Infernum

A few days earlier, high in the mountains of Caelo, a planet near the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the Caelo high council, made up entirely of lords, summoned a member of their royal guard, a ceremonial title passed down over many years; they had a task that required special attention.

Nearby, on one of Caelo’s three populated moons, Hope, a young woman who belonged to House Animosus, kneeled in her home as a familiar voice in her head commanded her to answer its call. The familiar voice in this woman’s head belonged to a lord known as Felix, who had acted as the lord’s voice ever since the time of the great rebellion.

Hope, of the House Animosus, was honored to serve the council when they called, as it was a great privilege and honor for any member of the Guard as it elevated the status of their entire house. As Hope prepared to meet with the council, she stopped for a moment and looked around her house that was comprised of only two rooms having no doors or windows and was devoid of anything on the smooth, soft, white walls that formed a large dome. She approached a wall and stared at another blank spot on the wall. As she stared, the wall quickly came alive and a window appeared in the wall, seemingly at her request, showing a grand view of the world outside. Hope always took a moment to look out her window before leaving on a new task; it reminded her of how lucky she was to be a royal guard living on Caelo’s first moon Mundum instead of the bustling city life of Caelo itself. She continued to walk toward the far wall looking out the window. As she walked on the hard, white marble floor, the window on the wall moved along the wall with her, providing her with a perfect view at all times of her lush, green home world seen from atop a large hill where her home was nestled.

Like thousands of tiny cockroaches scattering from the light, a doorway appeared in the wall in front of Hope, just like the window did, as she approached it. The newly formed doorway revealed a small room on the other side. Hope loved her house on Mundum, not just because it was quiet and secluded on the most desired moon but also because of its size; her home with two rooms was so much larger than all the other dome homes on Caelo, it was easily 500 square feet of space. But then again, a member of the royal guard should have certain perks, Hope often thought.

Once inside the bonus room, as Hope called it, the door behind her closed and a small, round pedestal rose from the floor. The pedestal was about three feet across and was covered with a white metallic disk that shimmered in the light that emanated from the white walls. Hope stepped onto the short pedestal on the floor dropping her red, soft silk robe onto the floor behind her; similar to the window and the door her robe dissipated into the floor rejoining the house as if it was part of it, disappearing from sight leaving Hope standing on the pedestal fully nude.

She looked down at the disk then slowly raised her arms and the once solid white disk beneath her turned into a liquid pool of silver-tinted white metal. The liquid metal began to draw itself up onto Hope’s feet and legs like a dry sponge drawing water from a bucket; the liquid metal continued up her body as she raised her arms, coating her skin completely, further and further up until it completely covered her all of her long legs, tight butt, and slender waistline. The metal continued up past her smooth stomach then up and to her large breasts where it slowed slightly, conforming to their ample curves and erect rock-hard nipples. Hope’s neck and arms were next to be enveloped by the liquid; then, as the final pieces of Hope were covered, a bright luminescent symbol began to appear on the surface of the now hardened metal armor. As she stepped off the pedestal, now fully dressed in the traditional white armor of the royal guard, Hope took a moment to admire the bright stars in the galaxy-shaped symbol on her armor. Each star was a symbol of the successful completion of a previous mission; she wore her badges of honor with pride remembering each of the seven stars on her chest.

Hope left the room and returned to the main part of her house, walking slowly into the middle of the room. She closed her eyes and pictured the lord’s grand temple located on the planet Caelo. As she pictured the solitaire temple high in the mountains, golden metallic ribbons emerged from her back, they had a slight shimmer to them as they moved through the air as seamless as a fish through water. As the ribbons glided effortlessly through the air freckles of golden light traveled down them from Hope toward the ends; to gaze upon them for the first time would be mesmerizing to even the most open of minds. The ribbons formed a large circle in front of Hope without making any sound at all; the tiny pulses of golden yellow light traveled the length of the ribbons in a flash increasing in number and frequency and then a surge of electricity flowed down the golden ribbons and around the large circle they formed until the entire circle was enveloped with the bright electric charge. As the charge of electricity filled the circle a small pinhole appeared in the center of the circle and quickly expanded to fill the entire circle showing a picture of another world as bright and as real as if she was there. The picture through the circle was more than just a picture though; it was a doorway, a porthole to that other world.

Hope could feel the warmth of the sun shining through the porthole as well as the gentle breeze blowing through. As she opened her eyes and gazed through the porthole she could see the Long Stairway of a grand stone temple just on the other side. Once the porthole opened completely, which all happened in the blink of an eye, Hope walked through the golden circle of ribbons and with a few short steps she left her home on Caelo’s lush green moon of Mundum and was instantly teleported to the mountain region of Caelo.

