Hell and Heaven on Earth

[Lucas Fowler]

It's 2014 AD and the topic of religion continues to be a hotly debated one. With abortion and gay rights issues receiving national attention, along with the wars and conflicts over spirituality in the Middle East, it's a world torn on the issues of faith and belief.

Creatures from all four realms (Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, and Earth) will make appearances and perhaps form bonds stronger than their realm-allegiances.

HEAVEN

The City of Heaven

The mountains, valleys, and rivers surrounding the City of Heaven.

HELL

The gate to the main city of Hell, Lucifer's Light.

The general landscape of Hell, although there are many oasis's in the deserts.

PURGATORY

The slums of Ghost's City, the only city in Purgatory. Ghosts that are trapped here don't realize they're dead and are in heavy denial. Other creatures run the economy and house the ghosts in the poorer parts of the city.

The rest of Purgatory, dangerous to those not used to the dark forests. Purgatory is the origin of many so called "monsters", such as vampires, werewolves, and zombies. Those that are smart enough to access the Four Realms Portal can get across to a different realm. Little villages dot the landscape here and there.

It's also said that the deities of religions other than Christianity come from this place originally, but many of these gods and goddesses are too old to remember exactly where they came from.

EARTH

New York City, one of Earth's most important cities. There are many, many cities and a lot of different climates and ecosystems in the Realm of Earth.

FOUR REALMS GATES

The passageway between the realms.

@Raerae
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@Raerae I hope this is good! lemme know if you want me to change anything. Also, who do you want to start?

 

[Raerae]

"You can be in the pitcher too!" Said a child's voice.


"Sarah... who are you talking to?" Asked her mother.


"Jeremy!"


"...Oh? Who's that love?"


"He's wight hea!"


"Sarah, there's no one there. Now, stand right in front of the flowers, and say cheese!"


"'Thees!"


A girl no older than the age of four gave a bright, nearly toothless smile as her mother held up a camera and took her picture. The flash caused the child to rub her eyes and grumble, but at the sight of candy as compensation, she was all smiles again. The photo appeared instantly on the camera phone her mother held, the older woman stared at it fondly for a while. It was then that she realized there was something a little odd, a bit of blurred background amongst crisp, street and cafe made up scenery behind her daughter. She narrowed her eyes and rubbed her manicured thumbs across the screen, zooming in till the pixels were defined, only to gasp and nearly toss her phone as an apparition came to. A blurred young man stood behind her daughter, looking as if he were trying to get out of the shot but she took it before he could.


She stared for a moment at the spot behind her daughter, only to grab her child's hand and quickly tug her away, ignoring the fact the toddler was waving goodbye to, as far as she could see, nothing.


Little did she know that her camera had captured the face of a Jeremy Blaire, who'd died during the 9/11 event, and has been wandering the New York streets since his death, stuck here in a spirit form that could only manifest from time to time. With a ghost of a smile he stood by that towering cherry blossom tree, waving goodbye to the kid, watching as a fearful parent yet again dragged their child away from his presence. His lips so on dropped and he felt a pang in his soul, he didn't want to scare he, he'd tried to escape the shot, but... bad timing, was all.


He glanced at the sun and winced as it didn't warm him, sighed as a couple passed right through him, glancing over their shoulders curiously, remarking about a weird chill, but then going on their merry way.


"Four years of this," He grumbled, hands in his pockets as he grumbling walked down the pavement, passing crowds that took no notice of him, save for a few, thought he didn't stop to ask why they were watching him.


He'd watched his parents mourned their death, but couldn't assure them he was alright. Hell, he was dead! Some creepy scene out of a bad paranormal show. He'd tried to give them little signs but they were skeptics, anything he did was over ruled or simply ignored. He watched them age the last few years, watched his friends move on and forget about him, his classmates graduate and head out to the big universities or end up pregnant, homeless or, heck, even celebrities. He'd seen all their lives take off...


"And I'm still freaking stuck here."


--

"This just in: Another man, late twenties, downtown area was found unconscious, bloodied, and apparently with no memory of how he got that way. Officials say this is the third report of a case like this, all men seem to have relevance in appearance but no ties to each other what so ever. Cops say they have no more details at this time, but urge the public to rest assured the situation is under control. This is Joshua Evans, live from Manhattan!"


"...Imbeciles, all of them." Came a soft hiss, followed by the television clicking off.


