The Devil's Daughter

Chapter 18 ~ Lost and Found

Chapter 18 ~ Razakiel

The inky blackness is almost a tangible presence; oppressive and almost suffocating in its thickness. It is so constricting in its very existence that the mere process of taking a breath is a mammoth task in itself and with each passing moment my breathing becomes shallower and more laboured until the process is near impossible. And yet the slow descent, at least I believe we are descending the inherent darkness makes it feel as if we may not be moving at all, to our destination continues for an eternity.

As my lungs continue to feel constricted and my breaths laboured I begin to think I will run out of oxygen and die before I ever make it to my destination. And yet we continue even after the slight trickle of fear in my veins has turned to a flood and even my belief that the others are somewhere nearby in the darkness has abandoned me.

And finally I close my eyes giving up on any attempt to see, any attempt to find an end to the blackness. Moments later the suffocating presence disappears and there is a small amount of light pressing against the outside of my eyelids. The shock of finding light after being in darkness for so long causes me too squint against it despite my already closed eyes.

Taking a few relieving deep breathes, filled with a scorching heat that feels as though it should burn right through my lungs, I open my eyes.

The air around me seems to shimmer in the heat, the rocky walls are black as tar and spider webbed with cracks that glow a fiery red as if there is a raging fire burning deep within their depths. Even as I slowly turn in a circle to see if any of the others are with me a fine sheen of perspiration develops on my skin and the heat continues to scorch my lungs until I am dripping with sweat and struggling to function in the overwhelming heat.

As I turn it becomes clear that I am in a small round room with only one exit; a narrow tunnel leads away from where I stand, its walls the same glassy black as the room I stand in with veins of fire running through it. None of the others stand in the room with me. I wait, hoping my isolation will come to an end, until the whispering echo of a distant voices reaches me through the long narrow tunnel and I begin to wonder if the others haven't already found their way from this room.

With only silence surrounding me down here, I take a few steps toward the tunnel, glancing back as I reach the entrance to find I am still alone, and with a slight sense of trepidation I take the first step into the unknown, hoping that I'll find the others down here somewhere. Hoping Abbegael is down here somewhere safe with them.

I force the thoughts to the back of my mind to prevent my worry for Abby from overpowering me; thinking about her fear of the dark will not help me find her any faster. It doesn't stop the spike in my heart rate, or the increase in speed as I determine that I need to find her, find them I remind myself, as quickly as possible. The heat makes it next to impossible to move at speed and so I am left to walk as quickly as I am able through the tunnel which starts off as straight as an arrow before it starts a steep winding descent that leaves me with completely at a loss as to where I am going.

Eventually the narrow path begins to widen until it could easily cater to seven people standing abreast and soon after it opens into a giant vaulted cavern astounding in its shear size; I can barely discern the wall on the far side across from me, the glowing embers barely visible at this distance. Taking another step forward to get a better view I discover that I am at the very edge of the platform, a two meter wide ledge runs from where I stand as far as I can see around the outside of the gaping black hole in the centre, so deep it seems to swallow any sound rather than echoing it back.

Tilting my head back, a shiver runs through me at the almost mirror image above me, a gaping black hole, spreading who knows how far up. Glancing back and forth between the gaping hole below and the gaping hole above me, the plan we devised to take down Lucifer starts to seem almost idiotic; we had absolutely no idea what Stagnum Ignis would be. I don't even know if I will be able to find the others let alone get us from here to wherever Lucifer's 'Hell' is.