"Hell!?" I asked, shocked.
"Yes, Hell is real. It's where all the demons reside." Her serious tone cracked a little bit at my reaction.
"How many more races of demons are there?"
"A lot." She said simply, "More than I care to count."
"That many, huh?" I said, lost in thought.
I wonder what other kinds of demons there were, what they looked like, how they acted.
"Remember when I told you you were born in the physical realm." She paused, letting me think back. "This means you have a physical body. I can't take you into Hell with a physical body, or else you'll burn alive the second we step into Hell."
"So what does that mean exactly? Are you going to rip my soul from my body?" I said jokingly.
"That's exactly what that means."
"Huh?" I took a couple of seconds to process what she just said, "Wait a minute, you're gonna rip my soul from my body!?"
"Well, not your "soul" exactly. Every living being has a spirit: plants, animals, humans, and demons. I simply reach into your body and pull that out."
"You can do that?!"
"Of course." She smiled at me like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Does it… hurt?" I asked, not loving the direction of this conversation.
"It's never been done to me, but I've been told it doesn't hurt, it just feels weird." She paused, "I mean—someone reaching into you and pulling your spirit out, it has to feel weird."
"I guess so. This is all… too much."
"We don't have time to waste." She walked over to me. "Lie on the bed."
I did as she said. She reached into my sternum. I felt it. She was right, it didn't… hurt necessarily. It felt like someone had reached into me and was tickling me from inside. Kind of like when your hand goes numb, or when you hit your funny bone and your whole arm tingles.
Next thing I knew, I was falling through the floor.
Remy caught me. "Oh, I forgot to mention—you can't interact with the physical world."
"Would've been nice to know beforehand."
"Teehee."
"Don't teehee me."
She pulled me back up to my cell through my floor.
"What about my physical body? What's going to happen to it?" I was scared of the answer.
"Well, without a spirit in it, it won't decay. It'll just go through the daily motions."
"I haven't even been in prison for a day yet, how would it know the daily motions?"
"The brain and body truly are remarkable." She said cryptically—then summoned a portal and tossed me through.
I landed on my back, even though I was in spirit form, I still felt the heat all around me.
"Man, it's still hot in here, even in spirit form," I said to no one in particular, getting up and dusting myself off.
"I never said it wasn't going to be hot. If it's hot enough to combust a physical body the moment they step through the portal, it's obviously still going to be hot. Besides, I never said you can't feel heat." She said, following behind me and stepping through the portal.
"Fair enough." I paused and looked around. "Where are we going?"
The portal had sent us inside the side of what I assumed was a mountain. In front of the mountain was open, the walls were stone, as was the floor. There was lava running down at one spot in the opening in front of us.
I walked over to the opening and gazed upon the sight before my eyes.
It was a city.
An entire city. I was too far away, so I couldn't see it perfectly, but it was a massive city. There was also a huge black and red castle looking over the city.
"That's Centralis, right in the heart of Hell, it's the capital city, and the big castle is where the demon lord lives."
"Wow." I was speechless, Wow was all I could manage. Then I came to my senses.
"Wait, you said I couldn't interact with the physical world, so why did I not go through the ground where I landed?"
"Because Hell is not a part of the physical realm, it is its own dimension that's separate from the physical world, it spreads on for what seems like forever."
"So, it's a spiritual realm?" I paused, "Hell, is that big?!" I finally processed what she had said.
"Mhmm, if you wanted to get from one side of Hell to the other, it would take quite a while."
"That seems like an understatement."
"Understatement indeed," she said, "it would take so long that I can't even put it into words." She was having fun, I could tell from her laughter.
"Shall we get moving? We'll head to Centralis." She gestured towards the city.
We made our way down a jagged obsidian path that zigzagged down the mountain.
I was looking at some towers off in the distance.
"Don't stare too long," Remy said casually. "Sometimes they stare back."
"Huh," I said. I looked to my left at Remy and then at the towers.
It blinked. I flinched and looked away.
"Creepy," I muttered to myself.
We crossed a bridge over a glowing red river. Lava? Blood? I didn't want to know. On the other side of the bridge was a gate shaped like a screaming mouth.
As soon as we stepped through it, the noise blasted my ears.
Demons of all shapes and sizes roamed the streets. Some walked on all fours, some slithered, and some hovered. A three-eyed merchant was haggling with another demon over a soul sealed in a crystal. A centaur-looking demon pulled a cart of writhing, whispering weapons.
"Welcome to the outermost part of Centralis, the Trade Circle," Remy said, tossing her long blue hair over her shoulders like this was just… normal. Although I guess she's lived here for most of her life, it would be normal for her. "You want cursed coins, bottled memories, or a soul-bound pet? They have it all."
I stepped aside as a two-headed demon bumped into me. He was speaking in a language I couldn't understand, but I somehow knew he was cursing me out.
Remy chuckled, "You're lucky he didn't do more to you."
I saw a deal being made. A demon had cut his hand open and smeared it on a piece of paper. The other party just nodded and walked away with a candle. It flickered once, then went still.
"What was that?" I asked.
"A soul-bound pet contract being made. Hard to tell what it'll turn into, though." Remy replied.
We made our way deeper into the city. The air thickened with smog and magic, and it started getting hard to breathe. Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled, loud enough for the whole city to hear it.
I looked up.
There it was—the castle I had seen from the mountainside cave. High above everything else in the city, it was watching everything happen.
"The demon lord's castle, Umbra Citadel." She said in response to my gaze.
Red lights pulsed across its surface, making the whole castle look like it was breathing. I could've sworn I saw a wing stretch out from one of its towers before folding back in.
"That's our final destination, eventually," Remy said.
"Eventually?" I asked.
"We need to get you acquainted with hell before you go knocking on the big bad's door. I don't want you disrespecting the demon lord without knowing."
"Fair enough."
After I got acquainted with the customs and culture of Hell, Remy took me Umbra Citadel.
The path to Umbra Citadel wound through blackstone streets lined with twisted towers and screaming statues. Firelight flickered in windows, but no one was on the street.
The castle gates were massive, twice the height of any building I'd seen in the physical realm. Each door had symbols carved into it: a black flame, a thorned spider, an open mouth screaming into the void, a scale with both sides burning equally, and a blank mask.
People were standing under each symbol with the corresponding crest on their armour.
"Wonderful. They're all here." Remy hissed quietly.
A woman draped in molten red armour stepped forward first. Her hair flickered like a flame, and her eyes burned with arrogance. She looked me up and down with the same expression you might give to a blade you intend to use.
"So this is the spirit Remy risked a cross-realm extraction for? I was expecting someone... older and taller." The woman said.
"That's Saerra of the Cinderspire Court," Remy said.
From the Shadows, a man slithered; he had too many eyes and a smile that didn't quite fit his face. He bowed low, his voice was like silk laced with venom.
"Height and age are irrelevant, my dear Saerra. What matters is what's inside of him-and what we might do with it."
"That's Silis of the Web of Thorns."
Then came slow, dragging steps. A robed figure, faceless, with a lantern that held screaming souls inside. He made no sounds of greeting. Instead, his voice came from within my head.
"Your pain sings to us."
"That's the Hollow Chorus, the most mysterious Court in all of Hell."
Finally, stepping out from behind everyone else, robes lined with burning contract runes, a tall demon with golden eyes spoke.
"Enough." His voice cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. "This spirit is under protection. The law remains intact-unless any of you wish to challenge the Treaty of Ash."
Silence fell over the group like a shroud. No one moved, no one dared to.
Remy leaned in close and whispered, "That's Vorin from the Ebon Concord Court." Remy paused before continuing, "Welcome to Hell's high society."