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Chapter 2

“Ahead"

Time drifted by, pressing through the biting shadows of an inexplicable, endless void. Had it been moments, or eternities? That question hung in my mind, but didn't last long. I was in such a daze, unable to properly sustain my thoughts or emotions. Initially, as I gazed mindlessly through the frigid shadows, only a mind-numbing absence glared back. But as time progressed, unpassing, my ears perked at the faint whispers of an unknown voice; an imperceptible being, beyond basic fundamental law. Its presence weighed on me in the form of a pressure, timidly gnawing at my fading mind, only growing louder with each buzzing usurpation of my senses. Eventually, it gained stark definition, merging into an invisible crowd of surrounding voices. The ceaseless muttering grew louder by the minutes, until their grating whispers wriggled through my ears like mad worms. It wasn't long until the unseen throngs erupted into hysteria. Bloodcurdling screams echoed within my comatose mind, filling out every second. Their dismal screeching sent a chorus of vibrations through my chest, blaring from the darkness of my unconscious. Shaken up and formless without limbs, my handicapped consciousness split a scream of my own against the chaos, only to heave dried breaths into the senseless oblivion before me.

After a timeless pause, the most bizarre . . . "un-sensation" overtook my chest. I opted to gasp, but failed in vain, feeling my terror drain into the null void. The conceptual force of fear writhed and pulled from my maw, as if excised, like a vital organ. My breathing hastened, only to realize my lungs were missing . . . That I myself, was missing. Yet, despite the pain in each pointless breath, I felt less horror as my emotions flattened like placid waters, only to slowly trickle away into an undetectable vacuum or abyss. Dread, elation, determination, and even love . . . it all became one with an unfathomable absence. Before the last of it all emptied into nothingness, I felt one emotion stubbornly freeze, unlike the others; parallel to anger, but fiercer and sharply concentrated. Even in deep oblivion, I realized I'd never felt such an emotion before. 'Was it even mine?' I wondered, slightly rousing awake. The burning emotional sickness had a foreign feel to it, as if misplaced by someone else.

'What is this? What is this sensation?' I thought tremulously, teeth clenching as my voice echoed through the boundless depths between awareness and existential deprivation. Aside from morbid curiosity, there was only one other emotion. Its weight slithered heavily around my very being, trapping and constricting my organs. 'Where am I? What happened?' My heart inquired, unthinking, as the rest of my emotions drained away, making me feel as though I didn't exist. With every squeeze, the sentient force repeatedly burned an angry fire into my chest, crawling up and crackling through my sternum, and eventually reaching my eyes. As the anomaly spread, encasing my entirety, its dark influence isolated and invaded me with a shrieking flame I could not recognize. My chin tilted up as tears of fury crawled down my cheeks, desperately calling out into that great and dreadful abyss. "What is this feeling!?" I shouted helplessly. My twice-repeated question yielded no answers, aside from a sudden flash of imagery. A pair of red eyes dressed in shadowy hood and robes broke into my mind, uninvited.

Felraya, with her ugly bladed tail and rotten stench of useless dregs and death, stood there with that stupid grin on her face. I felt my nose scrunch, not solely in disgust this time. My teeth bared, violently snarling on impulse. Whatever this was, it felt cathartic to release, but it left a subtly lingering guilt in my belly. My resentment switched, recalling Reddra. Felraya . . . That felid abomination had taken our reunion from us. I felt it again; fire, creeping up and erupting through my throat like stinging vomit. Quivering, I pushed myself up, blind as a bat, yet clenching my teeth into a gritting snarl. "You stupid bitch." I sputtered. My soundless voice split the inexistent air, truly feeling the toxic pettiness of my words. Within five-hundred years, I'd endured the stings and bites from creatures of various planets, and never had I felt anything so venomous. My retractable claws unsheathed, curling at her presence. She said nothing, standing there idly, like her foolish mistake hadn't cost me my soulmate. I could scarcely describe the feeling welling up within me.

My harbored fever hankered to witness the cat lying face-first in a puddle of her own blood. 'What? W-why, how . . . How could a mere feeling cultivate such a specific desire?' I thought deep within, never hearing my own questions. While allegedly formless, I felt myself fall to my knees, letting rage transmute into helplessness. The despair I wanted to feel —for closure's sake— simply whisked away, pulling towards an invisible focal point. Once stolen from me, only the festering flame remained, keeping my frenzied mind hard-locked on Felraya. My eyes were burning-hot daggers, singeing into the feline's neck, readily plotting my darkest vengeance. Another part of me flinched back, resisting the temptation. Wanting no part of this sensation, I scanned around anxiously. "Someone, please, help! This . . . this doesn't feel right!" I shouted in fear, only for my quivering fright to blink away into nothing. From the deepest darkness, a mighty quake struck the invisible ground around me, erupting a hoarse and sickening tone.

"This is my gift to you." A voice rasped, its sonorous reply echoing off the nothingness.

The moment I heard that dreaded voice, my stomach contracted into a sharp heave, forcing me into the abyssal ground. Tears raced down my face as I gagged, seeing tiny flashes of Felraya flicker through my mind. Suddenly I could think of nothing else. 'Damn her' I thought, unsure of why I wished to cultivate this sickness. What would've been curiosity or self-questioning became unborn, quickly assimilating with the stretching void above, as if vacuumed. I neglected to ask who had addressed me, prevented somehow by unknown means. My eyes gaped in horror as a wretched shadow laced with hellish embers spilled from my maw, expanding into a starry puddle beneath me. My back heaved, a gargling scream blaring from my throat, only to catch on the cosmic puke.

"Poor outsider . . . Why do you wretch? You say this feels wrong?" Its question burned with antipathy and scorn. “No matter. I say, it will grow on you . . . in time." It taunted. A calm laugh escaped its unseen lips. Fear held no station in me, rendering my senseless body a kneeling vegetable. Otherwise, I'd be swinging my sword like a mad dog, desperate to slay the prying entity. With what scarce emotion I had boiling within me, my brain at least allowed my mouth to move.

"What is happening?" I questioned in silence, feeling that blooming curiosity vacuum into null. I didn't get my answer, seeing only a swirling darkness fading into view. I awoke to a stormy sky rumbling with the occasional thunder. I dizzily leaned up, gazing into the center. A massive void loomed above us, emanating faint whispers from an infinite, whirling abyss. Lifting my crackling body from the cold, unevenly corrugated lead beneath me, I glanced around, drifting out of a splitting concussion. I knew my cells were regenerating. The healing process was always more agonizing than the injuries themselves. I felt a persistent sharp pain enwreathing my every follicle, but the emotions that should've accompanied my suffering failed to check in. The sensation was exceedingly bizarre. —Hard to explain.

Within these anomalous conditions, I wasn't surprised or expectant of seeing Felraya suddenly pop out of nowhere, as if just spawning into existence. The abruptness of her imposing teleportation should've startled me, forcing me to gaze into a pair of smoldering red eyes, each concealed by a shadowy hood as a canvas of asperatus clouds gnarled into thinning ribbons, each draining into a moaning void behind her. Her crimson circlets for eyes smoldered with a notably less mischievous glint than before. Similar to the dulled inner dialogues of my mind, her tone was flat. "Let's go. This place isn't safe, even for me." She beckoned stolidly. Whatever this numbing aberration of a landscape was, it seemed to have a mutual effect on her. Fel's eyes were as lifeless as my own. No spark, and devoid of personality, as if it'd all been drained away.

