Oblivion's Stairway

Day 30987 In Hell

Liquid gold sizzled on the grey skin of a corpse walking through a sea of demons. All but the strongest fell before the aura of his sins. Molten rock glowed, lighting his way through a hole in the side of hell itself and into the gaping maw of the void. Bedrock cracked under his steps as he approached the edge of hell with a hell drake egg held in an arm.

He felt no pain as his flesh sizzled from his barely restrained power. His nerves had rotted long after the crows pecked out his eyes; the sense of the spirit replaced his eyes, ears, and all other senses.

Before he left, he had glutted himself on the sin of hell's rulers. All seven avatars of sin fell to him. Once he had all the power, he knew heaven could not be taken. Without Demon Hood, he would never make the powers his own, and with Demon Hood, he could never leave hell.

Stone fell, breaking apart as it neared him. With his power he destroyed the wall of hell itself.

Beasts swaddled in flowing darkness and attacked in swarms. They had lost themselves and were no better than hell's immune response. As an apple tree produces apples, more trees, and hell produced demons to punish the sinners and angels that fell into it to tear them down until they became demons as well.

The power of sin inside him screamed for him to restructure his soul into its true demonic form. With his power, he could abandon his humanity and become the king of hell.

Rip and tear rattled the sword of hate in his right hand. Another drop of gold sizzled on the ground. "Don't ignore me."

When angels fell, their wings smoldered and dripped gold. When no gold was left the fallen became demons.

The power of sin was grace mutated by hell. He knew it from the beginning, but he couldn't escape hell's influence.

He punched through a demon's rotten hide and grabbed its skull. Unholy bone shattered in his grip as the wrath he turned into a deadly edge cycled. From his empty hand, the jagged blade of hate extended as the motor of sin turned the blade into a saw. He waved it, slicing through flesh and bone as he dismembered the hordes keeping him from the edge beyond hell's clutches.

"John Smith, you are a sinner. There is no redemption." Cassiel screamed.

The distraction allowed a beast to impale him with its barbed tail. "Look how far you've fallen. I'll have all the power you collected. I'll chain the dragon in that egg to my will and use it as a mount."

Darkness erupted around him, turning flesh to mush and bone to ash. The demons' bodies were reduced to sludge on the ground as John's guts spilled out of him. 

He heard the fallen angel's wings flap and felt it circle him. The spiritual sense that once blinded him had been honed to a fine edge. "Do you think it was heroic to damage the walls of hell? You know there are monsters greater in the void. Without hell's protective walls, our refuge will be destroyed."

"Rip and tear," John said.

The fallen raised its wings as more gold dripped on the ground. "You don't get to forge. "Static filled John's mind's eye, replacing the whirlpool of blood and promises of satisfaction with bitterness. A memory swept him back to the past.

…

Day 1 In Heaven

Purple robes covered the bearded man who stood over him as the judge of the dead. His mother, father, wife, and siblings were weeping. They had begged for leniency.

"It was your final say that doomed your daughter in life. She did not get a chance to draw breath. Someone must pay for the transgression. Will it be you or your wife?"

John met his wife's gaze before meeting the eyes of the Lord, his god. "Was our daughter welcomed in heaven?"

"I never knew her. Unlike you, she was not baptized and did not receive a new spiritual body."

"Then send me to her then."

"No," His mother sobbed, and his wife cried in despair.

…

Day 30987 In Hell

He caught Cassiel's bladed wing with his sword of hate. Gold dripped and splashed off the fallen angel's wing, burning John.

"I have collected every piece of her soul."

"You murdered a woman who could have been redeemed for a trace of someone who never lived. You stole an egg from the underworld dragon and caused untold torment for a soul that could never be redeemed. Hell, snuffed out your daughter's soul. Nothing will change that."

He parried the angel's wing and kicked the creature in the chest. Lightning crackled before bolts struck him, frying his dead flesh as he protected the egg with his sin aura. The bolts shattered against his flesh as sin hardened it. He could have no greater pride than a man protecting the daughter he rescued from hell.

The words rip and tear filled him with a deadly purpose.

"That isn't her." The angel said.

The angel was wrong. His shadow grew as the power of the avatar of pride fed into the deadliest sin. It was beautiful and horrible. The stars of galaxies appeared across the form of a man able to hold up the heavens. 

John stood within the form of his pride.

"You weren't man enough to take responsibility, so you made something that was. How very human of you." 

Chains of darkness shot out from the shadow's back at supersonic speeds. The fallen angel shrieked as its wings were pierced before they yanked the creature down.

The angel struggled, but it could not dislodge the chains that pierced its body.

Pieces of his body flaked away as the angel struggled back to its feet. It launched itself with its spear, the same weapon that had killed John numerous times in his journey. John yanked back on the chains, throwing the angel out of position and the spear thrust wide before stabbing him through the chest with the sword of hate.

Frost gathered around his blade as he withdrew it. "I will hunt you down. There is nowhere in hell you will be safe."

John froze the angel in the icy power of sloth.

Cassiel would remain moments from death for weeks if nothing finished it off. He would act as a scarecrow to scare off the mindless demons.

Rip and tear filled his mind as the sword of hate roared at him to kill the angel and send it to be reborn through hell's cycle. John turned his attention to Hell's edge outside the walls where demons feared to tread.

His body broke down as he neared it. Breaking the hell's wall was impossible without all seven sins fueling his sinner powers. The further he stepped from hell's walls, the weaker he became. The wall of hell slowly reformed as thousands of imps ran over it like clotting cells over an open wound.

A demon could not leave hell, and a mere sinner couldn't break the wall of hell.

With his sightless eyes, he stared into the void beyond hell itself. Jumping could destroy his very soul.

He placed his daughter's egg down before placing his hand on it. The sin flowed out of him and into it. All the power he gained as a sinner flowed into the underworld dragon egg. John felt the powers fuse with her more deeply than they ever had with him. Even if, by some curse, the others managed to slay her, she would retain the lion's share of them.

The egg cracked. "Goodbye, Amelia Smith."

The yawning void welcomed him, promising nothing. He stepped up to the edge as he felt the spark of creation within him, the touch of grace free of the sinner's taint. John had given up his power in hell. The sword of hatred dissipated after he had held the technique for so long.

He didn't look back he was afraid he would lose his nerve if he did. John jumped and fell through the void toward oblivion or perhaps a new life.

Most Likely I'll get chapter 1 out today fingers crossed. Check my patreon around 2 I should have something up there if not on here.