Dirge of the Dead Page 3

  “A light would be handy, Ox,” she muttered as they descended into a black void far from the red hue of purgatory.

  “Indeed,” the necromancer replied, holding his hand upright. He whispered something in Latin and a small wisp of light danced about his hand. It was dim, but enough to cast an eerie pale over the descent before them.

  “Nice trick,” Xlina replied with a faint smile.

  “Wil-o-wisp.” Oxivius nodded as he cast his hand forward and the light danced about before them, leading the way down into the depths of purgatory.

  As they rounded another bend, the stairs leveled to a flat path the cut deep and straight. Xlina glanced at Ox, seeing him simply shrug his shoulders as he continued forward into the dim darkness, following the eerie wisp as it danced back and forth before them, leading them further into the darkness.

  The path unfolded into a small antechamber of carved and polished stone. The walls rounded like a dome carved into solid rock, with an Iron Clad wooden door at the end. It resembled something from a fairy tale or an ancient castle, and Xlina felt a shiver down her spine. As if all her senses were screaming a warning of danger.

  “That’s not creepy at all.” Xlina scowled as she wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to remove the chill from her spine.

  “You were expecting a red carpet?” Oxivius mused with a snicker. Walking to the door, he seemed to shoo the Wil-o-wisp to hover over an inscription. His brow, and he squinted as he read the infernal markings. “I’ll be damned.”

  “What does it say?” Xlina inquired, leaning closer as if changing her viewpoint would help her decipher the ancient and unknown scrawling. She felt foolish and leaned back, allowing the necromancer his space.

  “Abandon hope all ye who enter here,” Oxivius replied, looking back at her seriously.

  “Sounds familiar,” she answered, fighting another shiver in her spine. Despite the warm dry air of purgatory, she sensed a chill in her bones.

  “Indeed,” Oxivius whispered, “Dante’s Inferno... it claimed that the gates to hell were marked with that very phrase.”

  “So, someone was here before,” Xlina asked curiously, “And they wrote a book about it.”

  “Perhaps,” Oxivius replied with a nod, studying the door, “or perhaps a demon or some other magical entity conveyed details to the author in his writings to add some realism. Either way, it’s fascinating and likely a sign we are on the right path.”

  “Yes, because purgatory is littered with magic caves,” Xlina quipped dryly. “That sounds like a warning, Oxivius. Are you sure about this?”

  “Not in the slightest, love.” Oxivius turned with a roguish smile and a tap of his cane on the ironclad door. “But you’re already marked. Amber’s already in hell. What do we have to lose?”

  “I don’t know,” Xlina shrugged. “Hope, our souls, everything...”

  “Everything,” Oxivius smirked. “Sounds like a gamble worth taking. You cannot win big unless you are willing to wager it all.”

  “I worry you’re enjoying this,” Xlina quipped back.

  “My fair lady,” Oxivius replied, feigning a hurt look. “For what is life, if not an adventure? Do we simply age? Playing it safe, prolonging a meager existence until we grow old? So that in our last moments we lament years spent without ever living?”

  “You know, skydiving and bungee jumping are things now, right?” Xlina chuckled in response, “There are other options for adventure between doing nothing and storming hell.”

  “I would never be caught throwing myself out of a perfectly good airplane, love. That is just crazy,” Oxivius quipped with a devious smile. “Now let’s wade into hell and find a Grillo.”

  Xlina shook her head in wonder, staring at the elusive and yet dashing necromancer. She could not tell if he was truly fearless or if he was truly and deeply scared stiff. Not that it mattered. All her senses screamed to turn away, to run from the danger before them, but her heart said to press on. That if even the slightest possibility of saving Amber existed, she had to take the chance. So, whether Oxivius was truly fearless or whether it was all bluff and bluster mattered not. He faced the dangers with her. To be her guide. She nodded affirmatively and pressed her hand to the cold iron door and pushed. The door creaked and groaned as if it had not opened in ages, and they were bathed in a warm yellow light that overwhelmed her senses. As the light dimmed, it opened to a small, yet cozy, living area.

