The Purgatory Saga #1: People of the Fire Read online

  The Purgatory Saga #1

  PEOPLE OF THE FIRE

  © 2012 Lulu Author. All rights reserved

  IBSN 978-1-300-10453-7

  Michelle Dalson

  Chapter One-

  The blazing sunlight struck the hot sandy ground. I dragged my feet across the sizzling surface and felt the heat burning through my sandals.

  Accompanying me was a tall, lanky, old man named Ebenezer Lynch. He wore the only pair of dark shades in our shack, while I had to strain my naked eyes through the blinding sunshine.

  “Quicken yer pace, boy,” the old man’s grumble sounded like a vague buzz in my ears. It was so hot that my eardrums were throbbing. “Hurry it up. Or ye’ll be at the end of the line.”

  I scoffed. “We’re already late,” I mumbled.

  It had been his fault for waking me up ten minutes after Medium Orientation had begun. Today was the day for me to enroll in St. Gretchen’s Academy—the most degrading academy in this land. After my death in the apocalypse, my spirit had spent three days recovering in Ebenezer Lynch’s shack. Now it was time for me to start training for soul purification in these stupid academies, and earn my way up through the seven stages of Purgatory.

  I cursed and grumbled. I didn’t even know why I was here. For whatever reason, my mind did not recall how I had lived my life before my spirit left Earth, or why I deserved to come here to Bhad—the very bottom stage of Purgatory. Ebenezer Lynch was too grouchy to tell me.

  My eyes no longer strained forward, but they stared down at the bright, unchanging ground as I paced forward. I didn’t see why I should bother attending an academy to earn my way up through the seven stages of Purgatory if I didn’t even know who I was, how I had lived, or what I had done to end up here.

  We were nearing the academy. I could hear the sound of chattering voices ringing in the distance. There was a huge line that extended out from the magnificent silver gates of St. Gretchen’s academy. Thousands of spirits, ranging from ages eighteen to twenty-one, were clustered in lines that led to several of the enormous buildings on campus.

  I clenched my teeth and scratched my palms. “We are in the back of the line, you ass-head,” I seethed at the man.

  “Puh,” Ebenezer pushed passed me. “That’s your problem, boy. I ain’t the one who’s enrolling.” Ebenezer was the janitor of this academy, which was the only reason why he even bothered to escort me here.

  I shouldered passed the old man and snatched his dark shades.

  “Hey!” He grabbed my bony arm, but I yanked myself out of his grip.

  I slipped on the shades and hurried toward the huge line of spirits, losing the old man in the midst of the crowd. I pushed my way through and stood in front of the shortest spirit I could find.

  Suddenly, a loud squawk pierced the air and the rambunctious crowds quieted down. The crowds fixed their gazes upon a throng of dark-suited spirits who were gathered at the top of a hexagonal building. Each had flame-bodied birds perched upon their shoulders. The squawk had come from one of the nasty looking birds that appeared to consist of a devil spirit. It was perched on the shoulder of an old, ugly lady with large beady eyes and sharp silver glasses.

  The lady stepped forward and addressed herself. “Ahem! Welcome, young spirits!” Her sharp, edgy voice echoed throughout the academy. “As you all know, the apocalypse has fallen upon Earth. Many of you come from different time periods—some of you have recently died while others may have rested in peace for centuries. Well, it does not matter now, for all of you spirits are, apparently, destined to arrive here in Purgatory! I am your Headmaster, St, Gretchen, and I’d like to welcome you to my academy, and to the stage of Bhad. You are all here to pursue purification, for it is evident that you are all tainted with horrid sins from your mortal lives.”

  Sure enough, for as I looked around I realized I was surrounded by thugs, bandits, and a variety of spirits dressed in the most ghetto outfits. Then I gave an exasperated glance at my half-torn gray shirt and sagging black jeans. What exactly had I done to deserve this?! I must have done something bad, but what exactly was the terrible crime? My memory was a thickened cloud and I couldn’t remember a thing.

