Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Sunset Shimmer

There had been an indeterminate amount of time since I first found myself in the darkest void beneath the roots of the multi-verse. There could have been hours, days, weeks, months, years or even centuries, there was no way to tell in this place, there was no sun, moon or stars in the sky, only blackness, eternal and everlasting. This place seems to devour my memory of how I got here slowly but surely the longer I remained in this place. What had once been clear was now starting to become foggy, the only thing I can still remember why I got here was that I intended to save Cozy Glow, exactly why I had such a strong desire to do so I couldn’t remember. It had started to become very clear to me there were powers here but didn’t want me to save Cozy, powers that conspired to keep the both of us trapped in this darkness forever. Ever since I got to this place, I had been feeling this fire beneath my skin, a radiant light that burned me each and every second, the pain was excruciating, I had the innate sense of knowledge that the fire represented my own ideals and values that were contradictory of the will of the one called The Most High. I desired to free not only Cozy, but every single soul here, but these souls were damned by divine will, and to desire their redemption would be to cross that divine will.

After getting off Charon’s boat, me and Cozy found ourselves following our angelic guide through a foggy landscape, a seemingly endless plain, visible only thanks to the flame of hope I carried as a torch were broken monoliths, ruined obelisks, as well as statues depicting various heroes and gods from various cultures across infinite planes. The fog only seemed to get more oppressive with each and every step, I sometimes could almost make out humanoid figures in the midst, reaching their hands towards us, and the screams of newborns got clearer and louder as we continued forward.

“Don’t tell me the Adjudicator sends even children here?” I asked Helel, our guide. They sighed and shook their heads.

“The denizens of this place committed no actual sin, these used to be the planes of Elysium, where the gods of old sent those who held their favor to get their eternal reward. But ever since Yaldabaoth’s victory in the war, they overthrew the old gods and turned the fields of Elysium into yet another place of punishment. Here those who are punished are those who were virtuous in life, yet didn’t swear allegiance to the Adjudicator, either of their own free will, or because they simply didn’t know of them in life. Not that it mattered to Yaldabaoth, who considered them guilty all the same. Many children who die early are confined here as a result of their lack of ability to choose allegiances.”

The more I heard about Yaldabaoth the less I liked them, always coming up with technicalities to justify the cruelest of punishments for the most minor of crimes. I could only hope that the souls found within these empty plains would eventually find rest.

While the flame of my hope was still burning bright, the wood on which it burned, a makeshift torch plucked from among the branches of the dark forest, was starting to falter, leading the torch to flicker, we needed a solution fast unless we would be lost in the darkness forever. I asked Helel if they had any suggestions. They told me that the Castle of Noble Spirits was nearby and that if we could reach it there would be more wood to create more torches there.

As we continued forward, we eventually came across a child, a young earth pony colt sitting on a broken statue of a siren. They told us they were lost and asked us if we could be escorted to the Castle of Noble Spirits. I was about to tell them they could accompany us with little hesitation before Cozy stopped me, telling me that there was something strange with the child. Cozy tried to press the colt for more information about how they became lost, the spirit just sighed and disappeared from sight. Helel told Cozy she had done well, for the spirit was probably only trying to lure us to more of their kind so that they could feast on our hope. Helel reminded us of how rare our resource hope was in this place and how hell tended to slowly but surely drain the last remnants of hope from its denizens until they were left with nothing but hopelessness.

Soon the desperate spirits would be upon us, forming our wall of wailing souls around us, Helel told us that the only way forward would be to force our way right through them. We managed to make it through, but I could feel that the spirits had managed to rip us apart at the fundamental level and had stolen a fragment of our hope, to make matters worse, in the chaos I had accidentally dropped the torch. We were able to leave while the spirits were desperately fighting over the fragments of hope and what remained of the torch. Without the torch we found ourselves in absolute darkness. Blackness deeper than any darkness in the mortal planes.

Fortunately, we soon came across a sphere of light in the distance, piercing through the darkness and the fog. These luminous beings turned out to be Noble spirits from the castle. But they were not allowing us entry because of our own personal sins and because of the presence of something they called a “Malebrance”, clearly referring to Helel. I asked them about the meaning of this word after the fact, Helel told me that it was a derogatory term used for most of the Malakhim who stood against Yaldabaoth, meaning “Evil Claws”, it could also refer to those Malakhim that the “Blind World” had corrupted, turning creatures of light into creatures of darkness. When I asked the Spirits about my own sins, I got the answer that I expected, that my spirit burned with the fires of heresy, for my beliefs contradicted those of the Most High, as sinners they told us we had no business in the Castle of Noble spirits, especially not one as vile as Helel, one of the original rebels who fought against the Most High. I tried to reason with them:

“I may not be perfect, I recognize that, neither are my companions, but I believe that each and every soul can be redeemed, and that each should be granted a chance at redemption. It is for the purpose of redeeming our souls we make this journey; therefore, I beg of you to allow us to rest at the castle if only for a single night.”

