Sam’s
direction and then set off again, taking the left hand exit without
hesitation. Sam hastened after him at a fast jog. Yeth certainly
didn’t like to drag his heels.
If the alarm
had been raised, it certainly wasn’t apparent as they sped through
the tunnels. They started to angle downwards again – not at an
extreme angle like before – but they were certainly descending.
Yeth had extinguished the flames from his body and there were no
sconces filled with magical fire along these corridors, so the two
of them ran on in darkness. Yeth, it seemed, was just as
comfortable in the dark as Sam was and was apparently intelligent
enough to douse his fire, knowing that a flaming Hellhound moving
along these darkened tunnels would announce their presence in a
loud and dramatic fashion.
Some side
chambers were filled with the sounds of human suffering and Sam
deliberately avoided looking in those directions. Many chambers
were almost swamped in lava. Sam had to pick his way through them,
leaping from one rocky island to the next. In some of these lava
filled chambers, Sam saw other curious demons. They seemed to be
comprised entirely of living lava, size and form that of a normal
man. They ignored Sam and he did likewise for fear of drawing too
much attention to himself. Yeth simply waded through the lava like
a normal dog through a shallow pond. He seemed completely immune to
the heat, but that came as no surprise to Sam.
These large
open chambers began to get bigger and bigger until the largest
could have easily contained the biggest cathedrals in the world.
Yeth led Sam straight through one of these. In huge lava pond
directly in the middle of the room stood an imposing figure.
As they got
closer, Sam blinked in awe. It was a massive demon that he’d seen
pictures of before. It had no name as far as Sam knew, only that it
met the stereotypical description of demons depicted though
history: a giant humanoid, maybe twenty feet high, with flaming red
skin, large curving black horns and black wings that would’ve put
an average sailing ship to shame. And, luckily for himself and
Yeth, it did not seem aware of them at all. In fact, it appeared to
be frozen.
They ran
directly past it, underneath its very nose and still it didn’t
move. Yeth sensed the question and consternation in Sam’s mind and
it did the equivalent of a mental reassuring pat. Not to worry.
Will not move, was the general gist of what Yeth was saying.
An archway at
the very end of the chamber loomed ahead of them. Yeth led him
directly into and then abruptly stopped with a sigh of
satisfaction. It seemed that Yeth had brought him where he wanted
to be.
As soon as he
entered the chamber, Sam’s mind and ears were bombarded with sound.
Screams. The sound of human torment.
This chamber,
whilst relatively large, was still dwarfed by the bigger chamber
inhabited by the great frozen demon. Like that chamber, it had a
circular pond of lava in the direct center. The difference though,
was that this pond was not inhabited by a great demon. A heaped
pile of bones sat in the middle of the lava, somehow impervious to
the intense heat. Disturbingly, the jaws in the skulls were open,
and Sam could have sworn that the screaming was coming from their
long dead mouths.
What really
drew his eyes was what rested on top of the pile of skeletons. It
was a rack made entirely of bone. Strapped to the rack with what
could only be human sinews, was a figure Sam barely recognized. Her
eyes were closed and her face was twisted in some unimaginable
pain, her mouth open and slack, drooling saliva which never hit the
mound of bones, instead sizzling into gas from the intense heat.
Her clothes hung in smoldering tatters about her, sliced like her
face and body which were covered in bloody welts and deep cuts,
mostly still weeping blood.
“Grace,”
whispered Sam.
He wasn’t sure
if she was still alive and that thought brought a surge of emotions
- mostly anger and remorse.
direction and then set off again, taking the left hand exit without
hesitation. Sam hastened after him at a fast jog. Yeth certainly
didn’t like to drag his heels.
If the alarm
had been raised, it certainly wasn’t apparent as they sped through
the tunnels. They started to angle downwards again – not at an
extreme angle like before – but they were certainly descending.
Yeth had extinguished the flames from his body and there were no
sconces filled with magical fire along these corridors, so the two
of them ran on in darkness. Yeth, it seemed, was just as
comfortable in the dark as Sam was and was apparently intelligent
enough to douse his fire, knowing that a flaming Hellhound moving
along these darkened tunnels would announce their presence in a
loud and dramatic fashion.
Some side
chambers were filled with the sounds of human suffering and Sam
deliberately avoided looking in those directions. Many chambers
were almost swamped in lava. Sam had to pick his way through them,
leaping from one rocky island to the next. In some of these lava
filled chambers, Sam saw other curious demons. They seemed to be
comprised entirely of living lava, size and form that of a normal
man. They ignored Sam and he did likewise for fear of drawing too
much attention to himself. Yeth simply waded through the lava like
a normal dog through a shallow pond. He seemed completely immune to
the heat, but that came as no surprise to Sam.
These large
open chambers began to get bigger and bigger until the largest
could have easily contained the biggest cathedrals in the world.
Yeth led Sam straight through one of these. In huge lava pond
directly in the middle of the room stood an imposing figure.
As they got
closer, Sam blinked in awe. It was a massive demon that he’d seen
pictures of before. It had no name as far as Sam knew, only that it
met the stereotypical description of demons depicted though
history: a giant humanoid, maybe twenty feet high, with flaming red
skin, large curving black horns and black wings that would’ve put
an average sailing ship to shame. And, luckily for himself and
Yeth, it did not seem aware of them at all. In fact, it appeared to
be frozen.
They ran
directly past it, underneath its very nose and still it didn’t
move. Yeth sensed the question and consternation in Sam’s mind and
it did the equivalent of a mental reassuring pat. Not to worry.
Will not move, was the general gist of what Yeth was saying.
An archway at
the very end of the chamber loomed ahead of them. Yeth led him
directly into and then abruptly stopped with a sigh of
satisfaction. It seemed that Yeth had brought him where he wanted
to be.
As soon as he
entered the chamber, Sam’s mind and ears were bombarded with sound.
Screams. The sound of human torment.
This chamber,
whilst relatively large, was still dwarfed by the bigger chamber
inhabited by the great frozen demon. Like that chamber, it had a
circular pond of lava in the direct center. The difference though,
was that this pond was not inhabited by a great demon. A heaped
pile of bones sat in the middle of the lava, somehow impervious to
the intense heat. Disturbingly, the jaws in the skulls were open,
and Sam could have sworn that the screaming was coming from their
long dead mouths.
What really
drew his eyes was what rested on top of the pile of skeletons. It
was a rack made entirely of bone. Strapped to the rack with what
could only be human sinews, was a figure Sam barely recognized. Her
eyes were closed and her face was twisted in some unimaginable
pain, her mouth open and slack, drooling saliva which never hit the
mound of bones, instead sizzling into gas from the intense heat.
Her clothes hung in smoldering tatters about her, sliced like her
face and body which were covered in bloody welts and deep cuts,
mostly still weeping blood.
“Grace,”
whispered Sam.
He wasn’t sure
if she was still alive and that thought brought a surge of emotions
- mostly anger and remorse.
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