Lantana

Chapter 6: Hell

The second Lantana stepped in, she was met with a scorching wave of heat. She was barely able to hear the gates slam behind her. Everywhere around her, the air was filled with screams. They were all screams of pain. They were the screams of sinners. There was torture going around everywhere. Everything ranging from having to walk over hot coals with their bare feet to getting sucked in what looked like lava. She figured the lesser sinners had to suffer to a lesser degree of torture. But for all of eternity. Every hour of the day. For weeks nonstop. Weeks would turn into months which would turn into years. Years would turn into centuries. That would turn into millennia. Right then, Lantana swore to never end up here after her time was up. She had to suck it up and continue on though. She walked on the barren path through the various forms of torture. People stared as she passed. They all begged her to help them

"Help us..."

"We're innocent..."

"Please we'll do anything..."

"Get us out..."

Lantana didn't want to know what horrors would befall her if she helped them so she averted eye contact and trudged on. It seemed the farther in she went though, the more painful it got for Lantana to continue on. She felt sluggish, and felt that it would be nice to settle down and take a nap. A map would be refreshing. It was absolute torture to keep taking one step after the other. But at the back of her mind, she knew that if she stopped, something horrid would only befall her. Another look at the sinners was enough to keep her going. After a while though, the intense heat added onto Lantana's suffering. Multiple blisters had already erupted all over her skin and she felt like the soles of her shoes had burnt off and her feet were burning on the hot ground. She had to keep pushing forward though. She didn't know what she was looking for but kept going. Then something happened. Lantana thought she blacked out, but she knew it couldn't have been for more than a few seconds. She woke up on her feet, but she was wavering. She fell over but then saw a black figure swoop over her. The thing picked her up and flew off. It held Lantana upside down and as all the blood rushed to her head, it was too much for her to take and she actually blacked out.

When she woke, she was chained to a wall. Lantana wasn't sure though. She was very groggy and her senses were weak. She felt that someone was watching her though. As she was able to recollect herself better, she felt the sudden burning that seemed to affect everywhere in her body. The hot walls seemed to burn through her clothes and once again, she felt like the soles of her shoes were gone. Everything ached and hurt and Lantana wished for it to end. Then she saw the yellow eyes. There was only a pair of them, but it was enough to absolutely terrify Lantana.

"Who are you?" She managed to croak out.

It was then that the figure decided to dramatically step into the light. It had a human body, but seemed to be a cross with some demon. It was very short, a good foot shorter than Lantana and had black skin and unnaturally large yellow eyes. There were small horns coming out of its head, claws instead of nails, and most visibly, a giant pair of wings that greatly resemble dragon wings. It started to speak.

"Me!" It cackled. "Why I is Mohaldin! God of chaos! You is human! You is wander here so Mohaldin take you away! Master says Mohaldin is not allowed to eat humans so Mohaldin is ask his permission to eat you. He is say no so Mohaldin has to wait to eat you! Master says he wants to see human for himself. Now you is Mohaldin's prisoner!"

Lantana was horrified. The god seemed to think that this was all a game, but she was curious to see this Mohaldin's master. She may be able to convince this master to come and help Virago with their current problem. Mohaldin never seemed to take his eyes off Lantana. She tried not to look at them but could always feel his yellow eyes boring into her. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Mohaldin's master arrived. Lantana wasn't sure how he had arrived as it was all a blur. She thought he entered through the roof, but there was no opening there for as much as she could see.