Cedric felt immense pain, it felt as if his whole body was on fire. As he fell in the darkness, he noticed a faint glow in the distance, as he hit the ground,
he heard the constant moaning of people who did not believe in the deities, afraid of the dark.

Cedric stood up and glanced around, people who had lost all concept of reason started to surround him, he draw his rapier and slashed at their feet.
The men fell, and upon impact, turned to ash.

He looked around, nothing… The area was completely dark. He felt as if he was blind, him unable to bear the constant feeling of being blind, he raised his hand and a ball of fire appeared, he enlarged the fire, a quick shudder of relief hit him as he saw the light. But this was short lived however, as more of the ashed men appeared, he threw the fireball at his attackers, the fire spreading throughout them and engulfing the entire hoard in flames.

He saw a little girl? Perhaps this child died to early to learn about the deities. His mind told him not to, but his heart made him go towards the little girl.
As he saw the girl's back, he noticed something… Back in the living plane, when the goddess Dalanesca appeared and gave a riddle, he realized that this was the
"Pale Death"

He created a small ring of light underneath the girl, the girl looked down and tilted her head in curiosity, then… BLAM! An explosion went off.
The girl however, did not move an inch. The girl faced Cedric and then the girl sent off a dark wave of energy, pushing Cedric to his feet.

The girl then towered over him, and as the girl formed a black spike in her right hand, he thought
"No, not like this" in his mind, kind of a promise, rather than last thoughts

As the pale death brought the black spike down to stab the person before her to death there was sparking as a shield of magic surrounded him then shattered. Just in time.The thought crossed her mind as a concussive blast of air shot at the pale death from the side flinging the small girl away from the man. She then made her appearance. She appeared a few feet behind the man and waved as she said in a cheery tone, "Hello. It looks like you could use a hand."  With another burst of magic a small fairy looking creature made out of flames appeared beside her and circled her head. Mercury colored eyes looked to the creature and asked, "Would you mind?" The small fiery thing flew at the approaching pale death and slammed into it's face. When it made contact a large explosion went off, shaking the very ground. When the smoke cleared the pale death was still there but badly damaged. "That's about all I can offer at the moment for attacking head on. Don't want to use all my energy on the first level, but I can help you out with the rest if you like." With a hand motion a small spark went off in her hand and shot towards the man like a homing missile. If he let it hit him he might be a bit tingly but he would find his strength increasing and any damage he may have start to heal. She also kept her emergency spell ready to cast in case it was needed, she hoped it wasn't this time but it's best to be safe when you support a fighter. She also kept a few protection spells ready to shoot off in case he was unable to block an attack from the again approaching pale death. She shook out her long silvery hair and said, "I know we don't know eachother but it might be worth teaming up in order to get through the gates of hell." She could only hope he felt the same and wouldn't turn on her the moment her back was turned. From her short time in this era she had found that people were hard to trust, you were more likely to get stabbed in the back than find a sincere person. 

Cedric stood up, and thanked the creature. He faced the Pale Death, it was ominously walking towards them.
"Hey, uh, I could use some magic enhancing spells, even though I can cast magic, I'm not necessarily decent at it"

Cedric's left hand lit up, turning the veins fiery red, another ring appeared below the Pale Death which caught her on fire, and suddenly, it exploded.
He combined two spells' effects together, a burning flame, then a violent explosion. Nothing can make a more devastating effect.

Cedric was exhausted, but quickly perked right back up, thanks to Lily's spell. The Pale Death was almost down. Just one more of the powerful spell he 
had cast perviously, but his mana was fading, the once fiery red veins turned back to blue, representing his mana, and it was slowly fading.
"Oh come on!" Cedric said, frustrated. He had no other choice but to fight her head on. But he had nothing else but a crossbow with 6 bolts, and a heavily damaged rapier.
He couldn't wait for his mana to recharge, so he used the last of his mana to shoot a fireball at the Pale Death, it wasn't as devastating, but it was powerful.

But the Pale Death didn't die that easily, She stamped her foot on the ground and made spikes appear in a helix pattern, Cedric quickly pushed Lily out of the way, and he dodged the spikes. "How do you even kill the daughter of the reaper?" Cedric questioned. This battle almost made him insane, but with the mana recharged, he quickly used the powerful spell he had used. The Pale Death was flung 9 feet from where they were standing, and then, the death didn't stand back up. She was defeated.

Cedric was overwhelmed with joy at the defeat of the death. But… How do we get to the second circle? Cedric stamped his foot onto the ground. "OH FOR-" and then a ring of red appeared under their feet, and then, they fell.

