down his bottle to salute the perplexed driver. The taxi turned the corner near a closed fish and chip shop, and Harmony Valour appeared there not a minute later. She paused, utterly bemused by the pedestrian crossings, the flashing lights, and shop windows offering the latest deals on phones and computers.
'Finally!' she exclaimed, relieved upon hearing Eddinray's boisterous vocals further down the street.
'Wake up Godwin!' she repeated, scampering after him. 'Open your eyes man!'
Catching up to Eddnray, Harmony gasped, mortified to discover him carelessly balancing on the narrow rail of the bridge without a care in the world. 'Come down from there!' she yelled. 'What's gotten into you? Where are we?'
His back to her, Eddinray appeared to be lost in his own drunken karaoke. 'Goes the bang-bang-bang till my feet do the same! Somethin's buggin' me, somethin' ain't right, my best friend told me what you did last night! You left me sleepin‘, in ma bed, I was dreamin' but shoulda been with you instead!'
He continued his clownish prancing over the ledge, darkness concealing a long way down to buoys and tugs.
'Come down this instant!' Harmony begged. 'You hear me? Godwin Eddinray!'
'Godwin?' he stuttered, pausing. 'Eddinary?'
Turning toward her now, Eddinray's heel suddenly slipped. Harmony reached out and screamed, but her knight was already over the ledge, and falling to his death.
***
'Kat?' I cried, choking in scarlet smog.
Transported to some tangled gut in Hell, the locomotive was gone, as were the familiar faces of my friends. A burrow of rock forced me to my knees, and the only way out of this tunnel was to scrape forward.
The temperature seared sweat and my lungs felt like two burning baguettes inside my chest. Grimacing, I worked my way through this stifling passage, avoiding the glowing cracks in the rock, which seeped out a syrupy magma. Ahead, an extraordinary light pained my eyes: it was a stunning fall of gushing lava.
Squeezing out the tunnel, I stood only to be knocked backward by a roasting wind. Cowering, I suddenly noticed the back of Kat, perched like a bird on the edge of a rocky runway. His statuesque posture told me that he was transfixed, lost in the furthest reaches of concentration. I did not interrupt, but simply observed his daydreaming to a pool of volcanic soup one hundred feet below him. What hidden secret was this?
I crept out of sight when Kat suddenly stood, pulled out his katana, then dove off the crust like a swimmer leaving the diving board. I ran to the edge and watched, shell-shocked, as my North Star fell toward a curdled lake of incineration; but before any piece of him touched the lava, the head of a serpent burst forth from that lake; opened its humongous mouth and swallowed Kat into its stomach.
'Kat!' I screamed, before light overwhelmed my senses. With the mental erase of a blackboard, I found myself inside a new memory.
I lay perplexed on my back, feeling the smudge of sand between my fingers and listening to the crashing of waves. With no time to drink in this insanity, I sat up to observe a wide blue sky, and an ocean of boiling water.
Events soon took another turn for the unusual — the same serpent that gulped Kat down in Hell, now appeared from the blistering waters, rising hundreds of vertical feet for the sun. Once its body was completely stretched out, the snake wailed its last then collapsed dead over the water, and over the sand, erupting debris in every direction.
A minute later, covered in dirt and seaweed, my attention was abruptly drawn to the vicious cuts now appearing over the snake's skin — a vigorous slashing coming from inside that serpent belly. Doused in ropey entrails and stomach slime, a moaning Kat appeared to part the flesh like curtains on his way out of the monster.
'Yuki!' he bawled to the Heavens. 'Yuki!'
Defying insurmountable odds to win the longest fight of his life, Kat is the only soul have ever escaped Hell — and that is how.
***
Eddinray wandered aimlessly in the stark and empty Waiting Plain. 'Hello? Anyone?'
His worried voice echoed over the waiting room, and with no reply, he ran and ran until finally catching sight of two people. The first was Harmony Valour, her wings not yet clasped, but free flowing and beautiful at her back. The second was Sir Isaac Newton, holding a consoling palm on the girl's shoulder.
Newton raised his head to watch Eddinray arrive behind her. The elderly scientist did not appear in the least bit surprised by his appearance in the Plain, and so left him there to conclude his business with Harmony.
'You have let yourself down young lady.' he said, combing back her hair.
'I know!' she wept, 'I know! I couldn't get through Sir Isaac, it was hopeless!'
'The tide was always against you angel. That man was destined to become what he has, and you are destined to pay for it. I am sorry.'
Her distress upset Eddinray. He attempted to comfort her but found himself locked under the influence of some advanced spell, paralysing limbs and vocal chords keeping him a silent witness to all of this.
'You are to be banished to the Distinct Earth.' said the scientist to the angel. 'A harsh punishment I grant you, but I promise to see, personally, to your appeal.'
Harmony painfully shrieked as her wings were clasped together with that cumbersome looking lock, appearing out of nothing. 'Focus your thoughts on survival,' added Newton. 'Find the Eternal witch, she will watch over you. She will keep you safe.'
'Can I…ever return?' she sniffed. 'Ever?'
'In time Harmony. When the clasp breaks free from your wings, the time has come to fly home.'
Nodding, an emotional Harmony cleared her tears then faced the Distinct Earth…painting itself on the empty canvas.
***
Kat scowled through a young crowd — happy families buying candyfloss and throwing hoops over plastic ducks. The samurai had never seen a gathering like it; he did not understand the clothing, the languages or gelled hairstyles. Tightly sprung, he stifled both hands over his sword hilts and sneered at these faces; his 16th century appearance was the sore thumb amidst the modern sounds and electric lights: a fairground, circa 21st century.
'Look at this guy!' mocked a man in torn jeans, and further titters followed Kat's steps over forgotten popcorn bags and hot-dog wrappers with runny ketchup.
'Is that a real sword?' asked one teen, spilling his beer cup over Kat's leg. 'Hey, can I get my picture with you man? One for the blog?'
Kat pushed this boy into a multitude of other drinkers. The teenager laughed, kicked Kat in the ass then ran off into the crowd.
'Bob, check this freak out! Look at his stupid ponytail! How tragic is that? And the phoney scar on his face!'
Suddenly, a young woman cried out. Faces gawked as she pointed out the Ferris Wheel, where inside its highest car, two men fought for a gun.
'Oh my God!' someone shouted. 'Call the cops!'
Spectators ran as the gun spilled out from the creaking car, followed by both men — their feud continuing through the rickety door and headfirst toward the trash covered terrain. The crowd scattered in a wave of slow motion. Kat however, did not run. He watched this plummeting pair with interest. After all, the gory splat of their bodies would hardly sicken him. His jet black eye squinted up and ballooned white when he recognised — 'Fox!'
36. The 9th Fortress
I waved to Mr Wilde on my way off the locomotive — he did not return the gesture.
Not yet ourselves, we sat in a smoggy tunnel, pale faced and dizzy near the train. I thought over the two
