Infernum

As Alex walked into the living room he asked his ánimam to show him the Concordat just as Hope asked him to.

“Accessing the Concordat file,” Alex’s ánimam informed him. “You should probably sit down for this,” it added. Alex sat down on the couch and just as he started to close his eyes, his ánimam began to tell him a story and vivid images began to flow into his mind.

“Humanity was at the height of its society. Billions of people were thriving in this modern age, cities towered over the landscape with their towers of glass and steel reaching toward the heavens. There were hundreds of countries each as unique as the diverse people in them. Some countries were democratic while others were socialist and some lingered in the past and remained communist. Cultures ranged over a wide spectrum on this young and still developing world.

“It was a day like any other day. Most people would ignore this day as they were too busy with their own lives to pay any attention to it. That is, until ‘They’ showed up. At first, they appeared as tiny unnoticeable grey dots in the sky, but as they got closer over the next few minutes those tiny grey dots gave way to something much, much larger. They were ships of some kind and no one had ever imagined that this day would come, that humans would make ‘first contact’ with an alien race. The ships were large, at least 300 meters in length. They were mostly rectangular with a slight arch in the middle getting thicker in size as you went toward the rear of the craft. On each of the four corners, large supports carried a load of a single upside down teardrop-shaped pod, a type of propulsion system never seen before by man. Each pod articulated independently of the rest as it emitted a blinding amount of blue light out the bottom of the pointed end. The light seemed to keep the craft airborne somehow, but it gave off no heat, nor was there any type of thrust as it only made a slight humming sound from up close.

“Hundreds of these ships descended onto the planet in a few hours causing mass panic in the streets. Some of the chaos was people trying to get away from the ships, and some of it was people trying to get a closer look, but no one knew what to expect as the ships sat quietly. As people stared upon the ships in wonder the doors opened revealing a blinding light. As people’s eyes adjusted the creatures could be seen. They were a large race of beings at least 30 feet tall and their mass was impressive, each creature could have easily weighed more than a ton. The creatures stood upright on large feet and legs that had the same look as an animal standing on its hind legs. Their shoulders were broad and were taller than their heads as they slouched forward when they walked. As impressive as their sheer size was to the people who gazed upon them, it was nothing compared to their skin. The creatures’ skin was incredibly hot, people could feel the heat radiating off these creatures from a hundred yards away; the skin was so hot it glowed as if it was made of hot lava or molten metal. The only way anyone could tell that these creatures were organic in nature was by their horns, two large spiraled horns on either side of their head wrapped around like a rams rack defining their heads from the rest of their bodies as it was hard to look at them from close up due to the heat.

“The creatures came off the ships by the hundreds in columns of 10 and rows of five. One man who was watching from afar recognized the formations from his military days and he knew that they were militant; he was the first to run. Not long after that, the creatures’ intentions were made very clear to everyone else. They were not there to talk or to make friends, they were here to destroy us, and destruction was the only thing on their minds. The ease with which these creatures destroyed our world was disheartening. Everything in their path was turned to ash. The creatures would smash down buildings with nothing more than their sheer size alone, setting fires as they walked with the blistering heat of their lava-like skin. Scores of men and women died that day, and that was just the beginning. Within a week mankind had become an endangered species, only one government was left and it wouldn’t last much longer as there were only small groups of roaming survivors left in the world.

“It is unclear if it was the last act of defiance or desperation, but a radio signal was sent into deep space, asking for help. It was thought at the time that if there was one alien race out there, there might be another willing to help. Months went by and the last government fell at the hands of these creatures. It was then, when all hope had been lost, that a ship was seen entering the atmosphere, it was not like the first ships that held the invading creatures but something entirely altogether different. The silver-and-white ship was massive, it could have covered an entire city with one of its protrusions, and this ship had five of them, like five Empire State Buildings all extending from one massive center sphere that easily covered a mile across.

