Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Cozy Glow
Before entering the muddy pit that was the third circle, Helel taught me how to attune to the Eyes of Minos. After which the artifacts that appeared to be like pearls disappeared, replacing my own eyes, according to Sunset my I didn’t look any different than they usually did, but with them I could see better than ever before, the darkness of the blind world didn’t seem to hinder my eyesight anymore and Helel told me that Minos Eyes even held the power to see the invisible and to inspire fear into those these eyes gaze fell upon. With that in mind I was able to serve as a scout for the group, being able to see further than Sunset’s torch of hope. Before we entered the valley proper, Jezebel gave the rest of us an inspiring speech, I remembered that this would usually be my role, but I let her do it for now. The winged woman took perch on a rock that towered above us, giving her an elevated position, Jezebel appeared regal, an elegant princess used to addressing her subjects. What she said was inspiring:

“Fellow prisoners of the dark world, too long have we suffered the cruel judgments of Epimetheus, condemned eternally for our faults, even the most minor. But now, thanks to you people, there is now hope of escape. Before us lies the circle of gluttony, the lair of the fiend called Cerberus. In its lair is our only salvation, the Lyre of Apollo. While I don’t know if we will succeed in obtaining the lyre, we can just as well try as we have nothing left to lose, come with me, Cozy the Clever, Sunset the Radiant, Helel the Rebellious, Orpheus, Father of Songs and Euridice the Fair. For while we stand together, Hell will not be able to contain us.”

Helel clapped in approval and the rest of them followed suit, I joined in as well, feeling truly hopeful for the first time since we entered this world of perdition. I didn’t know what terrors awaited us further down the pit, but I knew we could face them together. After all, Friendship is Power, and that camaraderie might be able to overcome even the greatest despair, even that of the Void itself.

While we started out in good spirits, we soon found ourselves sliding down a muddy and slippery decline into the valley below, in which there was constant hail and snow making travel difficult. But with the eyes of Minos I was able to safely guide the way forward, making sure everyone made it down the decline safely. Orpheus and Euridice were especially in need of help, lacking the wings of me, Jezebel and Helel. In a way Orpheus and Euridice were a hindrance, so part of me wanted to leave them here, but I knew that we at least needed Orpheus to play the lyre for Lucifer if we would have any chance of escape. But there was also something else, while I wanted to prioritize my own escape above all, there was something within me that didn’t want to leave anyone behind in this awful place. My conscience didn’t usually stand in the way of me getting what I want, but for some reason I found myself wanting to help these hapless humans.

,We eventually managed to reach a rocky platform jutting out from the incline. The strong wind from the previous circle had finally stopped, with the eyes of Minos I was able to see the entire muddy ravine below a muddy hellscape filled with snow and debris, but there were also pools of bodily liquid, of vomit and blood, the smell alone was enough to make me gag. And among the pools of bile and gore, there were groups of damned souls, both human and pony, being herded through the valley by their devil torturers, their bodies were deformed by obesity and with each step their bodies sank halfway into the pools of bodily waste. Helel told me the devils were waiting for the arrival of Cerberus so the great Hound of Hell would be able to play with his food. Sunset looked horrified and I could also not help but to pity the souls trapped in the valley below.

All this just for the crime of being gluttonous? Like with lust, it wasn’t a sin I had much experience with, as I have been surviving on very little for most my life. But I did remember what I did the days after I made it big in the chess world and brought home a sizable amount of money as the grand prize of a major tournament. I spent the following days eating at expensive restaurants in Canterlot, gorging myself on luxury meals I previously hadn’t been able to afford but wanted to try. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had done way worse, would I have been condemned to this horrific valley for that alone?

We slowly made it down the slope towards the disgusting mire below. When we reached the ground, the stench was even more overwhelming, and an immense sense of nausea overtook me, and I added yet more bile to one of the many pools by vomiting right into it. Any hope I might have felt from Jezebel’s speech was now gone, as I realized just how unpleasant the journey through the circle would really be. And it wasn’t likely to get any better in the circles further down. Sunset put her hand on my back after I was finished vomiting, asking me if I was okay. I nodded, telling her that I would be okay. But I wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. Helel pointed us towards what appeared to be a system of caves, but upon closer inspection the walls of these underground tunnels appeared to be made from intestines, held up by structures of bones. Orpheus told us that the lair of Cerberus was underground among these tunnels, so we had no choice but to enter.

Fortunately, the stench was less pronounced in these tunnels, but I truly felt like I was walking down the gullet of some great beast, I had a feeling that the entrance behind us might close, like a beast closing its maw, leaving us trapped here forever. We spent what felt like an eternity walking down these tunnels until I saw an infernal red glow ahead. I could hear gurgling sounds coming from up ahead and there were vapors from an unknown substance. What we encountered up ahead was some kind of strange laboratory, where devils toiled concocting various brews, extracting ingredients from the damned souls sitting on various benches across the room, the souls could barely keep themselves upright.

Helel explained that these were the drunkards, those who would overindulge in alcohol and drugs when they were alive, Cerberus didn’t even find them appetizing. The devils of the laboratory extracted substances from the drunkards themselves, often by distilling the substance from the body by boiling their bodies until they excrete these liquids. Helel told us they were producing substances they could sell in the city of Dis, which was in the lower circles. Sunset wanted us to interfere in order to free the poor souls from their torment, but Helel told us we should simply avoid entering these laboratories, as there was little we could do to ease the suffering of the souls within, even if we freed them, they would have little hope of escaping the circle. That only the destruction of hell itself could free them, something that was only within the power of two beings, Lucifer and Yaldabaoth, and Yaldabaoth had no intention of freeing anyone here from their torment.

