The Inferno

[LuckyLuciano]

I came to consciousness in a dark room, it seemed like it stretched on infinitely in all directions. All I could remember before the darkness was cars screeching, and glass breaking. I walked for a while in the darkness, and wallowed in it for an unknowable amount of time, it could have been hours, but suddenly my slow walk was interrupted by a large flash of light from the sky, surrounded by the fluffiest, whitest clouds I had ever seen. No.. I thought to myself. I was not only a complete Atheist, but a science advocate. I firmly believed in the big bang, string theory, quantum theory, the list goes on. In the middle of all of my thoughts, the darkness began to quake, shattering my teeth completely and sending them spiraling into infinity. Well shit. The darkness began to tint a bright red, as fire began to gather around me and sear my flesh.​

And then again, darkness.​

I came back once again, but this time naked with my flesh burned into a crisp brown color with red patches on some parts. My hair was completely reduced to ash. I stopped focusing on myself, and found that there were people queuing in a single file line in front of me, and in front of everyone was a giant mountain, engulfed in flames. We were all standing on a dainty, thin volcanic rock that almost burnt your feet, and below us was magma, stretching out forever. The lava bubbled up, some of the men queuing flinched at the rising magma.​

 

[Annix Lyas]

Burning flesh, heat, pain, the smell of smoke, the smell of flesh burning... These thoughts echoed inside Annix's mind as she slowly awoke into a nightmare.

Instantly she noticed how dehydrated her body was feeling. The heat was unbearable. Like stepping into a hot car on a summers day. Her arms clenched the rocky floor she had been laying upon, shooting pain suddenly flashed in her back. Random spots echoed to her mind that she had been laying on a rough surface.

She gazed up, tired, hot and dehydrated. Eyes watering from the gushing heat being blown in her face. Lines of people queuing up for as long as her eye could see. Hands started to heat up, feeling the volcanic rock trying to burn her skin away. She flinched, trying to rise to her feet. Panting and panting from lack of cool oxygen available in this horrendous place. "Why? What the hell was hap..." She started saying, but stopped, gasping, eyes growing wider. Last thing she remembered was a sudden pain shoot through her heart. Then...Darkness.

This place looked almost like the hell humans believed in. But she didn't...Why was she here? She was aragonian. She believed her soul would travel back to the great tree after she would pass away. So why hell? Yes she had a soul like human beings...But perhaps...Unfortunately her soul had gotten lost, or worse taken to hell instead....

A sudden coughing fit threw her upper body down, ash and harsh chemicals seeping their way into her lungs. Heat travelled to the souls of her feet, sudden sharp heated pain making her stumble, feet lost she fell to the ground again. More pain arrived as her back hit the rough volcanic rocks. She was almost naked she realized...For the heat from the floor was already travelling into her skin. Clothing had been burnt away ages ago as she lay burning on the floor. Panting...Panting...Rolling to her side, feeling every muscle tingle with pain as she slowly rose to her feet.

"XUTH! She said in her aragonian language named Jel. Swearing in her race's tongue, she wondered and feared what was about to happen next...

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I looked behind me, and noticed that there was a new person in line, it was a woman, and she was rolling around on the ground, burning, and screaming some type of language that I couldn't understand for the life of me, the only guess I could make would be Latin. I looked down at her with sympathy, and pity. Suddenly, as I looked at her flesh burn into a crisp, fried chicken color like mine, I felt the need to help. I got down to my knees, staining them with ash, and dirt, I began to violently pat her down in almost futile attempts to get rid of the violent flame, but eventually, the flame had retreated, and it fizzled out into a puff of smoke. "My name is Dante." He tried to slow his breathing so he could talk clearly, but the air was so humid it was almost impossible.

 

[Annix Lyas]

Pain.... Agonising pain everywhere....