  “But have no fear!” Cooed Gretchen. “Purgatory consists of seven stages—Bhad, Nawt, Pryde, Primal, Juste, Purah, and Guhd. Now we are at the very bottom, in the stage of Bhad. And that means our academies work the hardest to get your spirits prepared for the tests at the end of the year, so that you can graduate and move onto the next stage. These tests are your tickets through the stages. If you pass ‘em, you’ll move up to the next layer; if you fail ‘em, you’ll drop down a layer. Now you don’t want to fail any test here—this is the bottom of the bottom and if you fail here, there’s nowhere else for you to drop down to, except to the underworld of course.” She grinned and revealed nasty mold in her teeth. “Your final showdown will be in the seventh stage of Guhd, where you must pass the most rigorous of courses before you are ready to enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

  I scoffed. I didn’t feel like I was going to receive any wonderful treatment here. The dark-spirits behind Gretchen did not look like they were willing to help us purify ourselves. They were all eying us with red eyes that matched those of their devilish flame birds.

  “Today is the day you will be enrolled as Mediums, meaning you shall become students of my academy,” Gretchen went on. “All of you will be assigned to classrooms under one of the High Ones here,” she nodded to the dark-suited spirits behind her, “and you may all have the opportunity to choose your own SoulBirds. Now isn’t that wonderful?” Her cracked voice sounded horrible when she tried to speak with an encouraging tone. “The SoulBirds of our campus are here just for you. As you can see here, we all have fire-type SoulBirds,” she tickled the chin of her raggedy flame-bird on her shoulder. “But they will come in the forms of earth, air, and water types as well. They may become your soul-mates, and they will help you pass your tests as you excel from one academy to the next.”

  “Hah!” Muttered the short man behind me. “Sorry, man,” he apologized when I turned to flash him a glance through my dark shades. “The name is Cain. Are you noticing how devious those spirits look? I mean…those High Ones look like messengers from Hell! Just look at their SoulBirds! And now that crazy witch is encouraging us to become soul-mates with the other devilish SoulBirds that roam this academy?! Why isn’t anyone questioning these weirdoes?”

  I shrugged. “No one probably gives a damn.”

  Cain huffed. “Huh! You know…there is a rumor that the Higher One who is ruling this stage had kicked out the former angelic teachers of these academies, and replaced them with devilish soldiers from Hell. It is also very likely that the Higher One also banished the angelic SoulBirds that used to roam this place, and had replaced them with his devilish SoulBirds. I think the Higher One is trying to turn this stage into another hell territory.”

  I scorned. That was not very unbelievable.

  I looked around and caught the spirit in front of me toss a cigarette aside. I picked up the cigarette and turned to face the dried bushel next to the building beside me. Smiling mischievously, I flicked the cigarette into the bushel and watched it burst into flames. The flames rapidly spread across the campus and caused an immediate riot in the crowds surrounding me. Pretty soon, the entire academy was filled with flames and panicking spirits.

  I stood there with a wry look on my face and then smirked. This was entertaining. I might like it here.

  But someone was not panicking with the rest of the spirits. Gretchen was standing behind me with a menacing glare. “Ahem…Zachariah Ezekreth?” She spoke my name.

  I
turned around and faced her for a second. Then I spit in her eye and raced into the flames.

  The High Ones managed to put out the fire before there was any critical damage. But I was suspended for six months. Instead of participating in the fire rituals with my classmates, the High Donner—who was my assigned teacher—made me lap around the Hellfire Pool every day until sundown. At least on some days, I managed to ditch the academy and successfully burn down other academies in this deteriorated stage.

  On the day that Gretchen released me from my six-month suspension, I was ditching the academy again. I dashed across the rough wastelands into a thicketed forest. In my hands was a pink egg with a bright glowing gem at its center. I had this precious thing stolen from Gretchen’s office. Headmaster Gretchen had found this egg beside the Gehenna River. She claimed that it was some valuable source of power that the Higher One would surely love to receive.

  But now, I was the one who had this valuable item in my own hands, and I wasn’t going to let that crazy Headmaster get away with whatever reward this egg would bring her. That hag didn’t deserve it.