  “Welcome,” a raspy voice called from beyond. Xlina stepped in and a pungent smell immediately assailed her senses. She recoiled and drew her hands over her face as she looked around the warmly lit space. A single room filled with clutter stood before her. It looked like a home, with chairs of wrapped and wound wood that seemed to spiral and grow from the very floor. Shelves and bookcases overflowed with papers, knickknacks, and tomes. In the corner, a hearth lit the room, and it boasted a roaring fire complete with an oversized cauldron bubbling away with an acrid smoke rising lazily. The entire scene appeared like something from a fairy tale. All that was missing was the monster waiting to eat the unsuspecting children who had unwittingly wandered into its domain.

  “Welcome guests!” a raspy voice called once more as a diminutive creature hobbled into view. He was three feet tall at most, wearing a tattered and worn purple pinstriped suit. His skin was green and covered with red warts and darker green liver spots. He rubbed his clawed hands together in excitement, his gnarled fingers long with yellowish hooked talons. He grinned a wide smile with yellow and brown stained teeth that wound and curved like rows of tiny daggers.

  “Well, hello,” Oxivius answered, looking cautiously at Xlina, then back to the diminutive fellow.

  “Ah guests,” the thing crooned again and hobbled with a limping gait to his cauldron, where he grabbed an iron ladle and stirred as he muttered to himself in an unknown language.

  “We come seeking passage,” Oxivius continued cautiously.

  “Of course, of course.” The creature nodded as it stirred the cauldron. It turned back to face them, its yellow eyes probing as it looked them over. Scrutinizing them.

  “This is the entrance,” Oxivius continued casually. Xlina continued to hold her hand over her face as the pungent aroma of whatever the vile creature was cooking assaulted her.

  “What’s the matter with your mate?” The creature motioned to Xlina with a gnarled finger.

  “Nothing,” Xlina corrected herself, pulling her hand to her side and doing her best to stem her growing nausea.

  “She isn’t my mate,” Oxivius corrected.

  “Oh, that’s good,” the creature replied with a gravel filled voice. “She is a rather ugly specimen.”

  “Excuse me?” Xlina replied, shocked at the creature’s response.

  “Not really an excuse,” the creature answered plainly, “Nearly threw up in my soup at the sight of you. With your smooth skin and hairless face. That’s not to mention your foul stink.”

  “Stink?” Xlina gasped in disbelief.

  “I apologize for our offense, good sir,” Oxivius chimed in politely.

  “Well,” the creature shifted from side to side in anxious thought before looking up at the pair. “I suppose it’s been long enough since I had visitors. I can overlook your poor hygiene and grooming.”

  “That is most gracious,” Oxivius replied with a slight bow.

  “Indeed.” The creature nodded as a thick purple tongue wagged from his open maw. He scampered from the cauldron to a nearby chair and plopped down heavily.

  “We are seeking passage,” Oxivius continued.

  “Of course, you are,” the creature retorted in a huff. “You followed the road to get here.”

  “Yes,” Oxivius calmly agreed, “We don’t mean to be a bother if you could just point us on our way.”

  “Leaving?” the goblinoid man asked in ire, “Already, but you have only just arrived.”

  “We have business,” Xlina answered, not knowing what to make of the fellow.
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  “That you do,” he grinned in reply, drawing a carved bone pipe from the inside of his purple shirt.

  “We must not delay,” Oxivius replied in an even tone, “We are in a bit of a hurry.”

  “Always is the case,” the creature scoffed. “How can you be in a hurry in a place where time does not touch?”

  “Excuse me?” Xlina asked skeptically.

  “In a hurry,” the creature replied, lighting its bone pipe with a strike of a match. “Everyone who comes is always in a hurry. Must get to where they are going or go back to where they are coming. Pointless. There is no time in the paradox. So, you’re never running out of your precious time.”

  “Fascinating,” Oxivius replied, looking around.

  “Now what did you bring me?” the creature asked, taking a deep drag from the pipe.

  “Bring you?” Xlina questioned.

  “Yes, you come to my home, you barge in,” the creature replied with an irritated voice. “You surely brought a gift.”

  “Well, no,” Xlina remarked, looking at Oxivius.

