TO SEEK VENGENCE

The first time I entered Freda's bedroom, the first thing that caught my attention was the large frame on the wall. There were many frames, but one stood out in particular.

The frame was a large 9 X 16, with a man's picture in it. The man balanced in the picture. He wore a fine designer's suit, blue and fitted, with a nice matching tie. He wore a nice eye glasses, carried a nice haircut. He looked perfect and handsome, giving a real gentleman's vibes.

I needed no one to tell me that the man in the picture was Mr. Gabriel, Freda's husband. The one that was lost and never found. She said he went away without a trace.

The man I saw in that picture, is sitting right in front of me. Posing as the lord of hell. He seem to have all power here.

"Y-You are Mr. Gabriel right?" I needed to be sure of what my eyes were seeing.

"In the very person." He answered nonchalantly.

"But how?" I asked, "How are you here in hell?"

He busted into laughter. "Hell?… Who told you this place is hell?"

"That big orc told me so. He welcomed me to hell."

"Well, this may be hell to you or many other lost souls, but not to me."

"But this is hell right?" I insisted on knowing.

"This is my paradise." He said. "Look around you Sol, the obvious beauty. Does this look like hell to you?"

I looked around like he said, I saw how beautiful the place presented itself. For a moment I was convinced that there was no way possible that I was in hell.

While we discussed, two beautiful humanoid female creatures came with bowls full of grapes and fruits. They arranged our table nicely. "Here it is my lord." They chorused.

He smiled in satisfaction. "Thank you my angels."

"Those are angels?" I blurted, "They look like legged mermaids"

"I know," he said, "But never say it to their hearing. They are incredibly dangerous."

"How dangerous?" I asked.

"They would enchant you, so that they could eat your flesh, your flesh would grow back, only so that they can eat you again and again, in an unending circle."

I gulped. "And you said this is not hell?"

He sighed. "It doesn't matter Sol." he pointed at the delicacies on table, "Eat and be merry. Save yourself from starvation."

Well he needed not to invite me twice. Hunger made me loose my table manners. I gulped down the grapes and fruits like a pig. I didn't care about the lord's presence, after all he look like an ordinary man to me. He was just Mr. Gabriel wearing a costume and posing like the lord of hell.

I know of only one person that can actually be the true lord of hell… Satan, if that person is not Satan, then he is not the lord of hell.

"Take it easy on the food." The lord warned.

"Huh?"

"I said take it easy on the food, there's more where that came from."

"Oh sorry Sir, I lost my manners. I was too hungry."

"No apologies. After all you are my special guest." His eyes glittered with sharp red light.

After eating, I offered my gratitude. I sat in a relax posture, looking at him fearlessly. The gentle aura he emits made me feel comfortable.

I put on a serious expression. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead boy."

"How did you come here?"

His expression changed as if he didn't expect me to ask him such a question. A faint smile appeared on his face.

He began: "I was once a good man. A devoted religious one for that matter. I lived my life believing that all things eventually fall into their rightful places. I lived with that belief for the most part of my life.

Everything changed when I met Freda. She loved me so much but she never missed the chance to mock me for my poverty. I had a decent Job but I was still relatively poor. That was because I didn't want to be a thief or anything relating to such life.

Despite everything, Freda still agreed to marry me. She made me the happiest man but not without a condition-"

"What was the condition?" Curiosity filled my eyes.

"That I had to involve myself with money rituals." He answered sincerely.

I remained silent.

He continued: "I did money rituals, I became extremely wealthy but the cost was unbearable. I lost my peace, and every night was a nightmare. The Evil cult would appear to me in my sleep, all of them. demanding a human sacrifice from me to renew the rituals-"

"Did you?" I interrupted.

"What they asked for was unfair, so i couldn't give them."

"What did they demand?"

"My mother…"

My heart sank. "Did you tell Freda?"

He busted into a laughter and answered: "Sol my friend, Freda is one of them, no… Freda is their Queen."

My eyes widened in awe of the unbelievable revelation by Mr. Gabriel. Freda- the queen of a cult?

Mr. Gabriel busted into another loud laughter. "What is it young man? Oh you are worried you've been sleeping with a witch?"

"No wonder I ended up in hell right?"

"Because you slept with a witch? Oh no, that is not the only reason."

"Then why?"

He smirked. "You see Sol, like me, you were a good man. Also like me, you gave yourself away. You lost your sense of humanity when you chose vengeance over forgiveness.

When I couldn't give my mother, I gave myself instead. I died with a heart full of hatred for Freda. I could never forgive what she did to me. The kind of life she dragged me into only for her own selfishness."

"we were the victims, yet we had no right to hate them for what they did to us?"

"Well we had every right, yet hatred and a taste for vengeance only darkened us. So naturally, the law of attraction simply ensured that we found ourselves in a dark place as this."

His words only devastated me even more. Every hope I had began to shatter away. I remained silent, for my mouth was too heavy to say a word.

When I could, I asked: "Will I ever get out of here?"

He sighed. "To be honest to you boy, there's no way out of here. I mean look at me, I don't know how the timing works here but after spending several years here, I am still here."

"Why would you want to get out of a place where you are the top on the chain?" I asked him.

"It wasn't always like that. I fought my way to the top, just as you will also."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I am giving you a chance. Would you prefer you become a miner, like the other dumb orcs?"

His question baffled me so I paused for a second. Could my expectations be disappointed?

"I thoughts you were going to help me get out of here?"

He busted into laughter again. "What do you think this place is, a supermarket that you could just come in and out? No Sol… No. You are going to fight, not your way out, but your way to the top. Who knows, perhaps you could overthrow me one day and become Lord."

"God forbid me become the lord of hell." I protested.

He chuckled, "Well then you would need God to help you in this one. You would really need it."

I saw the hard expression on Mr. Gabriel's face, his whole countenance changed from that of a welcoming host, into that of an evil twisted beast.

He would rather have me fight than help me escape. To him, making me fight was mercy. "Me? Fight? But I am not strong enough." I thought.

As if he could hear my thoughts, he responded. "You don't have to be strong to fight. Your survival instict will help you. You will know you are strong, when the only option is to be strong."

"You can hear my thoughts?"

"I am the Lord here. I hear all thoughts."

It was at that moment that I began to regret why I didn't man up to fight Pahpa. I would still be alive on earth, as a matter of fact, anywhere but here could have been better.

The Lord wasn't going to change his mind. I must fight or waste away as a miner. I could not imagine myself spending my eternity as a brain-death slave in a nightmare of a place as hell.

My thoughts got interrupted by a sudden dizziness. My head began to spin and my sight blurry. I managed to raise my head to look at Mr, gabriel.

"What is happening to me?"

"Relax Sol, you will be fine."

When he said that, I felt my head jam the dinning table… Bang! I paralized.

I could hear and feel, but I couldn't move or see. I was experiencing something like a sleep paralises. I heard him said: "His fight began tomorrow, and his opponent is none other but Vo'ak."

I heard a roar of excitement from Vo'ak and the mermaid-like ladies that served me food.

"Oh god I am finished."