by Ramy Vance
Abby walked over to Anabelle and crossed her arms. "Do you really think this is the best use of our time?"
Anabelle watched Grok, wishing she could sense her energy. What if she is right? If Grok is that much stronger than we are, it could prove to be a problem later.
"Assuming Grok doesn’t betray us," the elf answered.
Abby shook her head. "If Grok and Rasputina have been building an army, they could have attacked already. HQ isn't exactly weak, but our efforts have spread us thin. That would have been the time to strike."
"Or when three of HQ's best are down in hell."
Abby nodded as she scratched her head. "Good point. Might as well watch."
Terra and Grok were circling each other. "Ready to show me what you got?" Terra asked.
Grok nodded. "Come at me with everything you have."
Terra flexed, her eyes burning white. She launched herself forward with her arm pulled back, ready to strike.
Grok lifted her hand as Terra's fist came down, catching it in her palm.
Terra's eyes widened as Grok slapped away her attack.
Grok hopped on one foot, hanging in the air for a moment before kicking Terra in the face.
The Hand went flying.
Grok turned to look at Anabelle and grinned. Then she was gone, moving faster than the elf could see—just like the first time they'd fought.
Grok appeared in front of Terra and cracked her across the face again, driving her to the ground.
Terra's head bounced after it connected.
Grok's eyes flashed white and the air pulsed around her. She slammed her fist into the ground, and the earth exploded.
Once the dust settled, Terra rolled over and opened her eyes.
The ground was split next to her head as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
Terra sat up, rubbing her jaw. "What the fuck? How did you do that? I gave that everything I had."
Grok leaned over and helped Terra up. "I know. I could feel it."
"And you...you didn't even take the Path. I could tell."
Anabelle could as well. She and Abby approached Grok and Terra. “You could take us both, couldn't you?"
Grok shrugged as she looked toward the horizon. "Probably all three, which means you all need to be training more instead of coasting on your past victories. Today is going to be the first step in that."
Anabelle nodded as she followed Grok. Even if she didn't want to admit it, the orc had a point. She had achieved a level of strength that Anabelle now knew was possible.
Abby had caught up with Grok. "What are we expecting?"
She pointed into the distance. "There is a wildland of demons out there. Nothing like you experienced in the circle, so like I said, try to keep up."
They descended into the wilds of hell, a place vastly different from the defined circles above. This was the true hell. Anabelle knew the difference as soon as she started walking. Her body was heavy, as were her lungs. The heat was beyond the physical. She felt it in her bones, searing into her mind.
Abby wiped sweat off her forehead as the four of them climbed up a canyon's wall. "What's the deal with this place? Why is it so different from the circles?"
It figured that Abby would be the one to ask about the technicalities of this section of hell. Anabelle knew it was different, and that was all she needed to know.
Grok hoisted herself over the lip of the wall. "We tried to figure it out for a while, but Rasputina just came back with more questions than answers. Hell has a similar makeup to the Netherverse. It isn't a physical realm, more like a place made up of psychic energy that has found a way to imitate a physical realm. Rasputina couldn't understand why it would want to do that, but it can be manipulated. It takes a large amount of energy, though."
Anabelle looked ahead at a forest that was not unlike the one they had seen in the circle of violence but much denser. "Are you implying that someone created the circles?"
Grok nodded, her eyes grimly following Anabelle's line of sight. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I created the throne room where you found me. It...lacks the imagination and structure of what Rasputina is capable of, but it was a creation. When I leave, it barely exists."
They stood at the foot of the forest. Anabelle could hear screams coming from within. "What's this place?"
Grok shrugged as Terra and Abby caught up to her and Anabelle. "Depends on the time of day. Nothing here is constant unless someone is forcing it to be. This might be a forest full of demons right now, and in an hour, it could be an ocean full of demons."
"How do you know there are demons?"
Grok reached out and snapped one of the branches. Blood dripped from the tree. "That's what causes the terrain to change—the combined egos of the demons. It's not a conscious effort. Many of the demons here are no more sentient than an animal after living in the chaos for too long. The same thing that happens if you're in the Netherverse for extended periods of time. But you'll see for yourself. Remember, fight with everything you have. These things aren't people. They won't show you any mercy."
The forest was dark, any light blocked by the trees’ thick branches. Anabelle was surprised she didn't feel the same measure of dread that she had in the circles of hell. She started to wonder if those negative feelings were a creation like the rest of the circles.
A loud, mournful wail soared through the air. It was echoed by others.
Abby winced at the sound. "Ugh, it sounds like they're in pain."
Grok stopped walking for a second, listening to the screams. "Everything is in pain in this part of hell."
Soon they came to the source of the wailing. The forest floor was littered with the naked bodies of humans. Their chests had been split open and their entrails flung about. Dozens of six-eyed birds pecked at the gore covering the ground.
Terra covered her mouth as she tried to avoid vomiting. Anabelle almost had to do the same, the smell was so overpowering. "What the hell did this?"
Grok pointed at the tree branches.
