Anthony Alves
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Chapter 68
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 13:12:21 +0000 UTCIt was impossible for Xotl to track the passage of time while trapped inside of Dan.
Dan the damned.
All Xotl could do was look out through Dan’s eyes at a familiar yet very unfamiliar landscape. It was definitely Hell, but a much higher, harsher, and more deadly layer than his own.
As time passed and Xotl didn’t age, his one real hope of escaping this nightmare seemed less and less likely. He would not grow old and die. He was stuck there, listening to the tormented and tortured screams of Dan and the other damned.
And these screams were much louder and horrifying than those of the damned of his layer.
The screams were too close. Far too close. They were much louder than Chet’s had been when his legs were being roasted by Hector, and much more annoying than that punk-ass bitch Bonnie’s. They were terrible. It was torture.
In his layer, the screams were just far away and comforting background noise. Not these screams. Especially Dan’s own.
And the stupid prude angel was no help at all. She seemed to have gone mad before they even entered Hell. There was no chance of her releasing him.
Since arriving, the prude had only been lucid once. She told him the Shining One had given Dan a false choice. Only God’s judgement allowed a mortal’s soul to enter Heaven.
Since life was a test to determine the worthiness of a soul, children didn’t go to Hell or Heaven. Their souls were always reborn as new mortals.
So, Dan’s daughter and Bonnie couldn’t have been waving him over.
It also took some time for a soul going to Heaven to get there, so if Nick was going to Heaven, he couldn’t have gotten there that quickly.
Like Xotl, the angel didn’t understand the Light Bearer’s game, though she said she did. She claimed the Shining One wanted to prove everyone was as rotten, selfish, and vainglorious as he was, so wanted Dan to choose the fake portal to Heaven.
Xotl wasn’t so certain. He was certain of the futility of begging the angel to release him from inside of Dan. She always just sat there either crying, rocking, saying crazy shit, or some combination of those three things.
He turned to look at her. The dumb bitch was just mumbling nonsense. He listened in.
“I was born into the war. A war we should’ve never been fighting. A war that made us no better than our enemies. We always looked down on mortals. We were made perfect, superior.
“But then we saw mortals as an inconvenience. Those lessers incapable of winning a simple Game. Those fools that made life so much more difficult for us, costing us so much as we fought a war for them, a war meant to fix things. We did it to them, and we hated them for the inconvenience it caused us.
“Oh, Samael, why did you stay friends with that monster, that adversary of our Lord? I did this to myself. I am at fault. I shall remain in Hell, but you should be right here suffering beside me as I pay the price of betraying our purpose and our Creator.”
Xotl stopped paying attention to that dumb broad’s crazy gibberish.
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The worst part about being damned to Hell wasn’t the agonizing torture, though that was more terrible than Dan could’ve ever imagined. It was knowing it would never end.
Time kept marching onwards. He screamed in endless torment as it did so. And it marched onwards. Never ending. Eternally.
Futilely, he tried fighting his way out of it. Ending it. Fighting free of this tortured existence.
It never worked. But he never stopped trying. He never quit. And he never would. He was nothing if not obstinate.
Time marched onward. Onwards eternally.
Then, part of his soul lit up.
Reckoner: Execute great vengeance upon all those enemies and defiers of God and His will.
He stopped screaming. Something changed.
His days of torment had come to an end. Daniel rose to receive his reward.
His mind burned feverishly. He appeared to have acquired new knowledge, though it didn't seem all that useful. Much of it was about different religions. He also knew languages like Latin now, along with a few others he had never heard of before.
Though he wasn’t redeemed, he was no longer one of the damned.
No, he wasn’t redeemed. But he had accomplished something. Something big.
He didn’t fail. In the end, he hadn’t failed again. He had saved his planet.
He had saved eight billion people.
He prayed that accomplishment was big enough and worthy enough to make up for how badly he had failed his little girl, and that she was now finally proud of her daddy.
