Outside the chamber stood Emma, the director. She stood together with other directors and instructors. The air was tense.
A Hell-Knight hasn't been selected at this location in 10 years.
And the reaction the sphere had gotten proved it was no ordinary selection either. They had all heard the antagonizing painful screaming before coming from the chamber. During this time no one had spoken. The screams had a pressure, making some faint.
Emma walked back and forward, waiting for the Knight to step out of the chamber. It had been and hour now.
She looked at the other directors. "Does it take this long?" she asked the most senior director.
The director named Josef nodded. "There have been cases of it taking as long as 12 hours." Josef has been working at the Knight ceremony facility for 30 years. He knew it like the back of his hand, he has seen Knight come and go, most never returning. He had only seen 2 knight return from hell.
Emma looked worried, she had never seen a Hell-Knight being born. She had only seen the veteran Hell-Knight in the top.
As she passed back and forward, a loud thud was heard from the chamber.
Everyone almost stopped breathing. The tension was at a peak, and then. The chamber door opened.
A Knight clad in white and golden armor appeared. The pressure from her made everyone get a headache instantly.
Emma looked at the young knight, golden eyes glowed from its helmet.
The armor was beautiful, and it carried something with it, was it pride or something else.
Lia stepped slowly into the room with all the other in it. The detail on her armor now more visible as she stepped into the bright room.
No one spoke. The silence pressed against their ears like the weight of deep water.
As Lia stepped forward, her armor was silent, she moved with grace. "What happens now, director?" she looked at Emma.
Emma didn't get her words directly, she was in awe.
"Sorry." She said realizing she had been staring. She felt like she was talking to someone much older than herself. "We will now go to the transport chamber. Please follow me." She said as she took step towards the exit.
Lia followed behind, her steps steady.
The door opened with a hiss. And outside the door stood people about to get tested. Even news outlets were there.
The emergence of the new Hell-Knight made everyone look. The news photographers started taking picture. The cameras flashed. And reporters stood and reported. Noone dared approach the new knight.
The other 15-year-old pointed and whispered in her direction. She knew some of them from her class. But she didn't pay it mind.
"Before we enter, we will need to take an official photograph for the Hell-Knight registry. Please stand here." she pointed to a marked spot, behind the spot was a window. The windows view was that of and mountain in the distance. It gave a really nice background, one unique for this city.
The picture was taken. The press and news also grabbed their pictures during this time. Lia didn't care about them, she was about to enter Hell. Maybe to never return. So, this wouldn't affect her in any way.
"Poor girl. May her god shield her."
"We will probably never see her again"
This could be heard from time to time. They looked at her with sympathy and pity as she passed them.
The transport chamber was located under the tower. It was hidden deep down in the ground. The old medieval feeling of the tower stuck out here. tunnels made from stone and wood. It smelled damp and abandoned, the probably haven't been down here in a while.
A big wooden door stood at the end of the tunnel. Emma walked towards it an took out a big metal key. She slotted the key into the socket. The door creaked and clicked as it was unlocked and opened.
The chamber ahead was big. Two columns of pillars held up the ceiling. Between the columns was a path towards a big stone arch. The pillars had torches on the, as the walked down the path the torches lit up. From the roof hung banners, old and newer.
Lia walked down the path, the directors behind her Emma walked closest to her.
The walk down to the arch was tense, quiet and yet it felt peaceful to Lia. She knew she was about to probably die. But of course, she wasn't about to give up without a fight. She was chosen after all, by a god.
'I will return' she thought as she stopped in front of the arch.
On her right was a floating orb. "To activate the portal, you just need to touch the orb." Emma said behind her.
She took a moment to breath, and think about the earth she was about to leave. It didn't feel real, and yet here she was.
'Let's do this Lia, lets make Hell itself cry' said the god in her head.
She reached for the orb, as soon as she touched it. the arch begun humming. The ground shock. Soon the arch began glowing up, symbols appeared. From the bottom the started lighting up one after one. And once it reached the top, the portal lit up. A red portal opened. It hummed and almost screamed. Small arches of lighting came from it, red particles spread throughout the room.
Emma and the directors took a step back at the sight and feeling of the portal.
Lia looked back at them. "I will be back"
Emma nodded towards her. "God look honored Knight, may the gods protect you"
As she said that, Lia turned back towards the portal and walked slowly into it. the red portal soon enveloped her.
The world became red. Feelings disappeared, and it became warm. Screams could be heard, dark feeling could be felt, pain could be seen. These things flashed into Lia's mind as she was begin transported.
The red around her melted into black.
The screams and feeling became more intense.
'Keep yourself, remember who you are. Hell will try to consume you from within. Don't let it.' the god inside her said calmly.