A hairy creature the size of a large man was crouched in the shadows of the branches. It had a dozen visible eyes crammed into its face, and the hair across its body looked to be covered with mud.
The creature leaped down into the scarce light. As soon as it was in front of them, its back split open, forcing a mound of sickly, pulsing, fleshy material up from the wound. Its head slanted to the side as the bottom of its face began to run like wet paint.
The creature let out a pained moan as it scuttered forward, its fingers splitting down the middle to show razor blades.
Grok took a fighting stance. "A lesser demon. Manageable. Stay on your toes, and let's end this fast before it gets worse."
The demon bounded toward Abby.
Grok leaped in front of it and grabbed it, the razorblades cutting into her hands. She managed to twist the demon midair, using its momentum to slam it into the ground.
Terra pulled out an axe and lobbed it at the demon, but the monster was shockingly fast. It got to its feet in time to catch the axe in its mouth and crush it between its jaws. Terra's eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth. "I liked that axe. A lot."
She ran at the demon, shoulders lowered, ready to tackle it. The demon's legs cracked, the joints popping, shooting it up a few feet as if it were on stilts. Its jaws stretched open to reveal a tongue that reached the floor. The demon's tongue snapped toward Terra, wrapping around her waist and then slamming her into a tree.
As she crumpled to the ground, Abby swooped in and peppered the demon with plasma blasts. They didn't seem to affect it since it whirled and slashed her with its tongue.
Flames covered Anabelle's body a second before its tongue hit her, then she dissolved into smoke and reformed behind the demon. She grabbed its back legs and pulled hard, causing the creature to fall onto its face.
Once it was down, Terra slugged it, putting everything she had into the punch and cracking its face.
Abby flew overhead, charge
d her body with kinetic energy, and slammed into it.
Before the demon could get back to its feet, Anabelle's blazing fist slashed through the demon's neck, severing its head.
Anabelle and Terra were both breathing heavily. Abby was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Grok, on the other hand, was leaning against a tree, looking as if she was thoroughly enjoying the show.
Terra hunched over, catching her breath. "What gives? We killed a dozen demons up top and didn't have a problem with them. Well, not like this."
Grok clicked her tongue as she walked forward. "The demons from the circles aren't nearly as powerful as those down here. That's why they use illusions and temptations. They're like spiders trying to catch you in their webs. The demons down here are tigers."
Terra looked at Anabelle, exasperated. "I know I was talking about wanting a challenge earlier, but this is ridiculous."
Anabelle turned to Grok and swallowed her pride. "Okay, seriously. No bullshit. Do you think we can make it through here without ending up dead?"
Grok gave that devious grin. "I think it's possible, but that depends on you three. We can take the quickest path to Rasputina, but it's going to be the hardest. If you survive, you'll feel the results instantly. But it will be very difficult."
The DGA agents looked at one another. Anabelle wasn't sure what the rest of them were thinking, but she knew her answer. “Well,” she started, “we were looking for something—"
Simultaneously, the other two agents interrupted, "Harder."
Grok's smile softened a little. It almost looked pleasant. "Good. That's what I was hoping you’d say."
Chapter Nine
The middle of the day was Sarah's favorite time to meditate. It had always bothered her teachers. She'd stay up all night working on her practical skills, then sleep in far past scheduled morning meditations and chores, only to wake up around noon and meditate for three or four hours. Her teachers had tried to break Sarah of the habit, but her will was too strong. Eventually, they let her be.
The heat from the Omniverse was powerful, and she dripped thick beads of sweat as she sat underneath it. She was on Middang3ard, having left Kravis on the gnomish homeworld to deal with the technicalities of caging the zombies that had risen all over the planet. At first, like all the other realms, the gnomes had assumed that the outbreak was small, but as the days passed, they’d found that the dead walked throughout the whole world. All of the burial mounds and cemeteries were empty.
As far as Sarah was concerned, that was a problem the gnomes needed to deal with themselves. Same for the humans or any other race. The care of the dead was a cultural thing, not to be taken lightly or trifled with. She knew watching over the dead of her own planet was not going to be easy, or a task she would have taken lightly. That was for others to worry about. She was going to try to figure out what she could about the Omniverse.
Sarah had been there for three hours already. She could feel the weight of the Omniverse on her shoulders, as if it was trickling down her body like molten lead.
There was a presence in there that she knew she could reach; all she had to do was push. Clear herself of everything. Cease to exist. It would take time, but it was possible.
Another hour passed, and blood dripped from Sarah's nose in a rhythmic pattern that counted down the seconds.
Then, without warning, she felt something open within her. It was as if her throat had been slit, an outpouring of her very life. She gasped but did not know why. It wasn't a physical sensation.
She knew the words for it before she realized what it was.
The Path of Pain.
Sarah looked at the Omniverse above her, wondering where those words had come from. She hadn't thought them. They seemed to have come from something outside of her.
When she stood, the world swayed, and she nearly toppled over.
Whatever this new Path was, she had to inform Cire and Creon instantly. It was the key to reaching the Omniverse. She hoped they could help her understand.