I tried to think of questions, yet my curiosity was siphoned away instantly, leaving me numbly disinterested. The sensation was palpable; almost physical as I felt its hunger exsanguinate my very being of every emotion. I followed her with slavish footsteps, as if left with no other choice, like an indifferent wolf separated from its pack. That blistering feeling I'd experienced earlier was gone. However, having my feelings perpetually ripped from my soul gave me time to think with a particularly profound clarity. Through emotionless speculation, as I tromped behind Fel, I realized an important detail about the state of my soulmate. Much earlier, Reddra hadn't just stared at me with rage in her overtaken eyes. Fear filled the voids in her sockets; an emotion she rarely felt, aside from moments when I'd endangered myself. An especially strong conviction welled up within me, taking a while to drain away, thereby granting me enough time to truly feel it.

True love was the only emotion that endured against the soulless absence. My head dipped pensively, realization dawning. 'Reddra . . . You were afraid of me,' I thought deeply, perturbed in my efforts to understand who or what could've caused this. 'But why?' I asked myself, muddled by the upward abyss. Still unfeeling, I followed after Felraya's swaying tail-blade, maintaining a distance that should've felt uncomfortably close. With each rhythmic oscillation of her tail, the connected scythe-head kept swinging as she sauntered, mere centimeters away from slashing my nose. Her footsteps and mine ambled silently through the moaning ambience, our mouths quietly sealed shut, as if trekking along a dull hiking trip. With some distance put between us and the anomaly, her hand touched my shoulder, and we abruptly found ourselves standing atop a high mountain of decimated ruins. Disoriented by the sudden change of scenery, I nearly lost my footing, sliding down a fractured, checkered marble floor slanting towards a mile-high drop. Barely intact pillars held up a dilapidated portico above us. It all slowly threatened to crumble with each step I took, causing my foot to retreat. An unexpected surprise hit me hard, as my chest filled up with an uproar of emotions.

I felt everything attacking me at once; sadness, fear, betrayal, hope, joy . . . and especially that searing sickness directed at Fel. I screamed, not knowing why, as I noticed the swirling abyss was gone from sight. My emotions were back, but with a vengeance from ruthlessly being siphoned for so long. Felraya watched me fall to my knees, claws scratching tremulously at the filthy, jagged tiles. First came the emotional pain, catching up with every bit of physical agony I'd experienced. I didn't realize my legs were still healing, hence why I'd fallen to my knees, unable to bear the agony. I nearly curled into a ball, enduring the unparalleled sting of being dejected so forwardly by my one true lover. Even though I knew she was under the influence of something evil, it still bombarded me with grief. I'd traveled so far, worried sick about her, unable to shut off my nerves as my brain tortured me with unrealistic scenarios of her demise . . . all for this shoddy outcome.

It was like I'd been sucker-punched by Hell itself; a possibility I couldn't deduct. I opened my mouth towards the messy ground, bent into screaming. My wailing cries echoed across the mist covering an endless graveyard of destroyed architecture and splintered bones. It was all blanketed in darkness, scarcely lit by various flames scattered by leftover coals. Giant broken stained-glass windows leaned over, tilting out of the dank and bloodied wastelands. I pushed myself up, screaming as the agony shot down my heels. "Felraya, you fool . . ." I forced my voice. “You ruined —errmm!— everything." I rasped aloud, grasping over my knees and clenching my eyes shut.

She gave a haughty 'harrumph', folding her arms like an ornery toddler. Her hellish orbs beamed with a volcanic ferocity. "You're welcome, butterfingers! I didn't need to retrieve your sorry ass back there. You would've been scurrying around like a depressed pigeon for eternity, or at least until that entity came to harvest your soul." She turned away, tail and wings flicking downwards.

Sev's voice resonated from my leather belt, which seemed more torn than before. Just lovely. "I must apologize, Agni. Felraya wasn't supposed to hinder you like this. This is the unfortunate outcome of a DemiGod's free will defying the Gods." He explained, much to my dismay.

I grimaced, my eyes narrowing at him. "You mean to say . . . your omniscient control over everything and everyone was useless to me, because Fel fancied a game of darts with my body!?" I bit at the air with my question.

"Yes," he replied tonelessly.

I growled, pulling up my blade and snarling into Sev's reflective surface. My reflection merely stared back unresponsively. "You're as big a fool as she is!" My volume spiked, almost barking. My thoughts and feelings were still in chaos, courtesy of the emotional whiplash moments ago.

Fel's body jerked, facing mine. "Well, this big 'fool' just saved your life!" She shot back.

My teeth bared, head jerking in her direction. "Because you're the one who jeopardized it!!" I exclaimed with a rumbling tone, fists squeezing my blade's handle, sending her a step back. My tail swung vertically, teeth clenching hard as she silently lifted her palms into a defensive gesture.

Fel's expression dithered between ire and self-conscious guilt. Her scowl fought against a frown, eyes averting my rebuking glare. "Listen mutt, it would've been the same outcome if I'd teleported you. That dragoness was clearly under an illusion spell!" She argued, stabbing her tail into the brittle tiles. The base of the portico's pillar suddenly cracked behind her. Our heads turned towards the crumbling ruins, taking a tense moment to determine whether or not it would hold us. Felraya's eyes grew cautious, quietly creeping closer to me, keeping her claws within grabbing range. She didn't whisper, but still knocked her voice down a few decibels. Her index claw shot aggressively at my nose. "I was chasing you around like an epileptic bull! Your eyes were exactly like hers! I'm gonna take a guess, and say you don't remember that." She leaned towards me, flashing a wry, judgmental glare. Fel's pitch-black wings further accentuated her claim by gradually spanning out, and twitching.

Sev gently threw his voice into our ears, cautious not to shake the debris. "It's true, Agni. Your senses were blocked, same as Reddra, causing you to flee from us." He informed me. My reflection in the blade shared a troubled glance with Fel, as if they had knowledge of something I'd missed. Felraya's expression felt oddly serious, giving me pause.

My eyes narrowed pensively, mentally drifting off somewhere else. "There was a voice; an invisible entity." I muttered in fearful recollection. The abominable abyss hollowed out my chest with its memory alone, making me wince. "I felt nothing. Literally." My hand clenched over my heart, feeling it hammer against my ribcage. "It was this . . . absence. Like everything that made me myself was getting slowly ripped away. I felt myself emptying out, replaced by something sick." My attention switched, gazing up at Felraya. Thoughts of philosophical origin stirred inside my mind, spurred by the enigmatic situation. "You're Death, correct?" I asked reluctantly, my expression turning hopeful.

Her ears folded back, head tilting into a side-glance. "Yyyes? . . . Why?" She asked, concern growing on her face.

I entered a pensive stare, more looking through Fel than at her. "A soul can't be absorbed, can it? It's eternal?" I felt a pang of genuine fear as I awaited her answer, existentially bracing for impact.

Fel blew an impatient groan. "No shit, genius. Aren't you supposed to be over five centuries old?" She questioned, arching her brow in annoyance.

A specific combination of words tumbled in my head. "No . . . shit?" I repeated, confused as my ears swept back. 'Was that an esoteric term?'

The cat spoke louder, turning more abrupt. "Souls are permanent forces, Anri!"