In the off white hallway of a highly regarded, five star hotel room stood a weary looking brunette, golden eyes half lidded, red satin kimono piece draped over her slender frame, and stains of red coating her hands, chest and jawline, as well as her lips which were turned upwards with amusement.


It was the same thing every few nights, go to a bar, pretend to be drunk, let a man take her home, then- bam! Household object right to the skull, he goes unconscious, she feeds, and then she escapes into the night, usually just to head back to her room, her thirst temporarily quenched. She switched it up every now and then, sometimes it was a stranger on the street, or young kid looking for a 'good time'.


What she was, was both a blessing and curse. She couldn't be caught, had no government tabs on her, and was basically free to do as she pleased. But as she stood in the hall and began to frown, she yet again was reminded of the consequences. Can't stay anywhere too long, can't love or be loved so she spent long nights in empty rooms by her lonesome, and you watch familiar, often loved, faces around you begin age and... move on.


"...Oh, come now Elizabeth, don't think that way," She said, wiping her eyes and putting on an unconvincing smile, "Who needs love when you've got the world at your finger tips, just begging to so as you say?"


But what good is a world when you've no one to share it with?


"...Perhaps a... trip down the boulevard would... do me some good. Sun won't burn me up too soon." The woman sighed.

 

[Lucas Fowler]

"There he is again." Castael murmured to herself. For the time being, she had no job other than to stay in her post, the lovely city of New York. She loved the buildings, she loved the diversity, she loved the humans, and most of all, she loved the flaws. Heaven was "perfection", supposedly. All the flaws and the wonderful things she felt when she was near them, however, made a strong case that Earth could contain perfection as well. Legion was getting to her. His ideas were going to get her banished from Heaven forever.


The sighting of a human soul whose body was deceased meant that a report was to be made and sent to Heaven immediately. The process by which souls were assigned to a different realm was never explained, despite the many times she'd asked, and it was only said that if a ghost remained on Earth that one of the processes had failed. This made no sense to her. Nothing in Heaven did.


She didn't know his name, but she saw him everyday on her way to work at a local coffee shop. To ignore his presence and forego a report was one thing; she could always claim that she never saw him, unless one of the Archangels were interrogating her. But to go up to him and speak to him? That was direct disobedience. It was sin. She was sin. How could she remain as one of the angels?


Turning back, she crossed the park to go straight to him. Legion was definitely rubbing off on her.

Legion was bored. Castael was at work, though why, he didn't know. She could've made the money out of thin air, but on orders from the guys upstairs, it seemed she had to have a job to, as Castael put it, "maintain appearances". He called bullshit on this, on all of it really. The whole clash between Heaven and Hell, all of it was stupid, blind faith in your own team. What he wanted to teach people was to think for themselves.


The television blared out that there had been more attacks. While he appreciated the rationalist movement of the past few centuries, if these people would just open up their eyes and see all the creatures that existed! This was obviously a vampire! His frustration at the lack of insight everyone around him seemed to possess drove him to rise for a smoke. Would it speed up the time for which he'd have to apply for another human body? Yes, but to hell with that. He deserved it after all the deals he'd managed to get humans to make with him, thus securely more souls than anyone in his division for the past ten years.


He exited his apartment and noticed a woman doing the same. It was his neighbor, Elizabeth, who he rarely saw and even more rarely spoke to.


"Hey neighbor," He called out in a friendly voice.

 

[Raerae]

"But momma! I see him! Right there!"


"I'll hear no more of this, stop this right now!"


"But-"


"No! There's nothing there but a park bench. Do you understand?"


"...Yus."


"Great parenting!" Jeremy barked, but his voice went unheard by the pair, and soon enough yet another confused child was walking away from him. He couldn't keep them from seeing him, hard as he tried, hiding behind trees and such weren't as clever spots as he'd thought. He could go inside, but there was the issues with flickering lights, occasionally knocking things over or talking out loud and scaring occupants, and so on.


Yup, life was great.


The central park remained lively as ever throughout the morning, Jeremy watched a car crash take place, someone as mugged and he couldn't even touch the attacked of course, two strays growled at his presence for a while, and a homeless man asked him why he looked so sad. But after all that, something he might dare to call unusual took place.


Someone noticed him.


Sure it happened, but rarely, and even then it just scared people. But a woman he believed he'd never seen before was apparently walking straight towards him. He took a step back, noting she seemed to have this... superior presence about her. He eyed her for moment as she came close enough for her to hear him, and then spoke.


