Heaven's Path (temp blog)

Her heavy boots bit into the sand as her path led down the dune into the Valley of the Fallen. Brilliant silver eyes peered out from under the cloth wrapped firmly around her face to keep out the wind thrust sands. She stepped down onto glass; it shattered under her foot. The sun was setting now behind her and the wind tugged hard against her cloak as if to warn her away from this place. A caravan of traders had taken her this far, but not even the bravest man or the stupidest beast would enter these lands. Here the ghosts of a thousands soldiers dwelled forever without rest.

Hundreds of years ago fire boiled up from the sands here. Here mortal men assaulted the gates of Hell themselves, led by the half god Rayne, and they where burned alive. That was a war of greed, and an attempt to wrest power from the jeweled demon Talin’Gagh. The glass at her feet radiated heat unnatural even to the sands of the desert she pressed on to the center of the smooth glass as the fiery sun rested on her shoulders for a moment before plummeting out of sight, and throwing the world into darkness. From her pack Heaven removed a torch and lit it with a whispered prayer crossing her lips. In the darkness the corpses of a thousand dishonored dead had gathered to feed on her living flesh. Holding the torch high above her with her left hand she threw back her cloak and revealed the naked blade of Seran-dal. The curved blade glimmered in the torchlight, and Heaven stood her ground. The undead creatures howled out in one voice echoing hundreds of years of sorrow. One by one they fell to their knees pitifully begging for merciful death.

Rotting armor hung from their limp forms as they prostrated themselves before here. The air was thick with the smell of their burnt and flaking skin. Faces of fallen soldiers turned up to her, some of them were almost recognizable as human. She felt nothing for these pathetic creatures who let greed lead them into this world of undying suffering. Heaven stepped back as a skeletal soldier reached out to grasp at her leggings. One blue eye looked up at her, the other was black and ozzing puss.

Seran-dal was royal steel, and a thing that could kill even those beyond the boundaries of death. The corpses ahead of her slithered aside as if a strong wind had pushed them back, but at the moment the night air was deathly still. The corpse of Rayne the half god appeared before her. His mane wreathed in flames he appeared as he did in life: a vision of beauty and strength. His eyes however were empty sockets where maggots could be seen crawling, and then he blinked.

“Who dares come to the entrance of Hell!?” Rayne bellowed, his handsome features unscathed by time, sand, or even death.

“I am called Heaven, daughter of Jorn Prince of the Moon Chariot.” She replied calmly but with a voice that conveyed power. “And, you will step aside.”

“I am Rayne, son of thunder, brother of …”

“You are not a mystery to me dead god!” Heaven interrupted. Unsheathing Seran-dal, she stepped forward mere inches from the towering embodiment of strength.

“Know your place girl, or I will strike you down!” The dead half god said, and the sand beneath their feet shook from the strength of his voice.

The sand at her feet kicked back into the warm night as she leapt into the air. All time stopped for a moment as she arced towards the ancient god, silvery moonlight blazing from her blade. The torch left her hand and fell towards the sand. Her boots planted on Rayne’s right knee, but she was already running up the length of his muscular body. His face twitched as she stopped on his shoulder, but that might have just been a trick of the light as the torch hit the ground and extinguished. In the dark Seran-Dal sang its prideful song and blood splattered upon the broken glass.

Moments later the torch ignited in her hands. The sands all around her was void of the undead corpses of the fallen. Rayne laid dead at her feet his hollow eyes staring up into the night stars, and his face still proud with a half smile crossing his lips. Ahead a hole in the glass vented hot steam into the cooling night air. Her silver eyes stared into that hole, and she smiled one last time before entering Hell.


Heaven fell into the darkest pits of hell. The light that she brought with her illuminated places that had remained shrouded in void since before the beginning of time. Blind eyes gazed up towards the light as she fell further and further downward, into the pit. Shadows shattered into a thousand pieces under the silver gaze of this woman as she landed atop a mountain of bones. Her step was light and she quickly began descending the treacherous structure. The guardians of the pit rose up then to destroy her, and there were many of these demon hounds. Their eyes glowed blood red and their teeth were like daggers. Their coats where black as night and seemed to absorb the light that shown from Heaven. They smelled of smoke, and freshly spilled blood. They let out roars that made the bones beneath her feet violently tremble. Visions of these fearsome creatures would cause the bravest man to tremble and fall to his knees. Heaven did not even bother to draw her blade.

She was among them like a ghost. Running up and down the mountain of ivory bones she dismissed them and threw them back out into the pits. Their necks broke and skulls shattered under her boots, and their souls smothered by her whispered prayers. Her raven black hair whipped audibly through the darkness, but the bones did not make a noise where she moved. The sickly noise of necks snapping and the pitiful yelps of the hounds died. Only one hound remained. He roared and the bones shook. He roared and all of the denizens of hell sang out his name. He roared and a king woke in his soft bed holding his sweat soaked chest. He roared and Heaven waited patiently for him to finish. This was more than a simple hound. She saw now, that he wore a crown of darkness and he took the form of a man then. Black energy swirled around him, and armor formed around his muscle bound body. A sword forged by Thorn, the God of Death, was raised high into the air. The demons all about cheered his name, and beat there gnarled fists on the ground. The sound of their chants echoed a while longer after they were suddenly silenced. The warrior had fallen.

Heaven walked past the fallen champion of hell. Seran-Dal sang in her hand as blood ran along its edge to fall into the piles of bones. All was silent. None challenged the woman as she strode with purpose into the palace of Talin’Gagh.

The jeweled demon was waiting for her there in his palace courtyard. Here the shadows did not stay as long and the courtyard seemed quite welcoming. Talin’Gagh stood to welcome her to his home. He was beautiful for a man. Long flowing black hair fell over the shoulders of his silk robe. He had smooth pale skin on a sleight frame that had first attracted Heaven to him. She had not known he was a demon at the time, but she wonders now if it would have mattered.

“My dear Jasmine,” he exclaimed as if seeing a friend he thought lost.

“I have come to take your life,” she responded coldly and she held out Seran-Dal

There was a moment then that seemed to hang forever between them as if reality itself had been broken. Moments end so quickly that she almost missed it, but this moment did last. Then they both moved like lightning. The peaceful courtyard fell to ruin as their battle destroyed trees, and the beautiful creatures scattered in their wake. A flock of snow white doves flew past them as she brought the sword downward. A tree shattered, but Talin’Gagh stepped nimbly aside. She fell to one knee and tears were streaming down her perfect face. She did not hate him. But, she knew he must die.

“I love you”

His eyes were filled with surprise as she sheathed her sword and he fell to his knees. Not knowing that he was already dead he tried to struggle to his feet. He slipped in the pool of his own blood and fell on his face, trembling once before he died.

Heaven reached out and found her preborn son’s soul in the mists of hell. She brought that soul, tainted with sin, into her self. The soul purified within her body. Souls came into the world with sin when they still had lessons to learn. Heaven could not allow her son to know this pain. Now only Heaven can not return to her place in the stars.