All Was Golden

F I F T E E N

"Hell?" Ryan repeated, turning to Spencer. "How? What is that thing?" He jabbed his finger at the key as he questioned.

"It's an ancient evil." Spencer said, nervously glancing towards where Ryan pointed. "One of several meant to feed on and collect the souls of humans to release a demonic host. It was meant to be an early attempt at the apocalypse."

Ryan's arm dropped down to his side. "Is that what happened to Patrick?" He looked back at the key, "That thing took his soul?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Spencer admitted, "It definitely fed off of him, though. The same way it fed off you."

Ryan snapped his head back to Spencer. "What?"

"Don't you remember how tired you were after wearing it?" Spencer sighed, "Anyone who wears it feels it's effects. Patrick. You. Most likely him too."

"Don't." Ryan snapped his eyes shut. He couldn't bare the thought of that final combination.

There was a silence in the air. The only sound came from Ryan's stressed breathing.

"You're still in a lot of pain, aren't you?" Spencer

"If you've been watching, you would know." Ryan snapped, refusing to open his eyes.

Spencer was quiet for a moment. "Sorry." He finally said quietly. He then sighed before continuing, "It fed on at least three souls to give it enough to come back to life."

Ryan opened his eyes. "Wait... Pete." His eyes widened as he turned to Spencer. "Pete was covered in bruises and scratches before Patrick started asking where he was. I don't even know if he was home when we were sucked through the floor."

Spencer's eyes widened as well. "He may have been collected." He bit his lip. "I don't know nearly enough about the key to know for sure..."

"How do you even know anything about it?"

Spencer shrugged. "Death is a bit boring."

Ryan turned back to the key that sat face down in the dirt. When he ripped it away from Patrick, his eyes changed but didn't fully go back to normal. They were still yellow. "Does it need someone to wear the key to maintain control?"

"I really don't know." Spencer replied, "It was created by demons, and they're clever. They are just fallen angels after all. They know everything we know and more."

"There's a difference when you hold it." Ryan spoke as he continued to look at the key, "You can feel it. I think... I think it needs to stay with Patrick for him to be fully consumed." He could practically see Patrick's tired expression from the mirror as he looked into his yellow eyes. The same yellow as when ripped the key away. He still wasn't fully Patrick, but it wasn't fully whatever the key was either. "How can we stop it?"

"Stop it?" Spencer repeated.

Ryan turned back to face him. "Yes. Stop it."

"Ryan, this thing is older than either of us could possibly imagine, and at least twice as dangerous!" Spencer exclaimed, "Things that old are hard to break."

"Can't we do something?" Ryan's fists balled at his sides. "It took Patrick and who knows what it did to Pete! There has to be something!"

Spencer wrung his hands together as he nervously bit his lip. "There might be a way." He finally spoke, though his voice was quiet.

"Anything." Ryan said, straightening his posture. It was his fault the key was out of the box. It was his fault it had spread through to the inhabitants of his home like a virus. He had to fix it.

Spencer nodded. "Hell fire."

Ryan laughed. "Shouldn't be too hard to find here."

Spencer shook his head. "No. The hell fire. The fire that's burned beneath the land of the living since the beginning. The first fire."

"Oh..." Ryan felt his shoulders slump just slightly. "That sounds harder to find."

"It's in the heart." As he said it, Spencer dragged his hand over his own heart. "The center of hell. Where we are... It's not very close."

"How can you know?"

Spencer gestured to the air. "Can you feel the heat?"

Ryan nodded. He had felt it when first coming to consciousness, though he had adjusted to it by now.

"This is nothing compared to that fire." A flash of fear crossed over his face. "It has to be used when the key was first crafted. It can be the thing to destroy it."

"How do you know?" Ryan gulped as the words left him. The look that crossed Spencer's face reminded him of... Things he'd rather forget. It made his stomach twist in knots. "How can you know anything about it if you came from up there?"

Spencer snapped his eyes shut. "There are trials to get into Heaven, Ryan." His voice was low. "You get to see both sides of the afterlife, the inbetween, and how you lived your life. You see things. You feel things." Spencer opened his eyes. Ryan gasped as he looked into them. He could see a fire burning behind them, brighter than anything he had ever seen. "That's how I know."

"I..." Ryan watched as a wave of blue swept the fire away from Spencer's eyes before circling into his iris.

"It's okay." Spencer smiled. "It's a lot to take in all at once, and that was a long time ago."

Ryan looked away. Even his friends on the other side were getting hurt by him because of his actions. He had to end this.

His eyes trailed back to the key. "So... Hell fire can destroy it?" He asked.

"I hope so." Spencer replied.

Ryan let out a soft breath. "I hope so too." He said before reaching out and grabbing hold of the key once more.