The cold breeze that wafted through the graveyard sent a chill down his spine. In the breeze, the bare branches of a nearby tree seemed to be bony fingers reaching for him, threatening to pierce through him like needles through a voodoo doll. Silence seemed to drape over the entire cemetery, punctuated only by the ticking from Poh Kwong's watch and his heartbeat. Poh Kwong faced the freshly built tombstone, slowly, with a shaky hand he picked up the handphone he borrowed from his friend. His heartbeat quickened as he watched the second hand of his watch ticked towards midnight.
He must complete his mission, he had given his word. A man must honor his word, even if it meant going to hell. his thoughts raced back to the day before. 'At precisely the stroke of midnight, you must dial this number twelve times to get through to the other side,' his friend told him. 'Then what do I do?' Poh Kwang asked. 'When you hear something on the other side, you must say the deceased's name and say that you have lost your way and ask for directions.' These were the exact words that Poh Kwang remembered. He must not fail or else everything that he worked for would be gone. The second hand reached the unearthly hour of the night. With a trembling hand, Poh Kwang pressed the button twelve times and waited with abated breath for an answer. Even the moment's silence seemed unbearable for him. He was almost relieved when he heard the ringing tone. After six rings, he heard a click and a rasping sound on the other side of the phone. In the background, over the phone, he could hear moanings and howlings. It sounded so near that he thought that they were here in the cemetery with him. He must have got through to the right place.
The person on the other end did not say a single word. All that he heard was a heacy breathing, not unlike that of a huge animal or monster. 'Hell...' A very deep voice soon boomed over the receiver. He must have meant 'Hello'. 'Hello... I.. I.. I am lost...' he began to stammer. 'Name!' 'Chan Kai Seng,' Poh Kwang said slowly. he had tried almost every means to talk to Kai Seng but to no avail. He tried using mediums to call him back up. The first medium he went to was highly recommended by a friend and this medium was known to let the spirits possess her body and use it to talk to the living. Upon the request of the family, she can call up the deceased and let them chat for a while. While being possessed by the spirit, she will act, talk and sound exactly like the deceased. She stayed in an old two room apartment block near Tiong Bahru. As he entered the dimly lit room that night, he felt a chill brush past the back of his shoulders. All he saw in the small room was a table, four chairs and a huge red altar against the wall.
The altar was big and took up a lot of wall space. It was the centerpiece of the entire room. On the altar were numerous statues of Chinese gods, some of which looked like demons with their menacing looks. She was not much to look at either. Pale and ashen, she look pathetically fragile and weak. He guessed her age to be around her late thirties. She asked for the particulars of the dead. Fortunately, Poh Kwang had the particulars. It took him some time and a lot of effort to get them from Kai Seng's mother, as the very mention of his name would send her weeping. After Kai Seng's particulars were given, the medium converted the birth date and time to the Chinese calendar system and began to chant, and sharply after the chant, she stamped her foot on the floor a few times. Poh Kwang was expecting Kai Seng's spirit to speak through her. However, the medium fell back from the chair instead and collapsed onto the floor. She began writhing in agony. Poh Kwang was too much in shock to do anything. Suddenly, an unseen force pushed him back towards the wall and he felt as if he was pinned there. An unexplained heat filled the room. It was as if the entire house was caught in a raging fire.
As she writhed on the ground, a word kept issuing from her lips, 'Avi-something', a word he could not understand. After what seemed to be an eternity, the heat subsided. She stopped her moaning and simply lay there on the floor unmoving and drenched in her own perspiration. Poh Kwang wiped the sweat off his face. By then, his entire shirt was wet as well. He quickly went over to help her sit up but was rudely pushed aside. Without a word, she just ushered him out, warning him never to summon such a spirit up ever again. While he was leaving, he could hear her chanting, in between, he heard his name being mentioned. He sought another medium, this time to ask questions. Since he could not bear the employ a medium to summon the spirit to talk to him directly, he needed to learn how to get in touch with the spirit personally.
He was taught a few tricks by this medium. Some of these required a lot of courage. Poh Kwang was not courageous by nature but he was running out of time and was at wit's end. He needed to talk to Kai Seng fast, even if it meant risking his own life. His first attempt to personally contact him was to ask the medium to open his 'Ying Yang' eye. The medium was reluctant to do it, as it was dangerous. It is believed that once this eye is opened, a person could see the spirits that still wander on this earth. Normally, the sights of these spirits would scare the person half to death, but Poh Kwang was in dire straits. He knew that this medium was known to take 'tokens' for 'favors' and he came prepared. It did not take long, or much, for the medium to be convinced about the urgency. When the medium asked for the reason, Poh Kwang just shrugged it off as having a need to find the spirit so that he can ask it a few questions about a certain inheritance. 'Let me warn you that if you should see spirits other than the one you are looking for, do not look at them in the eyes or else...' the medium warned him.
'What?' Poh Kwang asked, half afraid what the answer would be. 'Or else you will be haunted by it. Since you are not a 'tao shi' you would not be able to rid yourself of them, so be careful.' 'How can I tell... tell...' '...if it is a spirit?' the medium interrupted him. 'Trust me, you will know, but ignore them and do not in any way let them know that you have seen them,' the medium said as he took a 'fu', a strip of yellow paper with chants written on it, and burnt it above a bowl of water. He mixed the ashes and took two leaves from the altar that they were standing, next to and dipped them into the bowl. With the wet leaves, he began a chant and placed them onto Poh Kwang's closed eyes. After the chant ended, he asked Poh Kwang to open his eyes. 'What I have done is just to open your third eye or 'tian yian' for a short while, by tomorrow it will close by itself. Hopefully you will not go mad by then.' These were the parting words he had for Poh Kwang.
As he stepped out of the medium's house, The sight of all the spirits that wandered the streets of the night assailed him. They appeared to him in all shapes and sizes. Some looked human while others were grotesquely deformed, probably died of an accident or was in actual fact, demons or devils. What they were doing sent a chill down his spine. At a nearby bus stop, he saw a spirit sitting on a person's shoulders, while another was licking a lady's arm with its long green tongue. What was strange was that the people behave normally, not knowing a thing, as they couldn't see or feel what these spirits were up to. Poh Kwang ignored them but nonetheless he could not help having goosebumps. He almost threw up when he spotted a headless spirit wandering with his entrails hanging out from his abdomen. He wondered how this guy died. he knew then, why some people go insane once they opened their third eye. It takes a lot of guts to be able to live with such sights. Even though he ignored them, he could sense that they were watching him. He flagged for a cab. A taxi with a lighted top slowed down and stopped right in front of him. He stepped into the taxi but to his surprise he was sitting right next to a teenage girl. He knew immediately that she was not human as she was sitting on thin air, leaving no impression on the soft cushioned chair. However, he had no choice but to ignore her as he was already in the cab and did not want to shock the taxi driver. He asked the taxi driver to head for the 'kopitiam' where he and Kai Seng normally have their dinner and drinks.
The girl was staring out the window. He did not look into her eyes but saw her face. She did look sweet but her face was one of sadness. They entered a dimly lit lane, a shortcut that the driver took. In the darkness, he could see in momentary flashes, her face, as the streetlights came in through the window. It glowed an eerie green as the light filtered through. He could see blood trickling down the side of her mouth and eyes bulging out from her sockets. Her clothes were torn ans she had a very deep gash around her neck, so deep that it almost seemed as if it separated her head from her body. Poh Kwang's hair stood on ends but he quickly composed himself and remained seated without moving until he reached his destination and got off the cab.
He took a glance around the place. There seemed to be a lot of spirits in there, other than those in dispensed from bottles. Kai Seng's spirit however, was nowhere to be seen. Poh Kwang spent the rest of the night going to their normal haunts, avoiding all the ghosts ans spirits that still wandered around. His search was futile. He went back to his flat in Bedok. As the lift door opened, What he saw made him take a step back, for he could see a lady with a torn and blood stained dress standing alone inside. he did not dare to look straight into her eyes but in swift glance, he noticed that there was a trickle of blood from the corner of her lips. He saw that there were stab wounds in her breasts and abdomen. Blood seeped from the worm infested wounds. She must be the victim of the rape and murder case a few years back, before he had shifted into this apartment. He could not just run, for she would know then that he had seen her. He thought fast. With a snap of his fingers, he turned around and immediately headed for the mailbox. Just the excuse to catch the next lift. He saved a sigh of relief as the lift door closed as he was 'searching' for the mail box key. He took to the stairs instead. It was not much of a climb to the eighth floor. Anyway, he needed the exercise, he thought to himself.
He was hesitant to enter the hall to his five room flat but he remembered that his mother had convinced him to get a priest to cleanse the place before moving in. Even though he cursed her then, he was thanking her with all his heart as he turned the doorknob to his house. He did not sleep well that night as he kept seeing the wandering spirits that filled his mind. He tried to think of something good instead. He reminded himself of his mission and the urgency of it. Kai Seng was a good friend and above all, a good confidante. They got to know each other in school. Kai Seng was the gangleader and he was the 'goody two shoes'. Kai Seng was never good in his studies and normally would have to stoop to copying in the exams. He was good at that though, and would normally get a passable grade. Poh Kwang was the brains and by some god willed coincidence, they were both paired up to sit together and they had to bear with each other for the whole of their final year. Somehow they managed to get along fine, Kai Seng kept teasing him but Poh Kwang knew that he was envious. It showed in his mannerisms. They began to talk more that was when he found out Kai Seng's weakness for Chinese poetry. One day, he found Kai Seng had a sneak read of his Chinese poetry book. Of course he denied everything and threatened to whack Poh Kwang up if he should spread any rumors about a tough guy reading such sissy stuff.
