3. Sheol

With eyes wide from the sheer amount of amazement he felt from that event, Valerian felt the treacherous grip of gravity apply itself on his body and he plunged down the 6-story building.

While his world seemed to move in bullet-time, and his life flashed before his eyes, Valerian recalled why he had chosen that building

He recalled giving an excuse for walking up the stairs to the roof. He had felt gangsta during those periods, but he regretted them now. He was going to die and he had no way of averting it.

Regret reached his mind as he spun in the air about twice. He remembered his calculations on what height guaranteed a human's death. According to things he had read online a bit over 12m was guaranteed death.

The six-story building was an establishment that allowed lodging. Since he had been there more than a few times he had gained the friendliness of the owner who had let him go up the stairs.

The building was situated beside a not-so-major road and it was mostly taller than most buildings in that area. Allowing for an overhead view.

Valerian felt his back smash into the AC condenser situated outside one of the multiple windows. He brought it down with the sheer power his descent packed. Unfortunately, that was all his body required to fall unconscious.

Whatever happened to his body afterward remained outside of his knowledge, since everything went black upon impact.

Valerian found himself in pitch blackness. Not a shred of light illuminated his environment, but more of all he noticed that he was falling. Even if he didn't know where he was headed.

The darkness that surrounded him felt tangible, but once again he recalled his falling state, but he couldn't tell how fast he was plunging.

'Am I dead,' he wondered, unable to fathom that idea. Sadness welled up in his being at that moment, and the urge to cry filled him, but his attention was snatched away from his self-pity since he noticed the heat.

Not only was the heat he felt increasing in intensity by the second. His already dark environment was getting darker. How ever that was possible.

Soon Valerian understood that he was falling down a tunnel. A long one at that.

The heat became uncomfortable, then an open cavern area unfolded in what he would consider his awareness since he couldn't see directly his environment. It was a weird experience

With a heavy thud, Valerian landed on a stone floor sending real pain shooting through his body, and doubt filled his mind at that event.

'Where am I?' Valerian questioned, terrified at this point. He noted the heat, as it had reached levels he didn't expect himself to survive in, but also his environment.

The stone walls, the bars, the stench in that place. It was so dense he could almost feel it. Only then did it dawn on him that he was in a prison cell. But where? he wondered, even if he was unable to complete that thought since he noticed his inability to move.

Terror reached Valerian's mind when he tried to get up and run, his very desire to move seemed to require an amount of energy his body felt incapable of providing.

He felt weak, beyond what he had ever experienced in his entire life. Merely trying to raise his fingers drained him, but he would not be in that state for too long of a time.

A growl reached his ears and he felt his fear spike, then from outside the prison cell, several figures like never before unfolded in his awareness.

Bumpy reptilian scales, long claws, he could swear they were about a foot in length and they stood at about 12ft in height. Some were as short as 2ft and they had no symmetry to their body parts.

Some featured longer and bigger arms while some grotesquely large heads, and some horrifyingly bigger bodies.

In short, the beings before him filled every requirement for what he would consider a monster and more.

They raged down the many bars mumbling insults at someone, a person Valerian didn't know but he could tell from their demeanor that they hated the person with the entirety of their being. He experienced a new wave of terror at their presence. Most especially when a scream of agony and horror reached his ears.

The voice belonged to a man, but it echoed with such a high pitch Valerian swore his eardrums had burst. Terror inducing.

Then another scream erupted, then another, followed by deep voices and bone-chilling growls. A chorus of terrified and pain-filled screams reached him in his position blocking all sense of safety.

The fear of death and the monsters caused Valerian to desire escape even more, but his state remained. He couldn't move quickly at all. He felt like a man with weakness inscribed into his very bones.

The sound of the dungeon bars bursting open filled his ears and caused his breathing to increase, then he noticed another chilling detail.

For some reason, he could only gasp for breath.

His environment felt almost empty of air, and he could only take it in through short gasps with his mouth.

Valerian thought he would run mad.

Every second felt like he would suffocate to death, but he never did. Still, he never also got a deep breath.

Valerian soon began to focus on trying to breathe. The terror of suffocating made him wish he wasn't there.

His dungeon's bars soon burst open and one of the monsters stepped into his cage hurling insults he had never heard in his life.

Alerted, Valerian tried to move but remained in the same place while he watched the thing pick him up and hurl him across the dungeon room.

With a force like he had never felt before, Valerian hit the stone wall of his prison and felt like bones had shattered. Turned to mush.

A cry of agony mixed with terror and the desire for air left his mouth at that point. He swore he had died in that instant, but he remained in one piece, even if intense pain made his body begin to throb heavily. Or at least he felt like that.

Valerian collapsed on the stone floor, inwardly wondering how he was still alive. Unfortunately, terror had consumed him for any rational thought to properly form.

The thing that seemed to be constantly angry about something walked closer to him, but this time it had a partner.

The partner picked him up and dug its foot-long claws into his chest. Before proceeding to rip out a chuck of that body part.

Words would fail to describe the enormous amount of pain he felt. Shockingly, amid that event, he managed to realize that he did not bleed. Nothing.

Everything was as dry as it could be, but he felt pain at its peak. He wanted to die. Badly.

The monster hurled him away at that point. Muttering another curse.

His face struck the floor with blinding force, and his very skull felt like it split open letting out his brain matter, even if it was still in one piece. Valerian only entered a world of pain.

Suddenly everything went darker, and for the first time, Valerian felt a darkness that he could literally touch.

He couldn't see his hand in front of him, but that didn't matter before the terror his existence felt.

He couldn't exactly see the monsters but they could see him.

Soon he felt claws find their way into his legs and he screamed in mind-bending agony and horror.

In the span of an instant, Valerian felt himself arrive before a pit. And only then did he confirm where he was.

For some reason, he had always known, even as early as when he gained awareness of his falling state.

A pit of fire over a mile in length unfolded in his awareness and screams of indescribable agony and the outline of humans numbering millions unfolded before him. They were being burnt alive and soon he was pushed into the pit to join them.

He had arrived at Sheol and he knew he was without any help. He also knew he would never leave.