Hell Thousands of Years Ago
The last thing he remembered was falling. Reaching for the sky with no hope of catching anything to save himself. He remembered the thunder and lightning, the rain slapping against his face. He remembered being so angry. Then blackness. Nothing, until he was falling again and this time landing on hard ground. He just laid there, thinking about what led up to this. A shouting match with an entity he knew nothing about. One he'd never seen, never touched, only believed in and taught his son to believe in. One he'd prayed to and one that had failed him.
After a long while he pushed himself up off the ground and looked at his surroundings. Arid wastes was the best way to describe it. Nothing but hills stretching on forever and chill around his shoulders. He reached for his cloak until he remembered he hadn't taken one with him out into the rain. All he had on was his usual day clothes, a tunic and fine cloth wrapped about his body as befitting his station. "What is this place…" he spoke aloud to the nothing. He wouldn't get anywhere standing there and so picked a direction and began to walk. For how long he couldn't say. There seemed to barely be a sun here, or a moon, or stars. He looked up and could only see two distinctive orbs in the sky. One white, one red. The white one almost looked like a moon, but it had wings and was encircled by rings. The other had a strange design on it, red as the sky. "I've crossed into some realm…. how far did I fall?"
He just kept going until at last he saw signs of life. Smoke rising into the sky, a camp of some kind. He picked up his pace till he got over another rise and could look down at the fire. What he saw horrified him. Three beings were huddled around it, monstrous looking things. The biggest he could only describe as some kind of lizard, large with sharp teeth. Another was some kind of bird like creature and the third, he had no name for it, but it had multiple eyes, one on its forehead another in the center and third underneath. Monsters, beasts of some kind. Did he approach? It was too late; they saw him and immediately took up arms to defend themselves. "Wait! Wait, I mean you no harm!" he put his hands up, slowly approaching "I'm unsure of where I am, I fell and woke up here…can you tell me where here is?" They lowered their weapons and looked at each other. All at once they burst into laughter "A newbie, well then let us be the first to welcome you to Hell"
He blinked in surprise until one of them came over, the bird type, putting his long lanky arm around Caine and guiding him over "You must be tired after your long journey, here sit" He had a regal accent of some kind though not one Caine recognized "Thank you, I walked a long way, I don't even know where I am" he lowered to the ground as the others took up the opposite side of the fire away from him. "You're just off the main road, follow it north, or the direction that that giant ball in the sky is in and you'll come upon a city." The three eyed creature laughed "Yeah, all kinds of travelers use this road, good for business" the lizard creature slapped him upside the head "Uh, trading business is what he means, we're simple merchants as you can see" There was a cart behind them, goods piled high and covered by a tarp "Forgive us, we're being rude. I am Orion" the bird gestured to himself "My associates are the dinosaur looking man over there, Razor" the lizard grunted "And we just call him Eyes" he dismissively waved toward the other creature.
"Got a name?" The one called Razor asked "Oh yes, Caine, leader of the people of the City of Enoch" They started to snigger and then laugh again, Caine not sure why. Seeing his confusion Orion chimed in "I'm sorry, forgive us. We haven't met a new soul in months. You mean you were the lead of a grand city, I'm sure. You're dead now I'm afraid. Fancy titles and position mean nothing down here" Caine was confused. "Dead? How can I be dead? I'm alive, I feel fine" Again they laughed, but Razor was the one to answer him "You're alive here in Hell. Down here nothing can kill you…see" he grabbed Eyes by the head and smashed him into the ground so hard his head burst. "Give it a few minutes…you'll see what he means" Caine was shocked to see such murderous behavior. But then slowly, the being with many eyes began to piece himself back together again, sitting up and rubbing it's head. "See, fine. Sometimes it takes longer, but points still the same. We're here forever, nothing can kill us permanently." Orion scoffed "Except those accursed angels. They rained down on the city not three months back. I'd never seen such carnage in the streets afterward"
Caine looked to him, taking in so much information "Angels? Angles from Heaven? Killing?" Razor scoffed "Yeah you newbies never believe us when we tell you that. Yes, once a year the angels come down here and wipe as many of us out as possible. Those stupid enough to get caught in the crossfire anyway." Orion rolled his eyes "Those are just the idiots that didn't think to get in good with an overlord for protection. I hear Zestial protects everyone under his thumb. Can't go losing numbers, can he?" Eyes, now recovered from his death, laughed "He protects people, but Carmilla will fight for you. She's the best weapons maker in all of hell and if anyone gets in her way, she cuts them down" he kicked into the air.