  “Are you a Grillo?” Oxivius asked cautiously.

  “I am THE Grillo,” the diminutive man replied, pounding his fist on the wooden end table beside him.

  “My apologies,” Oxivius replied quickly, “I meant no offense.”

  “Always they used to come,” the creature replied, taking another drag from his pipe.

  “They?” Oxivius questioned.

  “Aye they,” he continued with a nod, “Things from Otherworld, seeking passage to hell. This road was once well traveled. T’was the only way to interact with the infernal realm. It was.”

  “What happened,” Xlina asked curiously.

  “The demons got out,” the creature answered plainly.

  “What do you mean they got out?” Xlina’s voice grew sour.

  “They got out,” he repeated, his voice rising in irritation. “The demons got loose. Hell’s gate opened, and they got out.”

  “They invaded Earthrealm,” Xlina said soberly, remembering Valeria’s recounting of the angel and demon wars. “When Valeria first marked my soul, she said the Angels and Demons had fought over Earthrealm. That the demons had won. That there were no angels coming to save us. They had abandoned humanity.”

  “Sounds like what a demon would say,” the creature replied, tapping its pipe on the table. “They are chaos, the demons, and they have been running loose for a very long time.”

  “So, Valeria wasn’t lying,” Xlina replied somberly, “The demons won, they claimed the Earthrealm.”

  “What?” the creature laughed. “The demons are mere fleas my dear.”

  “Fleas?” Xlina repeated in awe.

  “Passengers,” the creature clarified, “They hold no dominion over your Earthrealm beyond what attention you humans allow them.”

  “They didn’t defeat the angels?” Xlina asked hopefully.

  “You are as dumb as you are ugly,” the creature lamented with a shake of its head. “Your kind knows so little. It’s frightening.”

  “Enlighten us,” Oxivius answered stoically.

  “Angels and Demons,” the creature replied sourly, “are just the pretty words you Humans coined. Flowery language to explain that which you do not understand. You put a name to something, your scholars and poets create myth and legend. In doing so, you think yourselves intelligent.”

  “But demons are real,” Xlina answered, “I am marked by one.”

  “Infernal creatures,” he answered firmly, leaning forward, “Are real, but this word demon, it conjures meaning does it not? Hellfire and brimstone. Fallen angels, God, the devil. Hogwash.”

  “Hogwash?” Xlina answered in dismay.

  “Steaming pile,” the creature giggled as if enjoyed pulling back the curtain.

  “What are they then?” Xlina demanded, leaning forward.

  “They are chaos,” the creature growled in reply. “The celestials are order. Together they bring balance to the planes.”

  “So, god and devils?” Xlina asked.

  “Oh, but this one wants the planes to make sense. She wants a benevolent divine being to assure her everything will be fine.” The creature mocked cruelly.

  “It’s not that simple,” Oxivius replied, hand resting gently on Xlina’s shoulder.

  “It’s not that simple,” the creature agreed, taking another long drag from its pipe before settling back in its chair.

  “Then you’ll point us on our way,” Oxivius replied firmly, “So we may see for ourselves.”

  “No,” the creature answered with a shake of its head.

  “Well, why not,” Xlina demanded.

  “No gift,” the Grillo answered plainly, looking up.

  “I’m sorry, Grillo,” Oxivius replied cautiously. “I was unaware of the custom of an exchange. I have plenty of trinkets and items to offer you.”

  “Pfft!” the creature scoffed, waving its hand in dismissal. “Junk! All junk!”

  “I assure you, some of it is precious,” Oxivius countered.

  “Junk none the less,” Grillo replied dismissively.

  “Ox,” Xlina replied, turning to the necromancer with a look of concern.

  “Surely we can offer you something,” Oxivius replied calmly, “What would a Grillo want?”

  “Freedom,” Grillo answered, leaning forward in his chair.

  “They bound here you?” Oxivius replied, looking around the dwelling.

  “I am bound here,” Grillo replied, “Stuck in the paradox for all eternity.”

  “How would one go about freeing you?” Oxivius questioned.

  “They trapped here me,” Grillo answered, his gravelly voice dropping low, “Tricked by the demons to serve as gatekeeper and warden to hell.”