Cedric felt the same pain he felt on his way to purgatory, the pain however, was toned down, again, thanks to Lily's spell.
And when they hit the ground, it was remarkably lighter than purgatory. And then, he saw millions upon millions of people, trapped in this realm. With the wardens The Succubus and the Incubus.

Cedric prayed to the Deities for safety in traversing the second circle of hell.

"Magic enhancing spells." She said then paused to think. She shrugged then continued, "Well unless you use lightning based spells it'd be harder to enhance the magic, but I'll try to figure out how along the way. I'm more of a healer really." 

His combined spell was destructive in a way that she had to use a strong protection spell to make sure there was no backlash from the blast. She looked at the pale death in wonder as it had somehow still managed to survive the man's onslaught. Even being several feet away from him she found herself in the way of one of the pale death's attacks. She was fully prepared to dodge when she felt herself being pushed. "What?" She said as she fell to the ground out of the way of the attack. The man's counter attack was finally enough to take down the thing. "I think I read somewhere that the goddess of death's daughter was actually already dead or something along those lines." She said as she stood up and made her way over to him, looking him over for any injuries. He seemed on the verge of having a hissy fit when a portal opened beneath them and they fell into the second circle. She used a blast of air to soften the landing and stood up quickly as she had fallen to the ground…again. She quickly took in her surroundings. There were so many people… too many. Her eyes widened and her hands started to shake. She couldn't handle big crowds well. Some had taken notice of their arrival right away. Two beautiful looking ladies in  translucent, skimpy outfits that barely covered the goods came sauntering over and started fauning over them. They had some sort of charm about them that hazed the mind just enough that most may fall under their spell and follow them to where ever it was they wanted, but the anxiety from the pressing crowd of people, all bathed in some red tinted light made Lily not only irritated but almost go into a full blown anxiety attack. The two lustfilled creatures were trying to draw her and the strange man apart from eachother and bring them somewhere. When the lady lay her hand upon her shoulder and tried to draw her forth as a reflex Lily's hand came up and she backhanded the lady, not gently either. "Don't touch me!" She yelled and hid behind the man. Rage filled the lady's eyes and she seemed to transform right in front of them into one of the wardens. This technique was probably used by them to lure the unsuspecting victim into seclusion before torturing them or whatever these creatures did to make the inhabitants of the second circle of hell suffer for their sins. She peaked out from behind him and said, "Make them go away. I don't like it here." She pleaded with the man. The crowd and the sin filled creatures was enough to make her close to her breaking point. She didnt want to snap and go berserk here to try and rid this place of the sin that coated the very air. All around her it felt like walls closing in, she was wide eyed as she heard noises behind her. She turned to see more people getting closer, the look in their eyes was terrifying. How were they supposed to get out of this level of hell? Delete the wardens? The people? Her heart raced faster as the mob of people closed in more. Something in her mind snapped. "GET BACK!" She yelled and with a violent hand motion a ring of electricity burst out of her and into the crowd either paralyzing or causing a seizure in those it touched. Luckily she still had enough sense about her to exclude the man from the effects of her spell but she was at wits end. "Too many people, too many people." She said as her eyes darted around looking for some way out but finding none.

Cedric looked at the two succubi, he didn't feel fear one bit, his anger drowned his fear, and hacked and slashed at their throats. They fell to the ground, gasping for air. He kicked them both over, angering the surrounding area, and attracting more succubi, he was still angered. He channeled his energy and his blue mana veins started to glow a fiery red.

Out of nowhere, he caused a huge surrounding explosion, or a chain of explosions. Him praying to the deities seemed to slightly enhance his power in magic a bit.
He was glad that he prayed before doing anything else.

Succubi attacked them both, flinging him far away, Lust had no effect on Cedric, however, as he didn't commit any sin related to adultery. The spell that Lily cast on Cedric wore off, but it did not slow him down, he needed to traverse through all circles of hell to potentially save humanity, he wasn't the first to enter the circles of hell. But he was determined to reach the last circle of hell and live to tell the tale.

Cedric charged with all his might and cut through the crowd, men and women alike. He did not know how to continue on to the next circle.
He looked around for an exit, whilst murdering hordes of tainted souls.

Cedric noticed the lack of incubi, and then, a succubi suddenly appeared behind him and kicked him in the back, toppling him over.
He drew his crossbow and fired 2 shots from the cylinder, and another succubus appeared next to Cedric, he slashed at her feet, causing her to fall, he stood up and stabbed the creature with his rapier, however, as he attempted to pull back his sword, its blade broke in half!