*Get up!* she told herself.*GET UP!* she shouted to herself, gritting her reptilian teeth, muscles aching and shaking as every small ounce of strength was pushed into trying to get up. Muscles started to burn as if they were on fire, shaking as if she had been electrocuted. Then collapse, falling back onto the ever growing hot volcanic floor. It was hot, tiring, scales hurting from burns. She lay there giving up. Staring endlessly into the hell she had been placed into. But no... Life had been worse than this. Life had punched her in the face, she had taken many hits and still kept going. Sure her soul was stuck in hell. But laying on the floor didn't help did it?!

She tensed her muscles again, feeling the similar burning, shaking and painful feeling again. The ever growing heat from the volcanic rock was becoming unbearable. And then... It got worse... The remaining parts of clothing caught fire, igniting her as if she had been soaked in petrol. Whoosh! Intense heat pain and smoke.


She screamed rolling around on the floor, her aragonian tail flying about all over the place. Pain pain pain... But then hands started patting her down. The once intense fire ceased to exist. She lay there a second until a familiar burnt sensation transformed over her body. Opening her yellow eyes, she saw a man? Angel? She new from the religious stories that an angel could fly in hell and save souls...

She rolled to her side, using every ounce of strength to sit up. Muscles aching burning, scales burnt to a cinder like a over cooked sausage. She puffed out a chemical breath, feeling sick from the lack of good oxygen in the air. She realized it was a man who had helped her. Burnt and naked as herself. Even though they were different species (though had a few similarities) she still couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Though that feeling was at the back of her mind for now. She listened to the man talk. Noticing he too was struggling.

"I'm... Pant pant.... Annix" she said coughing once more."thank you..." She managed to say.

 

[Bishop]

A man was looking on this whole time, he had arrived hours before them, if there was even any sense of time here. Maybe just the dread of the situation made time feel longer.

He knew why he was here. He spent the first minutes in this place sobbing and praying without any answers. He knew what he had to do, get in that line and get taken to his rightful dungeon for eternity but he couldn't bare to step forward. He had crawled away like an animal and found himself a spot behind a molten rock to hold himself and shake miserably. The pain was etched into his skin and after awhile the occasional flames that'd burn his flesh and blacken his skin didn't feel so torturous but he knew he'd have much worse in store eventually. He noticed that his wounds would heal overtime, only to stop him from dying just long enough for the torture to begin again. This was exactly what this place was. Hell.

He was a religious man, in college he'd even studied stuff like this so he knew the irony of the situation. Believing something all your life only for it to punish you in the end. As he heard the voice of yet another new arrival screaming in pain he was finally prompted to stand up and look beyond the steaming rock. He saw the two arrivals and with whatever will he had left in him he decided to walk towards them. Every step was painful, it was like he was stepping on coal in his bare feet but by now the pain had become stoic in a sense.

As he walked closer, you could see most of his curly brown hair was burnt away and his face was just as ashen as everybody else. There was a distinct feature to his body tough, on his lower neck was an interesting wound but as he neared closer it was realizable that it wasn't a scar but a metal cross necklace that had melted into his neck from the head, almost like it was molded there. He had some shreds of clothing left on his body, some black fabric draped near his shoulder, a white collar of fabric near his neck.

It was evident what he was now: A priest. Or had been. He finally approached the two new arrivals after much limping and struggling. His eyes seemed bloodshot and puffy but he still had a distinct emerald green color underneath all the blood that had dripped from his forehead. He looked to the young man who was helping the... he wasn't quite sure yet, up.

"Fascinating place isn't it?" He asks, his voice on the borderline of insanity. That was the first time he had spoken out loud to someone else since he had arrived, he didn't sound the same anymore, at least to his ears he didn't.

He now looked to the girl who had been screaming and rolling around and the only question he could manage to ask was simple and out of how intrigued he was. "What exactly... are you?"

