Capítulo 112: Gehenna - Ytria, Helena, Arthur, Ytria and Athena

The void was a dark and infinitely large place where everything began and everything ended. That place or being was also the first being, or place, and the last. It was present in everything while was nowhere, a non-existent existence.

Often, souls that should reincarnate ended up in this place and got lost. Or perhaps it would be right to say that they returned to their origin? It would be hard to say for sure when there weren't answers to every question.

Anyway, the souls, who happened to get lost on their way to reincarnation, were trapped in this place for centuries, millennia or millions of years until they were expelled or extracted from there.

With Ytria, who had just escaped from hell, it was no different. As soon as she walked through the portal, she found herself in a completely dark place, where she could only see an immeasurable amount of white dots floating solitary in the dense darkness, which she deduced were other souls.

However, Ytria was just there for a short time, the void seemed to reject her and in little more than a thousand years, she was expelled out of the void and reincarnated in a new world on the brink of destruction.

The world Ytria found herself in now, was the world of an evil god who loves to watch mortals suffer. Where monsters and demons was something abundant, that world looked more like hell to the poor mortals that, unlike Ytria's original world's people, had no magic or skill, they had nothing to fight against divine evil.

However, even if limited, Ytria still had her powers and knowledge. Furthermore, she was freed from the corruption caused by her mana and she used everything she had to free that world from it's evil god.

Ytria fought for years, gained followers and discovered how that world worked. The more she was adored there, the more power she got and with the number of her followers increasing every day, she quickly gained enough power to destroy the evil god.

However, she didn't know the whole truth of that one. She didn't know that by killing that god, the world he created would also die, as well as the people who worshiped her, the monsters, demons and herself.

Once again in the void, Ytria screamed and mourned for years until the void expelled again and reincarnated in a world where the law was survival of the fittest.

She didn't last long in this world, as her powers had been sealed by the world that was the god himself, so she didn't stand a chance right in the cradle and the cycle of death, emptiness and reincarnation repeated itself for dozens or hundreds of times until Ytria ended up in a world without magic, but which had a relative peace.

Wasn't that this new world had no magic, but the mana was so scarce that it wouldn't complete even the smallest of spells and with that, Ytria would live a life with complete absence of magical powers, superhuman strength, supernatural longevity and whatever. another skill she had already experienced.

She would live like a helpless human in a world of relative peace and was glad this was happening. She would finally have a full life without having to get her hands dirty with blood, without having to save someone or be taken by a distorting power, she could be happy.

One summer night, in a hospital room, a beautiful and smiling woman held a pretty, head-reded little baby girl in her arms. "Her name is going to be Helena." Said the woman with a smile full of love. "My little and beloved Helena."

Helena was born into an ordinary family as the only child of a young newly married couple. Her parents loved her and always gave her all the best. Ytria was finally having a peaceful life.

As "Helena", Ytria grew up a prodigy for quickly learning everything she was taught. Helena has always been a pride to her parents, that's because she was a well-behaved and intelligent girl who lived reading books that were all she asked for as a gift.

In that peaceful life, "Ytria" soon lost space and "Helena" gained more and more presence. She didn't see it as a bad thing, in fact, she embraced the changes that were happening to her. Not that she had forgotten her past lives, but she wanted to live the new life she had found without having to grieve. She wanted to be happy with her new opportunity.

She went to college, got a job and left home like any young in her early adulthood. She made friends, got drunk, fought and made up with her best friend, fell in love, suffered with a broken heart and then fell in love again, she felt like she was living for herself.

It was Helena's second week in her new job as a financial analyst and like every day, she arrived at the office early. But this routine wasn't something she did from the beginning, it started after she learned that the man she loved also came to work very early.

"Good morning, Arthur." Helena said with a brilliant smile.

Arthur's desk was right next to her desk and she loved having the pleasure of smelling the lemony oak scent that exuded from the handsome dark brown haired man that was Arthur.

"Good morning, Helena." Arthur responded with a smile that made Helena's heart leap in her chest. "Today is going to be one of those days, better be prepared to stay until late."

"Hm? Why?"

"One of the companies we work for had problems with an account number and it looks like the error was from here, the top are mad."

"Hm... Are we going to be fired?" Helena asked hesitantly.

"Nah! I doubt it. I never make mistakes with numbers and you just got here. You have nothing to do with old business. But it doesn't mean you can relax." Arthur warned with a playful smile.

Helena controlled the emotions that ran throughout her body the moment she saw that smile and smiled gently as she always did.

The day had been as busy as Arthur had warned, but despite having been a busy and tiring day, Arthur, Helena and two other friends still went to a bar and celebrated for getting through the "storm" safely.

"To think that Ricardo would make a mistake so foolish as embezzling a customer's money..." Leo said.

"I'm more irritated about having to clean up his mess." Marina complained.

"I didn't even know there was a way to embezzle so much money..." Helena commented and everyone looked at her.

"You already..."

"God! No, Arthur!" Helena said while patting the man's shoulder she laughed.

"I know, it was a joke..." Arthur said and then his cell phone rang. "Ah! Sorry, I have to get it."

