Chapter 29: De profundis

In which I am waiting for becoming dog's food.

One day has passed since my death sentence, but I'm not yet dead. However, it won't take long. In some hours - or minutes, who knows - they will come. Faceless myrmidons who will bring me to the place where I will be devoured by hellhounds. 

 

Being devoured is a common punishment in hell. It's kind of recycling. Depending on who devours you, it may even be a honourful death. But I'm a heretic, no demon would stoop to devoiring me - so I will become hellhound food. What a pathetic end.

 

I hear steps on the floor. They are coming. I guess this will be my last entry.

Chapter 28: In Jail

In which I face an inquisitional court and am punished for my own stupidity.

I'm writing this post from an oubliette somewhere in 6th cercle. The summons yesterday was very short. The inquisitional court consisted of a magistrate - judge and accuser in one person - and two assessors.

 

 

First, the magistrate read the accusation: "Fraternization with humans by promise of favours". From this mmoment on I knew that I was doomed. In a hell trial, the guilt and the judgement are determined from the beginning, the trial is only a demonstration of justice. In this case, the demonstration was very short: One of the assessors read the text of the favour voucher for Divine Light - the name was certainly not an aspect in my favour - then the other assessor allowed me to defend myself. I stuttered something about too short formation as tempter and the necessity of knowing the humans' customs - but after some sentences the magistrate raised the hand to command silence. 

 

Then I made an error. The first assessor said that I'm obviously guilty, but that the sentence will depend on my cooperation. He asked me if I knew a demon who had committed some kind of heresy. The Old Librarian came to my mind - he had helped me without demanding anything in return, which was a severe violation of the principles of hell. Denouncing him would certainly reduce my punishment - the more trouble he gets, the less I suffer. 1st Dogma. 

 

But something happened inside me at this moment. I don't know what, but I heared myself say "No, I don't know any heretic." When I realized what I had said, it was too late - I wanted to correct myself, yell "No, I know someone, the old librarian..." but the magistrate ordered me, again, to remain silent. Too late. Too fucking late. I was doomed.

 

After a minute of silence, the magistrate spoke the sentence: Being devoured alife by hellhounds. The execution will take place within 24 hours. The court was closed.

Chapter 27: Going Down

In which I am in a vertical train.

I have to appear in 6th Circle in some hours, for my summons. I'm writing these lines in the Downway, the infernal transport system. You can imagine it as something between a subway, a rack railway and an elevator:

 

 The downway ends at Styx Terminal in 5th. Everything below 5th Circle belongs to the security zone known as the "City of Dis", it's not accessible by Downway. I will have to cross the river Styx and to enter the gate of the Walls of Dis to get to my summons. I hope the Fallen Angels who guard the gate won't cause any trouble.

Yesterday evening I spoke to the old librarian and told him about my trouble - not that I consider him a friend, but he already helped me before, and I thought he might give me again some useful hints. And he did - don't ask me why. He said my best defense strategy would be to blame my superiors for not preparing me for reality. Corporate requires that a tempter gets at least one year of education before being sent to Earth. It seems that my unprepared mission on Earth was due to some administrative error. The idea is simple: The more trouble I cause to my superiors by denouncing them, the less trouble remains for myself, due to the first Dogma of Hell. 

But he also warned me that a summons by a court of Inquisition is never a piece of cake. Usually the sentence is clear from the beginning, the procedure's purpose is only to justify it. If the Inquisitor in charge wants to punish me, he will do so, no matter what defense I have. 

I'm scared. I'm writing this on my hellphone, but I don't know whether I have access to my blog when I'm inside Dis; And I don't know whether I will ever come out or if I will be devoured or pass the rest of eternity in some torture chamber or oubliette. If I'm unlucky this will be my last post. 

But who knows...  

Intermezzo: Map of Hell

My summons is tomorrow. I'm too nervous to do any research on Earth, let alone to write about it, so I'll post you a map of Hell, more detailed than the one on the right border, like the "you are here" maps you see everywhere down here:

 

Black zones are souls areas, red is administration, green is Inquisition. Departments are usually located in one circle, except "Souls Administration" which has its HQ in 4th, but also a "Local Souls Office" in each circle from 2nd downwards. The LSOs administrate the souls tortured in the different circles, according to their sins. I, for example, worked in LSO of 2nd before becoming a tempter.

You also see various security barriers: Thwo rivers (Acheron and Styx), a security wall, an abyss, and the giant security guards which protect the executive office. I've never been below the Styx, so this will be a premiere tomorrow.  Wish me luck...

