Testament III: Invited Undue Wrath

(Queue 'The Only Thing They Fear Is You')

The next minutes were filled with a high-intensity panic as the Slayer picked up Charlie and began running towards the gates, where the bulk of the Exterminators were.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, SLAYER?!" Charlie screeched in terror, seeing herself being rocketed towards a gory death.

"If these are the gates in and out of this place," VEGA quickly assessed. "Then this must be the way out. We plan to evade the Exterminators and make our way through the portal in a matter of seconds."

The Slayer tried to speed up, but felt as if he were constrained by some invisible shackles. He growled in anger as he pushed himself to zip past several surprised Exterminators, who had tried to launch their spears at him, only to hit marble.

Finally, he was within view of the exit, or so it seemed. As he launched into the cloud, he felt himself shoved backwards by an invisible force. The fog had increased in density, shrouding the path out of this place.

"Wh-What's going on?!"

The Slayer stood up, launching several punches into the fog. It was as if there was an invisible wall between them and the way out.

The Slayer turned around to see the swarm of Exterminators that were coming towards him.

"Oh, dear." VEGA spoke.

"We...we have to get out of here!" Charlie muttered in terror. She had never confronted the Exterminators directly. Now that she was, it was far more terrifying than she had imagined. Their faces were constantly contorting into different expressions of ecstasy and morbid excitement, their elongated spears shining menacingly in the blackened sun.

The Slayer cracked his knuckles and readied his Super Shotgun in his right hand, while arming his Doomblade.

It's been a while since he was able to RIP AND TEAR.

The closest Exterminator lunged at him with the spear, only to have its tip deflected by the Doomblade, which slid up the shaft and sliced clean through the Exterminator's head.

The other Exterminators were momentarily shocked by this death, as if they hadn't expected such a response from the Slayer. Charlie was sure that these bastards were so used to fighting demons within their league. They were about to severely underestimate the Slayer.

"Two diving in on your right, one on your left, and three from behind." VEGA cautioned the Slayer. He responded by pulling out his LMG and firing it into the swarm of Exterminators, while also propelling him around in a circle. He angled out his Doomblade during his swirling motion just as the Exterminators dove towards him, volunteering their faces for slicing as his blade cut through them like butter.

She felt a sickening sense of pleasure as she watched the Slayer hack his way through the dense swarm of Exterminators. She was seeing revenge delivered upon the very beasts that had terrorized her homeland since the olden times. It was more than exciting.

It was liberating.

"Slayer, I'm sensing an alarming fatigue in your movements."

Charlie was alarmed to hear this from VEGA. It had only been a few moments, yet he was already tired? This was not reminiscent of the terror she had seen him demonstrate to her own Hell. And yet, when she watched the Slayer move, she noticed his movements beginning to slacken, his attacks weakening in strength.

"We can figure out the cause of this later, but first you must flee."

| I DO NOT RUN. |

Once more, the voice shattered the air, as if it were interrupting the flow of events. The Exterminators hesitated in their attacks, as if stunned by this voice.

"You must." VEGA urged. "At this very moment, your strength is being sapped from you by the very atmosphere. You are suffering all the signs of fatigue. This shouldn't be possible, considering the Seraphim's blessings, and yet…"

The Exterminators began to recover from their stagger, and were resuming their merciless attacks against the Slayer, who was finding it more and more difficult to fend off the attackers.

"Slayer, I am heavily advising you to break past this swarm and lose them. You will have to find a place to rest somewhere in this land."

Charlie could feel a furious energy radiating off the Slayer, as if it were some sort of radioactive aura. He brought out the BFG-9000 and powered it up, aiming it at the area he intended to escape through, where a dense cloud of Exterminators were covering.

BvvvvvvvvvvvRRRRRRR-

"I suggest you cover your ears, Charlotte." VEGA advised. "This weapon is quite...loud."