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I looked up to the man who had a torn priests robe on, it was charred, and broken. It looked as if you would touch it, it would shatter into ashes, and fall to the burning ground, which now turned my feet into an obsidian color, with a sharp red starting to itch up my leg, scorching the hair off as it went on. I barely looked human anymore, I looked like I had been shoved in an oven and left to cook for a few hours. I couldn't bare to think of what would happen to me once we got inside the flaming mountain. I turned my attention back to the priest. "Yeah, it's beautiful actually, in a chaotic sort of way though." I nodded my head, giving the priest my regards. "My name is Dante."

I drifted off, noticing we were almost into the tunnel entrance, that cut into the mountain. I looked to the side, noticing a rickety sign, it looked like it had been there for millions of years, but it wasn't burnt at all, it was completely immune to the fire around it. The sign read, "ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE" A shiver went down my spine, and I began to drift off, gazing at each letter of the sign carefully. Suddenly, the reality set in, that I would be spending eternity in this horrible, burning dimension, with no hope of ever escaping.

 

[Annix Lyas]

In the time it had taken her to rise to her feet, using every ounce of will power and strength available to her in this dreadful place, another man approached the pair of them. She gazed at him, puffing and puffing like a train, trying to breath. She found the men's way of thinking strange, finding a ray of beauty in a place like this was hard to imagine. This place didn't catch her eye one bit, she'd rather be in a lake right now. Swimming huge depths, gazing at the wonder world around her. The different coloured fish flashing their star colours in the darkness, plant life which would wave in the water's currents. That was bliss to her...Then again...It wouldn't hurt to even slightly like this place would it? As the journey (even if it was a little) would feel slightly lighter.

She drifted off into her own mind. Since a young aragonian, her mind had often drifted off with her as she climbed the huge dense trees of Black Marsh. Often her mind would only return to reality when the moon flashed silver rays through the leaves. Then she'd rush back to her home worried, try sneaking in and have a rather big telling off.

As her eyes stared into the hot bubbling lava down below, the man's question brought her mind back. This question was often repeated to her daily life, when shed have to cross into human villages. She gazed back, looking at the man staring at her. Again slight embarrassment flashed into her mind. Using her tail, it wrapped around her private region as he stared.

"I'm an Aragonian. My kind is from the depths of Tameriel. In your language the closet word is "country". Inside that country you find Black Marsh. A swamp land famous for my kind." She said, as she rubbed her muscles. The aching, constant pain of the burns were driving her mind slightly crazy. Causing irritation to her mind.

She was more human then the males would think. Yes her skin was green and purple, yes she had spikes and horns, scales and a tail. At first glance she looked completely reptilian. But no...A few qualities were that of human...Her kind worked the same when it came to making and producing a child, feeling/expressing emotions. Her body even worked the same to a humans to some extent.

Of course she wasn't surprised that they wouldn't notice all these qualities. For one, most of her body looked reptilian. She had no breasts like a human women would, aragonians focused on different things. Yes they looked at appearances,body shape, personality, but they also focused on the colour of their skin and even spikes/horns.

Again as her mind raced back into good memories to hide into, she made herself come back to reality. Needing to concentrate on the situation at hand. Even though it was tempting to just hide away... Again from gazing at the lava, she gazed into the priest's once more.

"Im Annix." She said in a rather tired tone. Her eyes, her body language looked to the brink of exhausted. Following Dante's gaze at this point, she also gazed at the "No hope" sign.

Irritation further stirred in her gut. Burnt like an over cooked piece of toast, tired out, cant breath, the smell of ash in the air, hot burning rushes of air which punched into your burnt skin/scales...And now this? Yes she had a soul, and perhaps in her life time she hadn't been the greatest. Destroying lives in self defence, having something put inside her. A beast of some kind, closet word which would be demon...Though his power was no longer available to her to use in this situation. But she still felt him with her. But he was good, and so was she.... She clenched her teeth, hands turned into fists.

"This will not be my eternity..." She said trying to muster up every piece of energy she could use to speak.

