Where Am I?

Good news, looks like I'm not dead. But I do have a pounding headache.

I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a forest of some kind. But the trunks of the tree's around me were a dark shade of red and the leaves were pure white while twinkly a faint yellow. In fact it seemed like everything around me was a shade of red. It was also incredibly hot, like I was in a sauna.

I slowly got up, still experiencing the headache and noticed a scent of rusted iron and ash in the air. 

I'm definitely not in Heaven. And although I haven't explored all of Earth myself, I'm fairly certain there is no place like this on the planet. So there was only one other possible option. 

I'm in Erebus. 

The bastard known as my father cast me into Erebus as my punishment for trying to kill him. 

He wants me dead, I mean of course he wants me dead. I just tried to cut him down.

That was foolish of me. I got too emotional. 

I also can't access my powers, so I'm basically a normal mortal down here. He probably sent me down here to avoid dirtying his own hands. 

Us angels don't have spirits like normal mortals do, when we die it's over. Nothingness.

And I refuse to let things go according to his plan. I'm going to survive no matter what it takes. 

First things first, I can't stay where I am now. It's to open, I need to find a shelter of sorts. If there even is such a thing in this horrendous place. 

I started moving in one direction while constantly keeping an eye of my surroundings. 

Each step was unbearable, the heat constantly eating away at my stamina and the persisting headache impairing my judgement. 

I wasn't even sure which layer of Erebus I was on. There are seven layers total, each more of a pain in the ass the last. 

And after what seemed like hours of wandering I managed to chance upon a sort of encampment it looks like. I kept as much distance as I could while trying to gauge who was based there. 

It kind of looked like they had a sort of blueish fire burning but it was weird. The fire seemed to freeze in between each flicker. 

As I got closer I noticed a wagon with a cage covered by some sort of cloth and a creature sitting by the odd fire. 

It almost looked... human. That is if you ignore the scales and tail. He also had a sort of lizard-like head.

How do I approach this? I don't have my powers or any weapons, I have no knowledge of this place, I'm exhausted after walking in this heat and with the headache. If this guy was aggressive and attacked me, I wouldn't survive. 

As I was contemplating my next moves, the lizard guy got up suddenly and approached the wagon. 

The lizard lifted the cloth a little and revealed a young boy sitting there dejected. The boy actually looked human. He was wearing a ragged cloth and had a collar on his neck attached to the cage. The only difference about the boy from regular humans was his eyes. His eyes had red pupils with a dark black sclera. 

I knew one thing about Erebus. The dark black sclera meant demon. The most prominent race in Erebus. Demons had complete control of Erebus, the seven leaders had lesser demons cause chaos on Earth.

However it was odd for a demon to be caged since they were considered to be the superior race here. I only learned about demons cause they showed up frequently, I didn't care enough to study the other species down here. I kinda regret it now. 

"Oi, brat time to eat. Can't have you starving to death on me." the lizard said as he tossed a piece of jerky at the boy. 

The boy just stared at the lizard with anger and defiance in his eyes. 

The lizard didn't like that. He slipped his hand in between the bars of the cage and stopped with his claws inches from the boys neck. 

"Eat" the lizard snarled, "Or I eat you."

The boy lowered his eyes and ate the jerky. 

"Behave, you're gonna earn me a pretty penny in next town." the lizard said with a cold smile as he covered the cage back up with the cloth.

I maintained my distance to avoid getting noticed. I waited for an opportunity to strike. It would be the only chance I could have against this guy.

Finally after waiting for about another hour it seemed like he went to sleep. I'm not sure how he knew whether it was night or not considering there was no sun or moon. 

I picked up the sharpest rock I could find, which was not that hard to find since all the rocks were sharp. All the rocks seemed to have the same texture as bone, which was disturbing enough as is. 

I focused on not stepping on anything that would awake the lizard as I approached him. I mean of course I would, him waking up would be incredibly bad for me. I would also be an idiot. 

It was difficult, the headache alone made each step feel like a sharp stab at my head. 

Thankfully I managed to get within striking distance without awaking him. 

I observed him carefully trying to find a weakness I could strike to end him in one blow. 

It seemed like his neck was the weakest part of his body. I positioned myself accordingly. I had no room for error as messing up would mean my death. 

"Who are you?" the boy had lifted the cloth and noticed me. 

The lizards eyes shot open and I went in for the blow. 

Blood splattered everywhere, as I struck the beast he retaliated right before his death and left a big gash across the left side of my face from my temple down to my jaw. 

I immediately collapsed, I was running on fumes as is, the heat and the headache were already weighing on me enough. His retaliation was the straw that broke the camels back. 

Everything was going black again but just before I lost consciousness I saw the collar on the boy disappear. 

And back to black.