S8: Dante’s 9th Circle of Hell

Psychoanalysis of one Ms. Adelaide Hartley

Sunday, 21 May: Father wrapped the poor woman in blankets as everyone climbed back inside the drill machine for the long drive to the surface. Cramped quarters as he tried to calm her fears and insanity. She HAD gone through a lot these last months. A spinster librarian seeking therapy from Dr. Ferdinand Argos in hopes of becoming more appealing. Only to be whisked away in a dreamworld and locked in a tower with the weird alien city around her in flames. Trapped in a body not her own. Then rescued of sort, out of the strange body but confined in…a gem? Had she died and only her soul saved? And now, her thoughts and soul and being restored inside her own body. How? If only her sanity had transformed along with her, “What is happening? What happened?!”

Father raised his crucifix as he consoled her, “Adelaide, correct? You are safe now. Join me in prayers to help you relax.” Using hypnosis to focus her thoughts, Father began a psychoanalytical session, “It feels so warm and comforting in the presence of the Lord. Your eyes are heavy as you look inward to see Him. Reflection of all you have gone thru will release your anxiety and fears.”

Adelaide began slowly, “Bless me Father for I have seen much I do not understand. I can only think my transformation into that other body was a test of faith as I was trapped in that tower within hell itself. Hell because I had longed for a different body only to see such desires sinful. Then trapped in the crystal Klaus hung around his neck, protected from harm as I observed the world around us. Able to eavesdrop on your conversations…our subway ride from Saugerties to the North Pole to then be jolted by Peter’s reckless driving of this drilling machine. Repairs before we dipped into the chasm for the descent into the real hell.

I could read the speed dial starting at 250mph before Peter gained confidence to accelerate. Hours speeding down as the illumination outside the vehicle changed from blue to red and eventually black…black as the devil himself. Relief that Peter stopped and drilled into the wall to rest. For I was in no rush to meet the devil face-to-face. Distraction as Klaus chocked you Father, just because you mentioned his sister Vanya. Was that the sin of temptation? Father, are thou not chaste?

I’d read of the center of the Earth as fire and lava, and thus hell, yet this hell fit Dante’s description of his 9^th circle. Cold and Ice. A huge sphere almost 50 miles diameter with buildings clinging to the sides. Queer what holds them in place; so, Peter throws a rock to test gravity. Normal. All see a pulsing black cloud of a sun overhead. Or should I say centered inside this sphere? I can only listen as your allies ponder your next move. The devil providing impetus as 8 fireballs erupt from the black sun and arch in a chaotic pattern around the city. Explosions so near that stone shards zing by.

I can see everyone struggling to carry those heavy tripod cameras you call Death-Rays. Except for Father’s Healing-Ray. Confrontation by those 4 cold-fire men calling “Halt.” Tell me Father, how did you get that one guard to stand perfectly still (Hypnosis)? I could see your allies diving for cover as those men blasted with shotguns. Peter arcing his proton stream at one while Klaus rayed another. A pitched battle I must say, especially when you lost focus Father and that man turned his gun on you. I think that is when I squealed and thus distracted Klaus (96 fumble-tipped tripod over). You were all brave facing such danger, to include the spew of their fiery blood as they died. [Peter burned 1 Luck to make his ray shot kill only to fail his Luck-save by 1 point…Karma!]

Why was Klaus trying to stealth forward when the shotgun blasts easily announced your approach? Whatever, when Hugo wasn’t blocking the front of the crystal…Father, please forgive my sinful thoughts. Although Hugo and the others were incorporeal, I could still make out their shapes. I shuttered when Hugo’s groin brushed against me. I have never laid with a man before, so I was quite surprised at his… size. Anyway, with the view clear, I saw the black sun leaching energy down to the plaza before us. And that’s when I realized the black-fire enclosed man with arms raised was actually pulling down the black energy that seemed to crackle around him. Apparently, the action meant something to you and the others as you all ran forward TOWARD the plaza. Brave.

AAAAAHHHH! GOD HELP US!!! That is no black sun that vibrates and shimmers. I can discern two forms that seem to intermingle. What Klaus calls Yin and Yang, you call Nug and Yeb. Has the man with outstretched arms awaken them? Even I can feel the cold invading this area. The gem almost frosting over. Only now can I take comfort in knowing the cold cannot cause frostbite to my bodiless form. But I see you struggling; the frozen air hanging before you. First you Father then Klaus invoking some strange chant. A ritual? For what cause? [Black Supplications: to calm the Old Ones] I listened closely to your words…’Per Adonai Eloim, Adonai Jehova, Adonai Sabaoth, Metraton On Agla Mathon, verbum pythonicum, mysterium salamandrae,…” I knew not your intent till I saw Nug and Yeb above slow in their vibrations as if calming.