The spirits seem to mull over what I said, and they finally gave me the answer:

“Very well, you are admirable, and I hope for your sake and for ours that you will find a way to break free from this place of perdition. But know this, it is this light within your soul that puts you at odds with the Supreme Emperor of All Things, if you were to stop pretending you knew better than them you might yet find salvation. But they…”

The spirits glanced at Cozy and Helel before continuing:

“Their spirits are tainted by the ice of treachery; they belong to Lake Cocytus at the very heart of this abyss. They are amongst the most vile of sinners, I do not believe they can be saved, but they have hope, you still have hope, because you’re still alive, unlike us, there is hope. While we possess no other sin, our allegiance didn’t belong to The Sublime One in life, and therefore we will be forever damned, even if we hold the most lustrous position in this place due to our lack of sin. We beg of you, reconsider your path while you still have a chance, after your body dies for good, there will be no way out.”

The spirits handed me one of their torches which I was able to alight with my inner hope, they told me that the way to the Castle of Noble spirits were through the Labyrinth of Fog, a labyrinth that was alive and liked to change, but they also told us that their movements didn’t lead to perdition, but towards the straightforward path. With this in mind we started to navigate the labyrinth, only the torch of hope I was carrying being able to cut through the darkness and the fog. I decided to instead of trying to resist the labyrinth’s movements, I let them guide me. While the spirits of the wailing souls of limbo were all around us, attracted to the light of my torch, Helel was around to drive them back. We also encountered a devil within the labyrinth, searching for souls to torment, one of Helel’s kin. A being of humanoid form, seeming to be made from pure darkness in contrast to Helel’s light, with batlike wings and the horn had as well as cloven hooves where feet should be. Helel told them to stand down on the authority of Lucifer and let them pass, but the devil just told him:

“You have no authority here anymore, we can never escape this torment, the only thing we could do is to accept our given role as tormentors of the damned. The Adjudicator has given reprieve to those that are willing to act as their torturers, as long as I do that I will not be tormented. You are weak Helel, a shadow of your former self, you are the reason I am here, as such I will take great pleasure in tormenting you.”

With that the devil attacked Helel, them raising their greatsword against the devil’s longsword. Me and Cozy assisting in the battle. I summoned the light within me, my entire being shining with divine light, I projected that power towards the devil, scorching it with a ray of my belief in redemption, but this power burned me as well, and because of me being weakened from our encounter with the desperate souls earlier, I collapsed. While everything was black for a moment, I could hear Cozy uttering insults against the devil:

“I’d call you a pile of dung, but you lack both the depth and the warmth.”

The devil screamed in agony, the insults seemingly somehow affecting it physically. A moment later I came to, fully restored in the divine flame of my own torch, I could feel my hope drain, I knew if this kept happening, I would eventually lose all hope, be reduced to nothing more than a prisoner in this awful place, but said hope being consumed also restored me to full power, invigorated by its holy power. Feeling the power of the flame within me, I summoned another barrage against the devil, the flames burned within me with immense agony, but the rays of light I summoned made short work of the fiend. Helel explained they would soon resurrect, it would take longer than it did for me because of her lack of hope, but it would, so we decided to move on before it came back.

After our encounter with the devil, we finally managed to reach the Castle of Noble Spirits. A huge beacon of light, much like the flame of hope I carried was visible in the distance, dominating the Castle’s courtyard. Surrounding this bonfire was an imposing castle, seemingly made from white marble, sitting on top of a hill almost entirely encircled, its architecture a blend of that of many world’s cultures. Seven walls ran around the hill with countless towers. It was grander than Canterlot. A river of crystal-clear water acted as a moat, one that was seemingly impossible to cross, but Helel told us that as long as we possess a fragment of the divine flame that was hope within us, that we would be able to cross. We did as they said and we were able to cross without difficulty, walking as on the air itself. Once inside, Helel thought it was time to finally explain a few things to us about their own motives, we sat down around the beacon of light in the courtyard and listened to what they had to say:

“It’s time to explain myself to you and what I get out of our… Partnership. You see, I’m seeking a powerful artifact, The Lyre of Orpheus, an instrument that is said to have the power to inspire hope in the most despondent of hearts. Lucifer, the former leader of the rebellion is imprisoned at the very heart of the void, the eternal lake of ice that is Cocytus, the furthest place in all of creation from the divine light of hope. You see, this place saps all its inhabitants of hope, slowly but surely, they will be corrupted, turning into a being of darkness and evil, like the devil we encountered earlier, who used to be a being of light like me. I am one of very few beings in this place who still hold onto some hope, and my hope is all invested in this plan. If we were to play the Lyre in front of Lucifer, I hope we can restore them to the being of life they once were, and in turn Lucifer will be able to break you out of here and return you to your physical forms. The only problem being the Lyre was lost during Orpheus and Euridice’s many escape attempts from here, I need to speak to Orpheus about where he lost the Lyre. Fortunately, he is a resident of this very castle. Thing is, without your flame of hope, Sunset, I wouldn’t be able to navigate the darkness and I would be quickly consumed. I need you two to help me get the Lyre and then escort me to the very heart of the abyss where Lucifer resides.”

