Chapter 34

"How are we going to go there?" My curious mouth spat out.

"You'll see." Erebus told me for the thirty seventh time. He must have been exhausted with my endless questions.

"Will we burn or something?" I asked again.

"No, we aren't going as dead souls. We are going there as guests." This time Nidas answered, clearly annoyed with my attitude of kindergartener on her first trip.

Registering his voice, I stared at his face. Just to be on the safe side, I shut my mouth.

A portal appeared in front of my eyes and shined brightly. The guys stepped in and asked me to follow. I quickly lifted my foot and accompanied them.

Whoosh!

A black mist covered me and teleported me into a rocky ledge. My knee shook and I ended up falling on my face. Luckily, Nidas grabbed my arm. I gave him a toothy grin.

I examined my new environment. The whole place was coloured in brown to red shades. So eerie! Just like the scriptures and history books mentioned, hell had a bloody red atmosphere. I heard a herd of mournful cries from my left.

I lost my balance while taking in my surroundings, again. As I almost kissed the lava under me, Cad swooped me on his back and brought me back to my original spot. I thanked him.

I knew I was clumsy, but I didn't expect myself to fall everywhere I stepped just because I was a little too excited. Somehow, the atmospheric oxygen seemed to be low here and I had trouble breathing.

Nidas looked at me, worried. I remembered a technique of creating water from the air and conversed it. Swoosh!

A gust of cold wind swept at us. Ghostly cries echoed through the mountainous rocks in my viewpoint.

"Welcome to hell." A floating cape called out to us. It was a reaper. Yep, a reaper!

The funny thing was, he had a yellow sweatshirt and trousers hidden through his cape.

"Yeah yeah, I work through the dimension of 22nd century, hence my clothes. Don't mind me and enjoy the visit!" He bowed.

"This is so co~ool!" I whispered.

"You know, you should actually be scared right now." Nidas teased me.

"Why would I be? I'd be a fool to miss out on this. Why had no one ever told me that hell was such an amazing place?" I exclaimed. Maybe, I was a little too happy right then.

"That's because, this part is highly confidential. No one knows of this except for esteemed monsters like Nidas, reapers and us. Well, you are the new addition as we will be finally getting a dark lord from centuries ago." Erebus squealed.

"I'm honored to see Erebus fighting fit, considering your age." Another reaper morphed from a red igneous rock. This time he had a red cape with blood-coloured chains. Hmm, the dark era?

"Stop your hypocrisy! We are here to be titled unlike some wishy-washy reapers like you." Erebus mocked the reaper. I subdued a laugh. I didn't know Erebus could get this competitive!

"Please follow me. I'll give you a tour." The former reaper called out to us. I nodded, bobbing my head like I was crazy. Nidas transformed back to his human form with a whoosh.

"So, hell is divided into two parts as the soul-leaching and Quarter areas. We are currently in the Quarter areas where guests and reapers live and work. To our left, you can hear the soul-leaching area. There, dead souls are judged and punishment or gift is decided.--"

"It's very hardcore. Recently, we upgraded the torture systems." Another reaper with a green cape, an eye-patch and green hair popped in front of us and guided.

"How?" I asked.

"Usually, we would put the souls in a lava pool with intense heat or force the souls to be stabbed by a hundred needles but apparently these methods seemed to work slower now." He continued.

"So, are you saying that the souls like pain?" I pointed out analyzing the situation.

"Bingo! So, we had to step up our game. King Enzo gave a solution like three months ago and we are executing that at the moment." Another reaper with a pitch-black coat hovered over me.

"In other cases where a soul had done unthinkable sins, they will be sentenced to being a reaper or minion helping to keep order in hell for a few centuries." The black reaper spoke up still gliding through thin air.

Cad exhaled a huff at the reaper and craned his head over me. Maybe, he was trying to protect me from the reaper.

"What did you come up with as torture?" I questioned, purely curious.

"You'll see. Take a left turn from here and we'll cross the bridge to meet the souls." The green coat reaper spoke up.

We did as we were instructed and came to a halt at the sight before us. It was a massive party.

A party!

A celebration with a DJ set-up and neon lights!!!

WTH!

"Has Enzo finally lost it?" Nidas asked with his mouth agape.