"This fiancée of his seems to have powers, she always calls when we come here..." Marina said with a mocking expression.

Helena looked at Arthur's distant back, gesturing with every inaudible word and smile as he spoke on his cell phone. She knew that Arthur was committed and that he loved his fiancée, but even so, she felt the sour taste of jealousy and sadness at not being loved by the one she loved.

"Frankly, if I had a woman like that, I would travel halfway across the world and get lost." Leo said with an evil smile.

"Thank god this will never happen to you, no madonna?" Marina and Leo laughed and then looked at the expressionless Helena.

"Hm... I know that..."

"Eh? What?"

"That look you were giving Arthur, dear." Leo said pointing to his own eyes and then to Arthur. "The fervent gaze of passion. Ah!"

Helena lowered her head and embarrassed, asked. "Is it that obvious?"

"My love, it's so obvious the waiter feels sorry for you!" Leo scoffed.

"But... Why Arthur?"

"???"

Marina sucked the purple drink from her glass through the blue spring straw and asked again. "Why Arthur? I mean, he is handsome and kind, competent at his job and earns more than most of us, but he looks like a fly in bed. Durval from the psychological department would be a thousand times better. And even though he's not as handsome as our Arthur and he's also a hell of a cad, he looks like he's a god in bed. In fact, some of the girls who slept with him at the company said he's a pussy wrecker."

Helena made a horrified expression and said. "I'm not looking for sex that destroys my vagina."

Marina and Leo who drank their respective drinks, laughed and choked on the liquids that leaked through their noses and then Arthur returned to the table.

"What's the joke?" Arthur asked as he sat down next to Helena.

"N-nothing important!!" Helena restlessly said and the other two continued to laugh.

After that, Arthur, who had not been drinking, took the three friends to their respective homes and Helena was the last to stay in the car with Arthur.

Helena insisted that she could call a taxi, but Arthur insisted on taking her home, saying. "I'm only going to get a good night's sleep if the three of you are okay at home." Happy with that situation, Helena agreed to be taken to her house by Arthur without further protest.

This would be the first time Arthur had been to her house and Helena was worried if it would be okay to be happy about it. She didn't want to spoil Arthur's relationship with his fiancée or be his lover, but she couldn't repress the joy she felt at being with him, even as friends.

"Is it on this street?" Arthur asked as he turned the car around a dimly lit corner.

"Yes, further up the road, where there's that lamp post."

"Now I understand why you do everything to go home early. It would be too dangerous for a beautiful woman like you to walk this dark street at night."

Helena's face, flushed because of the alcohol, became even redder when her beauty was praised. Y-Yes, but I'm looking for a better place to move."

"Mm... If I find out about a place, I'll let you know. What price range are you looking for?"

"Around five hundred... More than that would be difficult for me."

"Alright, if I know of a good place, I'll let you know." Arthur said and stopped the car under the light emitted by the pole indicated by Helena. "Well, we're here, good night."

Helena took off her seat belt and before getting out of the car, she turned to Arthur, kissed the man on the cheek as a way of thanks, said goodbye and with her face flushed redder than it should be, she watched him drive away.

Standing there, in front of the building where she lived, she wondered if this was what was called "drunken courage" and sighed as she massaged her cheeks bulging from the involuntary smile.

"Aah..."

Helena touched her lips with her fingertips and with a dreamy look, she climbed the short staircase in the building ahead of her. That night Helena masturbated three times and even had the wettest dream of all their lives.

The new life that Ytria led as "Helena" was always full of peace and tranquility, and even though problems could sometimes occur, it was nothing that her life would be in danger or that she would have to dirty her own to solve the problem.

However, Helena had not realized that her coming to this world had also opened a path to her home world. In fact, it wasn't exactly she who opened the door, but a part of her that had been left in that world.

Exactly twenty-four years ago, on the day Helena was born, a man had a dream about a world full of adventure and magic.

The world was divided between heaven and earth, one was a hell for those who had neither money nor noble blood and the other one was a hell for everyone with monsters and demons lurking in the dark, ready to kill and destroy everything they saw.

However, one day the hell was appeased in both parts of that world with the arrival of people who continued to fight even after they died, changing the lives of people in that world.

With that dream as inspiration and with the help of neurological scientists, the young game developer changed the gaming world forever by creating a world that simulated every sense a person could have.

A world full of dangers, adventures, magic and romance that could only be described as "another world".

However, what no one knew is that when it was created, this game became a gateway to the world it was inspired by. The game collected energy from the players' souls through a large and complex magic circle formed by mixing all the spells transcribed within the game, collecting energy to one day open a door that would bridge the two worlds.

The energy collection was inefficient and it could take years for the spell to activate for just a few minutes, but it would be enough to transport one or two souls at once.

Two months passed and Helena was happy on her way home. Her happiness had two reasons, Arthur had spent all day smiling, making her heart flutter in her chest, and having received a raise in her salary. There was no way she couldn't be happy when so much good was happening to her.

Helena got off the elevator in the underground parking lot and headed to the space where she had parked her car when she saw Arthur leaning against his car with an expression of extreme pain on his face.