As time passed, Kai Seng began to expose more of his soft side to Poh Kwang and soon they got to be very good friends. They would spend time with each other, away from Kai Seng's gang, and talk about poetry and life. Their views differed due to their different upbringing but their common love tor the written word was enough to bond them for years to come. Even after they left school they would meet and chat for hours. Kai Seng soon become a bouncer in a discotheque while Poh Kang finished his studies in the University and became a social worker. Ironically, instead of Poh Kwang counselling Kai Seng, the latter was more of a help to Poh Kwang as he was able to reveal the thoughts and ideas behind a delinquent mind. The entire incident started when one of Kai Seng's gang member, Ah Teck, was in a financial crisis. Ah Teck's sister was critically ill and he needed money, a lot of money for surgery. As none of the members were well off and Kai Seng was the gangleader, he felt he had to do something, even if it meant robbing someone. he told Poh kwang about his plot to rob his 'good for nothing' manager. His plan was meticulous, even Poh Kwang was amazed by the intricate details.
As an alternative if the plan should fail, Kai Seng wanted Poh Kwang to ensure that the money would end up with Ah Teck. He made Poh Kwang swear to it. Poh Kwang as was his nature, tried to think alternatives to get money and tried to convince Kai Seng that it was mot worth the risk. His advice fell on deaf ears. Poh kwang knew that once Kai Seng set his mind on something, even the gods could not change it. As a friend, Poh Kwang knew that he had to help him succeed, even if it meant imprisonment. To Poh Kwang, even that would be better than to lose such a friend and confidante. Poh Kwang did not know when Kai Seng would execute the plan, but he soon got to know when there was a report in the Lain He Zhoa Bao concerning a murder and robbery at a local disco. It seemed that Kai Seng's plan was not foolproof as the newspaper reported that his dead body was found somewhere near the discotheque. The strange thing was that the money meant for the salary and bonuses of the disco's employees were missing.
No body was able to recover the money. Even Poh Kwang failed to find it in the spot Kai Seng said he would stash it. However, a man's word must be honored. Poh Kwang must find the loot and pass it to Ah Teck, even if it meant he had to go to hell for the answer. 'There are many versions of hells. In our scriptures, it records that there are generally three types and within each there are numerous hells, each to serve a different punishment.' 'Hmm... that complicate matters... How does one go to hell, short of dying of course.' 'There are many unorthodox means but I would advice you against such thoughts. Why is it that you are interested in these things anyway?' 'Erm... I am writing a short story for a local publisher,' Poh Kwang had to lie to get the information he wanted from Toh Tuck, his staunch Buddhist friend.
'Well in that case, there shouldn't be any problem in telling you...' Poh Kwang took out his notepad and started scribbling away as his friend rambled on about death, hell and ways to tour Hades. 'Well there are many versions of hell, the Christians have their own. The Taoists have theirs and so do the Buddhists, I guess as a Chinese, you would be more interested in the 18 levels of hell...' He went on to explain about the different punishments a person would get in hell and the judges that ruled it. He spared no details in the descriptions. Somehow, Toh Tuck friend seemed to be very well versed in this field as he had attempted suicide, before ending up as a Buddhist monk. It would seem that Toh Tuck was facinated with death and did some research before his attempt at ending his own life. His views were enlightening but it was the methods suggested to get to hell that Poh Kwang was interested in. He jotted down the various ways, from phone calls and mediums, to trips to Hong Kong's gateway to hell. Toh Tuck confessed that these methods were not safe, if workable at all and none of them are Buddhistic by nature. Only two methods seemed to entice him. Poh Kwang had to extricate himself towards the end of the chat as Toh Tuck started blabbing about the way of the Buddha and enlightenment. Poh Kwang already got what he needed to begin his descent.
Poh Kwang's thoughts were broken by a horrible laughter that broke over the other side of the phone. It sounded much more like a horse snorting than laughter. 'Good try, but he has already been sentenced...' the voice said gruffly over the sounds of wailing from behind. Another burst of that horrible laughter and the phone went dead. Poh Kwang was really in a jam now. He has tried almost everything in the book. There was only method left. It has to work. He stared at the picture of his friend on the tombstone for a while longer before making his way back home in his Morris Minor.
The following night, just before the stroke of twelve, Poh Kwang laid on his own bed, his eyes set on the clock. 'This will work, this will work,' he kept telling himself as he prepared himself for the ritual. His bedroom was pitch dark with only the moonlight streaming in from the window. The pale moonlight somehow added a macabre touch to the entire setting. Poh Kwang shivered a little in the cold night air. At exactly the stroke of midnight, he began, first bending his thumbs and placing them behind his ears while turning in the specific directions, then placing his left thumb on his solar plexus and turning it again in the way told to him. He close his eyes. Darkness soon devoured him. He knew he was falling through the darkness. A hot and sticky sensation soon engulfed him, almost the same heat that he felt when he visited the first medium. he could feel slimy hands reaching out to him, touching him, groping all over his body, almost slowing down his fall. He struggled to open his eyes but they seemed to be sealed shut. Gradually, a red glow penetrated through his eyelids and grew so intense that it made him scream in pain.
He finally hit ground. He wished that he didn't, for it seared through his flesh making him leap up onto his feet. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid that he may be blinded by the bright light that shone right into his eyes. In the darkness he could hear incessant screaming and moaning that seem to be emitting from all around him. The agony reflected in sounds was so vastly concrete that he could almost feel it. He felt something or someone going through him and he opened his eyes. He found himself amidst a crowd making its way towards a huge door built into a cliff that seemed to stretch to the heavens. Poh Kwang followed the face of the cliff up towards the sky. Instead of a bright blue sky, it was a burning red glow, filled with swirling black clouds which seemingly threatened to choke anyone who dares to stare at it. Strangely, everyone's heads were bowed as they trudge towards the entrance. All of them were dressed in modern clothes but some of it were tattered and torn. Some older people looked peaceful while the younger ones had tears in their eyes. Others were so gruesomely mutilated that it was impossible to tell if they were human.
Poh Kwang tried to tap an elderly person nearby but his hand went right through him instead. He tried again and again, turning to others instead, but all he did was pass right through them. He went forward and instead of bumping into them, he went right through them, his entire soul. He realized then that he was a ghost to these ghosts. He quickly went forward towards the door. Guarding the massive door were two giants, towering twice a person's height. Both had human bodies but one had the head of a horse while the other had the head of a cow. Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien, the infamous guards to the entrance of Hades. Niu-Tou was holding onto an axe, stained with what seems to be blood while Ma-Mien was holding onto a spear. They had eyes red like raging fire and they had muscles that could tear any souls apart. He shivered as their eyes scanned the souls that passed the entrance. His heart stopped when he saw Niu-Tou staring right at him
Then it happened. Niu-Tou snorted and let out a roar. Poh Kwang knew he was spotted and made a mad rush to get past the gates. niu-Tou and Ma-Mien were right behind him. The crowd hurriedly ran aside to let the giants through but as the both of them were huge, a few were trapped under their hoofs, crushed but whatever parts that remained intact, were still moving. As he went past the door, he realized that it was a fortress of rock behind the cliff walls with the sky still glowing red above. Right in front, a distant away he could see a hall and a black figure in it. On his left, next to the hall was another entrance. He headed straight for it. Poh Kwang was able to run right though the throng of souls, literally, and that was an advantage but the mere stride that the giants took greatly reduced the distance between their sharp weapons and his head. Niu-Tou swung his axe at him, meaning to chop off his neck but as he ducked, gushed out from the stumps that remained but the hands were still failing. A head landed right in front of his path and he could see the horror that was written all over it.
His mouth was still moving, crying for help but its plea was to get him out of hell. Poh Kwang knew he couldn't help. As he got nearer to the hall and made his turn towards to other entrance, he saw that the hall was actually an open court with a hideous man sitting upon a throne with two attendants next to him. As he got closer, Poh Kwang realized that he was not a man. The creature that sat high above the heads of souls had five eyes, two where it should be with one right between them and one each on its cheeks. It had a black smoke like mane that seemed to emit wisps of death. On the top of its head, it had four horns, two short ones in front and two longer ones towards the back. He had fangs protruding up from his thin lips and a hairy chest infested with maggots and worms. The two attendants were the 'patrols of the day' and the 'patrol of the night' and they were aptly dressed. Both wore long flowing robes, one was in white and the other black. They wore high hats that resembled that of a chefs but with Chinese inscriptions down the center of the hat. They were not much to look at for their eyes bulged from their sockets and their long tongue hung out, red with blood. Floating around them were little balls of fire that glowed not red but green, casting an eerie glow on them. When it saw Poh Kwang trying to escape from Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien, the creature on the throne immediately rose from his seat, displaying his full stature. He was even bigger than Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien put together. Poh Kwang shivered at the sight of this monstrosity but kept racing towards the entrance. From behind, Poh Kwang heard Ma-Mien snorting out to his master. He realized that the creature in front was none other than 'Guei Wang', the King of demons. The creature let out a scream that seemed to charge the raging sky above with energy. The thunder roared along with Guei Wang. Poh Kwang saw flashes of light from above illuminating the creature, showering him in an eerie light that only made it look more gruesome. From where he was standing, Guei Wang reached for Poh Kwang with his right hand, extending his long arm towards him. The sharp claws on his hand glittered in the flash of lightening that came down. However, he was too slow as Poh Kwang was running like the wind towards the entrance where all the souls were headed. Poh Kwang knew he had to get out of here fast.
Guei Wang let out another roar and almost instantly, a host of demons of all sorts materialized from the walls that surrounded the area and he soon found himself surrounded by the vile and slimy creatures. He was only about five feet away from the entrance when one of the grisly creatures blocked his path entirely. Poh Kwang tried hard to stop but the momentum carried him forward. His heart almost stopped as he went right through the monster. He almost froze from the icy cold feeling of the beast. The beast roared out as it failed to stop Poh Kwang. It sharply turned around and used its clawed hands to slash at Poh Kwang. Poh Kwang thought that the talons would merely go through him just like everything else. He kept on running. Suddenly he felt weak and cold. He turned around to see what was happening. What he saw terrified him. The beast was holding on to his shirt and green fluid was dripping from it. He shivered at the realization that his life clung onto that bit of cloth.
