Re: The Wretched Rite - Round Two - Inferno Alpha
02-17-2012, 10:42 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by engineclock.
She had no time to think before the screaming winds of Hell tore her away like a leaf in a storm, flinging her into the maw of a monster whose hands dragged her down, down, down into its belly to drown in the swell of bodies that twisted within it. Her hair, her hands were tangled into the battered limbs of the sinners tangled in a knot of heaving flesh, the droning of their screams and sighs crushing into her mind. In every direction was a face: windburnt and teeth bared in a welcoming smile as they clustered around her, choking her with the scent of sin and lust. She pressed her hands to her temples, trying to drown out the din of the storm, but hands pawed at her body and she felt someone take her shoulder and press their mouth against her ear. Panicked, she tried to shove them away, but it might have been iron manacles holding her for all she managed to escape.
“Hey, hey, relax,” a voice shouted soothingly. “You’re fine. You’re okay here.”
“Th’fuck are you doing?” Adelaide cried, trying to claw her way free of her assailant. Through the flying mess of her hair she could just make out the pale form of someone clinging to her side, a bright spot amidst the shadowy crowd.
The wind howled and shifted direction abruptly, twisting her and her makeshift anchor upside-down as they bounced clumsily against the bodies surrounding them. Adelaide’s view of the world tilted sickeningly and she stopped fighting for a moment as she forced back the urge to be sick.
“There we go, love. See, it’s just what you signed up for,” her rescuer said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. “The first few days are a bit rough, I’m afraid. It’ll take some getting used to.”
“Wh- th- this is not fuckin’ what I signed up for!” The rusalka snarled. A swipe of her claws parted her hair long enough to catch a glimpse of a rather pudgy young woman cuddled up to her. She reeled back only to collide with the sweaty form of some unseen person, who grumbled something she couldn’t hear and twisted away. Retching, Adelaide reluctantly turned back to the woman, who smiled encouragingly. “An’ who-”
“I’m Amy,” she said, seizing Adelaide’s hand and shaking it heartily. “I’ve been here nearly three incarnations now, so I’ll show you the ropes. It’s all pretty simple, really, see we’ve got the worst sinners below- whoops!- above us, now, and the lesser offenders are closer to the top, and we’re somewhere near the middle right now, so you can’t have been that bad in life. Were you a prostitute?”
“What?”
“You know, a call girl, a scarlet woman, a courtsysan, whatever you wanted to be called,” Amy said happily. She leaned in closer and gave Adelaide a gentle hug, ignoring the bared fangs the rusalka greeted her with. “It’s alright to be just a bit embarrassed, you know, I always was and most of the girls here like us feel at least a little guilty, and they should, I mean, this is Hell after all!” Amy gave a laugh that most people would have recognized better coming from a horse and pointed downward towards the thick of the storm.
Dazed, Adelaide followed her gesture and flinched. Thousands upon thousands of sinners twirled and spun like berserk dancers below her, growing ever more dense as they fell towards the bottom of what seemed to be a cavern, miles deep and shrouded in shadow. The swell of bodies grew tighter and tighter until she could no longer see past them, only a dark calico of all the shades of flesh the rusalka had ever seen and more locked in a constant tangle. Even the tearing winds did little more than nudge the thicket of their bodies.
She turned back to the happily grinning Amy. “What the fuck?”
Amy’s face fell slightly. “It’s Lust. You belong here. Don’t you like it?”
“No,” Adelaide snarled, “I don’t. I don’t fuckin’ like any of this. Fuckin’- Unborn, don’t even know what that is, fuckin’ old idiot tellin’ us what to do-” She shoved Amy, who wriggled back a pace, looking hurt. “I was,” Adelaide said, punching a stray leg, “a perfectly fine fuckin’ person, mindin’ my own god-son-of-a-damn business in my river and now I’m in Hell of all places, what did I even do, huh? Not like I fuckin’ deserve it.” She began to climb her way upwards through the swell of bodies, stepping on faces, arms, hands, and mouths, eliciting a trail of indignant shouts. “How do I get out of this shithole?” she yelled down at Amy.
“You can’t- you just- there’s a maintenance bridge over there…”
“’Bout fuckin’ time.”
“But where are you going?” Amy cried.
“I’m gotta find my fuckin’ girlfriend,” Adelaide grumbled, and shoved an unfortunate sinner aside by the face. “Dumb bitch is mad at me.”
