Symphony of Screams

Chapter II

Symphony of Screams

When I came to, I was in a prison cell. I stood up and noticed many of the walls were caked in moss and blood.

The floor so dirty that even I wouldn't dare lay on it. Just standing there made my stomach ache. 

The floor was a patch of dirt, it was a small space covered in bloodstains, and smelt profoundly like urine. 

Looking around, I noticed that I was surrounded by molten lava.

As if that weren't enough, in front of me sat a door, a door made from shock absorbing crystals. Just touching one of these crystals would send a shock so strong it would instantly make you drop dead. So, as you can see, escape would be futile. At least in my current condition.

"Water, please, I need water."

The voice was so sudden it made me jump causing a jolt of pain to spiral around my body, I turned around slowly and painfully to see a decrepit body of a weak angel, with one tired eye staring into the heat haze, I couldn't make out his face, nonetheless, I answered, 

"I'm with ya man, just hang on, I bet I have something." Each word I said sent a sharp pain throughout my whole body, ending in a pounding headache. Blood poured from my wounds as I searched around my cell. "Ugh I'm so light headed that I'm barely still awake." After searching around the entirety of my cell and finding nothing, a feeling of sadness covered my body but before I could say anything else the man responded in a hoarse voice.

"No it's quite alright, they come bearing water every twelve hours, I can last, but judging from the sound you're making, you're weak, so if I were you I would use the heat to seal your wounds." He said with a voice that showed no hostility, still raspy from the lack of water. 

"What's your name?" I said in a strained voice while dipping a loose stone, I found under the bars, in the lava, and using the heat to cauterize my wounds. Then ripping an arm from my shirt I tied myself an eye patch.

"My name is Decimus, I, myself, am a sinner. I've been trapped in this dungeon for years on account of murder." He said his voice was still raspy from the lack of water.

"Wait, you're a sinner?! OW! You look and sound like an angel, well at least what I can make out."

"Us sinners are each given different appearances when first entering Hell. I seem to look this way for my misleaded aggression." Before I could say anything a guard walked up to the cell.

"Hey Maggots It's time to earn your life! You, Angel boy, follow me." I would've made a break for it right then and there but alas, my wings were clamped shut. So without choice I followed him through the crooked halls to a wide open space, the walls were made of the same stone as the cells, a floor blood stained and made purely of crushed obsidian fused with Hell-Burdened Steel.

 In this room there were nothing but craters in the floor, some almost five feet deep, each were about six feet wide with spears jabbed in the bottom; some even had skeletons. 

The arena was lit from the many lanterns hanging precariously on ragged chains, shodily hammered in the cracked ceiling. 

"This must be the Wrath Arena" (The Wrath Arena is an arena were demons and sinners would fight as torture for their Wrath, sinners who are chosen to fight for their wrath are forced to fight relatives, friends, and other meaningful people in their life.) Carved inside the walls were seats for almost everyone in wrath, as I was walking I heard cheers and applause. Each time their hands would meet it sent an agonizing pain through my ears, the stomping of their feet like hammers to fresh, untamed metal. 

With the blow of a horn the crowd went silent, then came the dreaded voice of the man who ruled the badlands of wrathful, merciless demons.

"Satan," I whispered to myself as I walked.

"Welcome to another day in the boiling badlands of wrath. Today our contestants are jotun, and the child of prophecy."

 I looked up as he spoke, instead of the small muscular man that kidnapped me, Satan was now an obese 10 foot tall beast. As he spoke, I could feel each word weighing down on me; it felt as if I were carrying bricks of burning lead on my back.

"Why does he keep calling me that? 

"As usual it will be a battle to see which worthy contestant will live to see another day and which will be lost to time." As I was led to a preparation room I couldn't stop thinking of what Satan had said. Am I really a child of prophecy?I can't get my head straight, help me God! If I ever needed you it would be now. 

The guards pushed me violently into the preparation room. This room had no ceiling and was full of weapons and guards. "Our fighters are now preparing for battle. This will be one exciting match: the champion of wrath and the child of prophecy. Who will win and who will lose? I can hardly contain myself!" Satan roared, I looked up just to see him reach out for the nearest demon, rip off their head and proceed to shove it on a pike, then in one gulp he swallowed the body and let out a tremor of a burp. 

I stood in the preparation room; I saw a scythe and a shield, when walking up to the weapons a demon with three arms intercepted me

"Those are for demons only!"

"Whatever, I could beat him with one hand behind my back and no eyes. After all, I'm the child of prophecy." I said, still shaken in my core. He looked at me with an expression of pure enjoyment and he burst out laughing.

