Hell's Romance

Hell's Romance: Introduction

INTRODUCTION

As I breathe in, I feel as though I shouldn't be here. I smell smoke and blood and rotting, burning flesh. I open my eyes and see that I'm standing in a forest. The sky is an ugly orange-brown, like orange juice spilled in the dirt. As I look around, I realize the forest is on fire. It's beautiful and horrifying at the same time. I feel suffocated. I walk farther into the pines, as though I've done this before. I look around at the burning wood and feel the relieving coolness of a tear running down my cheek. 

I continue to walk, step by step toward a big stone arch. The arch was almost twenty feet high and it has weird engravings all over it. I don't know what language it means or symbolizes so I turn west, toward the setting blood red sun. I walk until I can't tell how far I've walked. I stop suddenly. Up ahead, I see a cave. It has icicles hanging from the roof like shark teeth. 

"What the...?" I whispered to myself. I walk over slowly, cautiously. The burning smell is coming from this cave. But the smoke from the surrounding trees is going into the freezing cave. I raise my arm till it's eye level and push my fingers into the shadows. It felt as though my fingers were melting. I yelped and pulled my hand back. My fingertips had frost on them.  

"How-" I begin to ask. I was suddenly interrupted by soft, barely audible moans coming from inside the cave. I look up from my hands and see a...girl. A little girl, who couldn't be older than 6, walks up to me, coming from deep inside the now wailing cave. 

As the girl progresses forward, the moans get louder and louder until I am sure hundreds of thousands of people are screaming. Then she stops at the mouth of the cave, and the screaming descends into faint whispers. I notice the girls eyes are black as obsidian. Her irises are a deep blood red. 

"What." she began in a clearly threatening voice. "Exactly. Are you doing here Nephilm?" 

"I would ask the same to you." I say in a hard, equally threatening voice. 

"I am here to protect the borders from YOUR kind." she replies simply. 

My kind? What does she mean? I have no idea what she is talking about. So I ask, "How old are you demon?" 

DEMON!? Okay, now I know I'm going nuts. She just smirks at me and says in a nonchalant voice,  

"Older than you. Back to the point. Give me what belongs to us, and I'll let Carlos go. Fail to meet the terms, and you can say goodbye to your brothers soul forever." 

She has Carlos! I wanted to strangle her. I hated this little girl. I wanted her to suffer. Yet I felt calm and composed. Suddenly, the forest was filled with a strange gold-white glow, that became progressively brighter. The girl looked frightened, her red-black eyes showing her terror. 

Backing away she muttered, "No. They told me she wasn't strong or ready or powerful enough to do this!"  

She turned and ran back into the darkness taking the moans with her. I smiled in triumph, though why I felt triumphant I have no idea. I suddenly became dizzy and tired. I looked behind me at the warm gold-white glow that was emanating from behind me. I stared at my....wings....and saw a man walk up to me. He picked me up with one arm under my shoulder blades and one under my knees. I looked into his young handsome face. Sturdily built. I knew I would remember that face forever, and everything went black.