C21 Brimstone Rehab
Stretching her back, she gets ready to jump down, "It's gonna take a while, though."
---
'Keeping safe.'
A fiery wisp slowly circles a large golden egg. It was embedded in a tree-like pillar that reached from floor to ceiling.
'Keeping—'
The wisp stopped, turning into an ill-defined silhouette.
"Intruders?"
The wisp 'looked' out through the walls.
"Burn?"
'No ill will,' the wisp looked upon their souls.
"Not here—if come—burn then."
Nodding to itself, it resumed its patrol.
---
On one of the tallest trees of the realm, reaching over ten miles tall, a cloaked figure was climbing. His goal was not the top, but what was just below.
The door.
"Nearly—there."
He was but a few feet away.
Many a man would lose pace or become lax when they were close to achieving a goal. But not him.
Not Victor von Doom.
His speed had not changed the entire time he climbed, nor had his focus wavered. His entire being was subservient to his will, and nothing could make him deviate from his chosen path.
Grabbing the edge before the door, he hoisted himself up. Coming to his feet, he finally took clear sight of the door before him. But, the plaque on it left even him taken aback for a moment, a very short moment.
"Brimstone Rehabilitation Center," he looked for an instant, then snorted, "only that demon's tricks."
Inspecting it, he found it truly was just a door. This only served to make him more suspicious, however. Pulling a strange gun from his belt, he turned the knob and entered.
Walking into a clean and prim lounge, he sees a—receptionist—an ethereal receptionist, behind a counter.
Looking up from the counter, a transparent, blonde receptionist says smilingly, "Welcome to Brimstone Rehab! Are you here to visit? You sure don't look like a patient."
"Silence." Doom does not reciprocate her kindness and looks at the surroundings, "This game has drawn on long enough, Mephisto! Come out! I will challenge you now like I always do!"
"Ahem, Sir." He did not pay her any mind.
"Sir! Mephisto won't be coming out." This got his attention.
He turned to her, "Why? Speak, woman."
Sighing, she said, "that's because he's dead and won't be coming back—ever," she finished with a heavy nod.
Doom's body trembled, "Dead—how could he have died?" Coming up to the receptionist, he asked with a piercing gaze, "Who? Who killed him? Is it just another demon or—"
"The new Lord is not a demon!" she yelled at him but calmed down quickly. "The new Lord is an angel who was taken prisoner by Mephisto some time ago. He broke free and was able to take over the realm, by means, I'm not privy to."
She continued, "Afterwards, one of the things he did was make this rehab center for all the souls considered 'good.'"
"Then my mother. She is here?!" Doom asked, unknowingly clenching his fists.
"As long as she was a 'good' soul, otherwise," she shook her head, "what's her name?"
Taking a breath, he answers, "Cynthia—Cynthia von Doom."
She looked down at a large screen that seemingly responded to her thoughts.
Soon she looked back up with a bright smile, "Yep! She's here alright. She has one of the best rooms too. Even has a view!"
Hearing this, he released his fists and the breath he was holding. Relief spread through his body.
"It's room—F4. Just follow the map and signs. They'll tell you the way," she pointed at a map on the wall.
Doom walked up to it, seeing a picture of a tree with multiple levels inside the top portion. There was also an overview of the entire realm.
"The patient file says that she's mentally stable and can leave at any time, but to get her a body, you'll have to meet the Lord. He didn't already make them for us because Hell doesn't go well with living people," she finished with an apologetic smile.
Doom walked to a nearby stairway but stopped just before entering, "My apologies, madam, for my earlier behavior. It was—unbecoming—and you did not deserve such barbarism."
Her smile grew another level, "Don't mention it, hun. Now go on, I'm sure your mother wishes to see you, just as much as you do her—just—be patient with her. Most of us have gone through an awful lot here," her face started to pale at the end.
"Thank you," Doom waited no longer. He made his way up the stairs, through doors and hallways, until finally, he stood in front of room F4.
He did not pause and immediately knocked, as he MUST see her. Only then will he allow himself to feel.