“As the massive ship hovered above calmly, chaos ensued below in the remains of this rubble that used to be a city. A large group of men and women were running down a street in the only part of town that still resembled its former self, a group of six of the invading creatures followed them closely. Lucky for the group the creatures have changed over the last few months, their skin has now cooled down and formed a kind of rock armor over their bodies, and they have slowed down enough to allow for an escape, but it has also made them more aggressive. They started out so organized and methodical; now they are violently chaotic at best. As the group of men and women fled from the creatures they hastily turned down a blind alleyway. Once the group was in the alley the man up front yelled out, ‘Go back, it’s a dead end!’ but it was too late. The creatures had already turned the corner trapping everyone in the narrow alley. As a woman was backing away from the creatures she tripped over a pothole on the ground, falling over backward. The woman felt a sharp pain in her back as it struck the pavement beneath her throwing her head back causing it, too, to strike the ground. The woman looked up and saw one of the creatures approaching her with her now blurred vision, the creature’s hand was reaching down for her and she knew it was over. The man now at the rear of the group looked back and watched in horror as the six creatures surrounded the woman; one of the creatures reached down and picked her up and then the six began to fight amongst themselves over her, eventually ripping the woman’s body into several pieces. The man could not look away from the scene, all he could do was watch as the blood splashed onto the ground all the while thanking God that it was not him. The man and the woman up front, closest to the end of the alley, noticed a small light coming from the wall in front of them.

“‘What’s that?’ the woman up front yelled to the man. As the entire group turned to see where she was pointing the light instantly got their attention. What started out as a small pinprick of white light was now a blinding orb that was growing bigger by the millisecond. As the light grew bigger it got darker in the middle and in what could not have been more than a split second at the most, the little white light was now a giant hole in the air. No one knew how to describe what they were seeing; it was like a hole in a wall but without the wall. One person said it was a porthole as it looked like a circular doorway and he could see through it to another place, but no one else was looking as they were all too scared and confused to see what he saw. The porthole grew in size until it reached about fifteen feet across. At this point, most everyone was hugging the alley walls, too scared to approach either the porthole or the six creatures blocking their escape, and they were now slowly backing away from the porthole but still not leaving.

“And that is when they saw it—a humanoid creature stepped out of the porthole, it stood as a human does but much taller, it was about seven feet in height. Its head was large compared to its very slender body and looked like a cross between a bulldog and a bullfrog. It had two large round eyes over its mouth that opened and closed like a drawbridge between its two large cheeks, the loose skin of which hung down below its chin, if it had a chin that is, instead its bottom lip just sloped downward toward its neck. Its skin was dark grey, almost black in color, and looked very similar to obsidian glass. The texture of its skin, however, could have been old shoe leather or catfish skin as it looked weathered by age but still smooth.

“The creature wore a light grey cloak, it had a hood that went over the creature’s head and the rest of its thick wool-like fabric hung freely toward the ground. The creature’s arms were covered by the cloak’s sleeves but its hands were still very much visible. Having just three long fingers and a thumb to match it was obvious that whatever this creature was, it was not of this world.

“As this new creature stepped out of the porthole two other things came out with it. They were huge and had to duck to get through the porthole, as they stepped out the ground quaked beneath their large feet. They looked like large four-armed terracotta statues, grey in color; it was unclear if they were made from metal or stone, but it was clear that they were not live creatures as there were no faces on their heads. The two large statue-like things walked around the smaller creature with very smooth but robotic movements. They moved outward to the alley walls and walked past all the men and women pushing them to the middle of the alley but ignoring them as they walked past. As the two statues made it past the group the surface of their two right arms came alive with movement; what started out as a fast vibration quickly turned into fluid movement on the surface of these giant beings. The surface of these things’ arms flowed toward their hands extending beyond the palms of their hands forming into a single large pole-like shape that their two right hands held on to. The pole formed of the statues’ own bodies quickly took shape and it was now obvious that this long pole was indeed a giant metal spear.

