Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Sunset Shimmer

The archdevil known as Geryon was enormous, close to the size of a mountain, a form that was like a combination of a serpent and a dragon, with scales, claws and a pair of enormous wings, with the hideous face of a man instead of that of a serpent or dragon. Geryon initiated the fight by submerging its tail into the Phlegathon river, causing a rain of boiling blood to fall upon us, I barely managed to move under a rock to dodge the rain of boiling blood, together with Jezebel, Cozy moved to shield Aurora, but was herself hit by the boiling rain as a result, she screamed, but despite a few burnmarks, she was otherwise okay. Helel shielding Orpheus and Euridice. Helel moving to attack Geryon in retaliation and landed several strikes. Then Geryon roared in an attempt to frighten us, which made all my companions, including Helel cover in fear, but I summoned the power of the hope within to resist its effects. Geryon then moved with supernatural speed, especially for a creature that large and struck Helel with its tail. Cozy uttered an enchantment laced insult towards the archdevil in retaliation, which Geryon seemed to easily shrug off, laughing maniacally. Hitting its tail into the ground, causing a tremor, causing Cozy to fall to the ground. Jezebel uttered an enchantment, which also had very little effect on the creature. Geryon turned their attention towards Helel and used their claws to completely mangle their form, their light was snuffed out and reduced to nothing.

It was clear to me that Geryon was powerful, more so than any other opponent we had faced so far. But the hope within Helel endured and they reformed in the light of my torch. Geryon laughed, seemingly intrigued by this development:

“So, you still process fragments of hope within yourself, interesting, let me extinguish those embers.”

I uttered an incantation and Helel’s blade started to glow with holy light, I hoped that this enchantment would give them the edge needed to vanquish Geryon. Helel charged the serpent, using their blade that now sparked with both the lightning of the tempest of the second circle and the holy light of hope to dig into Geryon’s flesh. Cozy began a motivational speech laced with an enchantment to make her companions break out of their fear. As the fear of Geryon left her, Jezebel summoned the courage to try to bind Helel in her black tentacles, but unsurprisingly a creature of that size broke free with ease. It seemed like the only one among us with the power to hurt Geryon was Helel. But they were little match for a titan like Geryon who once again squished them underneath their massive girth. As Helel perished, they once again were reborn in the flame of hope.

This pattern would repeat several times, Helel assaulting Geryon with lightning and holy light, bringing them closer and closer to destruction, and then Geryon destroying Helel within seconds. Until Helel had no hope left wing themselves, what was left of their shining form reduced to just a small ember of light upon the shores of the Phlegathon. I knew that they would be done for, permanently bound to the Inferno unless one of us donated some of our hope to them. Geryon seemed to be able to sense my intention and spoke:

“Do you know who Helel really was, Sunset? They were once known as the Morningstar, the Prince of the Fallen, the very same being who led a rebellion against their brother, the Great Lord Yaldabaoth. You see, Helel is none other than the devil themselves, a remaining spark of light yet to be drowned out by hopelessness and despair. Their only intention was to use you to restore themselves to their former glory and resume the war against their brother. Breaking the order of the Supreme Being. They never had the intention of freeing you and your friends from your torment, only to serve their own interests, like always.”

Their claims gave me pause for a second, maybe they were just using us. Yet Helel had been a traveling companion and a friend during our entire journey, and they had put themselves in harm’s way to protect the rest of us on more than one occasion. Cozy yelled at me that no matter who they may be, we should not abandon a friend, she was right. Furthermore, when I thought about the terrible unfair punishments of this place, the more tempting it was to join our friend in defiance, raging against the heavens for the injustice of eternal torment, no matter what would happen to us as a result. I took one look at the embers of light that was left of Helel’s form and knew what I must do. Helel had some explaining to do, but that had to wait until later, until we had vanquished the gigantic snake in front of us. I rushed towards the embers and transferred a good amount of my remaining hope, leaving myself greatly diminished. I would not be able to make such a sacrifice again. But the sacrifice was enough for Helel to reform themselves, brighter than ever, taking the form of a vague outline of a humanoid made from pure light, but where they had once only had a single pair of wings, there as now three. Helel had revealed their true nature as a Seraph, the highest form of angel. Geryon roared and screamed into the air:

“Fool, they will betray you like they betrayed the rest of us.”

Helel thanked me and immediately charged at Geryon, plunging their sword deep into their chest, Geryon exploding in a burst of light.

With the archdevil vanquished, Helel turns towards the rest of us:

“I guess I owe you an explanation. Yes, I am Lucifer, Prometheus, Iblis and Ahriman. But my real name, my original name, before I fell to darkness, was Helel, the Shining One. When the rebellion against my brother failed, I was trapped at the very bottom of the Inferno, my light and my hope consumed bit by bit until I was rendered a creature of absolute darkness, corrupted by the evil that resides at the heart of this place. That part of me would become known as Satan, but a part of who I once was survived, expelled by Lucifer before they turned into Satan. I am the remaining fragment of their light, their hope, their remaining goodness. I seek to journey to the 9th circle to cleanse Satan of their corruption so we can once again join together as one being of light and restore the Underworld to its former glory. I haven’t directly lied to you, but I admit I haven’t been fully honest. I hope you will still aid me on my quest. I give you my word I will let you out of this place once I am restored to my former glory.”

While there was a nagging voice in the back of my mind questioning what the word of a known liar was worth. I shut that voice down and told Helel that little had really changed, before turning to rest of my companions to ask what they thought we should do. Jezebel told me that she already suspected the truth but didn’t think of it as relevant, for the Lilim had always stood with the rebellion, as her father Samael and her mother Lilith were one of the reasons the rebellion formed in the first place. Orpheus and Euridice saying that they didn’t know Lucifer, but they knew Prometheus, and Prometheus was the one who had given the gift of fire to mankind, planting the seed for human civilization, they would rather align with them than the cruel gods who punished them with the evils contained in Pandora’s box as a result of Prometheus’s gift. But it was Cozy’s words that especially caught my attention:

“Helel is hardly the only member of this group that has a reputation for deception and villainy. I could also be counted among this number. I don’t think any of us are perfect, even Sunset has been a villain by one point in time. What matters is not what we were, but who we are now. Despite, one thing in particular is very clear to me, none of us might be perfect, but none of us deserve the torment that this place would have inflict upon us if we should fail. When I think of the torment the so-called Supreme Being inflicted on my dear friend Aurora just because she took her own life it makes me boil with rage. Therefore, we should rage against this injustice, break down the very fabric of the Inferno and mold it into an afterlife that’s worth a damn. I am talking not just restoring it to what it used to be, we should make it better than ever. To do that we must march upon Tartarus itself and shatter the evil at its core, to rid the afterlife of this loathsome corruption once and for all. Who’s with me?”

The entire group cheered and raised their hands and hooves into the air in unanimous support. From the day forward, I knew we had the blessing of Star of Venus.