CODEX Part 3: Between Heaven and Hell
Real or Not, Here I Come

Jasper’s and Zoe’s souls were responding to what was going on in Hell. Lucifer found out who the inheritor was and why Eneizar’s sign changed and he was furious.

“M-Masters,” Beelzebub wasn’t there but the rest were, “Lucifer is at the gate. He’s asking-no, ordering- you to go out and meet him,” The servant was scared.

The energies in Hell were getting mixed up and demons were going crazy.

Belphegor looked at Leviathan and they nodded to each other. Mammon, on the other hand, frowned.

“Why are you so worried?” Bel asked the short prince.

“Because of someone, I lost a lot of demons recently. That freaking girl has them in the palm of her hand,” He was mad.

After Mehrdir, a large number of servants left. Maybe not all of them went to Beelzebub but Zoe was definitely one of the reasons they left.

“Do you know what they say?” Leviathan started. He was the gatekeeper and knew everything, in and out of Hell, “They say she will turn her back to her father and fight among the vanity,”

Belphegor rolled his eyes, “Who says that, again?” He asked growing impatient and Belphegor was never impatient.

“The angels. Besides, there’s a problem in the purgatory. It seems the back rooms opened,”

Mammon glared at the envy prince, “What?” He could feel his angst getting at the same level with Satan’s.

The back rooms were a subject not even the seven princes of Hell would talk about. There were rooms no one had to know about; especially humans. Not even regular demons and angels knew what was hidden behind those doors.

“They didn’t just open. Someone opened them and that someone is just outside this cave!” Mammon screamed, “He’s waiting for us at the gate because he knows something we don’t,” For a short creature, he was quite sharp.

“From what I know, Gakhas’s been called out for an emergency. He didn’t report anything. Maybe we shouldn’t be curious what Lucifer knows but we should ask ourselves where Beelzebub suddenly disappeared,”

Leviathan and Mammon glanced at each other before they both turned to Bel. He was being quite wise that day.

Zoe had her own problems. Besides the creatures lurking in the dark, she started to cough blood.

“Do you feel it?” Richard asked. He was very perceptive to spiritual energy, “It’s like someone’s breathing on the back of your neck. You know they are there but you still feel the need to check it out,” He whispered.

Robin licked her lips. She and Zoe were the only ones who had their backs turned to the doors. Richard was too scared to look up but Conner and Jacob were facing the monster directly. Carley was curious and too brave for her own safety so she walked down slowly and made her way to the doors.

“Do you know what they say about ghosts?” Jacob started, “They say you shouldn’t look at them. You give them energy to become stronger that way. They taunt you but one glance can be the end for you,” He mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear but not enough for Carley to hear.

She was already halfway there when she stopped, “Hey, guys?”

No one moved.

Carley was surveying the place when her eyes fell on the floor. At first, she thought it was nothing but after a few seconds, something appeared. It was white but smelled like puke. She took one step closer and another sign appeared. Carley did that for a few minutes and followed the signs into a circle. Once the circle closed, she could finally see what that was.

“Carley?” Conner saw her stop. It looked like her breath stopped, too.

“Do you know those circles in horror movies? The ones made for casting a demon?” She screamed. It was really loud, or so it sounded in that deadly silence.

Zoe’s eyes widened and she glanced over her shoulder at Carley. She was probably the most scared out of the humans.

“Is it made of blood?” Richard asked, already freaked out.

“No. It’s white!”

Zoe jumped off the stage quickly and ran towards Carley. Unfortunately, after a few steps she got thrown against the wall. She hit her head badly and the dizziness amplified, blood dripping down her temple.

“Zoe!?”

Zoe could hear people scream but the next few moments were a blur. She noticed something appearing out of the ground and wrapping his tentacles around Carley. It didn’t pull her in, though; it looked more like it pushed her out.

The rest of the group spread and some of them hid. Zoe got up and regained her balance before she noticed something very familiar appear on the stage.

Zoe gulped and pushed on her wound. She gritted her teeth in pain but she could feel her demon react to the pain.

“Come and get your friends, Zoe,” She heard someone whisper.

That voice was deep and empty. She barely made it to the stage when she realized she had to ascend a few stairs to actually get on it.

"If they die, it’s your entire fault.” The voice continued. It laughed bemusedly before it continued, “They will die!” He hissed.

“No!” She didn’t realize she was screaming.

“Zoe?”

She looked up and saw the worried faces of her friends. The commander blinked a few times and even grabbed Carley’s face and inspected it.

