Hell isn’t fire and brimstone. It’s actually cold, almost icy. Standing atop the Grand Ziggurat of Uggae, there was no wind to speak of, or any kind of weather, so the cold was just inherent in this place.

Sabreal had told me how Infernium came to be. The Ziggurat I stood upon was originally the center of a Mesopotamian city in ancient times. Sabreal used the cities population to test what would eventually become the first demons. In one of her most successful experiments she turned the entire city into demons. It was then that the 5000 year war between Sabreal and the other Seraph began. Sabreal also phased the city from the mortal realm into the other side, creating her own realm as a counterpart to Inanu’s Caelum.

And it was a realm that fit her. An endless dark maze created from the remains of a dead civilization. Most would probably find it horrific, but me, I felt nothing. As far as I know I’ve been alive for eighteen years, and yet for all that time I can’t remember feeling anything once. I don’t remember anything before waking up in that field. Afterward I lumbered through life, without purpose, wandering from place to place.

Throughout those eighteen years I had dreams… memories? I saw a best friend I didn’t know, a war I didn’t remember, I saw another life, one that didn’t feel like mine. Sometimes in the dreams I was someone who looked like I did, living in the distant past, other times I was a boy, living in the present day.

Most of the dreams blurred together, I couldn’t make sense of them, but one was at least somewhat coherent. It was also the only one that didn’t involve either of the other two lives, but felt like it was experienced by me. I’m laying down, I think in that same field I woke up in. Someone stands above me, with an androgynous face and long hair. I could hear a few words spoken.

“You are something completely new my child. Neither Seraph nor demon, but something in-between. In time you will help me finally restore order to this world. But first… revenge.”

Eventually I was found and taken in by Sabreal, and shortly thereafter I met my doppelganger, the one I had been seeing through the eyes of in my dreams. My questions still remained, who was I, what was my purpose?

Sabreal interrupted my thoughts. “I have given you purpose my child. In return I expect that you will accomplish the task I have bestowed upon you.”

Until I can finally meet my creator and discover the reason for my connection with the other Seraph, I will do what Sabreal asks of me. I turn around and face her. “One thing first. After all this time I’ve finally decided on a name for myself. Call me Aurora.”