"—Agni!" I chimed aggressively.

"Yeah, anyways, it's not possible for anything to 'absorb' your soul . . . or leave you a lifeless walking husk for that matter." Fel added, carefully evaporating her scythe into darkness, for which I presumed was to lighten our weight. "Those are just mindless media portrayals, imagined by chronic horror-masturbators, stuck in some bleak, freelance writing career." She complained, rolling her scarlet eyes.

My scowl tightened into a sardonic glare. "How do you know that?" I asked, shaking my head.

She rolled her glowing, lava eyes. "I'm Death. Trust me, they usually die alone." She said in monotone.

If that was a joke, I wasn't laughing. I rubbed my temples, sighing deeply. I could feel the last of my jutting bones and bleeding wounds sealing shut, like a series of slimming fissures. My splintered tibias were the same, still realigning; healing faster than flesh. I felt an ungodly surge; a hybrid emotion between fear and rage as I glared at her. "My dear Reddra is flying across Gods-knows-where, Fel! She's gone stray, like a wild beast!" There wasn't a thought in my head as I tromped towards her, lifting Sev and touching its blade to her breast. Rocks crackled around us, crumbling down and echoing into the shadowy ambience. Fel raised her index, eyes shifting as she uttered an awkward "ummm", just before I swiftly interrupted. "Stop your petty, prattling nonsense . . . and help me retrieve my soulmate!!" I blared violently, stifling an anxious quiver in my voice.

She flashed me a peculiar, frozen look, almost shocked. "Alright Agni, just stop moving!" She warned, flexing her wings.

"I will not!" I yelled in defiance, my eyes narrowing. "The moment this structure falls apart, you will take me closer to her, or so help me Gods!!" I threatened, prodding her immortal flesh with the blade.

"You called, Agni?" Sev cut in, pretending as though he hadn't been listening this entire time. His casual tone calmed my troubled nerves.

His voice guided my eyes, pensively staring into the metal. "I suppose I did, didn't I?" I mused, briefly facing my stolid reflection. I rumbled a growl under my breath, facing Felraya with waning fury. In that moment, an idea surfaced, making me arch a questioning brow. "Sev, are you powerful enough to restrain Fel?" I asked, tilting my vision towards him, promptly pressing the blade a tad harder into Felraya's chest. It didn't hurt her, seeing as nothing could.

"What!?" She exclaimed, her yellow eyes widening owlishly. Her tail went almost rigid.

Sev's edge glimmered deliberately, drawing our attention. "Yes, I could. And I suggest we try that." He politely accepted. The feline Goddess' hackles stood up, her shoulders tensing in silent rage as Sev continued to speak. "I'll immobilize her first, then keep her in this sword with me later. After that, you can bring her with us, then summon her when she's useful." He explained.

Felraya's shock festered into sour disbelief, mouth hanging ajar. "Oh, like freaking Hell!" Her voice protested, slowly cracking under anger. “I'm not some burlap sack full of tools that you can just pick up and use!" She argued, claws and scythe drawn. The tall, curved blade on her back practically blinked into existence, abruptly enough to confuse my memory.

"In a way, that's already my role, Fel." Sev countered plainly. "Because of your recalcitrant behavior, Agni can't trust you anymore. This is merely another natural consequence of your actions." He summarized.

The small silver horns on her head protracted, expanding roughly a meter. Time-space crackled around us as her feathered wings and fur stood out, making herself seem larger. "Is there a gas leak?" Fel's voice pitched higher as she aimed a bitter scowl. “Your frontal lobes must be smooth, if either of you think you're 'restraining' me!" She exclaimed, her eyes smoldering.

"We will see." He contended. With that, his metal suddenly lit up into a piercing white glow, enveloping himself in a blinding radiance. My heart thrummed, surprised by the sudden charge of energy. It resonated, crawling down my arm, but also into Fel's chest. Soon, we were each permeated in light, our flesh shining inside and out.

Felraya tried to pull away, only to be met with a sinking feeling as her body refused to budge. She glanced down at the blade, scowling irately. "Oh, wowie. A shitty magic aesthetic?" Her retort flowed anxiously. “All you're missing are some sparkles and a rainbow." She mocked, eyes narrowing in disgust.

Sev ignored her gibe, his voice growing hard and stern, causing Fel's ears to twitch. “Felraya, for now on, you will obey Agni's every command as you are bound inside of this sword with me." His steady tone barely sounded a hint of inflection. “Rest assured, Fel, your freedom of choice will return, but only when you learn to respect Agni's reasons for making this journey down here." He declared, his voice regal like a king.

A malicious silence froze the air as she paused. She stared only at the sword, eyes rounder than a full moon. “Are you . . . cursing me?" Her mouth hung wider in disbelief, pausing malevolently. “You son of a bitch! He's cursing me!!" She screamed, her expression biting into a scowl of rage and horror.

The sword made an obscure, deep humming noise, crossed with a metallic ring, seeming to cause her real, palpable pain. Felraya's entire face tensed up during the resonance. Sev spoke authoritatively as the sound faded. “Silence, Fel. You've forgotten that I'm your creator. More importantly, your father." He lectured, using an unseen force to slap Fel's arms and wings parallel to her sides.

Her ears folded back, head shaking in an expression of frustration and panic. “What!? No! This is psychotic!" She protested, her widened stare snapping towards me. “Agni, stop him! He's lost his fucking marbles!" Her eyes darted around rapidly, arms and feet trembling. The cat's face softened for a moment, staring into mine with a look of genuine guilt. “I'll admit it . . . I screwed up, okay!? But I don't deserve to become a slave!" She begged emphatically.

I felt the weight of regret furrowing on my brow. They were both correct in their own rights, and I knew it. This was my decision to make, yet I couldn't shake off the rising pressure as my mind strained to choose. Ever the natural mediator, I decided on something more "middle-grounds". Before she could flash away into my blade, I glared at her in the eyes, my gaze fixed sternly on her own. "Felraya, you will be allowed to make your own decisions, but as long as you do whatever I command first." I declared, wary of the consequences. If I were to enslave another being, then they'd at least have a few liberties. Felraya said nothing, her eyes suddenly searing into mine with red-hot malice. Apparently the damage-control wasn't enough.

Sev spoke with perfect impartiality. "Are you sure, Agni?" He asked indifferently. I nodded, knowing the question's true nature. It was all but an implicit warning of the challenges I'd face. Fel would be livid, and I would be the scapegoat, endlessly tugging back at her in a battle for control. Sev very-well knew I was aware of this.

I nodded, half-regretting my decision. "I'm sure." I answered, solemnly shifting back to Fel.

The light in our arms and chests brightened, enveloping her entirety. It left a resonating ring, accompanied by a furious expletive. "Fuck you!!" Fel's scream echoed, before her body disappeared with the fading brightness. Sev's metal flash collapsed like a supernova, briefly rattling my blade, leaving it a smoldering white. A high-pitched noise slowly diminished with the blade's luminous aura, simmering down like an ember. I felt a sudden weight of guilt drop inside my chest, but the feeling was cut short by an abrupt 'CRACK!' My nose jerked towards the sound. The pillar where Felraya had been standing showed a recently inflicted cut. By the looks of it, Fel's tail-scythe had been wedged inside just before her body flashed away, dislodging a chunk of stone. My pupils widened with fury, realizing the trick she'd pulled.