'Shen ren wu jin!' (the living shall not enter!0 Guei Wang finally shouted to Poh Kwang from where he was still standing. With that, a bolt of lighting from the sky stopped Poh Kwang dead in his tracks. The ground in front of him was burnt to a char. The gate was only inches away and he could almost touch it. But by then, all the demons have already gathered around him. 'Bring him to me!' Guei Wang commanded the demons. As the demons were about to lay their sharp talons on him, amidst the screams and moans that filled the air, a sharp shriek cut across the din, so sharp that it momentarily distracted the demons and even made Guei Wang turn his massive head. Poh Kwang knew this was it, the moment he was praying for and quickly fell on his knees and hurriedly ran past the demons. Guei Wang turned away from the distractions and immediately sent another bolt of lightning from the sky to stop Poh Kwang but it was too late, he had already run past the gates to the inevitable river.
As he ran past, he looked back one last time to find out who was the kind soul who distracted them and save him. In the crowd he spotted a familiar face, a smile, a pair of eyes that glistened in the dark. A sense of unexplained sadness engulfed him as he realized who it was. A foul river of blood flowed past him. The stench form it was overwhelming. Poh Kwang knew this was Nai-he, the river of inevitability that Toh Tuck mentioned. All souls will have to cross this river to be judged. A big long spanned the river. The problem was that it was only one foot wide and the chance of slipping was great. The log was filled with souls walking along it to the other side. Poh Kwang joined the line. As he was about to step onto the log, a pair of hands suddenly appeared and held onto him, guiding him and saving him from falling. He saw to his pleasant surprise, a smiling boy no more than five to six years old holding his left and a sweet girl holding to his right. He looked ahead and saw some more souls guided by such children. Some however, were less fortunate and had to walk and balance themselves precariously on the log to get to the other side.
Poh Kwang witnessed a few of them falling into the bubbling river of blood, they were immediately devoured by serpent like dragons. With one snap of their large jaws, the body was bitten into two and the falling pieces of flesh were eaten by other smaller serpents in the river. The boy noticed Poh Kwang squirming at the sight and softly said, 'Don't pity them. They were wicked man in their lifetime. This is what they deserve. You are not, that is why we are helping you across this river.' 'What's on the other side?' Poh Kwang asked. 'The registrar of life and death,' the girl answered. 'You will be meeting Imperial Judge Chin Kuang to decide your state of rebirth.' With that statement, Poh Kwang landed on the other side of the river. The two children vanished just as they appeared, but before they did, Poh Kwang caught a sneer from out in the corner of the boy's mouth. An unexplainable chill went up his spine. Before long, Poh Kwang was in another court. This time, it was more gruesome. There were a lot of people huddled in fear. They were not afraid of the judge as he looked dignified in his traditional official robes. Neither were they terrified of the bearded official standing next to the judge, nor the young man or the beast with the human body.
What made them quake with fear was the sight of a man being hoisted above them. The middle aged man looked quite shaken and terror was written all over his face. he had a big tattoo on his back and Poh Kwang spotted a few numbers next to it. Obviously the man belonged to the triad. The beast man pierced a hook through his lower back and a heavy weight of sin was tied to his hands and feet. Shortly after he was hoisted into place, he began to scream, his back was totally bent and snapped into two. He must have done quite a lot of bad deeds in his life. He was let down and the sentence was passed to sent him for torture in the eight chamber. Two demons then dragged the man away. Poh Kwang quietly slipped behind the crowd and made his way towards the entrance on his right, where the man was led to by the two demons. Poh Kwang followed behind them.
A mirrored passageway opened before Poh Kwang once he passed the entrance. He did not look at the reflections on the walls as he knew this must be the mirror of sin where all the sins in life would be reflected as one is made to look into it. He kept his eyes on the two demons to make sure that they do not know that they were being followed. The temptation to look at the wall mirror was overwhelming and Poh Kwang could not help but turned his head for a moment for a sneak preview of his sins. What stared back at him was not his own reflection but that of his friend's Gabriel, the one whom he copied his assignment from during his varsity days. They were not tutorial mates but would normally sit next to each other during lectures. It happened that one day, Poh Kwang forgot the deadline for his Social Science assignment and instead of burning midnight oil to finish it, he simply borrowed the completed assignment from his friend and plagiarized it. Instead of him being blamed, Gabriel was accused instead for plagiarism and was expelled. Poh Kwang had to lie to protect himself but it was merely survival. He had a reputation to keep in school as being diligent and bright. It was a pity that his friend did not have such a reputation to upkeep.
Poh Kwang felt a pang of sorrow as he witnessed the expulsion of his friend from school and how he worked in a small trading firm as a storeman. His entire future ruined because he was kind to Poh Kwang. Slowly the image of Gabriel changed into that of Poh Kwang himself but naked in bed pushing himself against someone else. Slowly, the face of the other person came into focus, it was Lorina, his first love. They met at the last party Toh Tuck threw before he became a monk and since then, they had been going steady for about a year or so. Being a staunch Catholic, she denied him any physical pleasures and always had marriage in mind. That was the last thing on Poh Kwang's mind. Towards the end of his own housewarming party, he was slightly tipsy after all the liquor and shortly after everyone left, he forced himself on her. She fought back but because of his brute strength, she was subdued and finally let him have his way.
They made love. She left that morning out of his house and ran out of his life. He tried to patch things back but she would not even speak to him and avoided him totally. The image shifted again. Poh Kwang closed his eyes to stop the images from flooding his mind. Feeling remorse from his actions, he trudge on along the passageway, no longer daring to look into the wall that reflected his deepest fears. he concentrated instead now on the two demons in front of him. Soon the passageway opened to a gigantic cavern where all forms of torture took place. Screams ensued from the mouths of those who were tortured. The voices echoed through the entire underworld. The cavern was dark and the only light eminating was from fires at various points. A river ran through what seems to be an underground desert. each section of this place was used for different forms of torture and there were a lot of souls undergoing it. He was standing on a staircase landing. The steps led all the way down into the depths of the torture chamber. He could see a lot of souls and demons from where he was standing. At a distance, he saw another open court with what seems to be a man presiding over it. There was a big bonfire where a crowd of souls gathered in front of a judge.
He made his way in the dark slowly and carefully, along the edge of the landing where he wouldn't be seen. He had to be careful not to walk too close to the walls as they were dry and hot to the touch. Inch by inch, he made his way along the side of the giant cavern. As he moved closer to the court, he could distinguish the features of the judge. He was too terrifying to even gaze upon. His upper torso was bare and the mane he had around his neck was in turfs. Tusks protruded from his mouth. He wore only a cape tied with a chain of human skulls in the center. In his right hand he held a mace. There he sat like an emperor as names were read and sentences were passed by the judge pointing his mace in the direction of the torture the poor soul was to undergo. It would have been difficult to find anyone in this mass but Kai Seng's tattoo made things a lot simpler because his entire body, every inch of it, was emblazoned with a picture of a dragon. even from afar his body would be easy to identify.
Poh Kwang scanned through the entire area. In one corner, people were being strung upside down by demons and blood drained from their bodies from one cut on each of their neck. The cut was expertly done by a larger demon with a butcher's knife who ensured that they were kept alive while their blood flowed out from their bodies. The blood was heartily drank by the demons who stood underneath those who were hung up. The shower of blood and their thirsty open mouths made them look more demonic than ever. The stench of blood filled the air and assailed Poh Kwang's nostrils even from where he was standing. In another section, demons were busy pounding up humans in what seemed to be a huge mortar. The people were thrown in and a giant demon welding a stone club was pounding away at them. Those who were freshly thrown in tried to escape by clawing their way out of the mortar but the sides of the mortar was slippery with blood. Blood that spurted from those pounded into a pulp.
The grisly sight of pounded human flesh and blood made Poh Kwang want to puke. The pounded flesh was then gathered by another smaller demon using a giant ladle. The mess was then carted off to another section of the underworld. Poh Kwang could not even imagine where it was headed for what it could be used for. He edged on towards the other side of the cavern. Down below he saw a small knoll with spears, knives and sharp metal pieces protruding from it. on this knoll painted red with blood were numerous bodies. Demons were hurling the bodies of men and women onto this mountain of swords. they just kept on hurling them onto the sharp edges, drawing blood. Those whose bodies were badly mangled were left on the knoll until they were drained at blood and life. Poh Kwang could still detect some moving and writhing in agony with swords penetrating through their entire bodies. A group of smaller demons were constantly clearing the mountain of bodies while the stronger ones kept on piling it with bodies. next to this hill of swords was a large cauldron boiling with blood and humans. People were thrown in and slowly cooked into a mess of meat.
All their bodies were bloated and on the top of this blood filled cauldron was a mess of eyeballs, fingers and other parts of the body. All cooked flesh was torn into pieces by a demon who constantly stirred the pot with a menacing grin on its face as some tried to swim and stay afloat in the stench. He would use his ladle to push and keep their heads under the boiling blood. A snort would issue from his fanged mouth once in a while. Kai Seng would not sentenced here. Poh Kwang had to proceed to the other chambers. As he shuffled towards the other entrance to a passageway, he beheld a sight that really made him puke. For right below him, he could see blood spewing from people who were being chopped into pieces by demons welding butcher's knives. Their parts, some still moving, were thrown into a giant basket and carted away. Even the bravest of men would quiver at such a gruesome sight. He could not stand it anymore and threw up over the edge of the landing, right onto a small demon's head below. There was an immediate growl and it only took the demon a fraction of a second to spot Poh Kwang on the edge trying to hide in the dark.
Poh Kwang made a bolt from the exit as the small demon tried to get the attention of the rest. Before anything happened, Poh Kwang was out of the place. behind hi he could hear the noise and commotion growing. Hopefully no other demon spotted him and no demon would believe that poor little devil. The temperature soared as he managed his was pass the passageway, which was bigger than the previous one. He was then getting quite used to hiding behind boulders and between crevices to avoid being seen by demons which dragged souls around. Before long he turned into another chamber. his nostrils were hit by the strong smell of sulfur The entire chamber was filled with cries of agony even sharper than that of the previous one. As his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit chamber, he could see demons piercing spears into the ribs of souls. Some others were gouging out the eyes with their claws and the demon nearest to Poh Kwang was scraping the face of a soul with its claws.