"I don't understand why you think these guys are such a big deal."
Terra was speaking about the demons that lay before them in the flatlands of hell. There were thousands of them, but the demons ahead didn't look any more terrifying than the last. In fact, they looked relatively harmless. Simple humanoids, nearly transparent and completely black, as if they were shadows separated from their bodies.
Grok, Terra, and Anabelle were also watching the shades shuffle and amble through the flatlands. They did not look to be trying to go anywhere. There wasn't anything of interest. Only red emptiness and dust swirling about with no discernable wind to command its movements.
Anabelle knelt and picked up a handful of red dirt. "Terra's right. Other than the numbers, they are nothing, and Terra and I have blown through this number of soldiers before."
Terra cleared her throat. "Abby has too."
Anabelle smiled apologetically. "I know. I didn't mean Abby couldn't, but her power isn’t in question. She beat the shit out of both of us."
Abby, who was still staring at the shades, shrugged. "Still, we could probably stand to get stronger."
Grok chuckled softly. "Good to hear that you have a warrior's spirit as well. And trust me, these shades are some of the most pathetic hell has to offer. They don't even try to cloak themselves in false identities. They're beyond that. They've suffered here forever and live only to enact violence. The only reason that they don't attack each other is that they've grown bored with that specific kind of torture. They want something fresh, namely us."
Terra pulled out her remaining axe. "Uh, Abby, could you help me out?”
Abby held out her hand and constructed an axe from nanobots. She handed it to Terra.
Terra flipped the axe up and smiled. “Perfect balance. Thanks. So, now what? We just keep carving our way to Rasputina? Sounds easy enough."
Grok smiled as she nodded. "I think you might want to take a better look at their numbers."
Terra strained her eyes. She didn't know why but she hadn't noticed the clouds hanging low, nearly touching the ground, ahead of the shades. The closer she looked, the more it became obvious that they weren't clouds. "Wait, are those shades too?"
Grok tightened her belt. "They'll come in waves. The weaker demons stay on the outside. The red shades are stronger. Once we move past those, we're stepping into the elementals, the most powerful of these kinds of demons. They've abandoned the shackles of natural form. They don't try to be perceived by the eye; they simply exist, constantly changing and adapting. What we will face down there in the last wave of shades will be difficult to anticipate."
Terra turned her attention back to the waves of shades. "What do you mean?"
Grok was silent for a moment. "Don't let up, not until we're on the other side of that valley, no matter what you see. Don't let anyone out of your sight. That's all I can say. The Valley of Demons is different every time. Are you ready?"
No one answered, and Terra was ashamed of what she was feeling.
Excitement. Pure, unadulterated excitement.
Before Terra could say anything, Anabelle spoke up. "Yeah. I am."
"Me too," Abby said.
Terra reached down to touch her toes, stretching her muscles. "Yeah. Let's do this."
Grok flexed and her eyes flashed, energy pouring from her body. She dashed into the valley.
The Dark Gate Angels sped after her.
Grok threw her body through the air and landed in the thick of the shades. She unsheathed a sword from her back and slashed through one as another's arms exploded open, thousands of hands reaching out for her. She stepped to the side, slashing through shade's arm as she leaned in and punched it. Its head cracked open, and dust flew into the air.
Anabelle's eyes widened with surprise as she pushed herself to keep up with Grok. She could still hardly keep track of the orc’s movements. All she could make out were the dozens of shades tossed into the air as Grok made her way through the horde
.
"She makes our run look like amateur hour," Abby remarked.
Anabelle looked at the girl. "Didn't think you were one for competition."
Abby shrugged. "She’s pretty impressive."
Anabelle was coming to the edge of the horde. She took a deep breath and slipped into the Path of the Lost, then filled her arm with mana and punched a shade. As a follow-up, she sent a blast of pure mana through the horde.
It was the most mana she'd ever put into a punch. The exertion almost made her dizzy, which was troubling since the horde was already regrouping and Grok was still a good way ahead.
Terra cleaved the heads off three shades and then stomped, causing a shockwave that knocked a few more off their feet. Then she bounded forward and landed on a shade, crushing it.
Abby's body charged with kinetic energy and she blasted forward with her thrusters, connecting with a shade and sending out a ripple effect. She grabbed one of the shades that had been thrown into the air, swung around, and tossed it, clearing a narrow path.
Anabelle could see that both Abby and Terra were giving it everything that they had. She wondered if they would be able to make it through the horde before they burned out. They would have to watch each other's backs because Grok didn't seem interested in that, regardless of what she’d said.
The elf let out a blast of fire to make space and leaped forward to catch up with Terra and Abby.
A shade grabbed Anabelle by the hair and pulled back, yanking her off her feet and slamming her into the ground.
Terra turned around, threw her axe into the shade's chest, and then jumped back to grab Anabelle's wrist and toss her into the air.
Electricity crackled from the elf’s body as she dive-bombed the horde, sending dozens of bodies flying.
Like before, Anabelle had tried to force every ounce of mana from her body. She could feel her skin burning from her energy, but she wasn't going to stop.