"That's what you get, you stupid mutt!" Her voice blared angrily from my weapon.

As if on cue, the pillar collapsed like ancient chalk, tumbling sideways and smashing into the others. I felt the ground shift beneath my digitigrade feet, followed by a sinking sensation. To my horror, the dark and ghastly view of decimated kingdoms began to lift with my creeping descent. I didn't have time to react with magic. Gravity accumulated with the cacophony of metal and stone smashing into one another in midair. I felt an ungodly rush of energy as my pupils tightened, automatically focusing on every grain of dust. I felt it all slow to a lazy crawl, my eyes now freely scanning the debris. Thereafter, the jutting iron and architectural ruins decelerated to the speed of flowing honey. My heightened reflexes began to kick in, setting my heart ablaze with energy. With that, my mind sharpened to match its rapid capacity, taking away the excess weight that pulled me down. My toe-beans pushed off of a passing grooved pillar. As my body flung into motion, I rebounded across several titanic stone floors as they fell, springing off one to another. A shattering tower barely brushed past my toe-claws as I bounced too early, accidentally tilting my trajectory. That left me tumbling into a careening steeple, which oddly rolled me upwards, sending my body into a true free-fall.

Temporarily staggered, my surroundings accelerated, threatening to return to regular speed. I shook my head, teeth clenching together as my eyes narrowed hard in concentration, suspending time's deathly clock once more. The intensity of my temporal perception strained, reaching its maximum peak. It was a foolish reaction, since now I had mere seconds to parkour my way down safely, despite the benefit of my surroundings appearing almost stationary. I glanced downwards with haste, surveying a rough pattern among the downpour of crashing debris. To my left was the steeple filled with scattering shingles and a detached buttress, which I could slide across with minimal injury. On my right, there was a broken steel rod measuring eight feet long, its jagged end pointing towards several conjoined wooden fortresses below us. My shoulders braced for impact as I dove down, ramping ruggedly along the steeple.

Upon impact, a dull squelch sounded within my arm. Despite sustaining a rolled elbow, I persisted through clenching teeth, sounding a harsh growl while pushing off the edge with my footpaws, and launching at various wooden beams held up by the earthbound pillars below. I grabbed the steel rod as I darted towards them, deftly maneuvering as I careened down an alley of redwood. It took significant effort to keep the pole aligned just right, forcibly positioning both sides to wedge between the wooden walls. Splinters rapidly shaved away, filling my ears with the blaring scrapes of exploding redwood against metal. A burning sensation permeated my biceps as I stubbornly held on, finally letting time resume as normal. After a moment of scraping down, the metal rod caught on an unseen material embedded deep within the wood, knocking me off kilter and sending me sidelong into the cold concrete not far below. While I'd smashed my right arm into bloody black bruises, it wasn't as horrendous as last time. I didn't waste time standing up, impatiently shifting about in search of my next destination.

I used my left hand this time to draw Sev, peering urgently into his reflective surface. My focus wavered at the sight of another figure glaring menacingly beside my own reflection. Felraya's crimson circles burned a magmatic aura into my soul. She stood within my sword, quiet as a mouse, just . . . staring. Her speechless gaze lasted too long for comfort, tension climbing, until she spoke. "This isn't over, mutt." She threatened, seething and grumbling under her breath.

Sev —my reflection— sternly glanced towards her, narrowing his gaze. "Have I 'lost my marbles', Felraya?" He asked, quoting her. "Yet a whining chance at murder is any better?"

Felraya's foolhardy demeanor crossed with a fiery tone. "That's 'fucking marbles' verbatim, Mister 'I-Know-Everything'," she mockingly corrected. "and I'm not talking to you!" She snapped, pulling her face away.

I sighed at their antics, feeling my arm heal as I scanned my new surroundings. A towering wooden framework surrounded the colossal cement entrance in front of me, simply existing, as if for no reason. There was a rectangular opening within the grey expanse; a yawning, gaping threshold which ramped slightly downwards into an infinite sea of shadows. I stood atop a matching floor which extended beyond the cavernous edifice, as if its artificial tongue of concrete invited us inside. Felraya and Sev had gone quiet, joining me in my silent marveling. I had the strangest feeling, somehow knowing what came next. Sev's voice cut through the thickening silence. "Despite your ferocity, I must at least encourage you, Felraya. In your attempts to appear unforgiving, you've deliberately brought us to quite the useful location." He observed.

Fel gave a dismissive scoff. "Pfft, sure. 'Deliberately' . . . if he survived the fall." She corrected, folding her arms in protest.

"And yet, despite your vain attempt, you still knew he'd survive." Sev argued back.

I tried to reply with a question, but Felraya's rude voice chimed back. "Hmm, I should narrate everything that's running through people's minds! Maybe that'll make people like me!" She mocked bitterly.

Sev arched his brow at her. "Can you blame me? I am a God." He defended. I smirked at his blatancy, but noticed a subtle change in his tone of voice, as if gradually adapting to Fel's attitude. Yet his inflections canceled as he shifted towards me, catching my attention with a pair of stoic eyes. "Agni, the abyss before you harbors a sub-space shortcut beneath these harsh landscapes, leading to the first Gate where Reddra's headed. However, tread carefully. There's an entity lurking in those depths, and it's thirsty for blood." He cautioned.

I felt a deepening pit in my soul, doing my best to shrug it off. "Understood." I answered, nodding almost casually. Ambling forward, I felt a certain confidence in maintaining a calm, leisurely gait. That attitude came to an immediate halt the moment my left foot stepped across a veritable wall of murky shadows. My toes were swallowed up; blotted from sight by an impenetrable absence of light. A rapid hammer pounded in my chest as a fading chill climbed up my ankles. I flinched, jerking back in one swift motion. Initially, I imagined it was merely an illusion . . . yet to my astonishment, this darkness boasted true opacity. “This may be a problem." I said, nervously eying the supernatural phenomenon.

"Allow me, Agni." Sev offered politely. His metal seared with an astral intensity, emanating a bright, white light. My muzzle hung in awe as I witnessed the mass annihilation of darkness with each step. There was no transition between shadow and light. Just one big seam, with no creases or textures as I sauntered through the stagnant abyss, like watching impossibly thick tar separated by an unseen bubble. I ventured through with careful steps, eyes darting warily in all directions as Sev's luminance functioned like a holy torch. Our surroundings were no more than a smooth, barren cave, until several wooden bed-posts merged from the murk, and into view. Each was dilapidated, yet structurally sound enough to support a slumbering person. Messy cream-colored sheets and matching pillows draped unevenly along the tops, indicating recent use. I could smell individual scents on them, of acrid body odors, as if someone hadn't bathed in years. My nose reeled back as the current smell merged with a potent stench of blood.

And by "blood", I mean coagulative black effluence smeared beneath several random beds, as if a hidden predator had dragged its struggling prey into the blacker darkness below. A few of these streaks transitioned into sludgy claw-marks, overtly indicating foul play. Whether these claws belonged to predator or prey, I might never truly know. Any noise above average footsteps echoed ceaselessly throughout the cold dusty void, as if trapped in eternity. The stagnant, dusty air swirled above each step I took, leaving vague footprints behind me. A perpetual cutoff of darkness spat in the face of my natural night-vision, suspended at a constant distance of roughly fifty feet away as I padded across the freezing cement. Drifting white vapor danced from my muzzle with every exhale, simultaneously sounding in dry, airy huffs. Slowly, I scanned the yawning abyss with extreme caution.

