NaNoWriMo Is Over

So I was thinking earlier that maybe I should take a breather and update my blog. I am sure that you are all wondering whether or not I won NaNo. Well, I did! Yay! And with one day to spare. I spent the last week catching up pretty hardcore. In short, #nanowordsprints on Twitter saved my life.

Anyway, that is all that I really have to say. My final papers are taking up all of my time when I am not living at work. Yes, living. Next week I work 1pm-midnight every day to get ready for the Christmas Production. Then the week after that I leave for my 3 week vacation in Alaska. That is what I am looking forward to and that is what I am using to get me through this last week.

I hope everyone who participated in NaNo is satisfied with their outcome, whether a win or a loss. Rochelle, you are a star no matter what. Same goes for Sarah. You ladies tried your best and will do it even better next year. Just keep working on those stories so I can read them :)

English Assignment

[to all my regular readers ... you can skip this post because it is a project for one of my classes]

Kori Rockwell. Author. A title known to me over the last year. It wasn't until the Fall of 2008 that I finished my first novel, officially labeling me as a "novelist" and "author."

My first novel, Beautiful Disruption, took me two full years to complete. Those characters still mean a lot to me and writing the second book in that trilogy of novels helps curve my devotion.

National Novel Writing Month holds responsibility for my second completed novel, Porfearia. I wrote it in nineteen days, my current personal record.

Novels three, four, five, and six remain in progress, seeing as how I tend to have many story ideas all at the same time.

My foremost passion consists of writing fantasy novels. Reading and writing nonfiction often turns out difficult for me because of the ever current press reality is. But reading takes the place as one of my passions as well. Every writer is a reader, they say. And it’s true. One must write about what they know and they only know what they read.

Participation remains key to writing. Without participation in the writing community, there is little chance of your work being presented to the world. And what author doesn’t want that? Yes, most authors still write for themselves. But they still desire to put their work out into the world and share their ideas, theories, heartaches, love, worlds, and everything else imaginable, or, better yet, unimaginable.

But most authors never publish. Whether that is by choice or not, it’s sometimes difficult to tell. The publishing world presents itself with both desire and difficulty. Now days, without an agent, good luck on getting a book deal. It’s as simple as that.

But most writers rely on the Internet now. And it’s about time they did. Do you really believe in your book? Want to present it to the world but can’t land an agent? Well, ePublishing is your friend. Several Internet sites now offer online publishing deals if they like your manuscript, or even if they don’t. There are ones like Sapphire Blue Publishing that read through your manuscript before offering a deal. But there are also ones like Create Space where you can request prints of your book(s) for a price and they’ll put it up to sell on Amazon. But that’s not for everyone. A lot of people, if not most, still require the satisfaction of the original publishing procedure. Many would rather go through years of query letters and rejection letters instead of self-publishing their books.

And I admit that I am one of those people. Rather than self-publishing my books, even though I believe them to have great stories and messages, I still query agents on a semi-regular basis. The process presents itself with difficulty, but in the end it will be worth it. The satisfaction and pride from a job well done is all that most writers ask for. Of course, a check is always nice because then writing for a living may be possible, but having enough passion for something so tedious is the best part of it all.

NaNoWriMo - Day 12

Hi there. *shuffles her feet quietly and waits for rebukes* I'm SO sorry for not updating about NaNo!! I actually haven't even gotten very far, especially where my goals are concerned. School is kicking my butt and I'm so behind with my studies, it's not even funny. Which means NaNo has been, unfortunately, placed on the back burner. It doesn't even feel like November anymore.

But no worries! I will reach my 50K no matter what, even if I have to shun the world on Thanksgiving and write it all then. I shall succeed!

I wanted to make up for my absence by posting an excerpt. Here is a small scene I wrote today during a 10 min study break. Comments are appreciated! :)

--------------------------

The three of them crouched in the bushes behind Argan’s house.

“Do you think they will leave?” Seth whispered.

“No,” Argan answered flatly.

Seth sat down in the dirt and crossed his legs. “So what do we do?”

Sepheira looked through the bushes at a small, fat male faery barking out orders to the others. “We go to the Cove,” she said.

“What’s the cove?” Seth asked. His eyes were staring up at the trees above him, crowding his view of the sky. He thought he had seen movement, but it was probably just the wind.

