Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Cozy Glow

After retrieving the lyre from the lair of Cerberus and escaping from the circle of gluttony, we found ourselves on another steep decline towards the chasm below, with a great river in the distance. Orpheus explaining this to be the river Styx, which flowed through what used to be the Asphodel Meadows. Where Elysium used to be the place where good souls were rewarded for their actions and Tartarus the place where bad souls were punished, the Asphodel Meadows used to be a neutral afterlife where most people neither fully good nor evil went. Of course, this all changed when Epimetheus overthrew the Olympian gods, now the souls of the avaricious populated these meadows, punished for both hoarding and squandering wealth. Beyond Styx, a great obsidian city could be seen in the distance, illuminated by infernal fires. Helel explained this was the city of Dis, once upon a time the seat of power of Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, later used by Lucifer and the fallen angels as a base of operations during the war against the false god Yaldabaoth.

Greed was a sin I was particularly prone to in the past, as no matter what I achieved I always hungered for more. I originally didn’t have much and therefore I had to claw myself to every possession I had, therefore I greatly valued those possessions. When I originally made a name for myself playing chess, this changed, I suddenly had wealth beyond my wildest dreams. The former Grandmaster, a pony named Bishop took me under his wing and when he died, he named me his sole heir. I had a mansion all to myself, yet it always felt hollow and empty wandering those halls by myself. For I knew what I had to sacrifice to get there. Both Aurora and Bishop where people I missed dearly and I tried to fill the hole in my heart left by their absence with luxury items, food and jewelry, until almost all the wealth I inherited was spent. Maybe that was the reason I tried to take over Equestria, to finally accomplish something grand enough to feel that sense of emptiness within me. As no matter how much wealth I had I could never feel even an ounce of satisfaction.

Upon entering the meadows, we found it to be nearly overrun with refugees escaping Limbo after we destroyed the Judge of the Dead. This place almost seemed like paradise after the constant bombardment of wind and lightning of the second circle and the mud, snow and body fluids of the third circle. I could tell the Meadows once upon a time used to be a beautiful place, Helel described beautiful fields filled with the very same Asphodel flowers, like the ones we used to sedate Cerberus and great springs and streams of pure water. Now it was reduced to a wasteland of gray mud, the streams and springs putrid and poisonous, the only sign of its once idyllic status were the occasional Asphodel flower that grew on the banks of the putrid springs, but even these were twisted and corrupted. Two groups of damned souls could be seen pushing boulders up the many slopes of the fields, constantly bickering with members of the other group, fights occasionally breaking out before they are forced back to push the boulders by their devil guards. Helel explained that the first group were the hoarders, people who hoarded wealth in life and didn’t share it with others. The second were squanderers, who had wasted an excessive amount of wealth in order to satisfy their appetites. I knew which of the two groups I would be part of, as very little remained out of the wealth that I inherited from Bishop. An intangible weight filled this entire area, like I was carrying a heavy burden on my shoulders.

When the devils guarding the damned spotted us, they roared and turned their attention towards us instead of the flocks of damned souls. The devils were quickly cut down by a combination of the Tempestarii blade of Helel, a burst of holy light from Sunset and the infernal flames of Jezebel. The damned cheered as their tormentors were brought down, before the hoarders and the squanderers turned their attention towards each other. Helel was about to speak to the crowd, but Sunset took the initiative before they could even open their mouth.

“Hoarders and squanderers, I understand that you have your differences that might be irreconcilable. But despite these differences you have a common enemy, while many of you might have had your faults and imperfections in life, an eternity of fruitless labor is not a fate I deem justified. Therefore, I say you should rise against your captors, for a new day is coming, one where you might be forgiven and redeemed instead of punished eternally. I swear to you I will not rest until this place of punishment is forever undone and you will all have a chance to overcome the sins of your past and become something better.”

