Cozy's Inferno: a Journey through the Darkest Void

Cozy Glow
As we crossed from the Meadows of Asphodel to the banks of the river Styx, the putrid Meadows gave way to an equally putrid marshland. The river Styx itself appeared to be made of some tar-like black ichor rather than anything resembling water. Within the black ichor were countless wrathful souls, screeching in anger and clawing at each other while remaining trapped in the river Styx. Sensing our presence, a horde of irascible damned souls emerged from the waters and attempted to drag us under. Jezebel fired rays of hellfire at the horde of damned, driving back enough of them to keep Helel from being dragged under while the fallen angel pushed back the rest of them with a few swings from their weapon imbued with lightning. Sunset asked them about the nature of these wrathful souls and why they were condemned to linger within the river Styx for all eternity.

Helel told her that, unsurprisingly, these were the souls of the wrathful, those who had let their temper control them in life, now cursed to be forever lost to their violent impulses, trapped beneath the surface of the river Styx. Wrath, rage, anger, whatever you want to call it was an emotion I was quite familiar with. After the princesses of Equestria had sentenced me to Tartarus, (well, not this Tartarus, Equestria’s maximum-security prison that happened to share the same name), I was consumed by anger and thoughts of vengeance. To the point that I was easy prey to Grogar’s manipulations when he told us to attack Equestria, a festering wrath that was only made worse once Grogar has been revealed to be none other than Discord, who had set us up for failure from the very beginning. I didn’t remember much of the following battle: such was the anger Discord’s betrayal inspired in me, but I did remember that once the dust had settled, I was condemned by Equestria’s hypocritical rulers to be turned to stone for all eternity. While the fury I held for Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle and especially Discord never fully went away. It had cooled down over the years and I had since realized that I had let my own anger and desire for vengeance blind me to some truths that were obvious to me now. And I owed it all to somepony who was willing to give me a chance when nopony else would, Sunset Shimmer. The same pony would come to the threshold of hell itself to save me, in defiance of the will of the Adjudicator no less.

For a moment, I thought back to the time when me and my so-called companions tried to scale Mount Everhoof to obtain the Bell of Grogar. It was protected by a powerful barrier, and it was only through working together we were able to obtain the Bell. The feelings I felt at that time when I truly connected with Tirek and Chrysalis, it was a feeling that had made me happier than any amount of power or influence. If we all weren’t blinded by rage back then, we would’ve realized that our quest for vengeance was pointless and could only ever end badly for us. I wasn’t fully able to comprehend it back then, but Twilight was right, the act of helping others was truly something extraordinary, it somehow felt better than anything I have ever done. Before or since. Perhaps safe for the time I had spent with my friends since being freed from stone. A mare with a black coat and midnight blue mane flashed before my eyes, my memory still wasn’t fully restored, but I knew this mare was important to me in the outside world. Almost as important as Aurora, who had once meant the world to me. Too bad her soul was also condemned to this infernal place. I had to find her soul in the Forest of Suicides, according to Helel there was still quite some traveling we needed to do in order to reach it. But when we did, I swore to whatever higher power would listen that I would do whatever was in my power to free her soul from this torment. Because she was a friend, and I would do anything for my friends. That was the essence of the epiphany I had on top of Mount Everhoof, my bonds meant more to me than my own life. However much I valued power, I valued friendship more.

Knowing we couldn’t cross the river Styx without a ferry, Helel told us to light the beacons on each side of the river. The entire riverbank was dotted with roughly built stone watchtowers which housed beacons that could be lit by divine flame. Lighting the beacon on the side of the river wasn’t a problem, but when it came to the one on the other side of the river, it fell to a volunteer to carry the Torch of Divine Flame to the other side to light the beacon, I volunteered for the job, my pegasus wings allowed me to keep a safe distance to the souls of the damned in the river. Helel told me to watch out for the wisps of flame. At first, I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but then I noticed the strange ghost-lights in the air around the riverbank. The lights were entrancing, I felt drawn to them like a moth to a flame. They were calling me. But I managed to snap out of it before it was too late and focused on my task, lighting the beacon in the tower on the other side of the river. In the center of the tower was a strange black heart emitting the same black ichor as made up the river, it looked very flammable. I took Torch of Hope and lit the beacon before returning to the rest of the group.

Before long, the beacons we late summoned an enormous ferry, just like the one ferried by Charon in the circles above. Just like Charon, this one was ferried by a giant of a man, who Orpheus told me was Phlegyas, a demigod son of Ares who was condemned to Tartarus after torching the Temple of Apollo at Delphi as vengeance for Apollo’s role in killing his daughter. But now was relegated to ferrying corrupted Malakhim of the Second Host across Styx on the order of his mistress, Hecate, the former Goddess of Magic and now ruler of the city of Dis. Helel greeted Phlegyas and told them the following with a booming voice that radiated authority:

“Greetings Phlegyas, son of Ares, I am Helel of the Second Host, me and my companions seek entrance to the city of Dis to gain an audience with Hecate, Queen of Everlasting Lament.”

