I exited the room with a heavy heart. A part of me wanted to go back. I longed to be in his arms and kiss his lips. Though I knew how foolish that really was. I didn't even know that man! Yet a part of my heart simply did not care. They say the heart wants what the heart wants. There was not much that I could do to forget how I felt when I was with him. It was idiotic. The rational part of my brain was trying to make my heart listen. It wasn't doing much good.

The room I entered was the same as the rest. Dark and mysterious, the only light from candles placed in the brackets on the wall. The heavy scent of perfume still lingered here. Though I had to thank the lord that there were no more sounds or rose petals. I allowed myself a moment to breathe and then I continued. My legs were a little shaky as I slowly returned to my normal self. I looked around me, there wasn't much to see. I was in a cold corridor, the candles barely allowing me to see. I walked with my arms outstretched. The air becoming colder as I went along. I could feel the walls closing in around me. I shoved back the feeling of fear I felt. I needed to remain calm. What could possibly be worse than what I had just seen.

The corridor led me to a wide room. In the middle was a portal. Thank you, thank you, thank you! The portal was a slick steel. Its edges sharp and exact. The light pulsing from it was a shade of black. Little tendrils of smoke were emitting from its surface. I walked forward and reached my hand out. I could feel the smoke against my hands. Was Calypso in this Realm? Or had she simply been in one of the others I had walked through? There was no way I could know. I simply had to trust that I would meet her along the way. I had been lucky so far. The only encounter I had was in the room I dared not even think about. Could I make it through the others with such luck? I had to at least try.

I stepped through the portal with my eyes closed.

I landed on the ground with a thud. My arms outstretched to absorb the impact. Little pieces of sharp glass embedded itself into my skin. I cried out and stood up. The ground was littered in debris, glass as well as other sharp objects. I looked around me, my jaw dropped open. I was standing on a raised platform. The portal glowing obscenely from behind me. I was twenty feet in the air. I was standing on a platform with descending crumbly steps leading down. The steps were worn and broken. Glass littered almost every inch of the way down. Around me, was a city.

The city was like any other city. Huge sprawling buildings lined the streets. The buildings were all dark. Busted boards covered the windows, the buildings themselves were run down. It looked like a part of town that no sensible person would walk down. The stench of garbage was overpowering. This was a city of the dead.

I picked the glass out of my palms. The wound healed itself but slowly. My regenerative powers were weaker down here. Up in Heaven, something like this would never have even bothered me. Down here it stung a little. I cautiously stepped around the glass as best as I could. Each step brought me closer and closer to the streets. When I stepped off the last step I put my arms around me. I had to admit that I was a little scared. There were no sounds. There was no sign of anybody. It was as if this place was deserted. But I knew better.

I started walking down the streets, staying as far away from the buildings as I could. Images of some dark creatures grabbing me plagued my mind. I could only wonder as to what they would do to me once I was in their clutches. This was no place for an angel like me. I was totally out of my element here. This place scared me. This whole Underworld scared me. This was not a place I would venture if I had a choice. Calypso would owe me big time for this.

I stopped at an intersection and looked around me. Where was everyone? Surely this Realm was not deserted? The building in front of me drew my eye. There were faint sounds coming from it. I stepped closer and tried to make out what was being said. The sounds were too faint. Someone was inside there. Why didn't they come out? I surely did not want to find out. I stepped away from the decaying building. There was no way I was going in there. I could only imagine what was waiting for me on the other side. I walked away and took a left. The road was getting hard to walk along. The debris was worse here. Rotting garbage and other objects of no interest were laying everywhere. I could see random weapons also lying around. Rusted baseball bats, crowbars, and other melee weapons. What was this place?

THUD.

I snapped my head around. What had made that sound? I squinted and tried to see as best as I could. The tall buildings with all the openings didn't help. Fear started to rise in my stomach. I had definitely heard something.

THUD. Scraaape.

There it was again! I reached down and grabbed the nearest weapon I could find. It was a dented golf club. What good is this going to do? I clutched it anyway. Any weapon was a good weapon, I thought. I could hear the noise more closely. It was coming closer, but where was it coming from? Noises echoed here. It sounded as if it was coming from everywhere. I turned my body and checked everywhere. My eyes darting around so fast inside my head. The fear was raising to a hysterical level. What was I going to do? An unseen enemy can't be fought. What even was it? I allowed myself one thought about it being friendly before throwing that idea away. There was nothing friendly down here.