And Dan had paid for that. He had known loss. He had suffered. He had paid a thousandfold for all his sins and failures.
He felt light. New. All his sins gone, long ago washed away in rivers of agony. His dues now paid in full.
Though it had taken a very long time and some help from the Trait the archangel Kharahel had given him, a Trait that had never left its spot on his soul, Dan was now free.
He was no longer one of the damned. He was now a wraith.
He wasn’t exactly certain what being a wraith meant, but he knew one thing for certain – he now had an eternity to execute great vengeance upon all those enemies and defiers of God and His will.
Hell was full of them.
And it was about time someone started to regulate.
A new fervor burned brightly within his chest.
With a voice hoarse from endless tortured screams, he knelt, bowed his head, and croaked out, “Lord, you trained my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.
“I will crush Your enemies so that they will not rise. They will fall beneath my feet in scores. Their blood will be the fountain that fills Your cup, and I will be Your hammer that brings this kingdom to ruin.
“This, I swear. Dominus pascit me. In nomine Dei, vincam.”
The Lord is my Shepherd. In His name, I shall conquer.
Most were not baptized in such a fire as that of Hell, but he had not suffered alone. Before he entered the portal to this realm, he had completely submitted to a power far greater than himself.
His voice now clear and steady, filled with a righteous conviction, Dan ended his oath and prayer with two words. Two words that filled him with absolute certainty.
“Deus vult.”
God wills it to be so.
He was exactly where he was supposed to be. Exactly where he needed to be. Since the angels didn’t seem capable of doing so, he’d fix things himself.
Nearly the entirety of Dan’s existence had been one of bleakness and misery. From this point onward, it would be one of conquest and glory.
(It’s probably clear now book 1 is actual like a prequel and set up for the true series, explaining this book’s pace, time skips, and truncation. I had to fit it all into one book, though it ended up being a very long book.
There were a lot more gear and items in this book originally. I pruned most of them out along with some other content to keep the size down and make the item system mostly new and fresh in book 2.
I’ll also add that Duke Agares’ gear and those loot drops didn’t go to waste (early book 2 explains why).
Book 2 is tentatively subtitled “Cowboy in Hell’ even though Dan’s a crop farmer and not a cowboy so it doesn’t make complete sense.
Book 2 and onward will have a slower pace, no real time skips, and content more like traditional LitRPGs as Dan works his way through the layers of Hell somewhat starting from scratch again, though with a ton of exceptions to ‘from scratch.’
On Monday I’ll start posting the early chapters of book 2 so people can get a sense of where things are going. These posts will be free for members (including free members) so there is no reason to resubscribe and throw your money away.
It’ll be either 4 or 5 chapters depending on how I break them down, then the true dead-time starts. Keep in mind that these chapters will be rough, unedited, and very subject to change.
Thank all of you very much for reading and becoming Patreon members. I hope you enjoyed book 1. When I start posting in earnest again, there’ll be another free month to kick things off and as make-up for the dead time.
Thank you again.)
Comments
Arman Papikyan
Have to say, Im a bit disappointed. This first stage of the game was something he has struggled to beat for 60 years, has sacrificed so much. All of that struggle just to end up in a setting where he can struggle a bit more. Its like the cosmic beings that were making the bets got tired of the hamster running around in this simulated wheel and gave him a new shiny bigger wheel to run on. Struggle a bit more, but now with a bit more revenge sprinkled on top. I was expecting some kind of revelation, purpose, grander vision. It could have been a dream, some kind of hallucination that would let us as a reader feel like Dan has been given a sign, his struggles up until now were acknowledged, that he is not doing this in vain. I mean sure he seemed to have saved billions of people on earth, but it was just mentioned briefly with a half-sentence. Maybe it was just all in Dan's head all along and Satan was just playing him like a fiddle? Maybe he is still in a simulation? I was hoping to get some closure before moving on. At least knowing his struggles were not in vain.
Tony
Thank you very much
Timfinitive
Awesome book, congratz!