"Ha Ha Ha oh, that's rich. you believe in yourself! oh, what a cute sense of determination. I like you, you're feisty." His tone changed from light and joking, to serious and said, "You could never beat that monster; however, if you wish to survive, avoid his eyes. That's how he gets you." The guard was cut off the Satan,

"Where Are my fighters? I am getting impatient! I don't care if they're not ready! Send them out or I'll kill them myself!" After Satan had finished speaking the demon grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The pain in my shoulder was terrible, though I still tried my hardest not to interrupt the moment.

"You heard him get out there tiny; face your destiny." I walked out into the arena; cheers erupted from the stands. And sitting not twenty feet in front of me was a huge sixty foot tall demon with eyes all over his body, no legs, just a serpent's scaly tail, and one enormous mouth in the center of his chest I looked for his nonexistent neck and there it was, that cursed necklace of angel skulls!

 "Wow you're big. Well, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." I said in a strained voice. The pain in my face aching with every word. So much so that blood was leaking through my lips and streaming down my neck.

"You tiny but interesting, hmmm. Jotun never fought a child of prophecy before; Jotun make this fun." I braced myself as Jotun's terrible breath forced its way up my nose. Jotun rose up on his tail and opened each of his eyes, all the while letting out a mighty roar. "Your skull interesting, me need it! Give it! NOW!" The monster began to slither after me. I ran as fast as I could, but couldn't escape the feel of his breath enveloping my whole body.

Out of nowhere I tripped on the rugged terrain and fell in one of the pits of spikes. Holding out my hands and feet, I caught myself right before I took any fatal injuries; however, that didnt stop one from peercing through my shoulder, the pain numbed by my sheer terror. Jotun looked down the hole and, with great joy, he proceeded to laugh, then scooped me up with his tail, and then began to constrict, 

"Look into my eyes."

I closed my eye as tight as I possibly could, so Jotun began to squeeze even tighter; forcing my eye to nearly pop out of my skull, but that's when I heard a voice whisper in my ear

"It's time son." I could feel Jotun squeezing tighter and tighter until I burst into a thousand tiny spheres of light, but I was not dead, not dead in the least. Each sphere attracted each other, and almost due to pure magic my impaled, battered body materialized over the beast. I removed the spear wedged in my shoulder and dove toward the eye on top of his head. Before I could stab him, he grabbed me with his gigantic hand, and tore my wings from my body then began to pull me closer to his mouth. Where I saw an eye at the back of his cavernous throat. 

Then I saw it, my chance to win. I threw The spear into the eye in the back of his throat and, to my surprise, I hit it! With an ear piercing scream Jotun collapsed on the ground and covered his eyes. He screamed:

"amn ou ittle alf ood, amn ou. I cann ee! otun ver een urt efore. I urts o uch! ake it op! ake it op! Raaaaahh!"

As I picked myself up off the ground with a sudden realization I was alive, all the spear was gone, leaving scars in places that were pierced, I could breathe better and the burning pain from my head ceased; however, my wings did not regenerate, they remained scarred stumps.

It took me a moment to realize what just happened. Once I saw the mighty Jotun on the ground screaming I realized that I must act now, so I started to climb the monster's massive chest. Every grip was hard to hold as Jotun sqirmed.

Once I reached his head I jumped down into Jotun's gaping maw. I then proceeded to grab the spear out of his bleeding eye; then with many bloody strikes, I managed to slice his tongue out. Jotun went to swallow but I stabbed the spear back into his eye and held on for dear life.

With one final, anger induced, curse Jotun's screaming stopped, the crowd became deathly silent and still…

In a booming shock Satan had jumped from his throne and grew to an immense size, he tore Jotun's head in half, and I fell back onto the tough ground barely floating in the pool of blood. Satan reached in, pulled my scarred body from the pool of blood and clenched me in one of his humongous, red hands. I looked at him terrified. In response, he roared,

"How did a wounded Child kill my champion!?" He raged, "I should tear you limb from limb!..." Suddenly, Såtan went silent, "No, that'd be a waste, I'll do something much worse. I'll make you fight for me.

"Never!" I yelled, no longer terrified, "You ripped out my eye and took me away from my home. I won't do Jack-Shit for you!"

"Oh but my boy you will," Satan said in a menacing tone, "after I Torture you, I'm afraid it won't be your choice. so you will either fight willingly or fight under my influence." Satan brought me up closer to his face, "It's your choice."

I spat in his face and shouted, 

"I won't be broken, I will never give in!" I Screamed, seering with rage, "In the end, it will be you who lies dead on the battlefield. Mark my words. YOU. ARE. A. DEAD MAN!" Satan turned away, smiling sinisterly.

"Guards throw him in my chambers and Nail him to the crucifix. I will be there shortly." 

After being dropped from his hand, I fell to the solid ground below, splashing in the warm blood. The fall caused me to pass out; although, there was one thing I heard before I collapsed. I heard screams of outrage and fear. It was like a symphony of demonic screams.