Gehenna

But there was always duty.

The lion. That damn animal! It stalked and mauled everyone he knew! He was no different, and he was firmly caught in its jaws. He looked over his right shoulder, seeing the pallid Private Watermann trailing behind. This was his responsibility. This was his obligation as a man and officer. Holding rank meant he had to get this boy fighting or back home.

He was a boy still, wasn’t he? Slim and soft, with thick curls and not even a smattering of a mustache — very unlike the demon that gutted men like salmon. Presently, he began to resemble Dave with each soft step. It was these remains that Dave had to carry home. Men shouldn’t die so young.

Ruins kept appearing from the grass, then melted away into the fog as they walked along the damp earth. Shattered remains of pots and vases, ancient carbonized facsimiles of great fires and destruction. Faint hints of spilled grain and curdles of spoiled milk lined the ancient cookeries. A man’s tools lay half-buried in earth. Silver and bronze jewelery rotted in open pits. All scenes of a bodiless massacre.

A chariot was half-buried under stones and rotten oak. The two kept walking. Swords crossed in battle littered the entryways. Dave was tempted to grab one, but his encounter with the spirits made him antsy. Arrowheads were dug into the facades. They kept walking.

All returned to the fog like the traps before them, and past the remnants devoid of bones, the two soldiers gazed upon a field of stones. The barren ground bore fruit as round boulders—much like cannonballs. Some were in piles, others in grid formation along an invisible path. Dave stopped and stared. He wondered if, after all the bravado and blood had drained, this was all that remained in those battlefields of the last century. A mild smell of powder nudged his brain. Watermann stopped his trek in the middle of the rocks and called out.

“Lieutenant! Come on! We need to keep moving.”

Dave swallowed his hesitation.

“Ah, yeah. Coming.”

Continuing through the stone flowers, Dave felt the hairs prick on his neck. The air grew heavy. Trembles of the earth began to crawl up to his toes, then his chest, finally resting at his skull. He walked faster, faster, and faster. Symbols began to etch themselves on the surface of the stones, all in a foreign tongue, but understandable to Dave.

“HERE LIES A MAN.”

He looked around.

“A MAN BELOVED.”

And around.

“WHO FELL AND NOW LIES.”

And around.

“IN THESE FIELDS.”

Round.

“DEPARTED.”

Those words, now written to his consciousness, clouded everything before him. His legs galloped and fell into a run, rifle and pack clacking behind, until he came face-first with the stone base of a titanic building. Dave narrowly cracked his head open, skidding to a halt before the swallowing mass. The lieutenant grabbed his rifle and frantically searched the area. The heat of human presence faded into the background cold, returning the earth to her dead state. It’s as if he never passed through here at all.

“Watermann!”

“Watermann! Call out to me!”

“Where are you? Dammit!”

“Watermann!”

His breathing reached a fever pitch, and his face became ruddy and scared. His heart’s thunderous peal crashed in his ears like the swell of cymbals. Invisible sounds rounded his head, distorted voices of history whispering, shouting, lamenting, screaming, moaning, crying, laughing, preaching, berating, cooing, singing.

A symphonic shutdown of all rationality.

“Watermann… not after all this. You were always supposed to survive.”

“You always did.”

All for naught.

“You-you… you…” his voice shook and broke.

“You’ve made it.”

On the stairs, there she was again. That girl. Sitting cross-legged and hand-to-cheek, resting.

“Yesterday and today, you’ve pushed against fate and charged forward. Tomorrow is never set. Will you give up already? Can’t you see that you’re wrong?”

Half a second later, his rifle was pointed to her temple. Perfectly centered.

“Where is he? What’d you do to him!”

She smiled faintly.

“Is this how you always solve things? Has it ever failed you? I doubt it.”

“Where. Is. Watermann. Tell me now, girl!”

“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. The sun is born anew every day, but she always goes to sleep in the end. That’s true of normality. But in a realm of perpetual twilight…”

"Tell me!”

“Why do we have to sleep? Here, where the sun never sets? What does a body that never grows need of sleep?”

“Stop playing around!”

“A body that enjoys eternal life, because it is no longer functional. Because it is no longer necessary.” Her eyes panned down to her body, she frowned before looking back at the soldier.

“Tell me where he is!”

“You know a lot about eternal rest, don’t you mister?”

His heart was stabbed, and those paintings of chalk and blood came rushing back.

“A-Anathema!” Dave yelled in a frenzy, “I compel you from me, demon! Tell me, where’s Watermann?”

His rifle shook in his hands.