“The cove,” Sepheira said, keeping her gaze on the fat faery, “is where the other rebels are. It will be the safest place for us all. At least, until they find it.”

“Does that mean they are looking for it?” Argan asked.

“They will eventually. It’s only a matter of time.” She sat back hesitantly, not wanting to tear her gaze away from the awful scene at Argan’s cabin.

Argan turned his view to his right. “Did you hear that?”

Seth jumped to his feet in a panic. “Hear what?!”

Sepheira grabbed his left wrist roughly and yanked him back down. “If you don’t stay down and shut up, the faeries will be the ones hearing things,” she growled close to his face.

Seth slowly removed his wrist from her grip as a feeling began to bubble in his stomach - a feeling he had never felt before. “Sure,” he said, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat. When he spoke again, his voice was much deeper. “Sure thing.” He looked briefly at Sepheira and then back up to the trees. “Uh, is that what you heard?” He asked, pointing above him.

Sepheira and Argan followed Seth’s gaze. There were at least eight faeries, no larger than lawn gnomes, hanging from the trees above them. Their beedie yellow eyes stared down at the three of them.

“Run!” Sepheira screamed.

Seth didn’t hesitate. He was the first out of the bushes and sprinting through the woods.

Argan and Sepheira weren’t far behind him, but neither were the faeries.

NaNoWriMo - Day 1

I have added a NaNoWriMo progress bar on the right column of this page. As of this moment, I am 7% finished! That was all from the midnight write-in that kicked us DFW Wrimo Rhinos into the spiral of November.

How are you guys doing on your word counts?!

Halloween = Epic Fail

I just have to say this ...

Last night's episode of One Tree Hill was THE saddest episode they have ever aired. I don't even care what happens to Nathan anymore. Poor Clay!

Ok, I'm finished with that.

NaNoWriMo is only five days away! *kicks shoes off in a fit of joy* (to quote Dane Cook). I really wish I could stay up until midnight and write first thing on Nov 1, but sadly I have to work at 8am that day. But I guess I could just stay up and never go to sleep. lol. Yeah, right.

Okay well does anyone have fun plans for Halloween? I'm seriously lacking any fun time right now. Someone help! Actually, if you guys could just move here then that would be cool because we could go out together :)

11 Days

Okay, children! And ... others.

I have officially picked a plot for my NaNo. Pretty much, it's the middle ages and faeries take over the world through zombies. No, I did not plan on it being humor, it's purely fantasy ... well, okay, let's be real. There's definitely going to be humor :)

There are 11 days and counting. Are you as excited as I am? I seriously doubt that.

My first step is to shop for my Care Package Partner's first surprise. Then I am going to start redesigning my writing space to make it more inspiring. Any ideas? I'm going to add a cork-board or the like. Anything you guys wanna add that you think really helps in your writing space?

You guys rock, btw.

XOXO

Kori

Spring Already?

Apparently academic advising opened up this week for the Spring semester: aka my last semester! So, I went.

Here is what I was approved for:

Creative Writing <-- Super!

History of England <-- Snore (history is my worst subject)

Senior Seminar <-- Mandatory

Multimedia Authoring I <-- Slightly apprehensive

Eh?

Who knows what will come of these classes. I'm ready to find out though because that means I'll be only weeks away from graduation!

On another note.

Now that I'm not in high school anymore (and haven't been for almost four years), I don't really have much to talk/blog/write about because my life is no longer dramatized. (Anyone who doesn't think HS is filled with drama is SO mistaken.) Is that good or bad? What's your opinion?

Oh, yes. It's almost November.

OMG! It's been almost a month since my last post. I am such a horrible person.

Okay, so I'm really excited about something. Care to take a guess about what?

Anyone?

No? ....... Well, okay, I'll tell you.

I'm excited about ............

National Novel Writing Month!!!!

(from here on out, referred to as NaNoWriMo)

Is anyone else doing it this year? You guys really should, especially for motivation to finish those books you're still trying to piece together! And hey, I'll even be your mentor! Well ... if you want me to, of course.

But either way, it's going to be awesome!

I don't want to talk about what I'm going to write just yet because it's not completely decided on. But what I have in mind is a mainstream fiction, based on a true story type thing. It's still fiction though.

Anyway, here is my profile. Check it out! Oh and join too! Then add me!

You guys rock.