The terror in the eyes of the poor victim was beyond what Poh Kwang had ever seen. Blood dripped where the scratches were and the peeling skin exposed the veins and flesh. Somewhere further back, Poh Kwang could make out hand and foot racks with chained souls attended by demons that pulled out their fingers and toe nails. Poh Kwang winced as he imagine the pain. Suddenly, Poh Kwang felt something moving below him. He dropped his head and saw to his horror that the entire floor was filled with insects which were biting through his shoes. He could not scream as it would mean another group of demons chasing him through hell. He quickly shook off that insects and exited the place. He was now at a loss. There was no way to find Kai Seng without a guide who knew the place. He was searching for a needle in a haystack as there were too many dead people around and... It suddenly occurred to him that he pocketed the notes that he scribbled during Ton Tuck's discussion on hell. He immediately dug into his pockets and flipped through the notes. He recalled the fact that Kai Seng committed a murder and robbery. If he was the judge and Lord of Hades, where would he send such a foul person? He thought to himself and searched through the notes to find an answer.
In his list of hell, he came across numerous types from each different school of thoughts. There were in fact more than the common belief of eighteen levels of hell. Some even believe there were twenty level of hell. he was almost in despair. Nothing matched the ones he saw. He was really trapped right now. However, as he read on, he noticed that a word came flashing across. 'Avici', 'Avitchi', 'Ah-pi', it would seem that it was a common idea to have this hell. He read on. Avitchi - men of the worst crimes are punished here in this flaming iron city. Avici - those who have killed their fathers or mothers will be burned in this hell as if they were kindling. Ah-pi - receives all who committed the five capital sins: taking a life, thieving debauchery, lewdness and lying. Such sinners will receives damnation immediately. Well, Kai Seng fitted the one described as Avici... somehow it sounded familiar. Yes! It was the word that the first medium he visited uttered when she was under a trance. He knew then where he was to head to but the question remained, how is he going to get there without a guide?
As if he was destined to go there, he heard a scream along the passageway. He quickly hid behind a big boulder as two demons dragged a soul struggling to escape. 'I am innocent! I did not kill him! I swear! It was an accident!' he kept on shouting to the demons that pulled him by his two wrists which were already all bloody, cut by their sharp claws. The demons were about Poh Kwang's size but grotesquely deformed. Both of them had only patches of fur on them. One of them was skinny and had blood red skin. Its head was bald and looked like a blood covered skull with the exception of a single horn growing from its forehead. 'Shut up!' One demon barked at him as it was obvious it was sick and tired of his whining. 'You took a life, a human life and that's that,' the other one answered. This one was stout and had two horns and had a mane of green hair growing around its neck. Its voice was gruff as it spoke. 'Whether you wanted to kill him or not, murderers are to be sent to Avici.' The blood skinned one started laughing. 'Yeah! Avici. Even we would not go there unless we have to. It is the place where even devils dare not thread,' he growled. 'Thanks to you that we have to go there,' the one with the green mane snorted. 'So shut up before we eat you up here and now!' The threat silenced the man but it did not stop the fear from showing on his face. he was crying like a baby as they dragged him further down the passageway. Poh Kwang thanked the heavens as he started to follow them. The path that they took descended lower and lower into the depths. Along the way, he went through various chambers and halls that dealt with punishments to the wicked sinners. The further down he traveled the more gruesome the punishments. There were chambers where people were tied to poles and set aflame, others where they were put onto beds of iron spikes and beds of hot flames, while some others were roasted. Further along the route, Poh Kwang saw a women being skinned alive, supposedly for being vain and men were being slowly sawed into pieces for hypocrisy.
Most of the hell were hot but there were distinctly cold hell as well where people were frozen and broken into pieces. They soon reached the lowest level where the stairways ended and there were no more entrances other then the one they came from. Before Poh Kwang was a sea of fire and a bridge that spanned across the sea to an iron fortress in the center. He could see numerous columns sticking out from the sea of fire, each with a few bodies that seemed to have partially melted into it. The screams from these victims were beyond normal and it sent Poh Kwang a few steps back. He had never heard such desperate cries for help in his entire life. He stared down and saw to his horror that the people were not charred or singed and were completely intact even though the flames engulfed them. The pain must be immeasurable. Avici... where the most unmentionable criminals are punished.
The demons started on their way towards the fortress. Poh Kwang was completely lost as the place was too big to search for one lost soul. It was folly to even try to look for Kai Seng in here. Now he wished he had not come at all. Lost in his own thoughts, he did not noticed the quiet gloom that was casting over him. The shadow soon blanketed him, as soon as he realized it, a shiver crept right up his spine. He turned his head back and looked up, only to find Guei Wang staring down at him. He immediately felt as if death was staring at him straight in the face and he was doomed to die a terrible death. He found to his surprise that he was completely surrounded by demons again, all of them eyeing him menacingly. It was as if all of them wanted to tear him up into shreds and devour him. Suddenly, Guei Wang grinned at him. 'So... Poh Kwang how was your tour of hades?' he growled. Poh Kwang was at a loss of words. Guei Wang jnew his name and exactly where he was... 'You are looking for Kai Seng, aren't you?' he snapped his fingers and one of the columns rose from the sea of flames.
Kai Seng was attached to the people and was screaming in pain as the flames leapt up and encircled him. 'This is Avici... no one gets out of here alive. No one.' Guei Wang snorted. 'Kai Seng!' Poh Kwang managed to shout out to him. 'Poh Kwang!' he answered back. 'Get out of here! Get out!' 'Go on, ask him where the money is.' Guei Wang said abruptly. Poh Kwang was taken aback. Guei Wang knew everything. 'I know exactly why you are here and I know every move you have made. This is Hades and my demons are everywhere. You cannot escape me.' 'Why?!' Poh Kwang burst out, after realizing that he was left alone on purpose to find his way down here to Avici and maybe even guided here by the demons. 'Why did you set me up?' 'Because I want your soul.'
'My...' Poh Kwang stopped once he realized Guei Wang's plans. 'You see, I checked with the registrar of life and death. What you do not know is that a day in hell mean fifty human years.' Poh Kwang was stunned. He was here for almost three hours already. That would mean... 'You have been in a coma for about two years now. Your mother has already decided to let you go.' 'No... this can't be true. Tell me it isn't true!' Poh Kwang shouted. 'Toh Tuck didn't tell me about this!' He almost screamed. 'Toh Tuck is not dead, he can't possibly tell you what he has not experienced. All his knowledge is from books. That can be very deadly.' Guei Wang said gruffly. 'By the way, did he tell you that Avici is also known as 'Wu jian di-yu', the hell of eternal damnation? No visitors are allowed in here because no one is allowed to go out. You see, what you don't know is someone has already killed you. 'Why did you come?' Kai Seng interrupted, shouting from where he was. 'I could not find your goddamn money!' Poh Kwang screamed back. 'And a promise is a promise,' he added.
'Someone hit me from behind and took it, before I could meet Ah Teck!' Kai Seng shouted. 'Would you both like to know who did it?' Guei Wang laughed out as he snapped his fingers. Another column rose up from the sea of flames. Tied on it was Ah Teck! The very man whom Kai Seng robbed. He stole the money and killed Kai Seng! Why?! 'He was afraid that Kai Seng would use the fact that he robbed and murdered someone for him and blackmailed him for certain favors. He could not believed that anyone could go through all that just because they are sworn brothers. But because he took Kai Seng's life, he's now paying for it,' Guei Wang answered the question. 'Ah Teck used the money to pay for the bills but was found out and hanged a year later, after you went into a coma,' he added. 'But I know his sister. I visited them before I came here. If he used the money to save her, she should be alive. His sister is dead! She is at the entrance... she was the one who screamed to save me! If he paid for the surgery... how...?'
'She killed herself when she found out that her brother murdered and robbed someone to save her. Funny world you live in isn't it?' Guei Wang laughed. A feeling of despair swept over Poh Kwang. He knew then that it was all over. Everything that they had planned and worked for had failed. He dropped onto his knees and broke down in sobs. 'Tsk, tsk, tsk Poh Kwang, don't you know better than to try and cheat the devil? Don't pretend to be so naive and kind! You intended to learn the whereabouts of loot and then take it from both of them. That is why you came!' Guei Wang had exposed Poh Kwang's devious plot. Poh Kwang was completely taken aback. No one else knew. Only he knew about his plans. He opened his mouth to deny the matter but it was too late. No one cheats the devil and gets away with it. With one stroke of his clawed hand, Guei Wang dug it into his mouth and from out of his claws, worms and maggots crawled their way like ants to honey into Poh Kwang's orifice, eating their way into his stomach.
Blood spewed from Poh Kwang's mouth and flowed down his throat, filling his lungs and depriving him of air, choking him. Poh Kwang struggled with all his might to get Guei Wang's hand out of his mouth. He grabbed it with both his hands but as they touched Guei Wang's slimy skin, they began to melt right before his eyes and hideous worms crawled out of every pore in his skin. Guei Wang shipped his hand out and along with it, Poh Kwang saw his tongue, red with blood, torn right out from his mouth. He screamed but no voice came from between his lips. He choked and threw up instead all over the ground. Instead of spew, the vermins from his stomach squirmed amongst his blood. 'This is for even thinking of lying to me!' Guei Wang roared. 'And this... is for for greed and hypocrisy!' With that, Guei Wang raised his hands. Between them a cloud of darkness formed, drawing in the air around it until it became a monster of unimaginable horror. Totally deformed, it looked like a person inside out. Its muscles were like intestines. Its neck was stretched far from its body. And it had eyes that bulged from its tiny skull like head, as if they were falling.
It had no feet or hands but worm like tentacles that covered his formless body. Its mouth was open, exposing green, fang like teeth. 'Behold, this is the true form of greed!' And with that he let the monster loose. It gave a blood curdling screamed as it tore down onto Poh Kwang who was helpless at this stage. It landed onto Poh Kwang who was a blanket of ice. There was a nerve numbling feeling as Poh Kwang fought to get it off. However, because of its formlessness it completely engulfed Poh Kwang in its gello-like body. In the dark bowels of such a vile monster, Poh Kwang felt an unknown pain, not like the external physical pain that he felt earlier when Guei Wang tore his tongue out but a pain that sank right into his soul. An overwhelming sense of sorrow filled his heart, a feeling that flowed from his repentance. Tears formed in his eyes as he felt the pain that he gave his parents when he demanded his own way, the pain that his friends felt when he stabbed them in the back, the pain that everyone felt when he wronged them.
