1. A Murder in Hell

"It'll be a cold day in hell". I remember these to be the words people use to describe circumstances that may never come to be.

For 6 months, the eternal flame of hell never ceased. Everyday was torture: physical, emotional and mental. Hell was never where I thought I'd end up. sure, I was never a believer, but I was also not a bad guy. The flow of time is slower down here. I don't know if this is because of the torture, or just that space-time is warped badly. A week ago, however, the flame just stopped. the tortures yielded, the demons vanished.

"Jacob, come see this", called out Julian. he's an acquaintance of mine. I found him here, on his 3rd year in this literal hellhole. "What is it?", I yelled, running. "I think I know why we've been given a break... he's...DEAD!" I came running, wondering who could possibly die twice, and I walked into the room Julian was in, I was shocked - couldn't believe my eyes.

It was him. the fallen angel, Lucifer. I had never seen him face to face before. I had expected to see a red winged creature, hideous and unbearable to look at. but no, he was a man, a handsome fellow who looked was in his early 30s. He had beautiful angel wings. I had never been so shocked before.

He had been knocked out, bled out, left to die. "no wonder hell is cold today", I said unto my friend. His presence must have been keeping the whole place intact. Nobody else had realised this, we were the first. Julian and I spent hours, which felt like days, trying to work out clues as to who killed the most dangerous being in existence. as we wrecked out brains, "ting!", the soul bell rung. it only ever rings at 12 a.m. sharp everyday, and it signified new souls coming into hell.

"Do yhu know what this means?", Julian said joyously. I could see it already on his smiling face. The death of lucifer, meant no longer shall we endure suffering. I wanted to celebrate, I really did, but I couldn't. Something just didn't feel right. i fear we might be facing an even bigger threat. Bigger than Diablo himself.

"What's the worst that could happen? We're already in hell", I said this in my head. I needed to get these thoughts out of my mind. In the midst of heavy thinking, I came up with a plan, I wasn't sure whether Julian would agree. I had to find the easiest way to say it. "Jul, look. I know you're celebrating his death, but we have to find out what did this." As soon as I said those words, I could see the sudden change in his mood. The same mood you have when your mom comes bearing gifts, but then yhu realize those gifts aren't for you.

"I told you. Your paranoia just ruined the whole mood", he said this in a very disappointed tone. The tears of joy a few minutes ago became tears of heartbreak. I couldn't help but think it's all my fault, my paranoia ruined it all. Nonetheless, I managed to convince him to join me in a quest to find out the truth. Otherwise this would unsettle mefor the rest of eternity.

"We should hide the corpse", I said unto Julian. He did not understand at first, but as soon as I explained why, he agreed. I did not want to cause a panic, so we carried his body deep into darkness of Hellheim. This is where super souls go to be turned into demons. No body ever dares to go down there, so it would be the best location.

We carried him, and went down to Hellheim. Thirty minutes later, we finally made it to the gates of Hellheim. "I had never been here" before, I declared. We entered the gate, and our surprise: no one was there. I had expected to find the place crawling with demons. But no, we aore the only ones there.

Julian: damn, It's so dark in here.

Me: you're right. Something about all of this does not feel right.

Julian: It's almost as if we're the only ones here. Like, the ONLY souls left.

Me: Let's just go dig a grave for him. We'll deal with the rest later.

Julian: *silently nods head.

We went deeper into Hellheim. As soon as we found the perfect spot to bury Lucifer, we heard some noises. "Is it done?", one of the voices asked. "Yes master", a second one declared. We couldn't see whom those voices were, but they so it so ominous and sinister. We knew that if we did a grave , they'll hear us. Instead, we found a secluded spot, and hid him there.

As soon as we did what was required of us, we ran back to Site. This is where the all the souls reside in. It's also the capital of Hell. Once we got there, we made a vow to never speak of this day ever again. I was so adamant, but those voices kept playing in my head. I did not want to become a victim of whoever those guys were.

Night time came, and it was time to hit the hay. I closed my eyes , and that's when I realised I was sleep deprived. All of a sudden, I couldn't sleep. Satan's lifeless body playing in my head in repeat. I woke up, knocked in Julian's room. I thought he'd also get insomnia, but he was fast asleep. I decided not to disturb him though, so I went back to my room. As soon as I laid my head on the pillow, I was out. I slept like I never slept before.

I've always been a dreamer, even when I was still alive, I would dream a minimum of 3 dream per night. But, ever since I got here, not once did I dream; not even once. So believe me when I say tonight's dream was extremely vivid, and intense.