New Story

Just real quick before I have to start getting ready for my 11:00 class :(

This past weekend I read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac and Catching Fire. Both were GrEaT! Definitely different ends of the spectrum, but that's what I'm going for these days. My personality has changed a lot. I'm no longer looking toward the distant future, but looking at what makes me happy and satisfied in the here and now. It's working out quite well, actually. I'm making some good friends at my new, second part-time job and enjoying the job itself immensely.

What I am not enjoying though is my other job and school in general. I have Senioritis as some of you may call it. I'm freaking itching to graduate already! And that's in May ... it's so close I can almost touch it. I can hardly contain myself. I'm about to burst!

Now, the main reason for this post. I started a new story. It kind of just hit me one day. I'm sitting in my Western Civilization class with this SUPER cute guy next to me. I think I see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but that part of your eye can play major tricks on you. So anyway, I start thinking, "What's your story? Why won't you talk to me?" Of course, you might be saying, "Well, Kori, maybe you should talk to him." Oh no! I couldn't do that! The bubble would totally burst if I did that! So each day as soon as we are dismissed from lecture I turn around to smile at him ... but he's gone! POOF! Just disappears. So one day I walk out of class and look around for him in the hallway but he's nowhere to be seen. Now that gets my brain rolling! I'm thinking, "Well what the crap just happened? Where did he go?" So the next class he's sitting next to me and I look over at him a couple times but he never acknowledges it until I turn away. Of course, that's out of the corner of my eye again. Tricky business, that. So then I start thinking, "Can he see me? Am I supposed to be able to see him?" And then, well, the fantasy/sci fi part of my brain really takes over. What if he's an alien sent to study humans during class? Is he sitting in a protective bubble that makes sure none of us humans can see him? Am I not supposed to see him? No wonder he is always gone when I turn around. I bet he just disappears back to his planet. Well ... then the story formed. Haha, wow. This sounds ridiculous now that I'm "saying" it out loud. Okay, read on if you're interested.

Michael is an alien living in an alien world. Their schooling is a lot like "Jedi" training because it starts at a young age and is very intensive, but they learn about their powers and other planets. The main job of the species is to explore space. This semester Michael's class has to take an "Alien Studies" course to learn more about humans. Michael originally wanted to join his planet's space fleet instead of going to school, but because his father had gone missing on earth during a mission, his mother forbade him to join the space fleet. This Alien Studies course is exciting to Michael. When he begins his course, his assignment is to sit in on a regular, human college course and not only study the material, but also the humans in the class. But there's one problem: the human girl that sits beside him in class begins to talk to him. The reason that's a problem is because the humans aren't supposed to be able to see their alien visitors. The "veil" is splitting between their worlds and her being able to see him is the first sign, but he has to tell the elders before the students doing the Alien Study are taken captive like his father was. But telling the elders could mean never going to his Alien Studies class again, so never seeing the human girl again. When she breaks through to his world, the "veil" splits more rapidly and they have to figure out a way to repair it before the problem is blamed on her. He must hide her for fear of the elders learning about her passage into their world because if they send her back, she could tell of their existence, but even worse, the veil could tear completely. That also takes the girl away from him, the only link to finding his father.

First Day of Classes ... Kill Me

Well, first day of classes was ... interesting.

Western Civ: Super cool. Stadium style, lecture type classroom. SO many people in there. UTA isn't a huge university but it overwhelms me just walking through the University Center (UC) because it's always so crowded, but it's still a small town. So that's probably the most students I've ever had in one class. Cool Professor too.

Advanced Exposition: Professor's first year at UTA. Interesting. Very small class. Maybe ten people.

Russian Lit: Well! Hah, let's just say that after class one, I went straight to an advisor and transferred the heck out of there and into technical writing.

Tech writing: haven't been yet ... same professor as Advanced Exposition though so it should be good.

Post-Colonial Lit: on my way there now!

I'll let you know how the rest goes.

Oh, yes.

There isn't much for me to update, seeing as how I've been reworking my entire room/life this past week of my summer. Yes, college refers to the week break that I get as summer. Super.

