The Labyrinth, Part IV
Someone Is About To Experience QUITE A Wake-Up Call!
Joseph is wandering through the lower rungs of hell. There he sees the utter desolation of the place. This is the place most of the consigned souls try to AVOID if necessary. The area is contains mostly old and delapidated buildings with rotten shrubbery in its upper sections. The upper section of the lower rungs of hell is called Scythia. Scythia is just the outskirts of lower hell.
In fact, Scythia can be described as a paradise compared to the other sections of the lower part of hell. In Scythia, souls are repeatedly assigned to closely look and review their earthly lives, each time becoming more horrific in scale! Of course, the lives of these souls are not pretty and pleasant at all. They must further analyze how their evil lives affected others! This is not a review for the fainthearted! There were some souls are actually become more demoralized and snapped while presented with their macabre life review.
The middle section of the lower part of hell, Sibyr, is cold and frigid. There is nothing here but just an expanse of wilderness. If Sibyr was on the earth plane, the weather can be described as equivalent to 200 degrees below zero. The souls here must endure the constant cold as a purifying punishment for the evil deeds they have done to people. These souls, while on the earth plane, heartlessly and ruthlessly exploited others for their own amusement and gain. These souls were often cold and unemotional towards their interactions with others while on earth.
Joseph was walking through Sibyr one day and saw one of his old mentors, Clift Parker Harrington. However, Clift was not the handsome man he was on earth. In this plane, he was totally repulsive! When Joseph saw him, he was taken aback by his appearance. Clift explained to him, that his appearance reflected his character and his deeds on earth. Joseph said to Clift that he was just a good businessman. Clift interjected that he thought that he was a good businessman doing what was necessary to survive and succeed. Clift explained that he actually thrived on being ruthless with his subordinates and competitors. He started to laugh but felt extreme excruciating pain and stopped laughing.
Clift stated that he fired a man who really needed the job. He explained that the man had a wife and six children, one of who was severely disabled. He said that the company needed to downsize in order to save costs. He remembered that the aforesaid employee came into his office, pleading him not to fire him as he needed the monies for his wife and children. He relayed that the employee added that his wife was about to undergo serious chemotherapy and he needed the health benefits to pay for his wife's operation. He related how he derisely laughed at the employee.
Clift stated that he was advised by the company superiors to terminate those employees deemed unessential to the business mechanisations. He explained how he devised a list of those employees who were about to be downsized and terminated. He put the name of the aforesaid employee on top of the list. Oh how he remembered the event succinctly. It was two days before Christmas about a one and three quarter decades ago. He summoned the employee into the office. He remembered how gleeful he was. He told the employee matter of factly that he was terminated. The reaction of the employee was sheer horror. He again started to laugh when he recall the employees' reaction.
Clift further related that unbeknowst to him. The employee went home, informing his wife and children of his job termination. It was a chain reaction of horrific results. His wife died because he was uninsured and had no monies for the costly operation that could have saved her life. He eventually committed suicide by shooting himself. His oldest son become the sole support of the household; however, he became a criminal in order to support the family.
Clift related that he could not recall what happened to the rest of the family. He then stated to Joseph that about fifteen years subsequent to the aforesaid incident, a man contacted the company, requesting to see him. He wondered who this man was. So one day, the man appeared at the office. The man identified himself to the receptionist. The receptionist recognized the man's name. She summoned the man to Clift's office. Clift asked the man who he was and the man stated that he was the oldest son of the fired employee.
Clift just looked at the man nonplussed initially. However, the man became more menacing and threatening. He become very afraid of the man. The man informed Clift to watch his back as "someone" will be waiting for him after work! The man quickly left the office! Clift reported to Joseph that he felt apprehensive all day. So much in fact, he left work earlier than usual to avoid any time of trouble.
Clift stayed home from work for one day until the situation died down or so he thought! Then he decided to report to work on his last day on earth. While on his way to work, he was physically attacked by an unknown assailant. The assailant told Clift through curses good bye. He was dying as a result of numerous stab wounds and beatings. His breath was slowly ebbing out of him. Then he saw his life review, he tried to close his eyes to forgot but it flashed before him nevertheless. He wanted to scream but could not.......
Clift stated that he awoke and discovered he was in hell. He screamed, stating that this was a cruel joke. He started crying but all he heard was malicious laughter. He then began running into some unknown direction. Then a hand grabbed him, dragging him down to the lower rungs of hell where he had been for what seems an indefinite time! Clift tearfully pleaded with Joseph to please become a nicer person. He asserted that this was imperative. He further relayed that if he knew NOW what he knew then, he would not have fired that man or treated his employees like cattle. He realized that the errors of his ways; however, he had to do a very long penance in order to purify his soul! He tearfully bade good bye to Joseph.
Then another soul appeared. This soul stated that in life, she abused her child. Joseph listened to her story, totally horrified beyond belief. As the soul was related the story, she started an unearthly wailing which chilled him to the bone! She exhorted that she was very, very, very sorry! She continued wailing until Lilya summoned her to the pits for even more punishments! She was to look at pictures of hurt children for what seem like years at a time. This is one of the most unbearble punishments of hell. Very few souls could survive this viewing mentally intact! The soul reluctantly went with Lilya.
Joseph continued walking through Sibyr. As he processed towards the outer section of Sibyr bordering on The Pits, he heard blood curdling yells and mournful intense wailings, mixed with obscene curses and utterances not heard on earth! He continued walking, noticing that the terrain was becoming more icy and desolate. He noticed that the area progressed from a deep blue charcoal grey to a dark charcoal grey. Besides the utter darkness, this area was completely devoid of souls but inhabited by particularly evil and fierce demons.
A particularly fierce demon, Jaq, stopped Joseph and inquired what he was doing in these parts. Joseph told Jaq to obscenely mind his business. Jaq took umbrage at this and gave him an intense electrical shock which left Joseph unconscious. As he remained unconscious, Jaq and the other demons surrounded him, laughing! While he was unconscious, there were dreams, each becoming more nightmarish in its intensity! He was terrified of course but could not do nothing but just passively accept what dreams may come!
When he awoke, Jaq was there. Jaq decided to have some fun. Jaq wanted to engage Joseph in a complex game which involved business and street smarts. Of course, he was up for the game. What he did not know that Jaq was not always a demon but a human on the earth plane. Jaq, in his earthy incarnation, was a German mercenary in 18th century America. The British hired him to squash the rebellion which would be known as the American Revolution. However, Jaq went beyond the call of duty as a mercenary. He did not kill only soldiers but delighted in massacring innocent men, women, and children. He did this in a way that would make Attila the Hun pale in horror! He was indeed proud of his work as a mercenary.
Jaq died and received his just comeuppance in hell. When he arrived, he was also unrepentant, even more so than Joseph. He was relegated to The Pits where it was thought that though harsh punishments, he would reform. Alas, he did not and in fact become worse. He become so wicked and incorrigible that he become a demon, forever being encased in evil. He and Joseph engaged in a mental contest of wills. Even though Joseph was a worthy opponent, he was not as mentally agile as Jaq was. Jaq sensed it, continuously goading Joseph on, asking more complex questions and making more intricate analogies. Joseph sensed that he was losing and starting improvising! Jaq started smiling albeit satanically and decided to stop the game! He bade Joseph good bye and wished him on his way...................