 

[Bishop]

The priest had noticed the sign too. He recognized the quote all too well. It was all too familiar, as if studying something like this as often as he did made it seem like he was just back in class reading about it years earlier and he'd appear back there any moment but he somehow knew that wasn't going to happen. This was reality. Though, perhaps being more familiar with heaven and hell, religions and biblical writings, is what made seem a bit calmer.

"Your name's Dante?" He snickered slightly, as much as he could with the burning sensation on his neck. "You do see the irony in that don't you? The whole Dante's Inferno tale? And now well... look where you are." He says reading over the sign again, trying his best to adjust to the stinging pain that came with every step he took.

"It looks like that story was a lot more fact than it was fiction." He says, overlooking the mountain in the distance. All around them seemed to be shores of lava and mountainous molten islands. He wondered how far they stretched out. If it was endless. He rather easily adjusted to the fact that the girl with them was a... what did she call it? Aragonian. After all, he had seen more shocking stuff during his first hours here. The only thing keeping him from screaming out in a mixture of pain and insanity was the idea that this was not a permanent resting place but that signed scared him. It seemed like such a hopeless sentence and it didn't scare him half as much when he read about it back in college.

He agreed with what the girl said though, he didn't want this as his eternity either. "It looks like we don't have much choice." He says grimly. "At least if we go in there we don't." He says, staring ahead blankly, wondering what could be ahead. "Abandon all hope", he thought to himself. He was not quite ready for that. He still feared for his soul.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I snickered to myself quietly, and thought about how much of an interesting coincidence that was, I had never even noticed that before, even while I read Dante's Inferno online a few years ago. I suddenly remembered Annix's words while the Priest spoke. "This will not be my eternity." At first I thought what the Priest said about not having much of a choice was sort of cynical, but he was right, we had no other choice but to keep walking forward, into the mountain. Below us was lava in all directions, and I don't see how jumping into that would help our case at all.

I looked back to the mountain, we were now almost completely inside, we were right at the doorway. The stench of rotting guts, and drying blood was consistent everywhere, which was strange, on the walkway outside of the entrance to the mountain there was no smell besides burning metal. I peaked further inside of the tunnel that was piercing through the mountain, and saw an old man, he had a long grey beard, I couldn't tell where his hair ended and where his beard started. He was completely naked, except a red blanket that was wrapped around his shoulder, drooping down to his ankles. I could tell who it was immediately, Charon.

It couldn't get anymore surreal, I thought to myself. Inside of the mountain, it was actually very dark, and grey. Everything seemed so dull, and lifeless. The dark blue rock inside had a cold, dead pinch to it that stung your feet, and made them go numb. Now inside of the mountain, it was clear where we were headed now, the river Styx. You could see it clearly past Charon, it stretched on for miles and miles down the long, cold corridor. Nothing but still, dark blue water that matched the walls around it as long as the river stretched.

 

[Annix Lyas]

"There is always a choice. We have been tortured physically and emotionally, and with that sign. All they are doing is trying to dampen and destroy our spirits. It makes soul's easier to control that way. Even if it takes me a thousand years. I will find a way out of here." She said, firmly taking slow steps towards the mountain. Wondering what on earth..Or what on hell could happen next...

A wall of stench greeted her noise as they all slowly travelled inside the mountain. The smell of drying blood and guts everywhere...It felt like a bad welcome when you open your door to a stranger. Then again the stench of burning metal, and suffocating oxygen was no better. So all in all, she kept her thoughts to herself, trying not to complain too much.

She stopped suddenly, almost bumping into Dontai ahead of her. About to question his sudden stop she followed his gaze instead. Noticing a man with a huge long grey beard, and likewise...Naked again. The sudden growing numbness on her scaled feet, made her flinch and shuffle on the spot. Small doses of pain started to prickle on her feet. Even though it caused pain, in some sense it was a relief. From the burning depths of lava, to now standing on cool rock. It felt lovely for a few seconds. The urge to collapse on the floor and roll around to cool her scales popped in her mind. But then again as she gazed out in the horizon, she ignored her busy thoughts.

