traffic on my way home from connecticut wasn't bad it almost made me forget the hell that was sitting fully for two hours in nyc traffic on the way there
Oh? No, no, no, that is unacceptable, I shall simply give you a name
Oh?
Yes
Really
Yes
What
Val
Val?
Yes, Val
Why Val?
Because it means nothing, it’s a variable name, it’s short for Value, and you’re short. But you make a good point, I have no idea how valuable you are. I should call you Var.
I think I liked Val better than Var
All the more reason to reason to the stick to the Variation then.
It is true that I am variable. is it also true you don’t want to like me better?
I could always learn to like you better.
Corporal Liv walked in
Hades! I’ve been looking for you!
She bustled past me, barely seeing me. I’m used to it. Grateful for it. I wouldn’t have known what to say to her.
Hades, I need you to help round up the Freshman and put ‘em through their paces. We’re going to start out running the Carlisle
The Carlisle?
No one heard me
There were six of us Freshmen: Hades, myself, a were-bear named Add, a kitsune named Tie, a Seelie named Heelie, and a hobbit named Poppy.
In walked Carlisle Cullen, fresh, clean, and dead with life. I cringed away from his alabaster skin so opposite my obsidian. His eyes lock on me like prey, and I pry mine away from the floor to meet his. He winks. I pray.
Today! We run The Carlisle. It is a course I made up myself and has been lovingly named after me by those who have been subject to its whims.
This is a test. Your first test. Some of you have not had a chance to study, but you are here all the same and you will be treated all the same. So whether or not you are prepared,
Go
The lights went out in the gym.
Poppy yelped.
I crouched, and waited for my dark vision to adjust to the low lights. Around me the fencing gym was bathed in a staticky gray film of leftover light particles combined with the information I get from sound bouncing across different surfaces.
I looked down, I was surprised. I had expected laminate hardwood floors but found porcelain and steel slats alternating randomly.
Hades spoke up
Don’t worry fam, I have dark vision I can see. Tie, Var, do you also have dark vision? - Hades
I can see by one candle in an infinite cave, but there are no candles here - Tie
I can see better when you’re talking Hades, I like the way your voice bounces off the walls - Var
It was true, something about the tenor of Hades’ voice, dispelled all fuzziness and static from my echolocation and completely revealed the room.
Well then I suppose I should keep talking then - Hades
The first task is to get out of this room - Hades
On the word room, I felt all the steel plates shift slightly. I saw the energy in the room get drawn towards them as the temperature dropped. I stepped to a porcelain tile, and skipped over to Hades until I could get close to his ear. I whispered.
The room responds to your voice, it responds to sound. You activated the steel tiles, they’re getting colder.
Hades turned and looked to where my chin rested on his shoulder. His burning lava eyes met my deep empty voids.
You’re right, but I didn’t activate the steel, I deactivated it, the room was getting warmer before.
I raised an eyebrow, then retreated and nodded. Maybe that is what Carlisle meant by, some of us had already been prepared.
Everyone look down and try to make sure that you’re standing on what feels like steel, not anything smooth and shiny like a teacup, look for cold and hard. - Hades
I heard shifting around us and watched as my teammates' movements and sounds fuzzed up the room. Poppy seemed to be the most distressed, as she didn’t even wear shoes as a Hobbit. I crept over to her.
Poppy?
She jumped
I’m sorry poppy, I did my best not to pop out at you but this is a very dark room.
It’s okay Var
There was a slight tremble to her voice
Poppy, I’m going to touch you now, I’m going to move your feet so that they’re on the steel like Hades said. I don’t want you to get hurt.
She said, thank you Var
Her voice was smaller
I knelt at her feet and gently adjusted her hairy soles such that only the little toe of her right foot hung over a crack in the tiling.
Can any of you fly? - Hades
I have some levitation magic - Heelie
Thank you Heel - Hades
In a moment, I am going to say a word. A firefly will appear. Tie, then you’ll be able to see. Our task is to catch the firefly. Heel, can you levitate someone else?
Yes, I can, but they have to keep very still. - Heel
Heel, you’re going to levitate Var. I am going to keep talking so that Var can use her echolocation. Var is going to climb onto Add’s shoulders. Tie is going to run around the room on the steel plates to herd the firefly away from the edges. And Var, you are going to capture the firefly. Alive or dead, it doesn’t matter.
Alive
I said
Hades looked at me again
I was fixed in place by his stair, the room became fuzzier as the silence stretched
That will be harder - he said
I didn’t come here to do something easy - I said.
We paused. The world fuzzed. Hades took action.
Lumos
A blinding light appeared at the center of the room. My slitted eyes slammed shut almost immediately. I closed my shaded lid that filters out unnecessary light and started stalking closer to Heelie so that once she was less blinded she could lift me up. I studied the firefly, knowing I was the only one with enough light and dark vision to see at this time, and also knowing I can’t catch it on my own.
I whispered in Add’s ear, as nicely as possible, making sure to make noise with my steps as I approached him.
Add, may I climb on your shoulder?
He spread his legs slightly, bent his knees, and offered a hand.
I softly scrambled up his sturdy black and balanced, one foot on each shoulder.
As I got closer to the light and the heart of the room, I didn’t see a bug or a firefly.
It was something else, something gaseous, or plasma, or liquid
Something shifting
It called to me
I lifted my hand
And my mouth slowly opened as iff to kiss it
The light was starting to dim, the plasma was shaping into a flying bug
I could feel Tie start to make his rounds. Placing a careful foot on each steel plate as he routes himself around the room.
