I woke on the cold hard ground. My back was stiff and my wings were sore from being constricted under the blanket gown. I wished I could stretch them if only for a minute. I stood up and looked around. Where was I now?

I was in a small room. A cracked doorway was the only door in sight. I had to find that other portal and soon. Calypso would not have waited around. She would have rushed in headfirst and not worried about the consequences. I had to find her before it was too late! I walked toward the doorway and went through it. The stones were all cracked and crumbling. The hallway was nothing but darkness. I put my hands out in front of me from crashing into the walls. I didn't want to knock myself out.

I walked in the darkness until I couldn't anymore. My hands brushed against something wooden. I felt with my hands until I found a knob. I had found a door! I grasped the knob and twisted. The door unstuck with an eerie groan and a creek. I pushed the door open. My eyes squinted at the light that shined from the other side. My eyes were not accustomed to the light after being in the dark for so long. I walked through and shut the door behind me.

I was in another field. Was Hell nothing but fields? The sky was a dark color mixed through with ash and dust. It was hard to breathe. I covered my mouth with my hand as I coughed. This area would be a hard one. I pulled the blanket up and covered half of my face. My eyes were burning with all the ash from the sky. I tried to see around me but there wasn't much to see.

Blackened and burned buildings stood everywhere. Rusted crumbling spires dotted the landscape. It looked like a city but one after a nuclear bomb went off. Even from this distance I could hear the moans of the damned. What realm was this? I looked around for any sign of any indication. I could see none.

A stone path led down from the door. Hopefully this one led me to where I needed to go. I followed it slowly. I didn't know the dangers here. I had to be careful or else I could stumble into someone or something that I really didn't want to. There were unfortunate souls everywhere in Hell. They really didn't bother me. They were just the damned who had to live her. I was more worried about the Demons of this realm.

Demons were Angels that had been cast down. They were not servants of the light any more. There wings were more like bat wings, they had twisted cruel features. They were hideous creatures of the night. I felt my heart thud painfully at the thought. I really didn't want to meet one just yet, or ever. I had never seen one in my life. But I knew that they were here. I just hoped that Calypso hadn't went too far into the Realms. With any luck she'd be wandering around somewhere on this one. I could grab her and we could head back. I didn't like this place of suffering and pain.

The path was worn and cracked. Thousands of feet have walked down this path. I wish I could just open my wings and fly over everything. But anyone with eyes could see me coming a mile away. My bright white wings would stand out like a sore thumb. I couldn't allow anyone to become aware of me. I shuddered at the thought of being discovered. I really didn't want to meet anyone down here.

I had now entered the town. The buildings were dark and imposing. I felt small under their gaze. Why would there be buildings down here? It didn't make much sense. I stepped closer to get a closer look. I was so shocked I fell backward on my backside. Pain shot into my rear end. I couldn't believe my eyes. The buildings were not made of metal or lumber. They were made of faces.

Dark swirling masses made up each building. I could see the creatures tossing and turning. There limbs trying to stretch out but forever immobile. Thousands of souls made up each building. They were forever stuck bearing all that weight. I could hear their moans and groans more loudly now. They had noticed my presence. It seemed the deeper I got, the more aware these things were. I had to be careful.

I still couldn't understand why their punishment would be to be made into a structure? What kind of punishment was that? I really didn't understand that. I kept my head down and just walked as quickly as I could through the area. I now noticed that all the structures were made of the same tossing wiggling limbs. The souls were not flesh and blood, they were black ooze. I couldn't fathom the reason for any of this? What had they done to deserve this?

The ash in the air was making it harder and harder to breath the farther I went along. I had to fight the urge to sneeze. The air was getting warmer and harder to breath. I squinted my eyes and kept going. There was a reason for this path, I knew it. This path would lead me through, I just had to keep following it. I had to find that portal! Calypso could be anywhere here in the realms. I needed to find her and get the heck out of here.

The path led me through the buildings of the damned. I did my best to ignore their screams and wails. Their noises got into my head and I was almost to the point where I just wanted them to shut up. They were all caterwauling at the same time. All those different pitches, languages, and tones. It was starting to drive me mad. They all were screaming for the same thing, Help. I was only on the second Realm and already I was getting tired of this place. It was hard to think straight with all these people crying out at the same time.

I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I had lost the path! I turned around and searched the ground for any signs of the cracked stones. I couldn't find them anywhere! Hysteria started to build inside me. This Realm could go on forever and I would never find my way out. I had one simple task, follow the path, and I had ruined it! What was going to happen to me? Would I shuffle around forever? Stuck in this Realm for all eternity?

Panis started to settle into my mind. I looked frantically all around me for any signs of the path. I couldn't have strayed too far from it, could I? I looked all around me but could see no stones anywhere. Only ash and dirt covered the ground. It wasn't my fault. It was all the damn voices. Each one clamoring over the other to be heard. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Just shut up!" I screamed at the voices. I covered my ears with my hands and sunk to the ground. Stones poked into my back. I was done for. What was I going to do without the path? I couldn't amble on forever, looking for that damn portal. I had to only keep my eyes on the path and I would have been fine. But those voices got to me and I wasn't paying attention. And now look where I was. I was stranded in the middle of some god forsaken realm with no idea where to go.

I should just lay here forever. I could join in with the voices. I could open my mind to them and be one with them. How hard would it be to just walk over and join my body with theirs? I could be with them. Forever screaming in this place. It could be easy. I could just succumb to them. Succumb to the thousands of souls screaming...

No! Stop thinking this nonsense. Get up! Get up! All is not lost!