It was incredible dark, but the small ounce of light bounced off the cold walls, shined like moon light onto the water. A grand view for Annix, and she couldn't help but gasp at its beauty.
"Now this is what I see as beauty." She said out loud to herself, gazing at the calm still water. The urge cropped up into her mind again....The urge to jump in the water. After all, her race was famous for water breathing underwater. But as tempting as it maybe. She didn't trust the water in this situation. So she stayed put on the numbing floor. Taking small steps towards the random old man...Having no knowledge that this man was Charon...For she had not researched that fair into human beliefs.

 

[Bishop]

Once again, the priest knew just too well what was ahead. He looked to his right then to his left and on both sides of him saw nothing but the dark water and black shores. They were still a bit away from the old man directing souls onto the ferry but the slow pace of the line filled him with terror and anxiety. It was like he was a kid waiting in line for a terrifying roller coaster ride and had that undying urge to step out of line.

He wanted to resist moving forward but he didn't know if that'd only make it worse. The only thing keeping him sane was his confidence about the realms of Heaven and of Hell and the extent of his knowledge towards them. If he let that slip for even a moment he'd just be another damned soul. He thought about where the boat would take him, he thought about what he did, how he died, what punishment would be in store for him.

And then a terrible thought occurred to him. A priest in hell. He would receive a special place for this, he was sure of it. The only feelings stirring within him now were that of fearful hesitation, pain, and deep down, just a shred of hope left which seemed foolish in such a hopeless place. With all this being said, eventually the dread took control as he eyed the soggy rocks that led to the many shores near their pathway. With a weak strain of willpower he put his hand to Dante and tugged him to the side, the same with the Aragonian. He moved them both temporarily out of the line, near the rocks that almost smelled like ones you'd find at a sea scented ocean. Other burnt, disfigured men and women took their place in line and continued forward, as if their will had already disintegrated and they could only proceed forward now. He could see now, at least he thought, that hadn't happened to these two yet, which is why he decided to pull them out of line with him and also because the thought of being alone in this miserable place sounded dreadful.

"Dante. Annix." He spoke their names. His voice had suddenly lost all of the confidence or whatever it was in his tone from before, it was weak and frightened now, almost on the verge of crying. "I don't want to go in there. I can't." He says, as if he was pleading and reasoning with himself out loud for them to hear.

The only background noise was Charon giving introductions and ramblings to those entering the huge wooden ferry. His voice echoed like thunder within the mountain. The people on board seemed crammed in like livestock and all were screaming and regretting their decisions as they prepared to sail off further into Hell. The old man, Charon, couldn't of been less than fifty yards away from them, like a mysterious man at the end of a path yet his voice was still as clear as crystal. He focused on making every soul who entered that ferry come to the realization that they were here to stay and maybe what Charon was saying subconsciously furthered the priest's decision.

"I won't." The priest continued. "What if there's another way." He said, such a remark like that showed how desperate he was to not step up to that old man and be led into that ship.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I shook my head, and looked down. A tear would have come out of my eye if it wasn't so incredibly hot. It just fizzled into vapor on my eyes, stinging them, and turning them a mustard yellow. "There is no other way out, where are we gonna go?" I tried to keep my voice down to not attract the attention of Charon, who was now almost staring directly at us, with his cold, dead eyes. "Look, maybe we should try to jack the boat, and speed off.. See what we find at the end of that river." Dante looked down the mysterious water way, and the boat that was made out of skulls, and bones. "If we all ganged up on Charon, and pushed him into the water, I think we could pull it off." I tried to remain optimistic, someone has probably tried this before and been torn to shreds by Charon himself.

