by Seth Zepreem | Whisperer of the Flame
🜂Seth Grunted as he lifted a large boulder into the air and tossed it behind him. Something he would not have been able to do if he didn’t own the one, only, and last Black Spine. Made by his adoptive blacksmith father after Seth had become paralyzed and unable to continue the line of work no longer.
Seth Stepped into the dark cavern that was finally revealed. There was a darkness about this place that only meant one thing, he was approaching the inbetween.
After having boarded and joined Anastasia’s ship and crew, she told him that she required him to do certain tasks to be integrated into the guild, or more likely stay on her ship. He hated it but honestly he had no where to go and pillaging villages and doing dirty jobs alone was starting to get boring to him. Maybe he could find a partner in crime to stab in the back sometime, who knows.
Seth called a ball of flame to his hand then told it to rise. Creating a small lantern of fire Seth inspected the cavern. Its long hall descended into the ground, completely pitch black outside of the ring of light his fire produced. But what unsettled him most was the black slime that covered every exposed inch of the stone walls. It almost pulsated with its own life giving energy, ready to strike at any moment. He looked down at his feet and saw that the black goo had retreated from where his feet rested, avoiding the hot step of his bare feet to reveal an obsidian stone floor.
Chuckling Seth starts walking, the blackness retreating from his touch. He knew not how long he walked but eventually there came a light from the end of the cavern. He was curious as to why he had no resistance to get where he was going, but guessed that maybe this cavern was off the radar entry way, a hole straight to the depths. He might as well take it for granted.
Extinguishing his flame he rushed to the light, finally reaching it to find a thin layer of the blackness in between him and his destination. Raising his hand and lighting it on fire the blackness fled and warm blinding light flashed Seth, making him only flinch slightly.
Before him were the flames of the hot, miserable, and torturous, hell.
The floor of the 9th level of hell itself was pitted with trenches, barren pits, and lava pits. Flames licked every rock charing everything black. Lost souls stumbled on the planes, their screams of pain from the fires rang through the whole level. But in the middle of it all was a floating island, pulled by the largest cage full of souls, demons, devils, and monsters far and inbetween. Sitting on this floating island were several rooted towers, but around their peaks, rooms and chunks of other buildings floated, connecting once and awhile with the grounded towers and buildings, only to lift off again and move. Peppered through this cursed city, Seth could spot flying beginnings, their races unknown from how far they were, but still intimidating. Seth inspected the barren planes of the hell before him and observed the several fire lifted airships harvesting souls off the fiery planes, locking them in chains as they return to the moving city.
Seth had read about this plane before. Nessus, the books and poets called it. One of 9, it held residence to the worst souls to plague Earthland. Home to devils and demons alike. Its god and ruler went by many names written by many people with different beliefs. Asmodeus, Lucifer, satan, Diablo, Ash-Shaytān, Iblis, The prince of Darkness, The Great Serpent, Belial, Beelzebub, and many many more. Seth thought it impossible for more than one ultimate devil could exist, otherwise hell would have been unleashed on the lands a long time ago. He only hoped he would not have to face such a being powerful enough to control all of hell.
The tunnel Seth had emerged out of dropped almost instantly past the curtain of black as it was high on hell’s ceiling.
“Just get some demons' hearts and get out of there, that is all I want.” The memory of Anastasia’s cold vampiric voice passed through his head.
“She makes it seem so easy.” Seth Scoffed to himself. There is one thing he was afraid of about this place, the fire resistance. Things down here did not just get destroyed when lit on fire. Every creature was fire resistant, and so in a way, the only help his powers would have here is limited to very little.
Shrugging and confident his combat skills would be enough, he took a step off the cliff and free fell for a bit before wings of fire were lit on his shoulders and he pulled up before hitting the floor of Nessus, zooming over the ground, not bothering to avoid the flames that burst from the ground as it did not hurt him, nor burned his clothes. Quickly reaching the island Seth realized how big it actually is. Standing about 50 stories tall each tower looked like its own maze of hallways and balconies. As he got closer he saw that the majority of the flying beasts in the skies were demons; each shaped and designed in whatever way they deemed fit.
Landing discreetly at the base of a tower he groaned in disgust at the feces covered grossness of the ground. Instantly burning a circle where he stood, as to remain clean. Scattered here and there were deformed souls and cast out devils.
A soul stumbled up to him, the body it had pieced together from the dead it could find was missing an ear, left foot, skin on its shoulder, and chunks of muscles on its stomach. “Please! A piece!? Only a Piece!?” The souls bony hands reached out to grab him but in a flash the souls hands were gone. He had summoned his black ring, which had previously been disguised as a black bracelet. The soul squealed as it dropped to chase after the hands which had begun to crawl away.
