Jackalopes

Dark Fire

It was the great dragon, Klev.

In order for the souls of the shades to be purified, they had to see and understand their true worth in the cosmos. To walk under these statues of the great dragon was to know utter defeat. Smug looked at it in a approving fashion before averting his gaze.

And not only that, but there is also the corridor of scissors to deal with. Imagine a way that you must pass, your salvation hinges upon it, but at the same time these scissors can cut your soul apart. Now you must pass a swirling mass of them, with millimeters to spare, and trust in whatever power that protect you that you will make it through. It is not an easy task, and one that leads many souls to Hell as they try to pass the cliffs and pits around the pylon instead of passing the corridor.

"AHAHAHAHAHA I'M DOING IT!! LOOK EVERYBODY!!" a rabbit shade screamed, tears of mad laughter streaming down his face as the scissors swirled just millimeters from his immortal soul.

"NOT DANGEROUS AT ALL; EASY AS PIE! COTTONTAIL-PIE HAHAHAHAHAH!"

This did not encourage the other shades to give it a try, and the queue went on for hours, making the dragon Smug quite irritated as well. It actually took the whole day and the group had to help the terrified shades through. Then it was finally time for a well-deserved rest for everybody, shades and jackalopes both.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as well as some graffiti. Yes, somebody had sprayed "Virgil was here, Dante is a fainting loser" on a rock. But yeah, mostly good intentions.

"I only did it to make my tribe grow; I never should have built the wires of Australia. I only wanted my tribe to be safe...I never should have started the wars in the deep dark!" Grey lifted one of the stones and read.

"Don't touch those!" ثعالب said sternly.

"Those are containing evil damned souls; we mustn't touch them!"

It was very hot here, on the steep chasm that lead straight into Hell. The flames licked the sky and turned everything a ghastly shade of red. The screaming and roaring of ever-shifting ground was deafening, the heat maddening. Jane turned her head upwards and saw the great hole in the ceiling of the underworld. It must be about 260 miles from here, according to her enhanced jackalope vision. Near the hole Jane could see tiny specks moving, probably the scientists staring down into the underworld. Jane looked for her contacts, competing with Grey about who could find them first.

The fifth pylon, the pylon of the underworld weaponsmith, was on fire. There were no other way to describe it, yet this was no ordinary fire. It looked almost greenish and seemed to look like liquid leaves more than anything. It was also used to chuck down evil spirits that were too dangerous to keep in the underworld but not dangerous enough to hold in the great Oubliette in Nifelheim, the city of the dead.

The weaponsmith of the underworld was a giant bipedal wolf, almost a mile high. Fire and thunder welled out from his eyes and mouth, his ears almost engulfed in thick and powerful horns. The giant body of the wolf had long since exchanged its muscles and veins for machinery and oil. He lived in a great furnace on the borders of Hell, using its flames and fire to makes his weapons and machines. His name was Fred. Fred Jr. Fred was not sad about living this close to Hell; he loved making machinery and inventions.  

The group were now in Dis, also known as purgatory, a small city like Oaohnan near the fifth pylon.

"Up there!" Jane suddenly shouted.

"The hole...I mean, the scientists!"

Indeed. In the ceiling of the underworld there was a great holed filled with men and women in lab-coats and hazard-suits. Some of them looked curious but most were really apprehensive. There was something else as well, something producing a lot of smoke and fire, clouding the skies of Hell an even darker shade of red. Something in the midst of it all was attracting the dragon, making him beat his wings and trash his tail madly and lewdly from side to side.