The pain caused by the follies of being a human, concentrated in essence in just a short span of time. The feeling tore right into his soul. Soon, the unbearable feeling of grief passed as the formless creature moved in. The protruding eyes on its deformed face stared right into Poh Kwang. In its deformity, Poh Kwang saw a sense of sadness in its eyes. right before his eyes, the head burst and split into hundreds of pieces. Poh Kwang soon discovered himself face to face with a multitude of souls. All was crying out to him to save them as they were trapped in their own greed and misdeeds. How could he possibly help them when he was destined to become one of them? Slowly, he felt his own form dissipating, joining the rest in his own true form. Slowly, it grew darker. in the darkness, he felt warm again. The warmth came from a sense of hatred. A hatred for humans. A hatred for being human once.
He wished that humans never walked this earth and contaminate it with their evils. He felt as if he needed to cleanse the earth of its vermins; humans. It was the voice of Guei Wang. 'Welcome back, my servant, welcome back home.'
The altar was big and took up a lot of wall space. It was the centerpiece of the entire room. On the altar were numerous statues of Chinese gods, some of which looked like demons with their menacing looks. She was not much to look at either. Pale and ashen, she look pathetically fragile and weak. He guessed her age to be around her late thirties. She asked for the particulars of the dead. Fortunately, Poh Kwang had the particulars. It took him some time and a lot of effort to get them from Kai Seng's mother, as the very mention of his name would send her weeping. After Kai Seng's particulars were given, the medium converted the birth date and time to the Chinese calendar system and began to chant, and sharply after the chant, she stamped her foot on the floor a few times. Poh Kwang was expecting Kai Seng's spirit to speak through her. However, the medium fell back from the chair instead and collapsed onto the floor. She began writhing in agony. Poh Kwang was too much in shock to do anything. Suddenly, an unseen force pushed him back towards the wall and he felt as if he was pinned there. An unexplained heat filled the room. It was as if the entire house was caught in a raging fire.
As she writhed on the ground, a word kept issuing from her lips, 'Avi-something', a word he could not understand. After what seemed to be an eternity, the heat subsided. She stopped her moaning and simply lay there on the floor unmoving and drenched in her own perspiration. Poh Kwang wiped the sweat off his face. By then, his entire shirt was wet as well. He quickly went over to help her sit up but was rudely pushed aside. Without a word, she just ushered him out, warning him never to summon such a spirit up ever again. While he was leaving, he could hear her chanting, in between, he heard his name being mentioned. He sought another medium, this time to ask questions. Since he could not bear the employ a medium to summon the spirit to talk to him directly, he needed to learn how to get in touch with the spirit personally.
He was taught a few tricks by this medium. Some of these required a lot of courage. Poh Kwang was not courageous by nature but he was running out of time and was at wit's end. He needed to talk to Kai Seng fast, even if it meant risking his own life. His first attempt to personally contact him was to ask the medium to open his 'Ying Yang' eye. The medium was reluctant to do it, as it was dangerous. It is believed that once this eye is opened, a person could see the spirits that still wander on this earth. Normally, the sights of these spirits would scare the person half to death, but Poh Kwang was in dire straits. He knew that this medium was known to take 'tokens' for 'favors' and he came prepared. It did not take long, or much, for the medium to be convinced about the urgency. When the medium asked for the reason, Poh Kwang just shrugged it off as having a need to find the spirit so that he can ask it a few questions about a certain inheritance. 'Let me warn you that if you should see spirits other than the one you are looking for, do not look at them in the eyes or else...' the medium warned him.
'What?' Poh Kwang asked, half afraid what the answer would be. 'Or else you will be haunted by it. Since you are not a 'tao shi' you would not be able to rid yourself of them, so be careful.' 'How can I tell... tell...' '...if it is a spirit?' the medium interrupted him. 'Trust me, you will know, but ignore them and do not in any way let them know that you have seen them,' the medium said as he took a 'fu', a strip of yellow paper with chants written on it, and burnt it above a bowl of water. He mixed the ashes and took two leaves from the altar that they were standing, next to and dipped them into the bowl. With the wet leaves, he began a chant and placed them onto Poh Kwang's closed eyes. After the chant ended, he asked Poh Kwang to open his eyes. 'What I have done is just to open your third eye or 'tian yian' for a short while, by tomorrow it will close by itself. Hopefully you will not go mad by then.' These were the parting words he had for Poh Kwang.
As he stepped out of the medium's house, The sight of all the spirits that wandered the streets of the night assailed him. They appeared to him in all shapes and sizes. Some looked human while others were grotesquely deformed, probably died of an accident or was in actual fact, demons or devils. What they were doing sent a chill down his spine. At a nearby bus stop, he saw a spirit sitting on a person's shoulders, while another was licking a lady's arm with its long green tongue. What was strange was that the people behave normally, not knowing a thing, as they couldn't see or feel what these spirits were up to. Poh Kwang ignored them but nonetheless he could not help having goosebumps. He almost threw up when he spotted a headless spirit wandering with his entrails hanging out from his abdomen. He wondered how this guy died. he knew then, why some people go insane once they opened their third eye. It takes a lot of guts to be able to live with such sights. Even though he ignored them, he could sense that they were watching him. He flagged for a cab. A taxi with a lighted top slowed down and stopped right in front of him. He stepped into the taxi but to his surprise he was sitting right next to a teenage girl. He knew immediately that she was not human as she was sitting on thin air, leaving no impression on the soft cushioned chair. However, he had no choice but to ignore her as he was already in the cab and did not want to shock the taxi driver. He asked the taxi driver to head for the 'kopitiam' where he and Kai Seng normally have their dinner and drinks.
The girl was staring out the window. He did not look into her eyes but saw her face. She did look sweet but her face was one of sadness. They entered a dimly lit lane, a shortcut that the driver took. In the darkness, he could see in momentary flashes, her face, as the streetlights came in through the window. It glowed an eerie green as the light filtered through. He could see blood trickling down the side of her mouth and eyes bulging out from her sockets. Her clothes were torn ans she had a very deep gash around her neck, so deep that it almost seemed as if it separated her head from her body. Poh Kwang's hair stood on ends but he quickly composed himself and remained seated without moving until he reached his destination and got off the cab.
He took a glance around the place. There seemed to be a lot of spirits in there, other than those in dispensed from bottles. Kai Seng's spirit however, was nowhere to be seen. Poh Kwang spent the rest of the night going to their normal haunts, avoiding all the ghosts ans spirits that still wandered around. His search was futile. He went back to his flat in Bedok. As the lift door opened, What he saw made him take a step back, for he could see a lady with a torn and blood stained dress standing alone inside. he did not dare to look straight into her eyes but in swift glance, he noticed that there was a trickle of blood from the corner of her lips. He saw that there were stab wounds in her breasts and abdomen. Blood seeped from the worm infested wounds. She must be the victim of the rape and murder case a few years back, before he had shifted into this apartment. He could not just run, for she would know then that he had seen her. He thought fast. With a snap of his fingers, he turned around and immediately headed for the mailbox. Just the excuse to catch the next lift. He saved a sigh of relief as the lift door closed as he was 'searching' for the mail box key. He took to the stairs instead. It was not much of a climb to the eighth floor. Anyway, he needed the exercise, he thought to himself.
He was hesitant to enter the hall to his five room flat but he remembered that his mother had convinced him to get a priest to cleanse the place before moving in. Even though he cursed her then, he was thanking her with all his heart as he turned the doorknob to his house. He did not sleep well that night as he kept seeing the wandering spirits that filled his mind. He tried to think of something good instead. He reminded himself of his mission and the urgency of it. Kai Seng was a good friend and above all, a good confidante. They got to know each other in school. Kai Seng was the gangleader and he was the 'goody two shoes'. Kai Seng was never good in his studies and normally would have to stoop to copying in the exams. He was good at that though, and would normally get a passable grade. Poh Kwang was the brains and by some god willed coincidence, they were both paired up to sit together and they had to bear with each other for the whole of their final year. Somehow they managed to get along fine, Kai Seng kept teasing him but Poh Kwang knew that he was envious. It showed in his mannerisms. They began to talk more that was when he found out Kai Seng's weakness for Chinese poetry. One day, he found Kai Seng had a sneak read of his Chinese poetry book. Of course he denied everything and threatened to whack Poh Kwang up if he should spread any rumors about a tough guy reading such sissy stuff.
As time passed, Kai Seng began to expose more of his soft side to Poh Kwang and soon they got to be very good friends. They would spend time with each other, away from Kai Seng's gang, and talk about poetry and life. Their views differed due to their different upbringing but their common love tor the written word was enough to bond them for years to come. Even after they left school they would meet and chat for hours. Kai Seng soon become a bouncer in a discotheque while Poh Kang finished his studies in the University and became a social worker. Ironically, instead of Poh Kwang counselling Kai Seng, the latter was more of a help to Poh Kwang as he was able to reveal the thoughts and ideas behind a delinquent mind. The entire incident started when one of Kai Seng's gang member, Ah Teck, was in a financial crisis. Ah Teck's sister was critically ill and he needed money, a lot of money for surgery. As none of the members were well off and Kai Seng was the gangleader, he felt he had to do something, even if it meant robbing someone. he told Poh kwang about his plot to rob his 'good for nothing' manager. His plan was meticulous, even Poh Kwang was amazed by the intricate details.
As an alternative if the plan should fail, Kai Seng wanted Poh Kwang to ensure that the money would end up with Ah Teck. He made Poh Kwang swear to it. Poh Kwang as was his nature, tried to think alternatives to get money and tried to convince Kai Seng that it was mot worth the risk. His advice fell on deaf ears. Poh kwang knew that once Kai Seng set his mind on something, even the gods could not change it. As a friend, Poh Kwang knew that he had to help him succeed, even if it meant imprisonment. To Poh Kwang, even that would be better than to lose such a friend and confidante. Poh Kwang did not know when Kai Seng would execute the plan, but he soon got to know when there was a report in the Lain He Zhoa Bao concerning a murder and robbery at a local disco. It seemed that Kai Seng's plan was not foolproof as the newspaper reported that his dead body was found somewhere near the discotheque. The strange thing was that the money meant for the salary and bonuses of the disco's employees were missing.