It came around the corner of the intersection. Its great red eyes staring directly at me. I know knew what had been making that noise. A minotaur! Huge gusts of steam were coming out of its nostrils as it breathed. Dragging behind it was a huge war hammer. Its dull blades scraping against the pavement with every step. The thud's I heard were the creatures' steps. It had to weigh over a ton. There was no way I could fight this thing. The minotaur roared. The sound so loud I had no choice but to drop the club and clasp my hands over my ears.

I had only heard of minotaur's in stories. Big, thick creatures that walked like a human but had the head of a bull. Huge tusks hung out each side of its face. The left one had been broken in half. This one was far for fearsome than I had imagined. It wore nothing but leather around its waist. Huge clasps encircled each arm and leg, broken chains dragged from them. The war hammer was more than half of its size. I could make out intricate designs all up the metal handle. A faint red glow shined from between the designs. The blunt end at the top looked well worn. The blade at the other end looked so sharp, it would make easy work of my soft body.

It snorted and started for me. Each step shaking the ground underneath me. I took one last look before I turned and began to run. There was no way I was getting close to that infernal thing. I could hear its angry roars behind me. It was too slow to catch me! I smiled and turned to see how much distance I had gained. The creature was at least two blocks down. It would never catch me at the rate he was going. He might be strong but he also was slow. I stopped and let myself breathe. The minotaur didn't scare me as much anymore. It couldn't catch me; therefore, it couldn't hurt me. I couldn't help it, I laughed.

"Can't catch me, can you?" I teased.

The minotaur snorted angrily. Its great feet stamped the ground in irritation. That only made me laugh harder. After everything that I had been put through today, this was the greatest. I couldn't help but laugh. Have you ever been just so mentally screwed up that laughing made the perfect sense? This was one of those moments. It was so comical. The great commander of this Realm was a creature that couldn't even catch me. It was hilarious to my hysterical self.

The minotaur lifted its giant hands. I could hear the chains around its wrist clank together. Its huge body was scarred and torn. The flesh red and festering. I could only imagine at the smell. Thank God, I was far away enough that I couldn't smell it. The minotaur lifted the war hammer and slammed it into the ground. The force wave brought me to my knees. A loud screeching siren filled the air. The minotaur opened its mouth and uttered a command in a language I was not aware existed. The ground continued to shake. I watched as the buildings around me were starting to come to life.

Bodies started to climb from the windows, the door ways, anywhere a body could be stored. The damned were coming to life. They cried out in angry voices as they came out from their storage places. Most of them were clothed in rags. They all looked dirty and desperate. I could feel the tension in the air. I slowly started to edge away from them. But there was nowhere for me to go. Behind me was the same thing! All the damned to this Realm were waking up, and I was right in the middle of them! I honestly didn't know what to do.

I watched as the souls got to their feet. They all were smiling and cracking their joints. I tried to appear calm. They all stood at the edges of the buildings as if they were waiting for something. I was stuck in the middle with no way out. I was surrounded. Yet they weren't attacking me. Not yet anymore. I slowly started to open my wings. I would take to the sky before I let these bedraggled men and women take me. I could only imagine what they would do. The minotaur sensed my movement. He roared again and stomped one large foot. I stopped and waited for his next move.

His huge red eyes glowed even from this distance. He had noticed my wings, he must know what I am. He did not speak English but I bet Lucifer had his ways of communicating. It lifted one arm and pointed in my direction. It uttered another of its great bellows and said some more words in that unknown language. The people around me didn't waste any time. They rushed towards me.

I snapped my wings open in a rush. I put all the pressure into my feet and pushed hard. I took to the air in a single bound. I could feel hands try and grab my feet as I leaped away. It had been a close call. There were too many of them for me to even think of fighting. The minotaur cried out in anger as I flew higher in the sky. I smirked and landed on the roof of one of the buildings. It would have to do better than that to catch me.

