What was happening here? Why did it feel so…dead? No, dead wasn’t right. He knew death. This place had a nothing feel to it. As if empty of everything.
And he didn’t like it one bit.
“Julio?” Helen’s clutched at him, the only thing of substance, and he welcomed the touch.
He drew her close, and his cloak flared around them, clearing a space. “I’m here.”
“I’m scared. This place… It feels wrong. Did we die?”
He wanted to say no, but he stuck to the truth. “I don’t know.”
“What should we do?”
“The only thing we can if we want the Dark Lord’s help. We have to find the source of the fog.”
“How big is this mist?” she asked as they walked through the gloomy space.
“I’m not sure. I expect it to be pretty vast. The fog started in the Wilds and seems to have swallowed part of Hell’s eighth ring and all of its ninth.”
“So we’re in Hell?”
“Maybe?” Not exactly a great reply.
“If I had to guess, I’d say no,” she mused aloud.
“Why?” he asked even as he agreed.
“It doesn’t have the same feel.”
“Meaning?”
She rolled her shoulders. “In Hell, there is a certain hot vibrancy in the air. So many smells and textures. Living chaos.”
“So, this place is more like Heaven?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. In Heaven, it’s sterile smells and smooth spaces. Organization and structure. This place… it’s as if it has yet to decide what it wants to be. As if it is the absence of all. You said it began in a wild place?”
“That’s the assumption. Beyond the ninth ring used to be the Wilds, an unclaimed land with no ruler, no end. At first, it appeared to be the thing creeping in on Hell. Then one day, the fog appeared and swallowed it.” Saying it aloud he had to wonder, did the fog eat? Were they currently being digested? Here was hoping it didn’t shit them out somewhere worse.
Rather than ponder if he’d end up excreted into a latrine, he walked hand in hand with Helen for a long time.
A long.
Long.
Time.
Long enough he finally growled in frustration.
“There’s nothing here.” Nothing to sight on. Nothing to explore. They could be moving in circles and never know.
“There has to be something in here somewhere.” She leaned into him, tucked under his cloak. In this place, he wasn’t about to let her go. They might never find each other again.
“I think we should take a break,” he suggested.
“Here?”
“You know of a better spot?”
She shook her head. As she crossed her legs to sit, his cloak slithered to land beneath her and spread to accommodate them both. He lay on his side by her, comfortable enough to put his hand on her belly, knowing she wanted to talk by the expression on her face.
“What happens if we can’t find anything?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I can’t call a doorway.” He’d tried. Something jammed his access.
“We’re stuck with no supplies. Will we get hungry?” She asked some of the same questions he pondered with no answer.
To his surprise, she was the one to offer comfort as she whispered, “At least we’re together.” Then she kissed him. Touched him. Demanded his passion.
They made love in that nothing place, him on the bottom watching her as she rode him, her wings flaring with a silver glint as she came.
His angel.
His wife.
“I love you,” he whispered as she snuggled in his arms after her climax.
“I love you, too.” Whispered a moment before she fell asleep and he soon followed.
Julio didn’t know how long he rested before he woke. Helen squirmed to get out from under his arm and cloak.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, groggy still.
“Apparently, even in a nowhere place, I have to void myself.”
He snorted. “Then that makes two of us.”
“Where am I supposed to do it?” she asked.
“On the ground.”
“Where we slept?” she asked in shock.
“Yup. It’s what you do when there’s no toilet. Try not to splash your feet.”
The noise she uttered had him chuckling. “It’s not that bad. Here’s something to wipe with.” He tore a strip from his shirt.
She eyed him and the fabric then sighed. “Don’t watch.”
“I’d rather not lose you because I took my eyes off you.”
She grimaced.
“How about I stand right behind you, facing away, would that help? I’ll pee, too, if it makes you feel better.”
“Not really. You’re much better equipped than I am for projectile fluid release.”
He chuckled. “Do you have penis envy, Curls?”
“No! Although it is rather remarkable.”
His chest swelled. “You’re the one who is amazing.” Funny how quickly he’d come around to liking his angel. To loving her.
“I shall void, but you shan’t watch. And that goes for your cloak, too.”
“Fine. But stay near.”
Back to back, they pissed on the ground, or so he assumed since he still couldn’t see his feet, but in good news they didn’t end up in a warm puddle. It was the first time since their arrival that they weren’t touching.
As he finished up and started to zip, he heard her say, “Do you hear that?”
“Hear what, Curls?” He finished straightening his clothes and turned around to see her walking away from him, her head canted.
“That song. It’s beautiful.”
“Where are you going, Curls?” He reached for her, but she slipped through his grasp before he got hold.
“I have to find it.”
He still couldn’t hear whatever sparked her interest, but his cloak must have sensed something amiss because it fluttered and rippled at his back, agitated. He aimed it for Helen, and the edge of it curled around her ankle.
Helen paused and turned a puzzled expression in his direction. “It stopped.”
“What about now?” he asked. On a hunch, he removed his cloak from her leg.
“It’s calling me. I must answer.” She took a step, and he grabbed her again. Worried.
Once more she halted. “I can’t hear it anymore.”
“I think my cloak disrupts whatever spell is in this place.” It would explain why he remained unaffected.
She chewed her lower lip. “Maybe I should follow it.”
“No.” He didn’t want her bespelled. But on the other hand…
“We have to. It’s the only clue we’ve got to possibly get out of here. Just be sure to keep me in sight.” She shoved free of his cloak.
He didn’t have to ask if she heard anything. She began to walk again, faster this time. He took long strides to keep her in sight, but he didn’t grab her. Whatever siren song she heard didn’t affect him, but she was correct. While he hated using her as a lodestone, it gave them a direction finally in this sightless and soundless place.
They didn’t have to go far as it turned out.