“Your words have no power…”

Out! Out tempter! May his tongue burn like fire! Nothing to distract from duty! Be like the faithful—like the boy. He was crying again. Tears came ugly and stinging, flowing down his rocky face and yea, he wept. Watermann’s face mixed with all those boys lost with the single, sickening rise of a verey light. But he was alive, only he remained. His fault. Dave was supposed to protect him. Alone, he couldn’t even last forty-eight hours. Nothing could reach him.

At his words, the girl’s lip turned into a pout, then began to tremble.

“Demon? Is that what you really think of me? Really—”

She spoke, then her voice died as a single tear released from her gates. The tremble crept across her face, going from her lips to her mouth. The girl’s face tightened and scrunched. Her nose became runny, and she began to cry.

“I only wanted to help you.”

Dave’s mouth slacked at this, making his finger tremble on the trigger. Why? Why? She keeps switching between his tormentor and a scared little girl. Why? His resolve melted—no! This was another trick, another ploy! Why was she crying—she was playing a game! Of course! Keep, keep steady. It isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.

“I just wanted to help you,” Her voice trembled with sorrow. “The path you tread is marked by death. And… I didn’t want to see you—I didn’t want to see you… ”

“Can’t you see that you matter?”

Dave cut her off.

“Without him, nothing matters! I only have myself! A head without a body! I must fulfill that sacred order, which Duty has given me!”

The truth, accepted in his heart but not his conscious mind, forced him to speak. This ugly, sickening truth that was the foundation of all things. The lieutenant felt sick, but he kept his head up. No matter. He had to remember his promise.

She silently sobbed.

“Kill the enemy. Keep him alive. Return or die,” Dave whispered under hoarse breath.

“These are the duties of an officer.”

“Don’t you know what I am without him? Nothing but a lonely murderer. A failure of an officer. Someone who failed to defend the fatherland. Someone who couldn’t help one man…”

Tears kept falling.

Dave looked up, but not at the girl. Up to nowhere, to nobody in particular.

“He’s the only one left. The only one. Can’t you let me be a hero for once? Can’t you let me save someone—just this once?

Like always, silence was his answer.

He looked back at the girl.

“So I ask you. Once more.”

“Where is Watermann!”

The girl’s breath hitched in her throat.

“He’s fine,” she whispered. “Beyond this place, but still here.”

“Liar.”

“The boy is fine, and he’s moved past the gates of this place to the mount.”

“Liar. Tell me where he is.”

“I swear it! Upon me, my kin—my honor!”

“How could I trust you? You’re nothing but a little trickster sent here to taunt me.”

His breath condensed. The stock’s woodgrain felt rough against his skin.

“Nothing but a bunch of tricksters. That’s all I’ve ever dealt with.”

It was no surprise then that his body, too, betrayed him. Dave allowed his eyes to wander on down, arms following suit as the mind panicked. This lull allowed her to spring her attack, and as his instinct returned, the girl threw herself towards him. He was defenseless, and her slender arms wrapped around his collar. The world fell again, and the storm in his mind swirled and boiled below him.

The officer could do nothing but watch helplessly as he succumbed to visions.

Man is fascinating. He will say one thing, then another, all betraying himself. Even if the ego lies, a person’s inner self can convince them. These things that he saw; emotions and memories of the future present that are privy to you and I.

He blinked, and she returned to where she was.

The girl was telling the truth.

Finally, he allowed himself to dig his knees in the dirt as his rifle fell from him. For the first time since this ordeal—and this abominable war—started, Dave exhaled. The tightness in his bosom relaxed, and his tears out poured a last time like baptism waters. Relief washed over him.

“Thank God!”

He looked into her eyes, full of pity and truth. Dave no longer saw the swirl of disorienting loss. Now he could rest.

“Watermann’s alright. He’s fine.”

The girl smiled fully.

“Yes, he’s fine. He’s alright. I never meant to hurt you.”

But his mind was racing with felicity. He kneeled there, calming down after such an outburst, and regained rationality after a lengthy period. A slight chill blew over the two. The grass swayed softy. Some of the stones hummed quietly as the wind swept their faces. He felt peace after such a long time. Even if it was just a little taste. He savored every moment as if it were his last. If he were a more devout man, Dave would be singing psalms and praises. He settled for content silence.

Time passed. Dave picked up his rifle. He stood himself up and holstered his weapon. Full attention. No hostility.

“Girl, please help me. Where am I? Where is my friend? Why is my path full of death?”

She paused for a minute, selecting her words carefully before another misunderstanding befell her.

“Your friend is here too, but you are not.”

“What do you mean?”

She gazed out at the field of stones behind Dave, and her back reclined on the steps ever so slightly. The fog made way for her vision, and the lieutenant could see the true scale of the stones and derelict buildings.

“Your friend is ahead of you. But if he were to turn back, he would find nothing.”

The lieutenant looked back. Still there.

“H-how? Why?”

“He cannot observe you.”

Dave stood dumbfounded.

