Chapter Five
His surroundings were familiar as Bane realized he was back on that same hill surrounded by the deep ominous woods as before and he sighed. He thought he was done with this, that’s what you get for reading the Bible, more cosmic dreams. He looked around for signs of anyone else sent to give him more riddles and warnings of doom, but he was alone this time or at least he thought he was. A small figure at the edge of the forest moving about caught his attention, a figure he recognized instantly. It was Mitchell, his seven-year old son playing with the branches and leaves at the opening to a dark path oblivious to what lay beyond.
Bane swirled around, but his barefoot friend was nowhere to be seen. He tried to yell at his son to warn him, but his voice died in his throat. Had it been himself alone he wouldn’t have bothered, but this was his child and even though he knew this was only another dream the knot of fear in his stomach had too great a hold on him. He had to stop his boy from entering those woods and he took off down the hill quickly falling within a few steps behind Mitchell before the boy stepped onto the path and disappeared into the black void beyond. Bane didn’t hesitate to follow, stealing himself for the agony he knew was to come as he whooshed through the forest and into the darkness, but it didn’t.
He waited and still nothing. No pain, no torment, it was safe, but he didn’t know for how long so he began to trek through the dark abyss after his boy. There were no sounds, no footfalls, no feel of anything beneath his feet, but somehow he could feel an air of movement all around him though he was unsure whether the motion was from him or the deep itself. The faint scent of sulfur encircled him as beads of sweat began to form on his brow from the rising temperature he was only recently becoming aware of. Both grew stronger with each passing minute while the dark faded away into a glow of red embers that surrounded him, lightning with each step and he soon began to feel the crunch of rocky earth beneath his feet the further he went.
Before long the crimson glow lit what Bane began to realize was the sky and everything around him, but not the horizon. Earth and sky melded into one. It was almost as if he was carrying a lantern adorned with a red bulb. Casting its hue all around him, allowing him to see above, in front and behind, but only within a few feet. The heavens were empty, void of stars, clouds, moon, or birds, yet the ground was full of life. What Bane took for dirt and rock crunching beneath his shoes were worms, millipedes, maggots, roaches, and other creepy crawly things darting around the hardened lava-rock foundation. Almost in unison his senses noticed a change in the air, he was unsure what came first, the low hum he now heard carried by the non-existent breeze or the noxious odor of burning flesh and he covered his nose to block the stench, but it didn’t help.
Bane began to turn back, he was no wuss, but he wasn’t stupid either. He loved his son sure, but this was only a dream after all, his dream not his son’s and nothing bad could possibly happen; right? It wasn’t like before; there was no barefoot guide and no internal torture, only this vast nightmare of a wasteland that he was in no way interested in exploring. So Bane swung around, heading to what he didn’t know, but at least it was away from the something awful he knew was ahead. Still the sky brightened with the same red hue, the ground and air grew hotter and he began to see fissures of molten magma seeping up through the ground some flowing across his path forcing him to go around. He turned again and again, but it seemed that with each turn he still drew closer to that which he was running away from.
The low hum had intensified to the sound of an army unnumbered in size yelling their battle cries in the distance, but that too continued to change as each foot was placed in front of the other, mutating into such wails and screams that sent cold shivers racing up his spine even in the intense heat threatening to suffocate him. Desperate to change his surroundings, to wake from the growing nightmare Bane stood his ground refusing to move in any direction, but his feet began to burn and blister inside his shoes forcing him to move even slightly and it sent him further down the unmarked path even when he tried walking in a circle.
Fear held him back, but the burning hot ground forced him forward, ultimately reaching the first of many gruesomely unforgettable scenes. The image burned through his retinas into his brain instantly and eternally. There before him lay a lake of magma and fire with the living bodies of thousands upon thousands, maybe even millions of people of all nationalities. Red, yellow, black, white, olive, no one cared who they were floating next to because all were suffering just as horribly as the next. Each ones flesh sizzled, blistered, and melted in the living fire that was their eternal resting place. The acrid odor of sulfur and burning human bodies churned Bane’s stomach continuously, but no vomit would erupt leaving him on the verge of relief with none in sight as he bent over preparing to hurl. Bane swung around, desperate to put the terrifying sight behind him and found he was staring at two bare feet.