I'm still stuck on chapter 10 of TGF. I have a new friend/interest that has opened my eyes to my writer's block, although it hasn't helped it to unblock. Either way, I still know why I'm having trouble. Apparently I'm writing the MMC extremely close to my current life situation. Do I want to be satisfied with the single, successful life of a writer (using successful as a term not mirroring money), or am I, the soon-to-be college graduate, longing for my actual life to begin (husband, family, career)? I still haven't chosen. But neither has Matthew. Does he want to stay in his rightful place in Hell as Keeper and ruler, or does he want to go back to his life as a human reincarnate and be with Hannah? Oh, the indecision.

The Fall semester starts on Monday. Here is my class list.

History of Civilization

Advanced Exposition

Russian Lit

Post-Colonial Lit

Sound interesting? I don't think it will be super awesome, but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

Anyone enjoying tax-free weekend? I'm staying as far away as possible.

ML Conference

Hey guys! Thought y'all might be interested in this. Last weekend when I was in Orlando for the Maximized Living conference, there were several guests speakers and one I got to meet personally.

Henry Cejudo is the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist for the men's USA wrestling team. He's 21, grew up in poverty, and has already made it this far. Hearing him talk was life changing and I think we can all learn a lot from his experiences.

Here is a conversation with him at the Maximized Living conference right after he had given his speech.

And here is when I met him!

Lost Muse ... Again

It seems this happens a couple times a year. This being the second time so far this year. I would say that's racking up the numbers high, but it's already the end of July. Oh how time flies. So, again, my Muse has abandoned me to take a vacation. I never allow a paid one so she gets pissed sometimes and stomps off. She always comes back though ... with tan lines and a hang over. I'd like to put up a sign on the internet that says ...

LOST MUSE

Please return if found.

She has black hair, lots of black eye makeup, and she's about as big as a thumbelina with wings. No, she's not a fairy.

Call her a fairy and you will wake up in the ninth circle.

HAHA. Well, I think it's funny.

So that's my post. How lost I am on Chapter Ten. There is no way around it. This only happens to me every so often. About as often as my Muse leaves me. Could there be a connection?

Have I said this yet? I think I'm going to rename THE GREAT FUNNEL as THE KEEPER. What do you think? Leave me a comment with your vote.

THE GREAT FUNNEL

or

THE KEEPER

"A piece of me longed for her thoughts, but I knew better than to steal them."

TGF is coming along nicely. I recently found myself stuck on chapter 10. To solve that problem I started writing backwards from the ending. I had already written the final scene, knowing exactly how it would end, so it was easy for me to build onto what was already there. I'm still stuck on chapter 10 though, so problem is still not being solved. I don't ever outline, so maybe that is my problem. Any ideas?

I came across a RT of an author's book giveaway yesterday. Her name is Stacia Kane and you should check out that link to her site and give her books a read. I have put them on my own TBR list.

I submitted my first book, Porfearia, to Sapphire Blue Publishing last week. I'm anxious to see what will come of that because several of my favorite authors are published through them. Granted, they only publish e-books, but it would be a step in the write direction and open up several more doors for TGF as soon as that is complete. Too bad it takes them two months to get back to you about your submitted manuscript. I'll be anxiously awaiting their reply until then.

So I haven't heard from some of you guys in a while. What has been going on? Leave a comment. Tell me what you've been working on/reading. School starts back in a few weeks, right?

TGF Update & Excerpt

Just wanted to give a quick update on The Great Funnel progress.

I'm spitting out a chapter a week (spitting isn't quite the word because you usually spit crap and this isn't crap, lol), usually written solely on the weekends because my weeks are so busy. I am sitting at 27K at the moment and not even into the main plot of the story yet. Well, I guess the entire book is the main plot, but I haven't really gotten to the juicy part yet. I developed a sub-plot today during my History of British Literature class. My professor is so inspiring that I can't help but write all through his lectures, lol. In my defense, I have read Lanval before.

Want to hear about the sub-plot? I'll post it for you!

One more thing. Have been slowly assimilating into reading romance (of all kinds) and found this really amazing author, Heather Long. You can visit her site HERE. Her book, Remembering Ashby, is sold by Sapphire Blue Publishing HERE so click on those links and read up on her wonderful talent. She currently has posted a free download of a short story that you can, obviously, download for free. Check that out on her site as well and leave your comments here or on her BLOG. Make sure you follow her blog as well to get a "daily dose" each morning to start your day out right.

I think that's all I have for today. Enjoy the sub-plot.

