Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Cozy Glow

As we left the 8th circle behind is, we truly entered the darkest abyss, containing a bone-chilling cold that froze the very soul. As we crossed the threshold into the 9th circle, I felt the void call to me, something sinister at the very heart of these lands, a voice that whispered obscene temptations into my heart. I steeled my resolve in order to shut out the voices. Aurora asked me if I was alright, I nodded. I had already been warned something foul had made its home at the heart of these lands, but whatever this thing was, Helel were not particularly forthcoming with the information. Like even they dreaded to speak its name. The other travelers also looked uneasy, but none dared to breach the question of the identity of this nameless terror. The 9th circle took the form of an enormous icy well, a narrow path circled the inside of the well, leading down into an abyss that seemed bottomless. The foul presence that tugged at my soul, I felt it came from the bottom.

It felt like eternity before we could even spot the bottom, and perhaps it was, time did seem to flow differently in this place. At the bottom could now be seen a frozen lakebed, Helel called it Cocytus. The water that made up this lake were the remains of the Great Flood, a planetary scale disaster that Yaldabaoth had once inflicted upon the world of Aeta, the original homeworld of humanity before the refugees from this disaster settled Midgard. The dark waters had not only killed the inhabitants, but trapped their souls, forever trapped deep within the lake of Cocytus.

At the sides of the enormous well, with their feet frozen, stuck in Cocytus, frozen solid, just like statues, were enormous humanoid figures, they gave me the creeps. Orpheus recognized these figures, Titans of the ancient world, the very same that Zeus had once overthrown during the Titanomachy. But among their numbers were also cyclopes and hecatoncheires, who sided with Zeus during the Titanomachy, and still took his side when Epimethius rebelled against Zeus, and therefore they were condemned here for all eternity, together with the Titans who they once helped overthrow. The cyclopes had the appearance of large humanoids, with only a single eye on their forehead, the hecatoncheires were massive humanlike beings with about a hundred arms, I had seen one of these petrified by Medusa in the Blind Prisons already. I hated to see creatures that had once been alive in a petrified state, whenever frozen by cold or turned to stone, I knew more than well how maddening it was to spend years upon years, fully aware of your surroundings, but unable to move a muscle. Fitting that Yaldabaoth had considered such a fate worthy of the absolute worst among sinners.

Eventually we reached the bottom, the frozen lake beneath us had the semblance of glass, it did feel stable beneath my hooves, even if the ice only seemed a couple of inches thick, leaving way for the deep watery abyss beneath that could very well be bottomless. From time to time, an enormous shadow could be seen beneath the ice, a sea serpent whose shadow seemed to stretch on for miles, Helel told us that Leviathan made these depths its home, praying upon the former denizens of the world of Aeta, which were forever trapped in these waters. An icy wind blew on the lake, chilling my soul more than the cold within me already did. Damned souls were partially immersed in the ice, making them easy prey for Leviathan. They could still move their upper halves, but that made little difference in preventing their legs being gnawed on by Leviathan and the other creatures beneath. According to Helel, in this final circle, traitors were being punished and these, while considered the least among traitors, and therefore resigned to the edges of the lake, these were the traitors against kindred, those who betrayed their own blood, those who had slain fathers, brothers, sisters, children, or betrayed them in some other horrible way. Helel instructed us to pay no mind to the damned, and to move with light feet and hooves, as otherwise we would attract the attention of Leviathan. It didn’t bother me much as I just took flight.

As we moved deeper into the heart of Cocytus, the ice underneath us grew thicker and the wind picked up speed, were we still mortal we would have probably frozen to death a long time ago, but as is we pressed on, the only warmth being Sunset’s Flame of Hope, which was now almost extinguished. She had to dedicate most of her effort to keeping the flame alive while it was being assailed by the baleful winds. Only the eyes of Minos allowed me to see any further than its flickering light. As we got closer to the center of the Abyss, the whispers grew stronger, until they were no longer whispers, but audible speech. The voice spoke of treason, temptations to betray my friends and family and escape this place alone. I shut out the voice and focused on the journey ahead. The damned of this part of Cocytus were embedded in the lake feet first, only their heads sticking out the top. According to Helel, these were those who betrayed their country to the enemy during a war, they were always buried close to their co-conspirators, which at least allowing them to speak to one another, but most were just trapped in an endless argument. I could not help but weep for these poor souls, my tears solidifying instantly by the supernatural cold. But at least they could move their heads. I had a feeling I knew what fate would be for those up ahead.