"...Can you see me?" He asked, and waved a bit, wondering if perhaps he was thinking she was looking at him, but she was really just about to pass straight through him like most did. "...Can you hear me? Hellooo?"


--


"Hey you," Elizabeth responded amiably, and closed her door behind her. She'd scrubbed her skin till the blood stains were hardly noticeable, though her hands were still a little stained. She mustered a small smile and discreetly slipped them on her denim shorts pockets, though if he'd actually noticed and questioned her she'd find a way to deny it.


"Haven't seen you for a while. How've you been?" It'd been days since she'd had a conversation, anymore time to herself and she'd surely crack. No harm in conversation with the neighbor, right? After all he'd always been friendly to her, at least. She couldn't say the same for the rest of New York.


"It's a nice day to get out," She commented with a half smile, lifting a hand to mess with her hair. She didn't have one on one conversation much, not unless it was luring a man to his death.

 

[Lucas Fowler]

Castael smiled at the man, who seemed so relieved that he could burst into song. "Yes, I can." An even more daring thought than slight disobedience came to mind. She could revive him. Not permanently, of course; that took energy, God-like amounts of energy. Plus the signal it would send through the heavens was enormous. She remembered when Jesus was risen. It the equivalent of an earthquake in Heaven and the Father himself was the only one who could do it. Or so they say.





Castael knew that reviving him would also send out signals of some kind, but as long as they couldn't be traced back to her, it was all okay. The curiosity to know why he hadn't crossed over to another realm outweighed the sense of danger she felt in doing this.


"Could I talk to you for a second?"


----


"I've been good, just living life, you know?" Legion attempted to recall her name, but he wasn't sure if he'd ever asked. "I forget, what's your name again?" He tugged a cigarette out of his back pocket and lit it, taking in a deep breath of smoke.


She looked a little worse for wear, but seemed relieved that she was talking to someone. She was a quiet neighbor, never heard a peep from her, unlike the neighbor to his left, an old woman named Grace who had no one left. Grace was a devout Christian and Legion (known to everyone else as "Lenny") couldn't get over the irony that the woman's closest friend was a demon born and raised in Hell.


"It's a nice day for that and for a smoke," He agreed, inhaling again.

 

[Raerae]

Jeremy paused for a minute, just staring at her while he tried to remember the last time he 'talked for a minute'. Or even had someone respond to a greeting. He shifted his weight from his toes to his heels and back, obviously, for the moment, lost in thought. But eventually he came to, nodding to her question, "Long as you're not some kind of ghost buster, we'll talk as long as you want."


He started towards the park bench, glancing at the groups of people walking past, the rustling trees, and those twitching squirrels that latched onto the bark. He thought of what she'd planned to ask him, still amazed he was actually about to engage in a conversation, and with, as far as he knew, a person! Four years had been too long for him. Immortality wasn't what the teen flicks made it look like.


"So..." He held out his hand, retracted it, and then held it out again, unsure of what gesture would even matter. His appearance was nearly transparent, and wasn't shadowed or lit up by anything around him, nor did he have a spec of color other than a misty white to him. "The names Jeremy, if it matters. Though some thing tells me you already know that. Guess I could change it to some thing with more of a ring to it, but I didn't have the heart to. Hell I could go by Batman. Um, I'm a ghost trapped in New York city. I guess that sums it up. Sounds like a bad movie. Am I rambling? Just a bit? Yeah, sorry. You're the first to talk to me aside from nutty homeless folks asking me for money. You can still hear me, right? Yeah? Good. Alright... Iiiii'm gunna shut up now."


He sat down at a nearby bench, elbows propped on his knees and his head raised to let his eyes meet hers.


--


"Eli-" She caught herself and paused, she'd not given out her real name since she'd met one of her own years and years ago. It just always seemed better to go with an alias. But when her eyes met his again, she decided she was tired of keeping up with characters she'd created in spirit of the hunt; and some things inside her just hoped it wasn't a bad call to be a little more real with someone.


"Elizabeth, but, call me Ellie," she sighed as she spoke, her face a big grave as if she'd just confessed murder. Well, She kind of did.





Her nose scrunched a bit when she caught the scent of smoke, but quickly put on a half smile to mask the overwhelming disgust for the scent she'd grown used to, but never liked. She glanced over her shoulder and wondered if she should stay or go, watching others head out for a busy evening and such, but what was the hurry? She might not get a chance for small talk for another life time, and he seemed willing to talk... at least until his cigarette was done.