Chapter 6 #2
Heads turned to the source, a woman who was more feline than human. She crouched atop a stone table, tail whipping behind her. Her hair was spotted like a leopard’s pelt, and her grin had too many teeth. “Five to one she gets eaten by the sirens,” she called. “Any takers?”
A roar of laughter and shouts went up. Hands shot into the air, some flapping purple slips erratically. One man yelled something about rats. Another insisted Amabel would win The Cycle, but the others laughed and told him he was the biggest idiot in Hell.
“There is a worse fate than this,” Leander said, his voice suddenly low enough that only I could hear it. “You should be careful.”
I looked at him, as dread started to bubble away in my stomach. “What else could happen to me? Like you said, I’m technically dead.”
“You could be obliterated,” he said, almost tenderly. “Stripped of form and soul until you’re nothing. Or you could be trapped and lost in a domain that doesn’t want to let you go.” He gave a careless shrug. “Or perhaps something more creative, if you’re lucky.”
The catwoman yelled again, “Two to one on obliteration! Any takers on dismemberment by the chimaera?”
I realised people were laughing at me, a soul already dragged to Hell, tossed into an absurd game, and I didn’t even know the rules.
I forced a breath through my nose. “So, this is why you’ve been calling me Champion.”
Leander’s eyes, those shining, unnatural shades of blue, locked onto mine. “You’re one of six Champions in The Cycle. You’ll enter all six domains to face all six demons of Hell. Each one holds something you’ll need if you want to win.”
He said it like I was off on a fun little treasure hunt. “Do you hear how absurd that sounds?”
Leander continued. “You’ll need to collect every relic before you can win, and they must be given to you willingly.” He flashed those teeth again. “You might want to turn the charm up a little.”
I scowled at him.
Leander, Elise . . . every damned Hell-dweller was wicked.
“So, I have to play a game, and I could die . . . again.” It was a statement, not a question.
Gods, is one death not enough?
He threw his arm round my shoulders and whispered, “What’s wrong with a little incentive? Just watch out for the chimaera. They take their time with their kills. Nasty way to go.”
I shoved him away and gave him the foulest glare I could muster. Elise hovered nearby, a venomous grin spreading over her lips.
“How about we bet on the other Champions?” Leander gestured towards the faces spinning on the contraption above us. “Who do you think will fall first?”
“You want me to guess who is going to be viciously killed? I’ll pass.”
“Then how about you make a bet with me?”
“No, thanks. I’m not in the mood to gamble.”
“How about we play something different then?” Leander suggested flippantly.
I narrowed my eyes. “You seem to like games quite a bit, don’t you?”
“Tell me a secret you wouldn’t want in the wrong hands, and I’ll tell you what I know about another Champion.” His eyes shone with excitement.
“What good would that do me?”
Leander shrugged. “Surely you want the upper hand in The Cycle?”
"I don’t care about your games, and I’m not taking part in this Cycle either.”
“I hate to break it to you, but there’s no exit card. You’re in Hell now. Whatever control you thought you had doesn’t exist here.”
“If I’m stuck, I deserve to know why.”
“It’s got nothing to do with me,” Leander said. “That’s between you and the Essence of Hell.”
I was starting to get a headache. “Fine. Then what do you know about The Cycle?”
“You’ll be invited to all the domains, eventually. Most souls are going for the obvious prize,” he drawled. “But you seem content to rot here without trying to get back to wherever it is you came from.”
My heart faltered, and my mouth dropped open. “Wait . . . are you saying I could escape Hell?”
“Sure, you could make that deal,” he said with a shrug. “But that’s really between you and the Demon of Temptation.”
I had to make a deal with a demon . . . by the stars.
“But your freedom is certainly possible.”
“Where can I find this demon?” I said firmly, trying to hide the shake in my voice. Because, in all honesty, I really didn’t want to meet a demon of Hell.
I just want to crawl into a hole and stay there forever.
But if there was a prize at the end of all this, maybe I could fight my way back to Tobias. And if that meant facing a demon of Hell, so be it. I would see him, and I would bargain.
“I’m sure you’ll meet him soon enough.”
“Why not now?”
“Because the game has started, little Champion,” Leander said. “And if you want a chance to win, you’d best get to the Domain of Fear.”
I stilled. If I moved so much as an inch, I think I would have vomited the contents of my stomach on his shoes.
“Elise,” Leander called. “Take our Champion to the Heart.”