Without thinking twice about what to do, Helena ran to Arthur's rescue. But as she approached, she felt something in the man that shouldn't exist in this world, she felt mana. But it wasn't just any mana, it was her mana, that mana full of evil.

She wondered how that was possible and then felt an ominous shiver as she remembered the advertisement for a game she'd chosen to ignore because it reminded her of her world.

(No... It's not possible. I must be imagining something...) Helena thought, trying to deny what she felt with each step she took towards Arthur. "Arthur? Is everything alright?"

Arthur stood up and with a smirk in pain he said. "Y-yes. I think I'm fine."

"I saw you suddenly almost pass out. Is everything really okay?" Helena insisted with a worried expression.

"Yes, yes. I'll be fine." Arthur repeated. "Tomorrow I'm going to the doctor to see if something's wrong, so good night Helena, I have to go now."

Helena watched Arthur get into the car and drive away while feeling somewhat anxious about the man's situation as she began to feel her powers returning.

Nervousness and worry made her heart tremble with fear of returning to that life of destruction and death, and fear of dragging Arthur into it. Helena thought for a moment what to do, she ran to her car as feeling a bad feeling and followed Arthur with the aim of helping him.

After some time of impatience in traffic, Helena arrived at Arthur's house, but when she entered the house, all she heard were the desperate screams of a naked woman crying on Arthur's chest as he lay on the floor with his eyes open, but already lifeless.

"Arthur!" Helena dropped to the ground, beside Arthur and the naked woman. "Arthur, what happened!?"

"Who are you?" Luana asked sharply.

Helena ignored the woman and concentrated on the mana that was thicker than before in Arthur's inert body. She couldn't care less about those two naked people when her love was dying.

As she tried to wake up Arthur, she felt her powers getting stronger and so Helena tried to bring Arthur's soul back, but it was too late. Tears streamed down her face and that nostalgic pain of grief began to resurface when she heard voices.

"Wait Luana, don't do that!" The man screamed.

"That hypocrite! He was all shocked when he saw us, but he was also cheating on me with that bitch!" Luana screamed.

Helena turned to see what was going on there and saw the naked woman, whom the naked man called of Luana, coming towards her holding a knife. Helena was lost in her mind because Arthur's death and when she was about to react, Luana was already stabbing her in the chest for the second time and then the third, fourth, fifth time... Helena was no longer breathing.

When Helena regained consciousness, she was again in the void, but this time she was not alone, in front of her was a part of herself that she did not know existed.

"Fin...ally.... we'll... be... gether... again...."

The soul in front of Ytria was dark, tormented and seemed to be stretching out somewhere, looking like light being sucked into a black hole. It's voice was brittle and full of pain, a pain that Helena...that Ytria didn't want back.

"H-how? How is that possible?"

"I... We... are... one...." The soul said and approached Ytria.

This was not something Ytria wanted, she was afraid of the pain and all the suffering that would come from joining that soul fragment that belonged to her. But there was no escape and the two became one soul as it should be.

When Ytria woke up again, she was trapped in the prison she remembered well. She was surprised that she was fully conscious, not overwhelmed by all the abomination her powers carried.

However, there was no time for wonder, she needed to help Arthur, but to do that, she had to understand what had happened. Ytria focused on all her memories related to Arthur and understood why the man had her mana in him.

While playing that game Ytria insisted on ignoring, Arthur encountered the part of Ytria's soul that had been left behind. He had agreed to become a Destruction Eater, a parasite of her powers, who would bring chaos and destruction to the world in her place, not knowing that it wasn't just a game.

This made the evil part of Ytria and Arthur have a stronger connection, and when Arthur was about to die, the evil part of Ytria wanted him with her and tried to take him to the other world by force, but but the door wasn't strong enough to withstand the passage of a living person, causing excruciating stress on the target's body and weakening the door, causing the evil Ytria to give up her plan for the time being, giving relief to Arthur.

However, she wanted him at all costs and didn't miss the opportunity to rip his soul from his body when she had the chance, causing his death earlier than he should have.

This was why she no longer wanted to be alone and she also wanted him, in her place, to turn the world upside down again with chaos, death and destruction, but that didn't happen.

Arthur did not have a body connected to Ytria which he could occupy in that world. He had already "killed" Hades, who was the only avatar that had a pact with her, by deleting it. Yet have a connection with her was something she wanted most, as if it were an obsession. But from within the crystal, there was nothing she could do to change that, so Ytria abandoned Arthur in the void.

Ytria felt guilty, even though guilt was something that was already in her core because of all the demonic energy, that guilt was something hers, just hers. She knew that somehow, who had done this to him was not her, but a dark version, who only wanted to see destruction and death in the world, even so, the guilt would not go away.

Wanting to redeem herself for what she did to Arthur, Ytria used most of her powers to search for her lover's soul and bring him back to the life she stole from him.

She used almost the energy of her own soul to do this, but with her powers, she stretched her own existence, endured the dimensional planes, reaching into the void and rescued Arthur's soul. But as not everything was perfect, the body was still missing, so she followed the mana that was more like her beloved Arthur and reached the nymphs, Anemus and Fotiá, who were with a empty high human woman....

"....And this is where we are."