When Death Comes to Visit |ONC 2021

The Field of Punishment

Multiple tortured cries meet my ears before I could see who they belonged to, each one enveloping over the other in a song of sorrow and pain. I cringed as my nerve ends began to fray as the cries got louder and more drawn out. Unable to hear more I covered my ears at the horrific sounds, all my instincts were screaming at me to turn the other way, to run back and find safety. I forced myself to shove those instincts deep down burying them under the desperate need to save my mother. Urging my feet to put one foot in front of the other I slowly walked up the hill, bracing myself for what I knew lay ahead.

The sword I was carrying had been wedged through the small handle at the top of my backpack. It had been the only place it could rest so that I could have my hands free but the sharp end was precariously close to slicing through the back of my leg. It was a risk I was willing to take if it meant blocking out those sounds.

When the peak of the hill neared, a wave of warm heat washed over my face and body, sweat immediately perspired across my forehead then dampened the back of my shirt and armpits. Sucking in one last breath with my hands over my ears I took that last step onto the peak. Orange and red blazed ahead as fire encompassed the land before me in a large arching half circle on the far end. Directly below me, however, was the sole reason why they named this place The Field of Punishment. Bodies, as solid as me stood in rows upon rows standing on blocked slates, each receiving their own punishment.

A woman not too far below me was being force-fed rotting meat by a harpy. She was tied up to a chair and mouth propped open with those gum shields dentists used as meat infested with maggots was shoved down her throat. I looked away in horror and my stomach roiled in disgust. Seeing all this was enough to swear not to commit any bad deeds in my lifetime, not that I planned on doing anything that would put me here. Never again. Never again did I want to set so much as a toe in this wretched place.

Unwilling to see any more horrors, I only scanned the area looking for some sort of portal or HQ, my eyes not lingering on anything that didn't resemble what I needed. I stalked along the edge of the peak as it circled part of the field, hoping that I would see anything that could lead me to a portal.

I was about to rethink my strategy when I spotted a thin building sitting on a platform to the far left of the fields. It was more like a makeshift shack that someone propped up in a rush and threw some doggy temporary stairs up to the platform, but everything in me had me screaming that that was where I needed to go. Without Isabella, at my side, I had too much time to think about my next move. She wasn't here to do the quick thinking and fast actions. I sincerely hoped that she was ok and alive but knowing her, she'd have something up her sleeve.

Shaking all thoughts of Isabella out of my mind I half ran and half walked along the edge of the hill, not daring to get any closer to the fields earlier than I had to. It would be dangerous to be caught out now, so close to a punishing block and all. The air was now thick of moisture, making it hard to breathe, like a little too much liquid was going straight to my lungs.

When I was as close as I could get to the shack building on the hill, I paused behind a boulder. Assessing the possibility of me darting behind the building without being seen by any one of the harpies at their stations. I waited a moment, my body locking in a crouched position as if telling me now was not the right time to run. The shabby grey door of the shack opened and a small chubby male walked out, he was no bigger than a five-year-old. He stood by the door looking out onto the field, his face serene as if he relished the sounds of those terrible screams. His skin was scaley, not like a fish but like a crocodile, with all those rigid edges and no sign of smoothness. He shut the door behind him and climbed down a set of metal stairs, waddling all the way down.

"You need to put more enthusiasm into it!" his voice carried over the noise as he shouted to the nearest being.

I didn't dare look at what he was referring to, I just kept my eyes on that grey door and the man.