I Put a Ring on You--Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Ryan looked down at the immense crater, finding the interior was gleaming with red, glittering light from the boiling lava. It was huge and abysmal.
They got off from the coach. Ryan watched as the reddish illusion of a bull and a human walking away, gradually becoming vaguer, till they were barely recognizable. Ryan wanted to say thank you to the figures, but he knew they were only a creation of the demon beside him.
Red began to walk down along a winding road on the inner side of the volcano wall. The light string between the ring and the bull's paw finger formed as the distance between the two grew, so Ryan quickly followed the bull.
It took them long for the descend. When the sky above became small, Ryan could see the world inside the volcano.
The inside was stratified, and there were caves on the wall side on each level, while the middle section was almost empty, except a ragged stone pillar erected in the center. Huge iron chains as if made by giants were across the caves and the center, while some chains were hanging vertically and they were running, seemingly the only way connecting the whole stratified place. It was extremely deep. At the bottom most was magma.
There were human souls in each of the many caves. They were working. Each one was trying to break its own tunnel, with a chisel. When a soul made a whole way through the volcano to the outside, it was time for it to leave.
Ryan couldn't believe one could actually make it out the immense volcano, but he indeed found some of the tunnels were very deep, so deep that he couldn't see the end. He couldn't imagine how long it took the humans to dig such far.
Why didn't they get out from the crater? Ryan wondered, but immediately got the answer when he looked up. The winding road disappeared.
Red walked along an iron chain toward the center pillar. Ryan conquered the fear of falling into the boiling magma, following the bull master carefully. Nevertheless, if the chain could support one as heavy as Red, it shouldn't be a problem to support Ryan. When they arrived at the center, the human found that the vertical chains on their side were running upward. He saw a little number of humans used the lifting chains as a transportation to move up to the upper level. Red circled to the other side where chains were running downward. The bull waited his human to come closer to him. Then he lifted and held Ryan with his right arm. Side-walking a step to the air, his left arm clutched the chain, descending.
Ryan held the bull's thick arm and shoulder tight, having no idea where they were going toward to. The volcano was indeed so deep that it felt like 5 minutes taking the chain. Inside the volcano, Ryan couldn't hear the omnidirectional screams and cries, which made him feel relieved greatly. The deeper they got, the less human there were. When they almost reached the magma, (the human was scared a little,) Red got off the chain. Gently putting his human on the floor, the bull walked on a horizontal chain toward a cave. Ryan noticed that they were the only ones down there. He followed his master into a tunnel, which was leading further down. The inside of the cave tunnel bifurcated for a few times. Ryan followed close the bull, not sure if he remembered the right path to there.
Then at the end of a path, he saw magma. Apparently the magma had flooded where they were heading to. To his surprise, the bull didn't stop but continued walking forwards. To more of his surprise, the magma ebbed away as the bull got close. A few seconds later, a vacant cave revealed. The magma continued lowered, till the floor of the cave appeared. The cave was the end of the path. It was the deepest cave in the volcano.
Ryan saw a round shaped cave. In the middle of the magma there was the round shaped land. The roof was dripping with magma, which Ryan didn't want it dripping on him. The bull got to the center of the cave, turning to the human, "This is my room. How is it?"
"The worst." Ryan answered honestly, looking up at the magma leaking roof. His plan was to wait until the magma stopped leaking, but he became desperate when he found more magma was actually climbing up to the roof along the wall.
"Thanks."
Ryan was going to say it was not a compliment what he just said, but after another thoughts he didn't bother anymore.
Seeing the human still hesitating to get inside, the bull said, "Come here. Don't mind the magma."
Ryan didn't dare to reject the order. He gritted his teeth, walking toward the bull, trying his best to watch the magma but there was just too much. He was thinking the air in this world was hot enough to make him suffer, not to mention the magma. When a few magma drops fell on his body and his feet walked on some of it, he didn't feel the expected scalding feeling. It felt hot but it didn't cause any bad feeling. He touched the fluid, smearing it on his arm nervously, and looked in surprise that the boiling magma didn't hurt him a bit. Rather, it felt hot in a soothing way.
Ryan felt relieved, walking to his master without anymore hesitance. In the center of the cave, the earth was dry and soft, and there wasn't any dripping magma from the roof.
"Here is where you sleep. You can rest now, while I am going to check the whole place. It has been very long." The bull said, his low and potent voice reverberating in the cave.
"Yes, master."
The human saw his master walking into the tunnel and disappeared. If he had choice, he would rather stay close to the bull. Anyway, he felt tired after such a long journey, so after looked around the cave one more time, he lied down on the soft floor in the center.
He couldn't believe that he actually felt comfortable in the cave. It looked horrible but it felt in the opposite way--cozy, warm, quiet and safe. He quickly fell asleep.
*
He woke up, maybe not.
He tried to open his eyes, but failed. He could sense the surrounding but he couldn't move a bit. His eyelids and body were too heavy to move. The air in the room pressed down on him like a huge intangible rock. He could barely breathe. He felt numb.
He vaguely remembered something happened. It was about a bull, a walking and talking bull claimed to be his master. Was it a dream? Was the bull master real? Did the bull ever exist?
Do I exist?
He doubted it because he felt everything he remembered distant and untrue. He struggled to move, or to open his eyes. He struggled to prove he was real and he had a body. He struggled to speak, or to turn his body. Was he lying on his back or stomach? He didn't know.
I need help.
He sensed someone was just outside the entrance of the room. All he needed to do was to make to there and let the one know how much weak and desperate he was. He continuingly struggled to move. Finally, he felt like moving against the wall, getting close the entrance but his eyes kept shut through the whole time. He felt exhausted when he managed to get to the entrance, and he tried his best to call for help.
Suddenly, he realized he hadn't moved a bit. He was still lying on the origin. So he fought against his powerlessness again. This time it felt more real when he stood up. The world was spinning, and he found his legs were too limp to walk. He eventually managed to reach the wall although he didn't know how he accomplished that. Slowly and painfully, he dragged his body to the entrance. His eyes were still close. How he wanted to open the heavy eyelids, only to have a look of the world. He was at the entrance, desperately wanting to be seen. He tried to speak aloud, but he only made light, voiceless breathes.
Another brief moment later, he was back to the origin again. But he didn't give up. He tried another time, and another time...
After like a thousand times of trying, he hopelessly realized he hadn't moved at all. He could only be inwardly begging the one at the entrance to give him a look. Why didn't the one just look at him for once? Why didn't the one save him? Was it the bull in his memory?
The worst is to become the part of it.
That sentence came to him again, making him feared. No! He can't become the part of the afterworld. It was horrible enough to live in there. It couldn't only be worse to become the part of it. He recalled the creature that formed from the earth, catching his feet and calling for help, which must be the result of becoming the part of the world. That creature would never leave here. He must not end up like that!
He felt lost in the world. He really needed help.
"Help... Somebody help me please..."