No body was able to recover the money. Even Poh Kwang failed to find it in the spot Kai Seng said he would stash it. However, a man's word must be honored. Poh Kwang must find the loot and pass it to Ah Teck, even if it meant he had to go to hell for the answer. 'There are many versions of hells. In our scriptures, it records that there are generally three types and within each there are numerous hells, each to serve a different punishment.' 'Hmm... that complicate matters... How does one go to hell, short of dying of course.' 'There are many unorthodox means but I would advice you against such thoughts. Why is it that you are interested in these things anyway?' 'Erm... I am writing a short story for a local publisher,' Poh Kwang had to lie to get the information he wanted from Toh Tuck, his staunch Buddhist friend.
'Well in that case, there shouldn't be any problem in telling you...' Poh Kwang took out his notepad and started scribbling away as his friend rambled on about death, hell and ways to tour Hades. 'Well there are many versions of hell, the Christians have their own. The Taoists have theirs and so do the Buddhists, I guess as a Chinese, you would be more interested in the 18 levels of hell...' He went on to explain about the different punishments a person would get in hell and the judges that ruled it. He spared no details in the descriptions. Somehow, Toh Tuck friend seemed to be very well versed in this field as he had attempted suicide, before ending up as a Buddhist monk. It would seem that Toh Tuck was facinated with death and did some research before his attempt at ending his own life. His views were enlightening but it was the methods suggested to get to hell that Poh Kwang was interested in. He jotted down the various ways, from phone calls and mediums, to trips to Hong Kong's gateway to hell. Toh Tuck confessed that these methods were not safe, if workable at all and none of them are Buddhistic by nature. Only two methods seemed to entice him. Poh Kwang had to extricate himself towards the end of the chat as Toh Tuck started blabbing about the way of the Buddha and enlightenment. Poh Kwang already got what he needed to begin his descent.
Poh Kwang's thoughts were broken by a horrible laughter that broke over the other side of the phone. It sounded much more like a horse snorting than laughter. 'Good try, but he has already been sentenced...' the voice said gruffly over the sounds of wailing from behind. Another burst of that horrible laughter and the phone went dead. Poh Kwang was really in a jam now. He has tried almost everything in the book. There was only method left. It has to work. He stared at the picture of his friend on the tombstone for a while longer before making his way back home in his Morris Minor.
The following night, just before the stroke of twelve, Poh Kwang laid on his own bed, his eyes set on the clock. 'This will work, this will work,' he kept telling himself as he prepared himself for the ritual. His bedroom was pitch dark with only the moonlight streaming in from the window. The pale moonlight somehow added a macabre touch to the entire setting. Poh Kwang shivered a little in the cold night air. At exactly the stroke of midnight, he began, first bending his thumbs and placing them behind his ears while turning in the specific directions, then placing his left thumb on his solar plexus and turning it again in the way told to him. He close his eyes. Darkness soon devoured him. He knew he was falling through the darkness. A hot and sticky sensation soon engulfed him, almost the same heat that he felt when he visited the first medium. he could feel slimy hands reaching out to him, touching him, groping all over his body, almost slowing down his fall. He struggled to open his eyes but they seemed to be sealed shut. Gradually, a red glow penetrated through his eyelids and grew so intense that it made him scream in pain.
He finally hit ground. He wished that he didn't, for it seared through his flesh making him leap up onto his feet. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid that he may be blinded by the bright light that shone right into his eyes. In the darkness he could hear incessant screaming and moaning that seem to be emitting from all around him. The agony reflected in sounds was so vastly concrete that he could almost feel it. He felt something or someone going through him and he opened his eyes. He found himself amidst a crowd making its way towards a huge door built into a cliff that seemed to stretch to the heavens. Poh Kwang followed the face of the cliff up towards the sky. Instead of a bright blue sky, it was a burning red glow, filled with swirling black clouds which seemingly threatened to choke anyone who dares to stare at it. Strangely, everyone's heads were bowed as they trudge towards the entrance. All of them were dressed in modern clothes but some of it were tattered and torn. Some older people looked peaceful while the younger ones had tears in their eyes. Others were so gruesomely mutilated that it was impossible to tell if they were human.
Poh Kwang tried to tap an elderly person nearby but his hand went right through him instead. He tried again and again, turning to others instead, but all he did was pass right through them. He went forward and instead of bumping into them, he went right through them, his entire soul. He realized then that he was a ghost to these ghosts. He quickly went forward towards the door. Guarding the massive door were two giants, towering twice a person's height. Both had human bodies but one had the head of a horse while the other had the head of a cow. Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien, the infamous guards to the entrance of Hades. Niu-Tou was holding onto an axe, stained with what seems to be blood while Ma-Mien was holding onto a spear. They had eyes red like raging fire and they had muscles that could tear any souls apart. He shivered as their eyes scanned the souls that passed the entrance. His heart stopped when he saw Niu-Tou staring right at him
Then it happened. Niu-Tou snorted and let out a roar. Poh Kwang knew he was spotted and made a mad rush to get past the gates. niu-Tou and Ma-Mien were right behind him. The crowd hurriedly ran aside to let the giants through but as the both of them were huge, a few were trapped under their hoofs, crushed but whatever parts that remained intact, were still moving. As he went past the door, he realized that it was a fortress of rock behind the cliff walls with the sky still glowing red above. Right in front, a distant away he could see a hall and a black figure in it. On his left, next to the hall was another entrance. He headed straight for it. Poh Kwang was able to run right though the throng of souls, literally, and that was an advantage but the mere stride that the giants took greatly reduced the distance between their sharp weapons and his head. Niu-Tou swung his axe at him, meaning to chop off his neck but as he ducked, gushed out from the stumps that remained but the hands were still failing. A head landed right in front of his path and he could see the horror that was written all over it.
His mouth was still moving, crying for help but its plea was to get him out of hell. Poh Kwang knew he couldn't help. As he got nearer to the hall and made his turn towards to other entrance, he saw that the hall was actually an open court with a hideous man sitting upon a throne with two attendants next to him. As he got closer, Poh Kwang realized that he was not a man. The creature that sat high above the heads of souls had five eyes, two where it should be with one right between them and one each on its cheeks. It had a black smoke like mane that seemed to emit wisps of death. On the top of its head, it had four horns, two short ones in front and two longer ones towards the back. He had fangs protruding up from his thin lips and a hairy chest infested with maggots and worms. The two attendants were the 'patrols of the day' and the 'patrol of the night' and they were aptly dressed. Both wore long flowing robes, one was in white and the other black. They wore high hats that resembled that of a chefs but with Chinese inscriptions down the center of the hat. They were not much to look at for their eyes bulged from their sockets and their long tongue hung out, red with blood. Floating around them were little balls of fire that glowed not red but green, casting an eerie glow on them. When it saw Poh Kwang trying to escape from Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien, the creature on the throne immediately rose from his seat, displaying his full stature. He was even bigger than Niu-Tou and Ma-Mien put together. Poh Kwang shivered at the sight of this monstrosity but kept racing towards the entrance. From behind, Poh Kwang heard Ma-Mien snorting out to his master. He realized that the creature in front was none other than 'Guei Wang', the King of demons. The creature let out a scream that seemed to charge the raging sky above with energy. The thunder roared along with Guei Wang. Poh Kwang saw flashes of light from above illuminating the creature, showering him in an eerie light that only made it look more gruesome. From where he was standing, Guei Wang reached for Poh Kwang with his right hand, extending his long arm towards him. The sharp claws on his hand glittered in the flash of lightening that came down. However, he was too slow as Poh Kwang was running like the wind towards the entrance where all the souls were headed. Poh Kwang knew he had to get out of here fast.
Guei Wang let out another roar and almost instantly, a host of demons of all sorts materialized from the walls that surrounded the area and he soon found himself surrounded by the vile and slimy creatures. He was only about five feet away from the entrance when one of the grisly creatures blocked his path entirely. Poh Kwang tried hard to stop but the momentum carried him forward. His heart almost stopped as he went right through the monster. He almost froze from the icy cold feeling of the beast. The beast roared out as it failed to stop Poh Kwang. It sharply turned around and used its clawed hands to slash at Poh Kwang. Poh Kwang thought that the talons would merely go through him just like everything else. He kept on running. Suddenly he felt weak and cold. He turned around to see what was happening. What he saw terrified him. The beast was holding on to his shirt and green fluid was dripping from it. He shivered at the realization that his life clung onto that bit of cloth.
'Shen ren wu jin!' (the living shall not enter!0 Guei Wang finally shouted to Poh Kwang from where he was still standing. With that, a bolt of lighting from the sky stopped Poh Kwang dead in his tracks. The ground in front of him was burnt to a char. The gate was only inches away and he could almost touch it. But by then, all the demons have already gathered around him. 'Bring him to me!' Guei Wang commanded the demons. As the demons were about to lay their sharp talons on him, amidst the screams and moans that filled the air, a sharp shriek cut across the din, so sharp that it momentarily distracted the demons and even made Guei Wang turn his massive head. Poh Kwang knew this was it, the moment he was praying for and quickly fell on his knees and hurriedly ran past the demons. Guei Wang turned away from the distractions and immediately sent another bolt of lightning from the sky to stop Poh Kwang but it was too late, he had already run past the gates to the inevitable river.
As he ran past, he looked back one last time to find out who was the kind soul who distracted them and save him. In the crowd he spotted a familiar face, a smile, a pair of eyes that glistened in the dark. A sense of unexplained sadness engulfed him as he realized who it was. A foul river of blood flowed past him. The stench form it was overwhelming. Poh Kwang knew this was Nai-he, the river of inevitability that Toh Tuck mentioned. All souls will have to cross this river to be judged. A big long spanned the river. The problem was that it was only one foot wide and the chance of slipping was great. The log was filled with souls walking along it to the other side. Poh Kwang joined the line. As he was about to step onto the log, a pair of hands suddenly appeared and held onto him, guiding him and saving him from falling. He saw to his pleasant surprise, a smiling boy no more than five to six years old holding his left and a sweet girl holding to his right. He looked ahead and saw some more souls guided by such children. Some however, were less fortunate and had to walk and balance themselves precariously on the log to get to the other side.
