Chapter 4 - To hell we go!

The group of teens followed the old King down the ancient tunnel that was as dark as night itself. Occasionally, there would be stands where torches were mounted but those hadn't been lit for quite some time. So instead, Teya took it upon herself to have a single ring of fire spiral around her to illuminate the passage. It was strange, Evan thought to himself. He wondered if the girl couldn't simply make a flame in her palm. But that much soon left his mind as he saw the strange carvings written on the wall. The boy recognized the symbols as demonic scripture. It was a sign of a time where demons had once ruled the Earth. Luckily, that was a time that had long since passed. But as things were now, the threat of that time returning was quite real.

Finally, they arrived at the end of the tunnel and soon found themselves in a small underground chamber surrounded by even more ancient text. And at the center of it all, mounted on a plateau of stone, was an old structure that was rectangular and tall with its insides being left hallow. That was a gate, Evan was certain of it. And then the King turned and faced the group of children.

"Your mission will be a grave one." He began. "You will all travel to hell as ambassadors of the humans. There you will go towards the kingdom belonging to the overlord of the underworld, and you will ask him for guidance on the matter at hand. Depending on what he tells you, you must act accordingly and find the demon that is responsible for the rifts at hand." The King then looked back at the tunnel where Sebastian with a few other men came into the tunnel carrying bags of supplies for the Gifted. They gave the Gifted each a bag as well as a robe for them to wear. Evan received a indigo hooded robe that had the crest of the stronghold family drawn on to it – a knight's crest which had a clenched fist within. The King then addressed the matter "The overlord would be insulted if he were not greeted by at least one member from each of the seven families." He then looked particularly to Evan. "Despite what your fathers says, you must bear that responsibility, Evan. As King, I will give you permission to wear that crest for the time being."

Then the King turned towards the gate and placed his hand on one of its sides. He then spoke words which Evan couldn't understand at all. Soon, the markings where the king placed his hand began to glow white which then ran along the rest of the gate and consequently the entire room to eventually seep through the tunnel, from which they had come.

The hallow part of the structure then became covered by a translucent, fluid-like substance that stretched across to the ends of the gate.

The King then looked to his brother "Look after them, Marcus."

The man nodded and took a step forward into the gate. His leg didn't appear on the other side of the structure. It almost seemed as though it was swallowed up but the red fluid-like substance. He then peered his head through it and then pulled it back. "Let's go." He said and then stepped his entirety into the gate and disappeared from the other Gifted's view. Blyke was the next to enter and then there was Rill. After which the brown haired girl entered along with Maya. Teya then went next. Now, only Silva and Evan remained.

Evan took off the Regelia cloak that he had been wearing and then looked to the one in his hand. He flung it around himself and though the thought of his father seeing him made him shiver, he found the courage within himself and walked forward through the gate.

~

Meanwhile Silva had been pulled away by his father while the King had been talking to the group.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sebastian asked his son with a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Of course I do." He looked to his father with determined eyes. "Just as you have done, I will serve the royal family. '

"You don't have to, you know?" his father said as he pulled his hand away from the boy.

"But I will." The boy said as he walked towards the gate and went through it to appear in another world entirely.

~

Seven robed figures of colors: red, violet, blue, yellow, green, orange and indigo, stood outside of the gate looking at the sight before them. Evan then saw the silver haired boy emerge from the corner of his eye. He, for one, was not in a robe but instead wore steel plated armor on his body with a sword sheathed at his side.

"Woah." Teya said with dazzling eyes. She then turned to Evan who was beside her. "It's amazing, isn't it?" she asked the boy with her hands held in front of her.

"I suppose it is." The boy replied and then looked back towards the scenery. Hell wasn't quite what he had expected. Sure, the sky and earth were reddish in color. And perhaps the clouds were all black and terrifying. And maybe, there were a few strange things here and there. But other than that, it was just an ordinary village that awaited in front of them. That is, an ordinary village filled with demons and undead of all sorts. And right now, the group had gotten the attention of all of them.

One particular demon, a red skinned individual that was as buff as two whole men with small horns on his forehead, walked up to the group. "Oi!" he yelled. "What are humans doing 'ere? You lot should know better than to come to hell." He said as he raised a hand and lashed it at Marcus who was in front of the group.

Evan didn't even see his granduncle move as a glowing shard slashed at the demon's belly and he fell to the ground screaming in pain.

