Infernum

As the now inseparable couple regained their wits on the floor of the Volupuarian spa, Alex looked over to Hope.

“Did you ever find the Concordat?” he asked, suddenly remembering why they needed to be in the Infernum.

“No, I never looked for it; I seemed to have forgotten about it altogether,” Hope replied as she tried to figure out how she could have forgotten about such an important detail.

“That would be our spa, Voluptuarian spas have that effect on people not accustomed to forms of deep relaxation,” said one of the Voluptuaries as it approached them.

“Alex, I would like to introduce you to someone; this is Dux, she is in charge of all the Voluptuary spas in the Infernum. She would be their leader if they had any form of official government,” Hope told Alex.

Still looking at Dux and quite surprised he could understand her, Alex extended his hand toward her for a handshake. “It’s nice to meet you, Dux.” Dux gazed at his hand with a puzzled look or at least Alex thought it was a puzzled look, it was hard to tell.

“Alex, Dux is the one who found me down here and brought me safely to this spa,” Hope went on to say.

Alex looked over to Hope and then back to Dux. “In that case, I am eternally grateful to you, Dux. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” he said with the deepest sincerity. Dux stared at Alex for a moment then looked to Hope.

“Dux, it would bring me great pleasure if you could assist me in a small matter of locating an item,” Hope said to her.

“It would be mutually pleasurable if you could explain to me how you achieved Vorax here in our presence,” Dux replied.

Hope smiled at the thought of her and Alex then raised her right hand touching the back of her hand to the back of Dux’s. “That does indeed sound pleasurable for both of us, I accept,” she said with a grin.

Alex looked very confused as he attempted to comprehend what had just taken place. Hope looked over to him. “We just agreed to help each other out, I’ll tell her what we just did and she’ll tell me about the Concordat in exchange,” she informed him. “It’s their way, Alex, your ánimam should have the information now, we were connected for a long time.” A smirk came over her face.

Hope looked over to Dux and asked if she knew anything about a Concordat or agreement between them and the lords.

Dux stopped in her tracks, thrown off guard by the request. “Why would you seek the Concordat? How would that give you pleasure?” she asked.

“The Concordat is the truth, and truth gives me immense pleasure, Dux,” Hope replied. “It would give me great pleasure to tell you how we achieved Vorax in your spa,” she added to remind Dux of their agreement. Hope knew that any information on Vorax would be worth its weight in gold to the Voluptuarian people, and, as predicted, Dux was not willing to lose the opportunity.

“Yes, of course, the Concordat is this way, a short walk from here. I just don’t know why you want to see that old thing,” she said as slyly as possible. “We can talk about Vorax on the way,” she added.

As promised, it was just a short walk to the Concordat; Hope was just finishing up explaining her experience to Dux when they arrived at a large, rather unassuming room. In the center of the small room a light pink crystal shard protruded from the floor. About the size of a man, this crystal looked ordinary enough except for its size. After even a moment’s glimpse of the shard, Hope could tell that it was indeed a Concordat. She approached it and extended her ribbons toward it, and as they moved closer, the crystal began to glow, faintly at first but then brighter and brighter the closer Hope’s ribbons got to it until they touched the surface of the shard. The light emitting from the crystal was bright and it seemed to travel up Hope’s ribbons toward her; Alex moved closer out of concern. The light was so bright now Alex had to avert his eyes, and then, with one super bright flash, Alex, Dux, and Hope were transported to another world.

Dux looked around and began to smile.

“I miss my home world,” she said.

“Where are we, Hope?” Alex asked.

“We are still in the Infernum, Alex; this is just a hologram of æstus, Dux’s home planet,” Hope answered.

“I ess what?” Alex mumbled.

“I … es … toose, æstus,” Hope snapped at Alex’s mumble.

Alex looked around; the entire surface of the planet was a mixture of active lava flows curving around peaks of black lava rock. In the distance he could see several large volcanoes erupting, spewing magma and ash into the air thousands of feet above them. As he looked around this world further, he began to see other things; there were small cactus-like flowers tucked in every nook and cranny as well as thick moss growing on every rock of vibrant hues of red and orange. The more he looked around this seemingly inhospitable planet lit up by its giant blue sun the more beautiful it became.

