From the Abode of Woe – A. L. Butcher featured in Mystics in Hell
Cassandra, daughter of a king and prophetess of Troy, whose visions had foretold the fall of the city-state, pronounced, “I see mayhem on our doorstep. And death. Everywhere I look I see death, but it does not take a seer to foretell that.”
She stopped, gazing into the distance, and her voice went low. “That building will fall, and if it does, we will be the gainers, Calchas. I see it as a shell, nothing more, a giant hell-stone monster sinking into the mud. And one that will bring the customers our way. No one will dare attack or question us again. We will find some sanctuary with the spitter-of-fire and the bringer of death.”
Calchas shrugged, “It’s hell, we are all dead, child. And that fool Henry Prince will bring strife to our door, without a doubt. Why the Department of Disassembly and Destruction granted him that misplanning permission I have no idea, but it’s ruining our business. No one wants to game with that noise melting the eardrums. Look at the damned place . . . it’s ugly. That’s not even a real temple.
“It has no finesse; temples are here for those brave enough to venture down that particular route.” Calchas was not convinced the temple would be easy to get rid of and shook his head.
He called to a figure scurrying past their door in soiled monkish robes. “Assisi –– what think you of yonder building? It shall kill business, think you?”
The monk paused and kicked at something near his foot. “That it will – and bring the rats, and the hell-cats and all manner of beasties. I hate animals, but they love me,” the old man grumbled. He glared at the partially built monstrosity. “Tis ugly. Everything in Hell is ugly.”
“Probably, but what is there to do, Assisi?” Calchas asked his neighbor, eying the man with some pity.
“Buggered if I know,” responded the old fallen saint, and went on his way, shivering at the thought of all the hell-creatures on his doorstep.
Synopsis
Join the doomed on their vision quests in eleven stories by the damnedest writers in Perdition: Janet Morris; A.L. Butcher; Joe Bonadonna; Andrew P. Weston; Gustavo Bondoni; Seth Lindberg; Tom Barczak; Michael H. Hanson; Louis Antonelli; Christopher Crosby Morris.
https://books2read.com/MysticsInHell
Library of Erana 