I know this took me forever to update, do forgive me, but there was a lot in this and the next level and I wanted to keep it all but I wanted to do it justice...

Anyway, no real news to share, but I was wondering, I am thinking about restarting my old LJ to include information on my daily life, possible story ideas, I dunno what else.

So would anyone be interested in that and any ideas of things to share there?


We landed in the river Phlegethon.

I use the term loosely of course.

River implies water, implies cool, implies things that we have all known since childhood. This moved like a river, but it was filled with thick blood. Blood that was boiling. It was startlingly red and crowded with people struggling and flailing and moaning.

There was always that deafening moaning somewhere.

Orpheus was less startled by the sudden switch from hard, dry land to deep pool of blood and helped me to the shore.

I coughed up blood that was not my own.

Blood that was not my own dripped from my hair into my eyes.

I was dripping blood that scalded my skin. And when I finally caught my breath, I regretted it. The stench here was indescribable. Sweat and old blood, and rotting flesh and anything that could stink was there, in the air all around us.

Orpheus dragged me to my feet, looking much like how I felt. "We have to run." He urged, trying to drag me.

It was habit that forced me to balk. I would not be commanded by anyone, even if they were trying to help. I jerked him back, refusing to move.

There are no words that can describe what it felt like. It was much like being struck by a car, I assume, but concentrated into one point. One moment I was being stubborn, the next there was an arrow lodged in my shoulder, quivering with the force of striking me.(1)

I was too pained to scream.

All I could manage was a breathless grunt as I stumbled backwards and hit the ground.

Orpheus fell onto me, covering me as he ripped the arrow from my shoulder as quickly as he could manage. It hurt more coming out than going in I can tell you that. The flesh shredded and I could feel muscle doing the same.

He took a few handfuls of the boiling blood and dumped it on the wound, burning the flesh shut to save me shedding my own blood.(2) He did not give me a single moment between each new pain searing through my body, simply began muttering incoherently as he dragged me to my feet and began to run.

There was a strange howl that filled the air, drowning out his words. There before us towered the minotaur.

Art and words had not done it justice.

It towered over the both of us standing at least eight feet high. Great cloven hooves, as big around as I was, maybe more, sunk into the earth with the weight of him. Matted fur clung to the huge legs, it was no matter, you could see there was nothing less than solid muscle under the fur.

A tail like that of a bull swung violently behind him as though swatting at flies. It was not as though even flies would be foolish enough to try and harm this creature. The fur faded to thick, leathery flesh and then to a tattered loincloth. (3)

It looked as though it was made from human flesh and I did not doubt the truth of that for a moment. His chest seemed infinitely wide and was still more muscle, all of them coiled and all of them ready to strike.

He held a bow as tall as I was and that was with it bent under the force of the string.

The horns bent and twisted above his head, one sharpened to a deadly point and the other was broken as though from battle.

His face lengthened into that of a bull, with sharp teeth that dripped saliva and beady eyes that spoke of evil, hatred and rage.

There was also a quiver of arrows that matched the one which had struck me on his back, and another was being notched as I stared, taken aback. His hands looked too massive to simply hold the bow, and I wondered why it didn't simply break in his grip. I was certain he could have crushed my bones to dust with barely any effort at all.

He snorted and drew the arrow back, muscles twisting and tightening and rippling.

This time when Orpheus took my hand I did not struggle, I nearly surpassed him as I ran. We gripped each other, seeking a life line as we raced through this new torture. We finally reached the forest and each ducked behind a tree. I was suddenly grateful for not being squeamish.

A man swung gently in front of me.

His flesh was purple and rotting off his bones. If he had once had clothes they were gone now, long since rotted away by time and---(4)

I looked to Orpheus who seemed as terrified as I now was. I looked slowly, as though hoping they would not be there.

I am not a person easily scared but in that moment I swear I could feel my heart stop within my chest.

Just where they were meant to be, up in the trees were the harpies. The one just above me was old, what little flesh you saw was wrinkled and leathery with age. Snow white hair hung from her scalp and under her beak and held tiny bones knotted into it.

She had no face, just a long jagged beak with beady red eyes above it, nearly lost in the mass of white hair.

She had wings in place of arms and each one was at least twice as tall as I. Her talons were tipped with sharp claws and were digging into the wood of the tree as though it were as soft as butter. (5)

I covered my mouth quietly. My shoulder was throbbing so badly my whole side ached and I felt like I could sleep for a month and still be tired. Furthermore it seemed that each tree in the forest around us held at least two of the great hairy beasts. For the first time in my life I didn't have the slightest clue of what to do. I could not move, for there was no guarantee we could keep quiet enough, and the only legend of the Harpies I could recall was of the Three Harpies driven away by the Argonauts.