I got shakenly to my feet. My limbs were weak. What was happening to me? Why had my thoughts been driven to that? I didn't want to join those poor unfortunate souls. I had been tempted so badly into just joining them. Just becoming one with them. I had come so close...

It was this Realm. The farther I went down, the more I would be tempted. This was Lucifer's work. He was driving me closer and closer to insanity. I did not belong here. I was not a part of this world and I knew this. But this was the Realm's failsafe. When a soul was cast down and forced to face their judgement, there had to be something to break their will.

After walking around this dark and dreary place for hours, days, years. Eventually a person broke down and they joined the masses. I had almost joined the masses. That was Lucifer's way of torture. Making someone believe that their only choice was to join the thousands of screaming voices. I had come so close to being one of them. I was scared down to my very core.

This place was more dangerous than I had thought possible. I had never really given Hell its due respect. I needed to always be on my toes. Always be ready for the worst. I could not be stuck down here for all eternity. It was the worst fate imaginable. I needed to find Calypso and get the hell out of here. But what was I to do now?

There was no path. There was nothing around me but the dead. Where do I go from here? And that's when I started to hear something different. It wasn't the wails of the souls trapped in the walls, it was something else. It was the sound of...joy? How could there be joy down here? Of all places. Was this just another trick of Lucifer? My curiosity was peaked. I crept forward and strained to hear where it was coming from.

I walked a little, stopped, and then went in the direction of the noise. It sounded like sounds of glee. Like something was making these things happy. But this was Hell? Hell did not make people happy, this was a life of torture and despair. I had to find out what this was all about. I eventually left the voices of woe behind me. The voices of glee were getting closer and closer. I was almost there!

I walked as quickly as I could. I walked past a building and almost over a cliff. I teetered there on the edges of the stone. My heart pounding so loud in my head. I surely was going to die! With a crash I fell backwards, once again. My breath coming out loud and shallow. I had almost hurt myself once again! I needed to be more careful!

I sat up when my heart was back to normal. I crawled over to the edge of the drop off and looked down. It was a gigantic crater. The whole valley was one big hole. Inside the hole I could millions of people. The heat from here was extensive. How on Earth were these people not burning alive? And then I saw the truth.

They were burning. Every single one of them. They were all on the edges of the pit. All pushing big sacks up the cliff. The sacks held something heavy for all the time I could see people falling under its weight. They were trying to push the sack up and out of the fire. Because the whole valley floor was nothing but liquid lava.

What was in those sacks that meant more than their burning bodies? It made no sense. I would have said 'Fuck the sack' and tried to keep my feet and arms from burning off. But these people didn't care. I watched as their skin burned right off them. Leaving nothing but bones behind. They would climb up the side. Their sack above them. I could hear their happy voices from here. And then the weight of the sack and the side of the cliff would be too much. They would tumble back down into the liquid fire.

I watched one man tumble down. His contents in his sack miraculously stayed inside. I watched him go under the hot liquid. I was sure he was gone for good. I was amazed when a handmade of nothings but bones rose up from the surface. His hand looked like it was searching for something. I couldn't not believe my eyes.

The man emerged from the fire. His skin completely burned off. He had to have been in complete misery but I felt like his skull was still smiling. His sack resurfaced next to him. He grabbed it with one skeletal hand and pulled it to him. He started to move for the sides of the cliff in earnest. His routine was starting again.

This whole thing just made me sick. These people didn't care about anything or anyone except their sack. They pushed people over into the flames, they climbed over one another. They each tried desperately to save their sacks from the flames. Some lasted longer than others, but eventually they all fell. Back into the flames that boiled their skin right off them.

Yet not one of them cried out in agony. They all were crying out for their beloved sack. What in God's name could be so important? And then it hit me. These people only cared about what was in their bag. They didn't care for the flesh on their bones. Nor for the pain as they were burned alive. They didn't care for their companions who suffered the same fate. They only cared about that blasted sack.

Greed.

I was in the Realm of Greed. That explained the faces on the wall. Those people were imprisoned to forever hold up a building that everyone shared a part. Not one of those people had anything for themselves. They were forced to share a miserable existence with millions of people. People, who before, they could care nothing about. Now they were all locked together in their own misery. For all of eternity.

This pit of flames served an equal chilling effect. These people cared for possessions more than their own life! They burned and they didn't care. The only thing that cared was what was in their sack. But what was in the sacks? Maybe it was whatever they held greed for in real life. It was a sick and twisted thing to do. These people were forever trying to save their beloved belongings. They didn't care about nothing but that bag. I felt my stomach heave.

I couldn't stomach this place! These people all were tortured and made to suffer for all eternity. It was driving me insane the longer I stayed here. I had almost joined the others in the building. Could anything possess me to jump into the boiling flames? No. I was not full of greed. I could not care less for that sack. I cared more for all the people burning than anything else. This was all too much for me.

I looked away and laid on my back. I looked at the ash filled sky and I started to weep. I wept for all these souls trapped here for all eternity. I wept for Calypso who was down here the same as I was. I worried that she was safe, I worried that maybe I had seen her face in one of the building walls. How could I know? I would never know.

My friend could be lost for all eternity and there was nothing I could do for her, for anyone. The Lord had punished all those who made mistakes on Earth. He had given them to his Fallen comrade to do with as he pleased. Lucifer had planned out each and every person's worst fate. He made them suffer. He knew their secrets, their desires and he made them suffer for all of it. Lucifer had no mercy. Lucifer showed no relief. He was the master of pain and I knew he relished in it.

I got to my feet shakenly. I could feel the heat of the flames at my back. I had to get out of here. I had been here too long. I did not need to be here anymore. I would find that damn portal and I would descend deeper into the pits of hell. One way or the other. I would find my way.

Calypso where are you?