Poh Kwang witnessed a few of them falling into the bubbling river of blood, they were immediately devoured by serpent like dragons. With one snap of their large jaws, the body was bitten into two and the falling pieces of flesh were eaten by other smaller serpents in the river. The boy noticed Poh Kwang squirming at the sight and softly said, 'Don't pity them. They were wicked man in their lifetime. This is what they deserve. You are not, that is why we are helping you across this river.' 'What's on the other side?' Poh Kwang asked. 'The registrar of life and death,' the girl answered. 'You will be meeting Imperial Judge Chin Kuang to decide your state of rebirth.' With that statement, Poh Kwang landed on the other side of the river. The two children vanished just as they appeared, but before they did, Poh Kwang caught a sneer from out in the corner of the boy's mouth. An unexplainable chill went up his spine. Before long, Poh Kwang was in another court. This time, it was more gruesome. There were a lot of people huddled in fear. They were not afraid of the judge as he looked dignified in his traditional official robes. Neither were they terrified of the bearded official standing next to the judge, nor the young man or the beast with the human body.
What made them quake with fear was the sight of a man being hoisted above them. The middle aged man looked quite shaken and terror was written all over his face. he had a big tattoo on his back and Poh Kwang spotted a few numbers next to it. Obviously the man belonged to the triad. The beast man pierced a hook through his lower back and a heavy weight of sin was tied to his hands and feet. Shortly after he was hoisted into place, he began to scream, his back was totally bent and snapped into two. He must have done quite a lot of bad deeds in his life. He was let down and the sentence was passed to sent him for torture in the eight chamber. Two demons then dragged the man away. Poh Kwang quietly slipped behind the crowd and made his way towards the entrance on his right, where the man was led to by the two demons. Poh Kwang followed behind them.
A mirrored passageway opened before Poh Kwang once he passed the entrance. He did not look at the reflections on the walls as he knew this must be the mirror of sin where all the sins in life would be reflected as one is made to look into it. He kept his eyes on the two demons to make sure that they do not know that they were being followed. The temptation to look at the wall mirror was overwhelming and Poh Kwang could not help but turned his head for a moment for a sneak preview of his sins. What stared back at him was not his own reflection but that of his friend's Gabriel, the one whom he copied his assignment from during his varsity days. They were not tutorial mates but would normally sit next to each other during lectures. It happened that one day, Poh Kwang forgot the deadline for his Social Science assignment and instead of burning midnight oil to finish it, he simply borrowed the completed assignment from his friend and plagiarized it. Instead of him being blamed, Gabriel was accused instead for plagiarism and was expelled. Poh Kwang had to lie to protect himself but it was merely survival. He had a reputation to keep in school as being diligent and bright. It was a pity that his friend did not have such a reputation to upkeep.
Poh Kwang felt a pang of sorrow as he witnessed the expulsion of his friend from school and how he worked in a small trading firm as a storeman. His entire future ruined because he was kind to Poh Kwang. Slowly the image of Gabriel changed into that of Poh Kwang himself but naked in bed pushing himself against someone else. Slowly, the face of the other person came into focus, it was Lorina, his first love. They met at the last party Toh Tuck threw before he became a monk and since then, they had been going steady for about a year or so. Being a staunch Catholic, she denied him any physical pleasures and always had marriage in mind. That was the last thing on Poh Kwang's mind. Towards the end of his own housewarming party, he was slightly tipsy after all the liquor and shortly after everyone left, he forced himself on her. She fought back but because of his brute strength, she was subdued and finally let him have his way.
They made love. She left that morning out of his house and ran out of his life. He tried to patch things back but she would not even speak to him and avoided him totally. The image shifted again. Poh Kwang closed his eyes to stop the images from flooding his mind. Feeling remorse from his actions, he trudge on along the passageway, no longer daring to look into the wall that reflected his deepest fears. he concentrated instead now on the two demons in front of him. Soon the passageway opened to a gigantic cavern where all forms of torture took place. Screams ensued from the mouths of those who were tortured. The voices echoed through the entire underworld. The cavern was dark and the only light eminating was from fires at various points. A river ran through what seems to be an underground desert. each section of this place was used for different forms of torture and there were a lot of souls undergoing it. He was standing on a staircase landing. The steps led all the way down into the depths of the torture chamber. He could see a lot of souls and demons from where he was standing. At a distance, he saw another open court with what seems to be a man presiding over it. There was a big bonfire where a crowd of souls gathered in front of a judge.
He made his way in the dark slowly and carefully, along the edge of the landing where he wouldn't be seen. He had to be careful not to walk too close to the walls as they were dry and hot to the touch. Inch by inch, he made his way along the side of the giant cavern. As he moved closer to the court, he could distinguish the features of the judge. He was too terrifying to even gaze upon. His upper torso was bare and the mane he had around his neck was in turfs. Tusks protruded from his mouth. He wore only a cape tied with a chain of human skulls in the center. In his right hand he held a mace. There he sat like an emperor as names were read and sentences were passed by the judge pointing his mace in the direction of the torture the poor soul was to undergo. It would have been difficult to find anyone in this mass but Kai Seng's tattoo made things a lot simpler because his entire body, every inch of it, was emblazoned with a picture of a dragon. even from afar his body would be easy to identify.
Poh Kwang scanned through the entire area. In one corner, people were being strung upside down by demons and blood drained from their bodies from one cut on each of their neck. The cut was expertly done by a larger demon with a butcher's knife who ensured that they were kept alive while their blood flowed out from their bodies. The blood was heartily drank by the demons who stood underneath those who were hung up. The shower of blood and their thirsty open mouths made them look more demonic than ever. The stench of blood filled the air and assailed Poh Kwang's nostrils even from where he was standing. In another section, demons were busy pounding up humans in what seemed to be a huge mortar. The people were thrown in and a giant demon welding a stone club was pounding away at them. Those who were freshly thrown in tried to escape by clawing their way out of the mortar but the sides of the mortar was slippery with blood. Blood that spurted from those pounded into a pulp.
The grisly sight of pounded human flesh and blood made Poh Kwang want to puke. The pounded flesh was then gathered by another smaller demon using a giant ladle. The mess was then carted off to another section of the underworld. Poh Kwang could not even imagine where it was headed for what it could be used for. He edged on towards the other side of the cavern. Down below he saw a small knoll with spears, knives and sharp metal pieces protruding from it. on this knoll painted red with blood were numerous bodies. Demons were hurling the bodies of men and women onto this mountain of swords. they just kept on hurling them onto the sharp edges, drawing blood. Those whose bodies were badly mangled were left on the knoll until they were drained at blood and life. Poh Kwang could still detect some moving and writhing in agony with swords penetrating through their entire bodies. A group of smaller demons were constantly clearing the mountain of bodies while the stronger ones kept on piling it with bodies. next to this hill of swords was a large cauldron boiling with blood and humans. People were thrown in and slowly cooked into a mess of meat.
All their bodies were bloated and on the top of this blood filled cauldron was a mess of eyeballs, fingers and other parts of the body. All cooked flesh was torn into pieces by a demon who constantly stirred the pot with a menacing grin on its face as some tried to swim and stay afloat in the stench. He would use his ladle to push and keep their heads under the boiling blood. A snort would issue from his fanged mouth once in a while. Kai Seng would not sentenced here. Poh Kwang had to proceed to the other chambers. As he shuffled towards the other entrance to a passageway, he beheld a sight that really made him puke. For right below him, he could see blood spewing from people who were being chopped into pieces by demons welding butcher's knives. Their parts, some still moving, were thrown into a giant basket and carted away. Even the bravest of men would quiver at such a gruesome sight. He could not stand it anymore and threw up over the edge of the landing, right onto a small demon's head below. There was an immediate growl and it only took the demon a fraction of a second to spot Poh Kwang on the edge trying to hide in the dark.
Poh Kwang made a bolt from the exit as the small demon tried to get the attention of the rest. Before anything happened, Poh Kwang was out of the place. behind hi he could hear the noise and commotion growing. Hopefully no other demon spotted him and no demon would believe that poor little devil. The temperature soared as he managed his was pass the passageway, which was bigger than the previous one. He was then getting quite used to hiding behind boulders and between crevices to avoid being seen by demons which dragged souls around. Before long he turned into another chamber. his nostrils were hit by the strong smell of sulfur The entire chamber was filled with cries of agony even sharper than that of the previous one. As his eyes adjusted to the dimly lit chamber, he could see demons piercing spears into the ribs of souls. Some others were gouging out the eyes with their claws and the demon nearest to Poh Kwang was scraping the face of a soul with its claws.
The terror in the eyes of the poor victim was beyond what Poh Kwang had ever seen. Blood dripped where the scratches were and the peeling skin exposed the veins and flesh. Somewhere further back, Poh Kwang could make out hand and foot racks with chained souls attended by demons that pulled out their fingers and toe nails. Poh Kwang winced as he imagine the pain. Suddenly, Poh Kwang felt something moving below him. He dropped his head and saw to his horror that the entire floor was filled with insects which were biting through his shoes. He could not scream as it would mean another group of demons chasing him through hell. He quickly shook off that insects and exited the place. He was now at a loss. There was no way to find Kai Seng without a guide who knew the place. He was searching for a needle in a haystack as there were too many dead people around and... It suddenly occurred to him that he pocketed the notes that he scribbled during Ton Tuck's discussion on hell. He immediately dug into his pockets and flipped through the notes. He recalled the fact that Kai Seng committed a murder and robbery. If he was the judge and Lord of Hades, where would he send such a foul person? He thought to himself and searched through the notes to find an answer.