-------------------------

Dis looked lonely from where I stood. The top of the highest tower was at least one hundred stories tall. It loomed over everything.

“Do you believe you have made the best decision bringing an Umbra into this?” Dyntai stood on my right with his hands perched on the short, stone wall surrounding us.

I addressed him with my eyes on the black horizon. “Dyntai, tell me. The Consilii has developed feelings, as well as the others. How is that so?”

He began to pace around the platform. The regular guards had been dismissed for the time being. Privacy was an issue at the moment. I couldn’t trust anyone, especially the new additions to my army.

“Diabulus’ hold has weakened, thus punishment has weakened.” His hands were clasped behind his back as if what he was telling me was common knowledge.

“Dyntai, you know as well as I do that Diabulus is a mere pawn.”

He ceased his pacing and stared into my soul. “Exactly.”

I hesitated briefly before standing tall and confident.

So, Hell was falling apart because of me.

“Why was my replacement not informed? He was supposed to rule Hell upon my reincarnation.”

“Devastation learned this knowledge regarding Diabulus and surpassed as leader of Hell.”

“He was named Keeper?”

“No, the one named Keeper was also a pawn, thus the escape of the Conterent.”

My voice remained confident. “That’s impossible.”

“Devastation has many followers, Morealis. Many are loyal to him. Devotedly so.” The tone in Dyntai’s voice warned me of the new danger to my army.

I had claimed Devastation’s loyal followers. There was no telling what they would do to me.

“We need someone on the inside who is loyal to us, but pledges loyalty to Devastation.”

Evernight by Claudia Gray

I'm not very good at reviews and that sort of thing, but I am going to tell you my reactions.

I sat down this morning about three chapters into Evernight and started reading while I ate my breakfast. It has been too long since I've read a book (instead of written one) that I had forgotten how much I had always enjoyed it. So I started reading from chapter 3 at 10:00am and finished the entire book about 4:00pm. Obviously I got up during that stretch to start laundry and make lunch and such. But overall I was quite addicted to Bianca and Lucas. However, let me admit this now: I was rooting for Balthazar. But then again, just as Balthazar states, "I guess I have a soft spot for the underdog in any fight."

CAUTION: SPOILERS

Evernight by Claudia Gray

At the eerily Gothic Evernight Academy, the other students are sleek, smart, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn't fit in.

When she meets handsome, brooding Lucas, he warns her to be careful - even when it comes to caring about him. But the connection between them can't be denied. Bianca will risk anything to be with Lucas, but dark secrets are fated to tear them apart ... and to make Bianca question everything she's ever believed.

From the beginning of Evernight, the MC, Bianca, is not a confident 16-year-old girl who has been forced to attend Evernight academy by her parents who have taken teaching positions at the school. That definitely doesn't make assimilating into an all-vampire boarding school any easier. Too bad "Blood" wasn't even mentioned until page 139 and "vampire" wasn't even mentioned until page 141 ... and not even by the MC. But that wasn't what got me. What really got me was the weak female MC, Bianca. I believe in strong heroines that don't rely on love to make them whole and feel as if they can conquer all. That was the only issue I really had with this book.

Bianca is a vampire herself, although not fully. She is a special case, born to two vampires, which only happens to about a dozen each century. She still hasn't gone through the complete change, which would require her to kill a human. Actually, she's never even had fresh human blood.

Until Lucas, a human, is admitted into the school, along with about thirty other humans. This, of course, has never taken place at Evernight Academy before.

Obviously Bianca and Lucas fall in love and the whole shebang. Typical YA. (Btw, I'm not very much on the whole romance side of things so don't get me wrong if you like romance. I'm just not that person.)

Bianca leaves us at the end of Evernight alone and miserable, yet still hopeful. She's willing to risk the trust she has gained from her parents and teachers in order to help her vampire hunter boyfriend, Lucas, find out why exactly Mrs. Bethany, Evernight's headmistress, is finally admitting humans into the school.

As soon as Lucas and Bianca met at the beginning of the book, I automatically resigned myself to wondering why I'm still reading YA. Honestly, I wasn't sure because as soon as Lucas told Bianca to be careful, even to be careful when it came to caring about him, I was automatically disappointed because that's a clear sign that tells the reader, "Hey, this guy has a huge-ass secret. Watch out for clues." But about the mid-point of the book I remembered >> YA authors always have the best spins and subplots.