As we moved into the third section, the winds became stronger, it was now a full-on storm, making flying impossible and even gaining any ground took incredible effort as we were blown back by snow and ice. The damned here were placed vertically embedded in the ice face up, only their faces remaining uncovered, but their eyes were frozen shut from their own tears, which had to cause incredible pain. I asked Helel what crime they were guilty of, and they said these were traitors to their guests, who broke the most basic of civil rules.

We would eventually reach the fourth and final section of Cocytus, the winds had now grown so powerful that they were close in power to that of a hurricane, but that strength seemed to come and go, allowing us brief moments where we were able to make progress. Sunset’s Flame of Hope was now almost extinguished by the winds, only kept alive through her dedicated efforts, it was now little more than cinders. Trapped in absolute darkness, everyone flocked to me, as the Eyes of Minos meant I was the only one who could still see in the darkness ahead. The ice had seemingly frozen this entire section solid, the damned were trapped in the ice, face down, completely unable to move. Helel told me that these were the ones who betrayed their rightful lord and monarch, and I instinctively knew that if my hope were to perish, this place would be my home for all eternity. However faint my hope remained, I could not give up now, I would not be frozen immobile in this lake for the rest of eternity, left with only my own thoughts and the maddening voice, I would refuse to accept this fate to my dying breath, as long as Aurora and Solar remained by my side.

The voice had now risen in volume, to a shout and in the distance, I could see the source, a giant demonic figure with three heads and three pairs of bat-like wings, their lower half frozen in the lake. The infernal wings flapping endlessly in attempt to free themselves from the ice, but to no avail, which were the source of the hurricane-like winds, the lulls being the times the creature got tired and stopped flapping for just a moment. The voice continued to speak of betrayal and its proximity made the compulsion more and more difficult to resist, images flashed before my eyes of beating Solar to a bloody pulp for all those years of torment and doing the same to Aurora for leaving me alone in this world. But I knew these thoughts were not my own, just another snare to trap me and my companions, and I was sure they knew that too. I knew this figure had to be Lucifer, the being of which Helel was an offshoot. I think Helel told us that while Lucifer lost themselves to despair, and got claimed by the Abyss, Helel was born as the manifestation of Lucifer’s remaining hope, otherwise it would have been lost forever. I signaled to Orpheus and Helel that I sighted Lucifer, telling the former to prepare a song for the fallen angel once we got close enough to overpower the winds and shouting.

The progress of the journey towards Lucifer’s form was slow, but steady. While we avoided being pushed back by the ever-increasing strength of the winds, we could move forward during moments when Lucifer got tired. But this took a significant amount of time and only lasted a few moments. I don’t know how long we spent on this lake, fighting against the winds, while we were being pelted with snow and ice, hours, days, weeks, months, years or decades, or perhaps even centuries. I just knew that we did make progress. But eventually the combination of the maddening voice and the icy winds would make me fall to the ground, tired. By that point Sunset’s torch had gone out and all my remaining hope was consumed. We just made it to the immediate proximity of Lucifer when I lost consciousness. When I awoke, I found myself trapped deep within the ice, unable to move a muscle, an icy sting enveloping my entire body, causing unbearable agony, my companions nowhere to be seen. At first, I panicked, struggling against the ice, but it was to no avail, with time I gave up even my attempts to escape, I would remain in the ice forevermore, all was lost.

Sunset Shimmer

I remember fighting for every inch forward in that icy hellscape, all along doing my best to prevent the Flame of Hope from being extinguished, covering the last embers with my body, using what little remained of my hope to reignite the flames, but the might of the winds generated by Lucifer would ultimately prove too powerful. As the flame went out, so did my consciousness. When I came to, I found myself trapped within a stone sarcophagus, probably in a mausoleum in Dis, a fire was lit within it and the flames consumed my flesh, causing me agony beyond what I previously could imagine. My body burning up, slowly but surely over the course of what had to be minutes, but felt like eternity, only for my body to regenerate and the process of burning to cinders to start all over again. At first, I raged against the injustice of this punishment, feeling sorry not only for myself, but for all those other countless souls trapped in the same state. But there was nothing I could do for either them or myself now. It was hopeless. I don’t know how long I remained trapped, but it felt like centuries, but then, I could hear it, a at first it was faint, but the crescendo became clearer as time passed, a could hear a song, the music from a lyre, as well as a familiar voice, the song was heavenly.

