Chapter 22 - My Heart Is Cold Without You

This extra chapter is dedicated to Hera_De_Lima. Thank you for the 5-star review!

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Zhe Chouhen came back to his senses with a worried Daniele holding him in his arms.

The Serpent was back in his snake form, dripping the venom on his teeth over his stinging forehead. He couldn't tell because he's back to being an animal, but he thought he must be slightly worried at least for his son.

"Leandro! You're awake!" Daniele hugged him, tears falling down his eyes. "I thought I lost you! You've been sleeping forever!"

The Serpent reverted back to human form. "Not forever, it's only been a little more than 200 years. But I suppose humans are not used to living and waiting that long, so Daniele had lost his. mind a couple of times."

(200 years!? What the hell, Panda-laoshi!!!) He yelled in his head. (I've been stuck in that endless void for 200 years!? What kind of person are you!!?")

[A man of my own word. I said I'll give you a taste of death, right? 200 years, like the Serpent said, is nothing compared to eternity.]

Zhe Chouhen grumbled internally. (Don't go wiseass on me! What you just did is inhumane! Hitting my head on the ground? You think I'll just let you off the hook from that? I swear, if I get my hands on you, I will—)

"Leandro.... You came back.... I thought I lost you.... Not you too, I can't lose you too...." Daniele sniffled on his clothes and caused Zhe Chouhen to come back to the present.

He patted the poor boy's back.

"It's alright, Daniele. I was just gone for a bit but I will never leave you."

Daniele stopped crying. He was in a truly pitiful state, one would believe that he did lose his mind several times from his wildly strewn hair and the big black bags under his eyes from not sleeping and crying all the time.

"Promise me. Promise me that won't happen again." He said desperately, clasping his hand. "What even happened to you? You were just standing beside me then all of a sudden before I can even blink, you already collapsed, bloodied and unconscious on the floor!"

"He even accused me that it was my doing." The Serpent added. "I told him that though as disappointed as I may be and my background for being evil, I will never hurt my son. Especially in such a distasteful manner, I have more graceful ways to kill you if you did cross me."

Zhe Chouhen's eyes widened. (Shit!!! He told Daniele that I'm his—)

"I was shocked too, Leandro. But don't blame mother for not telling you, we must understand how difficult it was for her to bear the seed of Satan himself and keep it for all these years."

Daniele patted his head, comforting him. "And I believe the Serpent is a good man.... At least to us. He used his venom to cure you since it was like sending his own essence to you for all these years, just staying in that position. So I trust him."

Zhe Chouhen almost cried from relief. (Yes! He still doesn't know, ahhhhh!!!!)

He played along with this fortunate misunderstanding, nodding to Daniele. "I..... I don't know what to say. But if you trust him.... Then I will trust him too."

"Father...." He acted like an Oscar awardee.

"Son." The Serpent smiled and played along too, a fellow Oscar-level actor.

They hugged like a one big family reunion moment, enough to make a whole crowd cry.

The panda author rolled his eyes. [You two belong on the stage, you might even beat Leonardo di Caprio.]

Zhe Chouhen ignored him. "Thank you, Father. For all your efforts to bring me back as soon as possible to my beloved."

"It is nothing, my boy. Besides, you and your beloved would be the one to fulfill my wish to be reunited with my Lord." The Serpent patted his back.

"Right. We must continue our journey." 'Leandro' said, clasping Daniele's hand. "Don't fret now, Daniele. It is almost over. No matter what we face in the Ninth Circle, whether or not we become the catalyst to the apocalypse and the end of humanity itself..... All that matters to me is that I faced them with you."

Daniele nodded, wiping his tears away. "That's all that matters to me as well."

And in an unexpected turn of events, the usually meek and flustered boy kissed him!

[Congratulations! Satisfaction Meter is now also 100%. You still have 30% Scum Meter to get rid of though, and the ending is coming soon once you face Lucifer.]

Daoist Panda didn't sound enthusiastic at all.

Zhe Chouhen did not respond, still busy smooching with Daniele.

[Hey, did you hear me? I said you reached 100% Satisfaction Meter and.... Ugh, good grief!]

He waved his hand to fast forward everything, so that he can get the whole making out would get over with.

Once it's over, Zhe Chouhen and Daniele caught their breaths.

He smiled as 'Leandro', holding his face. "Let us always travel together, my love. Come heaven or hell."

Daniele nodded, and repeated. "Come heaven or hell."

"Come heaven or hell!" The Serpent joined them in a cheery tone, and they continued to trudge, now facing the frigid and dead lake as a merry band.

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The Lake Cocytus is not just some freezing lake. It is always under a relentless and cold blizzard, making one feel that all light, hope, and warmth had abandoned them for eternity.

It was a perfect circular pit, and there are four rings, each getting narrower and colder than the next before leading to the Center of Hell, where Lucifer rest in his beastly, mortifying state.

"The once fairest of all angels, now degraded into a lonesome monster here in a snowy wasteland." The Serpent said with a frown. "It is my duty to free him."

He stepped into the ice like a man with a purpose, chin up, and eyes straight to his destination only.