Sunset’s words seemed to calm down the crowds that were now exclusively focused on us. Helel continued Sunset’s speech:

“There is one who is yet capable of opposing the tyranny of the one who condemned you to an eternity of suffering. Lucifer might be trapped in the very deepest pit of the darkest abyss. But we have the means to restore them to their former glory. Once the righteous rebel has overthrown the tyrant, your eternity of perdition will at last come to an end and you will be free.”

The crowd responded well to the combined efforts of Sunset and Helel. Pointing out there is one more individual trapped in this circle that they might need to free. Hades, the former Lord of the Dead.

We found Hades further into the meadows, a man with a long black beard and long black hair. He had a regal bearing to him, despite being stripped of every article of clothing, and had burning eyes which could pierce the heavens. Hades was chained to a rock, with a large devil with a skeletal appearance, wielding a scythe trying his best to torment him. Carving chunks out of the flesh of the former god, spilling their golden ichor on the ground, wounds which Hades quickly regenerated, only for a cycle to begin again. Helel called out to the devil and challenge them to a duel. The devil, feeling smug and superior, agreed. The fight was quite close and Helel was barely able to triumph, but at the end of the battle the devil nonetheless lied at their feet, completely motionless. Jezebel turning their attention towards Hades and did her best to heat up the chains binding the former god. Helel then took a swing at them, but to no avail, the sword of the tempest not even being able to dent the chains. Hades laughed:

“These chains were designed to hold even an Olympian, only a blade forged in divine fire would have the power to break them. I appreciate the attempt, but no power other than one equal to heaven would be able to break me free from these bonds.”

The former King of the Underworld almost seemed to have given up entirely, yet a fire still burned in their eyes, a flame of defiance. I asked the former King what events could have transpired that would bring them to the state they currently found themselves in.

“Once upon a time I was the highest authority here in the underworld, ruling from the city of Dis together with my beautiful wife Persephone. This was until the titan Epimethius and their followers rose in rebellion against Olympus. Not being overly fond of my brothers on Mount Olympus, especially Zeus who had committed many atrocities upon mortalkind, I initially refused to aid them. Thinking that this Epimethius had to be a better ruler than my brother Zeus, I aided them in the rebellion. My mistake only became apparent afterwards, as Epimethius, now calling themselves the One True God, unbelievably enough turned out to be a worse tyrant than my brother. Now known as the Adjudicator, Epimethius turned upon their allies and waged war against the underworld. Their brother Prometheus joined us in this war, the underworld becoming the last bastion against the tyranny of the Adjudicator. But it was all for naught, the forces of the Adjudicator overwhelmed us, I was bound in chains which not even a god could break, the very same chains that once bound Prometheus. Prometheus themselves were imprisoned at the very bottom of Tartarus. As for my beloved Persephone, I don’t know their fate, but I believe they must be somewhere here in the underworld. How I hate the abomination Epimethius turned this once great kingdom into. There were punishments in the underworld before, yes, mostly mandated by Zeus and the other Olympians. But most of my kingdom was a rather decent place to spend the rest of eternity. But now it’s all misery and torment, the very soil itself seems to be corrupted by unspeakable evil, which origin I don’t know.”

As I listen to this story, I noticed that Hades’s eyes admitted a few drops of tears when he mentioned his wife Persephone, he seemed to truly miss her. From what I’ve seen so far his story seemed to make sense. Ever since I first put my hoof in these lands, I had heard stories of how great and prosperous this kingdom of the dead once was, and I have personally seen the foulness that had overcome these lands. There was an evil here greater than anything I could ever imagine. People used to call me a villain, but while my soul was hardly pure, the darkness I had witnessed here in the realms of perdition was so vast that it overwhelmed even a person like me. I could never even imagine such cruelty being inflicted upon anyone back in my original homeland.

Helel looked towards Hades and told him:

“We plan on freeing the Morningstar, I believe their blade should be able to cut your chains, I promise, we will free you and reunite you with Persephone.”

Hades expressed gratitude at Helel’s vow, I also hope that we would be able to find his wife and reunite them, wherever she was in this realm without stars.