Hell's Fire

Chapter 9

The heat of the Burning Badland's felt less oppressive than usual as we made our final approach to Fortress of Damnation- it felt as if mother nature was on our side while we hid behind a large boulder. Jasmine winnied quietly as Rezrath and I discussed battle plans.

"The bulk of the soldiers should be here," Rezrath pointed to his map of the fortress which he drew in the sand, "This is the main hall- usually where our soldiers convene and spend their free time when they aren't training or out in the field."

"And this," he points to a room behind the main hall, "this is where Kor'geden and Migmodor should be- the throne room." In the sand, he drew two faces- one with a curved set of horns and a smaller, pointer set, and a frown with two fangs sticking out- and the other with wide horns, similar to that of a bull, with a scowling expression.

"Now, I expect Peterkin to be here," he points to the lowest part of the fortress, "the dungeons."

He holds his drawing stick out to me, smiling expectantly.  I take the stick and draw a simple sketch of my brother's face- short hair, wide-ish face, and a broad grin. I smile fondly at the drawing, reminiscing on all the good times I had with Peterkin, and I pray to my gods that he is still alive.

"We'll bring him back alive, Briar," Rezrath takes my hand, "I promise you."

I look up at him and smile, "Thank you, Rezrath," I quickly kiss his cheek and peak my head out to look at the Fortress of Damnation.

Its appearance certainly matches its name- the structure was built of obsidian, and a large trench encompases the peremiter of the building. In front of the drawbridge, two guards stood on each side, and watchmen stood brandishing bows at the ramparts.

"How are we getting in?" I ask, turning back to Rezrath, red eyes gazing at me adoringly.

"I know a way," he grinned, grabbing my hand and pulling me quickly to another nearby set of boulders.

"What are we-" I questioned, my face contorted into confusion.
"You see, back when this fortress was controlled by my father, Kor'geden, Migmodor, and I would sometimes like to ditch our lessons while we were here, so we built a secret passageway from my room to the outside," Rezrath explained, and flipped one of the smaller ones, and there was a deep hole in the ground, as well as a rope ladder, which looked so ancient it was on the verge of falling apart.

"Let's go," Rezrath continued, jumping into the hole with an excitement I never saw from him before.

I looked down warily.

If you jump down, your legs are breaking, I told myself, and looked skeptically at the tattered ladder.

That's probably thousands of years old, there's no way that's supporting you.

I sighed, annoyed, and gingerly grabbed the ladder- I wasn't going to risk hurting myself, especially with the armor I was wearing.

For the first few rungs, the primordial rope held up fine enough, but halfway down, I could feel the material starting to rip.

"Uh, Rezrath?" I asked, but before I could finish my thought, the above me rope gave way.

It felt like many nightmares I had before- falling endlessly into a void, until eventually your body wakes in a cold sweat. But unfortunately, I knew this wasn't a nightmare.

I let out a yelp, but quickly covered my mouth, as to not alert any of the stationed guards outside the fortress. When I thought I was done for, I felt myself fall into two strong arms.

"I got you darling," He whispered, his scarlett eyes looking down at me in concern. I felt my heart flutter.

Soon enough, Rezrath landed, and he placed me safely on the ground.

"Are you okay?" he asked, embracing me gently in his arms, "I'm so sorry-"

"Sh, it's okay love," I hushed him, pressing my forehead to his, "I'm okay, I promise."

He sighed heavily, his eyes closed, "Sometimes I forget how fragile humans are," he whispered, "Demons have very long lifespans, and are impervious to mortal metals, but we aren't exactly immortal."

"We can live for millenia, but we can be killed by two things- angelic silver and obsidian, though blades made of Hellfire can damage us severely, and send a demon back to Hell itself," he explains, "And sometimes, I forget that something that would be a bite of a mosquito for me would be a arrow to the heart for you."

As he speaks, I pet his wings soothingly, listening to every word.

"I just don't want to lose you, Briar. I know we haven't known each other long but-"

"It feels like I've known you all my life," I finish his sentence, cupping his face tenderly, "You mean the world to me too, Rezrath."

We stood together for a moment- frozen in time. I felt as though I could stay forever in his arms. However, we both knew we had a job to do, and parted after a while.

"Follow me," he whispered, taking my hand, "let's go save your brother."

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