I consider myself powerful but I am not stupid, my power does not amount to that of an army of trained warriors and I did not have faith in Orpheus's fighting capabilities. I wasn't even sure he had anything beyond that lyre.

Then again at this point I wasn't certain if my knowledge of myths would help any. Dante had been right, there was a forest full of Harpies here, and the myth, it had only three, that took an army to defeat.

My hands curled into fists and I could feel even my short nails biting into the flesh there. I uncurled my fingers and stared at the red welts that dotted the pale flesh. I looked up and could see, just through the trees, the flat plains where those who committed violent acts against God and nature writhed in pain. Showered with bits of fire that constantly rained down from the sky.

It was a long shot, but it was likely that the Harpies would not fly there, could not more appropriately. If I could find as straight a path as possible, and if I ran the whole way, we might escape with out lives. The Minotaur had not followed us into the woods after all...

I glanced to Orpheus, who was cradling his lyre against his chest and looking mournful.

Follow me. I mouthed. He nodded, and gripped his lyre tighter. My shoulder was aching again, hurting so much I could feel my vision as it blurred and then cleared. I would be wavering on my feet if I didn't have the tree at my back, holding me up. I wondered briefly if it was possible for me to continue on, if it was possible for me to make it so far as that plain.

What did it matter if I did make it so far? I would then have to face fire falling from the sky, and then the Malebolge on the next level and still beyond that lay more for me to face. The only difference was I did not know what lay beyond that.

I was going to die down here. I should turn back while I still had a chance. Orpheus had wondered this place for years, he would know a way back to the mortal world.

I realized then just what I was thinking.

What waited for me in the mortal world? Billy and a life without Grim. Along this journey I had come to terms with the fact that I loved Grim more than my own life, so what was life without him?

I may as well die trying to bring Grim back into my life, rather than try to live a life without him. I pushed off the tree that was supporting me and ran, despite the pain and the lack of strength I ran. I could barely breathe but I ran all the same. I dared not look back to see if Orpheus was following but I could hear the Harpies screeching angrily and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized what a stupid, foolish idea this was. The sort of thing Billy may have suggested. My mind was far too fuzzy with the pain to do anything about it though. Anything besides continuing to run that is.

Finally we exploded past the line of the trees and into the dusty, barren landscape beyond.

The creatures following us screeched in pain and anger and fluttered back into the trees and after a moment I realized what had driven them away. Tiny flaming embers fell from the sky like rain and I could nearly hear my flesh sizzle where they struck.

"Lady we must press on. This is as dangerous as the Harpies, we cannot survive out in the open long." He told me. I growled low in my throat when he said that, but an ember striking me high enough on my forehead to momentarily light my hair on fire made me agree with him.

We forged on as quickly as we could manage, past those who had in life been blasphemers or sodomites(6) writhed here in the flames forever. I had never known what Dante meant when he said their woe gushed from their eyes and I had always thought it something lost in translation, but looking at these sufferers as we made our way through this land I realized that blood eternally flowed from their eyes like tears.

I tried to cover my head with my hands as we moved but it didn't help much. Instead it just concentrated all the burns onto my hands and made my shoulder ache even more than before.(7)

1 -- I've never been struck by an arrow before. In fact the worst I've ever done is broken a few fingers and cracked a rib. So I did just pull this out of my ass, I actually don't think anyone's been struck by an arrow in a long time. Well I dunno, honestly no idea. So hopefully I wrote it alright and you can enjoy the story despite that.

2-- Okay this is true, if you have an injury like this and you don't have bandages but you have something hot, (and it has to be boiling hot or hot enough to cook flesh) you can cauterize the wound this way. I saw it on some special this guy got a gash in the woods, took some gunpowder out of one of his bullets--which is really dangerous to do anyway--and poured the gunpowder on the wound and then lit it. It's dirty and filthy but it's better than bleeding to death really. I don't know how Orpheus learned this trick, but I assume wandering around the Underworld for years he would have learned lots of interesting things.

3-- I wasn't going off any specific version of the Minotaur, this is just the image that springs to mind when I think of the beast.

4-- This is the Suicide Woods. I wasn't certain how to specidically name it and talk about it in the story, so I wanted to clarify here. Suicide is a sin and supposedly those who commit suicide are doomed to relive their death over and over in the Sucicide Woods to be plucked at by the Harpies. Which are my next point.

5-- The image of the Harpies I just took from a few different sources. Drawings out of the lovely, "The Last Unicorn" by Peter S. Beagle again. Also from Greek and Roman drawings on relics and then also from just random things that came up on Google when I was searching for an image to stick to. I just liked them all so I combined them all. Furthermore. Myths state that there were Three Harpies I know, but Dante claimed they inhabited the Suicide Woods. So I made there be many, figuring in general I have stuck to Dante closer than the Myths, so I would continue the trend. Plus I assume that over the years as there are more and more people there would need to be more and more Harpies to torture them endlessly.

