God's Gone AWOL

[3] THERE!

Everything was once again dark.

Atticus floated soundlessly, unable to see or hear anything except for the occasional bubble, rising its way through the inky blackness. His clothes drifted around him, no longer bound to his body by gravity. Whenever he moved his head, he could feel his hair trailing behind him. It was as though he was submerged in the darkest depths of the ocean, miles below the surface. Everything was still. Everything was black.

With the snap of his fingers, a white ball of light formed in his palm. But the darkness around him couldn't be penetrated. The only thing he could see was his own body. No Leslie, no Bentley, and no end to this surrounding void. If he opened his mouth and let out a bubble of air, he could watch it rise up into the dark abyss until it had vanished completely. There was just... nothing.

Should he swim upward? Let himself sink until he could find a bottom? And would he ever? Was there anything here to be found? Or had the enchantment dropped him at the bottom of the ocean on a faraway planet where life could not grow? Atticus spun around, looking desperately for any possible sign of... well, anything.

And suddenly, there was something. A soft white hand gripped his wrist, refusing to let go.

Bentley was hovering a few feet above him, her arm stretching downwards to cling onto him, her hair floating around her face like a spiraling red cloud. The two were cast in the glow of the light Atticus had summoned. For a moment, they remained like that, suspended in the depths of emptiness, staring at each other. Both were unsure what to do next. After a few seconds, Bentley finally took the initiative to start pulling him upwards.

Once they were eye-level, Atticus reached out and pulled her against his chest. In a sort of mutual understanding, her arms wrapped themselves tightly around his waist. Normally, both of them would be rather opposed to this close-proximity situation. But if they held themselves together like this, it would be much easier to move. So Atticus held onto Bentley and Bentley held onto Atticus, and together, they started swimming up towards wherever a surface might be.

It wasn't the first time Atticus had held Bentley like this. But that didn't stop his face from growing a little warm. His skin tingled where her arms made contact with his body, and he was extremely aware of every single movement she made. It was for this reason that he kept his gaze locked firmly on the endless darkness above them, and never once allowed himself to make eye contact with her again.

After what felt like both an eternity and hardly any time at all, their heads finally broke through the surface. Even though both of them were perfectly capable of breathing underwater, Atticus couldn't help but take a sharp breath in the presence of fresh air. Bentley bobbed beside him like a little red buoy, droplets of water glistening on the tips of her eyelashes and dripping off the end of her nose. They had made it. And Atticus quickly let go.

They were still surrounded by darkness, but now there was some sort of light casting a dim golden reflection on the sides of their faces. Both made the mistake of turning to look at the source.

"OH COME ON!!!" Bentley spat water everywhere.

In front of them, up on a black ledge, above the endless black abyss of water, were three golden doors marked "HERE!" "THERE!" and "BACK AGAIN!". Three mirror images danced in the water below, reflecting the obnoxious sight as though one set wasn't enough. Although Atticus didn't remember there being any water when they had encountered the doors the first time around, they were definitely the same doors. He certainly felt the same rush of annoyance upon seeing them.

Together, he and Bentley swam up to the ledge. Once they were on solid, dry ground again, both flopped down, breathing heavily. Even if they could still breathe underwater, the swim upwards still took energy, especially since they had to hold onto each other. Atticus even noticed that his hands were trembling ever so slightly for some reason. So as to ease up the tension, he shook out his hair, spraying water droplets everywhere around them.

"If that Lucy Feral person doesn't even turn out to be Lucifer, I'm single-handedly going to start the apocalypse," Bentley said between breaths.

A horrible choking gasp alerted them to the presence of Leslie, who had just reached the surface of the water on his own. Atticus had been so focused on Bentley, that he had quite honestly forgotten all about their adopted mortal. Seeing the poor man coughing so feebly as he gasped for what might have been his first bit of oxygen in an unhealthy amount of time, Atticus felt rather guilty and immediately helped him up onto the dry floor.

"Are you alright?" Atticus asked.

Beside him, Bentley was still rolling around on her back.

"You asked HIM if HE'S alright but not me??" She said.

Bentley was fine. She was still just being petty.

"I'm okay," Leslie said, before immediately doubling over in a coughing fit.

However, despite the coughing, Leslie actually did seem to be physically okay. He had just missed out on a lot of oxygen, that was all. Once Atticus determined that Leslie wasn't about to die, he turned the group's attention back to the horrendous set of doors looming above them.

"This time, we're not opening the door that says 'Back again'." He said.