Now through the porthole, Hope was standing on a ledge at the base of the Long Stairway. The stairway was believed to have been built as a memorial to fallen warriors of the royal guard as each step contained the illuminated name of a person who lived in the past, and it led to the Grand Temple of the Lords in which the royal guard served. On either side of the Long Stairway there stood a massive statue at least 20 feet tall. Wearing the same white armor as Hope these statues had four arms each that held a massive spear twice as tall as they were. It was said that these were the statues of the guardians but no one could remember anymore and the statues had no faces on their heads. Hope remained motionless at the bottom of the steps as she paid her respects to the dead men and women whose names were on the stairs. She read the names on the stairs as she walked up to them. Adam… Eve… she said to herself. The names went on, Cain… Abel… Enoch. Hope had read all the names on the stairs including the last name on the top step, Earth.

Once at the top of the Long Stairway, Hope looked back down at the view of the mountains all around. She could remember stories of days long ago when people would have to climb these peaks to reach the remote mountain temple, a journey that must have taken months; Hope just shook her head at the thought. She turned and walked toward the grand structure on the top of the mountain that was an ancient temple carved from the mountain itself. She looked at the temple and saw more statues standing on either side of the many smooth columns that lined the front of the building. In between the middle two columns, the only two with no statues next to them, a large wooden door with intricate carvings on the face of it stood. The carvings on the door depicted the day the lords came to Caelo, they showed men and women standing at the bottom of the door looking away toward the many ships that carried the invading monsters away from them, thus saving the planet.

Hope approached the large door and waited for it to open; a few moments later, the doors began to swing open making a large creaking sound as the three-foot-thick doors revealed a long corridor just inside the temple. A few yards down the main corridor, Hope stopped for a moment to admire the ornate carvings on the walls and the columns that stretched all the way to the ceiling above; she looked at all of the carvings on the walls that portrayed the famous invasion and the lords’ heroic deeds that saved all of Caelo. Hope continued down the mile-long hall until it opened up into a large central chamber. As she walked into the room, she saw the massive stone arch supports that rested on intricately carved imposts, reaching upward and inward to the voussoir that was as equally decorated as the rest of the vault high above this large circular nave. Between each arch support stood a lord’s chair intricately carved from white marble, a contrast from the large, black granite stones that made up the rest of the temple. Twelve in all, these marble thrones towered over Hope as they were built large enough to seat the ancient guardians that once presided there but they now sat empty as no one had seen the ancient lords in centuries, at least not as they once were a millennium ago.

Hope kneeled in the center of the room, as thousands had done before her, to honor the lords. In front of her, there was a large smooth crystal, the Concordat. Preserved inside were all the laws and history of Caelo. This object was the most important thing on the entire planet; anyone would have been honored to simply stand in its presence and they would have given their lives to protect it. I wish I could touch it, then I could watch the lords save Caelo first-hand, Hope thought as something grabbed her attention.

On one of the thrones in front of her she saw a figure that she did not see enter the room. The tall figure was cloaked in a light grey robe that hid most of its appearance, but what Hope could see looked like a blinding ball of bright white light where a head would normally be. Hope recognized the figure right away, it was the emissary, through him was the only way the lords communicated their orders to their guards as no one had seen them in forever. Over the course of thousands of years, the lords had rescinded into their temple, leaving their subjects behind and becoming creatures of pure mystery. Many rumors surrounded the lords; Hopes’ favorite was their ability to move freely through space and time, ascended as they called it. It was commonly believed that all lords had ascended and were protecting them from a higher plane now, like gods. As the voice of the lords, this creature standing before Hope carried just as much influence and authority as the lords themselves. Hope found it comforting, however, that even as powerful as the lords were, whether they were around or not, they still cared enough about her to maintain their rule, keeping her and the rest of Caelo safe from harm.

Hope looked up at the emissary. “My Lord, I have been summoned,” she said to the tall being.

“Hope, as you are aware, there was a disturbance in the Infernum. We sent your amalgamate Gabriel to investigate; however, he has not reported back and is now overdue.” Hope’s heart sank as she heard the news regarding her, as of now, missing amalgamate who she had come to love like a brother ever since they were assigned to the same house shortly after their creation in the Alpha lab twenty-five years ago. “Go to the Infernum on our furthest seed colony, and find Gabriel, discover his whereabouts and report back to me,” the emissary instructed.

As Hope remained motionless and kneeling before the emissary, a small orb of light materialized above her. Her gold metallic ribbons emerged from her back once more reaching upward to embrace the orb above. Pulling it down slowly, the orb started to glow brighter the closer it got to Hope. As the orb’s light glowed more brightly, Hope’s ribbons surrounded the orb to gather up its light. As her ribbons absorbed the light, her mind filled with images of all the knowledge needed to complete her task. Once the data was downloaded by the ribbons, the orb and its light faded away to nothing and disappeared. There were no questions asked or conversations started with the emissary; a task has been given so Hope stood up, bowed to the emissary and left the Great Temple to begin her mission. She would continue this mission to find her amalgamate until success found her or death took her. She remembered her training.

Hope analyzed the data given to her as she walked back down the Long Stairway. An image of the hole into the Infernum and the instructions given to Gabriel were all she needed to begin her task, and the information on the deadly creatures held inside the Infernum would certainly help her complete it. Standing at the base of the stairs, Hope concentrated on the coordinates given to Gabriel and her ribbons opened a porthole to his last known location on the seed colony.

