Skin And Soul
Chapter 9: The Gates of the Abyss
He plunged through the clouds, past the mortal earth, down into the roaring, sulfurous depths of the underworld.
The heat was suffocating, a physical weight that pressed against his spirit. As John approached the towering, jagged gates of Hell—forged of black iron and weeping stone—the ground shook. From the shadows beneath the archway, three massive Hellhounds emerged. Their skin was molten, their eyes glowing like burning coals, and their jaws dripped with a burning, acidic saliva. They snarled, their terrifying fangs bared, ready to tear his soul to shreds.
But just as they lunged to devour him, the burning sky of Hell turned a bruised, violent black.
A great, terrifying voice tore through the cavernous realm, so powerful it sent the Hellhounds whimpering back into the shadows, their tails tucked. The very pillars of Hell trembled.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY DAUGHTER, AZAZEL?"
John stood his ground. Even with the heat of the pit blistering his spirit, he did not flinch. He looked up into the swirling, smoky vortex above the gates.
"I love Elena," John shouted back, his voice steady. "Please... take me to her."
The vortex shifted, and the voice boomed again, carrying a bitter, heavy weight of frustration and ancient grief.
"Azazel is not here! She was cast into a place where even Lucifer cannot tread. The Abyss of the Silent... an isolated void beyond the reach of our kind. It is heavily guarded by the Archangels of the First Order—sentinels too strong for us devils to breach. There is no path. There is no way you can go there."
John didn't hesitate. He took a step closer to the gates, his fists clenching as his spirit blazed with a fierce, stubborn light.
"Just tell me where to find the entrance," John insisted, his voice echoing over the roar of the hellfire. "Tell me where she is. I will do whatever it takes to get her back."