  St. Gretchen’s fire SoulBird was still chasing me. The devilish creature was shooting flames down through the thicketed branches, but I evaded them. I was used to ditching the academy.

  I had no SoulBird to assist me right now, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter to me that I was already failing my classes. If I went to Hell by the end of this year, I didn’t need any stupid bird-devil to accompany me. I hated them anyway. The only pleasure I got out of those things was when I shot them in the air with my thorn-and-fire slingshot.

  Unfortunately, I didn’t have my slingshot with me right now.

  “Zaaaach!” I flinched and cursed. It was the High Donner. He and St. Gretchen were catching up to me.

  The fire SoulBird suddenly crashed down from above, and cried with pain as it tangled its small body in the thorny branches. I felt the heat of the devilish bird pass my side as I lunged forward and tripped. I held the golden egg tightly as I rolled out into the open where sharp dry grass grew beside the Gehenna River. The river was sizzling with lava, and bones were drifting downstream.

  “Zach!” I heard a scream from Gretchen. “Donner, you find him right now or I’ll have the Higher One throw you in the Hellfire Pool!”

  I flinched at the sound of St. Gretchen’s cracked voice. The egg was getting warmer and warmer, and I noticed that the tiny bright dot in the center had grown to the size of a quarter. I looked over my shoulder and saw that there was an unguarded nest of eggs up in the trees. They must have been eggs of a wild fire SoulBird. I immediately climbed the tree and snatched one of the eggs. Then I leapt off the branch and landed on the ground. I hid the golden egg behind a nearby thicket, and then observed the fire SoulBird egg in my hands. Thankfully, fire SoulBird eggs resembled the strange golden egg. The only difference was that it was slightly smaller, and the yellow spot in the middle looked like a blob.

  “Zach Ezekreth!” Gretchen was screaming. She and High Donner crashed out from the bushes. She was holding her wounded SoulBird in her arms. “You! How dare you! You have no idea what you’ve just done! That egg was to be delivered to Lucien the Higher!” Her eyes looked ready to pop out. She had taken off her glasses so that she wouldn’t lose them in the thickets.

  I returned her gaze with a bored expression. “Yeah? What are you going to do about it? You gonna make me lap around the Hellfire Pool again, or make me sleep in the Solar Dungeon?”

  “Oh, I would love to have you swim laps around the Hellfire Pool for an entire week,” said Gretchen coolly. She snatched the egg in my hands and narrowed her beady eyes. “You will be serving three weeks of sacrifice. I’ll have you wearing the punishing garments, and you’ll experience the price you’ll have to pay when the Higher One pays us a visit.”

  Chapter Two-

  It turned out that my punishment was worse than I had expected. Not only was I supposed to look like a girl and wear a black fiery headband, along with thorny bands that tightly wrapped around over my wrists and ankles. But I also had to wear the rubber gloves and boots. They made my hands and feet feel like I had placed them on a stove. Talk about the wrong kind of style! My hands, feet, and my head felt burned to the bone the moment I put on these “punishing garments.” They even made me wear rubber underwear that burned like Hell.

  As if all that weren’t bad enough, I also had a heavy metal ball that was chained to my ankle so that I had to drag the darn thing with me while I walked.

  Thankfully, the Mediums at St. Gretchen’s Academy only whistled at me with admiration. All the Mediums who attended the academy looked up to me as their scandalous role model. I put up fights with the High Ones and the Headmaster nearly every day, and they respected me for that. But none of these losers were my friends. They were all ghetto, heartless thugs.

  I made my way through the hallways with my back slouching forward as I dragged the metal ball behind me. I was aware of the students staring at me as I passed by. But I made no eye contact with them.

  A tall slick-haired spirit named Brad gave me a soft hearty punch on the shoulder. “Zach! Sup, bro? Heard you stole St. Gretchin’s egg the other day!”

  I met his gaze and shrugged. “I still have it. The egg that Gretchen snatched back from me is actually just a substitute. It’s just a fire egg I found in the wild.”

  The guy looked humored. “Nice! Dude, you badass.”

  The bell rang its strange ominous tone. Brad gave a loud sigh. “Well, catch ya later, bro. Good luck with that outfit.”