I watched as the crowd became restless as not having a victim. The minotaur in anger began slicing people down. I watched in horror as the fighting broke out. I saw the horde of damned begin to attack each other. Bodies fell abandoned to the ground. Limbs were flying, punches were landing, and people were being massacred by the hundreds. It was a complete brawl down there. The minotaur was beating people into the ground. His huge hammer sending waves that sent people to the ground. He stomped on people, crushing their bones. I could hear there cries from way up here. It was a horrible thing to witness. I watched a woman grab a man by his shoulders and sink her teeth into his neck. They were fighting with a senseless abandon. The blood began to fill the streets in a splash of color. Chaos was the main objective here. I turned my eyes away from the battle. I did not want to see this.

I had escaped the minotaur, that was the important thing. This was the Realm of Violence. I vaguely remembered Gabriel telling me of the fearsome minotaur that guarded it. These people were victims of violence. In their mortal life they had committed acts of violence for their own gains. I could expect rapists, murders, and other terrible violent offenders in the mix. That was just great. The minotaur knew I was here. There was no hiding myself now. I had to find the way out of here. I didn't want anyone else to know of my existence. I had to hope that the minotaur was not in close regards with Lucifer. I didn't want to meet him. Surely, he wouldn't let me run amok down here. I didn't even want to think about what he would do to me. I had heard stories from older male angels that made my toes curl.

I surveyed the buildings around me. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The same buildings with the same run-down streets. The minotaur had activated the release runes that allowed the souls to exit the structures. There were buildings for as far as the eye could see. That must mean there were other minotaur's. There had to be to control such an area. I could see smoke rising from the distance. What was the best course of action? I had no clue as to where I was going. There was no path and there were too many ways to go. I could explore and spend years down here. I doubted that I would be able to stay away from harm for that long. I needed to find the next portal and get out of here.

I still had no clue as to where Calypso was. I had no clue as to where Alice was. I had heard stories about the Underworld. There were Seven Realms of Hell. Each one with a portal leading to the next. The last Realm was the home realm. It was where Lucifer himself resided. It was the last Realm. It was rumored that Alice would be there. The last Realm was that of Pride, I knew that much. It was not like the other Realms of torment. It was a place that Lucifer and his high lieutenants called home. I could only imagine what it was like. I would find Alice there, I could feel it. She was the seer that could see into the future and the past. She had struck a deal with the Devil and her soul had been the payment. She was deemed to spend her eternity in Hell. Yet she was a special pet to Lucifer, he wouldn't have doomed her to these kinds of torment. She was too useful. Could she sense that I was coming?

Was this all a fool's errand? Was I risking my life for nothing? What would even happen to me if I was killed? Would I just rematerialize back in Heaven? Or would I be stuck down here for all eternity? These questions bothered me. Only the Lord himself could answer them. Had I been impulsive rushing in to save Calypso. Would I have been better to go to Gabriel? I was certain that if I had, things wouldn't have been made better. Calypso would have been in big trouble. Even if she somehow was rescued from Hell, she would have lost her wings. I couldn't let her lose her wings. I also doubted that Gabriel would have went after her. Hell was a dangerous place as I now knew. I couldn't have guaranteed that she would have been rescued. I also knew that Gabriel would have stopped me. Losing one angel was sad, losing two was paramount. We lost angels all the time while fighting Hell's demons. We didn't need to lose more because they were foolish. Me and Calypso had both been foolish.

Calypso and I had been very close since we arrived at the pearly gates. I was close to her like no other. She was the sister I never knew I had. We were like the two sides of a coin yet still worth the same. How could I just abandon her? I knew that whatever happened, the Lord would understand my motives. We had both disobeyed the rules. We both were jeopardizing our very souls. Yet I still felt that I would have had it no other way.

I was already dead. I had lived my mortal life on Earth. That life was now done and my new life had begun. Yet what was left after this? If I died down here what would become of me? Would my soul return to Heaven and perhaps be reborn? Would I return into the darkness with no hint of self or direction? Surely there was a place for souls such as mine. I had after all been one of the Lord's chosen. I couldn't expect my body to be whole again but my soul was pure. Whatever happened here, my soul would always be pure. I could at least fade into nonexistence with a smile.

I had rushed into this because of my love for Calypso. With that love I could make it through anything. With that love nothing could stand in my way. If I failed, it wouldn't matter because I had at least tried. If I died down here they could say that I at least died for love. And what else is worth dying for?