A quick glance through the porthole revealed a strange metal platform protruding from a large body of water. Hope could see humans walking around the steel platform, and although they looked like her, they wore strange clothes not found on any of the other colonies. Hope thought it might be best to arrive unnoticed. Focusing on a young woman walking on the platform Hope’s white armor began to morph, it reverted back to its liquid state and her sleeves rescinded upward then separated at the waistline forming a white lacy blouse. The legs of her armor changed in a similar fashion transforming its shape, color and texture until it perfectly matched the girl’s outfit on the platform through the porthole. As Hope walked through the porthole onto the platform, she grinned slightly as she felt the alien material move on her body. She thought it was strange that people actually wore clothes made from plants on this planet. She found the entire idea of wearing cotton extremely crude and quite hilarious at the same time. At least the plant fibers do offer some comfort, even if they look ridiculous, she thought as she continued across the platform.

Once on the platform, the salty smell in the air overwhelmed Hope as she emerged from the porthole, she had to cover her mouth and nose to keep from gagging. Gaining her bearings quickly, she sought out a place to hide and watched as the aliens moved around unaware of her presence. As Hope observed the oblivious natives, they were unwittingly teaching her their mannerisms and customs.

It did not take long to discover the hole in the Infernum; a three-foot-wide crevice drilled through was more than enough room to allow an escape. Upon further inspection, Hope found evidence that suggested an escape had occurred. The melted steel on the deck was a sure sign of a daemon, and it left an easy trail to follow not to mention all the people on the platform were still talking about it. Hope began to calmly walk across the platform following the trail of melted steel when she stumbled and nearly fell over after her third step in these high-heeled shoes; That have no business on anyone’s feet, Hope thought.

A man quickly reached down and caught her by the arm just in time. “Are you okay?” the man asked.

“Oh yes, I am fine,” Hope replied, taking notice of his white tennis shoes and a name tag that read Joe. Having regained her footing, as quickly as she could she moved away from Joe, ducking around a corner and out of sight without another word said. Hope looked down at her high-heeled shoes and shook her head at the idea of actually walking on the 6-inch heels; with another glance the shoes reverted to their liquid shape and reformed once again, this time in the shape of white tennis shoes.

Hope would follow the trail of melted rocks and burnt vegetation, as Gabriel surely did, west past the salt-water ocean then beyond the desert and up the mountain range on the edge of this continent.

Halfway over the mountain range, the trail stopped, suggesting that the daemon had grown large enough to solidify its armor. Hope held out her hand in front of her, one golden ribbon emerged from her back and slithered around her arm like a snake and then formed a small silver disk in the palm of her hand. She had used this scanner to pinpoint signs of Gabriel’s energy before on another world after the two of them were separated after battling a giant snow beast on an unnamed planet. After a few minutes Hope picked up a faint signal on the disk, it was a faint, almost unnoticeable signal but enough to give her a direction. Hope’s ribbons emerged from her back and formed a porthole following the signal to a valley far away and then on to a small hill in its center; she stepped through the porthole and began to make her way to the top of the hill for a better view.

As she crested the small hill, something caught her eye as the signal completely faded away. A man was sitting on a rock staring at the charred remains of a daemon. Hope did not like the idea of an awkward conversation with a stupid native, nor did she want to bother manufacturing a cover story, but she had to investigate those remains whether a man was there or not. She quietly approached the man sitting on the rock, he was sitting down but Hope could tell that he was tall, perhaps six feet or so, as she summed up his physical size and strength, as she always did as a member of the royal guard. The man was tall and had a muscular build; judging by his uniform Hope thought he was some type of law enforcement officer and probably had some basic tactical training and could be a threat if he got the drop on her.

It was a simple plan, just get him to leave, it had worked many times in the past and Hope figured it was worth another attempt in this situation. After a brief interaction with the man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, he left and Hope was now able to examine the remains freely and without interruption.

Hope decided to contact the emissary and give him a status report. She held out her hand again, her ribbons wrapped around it then opened a small porthole into the council’s chambers. Hope kneeled down on one knee. “My lord, I have discovered the remains of a juvenile daemon that escaped the Infernum. There is no sign of Gabriel, but I might have a lead,” she announced.

“What have you found?” the emissary asked.

“A faint energy signature has led me to a man who may have seen him,” she replied. Pondering the information received, the emissary relayed its orders to Hope.

“Follow the human and discover what he knows… Find Gabriel … and send the remains here for examination,” the emissary ordered.

Hope stood up and used her ribbons to make the porthole larger, and then more ribbons emerged from her back and began grabbing every piece of the daemon that was scattered across the ground, sending them through the porthole, removing all evidence of its existence. Hope looked up at the highest peak of this large hill and thought it would be a good place to look for the man named Alex. She used her ribbons to open another porthole then stepped through to the top of the mountain. As she searched from her high vantage point, she spotted Alex returning to the area. Hope decided to follow him and make contact later; she did not want to scare this primitive man away with another porthole.