“Are you alright? You spaced out in the middle of the game and we had to say goodbye to whoever visited,” Richard’s tone didn’t seem like he was sad about that fact. He was happy it ended.

“What was the last message?” She asked a little out of it. Zoe still couldn’t believe that what she saw never happened.

“Something about Jacob. It seems the ghost had something it wanted to say to him.”

Zoe felt her mouth go dry. Did she hallucinate everything after that?

“I have to go to the bathroom,” She got up and ascended the stairs.

“Do you want me to come with you?” She heard Robin ask.

Zoe shook her head and walked out.

As soon as she got out, she fell against the wall and grabbed her head. Zoe glanced to the side with longing, surprised by herself because she was waiting. She was there, alone and frightened, and she was waiting for her prince to come and save her.

“Where are you Mehrdir?” She asked out loud, not expecting any answer but she got one.

“He’s with Beelzebub. Long time no see, huh?”

She turned her head to the other side and saw a pair of skinny legs. Her gaze moved up to his short figure and annoying grin.

“Mepalham. I didn’t expect to see you ever again,”

The greed demon chuckled in that annoying way of his, “Well, life is unfair for all of us, isn’t it?”

She opened her mouth to combat that theory but he grabbed her arm and raised her. She was short but still taller than him.

“Mammon is overreacting once again and ordered us to come and guard you. It seems Jasper lost control and his guardian ghost vanished,” He took care to animate what he was saying.

“What does that have to do with me?”

Mepalham raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a few minutes before he clicked his tongue.

“Really?” He asked sarcastically, “You know, the message on the wall was only a part of the prophecy. It was slightly modified, actually. The prophecy sounds very different than what you heard,”

When the three worlds will reach their peak,

two children will be born, indeed.

One is the leader and one is the king,

but the power is divided equally.

The commander shall lead

but the inheritor will be the leader.

With different minds and different souls,

the two must accept their faults.

They have to distinguish between bad and worse.

They have to choose the side they fight for.

The fathers shall not interfere

or else the Middle World shall disappear.

Zoe stared at the demon with no expression.

“Do you understand now, Zoe? You have to choose who you will fight for,”

Suddenly, she remembered Belial’s so called advice.

He noticed the small twitch on her eye and raised an eyebrow, “Has someone insinuated it before?”

“Yes. Belial.”

Mepalham’s eyes widened and he took a step back, “Are you fucking serious?! Why didn’t you tell anyone?” He hissed in both astonishment and anger. It was hard to describe what was going through his head.

“He appeared in my dream and threatened me, practically.”The short demon scoffed, “Wait, did Jasper choose? So fast?”

“Well, Lucifer kind of bent the rules. He took advantage of his -um- not good feelings towards you,” Mepalham started, “Oh, you didn’t know,” He realized he probably said too much because he smirked and left.

“Asshole," She whispered, “Wait. Who’s we? He said we.”

She sighed and went to the place where she was intending to in the first place: the bathroom.

Zoe splashed her face with water a few times and looked into the mirror.

She saw him. He was there, behind her and felt fear crawl up her leg slowly. It gave the same feeling like the fur of a cat. Zoe felt her whole body freeze and no matter how much she wanted to run and escape that horrible gaze, she couldn’t. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for it to be over; for him to leave.

The woman felt someone squeeze her shoulder and flinched at the contact. Whoever was behind her reached out and caressed her cheek. Her lip was trembling and she could feel herself break before she got swirled around and pulled into a hug.

Zoe frowned and opened her eyes.

“You’re not Lucifer,” She stated confused.

Whoever he was, he smelled nice. He chuckled and pushed her away slightly.

She tilted her head to the side and stared at him, “I know you.” But she didn’t know from where.

He smiled –which looked a little grotesque since half of his face looked like someone just ripped it apart.

“You do. I’ve been taking care of you ever since you were a baby. Well, until Mehrdir appeared in the picture,” But in contrast to his appearance, his voice was soft.

“Are you my guardian angel?” She asked innocently.

He stared at her blankly before he started to laugh. She looked down embarrassed since she didn't expect to get laughter as an answer.

“I was your guardian but I’m not an angel. I’m Hiset,” He stuck his hand in front of her.

She glanced between his hand and his face, “Hiset,” She repeated, “My guardian before Mehrdir,”

During that moment, Zoe realized that Mehrdir was definitely not going to come to the rescue, like before.

“He was talking seriously. He really left me alone.” She couldn’t believe it.

Instead of relief she felt disappointment. Zoe's prince was Mehrdir and he wasn't going to come and save her.