6-- I have nothing against blaspehmy nor sodomy--which yes in Dante's day translated to those who engaged in that OTHER sort of love. Personally I blaspheme every day, sometimes twice, and I refuse to turn this into some religious or political debate so just drop the other bit. What people do in their bedroom is their business and frankly if we're going to torture someone for their sexual preferences I would start with the necropheliacs or the beastiality people if I was going to torture anyone. I mean that's just unhealthy as it is. So long as you don't foist your beliefs on me, I really don't care, it's none of my business. That's my statement about that.

7-- Okay if you're curious how she could even bare to move after some of the things her arm has been through I attribute this to two things. The first, is Adreniline. It can do wonderous things and I can only imagine how much must be pumping through her veins with everything she's going through. The second is, the story wouldn't be nearly as interesting if she didn't keep going. If I had her huddle in some random cave for the eight months that would normally take to heal it would make for one dull story. So yeah.

Purple-Rosie -- Wow! Three lovely reviews to get through! I love it! The song is wonderful, if you can manage I suggest just watching the whole musical, it's really rather fantastic in my opinion. As for the mythology it's my pleasure. I love mythology and I've been learning tons of new myths for this story myself. I love Plutus as well, I learned a lot about him for this story and most of my views on him sort of came to light in that chapter. I just felt he needed a little love and attention. Of course I forgive you for missing a few chapters, I just adore hearing from you at all! You're right the chapter twelve was non-believers and chapter eleven was anger. I can send you a link to a list of all the levels if you'd like but Fanfiction is evil about links so I'm not sure HOW to get it to you...But if you want it, I'll figure something out. I am so glad you love my story, I love writing it and I love when people enjoy it as much as I do. As for loving that Myth I do too and I learned a lot of interesting stuff about it recently so you will hopefully enjoy that when we get to it.

and FOREVER -- I'm glad you don't mind when chapters take a while, because I can already tell that the next one will take a long while, I think Dante specifically set out to torture me cramming so much precious fanfiction fodder into one level. I want to do it justice so the chapter will probably take a while, glad to know at least one person doesn't mind. As for Orpheus there is a very specific reason she's helping him -- though she doesn't know the reason yet. Only I know---well and Preety-Lady-Serenity since she gave me the idea.
But you'll see soon enough, there's only a few chapters left now!

Fireblade Quickclaw -- Yup! I love Orpheus as well, and I love their myth. It's becoming a HUGE part of the story, bigger than I ever anticipated, so I'm glad so many people like it, because we're going to keep hearing about it. Whee. And I suppose I'm insane as well. I think it's a good thing actually.

Preety-Lady-Serenity -- Ah! I'm really excited about what's coming up. I love all the stuff you've taught me about myths and I'm going to miss that when this story is over. I'm glad you liked that line, I loved it when I was writing it so I'm glad to hear other people enjoyed it as well. I will be sure to ask questions, I think I'm set for now but we'll have to see. I think I got the Harpies mostly right. I had to divert from the actually Myths about them in favor of Dante so I don't think I actually left anything in from the myths to get wrong...well other than them being chased off by the Argonauts but I was fairly certain that was right so I didn't check. It was pretty vague mention anyway. But you deserve the dedication. A ton of this story, and progressivly more as we get to the end is thanks most entirely to you! You're so patient with me and very helpful as well! And I love hearing about all these myths! It always makes my day to see I've gotten a review from you. I love this one especially because I used to play the flute when I was much younger. Probably a different KIND of flute, but still a flute so YAY.

Atrophy-Conception -- I'm glad you like it so much and I'm glad yet another person has given me permission to take my time. This level and the next one have SO MUCH in them that I want to cover that I work really hard and end up neglecting all my other stories and STILL taking forever. But that you all enjoy them so much really does make it worth it, as sappy as that sounds. It's true.

TotallyClassy -- I'm glad you like my story so much, and I hope you'll enjoy what's to come as well! We'll have to see. Evil grin

Chaotic-Pink-Chocobo -- Well that's enough to make me happy beyond all reason!

Jak0theShadows -- I'm glad you liked it so much, and I don't just throw random things in there as I hope people have noticed so we'll be seeing much more from her side-kick (and you're right, never ever friend!)

Meiriona -- I know all about wonky internets, trust me! So it's fine, I'm just glad to hear you're enjoying it! I contemplated calling them the Kindly Ones after carefully reading the myth, but it didn't seem to fit Mandy's personality and this is from her point of veiw so...it seemed appropriate to call them by their other name.