“The statues finally stopped between the group of people and the six large creatures that blocked their path; crouching down slightly with one foot back they pointed their giant spears toward the six creatures that were similar in size. The smaller creature took a few steps toward the people and then made a waving gesture with its arm and hand as if to invite them to go with him. ‘Quickly,’ the creature said with a slow, sharp voice that reverbed in the group’s ears. ‘They will protect us,’ he added with an emphasis on the word will. Seeing no other way out, the group of people moved toward the porthole, stopping just before it, hesitant to take another step. The creature at the edge of the porthole looked at the man up front and extended his hand toward him. ‘It is safe,’ he assured him as he gently grabbed the man’s hand and stepped through the porthole, pulling on the man’s hand softly. The man hesitantly stepped through the porthole, but as soon as he did the rest followed as quickly as they could.

“As the group stepped through the porthole, the six creatures charged at the two statues in an attempt to get at the group before they could flee. Without hesitation the two statues came alive with a flurry of graceful movement, stabbing the creature multiple times in what seemed like one fluid motion as they danced effortlessly around them killing each and every one of them with almost no effort. As the last man entered the porthole, in the blink of an eye, it instantly closed behind him. ‘Welcome aboard my ship,’ the tall creature said as he began to lead them down a long hall. One member of the group looked back to where the porthole was, only to see an image of the city they were just in down below them. The image was like looking through a window only it was part of the wall like a built-in screen.

“‘Who are you?’ a man asked.

“‘My name is Drust,’ the creature replied. ‘We heard your call for aid and are here to help,’ he added as they entered a large room with more of the tall creatures in it. Each of the tall creatures in the room looked busy as they were looking at an array of screens in front of them that seemed to be part of the ship’s walls. On each of the screens were images of other people who seemed to be from all over the planet, they were all stepping into portholes like the one their group just entered and more than a few groups were running from the large invading creatures.

“‘What are those things?’ the man asked Drust.

“Drust looked over at him. ‘We know them as daemons; they are a plague on this galaxy,’ he answered. ‘We have encountered them before on uninhabited worlds, but as soon as we received your call for help we knew it was them,’ he added.

Another tall alien creature looked over to Drust. ‘That’s all of them… That is all that is left,’ it said.

“Drust dropped his head and shook it back and forth in sadness. ‘I am so sorry that we could not have arrived sooner, we were quite a distance away from you,’ he said. ‘Sadly, it seems that only a few thousand of your people have survived,’ Drust said to the group.

“‘What do we do now?’ a woman said with a sad panic in her voice.

“Drust looked over at the woman in the group who asked and then turned to a wall that opened up revealing a balcony that overlooked a large room that was obviously some type of cargo or storage area. He walked through the doorway onto the balcony; the group of people followed him, eager to know what was in store for them. Once on the balcony, the group of people could see over the edge of the tall railing to the room below, and what they saw down below were thousands of other people. Some people were wandering around by themselves or in small groups, but most of them were just huddled together in large groups either sitting or lying on the floor of this massive room.

“Drust stepped to the edge of the balcony and addressed the crowd with his reverberated voice that seemed to carry to all corners of the room. ‘I know many of you are scared, weary and tired, and all of you have questions I’m sure, but rest assured you are in good hands on my ship,’ he said. ‘Here on my ship, you are all safe and will be well taken care of!’ he added.

“As Drust turned away from the crowd of people, just like the spears in the statues’ hands, the floor came alive with movement and tables, chairs and beds rose from the floor of the ship. On the tables, just as they rose from the floor of the ship, all manner of food and drink emerged from the tabletops. Soft mattresses, blankets, and clothing rose from the beds as did food on the tables; the once large and empty cargo room was now a fully stocked refugee center capable of meeting all the needs of the people in it.