Tony
Thank you. And 5 chapters will be posted next week so you should be able to see if you are interesting in the direction it goes or not.
Arkeus
I'm not exactly a fan of the story becoming a more traditional romp, but I'll wait to see how it goes.
Tony
Thank you very much
Andrés Fonseca Calderón
I love this end the sequence of plot twists from bonnie s dead were a little rushed but always a joy to visit, stronger enemies, allies falling, the hand extended to help being the same one holding his neck... Simply beautiful
John Anastacio
Ah, new information. I hadn't understood that. To me it just looked like a weird personality change. I hope Dan doesn't change too much otherwise. I like Dan because of who and how he is. A holy crusader in comparison is relatively generic and boring to me.
Tony
Thank you. It's real, unlike the Game, and operates a lot differently.
Tony
Thank you. Some good ideas.
Tony
Thank you
Oponette
tftb!!!
Actually
I like how it makes him seem like a holy crusader
Alan Robinson
If you don't like the title could try leaning on crops with the word Reap. Reaper of sin, damned, or even just reaper. Title is fine either way but figured I'd throw some options and see if any sparked some inspiration
Eric Kellar
Really cool end. I was not expecting this tbh. And he gets to start over again? In a new wraith body? I cannot imagine him not becoming extremely overpowered if he gets a chance to do over again. Especially if its in the real world and not fake game environment
Tony
Thank you. I'm pasting a reply I put to a similar question above. His country drawl remains for 99.9% of his talking. I tried to make as much of this analogous as I could. This isn’t a 1 to 1 analogy to Daniel from the Bible (no prophecies, etc.). The key scripture is Daniel 12:13 – ““But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days.” Which changed to – “His days of torment had come to an end. He rose to receive his reward.” Then the part about new info. I needed some quick and easy way to tell that he received new information. Since the high-tier item system is based on Latin (the two items Duke Agares mentioned were Aquila Ferox and Tenebrae Dominus), this was the method to show his new knowledge and fervor for the mission he believed he was given. It’s not a huge part going forward. More used as flavor, the same for ancient Hebrew for the new angelic names and other lore. He’s at the very bottom rung so reality hits him pretty soon after book 2 starts.
Tony
Thank you. His country drawl remains for 99.9% of his talking. I tried to make as much of this analogous as I could. This isn’t a 1 to 1 analogy to Daniel from the Bible (no prophecies, etc.). The key scripture is Daniel 12:13 – ““But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days.” Which changed to – “His days of torment had come to an end. He rose to receive his reward.” Then the part about new info. I needed some quick and easy way to tell that he received new information. Since the high-tier item system is based on Latin (the two items Duke Agares mentioned were Aquila Ferox and Tenebrae Dominus), this was the method to show his new knowledge and fervor for the mission he believed he was given. It’s not a huge part going forward. More used as flavor, the same for ancient Hebrew for the new angelic names and other lore. He’s at the very bottom rung so reality hits him pretty soon after book 2 starts.
Tony
Thank you very much. And I saw the updated review on RR. I really appreciate it. Thank you again.
Actually
And Tyftc!
Actually
Nice. Loved the end can’t wait to see how this goes I loved this part “ he now had an eternity to execute great vengeance upon all those enemies and defiers of God and His will. Hell was full of them. And it was about time someone started to regulate.”
Jason Hornbuckle
Why would God care if it was Latin? That's more of a Catholic thing
Actually
I’m guessing its this part “ His days of torment had come to an end. He rose to receive his reward. His mind burned feverishly. It seemed as if he was given some new information.”
John Anastacio
Thank you very much and congrats on completing book 1. Cowboy in Hell is fine, since Dan uses a lasso. A disconcerting thing in this chapter for me is all the Latin. Dan doesn't know Latin, right? Also why is he praying and/or quoting stuff? It's out of character. I'd prefer Dan continue to speak simply and with a drawl.
Jason Hornbuckle
When did he learn Latin
