Immortal, Season 2 - Chapter 18 - Firey Heresy and Hungry Voilence
Uncertainties
Immortal Season 2 - Chapter 18 - Firey Heresy and Hungry Violence
Lower into the pit the group plunged. It became hot as the elevator drew deeper into the earth. The walls of the pit thick with scratch marks of souls who had come this far. "How much farther?" Maia asked looking down into the pit. "Who knows? Were in the inner circle of hell, could stretch down for miles," Sayomi touched her shoulder. She gulped and pulled back the dragon hiding behind her hair.
Suddenly beside them from a scratch in the wall, a plume of fire let out. Everyone jumped as magma poured from holes in the wall like waterfalls. They dropped slowly and stopped suddenly looking out over a great ruined cathedral. Fire pouring from the holes along the walls. Magma and intense heat coming from it. From the cathedrals, buttresses hung upside down steel crosses. Skeletal damned strapped to them cast in eternal fire. The group stepped off the elevator onto the ground in front of the cathedral. Moving forward they stepped inside. The main entrance was small and narrow.
Pushing open the entrance doors, they entered the church. The great halls wall made out of cells. Thick iron bars holding the damned into their tiny holes. Fire cast around them eternally burning them as they reached out for help. Heresy was full of hunters, atheists, and those who acted out against any religion. This did not exclude any religion. You could believe anything you choose to as long as you believed there was something bigger than yourself.
Deep holes where the pews would sit filled with magma and damned. Unable to escape their torment they burned in the widely accepted vision of Hell. "It's so hot," Maia wiped her forehead. "Yeah the fires of hell are unforgiving," Sora led them forward. Between the magma pools, they moved across the room. Katashi gripped his sword hilt as the neared the chapel. The chapels were destroyed except for one large black door.
"Heresy is a small circle," Sayomi spoke and pushed against the door. A horrible rotting smell let out from the door. The stale air moving for the first time in centuries. Stepping inside they entered a circular room. The walls were orange stain glass casting an eerie color about the room. The ceiling seemed to be completely black. Another door out of Heresy sat ahead of them. Wrapped around the door blocking passage were long pink tendrils. The ends of them open dripping out bile onto the floor. They stretched up into the blackness of the ceiling. "Well looks like we'll have to cut our way out," Katashi drew his sword. As soon as the silver of his blade met the air, a rumble let out.
From the ceiling dropped a mass of rotting flesh. A great white rat lay on the floor. The entire cavity of its body gutted out. His lower jaw torn off as most of his skin had fallen off. Suddenly long steel wires lashed down from the ceiling diving through his muscles and lifted him up. Pulling they hefted the beast up with a loud gush of bile from its open throat. Like a great marionette, it was placed on its feet. His eyes glowed as he revealed it was his intestines wrapped around the door.
With a gurgle, it began to laugh spewing bile out of its neck. "What are you?" Sayomi drew his blade. "Serveti...three may pass...one must stay," He gurgled loudly. His grip on the door loosened. The door opened and they all looked at one another. "I'll deal with this abomination," Sora stepped forward. He smiled at his friends giving the sign he could handle himself. "Ok...be careful," Katashi spoke and they made a run for the door. Serveti did not stop them as they passed through and the door sealed shut.
"So your name is Serveti?" Sora stood before the beast. He didn't reply and flexed his hands slowly. "What does that word mean?" He asked drawing his hand sickles. "Serveti...is old Atlantean...it means...he who is already dead," He growled and flies began to zip around the room. Sora gulped as they landed through out his inner body. Eating his open flesh and laying their eggs inside of him. The rat's hands glowed dark green and a horrific smell let out of them. Sora lifted his arm to his nose to block the smell.
Opening his palm, a blast of energy suddenly let out. Sora gasped and raised his sickles knocking the attack away. A little bit of the energy hit his fingers. Gasping he almost dropped his weapons, as the exposed parts of his fingers were now open wounds. He grunted as pain racked his hands. "What happened?" He glared with blood dripping from his fingers. "I am master of decay," The beast fired another blast. Jumping out of the way the blast nearly missed him.
Sora rolled off to the sides and sat back up. Growling he forced himself back up and the cords moved. They turned the beast's body to face Sora unable to move on his own. Jumping up Sora prepared to attack the strings that held up the beasts. Before he could land a hit Serveti's tail lashed up and knocked him away. Sora landed hard against the glass shaking slightly.
"Damn," He forced himself up. With another attempt he ran forward slashing at the monster repeatedly. With swift movement the monster moved quickly evading the attacks. Only a few slashes landed across Serveti's arms but nothing dramatic. Lashing his arm forward Serveti knocked Sora back another large wound appearing on his arm. Sora shook as he bleed softly growing weaker.
"Guess I no longer need to hold back," Sora growled and held up his sickles. The rat fired a separate blast but this one vanished before it made contact. Serveti stared curious as to what happened. Fire more Sora slashed them and they vanished as well. "What are you doing?" The beast asked his hands glowing. Sora smiled and held up a sickle showing its bright reflective surface. "My power is strange but it does fall into the light spectrum of powers; my sickles have the power to absorb and hold energy till I see fir to release it," He explained. He suddenly slashed the air sending the blasts back at their master.