It didn't take long for him to hear a woman's voice telling him to come in.
Opening the sliding door, he saw a transparent silhouette sitting in front of a window. He walked closer in order to see them better.
Nearing her, he could tell she had black hair like his mother and was the same size as her.
When he came closer, she turned to him and asked, "And who might you be?"
Seeing her face, he knew it was her but, "I am—who I am doesn't matter—I am only here to take you back to Earth. Back to the land of the living."
---
Cynthia stood up, facing the man before her. He seemed familiar—too familiar.
"Take off your mask," she says to him.
"That is not—"
"Take it off, or I will not leave," every second she felt more and more familiar with him.
"You are in no pos—"
"Take. It. Off."
The man is still for a moment before slowly undoing the clasps to his mask. He held it on for a few seconds before taking it off and lifting his face to her.
Looking at his face, although it was scarred, her memories became clear again, "Victor!" It's her son.
"How are you here?! Why!? This is Hell! It's too dangerous!" she tries to touch him to see if he is hurt or injured, but she's only ethereal right now.
"Mother. I spent my whole life trying to get you back. If I wasn't strong enough, I simply made myself stronger." He looked at her in the eye, "NOTHING, NO ONE would stop me from freeing you!"
She looked back at him, only showing the loving gaze of a mother, "then let's go—let's go home."
--- [A/N: You'll never guess who this is, next.] ---
Cling.
Shelter.
Cling. Shelter.
Cling and Shelter.
Cling and Shelter and Nurture.
Shelter and Nurture.
Nurture.
Nurt—Cling.
---
"These trees are so strange." Loki was currently sitting on the highest branch of a fifteen-mile tall tree.
'They appear separate but are, in truth, all the same tree.' He thought it would be nice to take a sample back to Asgard and study, but his instincts always screamed at him whenever he was about to cut off a piece.
"Too bad, Mother would have loved to study its properties," sighing, he looked towards the tallest tree in the jungle.
'That's obviously the center and the most likely place to find out anything useful.'
Loki stood up and started running along the treetops towards the center.
---
"This is so much fun!"
Satana was running through the jungle. She would swing on vines or run atop the branches, jumping from one to another. She has been doing so since not long after her arrival.
'Why doesn't Father have anything this fun in his realm?' she thought while hanging from a vine.
'I suppose I should head to the center,' she turned to look in one direction, 'I've already checked everywhere else, and if I delay much longer, Father will send someone after me—I think.'
She started moving towards the center at speeds that left her no more than a blur. It took her but a few hours to reach the central and largest tree.
"Wow."
She is currently standing a mile away, but the tree already takes up most of her field of view.
'The other ones are big, but this—don't even mention how tall it is—just its width is more than the height of most other trees.'
She kept going further, towards the base, where she saw a passage. Above it, she also saw a sign.
"Beware ye who enter! Even a sliver of ill will towards the Lord shall incur the wrath of the guardian spirits. For they spare none who slight him. Even if newborn babes, they shall face the full might of the realm!"
"Huh?" she was only confused by the sign. 'That creepy guy wants people to enter? But why would he warn potential victims, it makes no sense.'
'I already checked to see if this is the right dimension, and it is, but—'
"I keep doubting it."
Shaking her head, she walks inside, 'Only one way to find out.'
After walking through a mile-long tunnel, her sight clears, revealing massive spiraling honeycomb-like structures. They run up the entirety of the tree.
With her vision, she can even see a bit of gold coming from the very top.
"Beautiful," she only stands in awe for a few minutes, but eventually, her eyebrows knit.
"Is that—music?" she can't tell for sure, but she can discern a beat that echoes throughout the tree. To a normal person at the bottom, it would only sound like quiet static.
Shaking her head, she looks for a path upwards.
Finding a spiral that goes at least halfway up, she makes her way to it and starts the trek.
---
//Note//
The first chapter without the MC. Unless you count the egg.
Don't worry. This isn't going to be one of those novels where the MC is barely even mentioned.
The MC is the fuckin MC, and he's the center of this story.