Chapter Twenty: The Void’s True Name: Tartarus

Alice, Zirian, and Elder Beezle rode in their carriage far from the capital of Lucifina.

"How are we suppose to get there by carriage?" Alice asked.

"It's traveling much faster than you think, Princess. We'll arrive in a few minutes." Elder Beezle spoke.

After ten minutes, the carriage stopped. "We've arrived, King Zirian." The three of them climbed out of the carriage and walked towards a large cave.

"Alice, inside here is the Gate known as Hell's Entrance. Nothing can come out after going in if you venture to far. Make sure not to go passed the white flames."

Alice nodded as she walked in slowly, gripping her rapier's hilt. Before they left the castle, Alice change into a lightweight set of black draconian armor. It was a bit big, but must be worn for the trial.

Zirian sighed. 'Return soon, Alice. We must get back quickly.'

Elder Beezle saw Zirian's serious face. "My king, she must be given all the time in the world to complete the trial if possible."

Zirian nodded. "I know. I hope it won't take long."

As Alice continued walking, she noticed a sudden crack in a wall form. After continuing for a while, she made it to the end of the cave.

'There's nothing here...' Alice thought.

Suddenly, the cave began to shake, and cracks with blinding red light began to form everywhere.

The ground shook and quickly opened up, swallowing Alice.

———

Zirian and Elder Beezle stood outside of the cave, when the ground began shaking. They quit speaking and looked at the cave as it began to collapse in on itself.

"Alice!" Zirian yelled. He ran for the entrance to get her, but was stopped by Elder Beezle.

"My king, this could be her trial. Do you wish to interrupt her?" Zirian watched as the cave collapsed completely, and everything quieted.

"This is not her trial, Beezle! A gate should've opened!"

Beezle shook his head. "It would be if she was a demon. She made the gate collapse in on itself. She's gone for now. All we can do is hope and pray she completes her trial."

———

Alice slowly opened her eyes and was surrounded by red flames. It looked like there were very few souls of what looked to be angels here.

'Hell.' Alice thought. 'Is that where we are, System?'

- Possibility... 99% -

Alice began to slowly walk through as an angel fell at her feet, skin melting off and wings burning. "Help! Please... don't leave us... here!"

She kicked him off of her path that slowly formed. It was a walkway of blood red stones and metal. She continued walking along it, meeting other burning angels.

When she arrived at the end of her path, she saw a stake burning with an angel attached to it. She looked around, noticing the flames had turned black, and very few angels existed in this place.

"Excuse me, Mr. Angel?" Alice waved her hand in front of his face.

"What... do... you..." The angel couldn't even lift his head, let alone finish a sentence.

"What layer of Hell am I in now?" She asked.

"Layer? There... is... more?"

Alice nodded as she rubbed the man's face. Her touch was soft and gentle. When she touched him, his skin healed and his wings began to heal.

"You..." he lifted his head. "...It is you! You came back for us!"

Alice pulled her hand back, and he returned to his pathetic state, except for his energy. "Please, keep going! You... must... Tartarus..." His energy slowly disappeared and his head drooped down.

Alice walked slowly passed the stake, continuing before seeing a clear barrier around a hole at the end of her path. The stones and metal became a semi-clear white, and the hole was surrounded by white flames.

It called for her, beckoned for her. She released her firm grip on her sword handle as she felt a sense of familiarity with the hole.

She reached her hand out to it, not hearing the system's warnings.

- Danger discovered! -

- Do not app... -

- Host is in... -

Alice's hand touched the hole, being gripped by a sudden black substance as it slowly pulled her in. She shook her head, quickly breaking the trance of the hole.

She tugged her arm and stabbed at the hole as she became half submerged in it. 'No! No!' She gripped the pathway with a firm will, as it disappeared, leaving nothing to grab onto.

Alice never felt this scared in her new life, even at her mistake of a vow. She felt the fear of death.

The angel on the stake reappeared before Alice, still attached to it. "Tartarus... beckons to... you, Lord. I... suggest... you relax. It'll... be over soon."

———

"He..." Alice heard a faint voice in her head. "Hell... Hello? Are you alive?"

Alice slowly regained consciousness as she lifted her head in an empty infinite darkness. 'The Void.' Looking around, she saw a door, open and asking for her to enter. Unlike the hole in the ground, it felt gentle and kind.

Alice, of her own free will, walked through the door, appearing in a vast black field that lead to a red horizon. It seemed like a dying sun was setting, and trees were withering. Creatures with withering white wings looked like they would be walking, but...

It was all frozen.

She grappled her head, suddenly remembering when she fainted in the bath a while ago. She saw a woman, in a rocking chair... with long glowing white hair. In her hand, which was slumped on one of the armrests, there was a burnt book.

Alice realized this woman was the only moving thing in this strange place, and went to unsheathe her sword, finding herself in a new set of clothing. Her weapons were nowhere to be found.

"Do you like it?" The woman asked. "For a third reincarnation, you will be are the cutest in this robe."

Alice now wore a white robe adorned with red and blue markings, and a little bit of silver. It ran down to her ankles and all the way down her arms.

"I created those to be completely androgynous. They fit anyone, male or female." The woman said.

Alice walked up to the woman, who looked at her with sad eyes. "Are you... God?"

The woman smiled as a chair appeared beside her. "Please sit. We have all the time in the world, my little angel."

Alice took a seat and stared at the woman's mesmerizing golden eyes. "I am God, but my name and title is The Goddess. My true name is... well... I can't remember. Everything you see, I created. I made Hell, Tartarus and even this place, my own prison."