The blasts made contact with his skin and formed large bleeding wounds on Serveti. With a gargled laugh he held up both hands firing two blasts at once. Repeatedly he attacked quickly preventing Sora from concentrating long enough to deflect or absorb the attacks. Serveti's attacks became more aggressive. Swipes and slashes getting dangerously close to Sora's skin. He was skilled but this creature was quickly overwhelming him. With a jump up to back away he gasped. At that moment Serveti lifted his head and a plume of green energy let from his nose.
Hitting Sora he landed far back coughing as the wounds appeared across his body. Some forming inside his lungs making him clench his chest in pain. Standing up his white shirt stained red with blood as he covered his mouth. A small trail of blood trickled down his mouth as he coughed out more. "Damn," He breathed heavily and ran forward. Lifting his blades he was prepared to die to kill this beast. With a loud grunt the creatures tail swiped him back. Sora hit the wall hard and dropped his weapons. Landing on the floor he looked up at him and smirked. "I lost..." He gasped.
Meanwhile the group had made it down the cliff to the next part of Hell. "Do you think Sora is ok?" Maia looked at her friends. The dragon poked its head out and chirped. "Yeah I'm sure Sora can take care of himself," Sayomi smiled reassuringly. "Damn now where are we?" Katashi stopped on the edge of a river. The water of this final river was deep maroon and bubbled with steam. "Must be Violence," Sayomi kicked a stone into the water.
"Its' blood..." Katashi touched some the splattered onto the shore. Damned sat submerged in the boiling in the blood. Those who committed the act of murder towards other people. All of them screaming as they sank lower and rose only to sink again. The river was massive with people reaching out for help. The punishment for a truly horrible crime. A small bridge crossed the river with pillars holding it up carved into centaurs. Moving across it Maia could sense something horrid from across the bridge. A great negative energy that made her shake.
Stepped across the bridge they entered a great jagged and black forest. "I....I don't like this place," Maia stood on the bridge. She refused to cross the bridge not liking what she sensed. The boys looked back at her, as she stood stalwart. "Come on Maia, we'll even let you stand between us," Katashi tried to let coax her off the bridge. "Are you sure it will be ok?" She gulped and stepped off it. "Of course we won't let anything happen to ya," Sayomi touched her shoulder.
With a sigh they began to enter the maze of a forest. The deeper they went the more branches blocked out light. It was dark and shadowy as they continued. "Are we still in Violence?" Katashi asked. "Yes, trust me don't look up," Sayomi kept his eyes forward. Above them hung thousands of men and women from the trees branches. This was the Suicide forest. A place where those who committed violence against themselves were banished. These trees held their souls as their bodies dangled from the branches. Maia glanced out through the trees and gasped. "Something moved," She held onto Katashi's back. "What was it," Katashi kept moving. If they stopped now the sorrow of the forest would overwhelm them and they would join the others amongst the branches. "It...it looked like a deer," She shook.
"A deer, well there ya go no need to be afraid," Sayomi rubbed her back. A rustle came from the trees and Sayomi saw the same figure disappear behind the trees. A tall horrific beast with short antlers. A deer with no lips and sharp teeth. Its eyes white with death as the rest of it mangy and decaying body throbbed. Its hand massive with three-foot razor sharp claws. It seemed to disappear amongst the close packed trees stalking them. Sayomi pushed on her shoulder slightly and she did the same to Katashi. Picking up the pace they wanted to get out of this forest as fast as possible.
The creature watched from the trees picking out the weakest of the group. Once his eyes were locked onto his target he jumped from the branches. "Wendigo!" Sayomi drew his scimitar catching the beast's claws. "Who?" The other two fell back. "He was an immortal commander..." Sayomi pushed the beast back. "He was in charge of Sector 10, he disappeared suddenly just before Cerce took command," Sayomi watched the beast. He circled his eyes locked on Maia wanting more than anything to devour her. "Commander...What are you doing here!" the beast suddenly lunged past him. Maia rolled to the side avoiding being attacked. She gulped staring at the man as he stood up. Making an unthinkable decision she looked at her friends.
"You guys go...I can hold him off," She smiled at them. She hid her fear as Wendigo waited for her to move. "We aren't going to leave you here," Katashi got ready to attack. "I know you won't which is why I'm not asking," She sighed and pulled up her crossbow. She fired a shot just past Wendigo and he lunged forward to attack. Maia suddenly turned and ran past her friends the man following. Before Katashi and Sayomi could follow she disappeared into the forest.
"Maia!" Katashi held her hand out. "Come on..." Sayomi turned away. "What we can't just leave her to get killed!" Katashi looked at him. "We have no choice, she forced our hands and made her decision," Sayomi sighed and the two rushed out of the forest. Upon reaching the forests edge they found themselves at the foot of a great desert. It stretched for miles with a rain of fire pouring down over vast portions of it. With Wendigo distracted they were able to get away.
Meanwhile Neptune and Titan stood on the stairs of the great temple as night began to fall. The siren soon began to ring as the two sighed. "Do you think it'll ever stop?" Neptune looked at the greater ram. "Probably not," They both waited as a few hunters came running up the steps. Drawing their weapons they quickly ended the fight keeping the temple safe. Ligeron stood watching from a balcony then looking out at the black clouds. "They know...Please Andreas finish this soon, I miss you and I think their going to try something," He sighed.
To be continued