Tokubetsu Part 3: Introspection and Inspection
Hell:
Time passed. At least, Kagami guessed it did. With no sun in the sky or nighttime sequence, she couldn't really tell.
She was thirsty, but not the deadly thirst she should be feeling. And she felt the pangs of hunger, but again, not to the intensity she ought to. She wondered if that would increase, and what she could do about it.
She'd seen no signs of liquid water, or any other signs of life here in this strange place. Not so much as a blade of grass.
So this was what it was like to be dead. And in Hell.
She wondered about that. Had she lived a life so wrong, that divine justice saw fit to send her here, to the worst of all places? She couldn't think of any particularly horrific sins she'd committed-wasn't that the formula? Live a terrible life, go to Hell when you die? Had she lived such a terrible life?
She still believed this creature had brought her here, but in a strange sort of way, she was glad for its company. Were she completely on her own, well…that would be worse.
Once more, she was resting against the rocky outcropping, within a small concave area that, while not deep enough to be called a "cave," was enough to give her some sense of security. The monster lay flat on its belly. She noticed it seemed to curl around her, forming a kind of barricade around her. No doubt to keep her from escaping.
Or was that it? Right now, she frankly didn't want to escape. Where would she go?
A few times, she'd tried to sleep, with a surprising amount of success. So souls in Hell could sleep? That was new. Not that she was going to argue.
It occurred to her that the giant creature might actually be shielding her, hiding her, from other influences or entities. It seemed to be doing that, regardless of any lack of evidence of said entities.
She couldn't tell how long it had been, but now the monster woke from its resting position around her, sniffing the air with a peculiar intensity. "Tokubetsu," it said, in as near a whisper as it could manage.
It got up and approached her. The "cave" was nowhere deep enough to afford any sort of protection, and, anyway, by now she was convinced the thing meant her no harm. "Tokubetsu," it said again, coming right up to her, and she noticed something she hadn't seen before.
The creature had an extra set of arms positioned halfway down its body, between the forward set and the back. They fit perfectly into formed indentations there, so perfectly that she'd not noticed them before. Now it unfurled them-they were smaller than the others-and reached out for her.
She had nowhere to run.
It gathered her up, gently, and held her close to itself. Then, after another sniff, it started off towards a range of hills in the distance.
There was nothing she could do. The creature was holding her in a firm but gentle grip, and ran smoothly across the hot rocky ground. She couldn't turn her head enough to see where they were going, but she could turn to the side, and saw, for the first time, other life forms.
They mainly consisted of creatures like the one holding her. Some were smaller, some were larger, but the majority were about the same size.
With only her side vision, she couldn't see where they were headed, but her side vision indicated that the creature had carried her into a large cave or something similar. Many other creatures like it were crowding around, all of them carrying something. It seemed like most of them were carrying globes, similar to the snow-globes common in souvenir shops on Earth, yet much bigger.
The creature carrying her stopped, and released her, but stayed close behind. And the ground trembled.
Looking up, she saw an enormous monster, similar to her creature, but with no real face. Instead it had a mouth that opened four ways, covering its entire face. She couldn't see any indication of the spikes growing out from its head, such as her creature had.
Her creature stood on its back legs, right behind her. It gave her a gentle push towards the giant monster, which was easily the size of the American's Empire State Building, on Earth. "Tokubetsu," it said, and Kagami could have sworn she heard an element of pride in the creature's inflection. All the other creatures around them stopped whatever they were doing and waited.
"Tokubetsu," her creature said again, and again she heard that inflection that seemed to indicate pride in its voice.
The super-giant monster (the monster queen?) bent down towards Kagami, and seemed to inspect her, taking in deep whiffs of scent. Then it threw back its head and roared so loudly as to make the entire cave shake. It lifted a massive foot…
…aiming it right at Kagami and her creature.
To be continued?