Chapter 12 - Once Lost Soul Deserves Another Well, now Christofert was in Hell. He sat for a minute to catch his breath. While he was resting, he turned to try to clean some of that burning dog slobber off of himself. When he turned, he saw that his fur was now bright white. That foul beast Cerebrus had scared him white! "Oh well," he thought "white is just a different shade of gray." Christofert set off once again down the tunnel. So far he had only one option in direction, but ahead he could see a huge cavern opening up. Surely soon he would have to try to pick the best direction. When he entered the cavern, he could see tunnels heading in every imaginable direction. There were hundreds of tunnels. He was so bewildered, that he didn't notice the human sitting on a rock nearby, until the human spoke. "Welcome to hell" began the human. "I will be your orientation administer." Christofert jumped when he heard the voice and realized that he wasn't alone. "Hmm, you don't belong here! You aren't one of the dead. As a matter of fact, you look like a ferret, although I haven't seen a white one before. My name is Dante. I was once given a tour of Hades by Virgil, and now I have to give a short tour of Hell to all of the newly arrived souls. But I don't think that is too important now. I have never seen a LIVE soul reach this point. Come over to my rock and tell me who you are and how you got to be here." Christofert was unsure, but this Dante human seemed decent, and he really didn't know where to go. He joined Dante, but instead found a shallow hole to sit in while they talked. He told Dante all about his adventures, and how he came to be there. Dante was especially impressed when he heard about Cerebrus. He told Christofert that only a few live souls had ever managed to get past Cerebrus. "Now Christofert," continued Dante "I'm not supposed to help you. But, I really don't like my job, and would love a chance to play a trick on the demons around here. So I'd like to help you. First of all, you won't be able to travel through Hell safely. You are obviously not an immaterial soul, and you aren't a demon. I can't make you immaterial, but we can make you look somewhat like a demon. All demons have glowing red eyes. I can give you something to rub in your eyes. It will inflame them a bit, and burn, but your eyes will look nice and red. Most demons have human form, but there are enough animal type shapes that you should be able to pass unmolested." Christofert accepted a small pawful of leaves. He crushed them between his paws then rubbed his eyes. His eyes immediately began to burn and water. After a minute, the burning subsided. "How does that look?" asked Christofert. "Very good! You're eyes are nice and red now. Now, as to your mission. I think I know someone who might be able to help you, but it will be very, very dangerous." (to be continued) Bryan P. Coffey - Boston, MA Weasel Warriors - Albi, Esef, Merri, and Mint http://www.gis.net/~bpcoffey/furball.html [Posted in FML issue 2828]