  I gave him a small nod before he passed me. I kept my gaze on him as his back turned. Then my face turned to a scowl.

  “Dumbass,” I muttered angrily as I strained myself forward.

  I passed by a group of nice looking women, all of them dressed with short-shorts or daisy-dukes….any type of clothing that made them look like sluts. They stared at me as I passed them. I looked down and let my black hair hang over the sides of my face to hide my gaze from them, and pretended like I didn’t hear them giggling. I knew they meant well.

  I arrived to my class. The High Donner eyed me as he crossed his arms and said, “Late again?” He had an ugly devilish fire-type SoulBird named Trex. The fiend was perched on his shoulder, clicking its curled, ugly beak.

  I glared at both of them and said nothing.

  Donner pressed his glasses forward. “Guess I’ll have to add a detention to your after school punishment for today. Go take your seat.”

  I scoffed and whirled around to face my desk, whipping my chains against Donner’s legs. He yowled in pain and held his shins. The entire class laughed and praised me as I made my way toward my desk in the back of the room.

  As soon as I took my seat, I took out a match from my pocket and swiped it across the bottom of my bumpy desk. I burned off the chain of the metal ball, and instantly, a horde of tiny spiders crawled out from inside of the heavy chains. The class screamed and immediately left their seats to hustle around the room. Many were covered with spiders from head to toe.

  “ZACH!” Thundered the High Donner. Trex was squawking furiously.

  I flashed the High One a sideways smile. “Sorry. I’ll clean up my mess.”

  I threw the match at Cain’s desk in front of me. The desk burst into flames, and immediately, fire spread through the entire room.

  I spent the rest of the day lapping the Hellfire Pool again. At least I didn’t have to duel snakes in the Ritual of Suffering with the rest of my stupid class.

  At the end of the day, I had to clean up the academy under the supervision of our creepy old janitor, Ebenezer. It felt rather awkward to be around this old man again. I hadn’t conversed with him since Medium Orientation, since he was so grouchy and always shunned anyone who wanted to speak to him.

  “Hmph, who’s responsible for all this graffiti?” muttered Ebenezer, scrubbing the side of the lockers. “They ought to have cameras in this darn school.”

  I stood ther
e with my arms crossed and yawned. “They should. But of course, you know how lazy Headmaster Gretchen can be.”

  Ebenezer wrung out a large amount of water from his sponge and created a puddle in front of his feet. He stepped over it, banged a locker with the sponge and sloppily scrubbed it up.

  I eyed the puddle of water. “Someone could slip on that, you know,” I said blandly.

  Ebenezer grumbled under his breath. Without noticing, he wiped the sponge across a pocketknife that was sticking out of a locker, and the sponge tore in two.

  “Urgh! Satan, curse you!” Ebenezer threw his sponge down on the ground.

  I let out a mocking laugh. That must have been my locker.

  Ebenezer’s devious scowl focused into mine. “Listen, you. I don’t care what you choose to do around here, but I’m goin’ back to the basement to see if I can find any more of these cheap sponges. Try to stay outta trouble until I come back.”

  I snickered. “You know, that’s the same thing Gretchen told me when she left me in her office to search for my identification file.”

  Ebenezer chuckled and gave me a studying look. “You mean the day you stole her egg? Hehe, I bet ya still got it hidden somewhere in your dorm, don’t ya?”

  I blinked and shook my head. “Nope. Didn’t you see her? She got the egg back. The only thing I’ve done is spit on it.”

  Ebenezer raised his long pointy finger and gave a poke at my bony cheekbone. “Nah, come on. You think I’m as stupid as all the other spirits in this world? I can tell the difference between a regular old SoulBird egg, and the special one that was supposed to be for the Higher One.”

  “Oh, it was special was it?” I said in a low, sarcastic tone.

  Ebenezer clasped his hands together. “Boy, don’t you know anything about SoulBird eggs? This one was a mere sight. It wasn’t like any of the regular SoulBird eggs in this world.”

  I shrugged. “I’m sorry. I don’t pay attention in my classes, so I didn’t notice.”