Grotesque limbs and exposed rib cages riddled my path, littering various aspects of the immense space. Their dismembered arms were jointed in angles deemed biologically wrong, while the gory ribs twitched like spindly arachnids. Nothing too absurd, especially considering my previous experiences. Yet that didn't mean I wasn't unnerved, eyes gaping at the visceral mess of demonic dead squatters. Oddly enough, an uptick of fear flooded my chest as I spotted a fully intact body. It was a large and gangly biped, sprawled face-down across the mattress, bearing motionless clammy fingers that tapered into long, blood-stained claws. His face held a permanent expression of shock, eyeless sockets and toothless jaws both gaping in abject terror. My vision tilted down, fixed on the slowly rising and falling flesh wrapped taut over a bony rib cage. The nameless creature was sleeping. Pus-laden welts pulsed over its pale skin, causing an occasional twitch among the terror's scarce musculatures.

While true that my strange acquaintance was surely breathing, I sensed the sound emanating from another direction, facing dead-ahead. What felt like a stream of frigid wind subtly grew into lengthy, low-cadenced breaths, each gently combing through my fur in deepening waves. The pungent sting of death and acid seeped through my nose, assaulting my olfactory sense. Fighting my belly's reflexes, I strode reluctantly closer, revealing a fraction of what lurked beyond the tarry veil. A wide, reptilian snout roughly the size of four horses inched up and down with each calmly snarling breath. Sev's forewarnings whispered silently into my mind. 'There's a bed behind that creature, Agni. Beneath its frame, a festering drop leads to the first Gate.' He informed me.

I nodded quietly, intently studying the demon's scarce features. Sev's radiance hadn't hit its eyes yet, which were likely further up the nightmare's beastly visage. 'Where do I strike it?' I thought to Sev, knowing he'd hear me.

'A heart beats at the base of its tail. Aim there.' His advice echoed through my mind.

Side-stepping into a low crouch, I padded left, creeping back, but also moving around the creature, so my blade's light wouldn't overlap its eyes. 'Sev, reduce your glow. I'm going to sneak closer.' I thought, to which he adhered, deflating the invisible orb around us. As it shrank, I accelerated, sneaking over until another colossal snout merged into view. My attention peaked, realizing there were two necks, possibly even a third, considering the monster's sizable proportions. The cutoff of darkness made it impossible to discern. My gray paw-pads pressed ever so carefully into the cement, producing no sound. The entity's back was an oily, scaly texture, with a thick, draconic tail I would've otherwise thought beautiful, if it wasn't for an amalgamation of egg-white eyes etched into its surface. I nearly jumped, expecting them to spot me, but my tensing muscles softened after further inspection.

To my confusion, the tail's eyes were blind, blinking without pupils. I hoped this wasn't an alternate sensory organ, currently measuring my heat signature . . . except that wouldn't explain the nearly inconspicuous outline of faded irises. My father, Glyphnos, once told me that many life-forms might gradually shed certain traits over millions of years. Maybe this was a result of dwelling in unfathomable darkness for so long. I saw pulsating flesh at its tail-base, now understanding where the heart was. Readying both hands around the hilt, I lifted my blade in preparation of a forceful plunge. 'Please die.' I thought desperately, sweating at my palms. My wrists threatened to tremble, but I shook it off, ready to plunge down firm and true. Then I jolted at an abrupt shout.

"Dinnertime, boy!! Get it fresh!!!" Felraya's grating voice blared directly from the sword, colliding into my eardrums. My heart sank, limbs quivering as the beast's three horned heads jerked towards me in unison, narrowing their hateful eye-sockets.

"Fel, you fool!" Sev exclaimed, beating me to the remark.

The tail I had yet to slay swung like a derailed train. Thankfully, I dodged into a sidelong twirl in midair, feeling my tail brush with the speeding flesh. I growled in agreement, glaring at the cat's smug visage within my blade. "Traitor!" I barked, starkly irritated.

"To who, my kidnapper!?" She scoffed, arching her brow. "Did you think I was getting Stockholm syndrome that quickly?" She sneered, using another term I didn't recognize.

Despite evading a potentially deadly swing, the pale beast(s) spun back around, clenching its teeth over my right leg with his leftmost head, all while I was distracted. The pain shot up my leg like burning steel blades, but it didn't last. Everything blurred abruptly with the sudden tug of my body ragdolling into concrete walls and floors, my senses exploding with each impact. Deafening snarls accompanied the chaotic smashing, until my ankle finally broke off into snapping sinews. Its bloody release sent me careening. I rotated quickly in midair, feet opting to gain purchase over the ground. My remaining left foot-claws clung to the rough cement as I flew back, flinging a shower of sparks. I initially gained traction, but stumbled hard, spinning into a messy, battering roll that speckled me in bruises. The beating left me face-down, pushing up on trembling arms. With weary eyes, I glanced ahead to see my foe's speeding bulk bounding towards me, ground quaking enough to inch my body upwards. A piercing roar rattled my gushing ankle-stub and broken ribcage, causing me to scream. My agonizing wails drowned beneath the demon's bellowing decibels as I clasped my ears.

A heavy, canine bark bursted from the illuminated darkness where I'd unwittingly dropped Sev. Initially, I froze, believing another abomination had joined. My aggressor's body jerked fully around with its three tilting heads, appearing genuinely confused. Animalistic barks sounded cleverly from Sev, drawing the draconic, mangy hound's attention. That gave me just enough time to loudly call out in earnest. "Felraya, help me fight!" I commanded, my voice knackered with blood. The sword brightened intensely, until a burst of white fire summoned Fel's winged figure. Her wings beat once, scattering the clinging holy embers away.

She stood there in temporary silence. An unnerving smirk crept up her cheek, emanating an aura of danger. However, those spectral red eyes weren't glaring into the beast. Fel's scythe blinked into existence, summoned from oblivion as she wielded it in her right hand. Her left arm rose up, pressing a finger and thumb together. "Oooh, you're in for a big surprise, mutt." She whispered, just before snapping her fingers, sending an echo throughout the cavernous building. I paused, unsure of what the snap was for. The behemoth shrank back at Fel's wicked grin, feeling a similar chill as I was. An eerie presence emanated from above, badgering my subconscious senses. Multiple dragging sounds shifted from the ceiling's opaque darkness, creeping closer, until I felt the weight of a heavy presence. After a while, the sounds stopped, leaving me in suspense. Without warning, a myriad of scaly, serpentine ropes shot down from the ceiling's endless darkness, crashing around my petrified foe in loud, quaking booms. I jumped back, eyes widening at the unexplained arrival. To hear the three-headed beast's agonized welps actually had me pitying the poor creature, especially as dozens of slender appendages crushed around its three necks.

His agonizing whimpers echoed off the shadowy ambience before being interrupted by three consecutive 'snaps'. Felraya's aggressive, catty growl rumbled the air, before smiling with a dismissive wave. "Buh-bye!" She said casually. The demonic canine's limp corpse yanked into the ceiling's abyss, forever disappearing past its threshold. Those tendrils seemed all too familiar, making me freeze as I realized who they belonged to. "Hey Beaky, get down here!" Felraya yelled, cupping her mouth towards the looming shadows. I gasped quietly, watching a snakelike form curve upside-down from the abyssward sea above, flexing its scorpionic bat-wings and staring straight into me with hollow eye-sockets. Scaly muscular vines slackened from the blackness, loosening to reveal various bladed tapers all around itself. Judging by his careless subservience, it appeared he was under Fel's command.