Daniele and 'Leandro' were not so sure about stepping in because they still have their humanly constitution. The cold would be too much for them, even when Zhe Chouhen is already using his character's powers.

He wrapped his cape around Daniele, as well as using his own body as a shield from the blizzard.

"No, Leandro, you must not—"

"Shh... I-It's okay....." 'Leandro's' lips quivered from the cold. "I can endure it."

"No, don't you see? I should be the one wrapping you up." Daniele took off the cape and wrap it on him. "I don't feel cold at all."

He blinked. "Huh?"

"I find it strange too. Isn't this the Circle of Hell I belong to? The one Minos gave the verdict to me?" Daniele protected 'Leandro's' head from the cold breeze. "Why am I still not receiving punishment?"

Zhe Chouhen realized this too as well. Of course, Daniele wouldn't feel cold, he's innocent as a saint!

"In fact, I think my love for you and desire to protect you is warming me a bit." Daniele observed his own fingers. "Physically. Could it be that I can....?"

He closed his eyes and placed his hands over Leandro, muttering a prayer to keep them from harm.

Then, the tips of his fingers glowed.

'Leandro' did not feel cold anymore, and was not affected by the strong winds of the blizzard.

"It worked!" Daniele was overjoyed. "Whatever it was worked! Now we can travel better."

The Serpent overheard this and turned for a moment, smiling at them. "Well, well, well. Look who just performed a miracle."

"Me? A miracle?" Daniele was in disbelief. "But only angels and saints perform miracles..."

It dawned upon him. "No, you can't possibly mean.... Because why would I be in hell, if I'm a...."

"That is why you are the key. If I was wrong, I wouldn't have been able to set foot here." The Serpent said. "But as for why a saint like you would be in hell..... I have no idea either."

He gave 'Leandro' a mischievous look, and his son gave back a scowling one. This made him laugh, thinking that children can be adorable after all.

"But whatever it is, that must also be quite the miracle. Because then, my son would have to have been all alone here in hell, and you two would be separated like me and my Lord. So whatever power caused it, you must be thankful."

[You heard him. Be thankful to me, I'm the one who brought you two together.] Panda chimed in.

(Thankful my ass. I'm not Leandro anyway. And why the hell would I be thankful for a monster like you?) Zhe Chouhen internally rolled his eyes.

The three of them transversed through the frozen lake without another word, anxious about what's to come.

The Rings of Cocytus are as follows:

The first ring was for those who are Betrayers of their Kin. Those who killed their blood relatives. Therefore, it was named after Cain, and was called Caina.

The people here are only buried in ice up to their necks, but they could still bow their heads to hide away from the winter storm.

Zhe Chouhen thought. (Leandro doesn't belong here, since he and Daniele aren't blood-related.)

The second ring was Antenora, named after Antenor who was a Trojan soldier who switched sides with the Greeks. This is for the Betrayers of their Country.

They can also see the heads of the people here, but they cannot bow their necks. Some try to gnaw on the ice or each other when they are buried in one hole for betraying their country together.

Zhe Chouhen shook his head. (Leandro doesn't belong here either.)

The third ring was Ptolomea, named after Ptolemy, who invited his father and law to a feast and killed them there. This is for the Betrayers of Guests. The people here are lying on the ice but their faces are upward so that their tears would freeze on their own sockets.

(Hmm.... Not this one either. In fact, it was Leandro and his mother who were guests to the Alighieri family.) Zhe Chouhen thought as they reached the last ring.

Judecca.

Daniele stopped walking for a moment. This ring is empty.

"Where are the sinners?" Daniele looked around.

'Leandro' placed a hand on his cheek, and pointed downward. "Here."

Daniele almost fell back in shock.

Twisted in the most grotesque ways possible, their limbs broken and stretched out of their joints, were the bodies of the sinners of Judecca. Fully encapsulated in ice, unable to move forever.

".....They truly won't be able to move? Yet they're still alive...?" Daniele asked, gulping, but not looking away.

He was long used to such brutality, he was only caught by surprise.

"These people are those who betrayed their masters, their lords. But it's not just that." 'Leandro' added. "These people broke their promises of servitude. They broke the trust that their masters had given to them, and like Judas, became the cause of their death. Stabbed them in the back."

Daniele pondered over it all, realizing the metaphor. "Without their masters, they would have been nothing. Just like how puppets don't move unless they are pulled by the strings..."

He gritted his teeth. "It's a disgusting metaphor."

Zhe Chouhen was stunned by Daniele's interpretation. But moreover....

He knew with 100% certainty that this was where Leandro belongs.

The Alighieris were their master, their benefactors who gave them a better life in exchange for their love. But instead, he killed the duke's son for his own selfish gains of trying to own him.

If he wasn't a sorcerer or the son of the Serpent, he should have ended up like those twisted bodies stuck in the ice.

And that's what he deserves.

Zhe Chouhen walked past these bodies coldly... But also felt coldness stuck in his heart.

Like he was slowly freezing inside.

(I did not betray anyone.) He said in his head and gritted his teeth.

And as he said so, another voice had joined him.

(I did not betray anyone.....)

(I never sinned.)

(All I did was to love Daniele.)

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