"Duly noted." Bentley got to her feet. "If we don't want to stay in this godawful place for the rest of eternity, I guess we need to make another choice."

"Should we go 'Here' or should we go 'There'?" Atticus asked.

"I am not staying here. So let's go with 'There'."

"If I couldn't see what you two were looking at, I'd probably have a stroke just listening to you," Said Leslie.

He was ignored.

"Then I guess we will go 'There'."

Bentley helped Atticus to his feet. Then together, they opened the door.

They were met with a familiar, colourful swirl of blue fog and green grass. But the sight before them wasn't Pomegranate Hill again. Here, the plant life was more orderly. It was groomed, and bred and controlled. While Pomegranate Hill was warm and filled with living energy, this place was cold as a graveyard, and seemed to have a similar air. This wasn't a wild, yet heavenly stream in the wilderness. This was a civil and clean cut garden, sleeping in the cover of the chilly clouds that had settled between the high hedges.

This was a place Atticus had never seen before, so he was very much on his guard. Bentley however, was smiling for that exact reason. This wasn't a place of memory for her, so she could observe as she wished with a gleam of interest in her red eye. Meanwhile, Leslie was cowering behind the two, as though afraid of stepping away from the comfort of that void-like dark room. He wasn't happy at all about the change in scenery.

"Huh. This is interesting," Said Bentley, "Where are we now?"

"It seems to be a garden of some sort," Atticus said.

"This is not a garden!" Leslie clung to the back of Atticus' jacket, "Gardens are pretty. This looks more like a graveyard than anything,"

So it turned out Leslie was thinking the same thing as Atticus. Was that a good thing?

"No—" Bentley started, "I don't think it's either. There's no scent of death here. There's a phenomenal amount of life, but not the benevolent kind,"

The angel took a breath.

"You're right. There's something strange about this place."

"Well no matter where it is, it's not where we meant to go, so I say we turn right back around and—"

Before Leslie could finish his sentence, an ominous rustling sound drew the trio's attention. The golden door they had just come through was quickly disappearing into one of the hedges. Little twigs and vines curled around the frame, swallowing the wood whole until there was no trace of an exit to begin with.

"Honestly, I shouldn't even be annoyed at this point," Said Bentley.

Atticus glanced at her.

"Bentley?"

"Mm?"

"I think the hedges..." He thought out loud, "Are here to guard something. They hold an air of concealment,"

The fog, the high walls of green, the silence —They weren't just sitting around for the aesthetic.

"Well if they're hiding something, we should find out what it is. It must be important," Said Bentley.

Atticus nodded. In a mutual, silent agreement, the two turned to face the walls and walls of hedges. With a deep breath in, they started forward, prepared to enter the mess of green and discover what ominous mysteries lied within. They had been led to this place through multiple trials and tribulations, so there must have been a reason the door led them to this place.

"Hang on!" Leslie's voice came from behind, "You two are just walking in? What if this is someone's property or something?"

"Then that 'someone' has a lot to explain," Said Bentley.

The two continued walking forward without even glancing at him. After a moment of bouncing up and down in hesitation, Leslie exclaimed with an 'Agh!' and followed after them into the foggy gloom.

As they left the open garden, the hedges drew closer together. Soon they were only about a meter or two apart, the same width as a hallway in an old, creepy mansion. And the density of the air made it feel almost as if they truly were indoors to begin with. Although they were already shoulder to shoulder, Atticus couldn't help but feel he was being pushed against Bentley by the enclosed space.

It didn't help that everything was green. There were green walls on every side of them. The grass below their feet was a deep green colour, and the fog surrounding them was so heavy that it looked as though it was beginning to reflect the green from everything else. The only thing with any sort of varying colour was the dark red little demon leading the way. Atticus shifted all of his focus on her, just to ease his eyes a little.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" He asked,

"Not in the slightest," She replied.

"Where do you think we are?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She spun around to look at him, "We're in a hedge maze!"

The excitement in her voice was not necessarily a good thing.

"I beg your pardon?"

"We're in a hedge maze," She repeated, "And in order to find the next door, we need to get through it,"

Just as she said this, they reached a split in the path. One route went left, one went right. There were no signs or indications of which way went where. They picked a random direction and kept going down another hallway of shrubbery. It seemed as though Bentley was right.

"How big do you think this maze is?" Atticus asked her,

"Can't be too big, right?" Said Bentley, "Nobody has too much room to waste on a bunch of groomed up plants,"

Atticus inhaled.

"I hope you're right," He said.

She wasn't right.

Although Atticus didn't know this yet, Bentley had never been more wrong in her entire life.

...