"Beaky" as Fel called him, faced me with emotionless indifference, his seamless pale beak forever closed, and curving into a terminus. His voice was sonorous and leveled, yet echoing off of everything. "Must I descend to this festering plane, Agni? You were troubled by a mere Cerberus?" He questioned irritably, physically revulsing at the touch of everything around him. I opened my mouth, ready to protest, but was interrupted.

"Agni, behind you!" Sev warned quickly, his voice blaring yards away. I felt the sudden touch of cold metal press against my throat. A curved blade severed the white fur near my jugular, threatening to cut closer. Felraya had teleported, surprising me with a sneak-attack.

Her voice crept into a dramatic whisper. "If I hear a single vowel pass this pretty little mouth . . ." Her muzzle inched closer to my ear. “I'll lop your head off." She threatened. I instantly realized I could've just commanded her telepathically, but Fel's scythe opened a shallow knick in my throat, kicking the thought. "That includes thoughts!" She scolded rudely. "Or do you wanna make a cute game of seeing whether I kill you first, before you can think up a command?" Her question seized me both physically and mentally. My movements ceased, leaving my mind and body painfully silent. My right foot's bones were starting to reform, along with an exposed bloody layer of flesh, veiled in a crawling frost that protected my healing factor. This was another planetary gene I possessed, from a subglacial world known as Cryoviza. "Go on, try it! I've been getting bored anyways!" She goaded, inching the blade closer to my neck.

Finding myself at an impasse, I decided to try, thinking as quickly as possible . . . 'Sto—' My attempts were in vain as the blade burrowed surgically into my throat. I couldn't even muster a single thought in time, choking on my own frigid blood.

"Beaky" watched as I was dissected alive, his head shaking slowly in disappointment. His empty voids for eyes glared into me, slithering tendrils tensing up around him as I choked. “At this rate, you will be unfit to traverse the Inferno ahead." He solemnly chided.

My airways spurted with blood as Felraya withdrew, standing next to Beaky's serpentine body. She held a pair of short, flimsy red chunks of flesh that dangled like dead worms in her claws, smirking at me evilly. "What's the matter, mutt? —Cat got your cords?" She joked, giving a crass chuckle. It all happened so quickly, to the point of feeling unreal. I didn't notice my own mental state at the moment, just staring and choking in utter shock. My palm clasped over my throat, imbuing it with an azure light. Crackling ice permeated my jugular, hardening it like a crystalline scab to stop the bleeding. I still couldn't speak, but tried transmitting my thoughts a second time. Instead, Beaky's paralytic gaze locked onto mine with an abrupt jolt, sending an ethereal screech into my mind. The overwhelming shriek held no physical vibration, solely targeting my sanity at full force.

Freakish bellows of unspeakable magnitude resonated within my very being; into the core of my soul. My brain and mind alike spiraled into what felt like a corrosive lightning-storm of madness. I felt like begging for death as my head automatically smacked into solid concrete, subconsciously opting to knock myself out for relief. My mind wouldn't let me think —only feel— as the perceived atmosphere blurred and quaked. Once the torturous noise came to a halt, I felt an aftermath of crippling exhaustion. A splitting headache like one could never imagine wracked my brain, instilling an egregious mental fog. Because of this affliction, I dragged myself towards the desired bed where our destination awaited, mindlessly forgetting to grab Sev. My claws curled into the cement stained by my own blood, shakily pulling myself over. A desperate inner longing ached with the pain, heavily weighing into me as moisture distorted my vision.

My trembling hand stretched out in front of me, reaching towards a burrowed hole beneath the nearby bed. "R-Reddra . . ." I whimpered weakly, oblivious that my vocal cords had already grown back. Just her name empowered my morale, spurring my pathetic crawls into obsessive lurches. With a powerful clench that cracked the ground, I grabbed the opening's edge. Enough of my brain had regenerated to question Beaky's actions. It made no sense. Fel, I understood . . . but him? He was a guardian —if not THE guardian— of the Foyer. An explosion boomed in front of me, jagged rocks shooting into my face, and zapping my inner inquiries back to reality, leaving a chalky cloud in the wake of an oscillating tendril. I withdrew my clawing hand, only to see another blood-soaked nub in its place. My right hand clenched over it, my body almost keeling over in agony. A pressurized scream lodged in my throat as I channeled a charge of frost into the bloody stub. The remains of my detached left arm clung to the pit's threshold.

"Gotta say, despite being 'unarmed,' you're still 'handling' this pretty well." Felraya cracked. I could practically hear the foolish mirth in her tone. It was clear she enjoyed my suffering.

I made a disgusted groan through all the fiery, stinging pain. "You're a fucking brat . . . I'll make you pay for this." I said, missing my chance to command her. My brain was still recovering.

"Ooooh, scary." She mocked, putting her hands up in faux defense. Before another word escaped my mouth, a wrapping appendage crushed around my remaining ankle, hurling me backwards at full speed. My chest sank with the shrinking sight of our only route leading to Reddra.

"No!!" I shrieked as the tendril pulled me away.

Beaky's deep, piercing voice echoed through the physical world and my mind alike. It was so clear, even as I found my senses buzzing. "I mustn't let you proceed, Agni. Not unless you make it past us both." He said calmly. His speeding tendrils stopped abruptly, dealing a severe whiplash upon my weakening frame. I irked at the crack of my neck, watching his unnaturally long torso slither over, keeping me wrapped in a suspended state as tightening muscles of serpentine flesh constricted around me. His pale, unmoving face inched uncomfortably close to mine, speaking in a cold and measured double-voice. "If I allow you to enter unprepared, then the First Circle of Hell will instigate unimaginable fates worse than death upon you. I may seem needlessly hostile for now, Agni, but I promise you . . . this is for your own good." He explained. My dizzy eyes lagged down in disbelief, unable to keep full eye-contact.

I stuttered through labored breaths, trying to put in a word . . . "St- sto—" but it didn't matter. In an instant, I swung across the room again at full force, hitting another wall, hearing the wet cracks of my own skeleton. He started again, his somber voice growing incrementally angrier. "Try to understand . . . This is nothing." He said with calm emphasis, his grip fastening harder. “You can't handle the atrocities; the abominations that wait beyond." I felt myself peeling off the surface, shocks of pain cooking my nerves. "Imagine all of this, multiplied by a hundredfold! Remember: this is only the Foyer, Agni!" He exclaimed, hellbent on driving his point across.

"Yeah! Whatever he just said!" Fel chimed, resting the skull-clad scythe on her shoulder. Her magmatic eyes scanned around, burning like hellfire in the murky darkness. They caught on the pale, slumbering bipedal creature I'd stumbled across before, who was now directly below her, splayed peacefully along one of the dusty beds. Her face lit up. "Oh, look! A decoration!" She exclaimed, as if she'd found a lucky coin. Felraya's body blinked across spacetime, not slicing, but merging her weapon's crescent into the furless demon. It wasn't like a fusion of flesh, but as if she'd teleported her scythe's metal into the creature. She spun her handle, twisting its blade's tip inside the slumberer's chest. A shrill cry split from the startled being, just before his late pleas were cut off by an organic squelch of visceral slush.