It's true.

Up until about the middle of the book I was honestly so bored with the entire boarding school spin on teen romance that I was about to just put the book down forever. The first thought I had was, "Man, this is going to be like the Gallagher Girls without the whole spy thing." Part of that was my fault because I am very dedicated to fast-paced science fiction and fantasy novels and not romance (especially since I write them myself and write them at a fast pace). I prefer books with lots of supernatural and very little romance.

But boy, was I wrong.

I had originally started reading this book because a friend of mine had told me, being the supernatural fan that I am, that I would really enjoy it ... although Stargazer was better. But I had to get through Evernight first. I thought she was pulling my leg once I started reading the book. I was cursing myself for falling for another trick to get me to read some horribly written YA book (Twilight comes to mind, although I knew it sucked before it became popular with swooning 12-year-olds).

Let's just say I re-thought all of my doubts once I hit chapter eight. Everything started piecing itself together and I finally understood several blanks hitherto ... which meant they were no longer blanks.

Everything began to revert back to the supernatural and that made me happy. That's about the point when I wouldn't, or maybe couldn't, put the book down.

I figured out that I had been spending all of my energy trying to figure out Lucas when I should have spent some energy figuring out Bianca. That was the real spin that got me. It has been a very long time since a book has actually out-smarted me. I was highly impressed when I was thrown for a loop. I had already known that Bianca's parents were vampires, simply by her stating that they would sleep until noon if allowed. The thing that got me was that the students acted like regular jealous teenagers. That was until their bucket of secrets started spilling over. That was my favorite part, btw. The romance can get completely taken out of this book and I would be super happy just to learn about each student and their past.

The bad thing about Lucas' character was that I wanted to hit him in the face a few times. He never really earned my affection and I ended up falling for Balthazar instead. But then again, I'm not one for the mixing of species ... especially vampire and hunter (which is very much an issue in my Beautiful Disruption book 2). I have never thought it appropriate and always created more problems than it fixed, but then again love conquers all, right? ... Or does it?

Well, there you have it, my sketchy ramblings of Claudia Gray's Evernight.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the spins and subplots and definitely enjoyed the book. I'm told Balthazar plays a larger role in Stargazer so I'll definitely be looking forward to that.

And no, I'm definitely never going to be doing reviews as a day job ... :)

TGF Excerpt & Update

Wow, tripling your projected word count for the day is invigorating. I absolutely love how when I begin to write, I can't stop! Unless I hit a wall. But then I walk around my room for a few minutes and BAM! Instant idea. Thank you, Mr. Brain Wave. You've been most helpful.

I'm finishing up Chapter 7 of The Great Funnel today. I've hit 23K today and still pressing hard. I have a lot more to go to get this baby completed by December, but I'm going to do it.

I've been having this problem lately to where I'll sit in class and, instead of taking notes, I'll write out a new scene. Writing long-hand is very refreshing since I don't do it very often. My MacBook goes everywhere with me so I usually rely on it.

I'm going to try and send out more queries this week after finals on Tuesday. All I've received are rejections so far, but I'm pushing through. I just need to find an agent that can connect with my work. I think once I finish The Great Funnel, I'll get a lot of positive feedback. But then again, I'm sure most unpublished writers say that. Who knows! Only time and patience will tell.

I found this amazing quote today from Silko's Storyteller.

"With these stories of ours

we can escape almost anything

with these stories we will survive."

Okay, fine! I'll post an excerpt. You talked me into it.

This scene is the beginning of Chapter 7. Matthew has re-entered into Hell and reclaimed his rightful place as head Keeper and Diabulus' (Lucifer's) right-hand man.

---------------------------

With the Book still in my hand, I covered it with my other hand and it disappeared back to its rightful place.

As my army stood around me, my entire past life came flooding back to me automatically. I was amazed at how much my human memory had suppressed. Who knew that the human mind was so extremely powerful?

I especially remembered who had wronged me.

“Jester.” After I spoke, one of the demons stalked forward and stopped five feet from me. “Lead me to Diabulus.”

Jester looked up at me slowly as his face went blank. Anger briefly touched his eyes and then he hesitantly nodded in complains.

Satisfied with my command, I looked around to the rest o my command. “Go regain your posts.”

“Morealis,” one of the demons called.

