Another Love, Another Woe || Wednesday Addams & Enid Sinclair

The Final Showdown In Devekla

Devekla was the layer that looked like stereotypical hell. The sky was a constant burning red and smoke filled almost as if on fire. The three Cocytus river waterfalls in the center ended as a small lake, no longer flowing through the layer. The terrain had active volcanoes, ash hills, molten rock, smoking pits, and the Phlegethon river flowed through it. The Phlegethon was the river of fire, and truly looked like flowing fire rather than running water. And as the boat sailed over the layer, they could see the souls running around looking paranoid as they fought and killed each other. Devekla punished treachery, and now the souls would forever be looking over their shoulders, paranoid of someone hurting them.

The canoe carried them north where the demon city and the palace was. The palace was black and red and built into a dormant volcano. As they reached the city, they could immediately see how the vibe differed from the others. The other demon cities were always bustling with life, but this one wasn't. Demons were walking through the streets, but there were no smiles or laughter. It was an eerie silence as mist shrouded everything.

"Damn," Ajax whispered. "This is depressing."

"Then it's a good thing we're killing Arkno," Wanda reasoned.

It was silent the rest of the way to the palace, the only sound being the whistling of the wind as their boat sailed through the air. Until finally it landed them right in front of the palace's open doors. They all stood up and stepped out of the canoe, staring at the volcanos with spires sticking out of it.

"Something's wrong," Wednesday immediately clocked. "Why are the doors open with no guards around?"

"Well, he knows we're here," Wanda reminded. "He must want us to come to him."

"Be on guard and stay close." Wednesday began walking forward as everyone fell in behind her.

They walked through the open wooden doors into the wide throne room. The walls were the volcanoes, but there were stairs to the right and left to a second floor, but straight ahead was a large black and red throne with swords making the back sharp and menacing. But no one sat in it. In fact, there was no one inside. Not a soul in sight. They walked cautiously down the black and red rolled out rug while they glanced around. Only to jump at the sound of doors slamming. They spun around and found that the front doors were now closed.

"Nope, didn't like that," Ajax commented, hairs on end.

Wednesday looked to the right and then to the left, and that's when she noticed a door under the stairs going to the second floor. She walked over to it, the others following and opened the door. On the other side were stairs going down. She looked back at everyone. "I'm willing to bet he's down not up."

"That's probably a good bet," Enid agreed.

So they began walking down. It was a spiral staircase carved through the ground, so it was pretty dark even with the occasional torch. Because of this, shadows began to wisp off Bianca making her grin. This was the boon that Phelros gave her, so she decided now would probably be a good time to use it. She concentrated and the shadows coiled around her as she turned invisible.

Ajax's jaw dropped from behind her. "That's dope as shit," he whispered.

"I know right," Bianca agreed as they walking.

"Look, look." He pulled out his dagger and then willed himself to turn invisible as well.

"Nice, nice. We definitely got this."

It was silent outside their feet tapping against the stone as they went down. Until finally they reached a set of double doors at the end. Wednesday took a deep breath and spared one last look behind back at the others before pushing open the doors.