.

“Wake up, Zoe. Wake up,” Beelzebub encouraged her but she growled and even tried to bite him.

Gakhas was overwhelmed by that image psychologically. It was something he wished to see ever since he found her but now that it was happening right in front of him, it was a disaster.

“Wake up!” Beelzebub’s eyes narrowed and he pressed on the spot between her eyebrows, Zoe’s eyes rolling in the back of her head.

Both Zoe and Ezekiel went through seizures before they transformed into ashes.

“Are they dead?” The sloth demon asked softly, still not believing what he witnessed.

Beelzebub grabbed a hand through his hair and sighed, his hand bleeding.

“No. They went back to their bodies,” Leviathan responded walking contently back towards the door to Hell, “It’s been a pleasure, Beelzebub!”

Gakhas heard Beelzebub scoff and curse.

Chen and Jasper figured something was happening when the demons left. They entered the room only to find the two humans on the ground, gasping for air. Chen ran to his best friend while Jasper ran to Zoe.

“What the heck happened?”

Zoe gripped Jasper’s clothes, her hands covered in blood. Tears dropped down her cheeks, she was sweating and shivering.

Jasper wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug, having no idea what to say at such times.

Chen concentrated on his best friend who was in the same awful state.

“Ezekiel?”

The human boy was numb. He was staring at the floor, making circles with his finger on the tile.

“Ezekiel,” Chen called his name again.

Ezekiel looked pale and his mind was somewhere else. He was definitely traumatized by whatever happened on the other side.

“I felt it, Kyung Jae.”

Chen’s eyes widened in fear since Ezekiel rarely used his real name.

“I felt the darkness. I felt death licking my neck,” Ezekiel's eyes widened at the memory and he started to cry as well.

Two of the most annoyingly brave people they knew were crying their hearts out. It was heart-breaking.