  “Sounds terrible,” Xlina replied. “You have been here, stuck in this place for...”

  “For... there is no time in the paradox,” Grillo retorted, his voice growing irate. “I have been here since the beginning. Since the paradox was created. A prison for the Grillo. To keep me contained here.”

  “Then we shall set you free,” Xlina answered quickly.

  “Xlina,” Oxivius barked sternly.

  “Agreed,” Grillo smiled deviously.

  “Foolish girl,” Oxivius hissed, backing away cautiously and grabbing her hand.

  “What?” Xlina protested as Oxivius pulled her away from the diminutive creature. She swooned momentarily as the room spun around her. She felt drunk. The room continued to spin as her knees buckled and she fell into Oxivius’ arms.

  “She knows little of dealing with the Fae necromancer.” Grillo’s voice rang in response. As the room swirled around her, Xlina could almost feel the voice in her head.

  “She is learning,” Oxivius retorted through a grimace. The cozy room faded from her view as the illusion vanished. Xlina looked up at a pink pulsating ceiling of living tissue. It writhed and churned like a mass of living cells. A creature stood over her, bulbous and malformed from melted wax, its appendage extended, and tendrils wrapped tightly about her face, seething and probing they dug into her mouth and nose as she lay paralyzed on a soft and wet floor. She glanced to her side to see Oxivius in a similar state lying prone, with the creature’s appendages burrowing into his face. Only then did she realize that the sound of Oxivius and Grillo’s voice was not in the room rather in her head.

  “Come now human,” Grillo’s gravel like voice echoed in her mind, “An ancient creature untouched by humanity dwelling in the paradox at the gate of hell, and you thought I spoke your crude language how?”

  Its thoughts assailed her mind as the room returned to the cozy hovel. Grillo once more sat in his wooden chair, pipe in hand, as she lay on the floor, looking up at Oxivius.

  “Hold on,” Oxivius whispered, pulling her close as the tears streaked her cheeks. The feeling of nausea that had overwhelmed her before filled her once more as she thought of the bulbous creature’s appendages writhing and squirming in her face.


  “This isn’t real,” she replied, looking around in terror at the cozy dwelling.

  “Real enough,” Grillo replied, drawing on his pipe on more and letting out a ring of smoke.

  “You... what are you,” Xlina stammered, looking at the creature in horror.

  “I am not just a Grillo, I am The Grillo!” he cackled in a boisterous laugh. “I am the keeper of the paradox at your service, my dear. For we now have an accord.”

  “You agreed to free it,” Oxivius said sourly. “That was very reckless, love.”

  “Yes, you agreed,” Grillo replied happily, rubbing the tips of his fingers together as the bone pipe hung from his mouth. “Now where is it you wish to go?”

  “We seek Ertigan’s palace. We seek a soul he has claimed,” Oxivius replied. “How does she go about freeing you, Grillo?”

  “Ah Ertigan,” Grillo chuckled, “A real up-and-coming demon. Tell me more... about this soul.”

  “Amber,” Xlina stammered, trying to regain her composure as Oxivius helped her to her feet. The illusion of the room did little to comfort her, knowing the state and condition of her body lying on the floor. “She was my friend, claimed by the demon. I intend to set her free.”

  “Very noble,” Grillo remarked with a cruel smile. “You make a habit of this, then? Freeing souls from hell?”

  “Not on purpose,” Xlina answered, holding her throat wearily.

  “Relax girl,” Grillo replied reassuringly, “I mean you no ill will. You are going to free me after all.”

  “I fear the ramifications of our action here today, Xlina,” Oxivius chimed in. “We do not know what this creature will do with its new freedom.”

  “What happened to big wagers and big rewards,” Xlina replied dryly, looking at Oxivius.

  “You are impetuous, love,” Oxivius retorted.

  “Touching,” Grillo interrupted, holding his gnarled hands over his heart, “Truly, I am inspired. Now Ertigan’s Palace, a fortress of obsidian, sitting on the burning fields. Ertigan is a cruel and wicked master of the flame. He keeps his souls in his bastion along with legions of his followers.”