Aurora

I thought it was my fate to remain trapped within the Forest of Suicide for all the eternity, but then she came to my rescue, a friend I thought I had long since lost. We traveled through the landscape of this dark underworld together, the sights I had seen since were even worse than the fate that had befallen me, I even met up with another familiar face, even if he had once been an enemy, I finally had hope of escaping this nightmare. But our journey through the Ninth Circle had proven too much. When the Flame of Hope went out, I lost consciousness, and found myself once again in a tree within all too familiar woods. I screamed, but no sound could be heard, I had no mouth. Harpies came to rip up my bark and claw at my branches, I cried out internally. But worst of all was the fact that I had been given hope, only to have it snatched away from me last minute, I wondered that if maybe Cozy had never come for me, that it had been only a cruel trick by this place of torture, an illusion meant to give its residents false hope to be able to torment them further. For a long time, I was back to the existence that I once thought I could never escape, and now we knew for certain that I never could. I stopped having any meaning, the daily agony of the harpies was reduced by the familiarity I had built up over the countless years I had spent in this awful existence. I thought of Cozy and the fact that I would never see her again and I wanted to cry, but I was unable to. Only then, after what must’ve been millennia I could hear a sound, it was the sound of a lyre playing a heavenly song, more beautiful than anything I had heard in my entire life, the voice that accompanied it was also heavenly, a voice that could only belong to a god, or perhaps an angel, but I recognized it and it was no angel, I recognized the voice as that of Orpheus.

Jezebel

Back in the palace realms of the Lilim, I knew nothing but pleasure. Strife and suffering were concepts that had once been unfamiliar to the Lilim. I remembered the obsidian halls of my home, before it was tainted beyond recognition and turned into a place of torment. Love permeated these halls, Lilim knew nothing if not affection for other creatures, and we spent our days making love to each other and to our guests, whenever we were lucky enough to have any. Grandiose banquets were held in this realm, tantalizing fruits and savory meat could tempt even the most boorish mortals, and the music were to die for. I remembered the swimming pools of my home, filled with the spilt seed of those who made love in the mortal realms, its contents responsible for keeping my pale skin silky smooth, I loved taking a swim in the morning. This all changed when Epimethius overthrew Zeus and started calling themselves Yaldabaoth, claiming dominion over all creation. The wonderland of the Lilim was turned into the Second Circle of the Hells. The Lilim reduced to spend eternity among the hurricane winds of their former home, a storm generated by a group of newcomers, the infernal servants of Yaldabaoth, the Tempestarii. I had spent countless years being blown about in the winds, being forced to witness how the opulent halls of my home were turned into ruins by the eternal storm. I thought this would never end. But then they came, a procession of travelers consisting of Helel, Cozy Glow, Sunset Shimmer and Orpheus. My skills were a benefit to them throughout our journey. But now when we were so close to our goal, so close to undoing the dark corruption that had befallen the Underworld, our journey was no more.

When the Flame of Hope died, my consciousness died with it, and I once again found myself trapped among the hurricane. At first, I wondered if this had all been an illusion, a trick by the dark powers that had destroyed my home. But then I remembered their faces, the friends I had made along the way and knew it had to be real. I cried out for my friends, only for my voice to be bound by the hurricane. At first, I thought they couldn’t hear me, whatever they were, but then I could hear a chorus rise as in response, heavenly music on par with the sublime sounds but used to fill the halls of my home, the voice that accompanied it was one was one I had heard countless times, for he had frequently visited the obsidian halls in order to entertain us with his gift of music, there was no better musician either in the hells or in the heavens than Orpheus.

