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Trinity
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The further that I went into purgatory with Rudy as my guide, the more that I saw various forms of torture, including several more ancient forms that were used hundreds of years ago.
There were modern tortures, like the people trying endlessly to retrieve their phones. Some people were even living in a false world that made them think that dying had all been a nightmare, but the life they lived in there was a nightmare as well. Men and women who prioritized making money and reaching the top of their careers, only to not be satisfied. They were never satisfied, nothing was ever enough, not at work, not with their family, nothing. Those people were being sent to work more and more. They would be given large pays, only for every penny of it to disappear right before their eyes. They never got promoted or any of the things that they wanted in life. Their greed had been turned around on them only for it to become their ultimate torture.
Other people, men and women (but mostly men), were living in a false state of reality. These men seem to have been obsessed with pornography. They were to spend their entire time in purgatory trying to access pornography online, only for it to instead be various religious sermons from multiple different religions. They were being lectured for centuries on what they had done wrong in their lives.
The modern tortures seemed to be more specific to the major sin that they had committed. The others, the more ancient ones, were not so individualized. They were generic punishments that were befitting the 'crime' at the time.
These ancient forms of torture included things like flaying, peeling, the rack, the iron maiden, whipping, burning, and various other forms. These ones looked a lot more brutal and harsh than the more modern forms of torture.
"Rudy?" I called out to him as we walked through the halls toward the exit that he was guiding me to. "When did the more barbaric tortures go out of fashion? When did these new tortures become the new normal?"
"Well, those older tortures are still used, depending on the sin that the others have committed, but the new tortures came into being when the digital age became a prevalent entity. It was almost like the digital footprint was so strong that it reached the underworld whenever it took a leap toward the state that it is in now. I have been shown the devices that humans and other mortals use. I have seen what they do to each other with them. This development changed not just the mortal realm but all of the realms."
"That is actually a frightening thought." I shuddered as I told him these words. "Oh, question, do shifters, vampires, Fae, and magic users come to this underworld? Or is there a different underworld for all of them?"
"That is an interesting question. For the most part, the souls mingle here. However, they are judged differently. The laws that govern the community of shadow dwellers are not the same as the ones that govern the humans. I guess you would say that humans are judged more harshly and therefore are treated unfairly. However, when a shadow world soul reaches the point where it needs to be punished, it is almost always sent to the Halls of Damnation. Their sins are never taken lightly and there is no reform for them. They suffer for all eternity with no chance for salvation. So, in a nutshell, all the souls are in the same underworld but there are differences. The Halls of Damnation, for one, houses more shadow world souls than human souls, though there are several humans that found themselves worthy of Damnation's warm embraces."
"So, if I was an evil soul, I would wind up in Damnation and I would never get out of there?"
"Yes, if you were an evil soul that is where you would end up. However, you are far from evil, Queen Trinity. You will have no place in Damnation." Rudy looked so sure of that fact. And maybe that was how it was now. But I was immortal now, seemingly. What would happen down the line? What would happen in a few centuries? What if I truly did become evil and was assassinated for the greater good? What would happen to me then? Would I end up in a cell next to my father's place in Damnation? Would we share a punishment, which would be a further torture to the both of us?
I was stuck thinking about these various things, and I just wasn't able to stop. I just wanted to make sure that they didn't happen, but they felt like an inevitability to me. They just seemed so plausible that I knew it was my fate.
While I thought about this, looking around me in a very tourist manner, I noticed more and more guards in the area that we were in. This part of Purgatory seemed to have fewer actual souls that were being tortured, though they were still there, nonetheless.
The guards that were around us seemed to be a little more alert, a little more attentive than the ones that we had already passed. These guards seemed to have an interest in our guide as well as me and the boys.
I watched as one man in particular, a very stern looking and very strong looking, warrior type of man, eyed me with sharply focused eyes. He looked angry, very angry. Did he think that I was a soul that had been trying to escape? Did he think that I was someone here to be punished?
How could he think that, though? I mean, I didn't look anything at all like the souls that came through here for their purgatorial treatment. I was clothed, I was clutching children to my side, and I was being guided calmly by a man that was from his own team of guards. How was it that he could look so angry at me with all of the things that set me apart from the others?
Well, however he was able to be that way, he was. He was not only staring at me with a look of death, but he was also clearly getting ready to leave his post to come over here and see exactly what it was that I was doing here. The angry determination in his face couldn't have meant anything else at that moment.
And there, that was the moment. He just took a slow and tentative step away from his post. It had been just like Rudy when he stepped away from the gate. It was like he had been put in that spot and never moved until he left that spot for me. This man, like Rudy, was tall and good looking, but fierce. His eyes were red as well, but his hair was silver. He looked exactly like an ancient Roman warrior though, with his armor and that look on his face. And that warrior was after me.
Why? Why did things like this have to happen to me right now? Why couldn't it be easier for me?