I tried to not think about chunks of flesh being ripped off of my body by Charon's old, ungroomed nails, then being carelessly tossed in the river as he delivered the rest of the unfortunate souls that were on the boat with us to hell. My eyes were now smoke machines, sending smoke into a cloud above his head. I tried again, to swipe it away, but it wouldn't move. I wished I could stop crying, but everything in this place was all too surreal. I agreed with the priest, I couldn't take living here. There had to be a way out.

 

[Annix Lyas]

A sad horrific que to the gruesome boat... Women whining and crying, men wailing to the high heavens. Slowly as everyone boarded the boat, she stared into the water. Tempted to swim in... But figures... Distorted faces, blood and guts surfaced. Then sank away into depths again. Swimming back into depths... Swiming away was off her list...

Her eyes scanned the sea horizon, looking for anything as they slowly walked to the boat... A sharp tug of her shoulders made her yank to the side.

The priests and dantes words stayed with her, though her eyes still kept staring at the horizon. There was always a way...

Her vision snapped back, both of the men's sanity and will were breaking. She didn't blame them, she was slightly more accustomed to this... As she had been in her own hell at one stage.

"Enough!" She said in a whispered tone. Not wanting to attact attention. She grabbed both of the men's throats. But had no force in her scaled hands. Only wanting to look them in the eye. Only being 5 foot 5 she was tiny.

"Crying and whining like children won't save you in this situation." She said, Eyeing the pair with her yellow eyes. Tone still a whisper.

"You really want to get of here or not? If you do, you both need to beleive there is a way out." She said, taking her hands from their throats. No marks from her grip.

Letting go, she stared at the boat. She practiced in unarmed combat, she could take him.

 

[Bishop]

Before the Aragonian had a chance to confront Charon, something happened. It started out as a small confrontation in the line ahead of them, perhaps over someone panicking and trying to leave at the last minute or maybe two people had got into a confrontation but for whatever reason, the burnt men and women in line started to shove eachother and scream, toppling over one another. It wasn't clear who started it but now everyone in front of them was in a panic. The priest, Dante, and Annix were thankfully still standing outside of the line, when the commotion made its way up to them a few people were shoved out of line towards them, then they would jerk themselves back into the crowd of people.

This was there chance to leave the single file line that lead to that awful ship. Maybe whatever had happened was for the best, the priest didn't know what the chances were if Annix went head to head with the old man but it didn't seem good, he was sure he knew how to handle a rowdy passenger. There wasn't much time to think during this sudden panic, so the priest acted.

"Hurry. This way!" He has to shout to be heard over the roaring crowd. He moves towards the rocks that were on both sides of them and begins to slip and slide over them and pass them, on the other side of them was the gigantic shore that stretched upon the sides of the hideous lake. The sharp rocks hurt the man's burnt feet and sometimes drew blood but it was nowhere as bad as the molten coal-like path they had entered from.

While he was trying to make his way over the rocks and to the shore Charon was silent, just looking upon the panicking crowd as if he'd seen it before. He was almost smiling in amusement. The old man observed on for a few more moments before giving a small nod to an unknown force nearby and it seemed at that very moment, two large creatures came from ferry at his very command. They were ugly, jackal-like beasts. Their legs were that of hooves and their bodies black and as human-like as something like them could be. They stood at least two times the height of an average man. Their eyes were an eerie pitch black color that looked camouflaged against their black as night faces. On their heads were tall, threatening horns, and in their claw-like hands were large pointed spears. The two jackal creatures moved towards the storming crowd and with one swift poking motion their spears would go through the chests of the panicking people in line and once they were pierced, they were tossed to the side. One by one they stabbed anyone who was panicking or fighting back, starting with the most aggressive. It was as if they were Charon's personal crowd control and the old man seemed pleased.