Cedric had no other weapons! He couldn't use magic as it would only drain his mana, and using it with an almost endless supply of succubi, it would no doubt drain his mana.
He took the spear that a succubus was carrying and used it as an alternative to his rapier.

He figured something out! They needed to take them by the source! Cedric had a plan, but Lily wouldn't like it….
 

She was about crack completely, go completely mad in this disgusting sin filled place when the man attacked. He was quickly making his way through the crowd. That seemed to snap some sense back into her. She followed him closely always keeping to his back almost looking like she was dancing about as he rained death upon the mobs of the damned. When he shot two of his bolts Lily had suddenly vanished then reappeared in an instant by the two beings that had been shot and retreated the bolts then again vanished and reappeared behind him again to keep close. His rapier had broken and he had taken up a spear to combat the horde. 

There seemed no end to this madness. They needed to get somewhere to come up with a plan. She scanned around looking for somewhere that's be good to hide. There was a building to the north that was taller than the others, yes some of the wardens had wings but if they could get there unseen it might just give them enough time to come up with some form of plan. First things first, she had to give them a bit of cover for the escape. The almost innocent and whimsical aura that had been radiating from her seemed to shift to something darker. Darker and darker it grew until darkness was literally pouring out from her like a mist. A cloud of darkness enveloped them and she quickly grabbed onto his arm. "I haven't done this before, you'll be my first… I hope it works." She said just loud enough so he could hear her. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration spreading her magic to envelope his body as well as her own. Her magic was naturally electricity based so he'd probably feel sparks running over his body. Then in the blink of an eye they went from being in the middle of the mob to on the rooftop of a tall building. With the confusion below from the dark mist it wasn't yet noticed that they were gone. She quickly yanked him down onto the roof so they weren't just standing there. She lay on the roof and before letting him go she made sure any injury he may have taken was healed. "We may have a few minutes now to come up with a plan. Do you know the invisibility charm? Do you have enough magic after those fireworks to do it if you do? If not I think I've thought up a way to help with that, it probably won't be very pleasant though. Oh, hey what's your name? I never really got a chance to ask and if I'm going to die in hell with you I'd like to know your name." 

Cedric stumbled atop the roof. It was so sudden, the electric shock, the flying sensation and all!
"Oh, uh, it's Cedric." He said, a bit distracted, he looked around for any uninvited demons, nothing around, he was relieved, he stabbed the spear he picked up
from the succubus into the ground and discussed his plan to Lily.

"This plan is a bit risky, but it might just work." Cedric said to Lily, still breathless.
"So, we're either gonna get captured, or follow one of the succubi into their nest or den or source of some kind, and it's your call, since you almost saved our hides back there"
Cedric stood up and loaded the 6 shots into his crossbow's cylinder. He aimed at a nearby succubi, tempted to pull the trigger, but that would give away their position, leading to an easy capture or death.

Cedric put his crossbow down, he remembered how Lily reacted when she was touched by a succubi, and realized that they weren't to be captured, or she'll truly freak out, but he stayed true to his word and let her decide.

He just wanted to reach the 9th circle and get out of this mess he stumbled into himself.

She nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you Cedric, I'm Lily." After the short introductions he didn't seem to answer her question about if he could use the invisibility charm she took his lack of answer as a no and would have to do what she could. She listened to his plan but the moment he said be captures her eye twitched and she responded, "I refuse capture. To be touched by one of those vile creatures is sacrilegious… I'm going to have quite the time as it is to become purified again after just entering this damned place." She sighed and looked over the edge of the roof to observe the chaos below. "We might as well try and find their nest, den, what ever you wish to call it. It will probably be heavily guarded and with the influx in people looking to get through to the next circle they will probably have some traps or something. Unless they are idiots." She fell silent as she observed the people, incubi and succubi below. Many of the sinner people seemed to easily fall under the spell of their wardens and were led away one by one. As the time went on she started to see a pattern. No matter the direction chosen to lead their prey away, they were always led to a similar place. A building where they never emerged from. Each warden moved them to a different building so she could see no connection there, but they were always moved indoors. It wasn't much to go off of but it was all they had at the moment. She stood and said, "Well, I guess there's no time like the present to start. We'll have to take a look inside one of the buildings they keep leading people into. Invisibility given to another needs a constant flow of magic so don't try and run off please." She grabbed his wrist lightly and focused. Once more she spread her magic out over him. Similar sparks of electricity would cascade over him once again. Then, they were invisible. "Shall we get started?" She said then used her magic to teleport them down to one of the buildings the wardens seemed to bring their prey. She quickly moved inside the building, not letting go of his wrist. For a few moments she looked around before her invisible eyes fell upon some stairs. She pulled lightly on his arm in the direction of the stairs, maintaining her silence. She made her way over and started to descend with him in tow, not making a noise with her steps. 

