The Weight of His Chains

Chapter 7

I retrieve the smooth yellow marble Rainer had given to me through my duffle bag, its smooth surface glowing softly. I place it on the black obsidian handle, and the door begins to open, its rumbling echoing quietly through the loud and roaring furnace. As the door fully opens upwards, I'm shocked by a cold blast of air, a welcome relief after the dreaded heat of the fiery abyss. I step through the doorway, my eyes adjusting to the darkness.

All I see is a tunnel, stretching out before me like a black abyss. But in the distance, I see a glimpse of light, a beacon calling me forward. I hesitate, fear clawing at my heart. But I must press on.

I take a deep breath and begin to walk, my footsteps echoing off the stone walls. The air is icy, sending shivers down my spine. The darkness seems to press on me, making me feel small and vulnerable.

Suddenly, I hear faint, eerie music surround me. It's like nothing I've ever heard before - a haunting, airy sound, like the tingling of a cursed bell. It echoes off the stone walls, making my blood run cold.

At first, I thought it was my imagination, creating illusions again. But I see it, small, wooden xylophones lining the path, its keys being played by tiny stone rocks. But there is no handle, no visible force controlling the rocks. They simply float above the keys, striking with otherworldly precision.

The music is creepy and unsettling, and has no coordination or rhythm. It's as if the rocks are playing randomly, yet somehow they're creating a haunting melody. I feel a shiver down my spine as I walk, the xylophones lining the path and playing their song.

The music grows louder, grows more out of sync as I walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

As I emerge out of the tunnel, the music stops abruptly, plunging me into unsettling silence. I stand at the threshold of a massive, cavernous room, its ceiling lost in darkness. The air is icy, I can see my own breath misting in front of me. The room stretches before me like a massive nightmarish landscape. Hundreds of large holes dot the ground, and the ceiling swallows all light, making it impossible to discern its height.

On the far right of this arena, a large black circle dominates the wall - it looks to me like The Black Sun. A tiny window above it allows a sliver of light to pierce the darkness, casting an eerie glow on the arena. The silence is oppressive, punctuated only by the soft whisper of my breathing. I can feel the arena's weight upon me, like I'm being watched. Ahead of me, columns and domes rise like sentinels, their entrances yawning like black mouths. But it's pitch black inside.

The arena room seems to vibrate with malevolent energy, as if it's alive and hostile. I can feel my heart beating out of my chest, my skin crawling with unease. I'm frozen in terror and confusion, not knowing where to start.

I approach one of the holes cautiously, not knowing what to expect inside. As I peer into the first hole, I'm met with a sight that makes my blood run cold. A rotting corpse lies on the bottom, stripped of clothing, its skin almost completely rotted away. Shackles encircle its wrists, ankles, neck, and waist.

I feel a wave of nausea wash over me as the stench flares my nostrils. I force myself to look away, and I approach another hole, and another, hiding the same rotting horror. More rotting corpses, stripped and chained, each in a different situation. Some were even on hot coals. Some in a puddle of hardened tar. Some beheaded. Some had all their limbs dismembered.

'It's a place where deadly creatures get tortured for their sins,' Yuu's words echo in my mind.

"Sky!" I shout, my voice echoing and echoing, through the dark corridors surrounding the arena. Only silence replies to my calls. Where is Sky? One of these...things?