The priest prayed they could get away in time as he climbed the sharp rocks. His flesh had been burnt and he had suffered gruesome levels of pain since they arrived so he was sure a spear in the back was something he could handle but he didn't want to stick around to find out for himself.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I shook my head, I was completely exhausted by the time we had reached the rocks, and I was never very good at pull ups, or chin ups, so I could barely climb the rocks. It made it even worse that they were cold to the touch, they were turning my hands a nasty color from them being burnt, and cold at the same time, the sight almost made me puke, but I tried to stay focused on getting to the shores. I looked to my right, and the Priest was there, struggling just as much as me to get over the long, jagged rocks. I was almost reduced to tears again, but I tried to stay strong. I was in a dead hang on a rock above me, trying persistently to pull myself over, but I couldn't do it. I was about to fall back down to the awful pathway that led to the water, and the boat. I knew if that happened, I'd be doomed. People were now crowding that spot completely, and trying to crowd Charon. The demons were just stabbing into people, and then tossing them into the hot magma below.

I continued to struggle, but then, I saw a bright light shine on all of us, it was comforting. It reminded me of the clouds that I saw back in the darkness. This bright light touched us, and suddenly, the three of us were conquering the giant wall of boulders. I could suddenly lift anything, and it was absolutely effortless getting over. I could clearly see the shores over the rocks now, they weren't hellish like everything else we had seen so far, it was very depressing. Everything was a dark blue, or just completely black, and the roof was completely covered by darkness, there was no telling what could be up there, lurking. We were now standing on top of the rocks, ready to jump down into the black, dense sand that seemed to stretch on for miles. The light had disappeared now, and we were on our own. I looked back to Annix, and the priest, then dived into the dull sand without saying a word.

My head was firmly planted into the "sand". It felt more like ash, it sort of just crumbled when you touched it. I could easily pull my head out without any assistance. I looked around me, and there was nothing. No breeze, no waves. Just a still dark water at the edge of the beach. I turned my attention from the water, still on my knees, and looked at the beach. It had to be the biggest beach he'd ever seen in his life. It went on forever, along with the water beside it.

 

[Annix Lyas]

Eyes scanned Charon, gazing at his body structure, his facial expressions. Scanning for any sign of weakness in him....

Suddenly, like dominoes falling down screaming, pushing, panicking echoed down the line. The source of the activity was Un- identifiable.

The cave echoed in waves of noise and fear. Something Annix was finding horrific to watch at a distance. She wished she had her chakra, her power...But no... She was just a human now...

Charon seemed to find the whole thing amusing, as if he seen this scene play out a hundred times before. It all got worse.... Huge monsters appeared breaking the commotion up... She gasped gazing at their size...

She didn't need telling twice, she ran with the men, climbing the rocks. Scales hurting and cutting upon griping on the cold steel like earth. Muscles soon ached, burning from the inside."keep moving. Keep going." She told herself, panting and panting. Above all, keeping her will going. Keeping her spirit going.

She stopped and panting and groan when her feet hit the soft sand? Her heart beated like a song, slowly as her breathing calmed, so did her heart rate.

She gazed back, gazing at the ocean, still hearing people scream from all the way up here. Innocent people she couldn't help...

"We can't stop here. We must keep going." She said, turning round to the men. It wouldn't be this easy to escape...

 

[Bishop]

He felt the ashen sand underneath him, it stung in his wounds but it was nowhere near as bad as what those demons could of done to them. He was able to feel just a tinge of relief but the blood curdling screams coming from behind the rocks that separated the shore from that pathway that led to Charon's vessel left strong unease in the air still. The water lapped onto the shore like any normal "beach" would but with every wave the stench they smelled when first arriving would strengthen.

He walked up to Annix and Dante, feet covered in the ashen sand, covering up his wounds like a new layer of skin. "It seems we only have one way to go." The priest says, nodding forward to the shore that stretched onward. "My name is Abraham by the way." He says, addressing the both of them. "Before it was Father Abe... as if that really matters anymore."