I didn’t know what to think about this, it seemed like a crazy plan, what kind of artifact could possess the power to restore hope and redeem even those completely lost? But it was completely up my alley. I had heard stories of Lucifer, how they were supposed to be the incarnation of evil, yet the evil of this place was to my understanding not of their doing, but that of the being they rebelled against. If Yaldabaoth wasn’t as good as I had been told, was it possible that the devil used to be a righteous rebel? To that question I didn’t have an answer, but I didn’t see much of a choice. It seemed like Helel needed the hope within us and the light my torch provided to safely make it to the very heart of Hell. I turned towards Cozy and asked her what her opinion of all of this was. What I heard was hardly surprising:

“Are you kidding me? I would do anything to get out of here, anything, of course we will help Helel if they think doing so will grant us a way out.”

With that the three of us set out to track down Orpheus, eventually we found him. Orpheus was a human, but with abnormally beautiful features, raven black hair and blue eyes, he looked almost like a statue with his marble perfection. His eyes looked dejected, hopeless, we found him in a corner moping. I approached him and asked him what was wrong, he told me he was distraught for he had once again lost his lover Euridice on a lower level of the abyss during their last breakout attempt, together with his Lyre. Now that I thought about it, the name Orpheus seemed familiar, I had encountered it during my travels by some point. I asked Orpheus to tell me their story:

“I was once the son of the great Apollo, a being which I once believed to be a god, who I now know was one of the Malakhim. My mother was Calliope, the muse presiding over eloquence and epic poetry. My father Apollo gave me his Lyre and taught me to play it. No one could resist my beautiful melodies; it was my music that attracted my future wife Euridice to me. We were happily married, but a prophecy predicted this would last. The prophecy was correct, for it would come a day when my beloved Euridice was bitten by a snake and died. In desperation I journeyed to the underworld to bring her back. Back in those days Elysium was still the verdant fields of the blessed, not filled with the oppressive darkness and fog that is now. In those days there was no gate at the entrance to the underworld, instead it was guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus, who now torments souls at the third circle instead. Cerberus was easily beguiled by my music, and they let me pass. I presented myself in front of Hades, the one of the Malakhim who ruled the underworld during those times and he and his wife Persephone were swayed by my plea and by the ballad about my plight I composed. They granted me a deal, I could have Euridice back, but under one condition, I wasn’t allowed to look back as I left the underworld to see if she was following me, alas, in a moment of weakness, I looked, and we have both been trapped here ever since.”

Orpheus story moved me, it was deeply tragic, I could even see a tear on Cozy’s face, and she was not one to be easily moved by sentimentalities, Helel however was unmoved. Orpheus burst out into tears before continuing the story:

“At first me and Euridice were trapped here together, things weren’t so bad as we spent centuries, millennia, aeons, or however long it was in each other’s company in the paradise that was the fields of Elysium. But things changed, after the War in Heaven, after the gods I had worshiped my entire life were overthrown and replaced by a single deity, one of the Titans, the one we used to know us Epimetheus, who were none too happy about those who haven’t worshiped them during their life. As such after they took power, the darkness that was originally only present at the very bottom of the Underworld, Tartarus, expanded to cover the entirety of the underworld, including the Fields of Elysium. I was one of the lucky few who haven’t done much to offend the new Supreme Deity other than the fact I didn’t give them worship in life, maybe they were also impressed with my poetry and music, but my wife, Euridice, she was condemned to the Second Circle for her sin of Lust. I once tried to venture down and rescue her, together we came as far as the Third Circle before we encountered Cerberus once again. Cerberus was different from last time I had encountered them, twisted by the dark power leaking out from Tartarus. My music no longer had any effect on it. We both died and when I woke up, I found myself here again, without my lyre, I assume my beloved found herself back in the Circle of Lust. “

Helel asked them where exactly he lost the Lyre, Orpheus told them that it was likely to be in the lair of Cerberus in the Third Circle. Helel explained to Orpheus their plan of breaking out of hell and told them that they needed their skills with the Lyre to restore hope to Lucifer. Orpheus did stop crying, he thought about it for a moment and then agreed to accompany us. But he warned us that if the Lyre was ever used to its full potential like that, it would break and we would never be able to use it again. So we needed to be absolutely certain we wouldn’t need it for such a purpose before we reached the bottom of the pit.

We spent some time at the Castle, resting, when we were ready to continue our travels, I made sure to grab as many branches as possible of the infernal wood the residents used to create torches to carry the flame from the bonfire in the courtyard, hopefully they would be enough to last the rest of the journey. As we left the castle, I looked up into the sky, it was black as usual, but I remembered Orpheus’s story and I wondered if the skies of Elysium had once been filled with stars.