Charlie just managed to cover her ears with her hands right before the BFG shot out in a bright-green wave.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV-

It annihilated almost every Exterminator in front of it, and dozens of wings and spears clattered to the ground in their place. The rest of the Exterminators screeched in terror and rage at the sight, but the Slayer had already zoomed out of the little killbox he was trapped in, heading for the horizon as he was closely followed by the horde of Exterminators, who were shooting beams of bright energy at him with their spears.

"...I believe they have curtailed off now, Slayer."

The Slayer finally came to a stop, and Charlie suddenly felt herself dropped to the ground as the Slayer himself tumbled forward, rolling over several times as he came to a sudden stop from running 50 miles an hour.

In fear, Charlie looked up and around at her surroundings, relieved that there were, indeed, no Exterminators in sight.

She got up on her legs, disoriented from having been put through 50 mph's worth of G force against her body.

"What...the hell happened?" Charlie muttered. She wanted to know the answer to every part of this situation. She didn't even know this place was connected to her Hell until she saw the Exterminators. If that were the case, did that mean this was the 'Heaven' to her 'Hell'?

She took a better look around at her surroundings. It still looked just as gloomy as when they had first arrived, if not more so. Except now they were in flat grass, which expanded in every direction, except-

"Slayer, look!" Charlie shouted, pointing at a distant grouping of house-like figures to the west, a clear, cobblestone path leading towards it. "We should go over...oh."

She saw that the Slayer was lying on the ground, visibly huffing, his armor plating rising and falling with the crescendo of his heavy breathing.

This disturbed Charlie. She had never seen the Slayer tired before. It was almost surreal, seeing a literal force of nature lying on the ground like this.

And yet...it served to humanize the Slayer to her. It felt as if she was seeing a different side of him, a side she had never seen before.

"Slayer, do you need help?"

She extended one hand to the Slayer. At first he didn't notice, but once he did, his visor tilted slightly as he looked at her hand, then up at her.

"...Slayer?"

He reached one hand up, gently grabbing onto her hand. Charlie was intimidated by how huge his gauntlet was, clasping entirely around her arm. She managed to help him up onto his feet and steadied him.

She found herself looking up into his visor, and for a moment, she saw past the menacing orange tint and into his helmet, seeing the outline of his head once more. She found it to not be as intimidating as it had before.

"Now," VEGA instructed. "I suggest we find shelter within that distant settlement you've spotted, Charlotte."

Charlie sighed.

"Can we take a moment to get our bearings?" Charlie muttered.

(Queue Dr. Samuel Hayden music track)

"No." VEGA responded. Charlie was thrown off by VEGA's sudden change in tone.

"Wh…"

"I'm not sure you quite grasp the situation we are in, Charlotte. Not only did we (The Slayer and I) become estranged from our original objective of rebuilding humanity on Earth, but we are now trapped in some space-time anomaly of which the Slayer's combat capabilities are severely limited, along with his endurance, of which has likely been applied to you, as well." He explained, his tone harsh and cold. "For all we know of, the demonic forces could have planned this as yet another ruse to subjugate humanity while keeping the Slayer away. It was and still is my primary objective to ensure the existence of humanity and prevention of its harm as much as possible. We cannot stop if it is not completely necessary. We cannot allow the demonic forces to have a single inch of victory. We must annihilate them."

Charlie was disturbed by this sudden, cold change from VEGA. The informative, funny and somewhat charming AI she had come to grow attached to before was far different than before. As if he himself had been jaded by something, like the Slayer.

"...Okay, then." Charlie said. "Let's...go to the settlement."

The Slayer offered his hand to Charlie, who was appreciative of the gesture, yet dreading another 50 mph run. She placed her hand in his, along with her trust in him.

It was only a few minutes before they got close enough to the settlement to properly scout out the place. It was derelict and empty, same as the houses in the city. Except here, there seemed to be minor signs of pestilence. The grass was a bit frayed, though everything else seemed relatively fine. In fact, in a different light, Charlie could see the beauty in this place.