“Look, Alex, this is where it happened,” Hope said as she pointed to a small valley just down the hill from them. Alex looked to where Hope was pointing and saw a large group of Voluptuaries harvesting a field of red moss. As Alex gazed at the scene the ash clouds above began to dissipate making way for a large craft descending from above. The craft was a large silver-tinted white sphere wrapped in the same gold metallic ribbons as Hope and Alex had. The entire ship looked like a big rubber band ball spanning the length of nearly a mile; it dwarfed the small valley below as it hovered above the planet’s surface with its five protrusions, each shaped like the Empire State Building and each could have shadowed a city.

Alex watched as a small pinhole of light opened up into a massive porthole just underneath the center of the ship on the ground below. The hologram around Hope, Alex and Dux shifted, taking them closer to the porthole. As the first of several dozen giant four-armed creatures stepped out of the porthole, each looking like a statue with no features other than their four arms that held a long spear in their two right arms, the Voluptuaries began to panic and flee away from the porthole. The large terracotta-like creatures formed two lines adjacent from one another forming a path from the porthole outward; as they finished forming the two lines they turned and faced each other in a militant fashion as another four-armed creature emerged from the porthole. Dressed in ornate clothing made of the same gold ribbons as the ship, Alex could see this creature’s face in vivid detail; the creature’s obsidian-like skin instantly registered with Alex’s ribbons, it was a lord. The lord seemed to be in charge as the statues bowed as it walked past them.

About the time the lord found his way to the end of the line a hologram of Dux was approaching with a complement of large daemons escorting her.

Dux smiled. “I remember this,” she said with enthusiasm.

The large four-armed creature, which was three times as tall as Dux, leaned over and bowed down to her and introduced himself as Saccularius, the leader of the lords. Saccularius was very charismatic and proud, he engaged with Dux for quite a long time, talking about his people and where they came from, and more importantly, he spoke of the blue sun orbiting Planet Æstus. Saccularius informed Dux that the blue sun was dying and in a year’s time it would be no more, killing everything in this solar system.

Dux got a confused look on her face, not knowing anything of space or the stars above, but somehow she knew it was all true. She asked Saccularius for guidance on the subject as she saw her people in a panic. Saccularius told her that he could save her people and much of the life on her planet if she would do something for him.

“Go on, Saccularius, please tell me more,” Dux said.

Saccularius looked down at Dux and told her, “If you come with us we can take you to a new planet and shield you from its yellow sun where you can thrive and live without fear. But first, you must come with us to another place with an army of your daemon workers. I want you to attack the people there, we have helped them like we are now helping you, but they went back on their word and must now be taught a lesson. You will attack this planet and lay waste to it for a period of six months while we prepare your new planet for colonization. After six months we will provide to you the planet as promised.”

Dux looked up at him. “We do not relish in the idea of attacking anyone, as we are a peaceful race. But to save my kind I will accept your offer and we will do your bidding,” she humbly accepted.

Alex looked up at the sky and saw dozens of sphere-shaped spacecraft descending over Planet Æstus. The last thing he saw as the hologram began to fade was the entire population of Voluptuaries walking into portholes and boarding the ships above.

Alex turned and asked, “Dux, what happened next?”

“We were transported to a world filled with your kind, and we fulfilled our agreement with the lords. But I’m sure you know that as your penance was paid and you are here now safe as the lords promised,” she replied.

Hope retracted her ribbons then turned to Dux and Alex. “Yes, our penance was paid, Dux, a thousand years of servitude for believing a lie!” she shouted as a tear rolled down her cheek. She screamed at the top of her lungs in pure agony as the magnitude of this betrayal filled every fiber of her being. After screaming for quite a long while, Hope collapsed to the floor in tears.

Alex rushed to her side. “It’s okay, Hope, it will be okay,” he said to reassure her.

Hope looked up at him with a panicked expression. “How is it okay, Alex? My entire existence has been wasted on those pretenders, those frauds. I have served them my entire life and I have thanked them for the lie they have been feeding me my entire life and I have been grateful for it. Only to find out now that our Concordat, our history, is all a lie… What do I do now, Alex? There is no honor, no house to go back to and no hope of fixing this. What do I do now?” she asked in a tone that scared Alex.

“This is not the end, Hope. Just a few days ago, my world was turned upside down too, and here I am standing with you. We will make it okay, Hope? We must,” he said.