She had no time to think before the screaming winds of Hell tore her away like a leaf in a storm, flinging her into the maw of a monster whose hands dragged her down, down, down into its belly to drown in the swell of bodies that twisted within it. Her hair, her hands were tangled into the battered limbs of the sinners tangled in a knot of heaving flesh, the droning of their screams and sighs crushing into her mind. In every direction was a face: windburnt and teeth bared in a welcoming smile as they clustered around her, choking her with the scent of sin and lust. She pressed her hands to her temples, trying to drown out the din of the storm, but hands pawed at her body and she felt someone take her shoulder and press their mouth against her ear. Panicked, she tried to shove them away, but it might have been iron manacles holding her for all she managed to escape.
“Hey, hey, relax,” a voice shouted soothingly. “You’re fine. You’re okay here.”
“Th’fuck are you doing?” Adelaide cried, trying to claw her way free of her assailant. Through the flying mess of her hair she could just make out the pale form of someone clinging to her side, a bright spot amidst the shadowy crowd.
The wind howled and shifted direction abruptly, twisting her and her makeshift anchor upside-down as they bounced clumsily against the bodies surrounding them. Adelaide’s view of the world tilted sickeningly and she stopped fighting for a moment as she forced back the urge to be sick.
“There we go, love. See, it’s just what you signed up for,” her rescuer said, patting her shoulder comfortingly. “The first few days are a bit rough, I’m afraid. It’ll take some getting used to.”
“Wh- th- this is not fuckin’ what I signed up for!” The rusalka snarled. A swipe of her claws parted her hair long enough to catch a glimpse of a rather pudgy young woman cuddled up to her. She reeled back only to collide with the sweaty form of some unseen person, who grumbled something she couldn’t hear and twisted away. Retching, Adelaide reluctantly turned back to the woman, who smiled encouragingly. “An’ who-”
“I’m Amy,” she said, seizing Adelaide’s hand and shaking it heartily. “I’ve been here nearly three incarnations now, so I’ll show you the ropes. It’s all pretty simple, really, see we’ve got the worst sinners below- whoops!- above us, now, and the lesser offenders are closer to the top, and we’re somewhere near the middle right now, so you can’t have been that bad in life. Were you a prostitute?”
“What?”
“You know, a call girl, a scarlet woman, a courtsysan, whatever you wanted to be called,” Amy said happily. She leaned in closer and gave Adelaide a gentle hug, ignoring the bared fangs the rusalka greeted her with. “It’s alright to be just a bit embarrassed, you know, I always was and most of the girls here like us feel at least a little guilty, and they should, I mean, this is Hell after all!” Amy gave a laugh that most people would have recognized better coming from a horse and pointed downward towards the thick of the storm.
Dazed, Adelaide followed her gesture and flinched. Thousands upon thousands of sinners twirled and spun like berserk dancers below her, growing ever more dense as they fell towards the bottom of what seemed to be a cavern, miles deep and shrouded in shadow. The swell of bodies grew tighter and tighter until she could no longer see past them, only a dark calico of all the shades of flesh the rusalka had ever seen and more locked in a constant tangle. Even the tearing winds did little more than nudge the thicket of their bodies.
She turned back to the happily grinning Amy. “What the fuck?”
Amy’s face fell slightly. “It’s Lust. You belong here. Don’t you like it?”
“No,” Adelaide snarled, “I don’t. I don’t fuckin’ like any of this. Fuckin’- Unborn, don’t even know what that is, fuckin’ old idiot tellin’ us what to do-” She shoved Amy, who wriggled back a pace, looking hurt. “I was,” Adelaide said, punching a stray leg, “a perfectly fine fuckin’ person, mindin’ my own god-son-of-a-damn business in my river and now I’m in Hell of all places, what did I even do, huh? Not like I fuckin’ deserve it.” She began to climb her way upwards through the swell of bodies, stepping on faces, arms, hands, and mouths, eliciting a trail of indignant shouts. “How do I get out of this shithole?” she yelled down at Amy.
“You can’t- you just- there’s a maintenance bridge over there…”
“’Bout fuckin’ time.”
“But where are you going?” Amy cried.
“I’m gotta find my fuckin’ girlfriend,” Adelaide grumbled, and shoved an unfortunate sinner aside by the face. “Dumb bitch is mad at me.”