“Oh thank God!” and he meant it. “You gotta get me out of here! Make me wake up, something, anything...please!” Bane begged standing to look the man in the eyes.
“What about your son?”
“What about him? This is my dream and I want it to end!”
“Are you sure this is a dream?”
“It has to be!”
“Why?”
“Because... it just has to.”
The stranger placed a gentle hand on his shoulder and stared straight into his eyes. “Why?”
Bane felt as if this man was staring straight into his soul again. Locked onto the man’s gaze he opened his mouth and told the absolute truth, “Because I’m scared.” and with that omission tears began to well in his eyes.
“Fear not, though this is not a dream, nothing here can hurt you... yet.”
A flood of relief washed over him and his fear melted away before new questions filled his thoughts, “Wait a minute. What do you mean ‘yet’? And how come your feet aren’t burning? If it’s not a dream then what is this place?”
“This ‘place’ has no power over me for I hold the keys. Look inside your heart, you know what this is. As for ‘yet’, your path still leads you here, but it’s not your path that you followed is it?”
Bane’s gut wrenched, he finally realized his purpose in this place of torment. It wasn’t a glimpse of his eternity, but... “My son’s.” He flung back towards the horrors behind him, ignoring every instinct that screamed not to and scanned the burning lava bed for his son. His knees shook and his hands trembled as he laid eyes on his youngest child flailing in the molten lake. His ears suddenly tuned to the sound of his boys wails of pain and agony and his sobbing pleas for mercy. Absentmindedly he reached for the stranger’s shoulder to steady himself and just as he thought his heart would break he realized Mitchell’s cries were not directed at him; none of those sentenced to utter torment in the liquid fire were calling out to him, but to another. Cries of anguish and fear laced with accusations and blame all lain at the proverbial feet of someone else, but who?
Bane scanned the melting crowd, his eyes settling back on his son as he followed Mitchell’s gaze upward. Up to a sight more horrible than the last. How he had missed it at first he didn’t know, but there above them all, hovering face down over the boiling red ooze was Dane, his oldest son; crucified. His shriveling body tearing at the nails in his hands and feet while barbed wire snaked around his entire body in tight coils holding him securely to the cross. His vision filled with the tortures below, unable to turn his head and unable to close his eyes as his eyelids had long since burned from his face leaving decimated stubs in their place; witnessing every atrocity. Bane shuddered uncontrollably calling out to both his children, but either they couldn’t hear him over the never ending wails or he couldn’t be heard at all; neither of the boys even glanced his way. They remained completely locked in their own personal Hells. Full of desperation he turned back to his barefoot companion and begged for help.
“What’s happening? Why can’t they hear me?”
“This is their e
ternity, you are but an observer.”
“But why? Why is this happening? What did they do to deserve this? My Dane is hanging on a cross forced to watch his baby brother... melt!”
“Your youngest, like so many others, allowed themselves to follow men and women who led them intentionally and unintentionally down this path. Men like you and your son.”
“My son?”
“He is following in your footsteps is he not? Those are but a few of the many that he has led to this place, so he must witness what his life has brought about; as you will.”
Anger welled up inside him adding to the oppressive heat. How dare this man blame him and his son for these sheep in the fire? He didn’t force them to follow him, it was their own dumb fault and he was more than ready to put this self-righteous stranger in his place. Bane turned on him, gazing right in the face of the man he now saw as his opponent... and melted. This man, whom only an instant before appeared a cold hearted monster had only one look on his face. The look of compassionate sorrow and suddenly it clicked.
He wasn’t here to condemn these poor souls, everyone that lay beyond trapped in this vast wasteland of Hell brought heartache and grief. It was like each one of those tortured beyond were his own child and he felt for them all together and as individuals. This stranger, who unlike himself who loved and was concerned with only his two boys, loved each and every one. It was clear that the man was hurting more the he was and instead of the fury he had been prepared to unleash was replaced with the sincere desire to seek his guidance.
“What can I do?”
With a heavy heart the man replied, “Not yet, there is more.”