The bug makes its first move. It flies right. Tie Jumps. It goes back to center.
It flies left. Tie sprints. It goes back to center.
Slowly slowly, the circles Tie makes concenter around me and Addy.
Heel’s eyes have adjusted now, her hands are up, her attention on Hades, waiting for the signal.
I can hear Hades singing softly in the background, too softly for even my drow ears to pick up the words, but with each note I felt the edges of the firefly became clearer. I saw it so clearly it felt like I could feel the wind from the flap of its wings on my face.
Levitate - Hades
I felt something grab me by my sternum. A deep burning pain started to spread from my chest, through my ribs, through my back, into my neck.
I did not flinch away.
The pain seeped into my blood, into my muscles, my fascia, my skin.
I did not flinch away.
I stayed still.
I did not want to scare the pain.
I did not flinch away.
Until I tried to breathe.
My lungs were on fire
I screamed
I screamed
I screamed
I saw red
I saw black
I saw white
And I screamed
The firefly flew into my mouth
Into my lungs
I burned
And I screamed
Heelie dropped me
Poppy caught me
Tie stopped running
Hades was silent
And I screamed
Poppy covered my mouth with her hands. I could feel her grab my tongue with two surprisingly deft fingers. Her eyes glowed a sunset orange. She blew three times into my mouth and said
Breathe out longer than you breathe in.
The flames started to abate
The sun in my chest started to set
I exhaled
I exhaled
I exhaled
The lights came on
No magic this time, just fluorescence.
Carlisle came in. Eyes dark. Face unreadable.
How do you feel
I didn’t look back into his eyes.
Bad
Understood - Carlisle
They gave me pomegranate juice at the nurses clinic. I motioned No, but they insisted I needed the liquids. I don’t think they know what I need, but I let them make me drink it so they would stop bothering me.
Hades came to visit me.
Are you okay, Var
I closed my eyes and sighed, even with my eyes closed I could feel the room snap into focus with each syllable he spoke. What was it about that voice. Usually it was high pitched noises that cleared the edges of things, but his. It was low, clear, hypnotic. Like a sounding bell the size of Big Ben.
Did you fall asleep, Var - Hades
I opened my eyes and looked at him
I touched two fingers to my throat and shook my head. I had not even tried to speak since the trial. When I looked into Hade’s eyes I knew he understood. He saw me. He saw more in the void of my eyes then all of them did.
I see - Hades
Well, let’s get you out of here then. That will heal with time and we both know there’s nothing else wrong with you.
How can I feel a wink in a voice, he didn’t even have to change his expression
I put out my hand, and when he lifts me from the hospital bed it feels light.
Here, I’ll take you to lunch. You definitely deserve it. Big MVP energy out there tonight.
He placed his hand gently on the back of my neck to help guide me in front of him as we strolled out of the clinic.
No one even gave us a second glance. Unless it was to look again at Hades.
I know that you can’t talk, so I’ll just monologue. But feel free to interject, I have a feeling I might be able to read your body language.
I looked over my shoulder at him
He smiled
I stuck out my tongue
Laser quick, he grabbed it
Oh Oh Oh, little lady, don’t be so quick. The cat has got your tongue, so now the dogs will speak.
And he let me go
I couldn’t help but smile
Oh, and she has dimples, what a treat.
I lowered my eyes and smiled even more
I would love if you looked at me, I’ve never seen eyes like yours
Slowly I looked up
Looking into his eyes was like basking on the heat columns from pools of lava. His pupils shiny dark obsidian that show nothing of him, but reflect myself in a better, more flattering light.
I didn’t feel pressured, I felt seen but not examined, I felt understood but not interrogated. I felt like I could rest. I’m usually not good with eye contact, people get too unnerved by my all black eyes.
Do people get unnerved by your eyes, do they think they’re all black. - Hades
I was snapped out of my thoughts.
I looked down at his nose
It was surprisingly large, you wouldn’t notice
They think that they’re all black, but they’re not. There are layers. There is your sclera, which is a deep obsidian black, that almost has a metallic sheen to it. I can see the faintest outline of your veins and they look almost like silicone chips. Your Iris isn’t even black. It’s blue: the deepest darkest blue I’ve ever seen, the color of the depths of the ocean and the deaths in the seas. Then your pupils. Your slit cat eye pupils that look like drops of void into the soul. They look almost like my fathers. - Hades
I dropped my eyes further to his lips
Oh, now she’s getting shy, I didn’t know I could get that out of you, you seemed so defiant.
I took a step closer to him
Ahh, you think that getting closer to me shows that you’re not afraid of me. But perhaps you should be, perhaps I’m dangerous to you. Perhaps I baited you into stepping closer so that I could have more power over you
I looked up
He looked down
My head fit perfectly under his chin
He opened his hands on each side
He let me see them
He made sure I knew what he was doing
He put one hand on each of my shoulders and pulled me in for a hug
Here is a tiny tiny portion of a new Hell City piece, full wip is on my patreon for just $1 and you can be apart of all the demons and spirits making a sweet afterlife
All hell has so many stickers, posters and street art/graffiti up. It’s only removed if it’s being cruel or one a souls home who does not want, but there are many public spaces that welcome all forms of art making
Close ups of a piece of Hell City, full wip is on my patreon.
I really can’t express how grateful I am to my patreon folk, the support means a lot. But money isn’t the end all be able, but those who share what they can with me really just- it means a lot. I’m grateful my art gets to be with anyone, let alone have peoples hard efforts out into it