In his list of hell, he came across numerous types from each different school of thoughts. There were in fact more than the common belief of eighteen levels of hell. Some even believe there were twenty level of hell. he was almost in despair. Nothing matched the ones he saw. He was really trapped right now. However, as he read on, he noticed that a word came flashing across. 'Avici', 'Avitchi', 'Ah-pi', it would seem that it was a common idea to have this hell. He read on. Avitchi - men of the worst crimes are punished here in this flaming iron city. Avici - those who have killed their fathers or mothers will be burned in this hell as if they were kindling. Ah-pi - receives all who committed the five capital sins: taking a life, thieving debauchery, lewdness and lying. Such sinners will receives damnation immediately. Well, Kai Seng fitted the one described as Avici... somehow it sounded familiar. Yes! It was the word that the first medium he visited uttered when she was under a trance. He knew then where he was to head to but the question remained, how is he going to get there without a guide?
As if he was destined to go there, he heard a scream along the passageway. He quickly hid behind a big boulder as two demons dragged a soul struggling to escape. 'I am innocent! I did not kill him! I swear! It was an accident!' he kept on shouting to the demons that pulled him by his two wrists which were already all bloody, cut by their sharp claws. The demons were about Poh Kwang's size but grotesquely deformed. Both of them had only patches of fur on them. One of them was skinny and had blood red skin. Its head was bald and looked like a blood covered skull with the exception of a single horn growing from its forehead. 'Shut up!' One demon barked at him as it was obvious it was sick and tired of his whining. 'You took a life, a human life and that's that,' the other one answered. This one was stout and had two horns and had a mane of green hair growing around its neck. Its voice was gruff as it spoke. 'Whether you wanted to kill him or not, murderers are to be sent to Avici.' The blood skinned one started laughing. 'Yeah! Avici. Even we would not go there unless we have to. It is the place where even devils dare not thread,' he growled. 'Thanks to you that we have to go there,' the one with the green mane snorted. 'So shut up before we eat you up here and now!' The threat silenced the man but it did not stop the fear from showing on his face. he was crying like a baby as they dragged him further down the passageway. Poh Kwang thanked the heavens as he started to follow them. The path that they took descended lower and lower into the depths. Along the way, he went through various chambers and halls that dealt with punishments to the wicked sinners. The further down he traveled the more gruesome the punishments. There were chambers where people were tied to poles and set aflame, others where they were put onto beds of iron spikes and beds of hot flames, while some others were roasted. Further along the route, Poh Kwang saw a women being skinned alive, supposedly for being vain and men were being slowly sawed into pieces for hypocrisy.
Most of the hell were hot but there were distinctly cold hell as well where people were frozen and broken into pieces. They soon reached the lowest level where the stairways ended and there were no more entrances other then the one they came from. Before Poh Kwang was a sea of fire and a bridge that spanned across the sea to an iron fortress in the center. He could see numerous columns sticking out from the sea of fire, each with a few bodies that seemed to have partially melted into it. The screams from these victims were beyond normal and it sent Poh Kwang a few steps back. He had never heard such desperate cries for help in his entire life. He stared down and saw to his horror that the people were not charred or singed and were completely intact even though the flames engulfed them. The pain must be immeasurable. Avici... where the most unmentionable criminals are punished.
The demons started on their way towards the fortress. Poh Kwang was completely lost as the place was too big to search for one lost soul. It was folly to even try to look for Kai Seng in here. Now he wished he had not come at all. Lost in his own thoughts, he did not noticed the quiet gloom that was casting over him. The shadow soon blanketed him, as soon as he realized it, a shiver crept right up his spine. He turned his head back and looked up, only to find Guei Wang staring down at him. He immediately felt as if death was staring at him straight in the face and he was doomed to die a terrible death. He found to his surprise that he was completely surrounded by demons again, all of them eyeing him menacingly. It was as if all of them wanted to tear him up into shreds and devour him. Suddenly, Guei Wang grinned at him. 'So... Poh Kwang how was your tour of hades?' he growled. Poh Kwang was at a loss of words. Guei Wang jnew his name and exactly where he was... 'You are looking for Kai Seng, aren't you?' he snapped his fingers and one of the columns rose from the sea of flames.
Kai Seng was attached to the people and was screaming in pain as the flames leapt up and encircled him. 'This is Avici... no one gets out of here alive. No one.' Guei Wang snorted. 'Kai Seng!' Poh Kwang managed to shout out to him. 'Poh Kwang!' he answered back. 'Get out of here! Get out!' 'Go on, ask him where the money is.' Guei Wang said abruptly. Poh Kwang was taken aback. Guei Wang knew everything. 'I know exactly why you are here and I know every move you have made. This is Hades and my demons are everywhere. You cannot escape me.' 'Why?!' Poh Kwang burst out, after realizing that he was left alone on purpose to find his way down here to Avici and maybe even guided here by the demons. 'Why did you set me up?' 'Because I want your soul.'
'My...' Poh Kwang stopped once he realized Guei Wang's plans. 'You see, I checked with the registrar of life and death. What you do not know is that a day in hell mean fifty human years.' Poh Kwang was stunned. He was here for almost three hours already. That would mean... 'You have been in a coma for about two years now. Your mother has already decided to let you go.' 'No... this can't be true. Tell me it isn't true!' Poh Kwang shouted. 'Toh Tuck didn't tell me about this!' He almost screamed. 'Toh Tuck is not dead, he can't possibly tell you what he has not experienced. All his knowledge is from books. That can be very deadly.' Guei Wang said gruffly. 'By the way, did he tell you that Avici is also known as 'Wu jian di-yu', the hell of eternal damnation? No visitors are allowed in here because no one is allowed to go out. You see, what you don't know is someone has already killed you. 'Why did you come?' Kai Seng interrupted, shouting from where he was. 'I could not find your goddamn money!' Poh Kwang screamed back. 'And a promise is a promise,' he added.
'Someone hit me from behind and took it, before I could meet Ah Teck!' Kai Seng shouted. 'Would you both like to know who did it?' Guei Wang laughed out as he snapped his fingers. Another column rose up from the sea of flames. Tied on it was Ah Teck! The very man whom Kai Seng robbed. He stole the money and killed Kai Seng! Why?! 'He was afraid that Kai Seng would use the fact that he robbed and murdered someone for him and blackmailed him for certain favors. He could not believed that anyone could go through all that just because they are sworn brothers. But because he took Kai Seng's life, he's now paying for it,' Guei Wang answered the question. 'Ah Teck used the money to pay for the bills but was found out and hanged a year later, after you went into a coma,' he added. 'But I know his sister. I visited them before I came here. If he used the money to save her, she should be alive. His sister is dead! She is at the entrance... she was the one who screamed to save me! If he paid for the surgery... how...?'
'She killed herself when she found out that her brother murdered and robbed someone to save her. Funny world you live in isn't it?' Guei Wang laughed. A feeling of despair swept over Poh Kwang. He knew then that it was all over. Everything that they had planned and worked for had failed. He dropped onto his knees and broke down in sobs. 'Tsk, tsk, tsk Poh Kwang, don't you know better than to try and cheat the devil? Don't pretend to be so naive and kind! You intended to learn the whereabouts of loot and then take it from both of them. That is why you came!' Guei Wang had exposed Poh Kwang's devious plot. Poh Kwang was completely taken aback. No one else knew. Only he knew about his plans. He opened his mouth to deny the matter but it was too late. No one cheats the devil and gets away with it. With one stroke of his clawed hand, Guei Wang dug it into his mouth and from out of his claws, worms and maggots crawled their way like ants to honey into Poh Kwang's orifice, eating their way into his stomach.
Blood spewed from Poh Kwang's mouth and flowed down his throat, filling his lungs and depriving him of air, choking him. Poh Kwang struggled with all his might to get Guei Wang's hand out of his mouth. He grabbed it with both his hands but as they touched Guei Wang's slimy skin, they began to melt right before his eyes and hideous worms crawled out of every pore in his skin. Guei Wang shipped his hand out and along with it, Poh Kwang saw his tongue, red with blood, torn right out from his mouth. He screamed but no voice came from between his lips. He choked and threw up instead all over the ground. Instead of spew, the vermins from his stomach squirmed amongst his blood. 'This is for even thinking of lying to me!' Guei Wang roared. 'And this... is for for greed and hypocrisy!' With that, Guei Wang raised his hands. Between them a cloud of darkness formed, drawing in the air around it until it became a monster of unimaginable horror. Totally deformed, it looked like a person inside out. Its muscles were like intestines. Its neck was stretched far from its body. And it had eyes that bulged from its tiny skull like head, as if they were falling.
It had no feet or hands but worm like tentacles that covered his formless body. Its mouth was open, exposing green, fang like teeth. 'Behold, this is the true form of greed!' And with that he let the monster loose. It gave a blood curdling screamed as it tore down onto Poh Kwang who was helpless at this stage. It landed onto Poh Kwang who was a blanket of ice. There was a nerve numbling feeling as Poh Kwang fought to get it off. However, because of its formlessness it completely engulfed Poh Kwang in its gello-like body. In the dark bowels of such a vile monster, Poh Kwang felt an unknown pain, not like the external physical pain that he felt earlier when Guei Wang tore his tongue out but a pain that sank right into his soul. An overwhelming sense of sorrow filled his heart, a feeling that flowed from his repentance. Tears formed in his eyes as he felt the pain that he gave his parents when he demanded his own way, the pain that his friends felt when he stabbed them in the back, the pain that everyone felt when he wronged them.
The pain caused by the follies of being a human, concentrated in essence in just a short span of time. The feeling tore right into his soul. Soon, the unbearable feeling of grief passed as the formless creature moved in. The protruding eyes on its deformed face stared right into Poh Kwang. In its deformity, Poh Kwang saw a sense of sadness in its eyes. right before his eyes, the head burst and split into hundreds of pieces. Poh Kwang soon discovered himself face to face with a multitude of souls. All was crying out to him to save them as they were trapped in their own greed and misdeeds. How could he possibly help them when he was destined to become one of them? Slowly, he felt his own form dissipating, joining the rest in his own true form. Slowly, it grew darker. in the darkness, he felt warm again. The warmth came from a sense of hatred. A hatred for humans. A hatred for being human once.
He wished that humans never walked this earth and contaminate it with their evils. He felt as if he needed to cleanse the earth of its vermins; humans. It was the voice of Guei Wang. 'Welcome back, my servant, welcome back home.'
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