“Do I have a sign on me that says ‘servant’?”
He raised an eyebrow. I could have sworn I saw Elise blink, and by the looks of her pale face, she regretted her words. So, Leander scares you, Elise. How interesting.
“I know how you like to stray, but training’s in ten minutes, so hurry back.”
Elise shot him a glare, but quickly smoothed her face into indifference.
“Follow me, Nina,” she bit out, stepping closer so she was an inch from my face.
The firelight from the hanging chandeliers caught the edge of her cheekbone, making her look like she was made of stone, not flesh.
Lowering her voice, she said, “Don’t think for one second that I’m here to serve you. ”
“Trust me,” I muttered. “I don’t want to spend more time around you than I have to.”
I gave Leander one final look before I followed Elise to the end of the corridor.
We climbed a narrow staircase, ascending a tower, until we reached a single door.
It wasn’t decadent like the rest of the palace doors.
It was an iron slab blackened with rust, and at its centre was a grotesque, distorted face carved into the metal.
The mouth was gaped wide with splintered, broken teeth, and its eyes were hollow.
Elise stepped through as the door swung inward.
I lingered for a moment, my fingers brushing against the rough surface of the iron, expecting it to groan under my touch.
When I crossed the threshold, Elise shut the door behind me.
A narrow corridor lay ahead, dim and musty.
There were no windows, and the only light came from a small hanging lantern far in the distance.
Inside the corridor, my gaze widened, taking in the nightmarish creature etched into the iron door.
Its insect-like body was an elongated exoskeleton of rounded segments with two pincer-like protrusions at its head.
It could rip apart flesh, I imagined. I shuddered, not caring if Elise noticed my fear.
“We have many creatures in Hell,” Elise said. “Beasts have roamed here since the beginning of time. This one—” she pointed to the carving with a lazy flick of her wrist “—is the Letheling. Not many know its origin,” she grinned wickedly, “only that it feeds on souls.”
I didn’t reply, my throat tight.
“Something wrong, Champion?” she said, her tone mocking but with a sinister edge. “You’ll have to face worse than this in The Cycle.”
Her words were served on a plate like bait, and I hated how much I wanted to bite.
“How would you know?”
“I faced it too, a long time ago.”
I felt a tugging sensation, almost like unseen hands pulling at my shoulders. They seemed to urge me to go back the way we’d come. I clenched my fists, forcing the dread aside.
With a shrug that I hoped seemed indifferent, I stepped forward.
“What’s the Heart?” I asked.
“It’s the centre of Hell.”
“And I can get to the Domain of Fear from there?”
Elise let out a long, thin sigh. “Obviously.”
If my hammering heart was any indication, we were already in Fear.
“So, the Heart, is it this way?” I said, my voice steady despite the sinking feeling in my chest.
“Yes, hurry up.”
I trailed into the unknown behind Elise.
We emerged into a long, open space surrounded by grand columns, and my breath caught – not in awe but unease.
The sky stretched above, but instead of the typical crimson light I’d experienced so far in Hell, here it was grey.
A light, cold mist hung in the air. It was thick enough to mask the walls, giving the illusion that the place was endless.
Then there were the stone statues, hundreds and hundreds of them scattered haphazardly. I passed one with a hand reaching upwards, shielding her face. Another was small, hunched over, as though frightened. This was an ocean of pain and despair.
“Why are we here?” I asked, and my voice wobbled. I swallowed down my panic and tried to mask my growing discomfort.
Elise’s smile didn’t falter. She seemed to be talking to herself. “The Demon of Temptation brought me here once.”
I approached one of the statues, my eyes narrowing at the details, the skin creases, delicate strands of hair, detailed clothing, and fraying hems expertly captured by whoever – or whatever – had carved these haunted visages.
My hand hovered near the stone, but I hesitated.
They looked so real. Were they carvings? Who had created them, and why?
“After the last Champion fails, The Cycle resets,” Elise muttered. “The next round of Champions will come, and you’ll be forgotten like all the rest.”
I approached another statue and pressed my fingers to the stone statue’s face. There were ripples across the forehead, crinkles around the eyes and creases in the lips. Dents and bumps marked its cheeks. Its features were so lifelike that a niggling dread grew in my mind.
“Elise,” I said, panic settling in my chest, “what is this place?”
She didn’t answer. When I turned, she was gone, though I could hear her soft and villainous laughter.
“Elise!” I shouted, my voice bouncing back at me.