Ahead of us, on the border of the dark lake, was what appeared to be a narrow entrance to a tunnel, on either side of which were two black columns, adorned with garlands of… heads? Shrunken heads. Shrunken, human heads. I didn’t have time to gape long. The spirit was fast in navigating us through the narrow passage of water between the pillars and soon we’d entered a winding tunnel of water. We wound around and around in the blackness till I almost felt dizzy. Then, turning a corner, the canal merged into a wider expanse of water again. We’d reached another large cavern—though this one was devoid of all traces of light. The only thing illuminating the enclosure was the aura of the spirit’s body as he rowed forward.
“Where are we?” I yelled, even though I guessed that he could not hear me through the box. Whether or not that was the case, the spirit did not answer.
A bank came into view. A small bank covered with black pebbles. The being continued floating the boat toward it, and as we reached the shore with a gentle bump, he turned around. I glimpsed his face, his fiery brows furrowed, jaw set in concentration as his arms wrapped around the box again. He lifted it and dragged it off the boat, onto the bank.
Then the lid to the coffin clicked open. I didn’t waste a second in rushing out, but he caught up with me before I’d barely even traveled six feet. He gripped me hard by the shoulders from behind, and again, there was absolutely nothing that I could do to escape his grasp.
I swore at the man.
“Where are you taking me?” I growled.
Wordlessly, he dragged me along the pebbly bank and stopped outside… a door. A door that I hadn’t noticed until now. Constructed of twisted metal, with a handle welded in the shape of a skull, it was fixed into the side of the rocky walls of the cavern. As I eyed its edges—particularly those closest to the handle—I wondered if it was just the dimness playing tricks on my eyes when I noticed the surface was stained with a reddish tinge.
Raising one hand while still holding me tightly with the other, the spirit thunked his fist against the door in three resounding knocks.
Silence engulfed us as we waited… for what, I couldn’t even imagine.
My eyes shot toward the handle as it twisted. The metal joints of the towering door groaned. Filling the voluminous cavern with an eerie creaking, the door swung open to reveal… nothing. Just a dark, empty doorway, leading into what appeared to be a tunnel.
“What’s going on?” I breathed.
The spirit dragged me inside and shoved me up against a wall. His right forearm dug against my neck, holding me in place. His eyes—no longer as soft or calm as they’d been back near the portal—now glinted with intensity as he whispered, “This is where I leave you… Where you now belong.”
“And where is this?” I hissed through gritted teeth, even as my hands wrapped uselessly around his offending arm.
He answered with a single word:
“Hell.”
Ben
I’d heard the spirit, and yet I hadn’t heard him. His answer passed through my ears, but I was unable to make even the slightest bit of sense of it.
Hell?
What?
I didn’t get a chance to ask him for clarification. His forearm jerked away from me with wild speed, and the next thing I knew, he’d sped through the entrance and slammed it behind him.
No.
You’re not leaving me in this place.
I zoomed after him, but I never got the chance to discover whether or not my form could pass through this door. Inches from it, I felt an abrupt and alarming sensation in my upper arms. It felt like somebody had grabbed hold of me again, and yet there was nobody in sight. And yet, as I struggled again to move forward and reach the door, the feeling of powerful hands holding me in place remained.
As I whirled to look around again, this time I saw it. The outline of a creature standing right behind me. A towering, wraithlike creature. A creature that certainly belonged in hell. My gaze shot to my arms. Long, gnarled fingers with pointed black nails were wrapped around me, rooting me to the spot. They seemed to be turning more solid and less translucent with each passing second, until my head panned upward and I beheld the creature in its full, visible form: a nightmarish being with a skeletal body covered with skin so thin and translucent, it revealed the cold blue veins beneath. He had jagged, shark-like teeth and tufts of long black hair hung from the base of his otherwise bald skull.
A physical form. And yet he was able to touch me.
I was still staring as he began tugging me away from the door, down, down into the tunnel.
For the first time, I found myself seriously considering that this was actually hell. But what have I done to deserve to be here? As the creature hauled me after him through the gloom, my mind felt like it had been blasted to pieces. I found myself thinking back on my life, on all that I’d done. I’d always thought that I’d led a decent life. Granted, I had murdered my fair share of people, but that hadn’t been by my will. I’d been under the influence of the Elder. But perhaps fate—if that glowing being really is an agent of fate—doesn’t consider the reasons for one’s actions. If a person touches fire, it burns regardless of how innocent one is. Perhaps Fate didn’t consider excuses and went only on actions. By that evaluation, I realized that I had lived a bad life. A very bad life.
The end of the tunnel came into view, and as we reached it, we emerged in another cavern. Only this was different to the ones enclosing the lakes outside the door. Running down the center of it was an elevated path, on either side of which were pools. Large, circular basins of water that emitted an odd, pale blue light. This light was the only thing illuminating the chamber. I strained to get a closer look at them to glimpse the reason for their illumination, but I wasn’t close enough.