Devil in Shepherd's Robes

Ch 17: The Fall

The gaping maw of the Abyss reached out to Ephram as he stood silently above it in the barren field. As he looked back towards the treeline in which he'd come from, he saw the faces of his friends staring back at him. He knew how against the idea they were, but nevertheless, they knew it was what he wanted. What he needed.

The love he felt for Silvia was unmatched, and to get his wife back he would traverse through every nightmare he could dream up. If there was even a sliver of hope to be had, he knew it resided within this dark expanding void below.

"Am I really about to do this..." He muttered under his breath as he turned back towards the enormous bottomless pit before him.

As he mustered up the courage to take yet another step forward, he peered down into the blackness staring back at him. It was true what they say about staring into the Abyss, for if you look too long you can almost feel your mind beginning to recede. To survive within the reality of nothingness, Ephram knew his mental state must be an impenetrable fortress of steel. He could feel the energy being sapped from his mind, as if the darkness was feeding upon his very soul.

Taking another step forward, he looked down at the clothes he wore. Before coming back to the field and taking that final leap into the unknown, Restavel had taken it upon herself to sew his black shirt up, the hole Pestarrem had created earlier had all but vanished thanks to her amazing stitch work. She'd also taken the liberty of washing his clothing for him as he caught up on some much needed rest back in the guest quarters. It was the first time he'd slept since coming to Hell, and it was excruciatingly hard to get himself back awake in light of his current situation. Even the new sheets Restavel had exchanged for the bloodied ones upon the bed were calling out to him now to return to them and forget about the terror in front of him.

As he grew nearer to the hole he tried to let his mind wander, easing himself into the prospect of potentially never returning to Hell, or Earth for that matter. If his abilities truly didn't work within the Abyss then he was about to essentially make the dumbest mistake of his life, but somewhere deep down he knew he still had to take that risk. It was all to see his wife again, and that fact replayed itself over and over within his mind as he took his final step toward the edge of the Abyss.

Ephram raised his hand to his left breast pocket, feeling the sleek golden chain of his pocket watch as he stared down into the dark end of all that is. The soft ticking of the watch consoled his heavy burden, as if it were his wife calling out to him to tell him everything will be alright. It was now a simple matter of trust as he mustered up the willpower to take this potentially final leap of faith.

As he looked back once more to his friends, he felt nothing but gratitude and admiration for them all. The strongest and most kind people he'd ever come to know had come to see him off, believing in him and his abilities till the very end. There was no way he could fail them, there was just too much riding on this moment. With a single step forward, Ephram felt the weight leave his body as he began hurtling straight down into the warm embrace of the nothingness below. The fall itself wasn't the scary part, but the thought of never returning held his mind firmly within its grasp.

As he held tightly to his hat whilst clutching it to his chest, he looked up to where he'd just been. The only light source he could see was beginning to fade away like a dying star, the entrance to the void within Estella Forest was shrinking with every second that passed. He knew the chances of coming back were slim, but even if there was a mere 1% chance to save Silvia, he'd take it. Consequences be damned, he will find her no matter the cost.

Ephram watched as the light faded away entirely, the only thing to surround him now was the dark expanse of nothingness, stretching in every conceivable direction. It was only a matter of time now before he hit the bottom of the Abyss, and when he did, his journey could finally continue. The overwhelming darkness around him was no match for the light he carried within. Even if he had to burn away every last aspect of himself as the Abyss devoured his body, mind, and soul, he would find Silvia. Absolutely nothing and no one could stop him from achieving his goal, and Ephram knew that deep down, he had become an unstoppable force. The Abyss itself was an immovable object, something that has been and always will be. Faced with the prospect of change, however, the unstoppable force will always emerge victorious.