"Do you not see the crests on our attires?" Marcus said as he walked forward and addressed the crowd of creatures that looked towards them. "Listen up you all, we've come here on business to see the Overlord. And I hope you all know better than to try and attack any of us. That would mean breaking the treaty that has held our two worlds' peace. So think before you act." Then Marcus gestured for the group to follow behind and so they did.

Slowly, they traversed through the red streets as they were watched from all sides. It wasn't a feeling that Evan particularly enjoyed as he hovered on the small cloud that he had conjured. Surprisingly, there was moisture in the air despite the heat. He supposed that the natural humidity was quite high here and for the most part, the air was saturated with water despite the clouds above already being filled to the brink and only waiting to burst down with rain upon them.

Strange, Evan thought to himself. Hell was hot but it was also humid which balanced things out quite well. And it would seem that the plants here resembled those from rainforests. Well, strange as it might have been, it worked out well for Evan. If there wasn't moisture in the air, then he couldn't make clouds which would have been a big problem for him.

Suddenly, the brown haired girl walked beside the hovering boy. She was quite pretty, her skin was also tanned and her eyelashes were long and beautiful just like herself who was about four inches taller than Evan.

"You have a strange power." She noted and then held out her hand. "I am Lelita." She said as Evan awkwardly grabbed her hand. "I am Evan." The boy replied as the girl then introduced herself to Teya as well. "Since we are of the same team, we must at least familiarize ourselves with each other and since you are the only two here whom I do not know, I thought it necessary that I introduce myself." She said and then went back off on her own in the back of the crowd.

"She was odd." Teya said to Evan and it was then that Blyke added. "And she's also hot." before heading off after the girl. But he soon returned with his face having gotten a little red. And that wasn't from the heat, the mark of a hand could obviously be seen. "Wasn't my type anyways." He said as he once more drifted off to himself.

Eventually, after much awkward walking, Marcus stopped at a horse wagon where a skeleton dressed in a tail coat and top hat bowed to the man.

"How much to the overlord's palace?" Marcus asked.

The skeleton's eyes widened in shock as he rose himself up. Though, of course, he didn't actually have eyes. "Sorry!" he placed both of his hands in front of him and turned his head away. "No one goes to the Overlord's palace. It's much too dan-"

Before the skeleton could finish, Marcus placed a bag of gold onto his wagon. "Will this do?" he asked the skeleton who picked up the bag and felt its weight.

"I don't know." The skeleton turned away. "It is really-"

Marcus dropped another bag of gold. The skeleton swiped it up quickly and held out his hand with a wicked smile on his face. "You've got yourself a deal! The name's Skull Jones." Marcus grabbed his hand and shook it. Then Skull hopped into the front of the wagon and flapped the harnesses that erupted in flame as the skeleton horse's eyes reddened and fire ran along its back. "Well, hop in now."

The Gifted did as they were told and jumped on to the wagon. When they were seated as comfortably as they could be, the wagon began moving at an incredible speed. That one horse must have been worth at least twenty, Evan thought as they dashed out of the little town where they had appeared. And in the far distance, Evan began to make out silhouettes of gigantic Malice beasts roaming through the mist of malice that covered the land up ahead. Some were as big as the one he had fought, others were bigger and some resembled animals rather than humans. And some even flew which immediately dismissed Evan's idea of flying over them.

"You lot better be prepared for a fight!" Skull shouted as he laughed manically. "I ain't alive so they won't come at me. I've got no flesh on my bones for them to eat."

"Isn't there any way around?" Marcus asked after seeing the dark, ashy malice that filled the land up ahead.

Skull broke out in laughter. "Of course not, ya darn fools! You think it's easy to get to the Overlord's palace. First we have to get through the ring of malice beasts that surrounds his personal territory. And after that, they'll be demons standing on guard. Some of them will even be demon lords!" The crazed Skull Jones then met Marcus' eyes. "Hopefully you lot can convince the demons otherwise but the malice beast here are all mad so there's no point in wasting your breath with conversation. So best ready yourselves to fight!" Skull laughed yet again and then lashed the harnesses as the horse blazed with flame to run even faster than it had done before.

Blyke gritted his teeth and red lightning spiraled around him. Rill's hands began to liquefy into water, a ring of fire burnt around Teya, light shone from Lelita's hand and wind fanned around from Maya. The knight Silva also unsheathed his sword from his side and Evan himself, formed two giant fists made from clouds to hover above him. He also saw Marcus smile a little as the man readied a shard at his command. They had no way around it. A battle was on its way.