Somewhere Just Above The Center Of Hell

words by Scarlet M., art by Ananya S.

For forty days and forty nights,

every step I have taken is accompanied by

the tinks and clinks of icicles below

with the tinny crackles of the embers above.

Heat and chill’s hands both wrapped around mine,

tugging for ownership of my poor soul.

Even my mouth was flooded

with hints of brimstone and numbing cold,

a dire plight that I can’t escape from.

It started in limbo, a small spark

that grew into a supernova in front of my eyes.

In a flurried rush, I sought to snuff out this flame,

to drown it before it engulfed me,

but I should have known that the water 

would engulf me and make me sink deeper.

In a blink of an eye, fire gave way to frost

as I became encased in a glacier.

Struggling to break free,

I rubbed against my cage hard enough to melt it,

only to watch its remains evaporate immediately

when the surrounding pyre came into contact with it.

Amongst the blazes were wispy snowflakes

weaved into a thorny thread 

connecting to a peak I could not see.

I tried to climb it, crystals digging into my palms,

but the ice melted and my hopes withered

as I dropped into the inferno beneath me.

And thus, the twisted cycle began anew, fire

reincarnating into frostbite

reincarnating into cinders biting at my skin

reincarnating into icebergs turning my skin blue

reincarnating and reincarnating until

no matter how much I tried to run from

the wrath of Hephaestus’ flames and Boreas’ cold,

my body and brain alike would be flooded

by a cruel and capricious climate cracking my soul.

These prayers of mine

cannot be answered by any god above

and ignite taunts and snarls by the monsters below,

so I have no choice but to stay here, plagued by

this torture for forty more days and forty more nights.