"I was told you were locked away in the Void, without a key?" Alice said. "Are you lying?"

The Goddess rubbed the book in her hand. "This is the only thing in all of existence I did not create. It is the True History of The Universe, the real book." She smiled sadly as she looked at the burnt cover. "When they locked me here, they tried to destroy the book, getting rid of my power completely. I had just enough left to find your soul, Alice. In your second life as Arthur Williams, you unknowingly helped create a better world. The technology you had secretly created and replaced your heart with was found by your friend, Gabriel. He reversed engineered it, creating a technological leap for humanity. It was not tainted during the process, so he turned it into a pendant, taken by a demon named Satan."

She handed the book to Alice. "You may read of time, I assure you it is no trick. I tried changing the book once, and it nearly killed me."

Alice took the book and rubbed the cover. It was course and rough. The smell of it was like it was still burning, but it had long since stopped.

She opens the book, seeing an ancient text which The Goddess allowed her to read.

'In the beginning only one thing existed... The Book of Existence...' She spent a while reading the book, but only the important bits. It looked like a thin book, but when opened, it would take too long to read.

Alice closed the book as it showed a picture of her and The Goddess sitting here, in The Void. "So this is the real Void?"

The Goddess nodded. "That's what the Angels call it, because they can't see these beautiful fields. All they see is true darkness. The black space you were in previously is Tartarus. For the Angels, Tartarus seems like a dark pit, surrounding by lands that can't be obtained. It does rip apart souls though, so if it wasn't for me, you would have been ripped apart for all of eternity. No one leaves Tartarus more than once." She turned her head to Alice as she continued rocking. "You've already left it once, when you became Alice Night, the daughter of Micheal Night. He was my favorite member of the Court, you know?"

"How did they even overtake you?"

In this burnt book, true history is written. Yes, Lucifer and Satan were kicked from heaven, but it was there choice. They wanted to help Earth, and The Goddess wished them good luck. She never wanted to reset the world.

However, due to the treachery of the Court of Angels, the two brothers quickly believed the Goddess wished to not just reset Earth, but destroy it.

The Court gave them traitorous Angels and told them of the Gate, where the Demon race was born. A hundred years passed before Lucifer and Satan moved out. In 2080 they, tried to move peacefully back to the gates of Heaven. When humanity wouldn't allow it, and tried to kill them, they massacred them, leaving only a few million humans.

The Goddess, understanding something was happening, erected shrines throughout the land, so they could wield power in the days to come. This somehow revived the fantasy species lost in fairy tales.

"This book doesn't say what happens after the Court used Lucifer and Satan to lock you away here." Alice said, waving the book around nonchalantly.

"It is because some pages, in the Court's efforts to destroy it, were lost. They paid for it though, with half of their population. It was made even better when their reproduction rate was cut into a fourth of what it was."

"Lucifer and Satan were soul wiped, believing they were always demons. They established the kingdom of Lucifina, and Lucifer died peacefully in his bed. His soul now rests on the shores of Paradise. Satan gave his pendant to his daughter, Satin I, and died in a Holy War against the Angels. That pendant was passed down for thousands of years before arriving to Damien Lucifer."

"What happened to Satan?"

The Goddess pointed at the dying sun. "He relives his death over and over millions of times. Each time, it's more painful to watch. His soul is stuck in there. It's the only thing about this place that isn't beautiful."

"Why don't you help him and leave this place?" Alice asked, her head tilted.

"Satan's soul is split in two, his in there for eternity. The other half ripped from the cycle, becoming an entirely new soul, that could not survive without something keeping its soul together."

She stood up and rubbed Alice's face. "That, little angel, is why you were given a system in your second life. You wouldn't have lived long without it."

Alice looked at her seriously. "What happened to me in my first life? I don't have any memories of it. Is what you are telling me true, and if it is, why can't you change these things?"

The Goddess continued to smile as she sat back down. "I told you trying to change the book almost killed me. It took most of my power. All I had left was immortality and the ability to create a powerful system, which I gave to you when you were born as Arthur Williams, so that you could one day defeat your real father, freeing your other half from this cycle. It would also allow the world to rest. It would know peace."

Alice stood up as she watched The Goddess close her eyes. "Wait, if you gave me your immortality..."

The Goddess began to seemingly fade in and out. "You can keep it, Alice. That was my father's immortality. It's yours now. I do not wish to see anymore of my children kill each other. Just promise me one thing."

Alice tried grabbing her hand, but couldn't. "What is your wish?"

"Create a place for all of my creations... to enjoy eternity after life... together..." The Goddess quit breathing as everything around Alice unfroze, slowly beginning to move and wither away.

She turned back to The Goddess' chair, which was slowly rocking. There was only a single object in her chair.

Alice picked it up and her the System activating.

- Sca... Scanning... Item... -

'System? You're still here?'

- 12%... 25%... 65%... 99%... Complete... -

- Item: Skill Tool for Skill: Creation -

- Creation: The ability to create any and all things one can think of. It will take a very long time before anyone masters this, which is why I have frozen time for my daughter to learn. It will not be easy to master, even with your 'Perfection' skill. Fetoria, my sweet little Goddess, if you're reading this... I will always love you as my greatest, and only creation. I leave this as a farewell for you, to create friends and family. -

Alice smiled at the description. 'So Fetoria the Goddess was just given a tool by her father, who loved her very much...'

Alice grabbed the book, putting it in her system. After a moment of silence, she looked up at the shifting red sky. 'Now... how do I get out of here?'