“Could… could you explain what you meant by ‘observe’?”

Her gaze shifted back to him.

“By now, the gravestones have ended for the boy. This place only saw a glimpse of him and took no interest. He continues forward, and will make it to the hill that lies at the border of the fog. For you, however…”

“This place observed you the moment the wisps entered your psyche.”

Dave thought back to the trap, how the searing pain awoke the memories hidden deep in his unconscious—those which were not his. Was it an attempt at communication? Were these wisps not mal-spirits?

“Corpse wisps are phantoms of the past. They feed on the suffering of men and rob their minds. In this cursed place, you must be a seen sinner to bear witness.”

She looked saddened at these words, almost as if she remembered something.

“Here, where the scourge of God passed. Here, forgotten by time. It lies between non-existence and being. Everything here is forever transient, yet permanent. It’s weird when you think about it, and it would be funny if I couldn’t hear their cries…”

The girl solemnly looked at her lap. When she raised her head to look into Dave’s, she found a confused and vacant stare.

“I’m sorry, mister. I’ve gone off track and confused you with these complex stories and explanations. How can I put this into laymen’s terms? It’s been so long since I’ve spoken at length with a living human being…”

“Ah.”

“This place is tangible, but not everyone can see it. You’re able to see it because it chose you. Because of all you have experienced.”

“It sees me, so now I see it too… and because Watermann never felt the wisps, then this place doesn’t exist for him.”

“Or you, for that matter.”

The lieutenant stood silent for a while. The girl’s eyes filled with pity—which looked like honey in her topaz eyes—as the ugly head of truth revealed itself. He hesitated to ask, knowing that the truth might kill him. But maybe it was time. There are days when a man must live, but there is only one where he must die. It was time to return everything he had ever taken.

“Is there a way to go back?”

He sighed in defeat.

Hard anticipation shook his body, and though he wanted peace, nothing of the sort came to him. This was it. It was all over.

“Yes.”

The girl replied quickly, almost knocking Dave off his feet.

“You may—you will. Not tomorrow, nor yesterday, but today.”

He once again felt the burning of life.

“But mark my words, mister. If you don’t move past what brought you here in the first place, you’ll always have a part of it with you. It will manifest in different ways. With it, you have no future.”

“You have to put your foot down sometimes. When the time comes, you’ll be ready.”

The girl smiled silently. “I trust you.”

Dave reciprocated. “Thank you. I’ll find a way. Please, tell me how to go back.”

“Alright then.”

She stood up. The girl lifted her right arm to shoulder-length, causing Dave some confusion. Before he could say anything, the girl let out a small cry of effort as a singular white wing exploded from her. Feathers went every which way, falling back to the ground like snowflakes. Cascading, graceful as a lark.

“Close your eyes and trust me.”

Dave’s mouth widened, and he sputtered, struggling to respond.

“I-I what are you—!”

“Trust me. Please.”

“I…” his voice died in his throat, blocking his airways and sinking him under the sea. The mix of fear and wonder made him want to claw his neck. Every tendon in his body wanted to leap out of its bounds and cower. His nerves—his pumping nerves! The blood evacuated from his face, and the familiar white he knew returned to his skin. Faith. All this came to faith. For such a long time, he had asked questions with no answers, known not the gospel fires that birthed millions, and felt no trust in such a world fleeting as his. But this was not his world, and he was a man. And what is man, if not a faithful creature?

He took a sinking, breathless gulp, and closed his eyes.

Dave could hear the girl come close to him. He sweat profusely, almost trembling as her hand reached the top of his forehead.

Soft. So soft. The tips of her fingers were free of imperfection.

“All that is will return in the end. No man shall know the hour. Give this one his time in the sun once more.”

He felt serene and warm. Just like when he…

When he…

He…

…couldn’t remember.

“I won’t return with you, mister. I can’t help you anymore. Someone has to be the lonely wrestler of evil. And two’s more company than I’ve had in centuries. You’ve all been such lovely guests,” she giggled.

“I can only leave you this one thing: follow your heart. Even though your mouth lies, your heart speaks bounds.”

A blue light enveloped Dave’s body. Soft motes of energy danced and twisted ‘round his boots, then entered the crevices of his greatcoat, before caressing his face like sea foam.

“It speaks of a great man. A great father. A great husband. Your heart sings, though you rebuke yourself. I know that you will break free of this place. Even though I…”

“Even though I can’t…”

She faltered.

“Please…”

The girl’s voice began to fade.

“Please don’t forget me. My name is Io. Take care, and say hello to Maman for me.”

He tried to speak her name.

“I…I…”

He failed.

“Remember me.”

The world dissolved into nothing, and his feet touched the ground.

“Io…”

Again, he awoke to a consuming fog.