CHAPTER 55: entering hell
After walking through the city and receiving numerous glares from guards as well as citizens, I told the group that I won't be in the city for a while. Of course, the dwarf thought that it was a good idea to blurt out that I was going to hell.
This made Gert slightly suspicious, but he didn't dare to ask. Yohan and Elisa didn't gave much of a response. Yohan because he was barely awake due to the exhaustion of the journey and Elisa because she rarely responded when she wasn't asked anything.
Allenya and Alex wanted to know all about it, but I didn't really answer.
At last I told the broken humans not to hurt others, not to hurt themselves and to listen to others as well as do whatever they want within those limits.
The five humans knelt before me and promised to follow those 'orders', in their usual completely obedient tone.
However, Beatrice lifted her head up to show a wide grin. I didn't say anything against it. Afterall she should still be her own person, and I never ordered them to act like puppets.
But something about that smile. Maybe something in her eyes, maybe something about how the corners of her mouth pointed unusually upward, creeped me out.
Eventually I followed the dwarf to where I would be temporarily expelled from this world. Whit that moment coming closer and closer I begun to have doubts.
("Why is that dwarf going that far to help me? Why didn't he ever tell me his name? How do I know that this is really a positive thing to do?")
But I knew that I could not pull back at this moment. and if what the dwarf said was true, then it was really necessary.
"Are you ready?"
The rough old voice of the dwarf broke the silence. We stood in the large open field surrounding the building that we talked in before. The dwarf had drawn a circle with salt and other materials that made me feel really uncomfortable around me.
The outer layer of the circle was decorated with various symbols that I didn't know the meaning of. It reminded me of the circle that was used to summon me.
I was also wearing a shirt that, who I assumed to be a friend of the dwarf, had made. It had an opening at the back so my wings could fit through. And it had smaller holes by the shoulders for my spikes. It would probably cause some suspicion in the demon realm because it was rare to see a demon wearing a complete set of clothing. Well… nearly complete, I still didn't wear shoes. I didn't really feel the need to wear those.
Though I would probably stick out among the demons, it was really necessary to wear the shirt. Because it would be much worse if they discovered the mark.
Still with some hesitation, I nodded to tell the dwarf that I was ready.
When he noticed that action he immediately begun to chant.
In the beginning it really hurt. But after some time, the world became fuzzy and the sounds were muffled.
After that, I couldn't see feel or hear anything. It was like existence didn't exist and time had lost its meaning. I was there for an eternity or not even a second until I hit something hard.
I was laying on a warm stone floor. Confused I opened my eyes. Everything was dark at first with the exception of some fires in the distance. However, slowly my vision begun to adapt to the scenery around me and I could see as clear as I could in my original world.
A spectrum of both light and dark colours immediately flood my senses. Gigantic, towering monoliths erupted periodically from the floor. Some of the ground was broken, with deep cliffs and cracked mountains. Violent and gaotic as it encircled small and gigantic, monstrous, temple like structures.
Screeching and roaring creatures of ever-shifting silhouettes were visible on the horizon.
A naked skinny creature was walking over the distorted ground. The creature looked like someone who had never seen a human had tried to make one, it just felt off. It was merely bone and skin with just enough muscles to move and little to no hair. The eyes were grey and cloudy as it stared into a distance it could not see.
It fell over, stumbled and proceeded to crawl forward with only a small shard of its pitch-black soul remaining.
It took me some time before I recognised the sent if the creature. It was a human. A demon had probably dragged it down here, for who knows why. Maybe to eat it later, maybe for fun.
Hastily I stood up to walk away from the human. if the demon came back, it would probably not be happy to find someone near its toy or food.
The sound of my footsteps caused its attention. The human turned its head to stare at me with its blind eyes. With jerking movements the human drew closer. Its mouth half open, letting me see the inside of its mouth with only a few teeth remaining.
When it came closer, it suddenly stopped. Slowly it took a few steps back while keeping its head low. When the human was a few meters away from me, it turned and ran.
Tripping countless times. But it didn't dare to make a sound when it fell once again on its face.
I felt bad for the human who was trapped in here. But I couldn't help it in any way. The other demon would probably be able to track me down if I did. And what could I do? This human was far beyond saving.
After seeing this place. it made me wonder why the gods would allow such a place to exist. I was of course thinking about the god of order and the god of chaos. They could have easily whipped this place along with all the demons from existence. Or if they themselves didn't want to do the job, they could have just send their seraphim, the angel of time and the angel of space.
The name seraphim meant the burning ones. They were the attendants at the thrones of the gods. I knew that they were not as powerful as the gods themselves. They wouldn't even come close. The gods had the power to create worlds and had access to all the knowledge within those worlds. But even the seraphim should be able to completely destroy hell. So, why didn't they do it already? Why did they allow the demons enter and corrupt the worlds they had worked hard for to create?
With those doubts in mind, I started to wander the seemingly infinite burning realm.