And then the shockwave that blasted forth knocking everyone to their arses. Including the man you called Thetronis (or Argos) who realized his ritual was being challenged. The ice walls surrounding his clutch of followers shattered; protection no more. What a traumatic event (i.e. Sanity check: which Klaus and Will failed = Indefinite Insanity = temporary memory loss). I could clearly see Argos’ clutched fist raised at Dr. Will who suddenly seemed to suffer a heart attack (Spell: Clutch of Nyogtha). Distraction that allowed you to aim your Death-Rays at Argos. And poor Peter, racked with pain and injury from the shotgun blasts then shockwave (1HP remaining), having to seek cover so he could turn the Healing-Ray on himself. 

And that’s when each of us trapped in the crystal recognized our own human form standing beside Argos. Brendon Sterling’s glasses hanging low on his nose, Ivy Tinsdale with his thick beard now shaped with a fork, Norbert Blythe’s slim nerdy stance, Marguerite de Lacy all prim and proper, Hugo Northridge’s bulky form, and myself (Adelaide Hartley) the plump one. Mesmerized at seeing myself still alive, I did not hear Klaus mumbling those strange words. And then my own feeling of being pulled from the crystal thru a needle hole. A passing of souls as I entered my true body as the alien-soul who HAD possessed it was sucked into the crystal. 

I’m not sure what happened after that, other than I dropped the shotgun I WAS aiming at you. You must realize that was a traumatic experience. I do remember Klaus asking who next. And from the bulk of Hugo I saw inside the crystal, I answered quickly at the thought of another force to face the threat before you. How was I to know Hugo was so cowardly… a drunk craving his bottle. At least there were 2 less foe you had to face. I know you suffered from the others spells that seemed to drain you (MP loss then HP). 

And just when I thought Peter had Argos dead-in-his-sights, Thetronis pulled poor Norbert into the line-of-fire [Thetronis used his 30 Luck death save]. In the end, I see Klaus saved 4 of us. Argos finally defeated. Poor Brendon, the one you sought from the very beginning, the last to stand against you. Well, not Brendon whose soul was still in the crystal, but the Lomarian who had hijacked his body. So sad to see the body of Brendon disintegrated. The soul of Brendon trapped in the crystal…forever? 

And you Father, what did you see in the fading eyes of the wizard Thetronis? Did you suspect he escaped his death? Is that why you turned the Death-Ray on his amethyst stone necklace? And that is when I mistakenly looked skyward, only to see the full forms of Nug and Yeb copulating in the sky. Please Father, remove that image from my mind. PLEASE Father. If I am to live a full life with love, let not that be the image I think about when I lay with my mate.” 

Father laid his hand on Adelaide’s forehead as he whispered a hypnotic suggestion, “When you wake Adelaide, forget the alien images and the events at the center of the Earth. View yourself as a beautiful woman in both mind and body. Let down your hair and live a full, meaningful life of your own desires.” 

As for the other 3 saved souls restored to their own bodies, they now seemed to gravitate to Klaus as members of his growing community. Klaus would provide the relief they needed so desperately to suppress the memories of their last months. When Klaus finally made it back to New York, he intended to give the crystal with Brendon’s soul to his wife Melody Sterling. But why lose out on another follower. And why give away his Crystal of Naphkon that can still aid his time-travel. No, he’d best hold onto that. 

STORY PLOT 

·         Thetronis was a time-traveling wizard of ancient Lomar stuck in its civil war. He reasoned he could steal power from the Great-Old-Ones Nug and Yeb that could be used to restore Lomar as the center of the world. Surface humans only pawns to aid his efforts and then eradicated.

·         Ashe was only a human with psychic abilities who had dream traveled to K’n Yan and learned of their great technology. Her plans to raise Cthulhu himself to wipe out humanity on the surface of the Earth to allow all K’n Yans to return to their surface rule. With her as the K’n Yan ruler.

·         Zelrathos was the leader of the Dreamworld Lomar who realized if mankind was killed, there would be no-one left to dream. Which meant the end of Dreamland.