Continuing down these dreadful tunnels we came across another chamber where a single human was trapped, a bearded man, in this chamber was a single pool of water with white-starshaped flowers at its bank, with a tree stretching above the man. Without the eyes of Minos I would have been fooled by the illusion cast upon this place, as the water had been enchanted to appear crystal-clear and without impurity and the tree to harbor the most delicious of fruits, but I could see that underneath this enchantment the pool of water was putrid and the fruits rotting, the illusions appearing before my eyes as a thin translucent shell surrounding what is their true appearance. When the man tried to go for a drink the water level in the pool lowered, staying forever out of a man’s reach, same with fruits, the branches of the tree lifting them higher to stay out range for the man’s arms. Orpheus said he knew who this man was explained everything to me:

“This is Tantalus, he was an ancient King who had served his own son to Zeus, the Malakhim who was the supreme ruler of the universe at this time, before Yaldabaoth overthrew them. He made a meal out of his own son to test Zeus’s omniscience. For his crimes, Zeus banished Tantalus to Tartarus, where he would be eternally subjected to the punishment you see before you, to be eternally hungry and thirsty, with delicious fruits and clean water just out of reach for all eternity. “

I told Orpheus that the tantalizing nature of the fruits and water was nothing more than an illusion, that it was just as putrid and disgusting as everything else in this place. Orpheus seemed surprised, being unable to see through the illusion himself, but given his knowledge of the Eyes of Minos, he trusted me at my word. Sunset, ever the bleeding heart, couldn’t resist approaching the tree, its branches not lifting to keep the fruit out of reach like it did with the king, so she managed to pluck one of those putrid fruits and give it to Tantalus, who seemed eternally grateful. In return, the Old King told her he would do whatever he could to help us in return. I told him that we were trying to get a powerful artifact from the lair of Cerberus. Tantalus told me something interesting:

“Cerberus is a fearsome beast indeed, but there has been also has been able to get past him, you see, Cerberus is vulnerable to what makes him drowsy. Aeneas, the great hero of Troy passed here long ago together with his guide Sibyl, they fed Cerberus the Asphodel flowers which grow by this very pool. If Cerberus consumes them, it is bound to make him extremely drowsy. “

That was all I needed to know, I quickly picked some of the flowers at the bank of the pool, now I just needed a way to trick Cerberus into eating them. I looked up at the tree and got a devious idea, the enchantment surrounding the fruits would be likely to fool even Cerberus. So, if I fed him one of these delicious-looking fruits, they might not notice the Asphodel flowers if I fed them to the beast at the same time. Considering Tantalus didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with the taste, it was likely the enchantment applied even to its flavor. I told my plan to the rest of them. Sunset put her hand on my shoulder and said:

“You see Cozy, showing kindness to others can sometimes give you opportunities you wouldn’t have otherwise, as those you treat with kindness are often more than willing to help you out in turn.”

Of course, I knew that already, my entire philosophy was based around how friendship could benefit you, how calculated displays of kindness could be used to manipulate people to do what you want. Yet I had a feeling that wasn’t what she really meant. After all, Sunset likely hadn’t anticipated a reward for helping Tantalus. It was just something that happened to occur as a result.

It wasn’t far from Tantalus’s place of punishment to Cerberus lair. It was deeper into these fleshy tunnels than any other chamber, but eventually we came to an enormous cave opening, outside of it there was a pile of chewed and spat-out carcasses, still alive and shrieking, slowly healing as a damned couldn’t truly die, as that might mean an end to their suffering. Inside of this enormous cave there was a huge dog-like creature, if it could even be described as a dog, the creature didn’t have the lean physique of a hunting dog, but was instead morbidly obese, as big as a barn, only tufts of fur still hanged from its slimy skin and the snouts on its three heads looked like it had been hit in the face with a frying pan. If this creature had once been a dog, it would have been mutated beyond recognition by some dark power. The beast snarled as it caught our scent and came rushing towards us as fast as it could on its stubby legs, carrying the weight of its endless supply of meals. I quickly hurled one of the fruits from Tantalos’s tree wrapped in Asphodel flowers up in the air, Cerberus’s three heads fought with the others for who would get the first bite of the delicious-looking snack. I then told the others to run before flying into the air myself, hoping the flowers would affect the creature quickly before it caught up with us. But there was little to worry about as the creature immediately got sluggish after ingesting the fruit and soon fell on the ground unconscious in front of its cave. Orpheus looked to the creature and sighed:

“I remember the majestic beast you used to be Cerberus, back when Hades still ruled the Underworld, but look at yourself now, out of shape and tainted by the putrescence of the very sin this place was meant to punish. Yet this wouldn’t be the only creature of the Underworld of old that Epimetheus tainted with their desire for so-called justice.”

I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sympathy for the old dog, however mad and rabid it now was.

We quickly went through the pile of mangled remains inside the lair until we found the lyre. The Lyre of Apollo did not look like I expected, being made from what appeared to be a turtle shell, some sticks tied together and some strings. But Orpheus assured me this was indeed the lyre we were looking for. The one with the power to inspire hope in any creature. Our only ticket out of this place of endless despair where the stars don’t shine.