She and the Slayer cautioned themselves as they walked around the small community. It looked just like a modern-day town, except it had the aesthetic of a rural settlement with modern infrastructure.

"We should consider searching through these domiciles." VEGA advised. "We may find literature, scriptures, or otherwise written information that could assist us in understanding this 'Heaven'."

Charlie nodded.

"I agree with VEGA. What do you think, Slayer?"

The Slayer turned to her, as if thrown off that he was suddenly asked to give input. He nodded in affirmation.

"I would suggest the large building in the center of this community. It seems to resemble some form of an administrative center, which is very likely to contain information pertinent to this investigation."

And so they went, with the Slayer entering the building first in case there were any enemies waiting. Thankfully, the first, large room they entered, which resembled a sort of lobby, was empty. However, everything was in absolute disarray. Furniture was broken and tossed around, the floor, walls and ceiling had several holes and dents, and nearly all of the lights were shattered, leaving glass across the room. The only light source was a partially-hanging chandelier, of which a few still-burning candles just barely illuminated the room.

"...What happened here?" Charlie mumbled, intimidated by the aftermath of whatever incident occurred here.

In each room they went into, it was more of the same. Broken, beaten, battered.

Finally, they came upon the last room, which was on the third floor of this building. It was a large, single door, made of a material that none of them knew of. Even VEGA had no answers as to what elements made up the door. It was the same with everything else in this land.

The Slayer tried the handle, but it was locked.

"There might be a key lying around this place." VEGA surmised. "We should consider-"

CRACK!

"...Or we could kick open the door, that works just as efficiently."

"Woah, woah, WOAH, DON'T KILL ME!"

As the dust faded, the Slayer, Charlie and VEGA saw a person crawling up against the windows of this room, which overlooked the community.

The first thing Charlie noticed were the bright, luminous white wings that were folded behind him. Beyond that, he had golden hair to match an extended goatee and bright, blue eyes, which were locked onto the Slayer, who unsheathed his Doomblade menacingly. The angel's fearful gaze shifted to the blade.

"Wait, please! I'm not a threat! You're not one of those demons, are you?!"

"Hold on, Slayer." Charlie pleaded. The Slayer glanced over at Charlie for a few moments, before sheathing the Doomblade. The angel let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Okay...okay…" He muttered. "I...assume you two are...not demons, then?"

"Well…" Charlie started, then quickly shut up. It probably wouldn't help the situation if she said she did. "No."

The angel seemed to notice her hesitation, but let it go.

"Um...okay...so...why are you here? Are you foreigners? How did you get into-"

"Pardon the interruption," VEGA interjected. "But you are not the one who should be asking questions currently. We would like some of our questions answered before we give any ourselves."

"Uh...okay, then."

"Priscilla, do you have any questions before I begin requesting such?"

Charlie was surprised to hear VEGA use the fake name he came up with. Then again, it didn't hurt to be cautious, in case this angel happened to be deceiving them.

"Er...not off the top of my head."

"Then I shall begin. First, I want to know what happened to this place."

The angel sighed.

"Before I answer any of this, do you mind if I grab my ambrosia?"

"What is ambrosia?'

"Well...I'm assuming you know what 'Earth' is?"

"Yes."

"Then you should know about alcohol."

"Yes."

"Ambrosia here is basically alcohol on steroids. It can regenerate wounds, enhance your mind, and it makes you feel like you're in Heaven. Which...is ironic."

"I see. Where is this 'ambrosia'? I might acquire some for analysis."

"Uh...sure."

He pointed to a pristine white-gray crate that was lying on a desk on the far left of the room. The Slayer walked over to the crate and threw away the top. Inside the crate were several milk bottles with a golden, shining substance inside them. The Slayer grabbed one out of the box, inspecting it.

"Keep that, Slayer. I will analyze it and potentially produce something beneficial from it."

"Uh...mind if I have a bottle?"

The Slayer glanced back at the angel, then grabbed a bottle out of the crate and tossed it towards the angel, who grabbed it mid-air. He tipped his head in appreciation before opening up the bottle and downing it.