Phlegyas reluctantly agreed to ferry us across. Whoever Helel truly was, they surely seem to carry quite a bit of influence within the City of the Damned.

Upon boarding the boat, the wrathful damned jumped up on the boarding bridge to attempt to drag us into Styx below, only narrowly missing Sunset, Helel, Orpheus and Euridice, while me and Jezebel decided to fly way above their reach. The journey was long but not uneventful. For eventually we ran into what first appeared to be a whirlpool, but upon closer inspection the whirlpool seemed to consist of a horrifically stretched out body with a wide maw, attempting to swallow the boat, it had multiple long limbs with claws at the end that each attempted to scratch the side of the boat. The creature rocked the entire boat, causing both Euridice and Sunset to fall overboard. Orpheus cried to Helel to save his beloved, no matter what. Leaving me and Jezebel to get Sunset up on the boat before it was too late. I rushed to her aid as quickly as possible, working together with Jezebel to use our wings as momentum to drag Sunset out of the maw of the beast, I managed to summon strength I didn’t know I had in trying to help my friend. Was this the power of friendship? Sunset was badly injured, but still clinging on to life. After coughing up copious amounts of black ichor mixed with blood, the first thing Sunset did when she was once again in safety on the boat was to reignite the torch using the hope within her. But I could feel the light within her had dwindled significantly since we started this journey. Would Sunset really be able to sustain the Light of Hope throughout the rest of the journey? This had really started to worry me recently, as without Sunset’s flame we would be lost in the dark and easy prey to the evil of this damned place.

Unfortunately, Helel couldn’t reach Euridice in time. Orpheus screamed out in horror as his beloved was torn apart by the creature below us. Euridice once again regained her form in the light of Sunset’s torch, but her form had started to turn insubstantial. Helel told us that all hope within her had perished, and that now all that remained was for Euridice to turn into one of the hopeless damned, forever bound to her eternal place of punishment in the second circle. Euridice was starting to fade away before Orpheus put his hand on her chest and transferred over what appeared to be in essence of light similar to the light of the torch Sunset carried. Orpheus was trying to transfer what little hope he had left into her, Euridice stopped fading away and regained her form, but in turn Orpheus was starting to turn insubstantial, like the common damned souls of this place, as his sacrifice had reduced his hope to nothing.

But before he could fade away, Sunset transferred some of her light into him. Now I was really starting to get worried about how long Sunset’s hope would last, as I could see the fire within her fading away as she shared her hope with Orpheus. Seeing little recourse, I shared some of my hope with her, and her fire started to grow brighter once again. But I could feel a sinking feeling of despair in the pit of my stomach as a result, a gnawing sense of hopelessness that ate at my very soul. I knew it would slowly devour my remaining hope until nothing remained, and I would be condemned to an eternity at whatever cruel punishment awaited me in this place. I knew I hadn’t been the best person, but it seemed fate was always very inclined to subject me to fates worse than death. I still dreaded being turned to stone once again, or perhaps something even worse. For that reason, I could never allow myself to lose hope, I had to think positively, think of what mattered to me, friendship, that black coated mare with midnight blue mane, Aurora. Yes, I had to rescue Aurora. That was the hope I still clinging onto. Despite the oppressive misery of this place and the thought of eternal torment.

Fortunately, Phlegyas managed to navigate out of the whirlpool, saving the ferry from going under completely. I asked Helel what that creature was. Helel told me they were one of the furious, a damned soul considered especially wrathful that had been twisted by the dark power that have infested the underworld into a disturbing mockery of life. A fate truly worse than death. And we were not out of hot water yet, about halfway on our journey, the waters became darker still, the color of deep ink. But the ichor had also become less thick and no more damned souls appeared on the surface. Helel told us that in this part of the Styx, the waters were unnaturally deep, stretching down to what might be infinity. Even Phlegyas seem to be wary of this place, as they told us the depths hosted things that terrified even devils. Ancient beings that existed at the beginning of time, they had many names, but one which we could know them Leviathans. Creatures of the world before the world that began to inhabit the deepest depths when the world was only water, the Malakhim yet to create land. Banished to Tartarus by the Malakhim before all other life was created. I dearly hoped we wouldn’t have to encounter one of those during our journey.

In any case, I could now see the city of Dis in the distance, with its obsidian walls lit with infernal fire. We would soon be at its gates, and once we had passed the city we would continue our journey deeper down into the abyss, to the very heart of the void itself. Still trying to relax on the ferry, I looked up at the skies above, there were still no stars, but the ghost-lights above almost looked like stars