The black turned red again. and then she fell forward. Slamming into solid ground. She gasped for air, the air was thick, dry, warm and tasting of ash and iron.
Slowly, she lifted her head.
She was in a wasteland, a sky of swirling crimson clouds stretched above her, pierced by streaks of black lightning that never reached the ground.
She stood up. The land itself was alive, shifting dunes of ash, skeletal trees that wept glowing sap, and rivers of something far too dark to be water.
In the far distance, she could see ruins, a fortress the size of a mountain, burning faintly from within.
"Where… am I?" she whispered.
"Your domain," said the voice of her god. "The chains that bind it are mine. The demons here are yours to conquer."
The ground split open beneath her feet.
A hand, blackened, with claws of bone, burst through the ash, followed by another. A creature dragged itself out, tall and skeletal, its eyes burning with hunger. Then another rose. And another. Within seconds, dozens of twisted figures surrounded her, crawling from the soil, shrieking, their voices blending into a chorus of hatred.
Her mind told her to run, but something told her no. I want to fight. Her body reacted, drawing her two swords. Her eyes now glowing golden again, she took a stance in front of the skeletal demons.
Chains of light erupted from her back, hundreds of them, each one snapping through the air like whips. They wrapped around the nearest demon and tore it apart in a single movement.
The others hesitated. The ash beneath them quaked.
"You are the Knight of Chains," the god's voice said, calm and proud.
"And this Hell… now belongs to you."
The demons screamed and rushed her.
Lia clenched her fist, and the world exploded in light.
Blood and ash spread throughout the air. Ripped demons flew and landed in the ash ground. Horrific sounds coming from the demons as the lunged at her.
The chains on her back ripped and slashed at the demons. Her swords flew through the air and cut demons in half.
Then it stopped, Lia stood in the middle of the corpses. Not tired no, she was excited. This feeling wasn't hers, it was from the god. She was becoming like him.
Her armor now painted with ash and deep red blood. Her swords dripped of blood. She sheathed her sword and looked around.
"Where should I start?" she asked out to the god Erythos.
she stood on top of one of the big skeletal remains as she looked around.
'Look to your right, there seem to be some sort of ruin there, lets start there' the god said in her mind.
She looked over to her right and saw some small fortress ruin in the distance. Not very big but it's a start of something. It looked like a long walk to get there.
'Alright, better get going then' she thought as she started walking.
The way there was just a wasteland, nothing lived here. on the way to her destination, she looked around more. There seemed to be some sort of forest in the distance as well.
"So, tell me, what can I expect to find in hell. Other than demons trying to kill me." She asked to her god. There must be something else out there.
The god thought for a while. "There are many things. You could find demons who actually are a lot like humans, they talk, eat, sleep. A lot like humans but they are demons." He said casually.
"Do I kill them as well?" Lia asked.
"You don't have too if you don't want to. The living demons aren't the threat really. some can even decide to help you, or become friends. It depends a little on who you meet." He said.
So, the demons that are the non-thinking kind are kill on site. But there are also the smart demons as he explained, these function a lot like humans and even have cities and functional governments and economies. While some of these smart demons may not like seeing me, some may.
The air didn't get better as she walked, she had already walked for hours. And yet it was a still very much the same, ash and sand.
They two talked while walking, Lia was getting a much info a possible. Her domain of hell was apparently very big, it was about 3 times the size of terra. This was going to take a while she thought when she heard that.
"I heard something about other Hell-Knights can come into my domain. Does that happen?" Lia asked
"Yes and no." he started, this seemed like a complicated answer. "They can, but the chance of this happening is small. And if it does happen, its usually because they are hunting you."
Lia got confused. "Other Hell-Knights hunting me? Why?"
"Corruption. remember when I said that if you forget who you are, hell will eat you up from the inside. Corrupted knights are that. They forget who they are because they were weak and fucking stupid."
Aha so knight who are controlled by hell.
After walking a bit more, Lia came across a river blocking her path. It smelled horrible.
'Just jump over it' The god said casually, 'You think those muscles I gave you are for show?'
Lia bent down a little, focused on her legs and just jumped.
She didn't expect to jump that high. And crashed into the soft ash covered ground.
'Fuck, got to work on landing' she thought as she stood back up. She made it over the river however, better than crashing into it.
Lia walked a bit more but was finally close to the fortress, it was small so it was more like an outpost. It had stone walls a couple meters high, with on tall tower in the right corner of the fortress outpost.
There were demons patrolling the area. They looked like dead orcs and goblins.
'What are you waiting for, these guys are no worry for you' Erythos said.