Seth scoffed. Repulsed at the gross image before him.
Looking around he quickly saw a door into the tower, rushing over to it he entered the tower and closed it quickly. Studying the room he seemed to be in what looked to be an old unused storage area. Nothing important.
Annoyed by the situation Seth decided to just travel through the tower and try to lure of a few demons and harvest their hearts then leave. Only after 10 minutes of searching did he quickly find his first victims. Two demons were in the hall ahead, arguing about an issue in a language he didn’t understand. It sounded quite heated.
Cocky of his skills Seth decided to just walk up to them.
He strode confidently down the hallway towards the demons, who at first were surprised. One was covered in fur from head to toe, the body of a monkey, large goat horns protruding from his head and the face of a goat with wicked sharp teeth, and the other had the lower half of a snake, a scaled chest of a man, the head of a cobra, and clawed hands.
Within seconds Seth summoned his black rings and ribbon of fire, which floated around him ready for his mental command to strike.
The snake Demon hissed and that was Seth's cue. With a large gesture of his hand his ribbon shot forth and wrapped around the neck of the monkey demon, throwing it against the wall as it choked him. Instantly the snake stretched out and tried to strike Seth. Skillfully he dodged, but not fast enough to avoid the snakes sharp clawed hands coming right at him. They slashed at his shoulder, almost instantly drawing blood and shooting a immeasurable pain through his body. He knew instantly that the claws of the snake were venomous. As fast as a flicker of flame, he pressed his hand on the shoulder and instantly let his flames burn away the venom and quickly heal the wound. But doing so made him lose his concentration and his ribbon had loosened enough for the monkey demon to get free of its grip. Pulling two battle axes out of their sheaths from his back the monkey demon bellowed and charged.
Ducking under an upper swing, Seth thrust his black ring up the armpit of the monkey, only to find the fur almost impenetrable. Frustrated, Seth rose from behind the monkey and slammed the side of his rings on the head of the Demon with a force that would have killed a normal mortal being. Stunned by this the monkey demon tripped right into the snake demon, making them tumble and unfortunately get scratched by the claws of the snake as they attempted to untangle. Within 10 seconds the Monkey slumped over.
Hissing the Snake being rose again, “You will get no where puny human, whatever your goal is you will…” The snake was interrupted as all the sudden its head was sliced off its body. Seth ribbon flew back to him, bloodied from the Snakes severed neck. The flames licked the blood off with willingness.
“Pointless chatter I say. I hope in your next reincarnation you aren’t as stupid as you were in this one,” Seth walked over to the corpse, “Oh wait you won’t get one.” His hand lit on fire and he dug it into the chest of the demon. Pulling the heart out with utmost care he opened an enchanted pouch on his side, a temporary gift from Anastasia. Though small, the enchanted pouch had enough space to fit a grown elephant.
He then went over to the monkey demon. Its eyes were rolled up in its head and froth dripped from its mouth. It was still alive, yet completely unable to do anything.
“Oh this will be fun.” Seth Laughed, he had heard that once you can get under the skin of a demon, their innards weren’t fire resistant. He wanted to test this so as he dug into the skin of the monkey demon he let his flames loose on everything inside the fire protective layer, only thing they weren’t allowed to touch was the heart. As they ate up every morsel with a hungry desire Seth grasped the heart and put it with the other in his pouch. He watched as soon, the only thing left was the bare bones and skin of the monkey. A disturbing site, yet one equally satisfying to himself.
*Gasp!*
Seths Head jerked up to see a small Devil Fleeing down the hall.
“Shit”
Almost instantly the ribbon was after the Devil but once the thing rounded the corner of the hall it vanished through the wall. Seth rushed after it pressing his hands on the wall where it had gone, yet it was completely solid. “Fucking Devil magic.” Seth Let a string of cursed out. “I sure as hell hope Anastasia is ok with only two hearts cause no way in hell am I staying for the warning bells.” With that Seth took off Running and trying to retrace his steps to back to where he had come from. But due to the shear size of the Tower it was too late. He heard the warning bells and screeches as demons and devils alike searched for the intruder.
He burst through a door, still hoping to escape and cursed as he free fell in the air, his ribbon flapping in the wind behind him. And before he could think he felt a painful tug on his arm as he was grasped by a demon with bat wings, a devilish tail, the fangs of a cat… And the body of a succubus, one of the most powerful demons in all of hell. He felt another tug as another one grabbed his other shoulder and soon they came to a stop.
“Well… Shit.” Before him was a legion of flying demons and devils alike. And at their head, the glowing figure of a god.
~~~~~
To be continued
post wc: 2029
total wc: 2,029