"...Ah." He sighed with relief. "Fantastic. So, you wanna know what happened here. Well, it's not a complicated story. I'm sure you might've seen what happened if you went by the Pearly Gates. Demons from another universe broke through, demons we didn't recognize."

He looked out the window behind him, as if reminiscing.

"They were far more demonic and horrifying than the demons in this macrocosm's H...eck. Heck. It's...argh, how can I say this?!"

"Do you mean Hell?" Charlie asked. The angel pointed at her while nodding.

"Yeah, that."

"Why didn't you just say that, then?"

The angel chuckled somberly.

"Heaven censors your words. Won't allow you to use profanities, and it somehow knows when you are trying to say something with vitriol. I'm not even sure how it keeps up with what are curse words, but somehow it does. I physically cannot curse. It's...the worst."

"How intriguing." VEGA said.

"Funnily enough," The angel continued. "The invasion almost seemed like it was planned, and they were organized- gosh, they were organized. Someone was directing that attack. They held a siege outside the gates for God knows how long, beating on those Pearly Gates with so much force you could feel the shockwaves across the land."

He took another swig of the ambrosia.

"Finally...they broke through. And they...they did horrible things. Things far worse than anything I had seen on Earth. It was almost like they were getting revenge, and yet I'd never seen those beasts. They slaughtered everyone in this place, but they made sure to rape and torture many of them beforehand. To be honest, I was kind of impressed with the brutality."

Charlie was deeply disturbed by how he spoke of such horrible tragedies with such little emotion.

"You…" She started. "You...seem like you didn't...really care for these people."

The angel's eyes shifted to Charlie, and she was shocked to suddenly see that his eyes were sunken in, with bags below them, as if he hadn't slept for a long time.

"You'd be right." He muttered, taking another drink of the ambrosia. "I could tell you all about these sycophants. I could tell you the countless years, or whatever passage of time that exists up here, of all their sins. Believe it or not, in this assumed land of 'Heaven', this Garden of Eden, these people were sinners. They drank ambrosia every single day, getting high off of it, and they...fornicated-"

"This happened in this Heaven?" VEGA inquired. The angel nodded morosely.

"Yep. Ironic, isn't it? I thought the exact same thing. But that wasn't the worst part."

He looked back out through the window.

"This place took away your ability to curse or vent, your ability to hurt people and kill, but left all the flaws that came with being human. You know what that does to a person? Can you imagine all the feuds, conflicts, squabbles and disputes that were left without a resolution? They hardly ever talked things out. And you can imagine all of the hatred that circulated in this place."

He chuckled harshly, almost choking.

"My fellow angels were the worst. And when I say angels, I mean the ones with wings, like myself. We're like...how do I put it...the elite species in this place. You can only get wings if you were one of the originals that fought in the War against Heck's forces, back when the Earth was just beginning to shoot volcanoes from under the sea. You can also get wings if you were 'sainted' on Earth as a human, by basically doing wonderful and benevolent things and all that."

"But everyone else? They weren't angels so much as just...souls. Souls that happened to be lucky enough to get into Heaven. I'm not really sure what one has to do to get into Heaven, but regardless. The angels were complete elitists, in mind and body. They could hurt and kill, they could travel from here to Earth and Heck. And they were psychopaths."

He turned his gaze to the Slayer.

"If you don't know what Exterminators are-"

"I know what they are." Charlie said.

"Then you know that they go down to Heck to purge the place from overpopulation or whatever. Did you know that's actually a myth?"

Charlie's face suddenly went slack.

"...W...What?"

The angel nodded, grimacing.

"Completely fake. I mean, how ridiculous is the idea that Heck can get filled up? That place has demons on an infinite number of layers. Kind of like...pocket dimensions or whatever. You could send a billion evil humans into that place every day for 10,000 years and you wouldn't put a dent in it."

Charlie stumbled backwards, as if she had been hit in the face.

