I Fell In Love With The God Of War (Boy x Boy)

Chapter Sixteen: Part Two

There was only one path, it curled away from the stone mountains and stooped low into a shadowed tunnel. The walls narrowed as I deepened into the cavern, where the daylight became distant, and eventually none-existant. Down there, in the hollowed hole, where the smell was dank and wet, there was silence. The dead air lingered thick, and even without noise, there was a sense of movement shirking about the gloom.

   Ducking under the obsidian slate, I felt my body slip through a cavity in the ground. The earth below scattered into a filthy bloom, paling to reveal a long shaft of rising stone spires. Above, a hint of daylight smoked through the cracks of the darkness, turning grey and lifeless long before it could reach my face.

    At first glance, everything was calm - as calm as a dark, thorny tunnel will ever be. Then, sharp rattles lined the air; lethal, extended hisses, backed by the hard beat of wings. The shadows were staggering ahead of me.

   They were moving above me.

   With my eyes locked at the end of the tunnel, I ran. Like a swarm of disturbed bats, the nest shifted through the atmosphere, knocking my body onto its front, where a pile of red eyed snakes shimmered into view.

   "What is it with you monsters, always lurking in the shadows?" I grunted through my teeth, quickly scurrying over the snapping serpents. "Can't we all just play nice?"

   Forcing the floor to split, a red raw body crashed close to mine, stopping me in my tracks. Snakes, blacker than the ones that harvested on the ground, slithered around her bare, bloody figure. Esnared by hissing vermin, she looked straight through me with hollowed eyes, tilting her teeth as the wings settled on her back. It looked like every crease on her face had been carved by the tip of a knife.

   "Not so human," she stifled, running her forked tongue towards me.

   I turned to flee, but two more, almost identically mutilated creatures had developed there. They shifted on the spot, refusing to look at me directly.

   "What do you want?" I demanded.

    "Justice," the monster continued. "I see you, deep into you. You've killed so many innocent people, gods too. We have power over you, and murderers are so easy to punish. These days, not many pass through here. I've missed the smell of sin. We all have."

   "It wasn't me. There's a demon inside of me, and it controlls me. I wouldn't kill anyone."

    "You always have your excuses. You always beg for forgiveness." As she spoke, the colour drained from my skin. The cold touch a dark magic widened inside my throat, causing me to choke. "But we can see through all of that. One body, all the same sin. We are not ones for mercy, everyone gets their fair share of punishment. That's what we're here for. Those who do not sin, can pass through here safely, they do not concern us."

   "S-Stop..." I tried to say, brought down to my knees. My vision waned, leaving me with only the sense of pain.

    "As punishment for your sin, you a thrown a very short line. You must die if you want to live. Suicide or self harm will not aid you, you must die in an act of love and compassion. Only then, will the curse be lifted. If done within the next twenty four hours, the demon inside of you will be taken. Your body will be your own. However, as soon as the clock is up, if you're still alive, lacking the terms of this curse, your heart will stop. No magic, light or dark will ever be able to lift you from hell, you will burn there for eternity."

   Stretching out a single, graggy finger, the creature started to melt away and the cave with it, leaving my ears with one last cackle, "If you get out of here alive, that is," it circled. "We're not the only ones down here."