~~
Trinity
~~
I tried to forget about the feeling of someone watching me. I tried to ignore the fact that I could literally feel someone behind me, even though I couldn't see them. There was no point in paying attention to it until I found Hekate and ended her reign of terror before it could even begin.
As I scouted the area around me, I saw that Damnation actually looked like it was nothing but a giant hallway. It was moving in a straight line from here to the other end, which happened to be out of sight.
And even though this appeared to be nothing more than a one straight hallway, it was a very wide hallway. Looking at it, I could tell that this space was many times bigger than my castle was. Even if I tried to make the castle like this, it would pale in comparison and that was really saying something. Since we all knew that my castle was one of the biggest buildings in the entire world. Unofficially, of course; since hardly anyone knew about it. Maybe one day we could get it on record or something. Hundreds of years from now when we reintroduce the world to magic and try to make sure that we all live in one harmonious world together.
For now, though, I was left in awe of this hall. Trying to wrap my mind around the sheer size of it was like trying to learn hieroglyphics instantly. It just wasn't possible. I was going to have to take my time with this and come to terms with it over time.
"So, does anyone know anything about this hallway?" I asked them, waiting to move on.
"No, I have never been in this area before." Rudy looked repentant and embarrassed.
"I never intended to come here. You brought me here against my will. Alexio growled at me.
"I already said that I was sorry, Alexio. Next time I will let the hell snake eat you. Would that make you feel better?" I tried not to sound too upset with him. He was having a hard time as well.
"No. It won't." He crossed his arms in anger and acted like a child. I sighed and waited just a moment before I started to speak again.
"Alright, well if no one knows anything then-."
'I know a little.' The other me spoke up for the first time in a while. She had been silent for such a long time that I had thought that she was gone for good. Well, too bad, I guess.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, Rudy." I shook my head to alleviate his worry. "It's just the voice inside my head." I laughed at myself and the way that it must have sounded. "It's my inner dark side. She came into being when I was in the Hall of Self Reflection. Now that she's home inside my head, she is still talking to me. Though she assured me that would end when I left the underworld."
"Oh." He sounded like he didn't get it at all.
"Just give me a moment. Let me talk to her for a bit."
"Uh.. y..yeah, sure, OK."
Yup, I was definitely looking like a crazy person to him. Most likely to Alexio as well. Why did I have to seem so crazy right now? What was the point of it? Why couldn't the world, or these two demons, just see that it was nothing crazy and it was just normal? Well, whatever, I needed to talk to myself for now. I didn't have time to think about all of that stuff at the moment.
"OK, you know about the Hall of Damnation. Then tell me. Tell me what it is all about."
'I do not know much. There are few that know about it after all. However, the magic that brought me to life was the magic of the underworld itself. The magic knew things so, therefore, I know things. This is a very big benefit for you, so you should consider yourself lucky.' The other me's attitude was still there. That had not changed at all. Then again, if her attitude was supposed to be a copy of mine, then I guess it wouldn't ever go away. Was that supposed to be some sort of divine punishment for me? Oh well, I would deal with it.
"Yes, I consider myself so very lucky to have you with me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. What would I ever do without you?" I let the exasperation literally drip from my voice and felt the other me laugh at the sound of it.
'You are letting your dark side show, Trinity. I like it.' Her voice giggled inside of my head before she continued. 'Now, let us move on from that. I will tell you the little bit that I know about the Hall of Damnation. It is, as you said, one hallway. It will eventually go on for eternity as it will expand each time that more souls are added to Damnation. However, as you can see, there is no constant stream of souls coming to this place. Most of the people that receive punishments in the underworld only go to Purgatory. Even if they did bad things, their souls can be redeemed. The people that wind up here though, are the ones that are deemed to be beyond redemption. It takes a lot for anyone, human or not, to make it into this part of the underworld. However, when they are here, they are tortured most viciously than those in Purgatory. Some of them get a recovery period between their punishments, but it is not long, and they are definitely few and far between.'
"OK, so the only differences are that they are here forever, and they are treated more harshly. I understood that already." I summed it all up in one sentence.
'Just hush and listen.' She snapped at me, and I could almost feel her roll her eyes again. 'Now, the way the hall is made is unique as well. The newer the resident the closer to the front they will be. New cells for torture are added on as a needed basis. That means that those that have been here longer, will be further down the hallway.'
Oh, well, wasn't that just great. I needed to find someone that had been here for thousands of years. I needed to find, quite possibly, the first person to ever be sent to the Hall of Damnation. How long was this going to take? And who would I see along the way? What sort of souls were here that deserved torture for all of eternity?
Those were questions that I didn't know the answers to. Nor did I want to find out the answers to them. Right now, all I wanted to do was to start on this journey of mine and find the one soul that seemed to be trying to get out of here.
I was sure that others wanted out of here, but I doubted if they knew how, or even were trying to get out of this place.. Not like Hekate was doing.
