Remnant Of The Gods

Chapter 33

Demetrious transformed and, trotting past me, indicated that the conversation was over. He kept a brisk but cautious pace along the frozen tendrils. Each droplet of water echoed through the tunnel we walked through as the stalactites surrounding us slowly melted. My breath turned to fog as I breathed, feeling the cold begin to slowly penetrate the thin layers I had on.

"Wow," I breathed, taking in the last of the tunnel that widened into a frozen cavern.

It spanned endlessly as I stumbled forward, hardly believing that such beauty could exist in the plane of what was told to be only fire and death. My hands ran lightly over the side of the cavern, the deep blue glow emanating from the surrounding ice created an illusion of glittering diamonds. Smiling, I looked down to Demetrious who stared straight ahead, at the mass of water the river had turned into.

It was an impressive lake, but what caught the attention of both Demetrious and I, were the figures trapped within the thin ice. Softly, almost as if they feared to be heard, the human-like figures choked out a sob, their tears dripping silently into the water. We both walked closer to the edge, the moment seemingly out of our control to see the figures more closely. They looked human but with blue skin and strange necklaces that dug into their throats. The effect of it made them look as if they were permanently choking on the large necklaces. The closest figure was shuddering with pain, possibly from the freezing water that surrounded him, or some unnamable horror below the surface. When I saw the figure being drawn downwards by the neck I realised that the necklace was a chain. The figure reached out to me and I instinctively went to help him. I started forward, my legs hitting Demetrious as he blocked my efforts and gave me a pointed look.

"What happened to them?" I asked quietly as I watched them cry quietly. This was torture with no escape, these people were drowning, dragged beneath the lake at intervals and sobbing continuously with thier pain. Hades, it seemed, didn't need to be a fiery inferno make people suffer.

Looking around, I noticed that the lake wwas surrounded on all other sides by the cavern, right up to the back where I could see it formed a frozen river. This would have to be the way out, we would have to walk over the people to leave and trust that the ice wouldn't fall.

Demetrious remained silent as he slowly made his way forward onto the ice, carefully pressing his paws down before leaning his body weight on them. Flicking his head, he beckoned me to follow him on the frozen lake through the middle and away from its inhabitants. We headed straight for the opposite end which thinned back into a river formation.

"What is that?" came a whisper from the edges of the lake.

Turning my head my eyes met with one of the human-like figures as he stared at Demetrious and I, lifting his head to track our progress across the ice. His voice drew the attention of others and as we walked, a new set of eyes would be following us. A slow growl began to sound from Demetrious as he walked steadily, ears and eyes flickering to take in each new inhabitant that looked our way though not giving them any further notice. They whispered to each other about Demetrious and I, their voices slowly raising to drown out the sounds of all else until it reached a dull roar.

"It does not belong." The voices whispered. "You should not be here."

"Who are you!" barked a sharp voice to our left. I looked to Demetrious and he shook his head at me as I went to answer the figure. Following his lead, I tried to ignore the voices as they became brave enough to talk, yell and scream at us as we moved.

"What are you!" came another from our right, causing Demetrious to sharpen his growl to try silence the voice.

"Speak traitors!" said a voice from in front of us, closest to the exit of the lake.