"Alright then" she said pulling out her swords. She walked slowly and steady up to the fortress gate. It didn't take long for the demons to spot her and start screaming.
A goblin was first, it ran towards Lia and jump with his little knife high. She didn't even focus on him, one of her chains from her back whipped the goblin so that his head was severed. The body hit the ground with a small thud.
After that they charged more. Orc and goblins, jumped and charged her. It didn't matter, as they were slice and ripped apart.
Blood painted the ground and walls of the fortress as she worked her way through it. the ground inside the fortress had big cages filled with skeletal remains of something.
As she was fighting the small goblins and orks, she felt the ground shake. Then her senses screamed to dodge. She jumped to the left, and as she did she saw a big boulder flying past where she once stood. Looking back at the source of the boulder reveled a big orc, bigger then the once she fought before.
'That guy Is bit tougher than the rest. But you got it' the god said.
The big orc started running towards her with a big club in his hand. The ground vibrated with each step.
Lia stepped into action. She ran towards the orc, once close enough she went into a slide. She slid right in between the orc's legs, and once she was behind him, she cut into he legs. The orc fell forward with a bang. Lia ran onto the back of the orc and smashed down a sword right into the head of the orc, killing it instantly.
She stood on the back of the slain demon, and looked out over the fortress ground, there were still some small fry left. Her chains went to work and slashed and ripped apart demons left and right.
After 30 minutes of clearing the fortress, it was clear. Bodies laid scattered all over, and the stench of blood lingered in the air.
Lia stood among the bodies, her chest rising and falling with each heavy breath.
The once-dark fortress courtyard now glowed faintly red from the blood-soaked soil. Steam rose from the corpses, and the air was thick, heavy, but still.
Finally still.
Her chains retracted, curling around her armor before vanishing completely. She looked down at her hands. Her gloves were soaked crimson, the gold of her armor now a darker shade.
"Well done," her god said. "Your first hunt. Crude, but effective."
"Crude?" she muttered, walking toward the center of the courtyard. "I just killed a horde of demons."
"Yes, but what you did wasn't controlling your emotions, you swung your swords around like a madman."
He wanted her to learn about control before chaos, swing once instead of twice to kill an enemy.
"Now, I want you to sit down." He told her.
She got confused. "Sit down? Here?"
The man sent a affirmative emotion into her head. Lia sat down, legs crossed in between the bloody messes of the bodies.
"Feel the ground, focus on it." the god ordered.
Lia sat crossed legged on the ground, she focused her mind.
She felt it. her domain, it was sort of speaking to her. Not in words but more like emotions. It was angry, sad but happy that I was here.
"That is your domain, a living being. Well sort of, but it is your domain. And now that you have cleared this fort out, you should tell the domain that." the god paused. "You aren't just here to kill, you are here to conquer."
The sent emotion or mind words, it was hard to describe how it felt. But as soon as the domain understood what I meant, it reacted.
The bodies on the ground around Lia started getting sucked into the ground. Almost like the ground itself was consuming them.
The god seemed pleased. "The clearing of demons will make this part of the land become less of a hell. Maybe even grow something."
Erythos explained that the domain, will actively work to regrow hell into what it was. This means trees and grass could start growing and maybe even clean water could return.
After all the demons had gotten consumed by the ground. Lia took a look around the fort. Looking into the rooms and storages, she didn't find much. She did find a bed in what seemed to have been a master bedroom. She looked at the bed.
"Do I even have to sleep?" she asked, she had been here for a couple hours already, fought demons. But she wasn't tired, or even hungry.
The god answered. "Yes, but way less. You could easily go for a week without sleep in your current state. Once you get more powerful you could go for a year without sleep. Same goes for food."
She kept looking around and seemed to have found an office of some kind. The wall behind the desk was blown right open. The desk stood on two legs, and the chair was basically gone. There was a big fireplace with a painting over it. the painting was of a woman, it was badly faded but you could still see her face.
"Did humans live her long ago?" Lia asked to her god.
"Yes, very long ago. This place used to be green, just like your home." He let the words hang in the air a little. "But then the corruption came from a demon lord. And the hells came."
'Depressing story' Lia thought.
She sat down on the desk in the office and looked out of the hole in the wall. It gave a pretty good view. The big fortress that she had seen before was still visible.
"So, this is what I'm going to do for, well how ever long it takes." She said, and as she thought about it, she became even more depressed.
'Sadly yes, this will be your life for a while now.' The god said, he did sound sympathetic at least.
Outside the distant screams of demons could be heard from time to time. The air still heavy, and the smell still horrible.
'Alright lets get going' she thought as she stood up from the desk and jumped out of the hole in the wall.