Mortiem - Michael Langdon

HELL

When Ophelia awoke, she was in the same place she originally died. She sat up slowly from the metal table to see her killer mixing two bottles of chemicals together, his back turned to her. Ophelia scoffed to herself as she silently slid off the table. Cautiously she looked around spotting a kitchen type knife to her left. Quietly she picked it up and walked up to the back of her killer. She gently tapped him on the shoulder causing him to jump around, completely frightened. The man's eyes went wide with fear. Before he could question her resurrection, Ophelia shoved the knife straight into his left eye. Blood spurted onto her face as his lifeless body fell to the ground. "Asshole." She spat as she wiped the blood from her face, grabbing her clothes and purse that he had kept as trophies.

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Ophelia wasn't sure why but she knew she needed a human sacrifice if she was going to descend into hell. She didn't want to condemn an innocent soul to hell so she searched for a wicked soul. Without knowing it, Ophelia found herself in the same alley she was drugged and kidnapped in. The alley was right next to a club so she could feel the booming base from inside. Ever since her visit with her father, all her senses seemed to be heightened, especially her smell. She could smell blood from metres away.

"Hey pretty lady what you doing all alone out here?" A greasy looking man emerged from the shadows making Ophelia roll her eyes. He will do, she thought as she smirked and approached the man. The man's sadistic smile grew larger as she heard three men emerge from either side. She looked around seemingly panicked. One of the larger men threw her down to the ground. She scrapped her hand on the gravel as her head bounced off the pavement. Ophelia blinked a few times, seeing what seemed to be an outline of a scythe on the ground. Relying solely on instincts, she reached into the ground, pulling the weapon and swinging it towards the men. The swift motion decapitated all but one of the men— the one who originally hollered at her. The man shook with fear as his friends lifeless bodies hit the ground with a thud, their blood cascading across the ground. "Thank you father." She whispered to herself as she angrily approached the man.

"P-p-please don't kill me." The man shakily pleaded. Ophelia rolled her eyes at the man's desperate attempts. She squeezed into the handle of her scythe, it dissipating into black smoke and traveling onto her arm. On her forearm now was the black inking of a scythe, like a tattoo. "Okay cool." She laughed to herself examining her weapon's clever hiding spot. The man looked even more horrified as he saw this.

"Come on," she roughly grabbed the man and pulled him on top of her as she laid faced up on the ground. She closed her eyes and began chanting. "Spiritu duce, in me est. Deduce me in tenebris vita ad extremum, ut salutaret inferi. Descensum." With that the two sunk down from reality and into hell.

The man would not stop squirming, in complete fear of his life. "Hello?" Ophelia called out to what seemed to be an endless hallway. "Hello? I was sent here to retrieve someone!" She roughly dragged the man down the hallway looking at all the black doors. She wondered if she should enter one but decided against it as she felt leerily. A few moments later of walking down the hall, she spotted what seemed to be a glowing red door.  She didn't feel the same leery feeling, so she opened it, dragging the greasy man inside.

The room was completely empty but in the middle was a goat, black as night. Ophelia furrowed her eyebrows at the animal. "Oh don't tell me you're Satan. I thought you were a beast with a goats head not a literal goat." She tolled her eyes at the thought. The goat huffed, glaring at her sternly. "Well I am Ophelia Mortiem, the daughter of death I suppose, my father sent me here to retrieve someone. He didn't tell me who though, but I brought you a sacrifice." With the label sacrifice the man screamed and desperately tried to escape her firm grasp. This caused Ophelia to roll her eyes once more and throw the man towards the black goat. Once he hit the ground, the man seemed to be paralyzed. It wasn't until blood poured from his eyes that she realized it was the goat that was harming him. The blood flow was relentless. It didn't stop until his whole body was covered in blood. With that, he submerged into the blood pool and disappeared.

The goat seemed to be satisfied, he opened his front legs up, revealing a small baby goat. Ophelia couldn't help but get giddy over such a cute baby goat. It was just as black as its father. The baby goat looked hesitantly up to his father before he shakily walked over to the girl's feet. "Really? I was sent to hell to retrieve a baby goat." She looked up to see if the father goat would give her any answers but he was already gone. She looked around the empty room briefly before picking up the baby goat. His fur was smooth as silk and he nuzzled into her chest as she carried him out of the room and back down the hall. "You must be a very special goat for my father to demand you back." Ophelia laughed as she stroked the baby goats head, earning a soft whimper of approval. She laughed to herself. "You are just the cutest aren't you?" After a few moments Ophelia and the baby goat approached the area where she had arrived. She laid back down onto the cold floor and recited the spell that would bring her back. Once again darkness filled her vision as she ascended back into reality.