The stairs went deep into the ground and led them to a tunnel. It was lit by some ghastly red light dimmer but not dissimilar to the light above ground. Silently she made her way down the passage. It was a good five minute walk before it opened up into a great chamber. It was decked out in red, that seemed to be their favorite color here, and along the walls were skins… skins of humans… there weren't as many guarding as she would have expected, and those guarding seemed to focus on one point, a well. There was a large well in the middle if the room. It was large enough for three people standing side by side to fit into it. Knowing he couldn't see her she instead pulled him along towards the well. Finally she could get out of this wretched place. Once close enough she let the invisibility spell drop and the guards instantly tried to stop her, but nothing would stop her, she had enough of this place and was leaving… now. With a wave of her hand a concussive blast of wind knocked the creatures away. She pulled him along and without even thinking walked into the well falling downward into the next circle of hell.

When the falling had ceased she found herself in a tavern of people all eating. Some threw up and with terrified glances started eating again. A disgusted look came over her face and said in a voice matching her expression, "This is almost worse than the last place… almost."  She looked around and noticed the five cerberus dogs. The probable way out seemed quite obvious, three of the five were guarding a door. The other two were stalking about. There were screams as those who refused to eat were devoured by the two stalking dogs. "Oooohh puppies." She said as her eyes suddenly lit up and she seemed so childish. She had to stop herself from running up to one of the many headed dogs and trying to pet it. 

Cedric fell down, face first. He got up, and looked around, his beaked mask was crushed. He took it off and quickly put on a bandanna around his face, covering his mouth and nose. He wasn't very used to revealing his face, he wasn't ugly, no, but he preferred that he covered his face.

But, this was to be useless, however, as he was to be forced to eat endlessly, at first, it seemed like an amazing paradise, until he found out that you weren't allowed to stop eating, no pauses, no nothing.

Cedric took an apple and bit into it, thus, he had begun his cycle, he finished the apple and took a chicken leg, closely watching the 3 three headed dogs.
He found a weak spot in them devouring the people eating, they were distracted at that point and could easily be slashed and killed, this circle was greatly easier than the last two, he finished the chicken leg, and moved on to a pear, he tried to eat the smallest foods possible and as slowly as possible, his patience (and math skills) were being tested, he figured out a strange pattern, people would get eaten at a time, and then, he just needed to find when all 15 heads would be busy. After a few meals, the fifteen heads all chomped on disobedient sinners. This was the time to strike, now, or never (or wait for a few meals until the dogs would devour again) He finished the orange he was eating on time too, he quickly spun the spear he grabbed, and slashed at the necks of the Cerberus, blood spattering the delicious food, although eating was Cedric's favorite activities, when it was forced and endless, he had to draw a line. He slashed off 8 heads, leaving 7 heads of the Cerberus'. He attempted to blow the last one's heads off but failed, he attempted to summon his pet crow, and there he was, making a huge distraction for the headed dogs, luckily his crow was fast and loyal. He slashed down the last Cerberus' last heads.

"This was easier than I thought." He would soon eat those words as a 10 headed winged dong appeared and destroyed the roof of the tavern.
"That isn't fair, Dalanesca never said that there was a 6th dog!" Cedric cried, looking up at the large 10 headed wild beast.

As if called upon by the desperate cries of Cedric, a long, ethereal and wavering note floated over the tavern. The massive beast pausing its merciless assault upon the roof, it slowly slides down as the crystalline and ultimately hypnotic and soothing song trailed off. Emerging from the heaps of food and ruined bodies, a young woman in a storm grey gown holding an ebony violin drew the white-horse hair bow across the silver strings once more. Expertly weaving what seemed to be a truly improvised song- which seemed to be calming the beasts, driving them away.

The stranger seemed not to be focusing on Cedric nor Lillith, merely the beasts themselves, her light olive eyes flickering to to them only briefly. She offers a mere and small, lovely smile,"…" before simply striding over the ruins of the Tavern, heading toward the door in complete silence but for the seeming siren song of the stringed instrument.