Chapter 25: On the PO Watchlist

Where I discover that I may have a "friend" deep down in Hell.

I just got a comment on my last blog entry:

Beware. Your blog is being watched by the PO.

A friend

In case you didn't guess it, "PO" means "Political Office". Apparently this blog is on the inquisitional watchlist - a list of supposedly dangerous infernal publications, journals, mail accounts etc. to be monitored.

Now, that's interesting. I didn't know that my little blog was considered dangerous. If I weren't so affraid by the consequences, I would almost feel honoured.

Considering this, I think I know what the summons for "Fraternization" is about: On September 8, I posted a favour voucher - also known as "Thank" - for a certain human nicknamed Divine Light. I doubt that it's the celestial name that caused the trouble, but the act of thanking. It may be considered heresy. For the record, nobody had warned me about it - if you remember, my formation as tempter was quasi non-existent.

Now, I wonder who was the demon who warned me. He (or she) signed "A friend". Now there are no such things as friends in Hell - everybody is on his own. Friendship is certainly heresy down here - a violation of the First Dogma. Furthermore, he knows that I'm on the Watchlist, so he must have a rather deep position to get such information. Somebody in Sixth Circle, if not deeper. A demon who made it this deep would certainly not warn a small demon like me, unless it's in his own interest. Probably I'm just a pawn in his play.

Honestly, I don't know who I'm more afraid of: Inquisition - or my "friend".

Chapter 24: On trouble

In which I get a letter from Inquisition.

Bad news: I've just received a summons to Sixth Circle. The letter informs me that a legal proceeding has been started against me and that I am to appear in C6, room 298812, on next Judasday. It's signed with the most dreaded symbol in Hell, the Sigillium Inquisitionis:

I've never been this deep in hell, and honestly, I don't really feel like this. Especially the Sixth Circle. For those who don't know: The Sixth Circle is the domicile of the Political Office, the inquisitional institution which chases heretics - anyone who deviates from the ideology of hell, by speaking, writing, acting or even thinking. Hell does not tolerate deviationists.

I've no idea what I'm accused of. The letter says "Fraternization with Humans" but I didn't fraternize with anyone in Strasbourg, I did nothing else but staying in the shadow and observing. Maybe it's something I wrote here on this blog? I don't know.


Anyway, I'm in serious trouble.

Intermezzo: Organization of Hell

in which I try to explain how Chaos is organized.

I'm currently occupied with boring paperwork that won't be of any interest for you; but you might wonder how hell is organized. I have drawn you a little diagram to clarify things:
Note that down here, hierarchy goes downwards - so the deeper an entity is on the diagram, the more powerful it is. At the very bottom is, of course, the Antichrist, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies and Lord of Darkness - also known as Satan. Then the organization splits into two parts, commonly known as "Administration" and "Inquisition". The former constitutes the majority of infernal hierarchy, the latter one serves as powerful (and dreaded) control entity.

The schema is, of course, simplified - things are actually more complicated. R&D, for example, responds partially to Inquisition, as they are constantly looking for new ways of temptation, and this has to be "in line" with infernal ideology. The same holds for the marketing department whose objective is to popularize trends and ideologies and on earth that may help our cause, be it faschism, unhealthy beauty ideals or "religiously" motivated homophobia.

Note that all departments are present in different circles of Hell - for example "my" second circle which focusses on the sin of Lust.

Note also that the military is not represented in the diagram, it's organized les "corporate" and more "feudal", each prince pf hell having legions of hell under his order. A side effect of this is that conflicts on "corporate" level are often resolved with military means, internal wars are a daiuly occurence.

Chapter 3: On Inquisition

in which someone sait too much.

The teacher didn't show up this morning. Rumours have it that he has trouble with Infernal Inquisition, for having said that freedom is a gift to humans. Well, if I remember well, he only said that the Enemy pretends that it's a gift- but hey, who cares such details. If Inquisition decides that it's heresy, so be it.

Anyway, management wants us to continue our training "on the field" next week, which means that we will be released somewhere on Earth. Our objective is not to taunt - hey, we didn't even learn yet what's a sin - but simply to watch and learn. In addition, we will get a "political instructor" who will help us alligning our experiences with infernal ideology - building one's own opinion is strongly discouraged down here.

Now please excuse me, I'll have a lot of paperwork to do - being sent to earth is not a picknick in the Soul Park. We'll be sent to earth Baalsday (or maybe Kainsday, I don't know). Can't wait!