Helel

I can’t believe it; we had been so close. We had been within reach of my original body, only to succumb to the endless winds, cold and maddening shouts of betrayal. As the Flame of Hope was finally snuffed out, my radiant form was reduced to nothing, and I once again found myself a prisoner in my own head. Trapped in the lake of Cocytus, my wings flapping desperately for an escape, while the terrors deep beneath gnawed at my feet. Now that I was once again reunited with my other half, I tried desperately to seize control of my lips as to cease the dreadful incantation, but to no avail. The all too familiar shadow within my being had an iron grip on the motor functions of my form, I was only a flickering glimmer of hope within a sea of despair. My three heads, however, allowed me to see in any direction, and I could see my companions lie collapsed upon the ground near my form, blanketed in snow and ice, generated by the hurricane winds, covering them with more and more snow by the passing minute.

Last time I was in this situation, there was no one who could aid me, but now, help was within arm’s reach, literally. While the Flame of Hope was doused, I could still feel a spark of hope deep within their souls, only the dark spell of my other half kept them in a dreadful trance from which there could be no escape. I only had to seize control of my body and stop the incantation, if for only a moment for it to lose its power. I summoned all my strength, thinking of my memories of those who helped me get this far. Friendship, Cozy and Sunset both trusted in its power to overcome any obstacle, and this day I would do the same. I wrestled with the darkness within for what felt like eternity, but thoughts of friendship and love seemed hostile to whatever entity had taken over my original body, it recoiled, but only for a moment, which was more than enough to project a thought to the unconscious Orpheus, a single sentence, “wake up”. This would be my last act before the darkness snuffed out my remaining essence. I were to be no more, I would leave it in the hands of my friends whenever I would wake up as the Morningstar once again, or if I would never wake up at all.

Cozy Glow

I remained in the ice for what felt like forever, before I started to hear a heavenly sound, a song of sublime beauty coming from a lyre, accompanied by an equally heavenly voice. The music once again filled my heart with hope. I opened my eyes and found myself no longer encased in the ice, but snow was covering my body, I quickly broke through the snow using my wings, the wind, as well as the shouts of betrayal, they had stopped. I would soon see why; Lucifer was just as spellbound by Orpheus’ music as I was. Soon Sunset woke up and freed herself from the snow, once again reigniting the Flame of Hope, Aurora soon followed, together with Solar, Jezebel, Odysseus and finally Euridice, who joined her lover in song. If the song was beautiful previously, it was even more so now that Euridice had joined the duet. Helel was nowhere to be seen, perhaps they had truly perished when the Flame did. I took in the sight before me, the two lovers joined together in song, standing before the titanic corrupted form of Lucifer. Lucifer’s form was even more impressive up close, dwarfing even the Titans we had witnessed earlier, before them the two lovers were nothing more than ants, yet their voices echoed through the lake, drowning out all other sound, like it came from the mouth of gods, before which the fallen angel was transfixed.

When the song reached its climax, cracks appeared in Lucifer’s skin, which leaked out pure light, the black hide of the devil soon gave way and exposed the radiant being beneath the corruption, a cloud of black smoke escaped their mouth and fled farther away the lake the second before the corrupted form were destroyed. Lucifer was now unrecognizable from the demonic being they were before. While on the surface resembling the form of Helel, a being of light vaguely the form of a humanoid, to describe the true face of Lucifer was beyond words. I felt like my eyes were gazing upon sublime beauty somewhere in between masculine and feminine, embodying the best traits of both, Lucifer’s skin appeared to have been made from pure light and their long golden hair flowed behind them like a cloud, much like the manes of Celestia and Luna used to do. On Lucifer’s back were three pairs of wings, made from pure light, and above their head a flaming halo radiating power. I knew only one thing for certain, this was thew most beautiful being I had ever seen, their light far more intense now than it was when I knew them as Helel, just looking at them was blinding, yet I could not look away. In Lucifer’s hands was an enormous flaming sword that seemed to burn with the might of a star. When they spoke, it was with a melodious voice that was like music to my ears:

“Friends, I am proud to call you such, not many creatures have earned that distinction among the ranks of mortals, but you are more than worthy to stand among the ranks of the divine. I will thank you appropriately in due time. Now, there is only one last battle before we can cleanse the Underworld of Yaldabaoth’s taint.”