Me and Beaky both stared at her for a moment, my eyes gaping in horror. Even he harbored some concern, though bordering on mild disgust. "Eugh . . . My Queen. Is there a need for you to do that now?" He complained, narrowing his abyssal sockets.

"What?" Her head turned, unamused as she glared at him. "Yeah, whatever. Just doing some upkeep on my weapon." She reasoned, plucking the unfortunate fellow's skull from his shoulders. Part of the spine popped out, dangling below like a wet root. I felt Beaky's tendrils wrap unwittingly tighter around my lungs, causing me to cough up a streak of blood.

"By the Gods, you are a psychopath." He hissed irritably, causing rows of consecutive pops in my spine as everything slowly faded to black.

"Oh yeah, Beaky? You're one to talk, you giant freak of nature." She shot back, showing little concern. Fel's claws sent a fiery heat through the skull and its spinal column. They sizzled, cauterizing to the surface of her scythe's collective bones. The unnamed demon shrieked as his beheaded remains painfully solidified into the black alloy. A few twitches later, it stuck there in silence, plastered like a ghastly ornament with its gaping maw held open.

A furious tremble tensed through Beaky's tendrils. "Slurs and hypocrisy . . . These are my rewards for aiding you?" His head tilted arrogantly as their gazes locked.

I felt like a defenseless child, caught in the crossfires between two livid parents. I didn't dare try sending another telepathic command. Felraya knew her way around semantic loopholes, and was highly reactive to movement. A gentle voice pierced my empty mind as I strained myself mentally. "Agni. Push your thoughts to the back of your mind. Keep them there, and listen." Sev instructed, catching my attention as the entities argued. I felt contractions tense around me with every fluctuation of Beaky's bottled rage as he argued with Fel. My sword was a considerable distance away, yet still speaking to me without alerting Felraya or the Gatekeeper. "Do you see those beds beneath you? I want you to breathe fire on the nearest one." He suggested, much to my confusion. I almost questioned him internally, but his voice stopped me. "Don't think! Just do." He urged hastily. The two dangerous telepaths continued to prattle aloud.

I thoughtlessly took action, heaving in one long breath between Beaky's violent squeezes. My trust in Sev dwindled on some uncertainty, but I didn't have much choice in the matter anyways. With lungs full of air, I willfully triggered a generous, oily secretion in my throat. Facing the bed-sheets below, I choked out a flashing spark from my uvula, spewing down an explosive stream of white flames. It was shockingly plentiful, spreading completely around my target while encasing its fabric. Both entities flinched as an eruption of diamond embers filled the room, each shimmering with a holy incandescence. It seemed my Light-Dragon DNA had an elemental advantage in this specific environment. An occurrence I hadn't anticipated. The consecrated flecks of white light quickly caught on every other bed, kindling my excitement as they each ignited like dry wheatgrass during a draught.

Felraya's hood caught on her horns as she swiftly turned around. "The little shit can breathe fire!?" She exclaimed, squinting her eyes against the piercing brightness. Colorless flames burst from each bed, one after another, lapping at Beaky's tendrils. I felt his pained grip slacken, twitching from the onslaught of dancing hallowed flames. Soon our surroundings were completely engulfed in stark-white, the formerly opaque darkness consumed by combustible mayhem. Beaky's mandibles finally parted, splitting a shriek across the edifice. He lurched back, accidentally flinging me down several meters away from Sev. The pain was manageable, and my limb's bones were back, already regenerating new flesh. I wriggled along my back as the flames arched above me, promptly feeling silly as I recalled being absolutely fireproof. I reached over with my arm's bloodied skeleton, heaving a deep breath as I grabbed Sev's hilt and pulled it towards me.

Some part of my brain still had yet to heal; namely my hippocampus, which was chiefly in charge of long-term memory. It would fully heal in minutes, then reinforce itself, but I still grunted, severely annoyed with the damages. I squared to my feet, lifting my sword. "Sev! Let's go!" I yelled, immediately attracting Felraya's hard glare. I flinched, covering my mouth. My battered brain quickly realized the mistake I'd made (I was already holding Sev, but called him to follow me).

"It's okay, Agni. Your brain is just damaged." Sev's forgiving tone brought clarity as I scanned for the exit through a heavenly hellscape of fire, my eyes silently locking on. His voice sounded again, brimming with desperation as I felt a newfound energy burning within me. "Good job, that's it over there! Now steel yourself, and run for it!" He urged loudly. Sev's words were oddly compelling, imbuing an electric rush of determination through my soul.

My legs pushed fiercely into a speedy start. The flames around us decelerated to a slow dance, almost freezing under my heightening senses. Even pain prolonged itself, slowed by my advanced perception of time. I didn't care how painful it felt having the raw nerves of my bare foot-bones sharply clattering against solid cement. Neither my mind, body nor soul could give a damn how many tears I shed from the agony alone. I practically flew . . . faster than I'd ever sprinted before, filled with rage, determination, longing and existential terror all in one. Adrenaline rushed through me, just as a powerful storm of wind bent the surrounding holy flames down to chest-height, revealing my position. That's when I felt her eyes; orbs of fiery rage scorching into my back as Felraya retracted her powerful wings. Beaky was frozen in my temporal vision, unable to react or move any faster than I. Fel's magmatic circlets followed my every step with a stark, eerie awareness. My expression went pale, realizing in horror what this meant: Time hadn't frozen for her. Before I could even think about reaction-time, her body abruptly blinked from reality. 'Oh, Gods' I thought, panicking as my eyes darted crazily in every direction. Her keen perception wasn't unlike my own, meaning I was utterly doomed. To my surprise, I felt my reflexes surge on there own, forcibly yanking my appendages. I didn't know what was happening, simply gawking at my newly independent limbs.

My left arm swung, seemingly of its own volition. I jerked completely around, following the guided motions with confusion on my face. "Enough!!" Sev shouted, clashing in a burst of red sparks against Fel's scythe. My mouth began to move of its own accord, speaking faster than I ever could, even during periods of heightened activity. "You and I are having a talk, young lady! Return to my blade, this instant!" I yelled, perplexed as Sev's voice blared from my throat.

Felraya's unnaturally quick movements ceased briefly, her brow arching. "Young what!?" She questioned, genuinely as confused as I was, before being permeated by his spreading light. Her crimson eyes widened tremulously, partly shocked, but mostly livid. "Gods-dammit! You slimy little toothpi—" The radiance shrank, pulling her into Sev's metal exterior. Cold cement touched the bottoms of my feet as I landed, finally having some relative peace . . . Her return to my blade was anticlimactic, and greatly appreciated.

I deftly reestablished my footing, unable to stop running. I'd thank Sev and rejoice later, but right now, all of my energy had to go into this. "That takes care of her. Just focus on the pit, Agni. You can make it!" He spurred me on. The nearly motionless world around me gradually accelerated. With that, a myriad of tendrils emerged from the floor, rapidly breaking into jagged segments of cement. I felt my footing tilt with the uneven ground, jumping off hastily, only to land on a larger rising chunk. Serpentine masses slithered towards me from behind, bladed tapers wriggling out of cracks and striking with pronounced lunges. One grazed my side, opening up a curtain of flesh that revealed my organs, then another, yet I jerked into a series of sharp dodges, cutting through a sneaky tendril that crept directly above me. My exhausted breaths turned into gasps by the time fourteen of them missed me. I was so close; roughly twenty feet away from the scorching-white fireplace of a bed, where the shortcut waited beneath it. My sides flowed with cascading rivulets of blood as I ran, each bead suspending in midair before descending.