All three of them exchanged glances and looked to Caine "Speaking of which, we're late and we have a delivery to make" they all stood and chuckled "sorry chum but your going to have to walk, there's only room on the cart for three you see. Can't wait till Carmilla sees we brought her a live one" Not sure what they were talking about, Caine was about to ask when he felt a sharp pain to the back of his head. He woke who knew how long later, feeling the ground against his back as he was dragged behind the moving cart, Razor pulling it by the handles as the other two and a being he didn't recognize, rode up top. "You should have seen the look on his face when you smacked him from behind Thugger, he went stiff as a board" Orion acted out the scene while the new character, a hound of some kind, howled literally with laughter "Good thing I came back from taking a leak in time. This guy looks like he's from the middle east or something. Probably hasn't even seen shoes before." Razor jerked the cart as it went over a rock "You know time is weird down here. He could have bene falling for a thousand years for all we know." Orion scoffed "I doubt it was that long, but who knows what time it is up there now anyway. I've been here so damn long"
It wasn't long till the dirt road gave way to cobble stones and Caine felt himself being dragged along a street, looking up to catch glances of high walls and parapets "Thank god we're back in the city, I'm getting me a drink and the first piece of ass I can find" He heard the wolf say. "Not until we get paid. Carmilla wanted us to raid Dr. Felding's shipments, she didn't say anything about our side work. We're late as it is" Razor growled loudly "The bitch will probably dock us. Why are we working for her anyway? There's a bunch of overlords out there…" Orion threw something at Razor "Silence you dumb animal. You want them to hear you? She's the top bitch right now, we can't just go to some small-time joker and wait to be picked off. Besides, my cousin got us in before she got exorcised. That's why we're working for her." None of this meant anything to Caine, he was just looking for a way out. The ropes dragging him were tied pretty tight so cutting them would be his only way out. Another bump had Orion cursing "Watch it you fucking ape! Anything falls off this cart it's your head" the shifting caused things inside to fall, a sword sticking out of the back, enough for Caine to use if only he could catch his footing. He wouldn't get too much of a chance as they were heading into a building of some kind, warehouse by the looks of it.
The cart slowed and Caine finally got enough purchase to pick himself up and stand. He got to the sword and started using it to cut his restraints, but then a woman's voice gave him pause. "Any trouble?" He kept going, but slower, making sure not to cause too much noise. "Naw, just a traveler, new fish from the top side. We knocked him out and stowed him in back" A loud slap rang out and he heard whimpering. Clearly Thugger was the one who was struck "Idiot. Now we have to kill him. I don't want anyone to know we're going after Dr. Felding. That mad scientist is in too deep with the High Table" Bonds finally cut; Caine carefully pulled the sword out of the back. He'd use it if he had to, just had to wait for the right time. "No one saw us Lady, besides…" the talking was cut off by gurgling and then the sound of a body hitting the floor. "Three eyed bug" she grumbled "His forces are too strong. He's been experimenting with imps and hellhounds to make his own hybrids. They're twice as strong and more cunning than the average fleabag" she gestured to Thugger again.
"Look we'll get rid of the guy alright; Razor can eat him" they chuckled as Orion came around back. "Wait a minute, where'd he go? Thugger I told you to tie him…" but his words were interrupted by his own screaming as his leg was cut and he fell down, spewing black blood everywhere. "What the fuck!" Thugger saw Caine roll out from under the cart and rushed him, swiping at him with big strong paws. Caine was no swordsman, but he could avoid danger when necessary. He dodged and slashed and hacked as best he could, even if he had to take a hit here and there. He cut off the hound's paw, making it howl. Razor was about to charge in when Carmilla stopped him "Wait…. I want to watch this…" As the hound lunged again, Caine thrusted forward and the two met, the sword going right through the beast's chest. He fell under the weight of the huge animal. He struggled to push it off, using all his might in his weakened state to give even a little room for him to squeeze out. Quickly he turned and pointed his sword at the last two. The tall woman with pointed legs and hair was quite intimidating and he wasn't sure if he could survive that encounter "Just let me go…. I don't care what you're doing here…." The sword was shaking as he pointed it, clearly afraid.
"Fine…go" Carmilla watched as he backed away, then quickly turned and ran. "What! You're letting him go!" he pointed at the mess at his feet. "He took out all your men! Lady you must be some pushover if some fresh hell meat is getting the best of…" he found his words caught in his throat as he started drowning in his own blood, Carmilla's leg easily swiping through his windpipe "Not all of them…" she amended his statement. She was sure that wasn't the last she'd see of this particular stranger. The man with a mark on his eye was an interesting one. She just didn't know how much yet.