FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Highway to Hell

"Ah, you always 'ave a good set of medical skills, Lily," said Eshdar when he saw his bandaged arm. "I've forgotten how good you are with those bandages."

"Thanks...uh, Eshdar. You know, it is quite awkward, given how much I knew you as Anarim."

"You have known me better as Eshdar, Lily. Thank you."

Lilac nodded and left the old Eshdar alone. As much as she wanted to believe it, she did not feel what Anubis was feeling when he was forced to see the version of Eshdar he knew snatched to the past by a time wraith. The Death Jackal was still delighted to see his friend came back while the rest did not feel that way. They were more confused than surprised with the change of events.

It had been five days since the unexpected ambush to the tree city. With the help of some portal experts, the direct line to Arbal was re-established and they started to give out help from the refugees to the tree city.

As cold-hearted as it was, many of the tenants who were either killed or ran away from the city lost their privileges to stay in the city, and the apartments were rented to some refugees who needed them. Months of living in camps had made life miserable. Even if Arbal had been expanding to accommodate refugees from Tragoria, it was not enough, given the damage from the previous ambush was still not completely repaired.

What made the need of expansion even more was how the rebel deserters started to turn away from their side and got into Arbal. However, Eshdar, with his knowledge on pre-invasion Tragoria, managed to find many abandoned settlements for the refugees to move to. With the rebels and the monarch supporters managed to find a truce, they helped many refugees they had misplaced back to their own town, where they started rebuilding.

The week went on surprisingly well, with no other incidents coming to them. There was no more skirmish or even an ambush, so Ifrit and the rest of the gang decided that they needed to push their boundaries out into Tragoria and finish everything that they had started. Ifrit and Anubis sat silently as Eshdar relayed his thoughts about the whole situation, unable to give any suggestions. Eshdar, with years of knowledge and memory as Anarim, could pinpoint many hot zones. In the end of the discussion, he gave five tacks to five points he believed to be hell gates.

"If we can get an army to reach these gates, we can fight back the things they had taken from us. Problem is, we still don't know what the Unknowns are capable of. Some, like the time wraiths, would took everyone back into the past so they could eat their time energies. Others changed their victims into blobs of flesh, and...turning them into maddened cults."

Eshdar looked at Ifrit and Anubis, in which they nodded. The old red hellhound then resumed his talk.

"I think the best course of action right now, however bad that is...is to find the remaining rebels and hope that they want to join us like Tyrall and Iridel. Then, with whatever result we can get...it's time for us to fight them in our grounds."

Karkos looked at Eshdar and said, "(Are you saying that we...)"

"(Yes...as much as I hate to do it, the only way to finish the fight is to bring the fight back to hell itself)."

There was an uneasy silence in the room, with Albreich and Lidden being the ones confused. Ifrit then stood and looked at Eshdar, then he said, "Is that...the only way to finish all this?"

"The hellish realm is the start of all our and everyone's plight. It's fair to say that we must return to the start of it all to finish it."

"But...everyone in hell is our enemy! We won't even get to our respective homes!"

"Not to mention how hell is a dangerous place for humans and other surface dwellers like us," said Albreich. "If you really think..."

"The Winsel family has accumulated a wealth of knowledge for five generations, Al. Even if I am adopted, I have inherited that much. If it was not for Ensalder who used them for his own selfish and destructive research, we would not even meet. We are not just hunters."

"I see...but how can that help us?"

"As Anarim, I still remembered how to speak English in addition to Hordo. I knew the process of Ascension and how to access those portals directly to hell. By now, my castle must've been ravaged, but we can still access many of those databases they haven't destroyed. I'm sure we can find a way to get humans down to hell."

"Well, seeing how you said that makes us feel like we are going to eternal damnation, I have concerns on how that method works."

Eshdar then smiled. "Everyone is bound to go to hell someday."

That night, Eshdar was watching the repair when Anubis came to him. He smiled at the way Anubis trying to find something to grab. He then put his hand on Anubis's shoulder and the Death Jackal walked towards him slowly occasionally tapping the floor with his walking stick. As he neared the edge of the balcony, Eshdar helped him stop.

"(Using your ability won't be something that can cause harm, you know)," commented Eshdar as he saw the repairs. "(You can see things you normally can't)."

"(Thanks, but I prefer to be a blind person instead of wasting my energy trying to walk around)."

"(That is why you can't find my soul. If you used your ability all the time, you might've guessed me as Eshdar a long time ago)."