"You mean…the Exterminations…."

"Yeah." The angel muttered. "Completely unnecessary."

He emptied the bottle down his throat, leaving the atmosphere in silence for a moment.

"I...hate...this place." He hissed. "I don't believe this is actually Heaven. It can't be. This is just a fake wannabe of the real deal. I've never seen God, or Jesus Christ, or Joseph or the Immaculate Mary or any of those other characters I keep hearing about. For some reason, I know God exists, but he's just...not in this place. He doesn't run this place. Somebody else does, or did."

"I see." VEGA said. "Do you know anything about those Exterminators?"

The angel chuckled.

"Yeah. I know about them. They're souls in Heaven who committed grievous sins, or supposedly did. They're offered a choice between getting kicked into Heck...or shedding their 'holiness' and being converted into those gray ugly sons of b...ritches. God, I wish I knew what it felt like to cuss. I'm sure it feels great."

He sighed.

"But yeah, they send the Exterminators down to Heck to purge them. And you know why? Because secretly they're trying to prevent the demons there from rising up and launching another invasion on Heaven, like they did in the oldest days."

Charlie was getting bombshell after bombshell from this long-winded explanation the angel was giving.

"Sometimes, the angels disguise themselves as Exterminators and go down during the yearly purges to get their rocks off. Literal psychopaths. They caused a whole slew of trouble in this place. In fact, I had reason to believe that half those Exterminators you saw were framed by the angels as having 'committed' some sort of sins, just because they might have made the angels angry, or because an angel wanted to fornicate with one of their wives or husbands. Sick mother...truckers."

"And...how exactly are you still alive after the invasion, considering everyone else is dead?" VEGA inquired.

The angel bit his lip, hesitant to answer.

"...By locking myself in this room and letting the bodies stack against the door as they clawed to get in."

"What a morbid answer." VEGA replied. "And yet, we saw no bodies anywhere around this place."

"Yeah, I have no clue why that is."

"Wait," Charlie said. "So you just...let them die?"

The angel turned his eyes to her, and she was disturbed by the vitriol and hatred set in his face.

"You want to hear one more story?" He rasped. "I've been in this land for eons. I can't remember when I was immaculately birthed into existence, nor can I ever remember being a child. I've seen almost every type of person to exist. I can predict what people are going to do or say or are thinking just by looking at them. I've spent so much time around these idiots that I can't remember the last time I had a decent conversation, or when I could let loose."

"You see, the angels and the souls don't get along with each other that well. Considering the angels just tromp all over the souls like they're pests, because they have such bloated egos that they think they're gods. Ironic, when they work under one. So I was alienated from the souls right off the bat. I mean, I got along with them rather well, because I didn't treat them like gutter trash. But that decayed, like everything else in existence."

He gestured to the various buildings and houses outside the window.

"They all lived in their little homes, with their little families that never aged, with their pets that never got sick or hurt or died, with their little lives and their little gossip. That's what this place was. Just one big gossip pit. Believe it or not, when you're sitting in Heaven for God knows how long, and there's simply no external conflict to be had, you just have to make your own conflict."

"And so they did. They gossiped about each other. They gossiped about the angels, about the Exterminators, about the Princess and her vassals. They even gossiped about God, if you can believe it. Ungrateful selfish little p...icks. And eventually, even with my good reputation among them, they gossiped about me."

"Funnily enough, having a good relation with the souls alienated me to the angels, who saw me as some sort of traitor for fraternizing with these people. So once the gossip on me picked up, they took it to the next level. And eventually, they managed to get me unseated from my position as one of the top leaders against the forces of Heck. I saved their ungrateful as..hes, and they just deposed me. Of course, they wanted to make me an Exterminator, but the Princess directly intervened and said she wouldn't allow that. That's probably the only thing I'm grateful to her for."