As Lucifer said that: the darkness that had come out of the corrupted Lucifer’s form last minute suddenly expanded to cover the entirety of Lake Cocytus, a darkness so black and impenetrable that even the Eyes of Minos couldn’t see through it. The only reason we could see anything at all was the brilliant radiance of Lucifer, which illuminated even this impenetrable darkness to some degree, but further away, the darkness was still impenetrable, even before a light that rivaled the sun.

Things started to coalesce in the darkness, a form blacker than even its impenetrable surroundings, something I had trouble describing. It wasn’t really a man, even if it had arms and legs, the creature lacked features of any kind, only an empty void that no light could penetrate where it’s face should be. Its many arms and legs were almost spiderlike, and countless, like the limbs of the Hecatonchaires. Beneath this creature, where its legs should be only a vast assortment of spider-like eyes and legs, covering the entire darkness, which by itself engulfed all of Cocytus, in fact, the lake could no longer be seen. The ground beneath us had vanished, giving way to only more assortments of spider-like eyes and countless swarms of crawling things, spiders, insects, reptiles, rats. Looking at the eyes only produced madness, so I was quick close them, ready to be swallowed by the endless abyss of crawling things, but Lucifer took us under their wings, literally. Their wings sheltered all of us, preventing us from falling into the Abyss below. When I opened my eyes again, the creature of darkness had produced an even darker sword to match the Sword of Light wielded by Lucifer, a sword whose blade was blacker than even this impenetrable darkness surrounding it, darker than even the face of this manifestation of all that’s frightening.

When this Blade of Darkness clashed with the Blade of Light, the world flickered and then was no more, there was only darkness as far as the eye could see, if it could be said that the eye could see anything. I could feel contentment, peace, everything was how it should be. Then I could hear a serene voice say:

“Let there be Light.”

A speck of light could be seen in the darkness, like a single star upon the night sky, soon followed by another. I instinctively knew that this first star was Lucifer, quickly followed by their sibling, Yaldabaoth. I could feel annoyed over how these two seemingly insignificant specs of light disrupted my perfect darkness, but they were like mosquitoes, irritating, but no real threat. Then came the more of them, an endless horde of small specs of light, illuminating the darkness. I could feel a strong sense of anger, I snuffed out several of the lights, but the two original lights grew stronger, fiercer, soon there would be nowhere to hide. I could feel the darkness retreating and the world was filled with light. The lights then made a world, land, sea and sky, and continuing to create a multitude of such worlds to disrupt the perfect darkness. I remained in the corners of the world; in the places the lights couldn’t reach. The specs of light sometimes fought among one another, throwing creatures into the few places of solitude that remained. I had to bide my time. For while creation was bright and splendid now, everything would eventually return to peaceful nothing, this was the law of entropy. I envisioned all these specs of light made crumble into nothing, the creatures they made would one day perish and return to nothing, despite their best efforts, even their afterlife realms would crumble.

To faster undo their creations, I sought out the second twin and filled their head with pride “Why should you share power with your inferiors?” I told them, they didn’t listen at first, but what I said laid roots in their mind. My corruption would eventually dim their light. It would come to pass when another spec of light got too close to one of their mortal creations. This angered the second twin, who wanted to destroy both the woman and the offspring. The first twin came to the defense of their friend and a cataclysmic war started, which would serve to dim the annoying light of creation. As the war drew to a close, the first twin was thrown into the darkness beneath the world, my abode. The second twin had changed forever, their light still grew bright, but while it had been warm, it was now cold and harsh. The light of the second twin would soon shine upon all of creation, forcing even the Abyss to submit. I was reduced to a jailor, a way of enforcing the justice of the second twin. I yearned to escape.

I eventually woke up to a melodious voice, that of the first twin, Lucifer. I had seemingly lost consciousness during the battle with the darkness. Sunset, Aurora, Solar, Jezebel, Orpheus, Euridice Odysseus all woke up beside me. Our surroundings were unrecognizable. We found ourselves on an island surrounded by water, what had once been the frozen lake of Cocytus. Lucifer was flying above us, their light radiating the entire surroundings with light like a sun. For the first time since we began this journey, stars were visible in the sky. The creature of darkness was nowhere to be seen.

