Sins and Punishments

by The Emerald Cat

To some, the various villains Jesse has faced are redeemable. To others, they are far past redemption. To the Judge? Well... there's a reason these villains are now in a long hallway, where the only guarantee is that among these many doors is that there are monsters, who have all have faces that look far, far too familiar. (WARNINGS: SWEARING, GORE, DEATH)

6. Netherrack

Aiden should've known better than to hope.

They had checked about thirty rooms so far, and all of them had been the same generic mold- empty and gray, save for a single mirror. So for a brief few minutes, he'd allowed himself to hope that maybe he wouldn't have to face this 'Blaze' punishment.

Then Otto opened the door to another room, and Harper said, "Oh no."

Aiden felt his blood run cold, and he turned around and asked, "What is it?"

"The floor's made of Netherrack."

"What? Let me see." Cassie nudged passed Harper, drawing her sword and entering the room. "Holy shit it is."

Aiden's nerves prickled, and he walked into the room to see it for himself.

Sure enough, while the walls were still gray and there was still the mirror at the other end of the room, the floor was made entirely of netherrack- the sight of the red mottled rock which could allow fire to burn indefinitely made his stomach churn. He shuddered, then his gaze drifted to the ceiling.

It went up so high that he couldn't even see where it ended. The walls disappeared into darkness, although a kind of yellowish glow that made out some rectangular shape, most likely a kind of platform.

Dread filled his body, and his heart began to thump rapidly. "We should go," he said, looking at Cassie, who stood by the mirror, her sword still drawn.

She opened her mouth, but whether to agree or disagree he'd never know, because something landed with a THUMP on the ground in front of the door, and the edges of the floor erupted into flames, covering the walls.

And Aiden couldn't breathe.

'Blaze' was the only appropriate name for his punishment. The flames that lit the room shone on golden skin, and a dark red patch that took up his neck and spread to his face. The blaze rods that hovered around him seemed to be sharpened, and yellow pupils glowed against the dark red that took up the rest of his eyes.

The scariest part though, was that this creature looked eerily similar to Jesse.

Because despite being a different gender, despite having hair the wrong color and length, even wearing a completely different outfit, it took everything Aiden had not to call this creature Jesse.

Then the Blaze smirked, revealing sharp fangs.

"Hello, Aiden," he said, the growling hiss of his voice sending shudders up Aiden's spine. "Remember me?"