Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 56

multi-tool he had used to incapacitate Marqus earlier.
This time he twisted a small dial on the other end of
the tube. Abdiel approached Marqus once more, and
pressed the tool firmly against Marqus’s forehead. Marqus let out a gargling screech as his flesh sizzled. After
the briefest moment, Abdiel removed the device and
stepped back to better admire his handy work. There,
centred on Marqus’s brow, glowed a welted and raised
symbol - an open circle with a single vertical line
running through the middle, the Angelic symbol for a
paedophile. Now all the other inmates of Hell would
know his crime.
“Please,” Marqus whimpered. “Just… let… me go.”
Abdiel shuffled back further, ensuring he was well clear
of the outside rim of the Void Gateway before calling
up the virtual display once more. Keying in the final
code required to initiate the transport cycle, he double-checked the destination.
“Oh!” Abdiel said, almost forgetting to deliver his
signature speech to Marqus before he sent him on his
way. He crouched down to Marqus’s level and looked
directly into his prisoner’s eyes. They were filled with
absolute terror. “Marqus,” Abdiel growled. “I want
you to think about all the children you made suffer
throughout your wretched life. Soon you will feel their
pain a thousand fold.”
***
The floor beneath Marqus suddenly rose up, causing
his stomach to drop. He could no longer see Abdiel
as the circular platform he was unwittingly sprawled
out on rose several meters above the warehouse floor
before halting in mid-air. The outside rim of the platform split into three separate rings and began rotating
around him in opposite directions.
“God! What’s happening? Please help me… God,
please help me!” Marqus whimpered.
Images of Marqus’s victims fl \