Pandæmonium by S. Oliver Eldridge

Author:S. Oliver Eldridge [Eldridge, S. Oliver]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Kindle Direct Publishing
Published: 2021-08-31T22:00:00+00:00

7

The King of Rats

Nathan watched as Morgan and Berith flew away from the cave, as below Behemoth sucked up more souls.

“Shall we go then, my boy?” Milton asked, looking toward their departing friends.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Nathan replied.

Down through the dark they walked, following a small path that snaked its way down the hillside. They were silent for a time—Nathan was not thinking about anything in particular, just a vague memory of his mom finding his book of drawings and getting mad. It had been raining that day too. Maybe that’s why he had thought of it. Now he was here, following a poet from the seventieth century down a rainy hill in the land of the dead.

“Milton?” Nathan asked, and Milton turned his head to look at him. “What was your life like—back when you were alive?” Milton’s face changed notably: the smile, the boisterous attitude, his playful manner faded, and what was left was another man altogether.

“I lived a very long life… I was married, I had children, I had fame too; I spoke five languages; I met everyone I could meet and talked to everyone worth talking too—you know I even met Galileo. And Oliver Cromwell knew me by name. I saw political shifts, religious rebellion, civil war, and a plague. I am not the same person now who I was when I was alive…

“I got sick, on Earth I mean, and at that time I knew I would soon die—I remembered the vision, the dream I had of the angels, and so I actually looked forward to death, my boy. When I first reached the front gate—when I died and came here—I used to spend all my time thinking about my life, reciting my works, making new stories. I was exactly the same person as I had lived—proud, powerful, unyielding. And then the years passed…” Milton looked away off the mountain to where fog obscured the ground, and he let out a long sigh. “I felt myself change—sitting there for all that time. I stopped thinking about Earth—I stopped thinking about anything, really, and I waited. My dear boy… Nathan…when you appeared in front of me, it was one of the greatest moments of relief I have ever known. To know that the purpose of my afterlife was not to sit idly by in vain, but to act… I see these shadows all around us,” and indeed as they walked, they passed through the forms of many people—escapees of the giant Behemoth who had returned to their search—trying to find what it was that they lusted for, and what their minds showed them was right there out of reach. “I think they have fallen into the mindset which I have lived in for the past hundred years.” Milton frowned, and Nathan saw him for who he had been, the proud face with its delicately handsome features, the straight back. Nathan reached out and touched Milton’s shoulder—he felt it was the best thing to do. His hand pressed

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