“Drust turned to the smaller group of people, twenty-two in all, and led them away from the balcony. He pointed to the screens on the walls where pictures of the statue-like creatures were rounding up groups of daemons like sheep. ‘We will take them all to a place called the Infernum, it is a large prison inside the core of a distant planet,’ he said. ‘But they will need guards,’ he added.

“‘What do you mean?’ a man asked.

“‘Your group will have to go to this new world and watch over it, watch over the daemons,’ Drust explained.

“‘But what good will that do anyone?’ a woman in the group asked.

“‘We will change your bodies, altering your DNA, so if any daemons escape, your bodies will tell us,’ Drust said.

“‘Why would you care?’ a man up front asked.

“‘For two reasons… First, so we can put them back in their prison before they can make new ships. And second, your kind is in a very fragile state; right now, one natural disaster or viral epidemic could render your species extinct,’ Drust said softly. ‘This way, your people will grow and prosper on two worlds, ensuring the survival of your species,’ he explained. ‘This is why I personally chose your group,’ he added.

“‘You mean we must leave our home?’ a young woman named Eve asked.

“‘I ask you to leave this world, yes. But there is nothing left for you here that is not there… In time you will come to know your new world as your home,’ Drust said with sincerity.

“‘But how will we survive?’ someone asked.

“‘Don’t worry… Your race is stronger than you think and we will visit from time to time to check in on you,’ Drust said.

“The man up front turned to the others.

‘How can we say no? These creatures have saved us from extinction, and all they ask is that we help them keep these beasts from doing it again. I see this as a great honor, and I intend to help in any way I can,’ the man, named Adam, said enthusiastically.

“It only took the others a few minutes to decide but they all saw this move as a good move and a great opportunity as they would be the first of their kind to live off-world, so they all agreed to go without hesitation. One man in the back asked Drust what the planet was called, out of curiosity. Drust looked at him and said, ‘It is your planet now, you decide.’

“The man looked at the others in the group. ‘We should name it after the woman in our group who was killed in the alley on the way here; that way, we can remember the price we paid,’ the man said.

“‘What was the woman’s name?’ Adam asked.

“‘It was Earth!’ Eve called out.

“‘It is settled then, our new world will be known as Earth,’ Adam announced as he looked at Eve and took her hand into his own.

“It only took our saviors a day to remove all the daemons from our home world Caelo; after that, the twenty-two of us were placed on Earth with nothing but our wits to aid us. It went exactly how they said it would, the last of the indigenous humanoid ape-like creatures had died off from disease or starvation just prior to our arrival and the ice in the north was receding rapidly, leaving the entire planet to us. Over the next thousand years or so, our small group of twenty-two had multiplied a hundred times over, going from cave-dwelling nomads to a proper society of men and women who would eventually inhabit all parts of this strange new world. Our bodies adapted to our new world but it cut the lifespan of our people down to less than a hundred years by the time our great-grandchildren were born, making it difficult to pass our heritage on to the next generation. But as the last of the first twenty-two died, they knew they had made a home for all future Caeloian descendants.

“On Caelo, however, it only took ten years to rebuild the damage that was done by the daemons. A system of government was put into place right away uniting all the people of Caelo with the goal of rebuilding. It started out as a type of futile system; our saviors were treated like royalty and eventually took on the title of lords as they were treated like kings by the people they saved. They aided us in all aspects of our new society, from turning the deserts into lush farmland to the creation of the tribunal court and the houses in this … what would be our golden age.”

Alex’s ánimam finished the story and Alex opened his eyes as a feeling of displacement took over, he did not know where he was or what was going on. It took him a few seconds to come around as his memory began to return.

“How long have I been gone?” he asked.

“You never left this space,” Alex’s ánimam replied.

“You know what I meant; how long has it been since you started showing me the Concordat?” Alex restated.

“You have been sitting on the sofa for 18 minutes and 12 seconds, Alex,” his ánimam answered.

“That is so weird, it feels like I was in there for months,” Alex said to himself as he returned to the dining room table.