"No, instead they got me demoted all the way to the lowest rank an angel can be, and sent me to this little 'troubled' community and put me in a guard tower to oversee this place. And this is where I've spent the last 50 years, I think. They don't have any clocks in Heaven, it's so dumb. They also don't have family portraits, paintings, photos, and almost no written information. I guess they assumed this place was the final destination, so there was no need for memories and such."

The angel leaned back against the counter, laying the bottle next to him.

"You know what the reason was as to why they deposed me? You're gonna love this...My name is Beliel. Cool name, right? Well, it just so happens that another name for the Devil is...Belial. With an A."

He huffed in outrage.

"I nearly got banished from Heaven and toppled from my position, which I had held for eons, just because my name was similar to the Devil's. So yes, Priscilla, which I know is not your name; I locked the door and I let every single soul and angel in this community die right outside my door, so that I could keep myself alive. I don't know what happened to them, and I never want to."

"It sounds like you have told us a sufficient amount of information regarding this place." VEGA said. "Thank you for your cooperation, we will leave you to your-"

"Wait!" Beliel interjected. "I...I don't want to be here, staying in this dead land. I abandoned all of my principles, my morality and my duty to this land. Please, let me come with you. I am very good at fighting, and I can tell you more about this place. Just please...let me come with you, so I can finally leave this place for good."

Charlie turned to look at the Slayer. His fingers were rubbing across his thumb, a sign that Charlie had to come to recognize that the Slayer was thinking.

"The Slayer will allow this." VEGA replied.

Beliel bowed his head, tears dropping to the floor.

"Thank you...Thank you so much."

"But aren't you capable of leaving this place yourself?"

Beliel's eyes drifted back up to him.

"Well, to be frank...I was afraid they were still out there. I've been in this tower for a while."

"Very well. Where do you recommend we go next? There is still more I must find out about this place, including the way out."

Beliel rubbed his chin.

"Well, I can tell you whatever information is pertinent to Heaven, but I do not know a definitive way out. I always used the Pearly Gates. I suggest we go to another community, called Pharies. It's modeled after the city of Paris, in France, and I know that's where a lot of activity was prior to the invasion. There might be some clues there."

"I see. Then we shall make our way there, with you as our guide."

Beliel nodded, grabbed the crate of ambrosia with gusto, and made his way out the door. He stopped at the entrance, peeking around the corners in paranoia, before continuing down the stairs, followed by the Slayer. Charlie was still staring at the ground. There was so much to unravel from what Beliel said. She hoped there wouldn't be any more bombshells being dropped on her, or she was afraid her entire reality might break and she would go insane.

It already hurt her to the core that her quest for redemption of the demons was fruitless, when the purges were going to happen regardless, and since Heaven seemed like such an awful and xenophobic place. And she never got to go on a journey that she felt she would have had in the hotel if the Slayer hadn't come along.

"Slayer, why are you waiting here?"

Charlie looked up to see the Slayer standing in the doorway, looking back at her. She felt her mood lift significantly. He was waiting behind for her.

She smiled, skipping up to him.

"Thanks, Slayer." She said cheerfully.

To Charlie, the Slayer wasn't so much a friend to talk to as much as he was a companion she could trust. He was so determined, so forthright in his goal, that it kept Charlie sane. She never dwelled too long on terrible things when he was around, which was something she had been doing in Hell after seeing so many of her friends die so brutally.

The Slayer to her was a sort of shield that constantly kept her safe. She never felt that she was truly in danger when he was around. And that was a wonderful feeling.

So at the end of the day, even if her whole world was crumbling down around her, at least she had the Slayer to keep her.

Author's Notes

- If you like these writings, go check out my Wattpad ('TheOriginalWriterGuy') | I have a few stories on there, though I would recommend a light Medieval Fantasy novel in progress called Hearth: Worlds Collide. However, if you want a more dark medieval fantasy in the same world, check out 'The Stygian Legacy'.

- I realized that the last chapter took way too long to get published, so here is my apology chapter for taking so long on the last one. As before, I'll try to get these out every Friday.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and more to come.