Identification: Hell on Earth
Cover Art
Narrative
Part 1: Origins of Her Powers
Asmodeus is a powerful demon who decided to create a portal to earth in a quest for further souls to consume. It took the combined powers of himself and his followers to tear open the boundary between hell and earth. This fissure sent some of their divinely derived powers through the ground up into the air, where a terrible storm formed in the sky. The energy built up in the clouds until a lightning bolt struck Carla, Gabriella’s pregnant mother, endowing Gabriella with angelic powers. Carla was unharmed, and saw the survival of her baby as a miracle. Since birth, Gabriella was able to sense the emotions of others, but neither she nor her mother recognized it as a superhuman ability. It was only upon the discovery of her power of invisibility that Gabriella realized she was a true empath.
Asmodeus was left weak from all the energy it takes to open the portal, and could not immediately begin his conquest. He sent a trusted minion to infiltrate human society to learn their weaknesses. For years, Asmodeus slowly grew in strength as his minion established a pizza parlour in Chicago, where Gabriella coincidentally comes to work when she starts college. After two decades of waiting, Asmodeus decides it is time to begin the harvesting of souls.
Part 2: Discovery of Her Powers
Gabriella was walking to her job at the pizza parlor with her best friend and coworker, Raphael. They discuss the new music she is working on.
Gabriella and Raphael start crossing the street. There is another person ahead of them, on his phone and not paying attention. Suddenly, a speeding car comes careening down the road towards them. Gabriella sees it coming a few seconds before it hits them. Her heart rate jumps and she becomes invisible. Just in time, she runs to shove the stranger out of the way of the oncoming car, narrowly saving them as the car crashes into a sidewalk and catches fire. The driver stumbles out of the car, but is injured, and a cop apprehends him.
The person Gabriella saved is dazed, and Raphael is calling her name, but can’t seem to see her. She tries to respond, but her voice is silent. Raphael starts walking away, looking for where she went. Gabriella realizes she is entirely invisible, and becomes excited. This is my ticket to fame! She tries to will herself to become visible again but is unable to. Crap.
She hears sirens, and watches as firefighters arrive to extinguish the fire. Cops tape off the scene of the accident, but Gabriella remains, waiting to become visible again.
A reporter hurries over, and addresses the person Gabriella saved.
“You witnessed the accident, can you tell us what happened?”
“I was just on the crosswalk, and this guy comes speeding towards me!” The man says, and Gabriella waits anxiously to hear if he knows it was her who saved him, “I didn’t notice until it was too late, but then it was like something pushed me out of the way at the last second. I can’t explain it--must have been a guardian angel,” he jokes.
Gabriella tries to shout that it was her who saved him, wishes she could stage a dramatic reveal, and she can’t help but be frustrated that no one but her knows.
After a while (Getting dark to show time has passed) she feels calm again, no longer full of adrenaline or excitement. She becomes visible again, but doesn’t notice at first, though a cop does.
“Hey, kid!” the cop shouts at her, “Didn’t you see the caution tape? This is the scene of a serious accident, you can’t loiter here.”
Gabriella almost responds, but realizes that she will sound crazy if she tells him she was the witness’ “guardian angel.”
She walks away. She checks her phone, and realizes that she is an hour late for her shift at work. She also sees missed calls from Raphael and texts asking where she went, as well as a voicemail from her boss, Alester.
She debates whether to go to work or not, but knows she needs to.
She arrives at “The Devil’s Pie” and hurries in. She sees Raphael at the counter.
“Gabriella?” exclaims Raphael, “What happened to you, I couldn’t find you after the car crashed, it was like you vanished!”
Gabriella puts on her apron and nametag, joining Raphael behind the counter. “I did, sort of. I know it sounds crazy, but I turned invisible! Like a fight-or-flight reflex or something. And I saved that dude!”
“I believe you,” Raphael tells her, “I probably wouldn’t have if I wasn’t there, but I can’t think of any logical explanation for what happened.”
“And then all the credit went to a “guardian angel!” Can you believe it? I’m not going to let it slide--I’m going to prove that I am a hero.”
“How are you going to do that with your uncontrollable vanishing powers?”
“Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by random emotions out of the blue, I bet it is actually a superpower too--empath abilities, like Deanna Troy! I could sense the driver’s panic before he crashed. It’s always been a nuisance more than anything, but maybe I could use it like spidey senses, and when I feel someone in fear, I head their way. Then I turn invisible and beat a bad guy up or something. With practice, I’m sure I can master control of my invisibility.”
“Do you have any fighting skills aside from middle-school karate?”
“I’m sure there are youtube tutorials or something.”
“You have enough on your plate with school, music and work, don’t you think? Do you really want to add ‘becoming an amateur vigilante’ to the list?”
“If I become a superhero, I wouldn’t need anything else! I’d have money and would feel everyone’s admiration--an empath’s dream!”
Then their boss comes out from the kitchen and they stop talking. He lectures Gabriella about responsibility.
