Chapter 2- Another Level of Hell, Unknown.
If I had been able to feel anything besides the heavy darkness, then I would've sworn I was sinking into the ground. That was until I fell through it.
The ground below turned into the ceiling above me in less than a second. Looking around, the white-ish natural light slowly faded into a dark-red shadow.
"Adelynn Flynn, eh? Killing someone before being killed yourself. They won't let you go to heaven anymore, so welcome, Ms. Flynn, to Hell." A deep, booming voice echoed around me. I turned my head, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Who are you, you freak?!" I tried to project my voice to sound confident, although I know that, in this environment, I am the prey, no matter what. This is not my place, not my domain. And I except that. Here, I felt naked, weak, childish. But, at the same time, I felt more and more empowered the further into this place the voice called Hell. If this truly was Hell, as I was taught, then I have been taught wrong my entire life.
I continued to drift downwards. The further I got, the more I started to see what looked like outlines of circles on the dimly lit walls. As I passed one labeled "Level 3" I realized what I was looking at.
These were the circles of Hell. And, slowly but surely, I was heading to the seventh.
I looked closer at the walls, and the longer I looked, the more I saw.
The more I saw, faces twisted in pain from the tortures of hell, running through cactus fields naked, being placed into a pot of oil. I watched, and saw people, long dead, being trapped in cardboard boxes and suffocated, unable to die again. I saw people who were being forced to stab themselves, again, and again. I saw many other things, things to disturbing to even think about.
And the worst part was, the further down I went, the worse it got. However, when I finally reached the 'bottom' of this neverending pit, the images finally stopped, to be replaced by a blaring blood red. I landed softly, kneeling in front of a throne that seemed to be made up completely of shadow.
"You are Satan, I presume."
"You are correct, Ms. Flynn."
I didn't look upwards, trying my hardest to remain respectful. If I was going to spend the rest of eternity here, I don't want to get on Satan's bad side on Day 1.
"Ms. Flynn, do you know why you are here?"
"Because I killed someone before being killed myself?"
"Incorrect."
It was at this that I forced myself to look up at the man sitting on the Shadow-Throne. He didn't quite look the same as you would think. He had red skin, black floppy hair, was about 5"11, and was wearing modern clothing. Barely the fiery goat man we were taught to believe in.
"Excuse me?"
"You don't know why you're here?"
"No, sir."
"Do you want me to tell you?"
"Yes sir." I responded quickly and remotely.
"You are here because I wanted you here." Surprised at this statement, I raised my eyebrows at Mr. Satan.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I wanted you here, to come to me. And now I'm going to expel you. See, my sons and daughters, the seven sins, need someone expendable. You're powerful enough to not be easily expended. Yet, you are still expendable."
"Expendable…"
"Yes… Goodbye Ms. Flynn. I'll see you in your nightmares-" The platform was whipped away, replaced by nothing but blackness. And after that, nothing but blinding pain. I heard screams echo around the empty chasm, and after a moment I realized it came from my own mouth. The back on my shirt ripped open, whip marks making the skin rise. I felt invisible chains wrap around my ankles and hands, dragging me, marking my ankles and wrists with red welts. Black fire lapped over the left side of my body, branding me with the black fires of hell.
A bright flash of light and a cold blast of air brought me back to the real world, and I was only aware of the table that was beneath me.
"Can I eat her?"