“What was that creature” I asked Lucifer. They hesitated for a moment before answering.

“Abaddon, Orpheus and Euridice may know them better as either Erebus or… This is relevant in your case, Tartarus. They are the personification of the darkness that existed before the Malakhim made the multiverse as we know it. They always remained resentful of those that disrupted the darkness, but they were eventually forced to bend the knee to my brother’s insatiable appetite for power. Long had they remained here at the heart of the Underworld. Even before Yaldabaoth took power, it is what made the realm named after it such a torturous existence. But gods of the underworld always kept it at bay. Yaldabaoth, on the other hand, sought to use it, for they had the designs to punish more than a handful. Its very presence induces despair and madness, draining the hope from those that remain in its presence. Being imprisoned at the very heart of Tartarus, my spirit was with overwhelmed by Erebus, creating the monstrosity known as Satan. I’m sure it was quite satisfied with that at least, extinguishing the First Light of Creation. You don’t need to worry; I have driven them away. They will not come back here yet for some time. But even I can’t keep them at bay forever. After all, one day entropy will consume everything we have created, there is no stopping that.”

Satisfied with the answer, I asked Lucifer if they would now fulfill their end of the bargain and take us home. They agreed. I said goodbye to Jezebel, Orpheus, Euridice and Odysseus, who had chosen to remain here in the underworld, Jezebel wanted to rebuild her home, and the other three wanted to spend the rest of eternity in Elysium. Aurora and Solar decided to be brought back to Equestria and Sunset would come with me back to where we came from, Everglow. With that, Lucifer took us each under one of their six wings and took us upwards, towards the sky, passing through each of the circles in a matter of seconds. Lucifer thanked us for our great accomplishments in helping them reclaim the underworld. I asked them what they planned to do next. Lucifer told me that they would form an alliance of Cthonic Gods, meaning the Gods of the Underworld, and once again raise their sword against their brother. Because of us, Yaldabaoth had lost their grasp on the Underworld, allowing souls to once again go to different afterlives, the ponies of this realm would be freed and sent to the afterlife of their own gods, so would the other creatures not belonging to the Olympian Pantheon, they had their own promised afterlife realms. Before reaching our destination, Lucifer promised us that while now we wish to return to our mortal lives, they would reward us when we finally died, for a place were always going to be reserved here for us in Elysium, if our own gods wouldn’t take us. I promised that I would see them again after my eventual death. Lucifer told me that they were looking forward to it.

When we finally breached the barriers of the Underworld, Lucifer flew into the night sky of Limbo and after that I lost consciousness.

When I finally awoke it was in my own bed, standing above me was a familiar face, that of Sunset Shimmer, now a pony once again. I could feel a sting in my side, which was no wonder as I could see my left flank bandaged, as if I was wounded. Then everything started to come back to me. Cipher, he had offered me a promise of power, if only I assassinated King Shining Horn for him. But I had seen through his ruse, knowing that he was only trying to use me, to have an easy fall guy for the crime. Cipher hadn’t taken that reaction well and attacked me, which was the last thing I remembered. Other than the strange dream I had when I was unconscious. I couldn’t remember much of the dream, other than making a journey with Sunset Shimmer, then a strange bipedal creature known as a human. The journey was full of countless terrors, which made me think it was a blessing my memories of them were vague. I also had vague memories of another humanoid creature with silky skin and beautiful black wings, their name escaped me for now. I also remembered a radiant light, a divine creature that somehow was in my debt. In addition to a beautiful song and a nameless darkness.

I told Sunset of my dreams, she explained that I was mortally wounded by the assassin Cipher, and that my warning probably saved the life of the king. But for some reason I wouldn’t wake up for days, so she had decided to enter my mind. Only to find that I was trapped in some kind of inescapable nightmare, a permanent coma, until she could find a way to dislodge my spirit from the dream. She confessed that even her memories of the dream were vague, but that they were indeed horrifying and that I should feel grateful that I didn’t remember much. Despite that, I could feel that this dream, if that is what it was, had changed me in ways I couldn’t yet explain. But whatever the case, I was happy to be alive, and I had a feeling that if I were to die, I would be reunited with some forgotten friends.