Inferno

[Elrich von Richt]

A cold, eternal blackness stared before him. It seemed like the blackness around him never stopped and kept going on farther than even contemplatable to the human mind. Dante took a minute to ponder what was occuring, why he couldn't seem to wake up, and why he felt secluded and alone. He realize shortly after beginning his thought process that he was unconcious. The nerves in his body seemed to continue responding to his questions about his surroundings, even despite his unawoken state. The ground beneath his body, from all he could infer was ice cold with a chill of hot air surrounding it. To him, this was something extremely strange and disturbing and caused him to question himself on the following: Was he still sitting in his summer villa in Florence?

After continuing to think on his life, and endlessely exploring questions surrounding his current circumstance he began to attempt to move his eyes and open his eyelids. He kept trying until he finally had success, and was able to survey the sky around him. The sky itself was black with no color, and made him only feel more disturbed and estranged by what had occured to him. He tried to lift his legs and felt a sharp, shooting, pain run up his legs to his hip. The pain was almost like being soaked in kerosene and lit on fire, left to burn until the end of eternity and the universe itself.

As he kept trying, the pain mysteriously disappeared. It had completely vanished, and ceased to bother him. The fright within him began to grew as he stood up and wiped a sootlike substance, blacker than coal itself, off his pants. Every piece of his clothing was ripped and stained with the black substance, and the smell of sulfur became apparent around him. He took another glimpse towards the black sky, and then froze. His surroundings were disturbing to the point that he wanted to jump out of his own skin and run in terror. Surrounding him in all directions was cracked brownish earth, giving the appearance of almost solid rock. The occasional river of lava appeared in the distance along with small lava-filled cracks in the rocklike ground. Upon surveying the sky again, he realized a moon as red as blood was there. He hadn't noticed it yet, but the now sudden appearance of it burnt the image into his mind, and chilled him to the very marrow of his spine.

He walked forward, but felt like he was going nowhere. The landscape in this place never changed except for small details and seemed to continue onwards for eternity like the blackness of his unconcious mind before 'waking up.' He wondered now if he had really woken up or if this was all but a dream? It couldn't be. The strange temporary pain he felt running down his legs was real when it lasted, and he felt it when it did. What sort of hellish nightmare was he standing in? Why him? Questions flocked his mind like seagulls coming to feast on leftovers at a beach.

Appearing before him out of the ever flowing scenery, and the boring scenario he was stuck in was a black shadow of disturbing tall proportions. He couldn't help but shrink like a turtle into it's shell upon the sight of this massive being. It had to be at least twelve feet tall, and god knows how wide. His journey seemed to come to a moot point now, and the eternal seemed to end as new things came about and brought new experiences. He tried to walk past the charcoal black entity, but found it blocking his path every time he attempted to go somewhere. Why? What the hell did this thing want? As if the scenario around him, and the odd world he was in wasn't enough to cause him to go completetely mentally unstable, now this. But before his eyes, the entity vanished. Things in this realm continued to get only stranger, and no questions seemed to be ever answered. He continued to walk, and walk, and walk, wondering if this journey would ever change.

Months passed, or so he thought, he couldn't measure time in such a strange place. Hunger never seemed to bug him, or cause him trouble in this place. He began to feel almost inhuman, as not even urinating or defecating was required of his body. Was this place even earthly at all? As he continued his walk as always, he stopped. In front of him was a massive row of stonelike pillars. He studied the pillars and looked at their form. They were unlike any pillars on the earth, nor were they gothic, roman, or baroque. Their appearance made them seem as if they'd been there since the dawn of existence and had been natural. How could something so flawless not be crafted by a masterful artistan? How was this itself, once more, even possible?

After studying the pillars, he began to walk down the narrow pathway which was between the rows of pillars.An evergrowing sea of lava seemed to surround the sides of the pillars, making the straightforward path the only logical way to go now. Upon continuing forward, he would later wish he hadn't, as this was only the beginning of his eternal nightmare. After walking to where the end of the pillars were a noise irked his ears, almost sounding like the closing of a large medieval gate. Strange... was all he could possibly think.

He stared before him at a horrorful sight, and as he looked before him, he could only ask: what god on earth, any fanciful realm existant, or existance itself, would allow this to exist?

OOC: Comments oocly are allowed. My inspiration for this so far is drawing from the game series Diablo, and the novels The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost.

Edited December 20, 2009 by Elrich von Richt

[Biohazard]

OOC: Epic, lots of good description and thought-process. Wish I could write like that.

[Amyante]

OOC: I approve of this post <3

Also, sequels. This calls for them.