He started to take it one step at a time away from the jagged rock walls, staring over at the black water. He started to mumble something under his breathe. He was trying to pray but he just couldn't find the words. After all, praying in Hell was about as contradicting as having a baby shower at a grave yard. They were two things that didn't go together and it left Abraham in a hopeless silence.

He stopped as he heard a siren like sound in the distance. It was the ferry finally taking off. Charon was standing at the very top of it with a lantern at his side showing some light as if he was directing the whole ship onto the grim waters by himself. The ship was far in the distance but Charon seemed to glance over and look at the three of them on the blackened shore. It felt like he was watching each on of them but instead of reacting he simply seemed to chuckle under his breath. It almost sounded like he pitied them. He then returned his focus to sailing the ship away from the shores. Those in line who couldn't fit on the tightly packed ship just kept walking forward into the water, as if they had no control. It explained all the gore in the lake.

The priest almost instantly understood why Charon looked at them the way he did. He knew the ones who got on board should be thankful. He knew abandoning all hope was the most sane thing to do in Hell and those who got on that ferry without any resistance were the lucky ones, the ones who still had any hope left would suffer much more.

"It's funny... recently I was just reading about lost souls walking the shores of Hell. They say if you miss the boat you are damned to walk the shores for a very long time." He says, seeing this was a convenient time to bring up the topic. "I myself don't believe that though. Our souls don't belong to them yet so I agree, we should keep going. This beach can't last forever." He looks back to them then starts to walk again, preparing himself for whatever lay ahead.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I tried to brush the ash off of me, but to no avail. It was a thin layer of dark blue dust built all over my skin, covering my burn wounds, and stinging at them intensely. "Abraham? By any chance is your last name Lincoln?" I lightly snickered, but immediately stopped after inhaling about a ton of the cold ash. I coughed up dense clouds of it, stinging my throat something awful, along with my mouth, which was as dry as a bone in the desert from the intense heat from before. Suddenly, a ring went off around all of the mountain, it was a high pitched bell noise, almost like a siren.

I looked back to the rocks, and over them I saw Charon, rising above everyone who had entered the boat with a dim, hellish red lantern held tightly in his grip. Everyone in the boat looked completely stoic, they were all motionless, as calm as Hindu cows. They must have been just as aware of what was happening to them as we were, but still their burnt, crisp faces remained still. I turned my attention back to Charon, and realized Charon was staring directly at us three, with a devilish grin, chuckling lightly to himself. That little gesture from him alone scared me shitless, but I tried to remain calm and pay attention to what the priest was saying.

"Sure does look like it goes on forever.." My optimism was slowly fading as I began to think about how long we would be doomed to walk around, aimlessly, looking for any sign of salvation.

 

[Annix Lyas]

Which was the best direction? What kind of monsters/spirits lurked around the corners? How long could these men last walking? Their will power already seemed thin on a line. Could her own will power keep up with this place?

So many questions...she closed her eyes a minute, thinking about home. Thinking about life... Could they really survive...

No this type of thinking didn't help. They could either stay here and get the shit beaten out of them, or they could climb out of hell. Inch by inch... Climb into the light.

She opened eyes again, feeling the sand beneath her scaled feet. A determined breath in and out, muscles tight, body ready.

"I'm ready. No matter what happens... I'll get out of this place." She said, as she picked a direction to walk in.

 

[LuckyLuciano]

I shook my head, fed up with Annix's dull, and short responses that barely went along with what Abraham and I were saying. I began to march back to the large wall of rocks, and quickly made my way over, signaling Charon to come back, and take me to hell. I had made up my mind, it would be better to go to hell then to deal with some illiterate w ho can't even type out a paragraph. Charon began to paddle back to the shore, with a devilish grin on his face. I hopped gently into his boat, finding a spot between two people who had skin like Freddy Kruger, just like everyone else. No one had any distinguishing features anymore, we were all the same.

Charon then paddled off into the river once again, raising his lantern to the sky.