I nodded my head. “Dyntai.”

“Devastation’s men have taken over our posts. They guard Dis.”

“Do not concern yourself with Devastation’s men. Reclaim your rightful place in Dis. All who stand in your way shall answer to me.”

Dyntai nodded once in affirmation and then his head reclaimed its bow in reverence.

“If any of you have further concerns I should know about, seek me out anon.” I paused as my inside shivered with power. “I have returned as your Keeper.”

My army sneered and swayed on their bony, strong feet in satisfaction. Drool made its way down their faces, causing their optical terror to increase.

“Now go!” I yelled.

They stalked off as blood thirsty demons as they went to reclaim their rightful places in the city.

No wonder the city had been almost empty when Devastation had summoned me. Apparently he had been supplied with an army and they had taken over Dis. Hell had suffered greatly with my reincarnation. If Devastation, an earth-bound mercenary, had been given an army, I wondered who had been appointed my position.

“Jester, come.” I walked past the demon and straight toward the south wall of the city.

I didn’t turn around to make sure Jester was following. I could feel him. If he had disobeyed me, well, there was no way that he could. It wasn’t in a demon’s nature to disobey, unless they were a Conterent. In that case, Diabulus and myself were the only ones who could control a Conterent.

When I reached the wall, I placed my left hand on the black stone and my eyes closed briefly and reopened. I stood there, waiting, until Jester stepped through the wall.

It was the same effect as when I had gone through the crushing air with Hannah, except that this time there wasn’t any pain. I couldn’t follow Jester of my own free will because I was being guided, although this time I knew where I would end up.

Coming out of the wall, we entered into Judecca. My feet walked on top of a frozen lake and beneath the surface, sinners lie frozen. These sinners were traitors to their benefactors. Contorted in different positions, these traitors were frozen for all eternity.

Scattered along the ice the entire way through Judecca lie single mounds of frozen lava. They held no purpose, but that of punishment.

In the midst of our path ahead hovered a mist-shrouded shape. Walking through the fog, my human heart leapt in my throat with fear, but my Keeper confidence and strength kept that fear at bay. This was an opportunity in more than one fashion.

Having an audience with Diabulus could allow several things to happen. Most importantly, I could barter for Hannah’s life, as well as Ellie and Bill’s. Then I could figure out how to control the Conterents once more. It shouldn’t be too difficult, but I needed the information only Diabulus held. I was the only one he would give it to.

Stepping into his presence was intoxicating. There was nothing like the experience in all the worlds. Diabulus was enormous. He towered over every other creature in Hell and then some. There was no way to measure him. His size was unexplainable.

He is the ultimate punisher. No one can compare to his methods. This level of Hell holds the most dishonorable men in the history of mankind.

Diabulus has three heads and therefore, three mouths. His left and right mouths eternally eat Brutus and Cassius, the conspirators to Julius Caesar’s assassination. They are stuck in feet first and in constant agony, yet never allowed to die. His middle mouth constantly chews on Judas, Jesus’ betrayer. Judas is placed head first into Diabulus’ mouth with only his legs free to kick the air that will not save him. He is constantly torn to shreds, yet never allowed an end to the suffering.

Agony rips through the lowest level of Hell through the betrayals’ agony and screams, and also through the constant wind by Diabulus’ wings, which keep the Cocytus lake frozen beneath him. Any human who traveled down here would be killed almost instantly if they were not in favor with the gods, although, pure fright might kill them first.

I looked up at Diabulus and then back to Jester. “Thank you for your guidance.”

Agony leapt through his face and seemed to engulf him from within. He tried not to scream, tried to keep his pain at bay, but it soon become too much. There was no use in trying to control it when it was designed to control you.

Jester’s hands caught fire out of nowhere and his tough skin began to melt into burning lava. There was no stopping it now. Diabulus had shown his wrath and there was no going back.

No one was allowed to disrupt Diabulus’ chamber except his right-hand demon and the gods. There were other ways to communicate with Diabulus, but that was impersonal and usually only occurred with an unimportant situation. This was an important situation and Diabulus had been expecting me.

Jester slowly melted to the black soil underfoot along with his screams. It was not befitting a demon to scream, but in this instance it was almost expected. Besides, now he had endured his rightful punishment for the wrong doings he had committed against my command before my reincarnation.