"(Yeah, but even so. I don't have time to meet with you. I'm a late addition to the group, so that's why. You won't even remember your life as Eshdar, anyway)."

Eshdar laughed. "(You are quite observant yourself, Ani. I'm sorry if that sword of yours is actually precious to you)."

"(It is, but if it's not for it, I won't be able to find out about you. But, how is it rusting? Isn't hell supposed to be a barren wasteland with no water?)"

"(Well, I think I left it inside the camp for too long and it started rusting. It's not going to make things worse, but I'd say you need to clean the rust and sharpen it back to the question-mark sword I know)."

"(Well...I guess when we return back to my home, we can get a new one. If we get to go back down to hell)."

Eshdar and Anubis kept silent from each other after that. After a while, Eshdar said, "(We might go deeper from the Outer Ring region)."

"(You mean...)"

"(If the deep hell is true, then the only way to get there is to go through all layers of hell. I still remembered a greatly inaccurate book about hell, but I can't blame him. He's a human, and was still alive when he wrote this book. It detailed weakness of men and their undoing. Well...for a human, it is a work of art, but we can't tell if what he wrote of the hell beyond the Outer Ring was true or not. We can go and see them for ourselves if we want to)."

"(So...when will we go?)"

"(As soon as everyone's ready. This time, though, we have people that we can trust helping us on this task. I've told them that we could go all the way to Sideview village, the first village when the invasion started...and where Ifrit and Lilac had their first memories together there)."

"(Is it wise to go there, even after all that has happened?)"

"(Ifrit knew that one day, he must go there and face the things he had started. I doubt Lilac wanted to return, and Hans was supposed to go there before...well, before the revelation of the unknown)."

"(Oh...really?)" Anubis then took a glance around and said, "(Say, Eshdar...who did you find for a lover?)"

"(She's called Timarta. I loved her with all my hearts. She died because of illness, 40 years ago)."

"(Oh...that's a shame)."

"(Even if she's still alive now, she won't love me as much as she loved Anarim)."

Anubis then smiled a little, then he said, "(I'm sorry that I've doubted your actions, Eshdar)."

"(I should've told you about it before it happens. Somehow seeing myself being transported back in time does not feel weird, but your reaction made myself think that this 'prank of a lifetime' is too far)."

"(Nah, you got me good there. I wanted to say sorry about me calling you a lunatic by sending yourself back in time)."

"(I'm fulfilling my own destiny, so I guess that's why)."

"(At least I pranked you good, huh?)"

Both hellhounds laughed and kept talking until it was late at night, when Eshdar waved Anubis goodbye. Anubis did not see that and just smiled as he walked away from the older version of his best friend.

Meanwhile, in a house in Arbal, Ifrit and Lilac discussed about their new journey, one that could potentially be disastrous and separated Ifrit forever from her. Lilac did not want her love to die or to be separated forever from her, in which she started to ask Ifrit to think through with it. Unfortunately for her, Ifrit had decided that he needed to follow this journey.

"Lilac...I'm really sorry about all this. I want to return and undo the mistakes I've done by showing up near your house. If it wasn't for me..."

"If it wasn't for you, I'll be a miserable and lonely werewolf who will not believe that a hero like you existed," said Lilac, calming Ifrit. "Do what you must do, Ifrit, but return safely to me."

"I will...and when I do..."

Ifrit seemed to be loss in words, so Lilac caressed him and said, "I am going to wait for you by the house we first met. Don't worry. Even if it is a year, or ten years, I will be waiting for you forever. When you do..."

She whispered into him ears, which not only made him gasp, but never thought that they had the same intention. Lilac smiled to him, with Ifrit considering it, but replied her smile with a kiss. She had been expecting that, but she did not want to say anything more than that. That night, though, knowing that their vow could be the last, and their wishes to be true, they consummated their romantic relationship that night, each of them with pure intention to make the other happy.

As the night went on, everyone went on to sleep. Eshdar and the rest of the main strategists finally got an agreement that they would conduct a very long journey to hell and back to sort things out with the old demons and the deep hell inhabitants on their actions in taking on the hellhound and the surface's business and interfere with it severe enough to cause a crisis. The demon hunters agreed to lend their best warriors into the mixed army, alongside many hellhounds and demons who volunteered to start the journey.

Even if it felt impossible for all of them, it was their best chance to prove that they could convince the old demons and the deep hell that their affairs were for their own and not an omnipotent business. And thus, the great journey's foundation had been set.

It was the start of the journey through the highway to hell...