A swaying, bladed taper flung for the back-tendon of my digitigrade feet. My legs couldn't dodge in time, and a parry wouldn't work, so I dumped an immense amount of energy into one, long forward dive. As expected, a sharp pain shot through the connecting tissue mid-jump, leaving my legs useless. Time was still slow, yet slowly speeding up, resuming its normal course as I descended closer to the awaiting exit.

. . . one meter left . . .

An extended, audible 'fwipping' noise droned behind me. I both heard and felt a flexible appendage wrap around my ankle, pulling aggressively taut. An aching sensation of dread filled my chest and belly as they both smacked into the ground, knocking the wind out of me. Time rudely returned to normal, feeling so much quicker in contrast as flames spazzed around me. My fur scraped backwards against the breaking concrete, threatening to drag me back. There wasn't enough reach or force to cut the tendril.

I kicked and twisted around, sheer rage filling out my features. "No! Not a chance in HELL!!" I screamed, furiously swinging Sev's edge towards my upper ankle. My other hand dragged me forward on impulse, feeling the cut connect, snapping straight through muscles and cartilage. I left my severed foot behind, wincing in fiery pain.

. . . Twelve inches left . . .

Beaky echoed from an unknown direction, obscured in darkness, his resonating voice filling out the fabric of space, both around and inside of me. "Very clever, Agni. Good effort." He patronized, his calm tone trailing into a steady hiss. The sound's pitch increased, its frequency altering. I instinctively knew what was coming, speeding into desperate crawls until my upper body teetered over the hole. A piercing shriek blasted through the air, causing my ears to slap back as I stared directly into a seemingly bottomless pit. His high-pitched decibels were joined by a harmonic fusion of quaking bellows, birthing an unspeakable frequency into my eardrums. I bared my clenching teeth, trying not to grab my ears. He wanted me to use my hands; the only functioning limbs I had left to clasp over my ears . . . that way, when I wasn't white-knuckling the hole's ledge, he'd drag me back and tear me asunder. Beaky's blaring screeches intensified, his tendrils all beelining with a unified strike towards my susceptible frame.

"Dammit!!" I shouted, unable to press forward as tears beaded in my eyes. Every last bit of strength went into reaching behind myself, and setting Sev's edge along the back of my neck. If needed, his legendary sharpness could cut steel like butter, no-less flesh and bone. I ensured the weapon dangled as much over the seemingly endless pit as my neck did.

Beaky noticed the position I held my sword in, stopping his screeches for just a moment. “What are you do—“ His deep, psychic voice almost questioned my actions, cutting himself off after mentally registering what I was planning. With that, I firmly brought my arms in on each side of Sev, exerting as much force as I could over my nape. All sensation immediately blipped away in one cold flash, and the charging tendrils seized with disgust, as if abhorred by what I did. With a deafening 'Shkulcht!' my world immediately felt lighter. At first, there came a gargle, accompanied by the iron taste of blood. My vision spun with those sensations tumbling inside my head. My sense of gravity felt distorted and frenzied, watching the holy firelight above fade away into darkness. I expected to go immediately unconscious, but oddly felt myself blink a few times before the curtain of silence slowly descended over reality itself, taking its sweet time to hamper my agony.

For a moment, I heard a hoarse voice mutter in my ear, its cadence a knackered, eerie hush as my lone head plummeted towards an uncertain demise. "It begins, Agni. I will grow on you." Something whispered. The voice wasn't Sev, Felraya, or Beaky. What I believed was a hallucination spoke closely into my slowly rotating head as I fell, giving me a start after all that'd happened. My thoughts raced as the blackness thickened around me, still careening across space-time. I smiled with a deep expression of solace, ignoring the creepy voice as my neck and collarbone slowly began to regenerate. My nose, despite being part of a decapitated head, could still smell the fetid fragrance of rotten flesh around me. Sev's blade fell with me, illuminating the details of an entire ecosystem of chaos and death. It all visibly clung to the passing walls, occasionally imbedded with blackened skulls. I caught fleeting glimpses of winged insectoid creatures, their fangs pinching into screaming skulls, and plucking them out with hanging sloughs of moldy flesh. I'd vomit if my head still had a stomach, but a sharp headache seemed to compensate for the lack thereof. My surroundings gradually changed, evolving from an outright drop, to a steeply ramping cliff . . . which then transitioned into a slanted surface for me to roll on. My senses grew fuzzier as I bludgeoned deeper into an ancient aperture filled sporadically with guts and throbbing white eggs. Despite no lungs, the stench had zero trouble reaching my olfactory sense. Eventually, I felt myself settle into a slow rocking motion, head teetering over a squishy pile of festering brains embedded with skull shrapnels. Some of it might've been my own mixed in . . . but what did it matter? Pain did not come close to describing my suffering. I barely had enough energy left, just to contemplate if I'd eventually catch up to Reddra. My maw opened, air displacing the silent screams blaring against that worry which faded with my consciousness—my mind, body, and soul never wanting to let go.

'Don't fall asleep!' I screamed within, my eyes quivering against the call of instinct. The instinct to die; to fade away with those last thoughts of my draconic lover. Reddra's gorgeous, smiling visage beamed back at me within the leaking daylight of a floral forest. Every other memory followed after it, five-hundred years flashing before my eyes. Tears of blood welled up in my eyes, straining against it all. 'Don't fall asleep.' I repeated, quieter this time, as I numbly gritted my teeth.

'Don't fall . . . asleep.' My mind squeaked, now barely a whisper. Every muscle in my face twitched, trembling against fate.

'Don't . . . fall . . . asleep.'

'Don't . . . fall . . . asle . . . lee-'

A random bout of silence intervened, forcing my eyes shut . . . . . . . My lower jaw twitched, eyelids snapping back open as my expression waged war with the looming threat of unconsciousness.

'Don't . . . f-fall . . .'

'Don't . . . fa-' suddenly my awareness blinked away, then flickered back in a single second. In that moment, my eyes shot open in protest, one last time.

'. . . Please . . .' I pleaded, begging my exhausted brain. Begging Felraya, the Universe, Sev, and whatever Gods resided beyond my knowledge. In order to catch up with my lover, I needed to regenerate faster. That meant staying awake, focusing all of my concentration on that sole action.

'. . . Don't . . .' My phantom muscles swelled with inexistent adrenaline.

'. . . fall . . .' With no response from my missing body, an enormous chemical backlash numbed my brain, scrambling neurons and slurring my mental speech.

'. . . ahslehf . . .'

Every particle of light dimmed out, as well as all sound and sensation, ceasing with the descending curtain of my desperate eyes. My fury burned against the conniving darkness that overtook my vision. Just as the last of my energy began to peter out, I heard that vile voice again. Its tone was smug and demented, patronizing my will to live.

“That's right, Agni. Don't fall asleep yet. There's still SO much I want to show you." It beckoned, leaving me with those dreadful last words. The voice's disgendered, sadistic laughs followed the fading light of my mind into the ever-darkening abyss.