"We really wish that was the case! We have no idea what in hell is happening here, literally." Two reapers elevated their heads out of a lava puddle next to us.

"Sadly, King Enzo thought out about a method and that is this. It's not like we have a choice to choose." The original reaper that welcomed us spoke, clearly annoyed.

"But, where is the torture???" Nidas yelled at him while I stared at the sight of hundreds of souls dancing, eating and talking.

How is it torture when they are clearly enjoying it?

Hold up! Are those---

A common thing I noticed was that all the souls were crying. Like legit, crying with tears!

"No, this is torture!" I spoke up and everyone looked at me, amazed.

"I think you've gone crazy too." Nidas smacked his arm on his forehead.

"No, dude! Don't you see? They are partying and they can't stop. They are crying because they are sick of it!" I told him. I saw Erebus smiling at me. I looked at him in question.

"Wow, finally, someone who has a brain came to hell. These stick in the muds have no sense of creativity." A deep voice called from behind. Our heads almost snapped at the speed we turned our heads.

A man of about six feet, black hair and dark pupils came into view. The guy wore a shining black coat and had a smile that would throw off a lady's hat.

"Enzo! Explain!!!" Nidas threatened him. Looks like they know each other!

"Okay, okay! Chill! You see, how humans are so immersed in the seven deadly sins like that is a need of life. The 23rd century is the best example. I just smushed all of them together. I mean, isn't it a party that causes all of these materialistic problems? The souls can enjoy it at first, but the twist is that when they get sick of it, they aren't allowed to stop. They have to continue it till their time is over in hell. I call this masterpiece 'Give 'em what they want' policy. Aren't I a genius?" He explained and laughed.

I clapped as a tribute to King Enzo. He bowed curtly with a smile. I raised my hand to ask a question to which King Enzo allowed me.

"Wow! Awesome!" I told.

"You are actually going through with this?" Nidas asked me, horrified.

"Why not? It sounds original and cool. I agree that it's a bit...different but it's not always good to rely on traditional methods." I told him my opinion.

"Thank you so much! It took me like three days of researching to put all this together. The heavens dump all the work in the cycle of birth on us and laze around all day.", he complained, "By the way, why are you guys here? And who is this pretty lady who has exceptional taste?" King Enzo asked with a devilish grin living up to his name.

"This right here is our new Dark Lord. We came here to officialize it." Erebus spoke. King Enzo's eyes shot up to the roof of hell which was of course made of more rocks. The hit must have hurt real good!

"Oh...Oh---I'm sorry, I didn't realize. It's nice to meet you--uh?"

"Rose. King Enzo" I answered.

"Pshhh! Call me Enzo, Rose! I'm ready whenever you are. We just need to test you on your spiritual strength. I'm sure, you would pass it though...many have failed...considering Lyra, the best out there." He sighed as he finished speaking.

"Rose, are you ready?" Erebus asked.

"I'm--I---" Someone interrupted me.

"Rose, I'm sorry for jumping but, before you do it, I think it would be best for you return another day. I know, you just saw a new side of hell. You should come back after you process it. Otherwise, If you go in, I feel like you would be unable to control it." Enzo spoke. I smiled at his kindness.

He read my mind like a book.

"Erebus, is it okay?" I asked him.

"Of course, it is! I should have thought about it." Erebus answered.

"Here.." Enzo came up to me and handed me a small card with a crystal attached to it. It looked like a key tag.

"This can be your visiting card." He smiled at me. I thanked this handsome creature.

"Now, get out of here and come back later. Shoo!" Enzo spoke at us.

"He's just chasing us because of me. He knows I'll be on his neck soon." Nidas grumbled.

"What?!" Enzo made an expression of mock-horror. I guess that the King of hell is actually afraid of our Manticore. I chuckled at my weird thought.

The portal we came from appeared once again and sucked us out of hell. We ended up at the entrance of Nidas's luxurious cave.

I looked around me and wondered about how far I had come since my reincarnation. My train of thoughts sparked up the estate.

I wonder how my family is doing.

Welcome all,

-How was today's chapter? I hope it wasn't too weird! Just so you all know, in this chapter, there is no criticism, just harmless entertainment!

-What do you think will Rose's new challenge be? A ride through hell on some creature? A labyrinth? A fight with the most vicious monster? Or....Comment your ideas! Have great day!!!