[Book 2] Gate Guardian - Song of the Frozen Soul

PHASE 4 - ALARIC IN WONDERLAND

PHASE 4 - ALARIC IN WONDERLAND

This is not what I imagined hell should be. But nevertheless, it is still hell.

I’m now inside a dark cavern. Everything has a red tint, just like the crimson blood moon of Yami. The source of those crimson lights is those rivers of blood that are glowing like a magma. Smoke comes out of it which releases the sulfuric putrid smell. The ground, it is pulsing. The ceiling is pulsing too. Even the walls and the stalagmite-like tentacles hanging around are heaving. It’s like I’m inside a humongous Godzilla stomach.

“Is this…”

“No, not yet,” Erylle said. The blonde woman who is calling herself The Outsider is beside me the whole time. She dematerialized her own version of her Heavenly Blade to specks of glowing dust. Then, she continued to explain. “This is just the outer part of Hell: The Hall of Sinners.”

“Hall of Sinners?” I tilted my head.

“Hall of Sinners is a doomed place where all the dead wicked souls gather before they are granted entrance to Hell. You’ll see for yourself what it looks like.”

We ventured through this beating flesh cavern that is so yucky in all ways. I smell rotten cheese everywhere. I can sense the aura of malice in the air as if I’m being eyed my hundreds of Eidolons. The hairs on my skin are in standing ovation because of the chills even though it’s pretty hot in here.

At last, we are finally out in the tight tunnel spaces. I’m a little bit claustrophobic especially when I’m walking through some kind of esophagus of a monster so I think I’ll be relieved after I saw a wide opening leading to a hall.

We have finally reached the most disgusting place in my experience. The smell in here became much worse. It’s like a mixture of poop, pee, sulfur, stale cheese, and mustard. The hall itself has a floor of blood-lava, and there are several people swimming in it, like swarms of sardines forced to be put in a tight small can. This is like a stampede in a disgusting overcrowded pool party.

I said people, but they no longer look like one. They look like malnourished zombies with decaying skin diseases, and the lava itself is slowly melting them in. Their hollow eyes are endlessly crying with black blood.

This hall is filled with inaudible cries of the poor souls in different languages. But even though I could not understand their words, I can feel that they have the very same purpose: To get out.

“Oh, so this is where flat-earthers, holier-than-thou feminists, die-hard K-Poop fans, and easily-offended Karens go?” I mocked.

“No, they’re not.” Erylle rolled her eyes. “You’re more likely to go here than them.”

I noticed that the souls are trying hard to reach the sole long rope that is connected to the hole at the ceiling of this hall. That hole out of this cavern gives a bluish-white light.

“What will happen if they managed to escape using that rope?” I muttered.

Erylle didn’t answer. She just looked at me with a “See for yourself" expression.

I saw some zombie-like soul climb the rope with his amazing spider-man skills. He is shouting “I am free! I am free!” in joy. Within half a minute, he finally reached the hole at the ceiling, only to realize that a big black worm with hundreds of teeth waiting for an ambush. It swallowed the poor sinner whole, making all the souls who witnessed such event horrified.

The poor souls are now hopeless as they saw their only way out to be a freaking nest of a nasty worm. They all panicked and hollered, not knowing what to do. Since it is a stampede pool party, several souls have been trampled over.