She felt as though she had been watched the whole of her walk to the temple which took longer than she had imagined it should. As it became clear that what she had origonally believed to be a near by small contruction was instead far away and vast, it gave the feeling of squat black building comparable tot he one she had entered on the surface and as she got ever closer it got larger and larger the black sun reaching its venity directly above the building as she reached it.
Unlike its companion up above this huge structure was lit by some magical source in the same dim red light as the rest of this underground world in some ways she felt as though she was forgetting what normal colour should look like as her eyes became adept in the new ligtht. She had thrown caution to the wind as the land was unnaturally flat on her way to the building that there was no point in trying to be subtle and the decent had forced her to exhaust much of her reserves of both physical and magical energies stealth was impossible. Figures that drifted around the megalith payed her no note and though she felt malice from the build the wraith like entities that milled around seemed to have no interst in her.
She entered the vast building and there was a faceless being sat behind an ornate wooden desk.
“Name?” The figure seemed to have asked without using any obvious means.
“Pardon?” Meredith looked closely at the figure its what she could only consider its face was stained by the same red everything else was and completely smooth.
“Yes, name, a term that you respond to when queried? I believe I selected the correct word.” The entity seemed to express some level of doubt in its’ query.
“Why do you need to know my name?” Meredith tilted her head and walked closer to the desk. The figure was wearing a robe that had large pointy shoulders and covered the entites body entirely.
“How else am I supposed to refer to you? Hey you? Elfkin? Child?” The figure raised what looked like a hand made from bits of metal riveted together and tipped with the blades of scissors.
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit confused” Meredith furrowed her brow and rested her wrists on the desk.
“That much seems obvious” The otherworldy entity shrugged and pulled some papers out from somewhere under the desk and set about writing on them officiously.
“Where am I?” Meredith looked around the ceiling was so high it seemed like a whole other sky.
“Tela, think of it as the administrative department of this collection of planes.” The entity took out something from beneath the desk and holding it in one hand slammed it down on the paper the sudden loud noise made Meredith jump as she processed the information.
“Tela, that’s supposed to be one of the hells!” Meredith took another look around and checked her feet.
“I suppose that would be appropriate you are from the material realm after all.” The entity leant back in its chair and nodded at Meredith.
“Material realm?” Meredith wasnt’ following this.
“Look young one I am not an informational entity, I am simply tasked with taking the names of all that arrive and then see to it that they go where they are supposed to.” The entity brought its two metalic claws together as though in prayer.
“oh” Meredith nodded a moment.
“Yes, so, what is your name?” The entity asked once again.
“Meredith.” A book appeared infront of the faceless aborition.
“Very good Meredith, ah” It trailed a long needle like finger down a page in the book, a text written in some alien language covered the pages.
“Hmm?” Meredith tilted her head.
“Yes, I have you in here” It felt as though it looked back at her. It leant over the table a bit and pointed towards a black swirling vortex.
“What’s that?” Meredith turned to look where the finger pointed.
“That one is for you young Meredith. It will take you where you to where you’re supposed to be.” There seemed to be a note of sympathy in the way the entity expressed itself. Meredith nodded awkwardly and with little other options she headed over to it and looked for a moment and looked back at the entity, it made a little gesture of encouragemetn and Meredith frowned then looked at the vortex, sighed as though resiging her self to fate yet again and walked through the portal.
Her foot landed on the ground and she was confronted by vast open vista a foul wind blowing she could see for miles in every direction she was stood on what looked like polished bone at the top of a tower. Everywhere was a strange alien landscape of twisted boils and turmours below rivers of what looked like blood and puss flowed a what looked like a city covered in an obscene organic growth in the distance large vulture like birds swooped through the sky diving down suddenly at something below far to far away for Meredith to make out clearly. A howling ringed through the air like wind in a tunnel.
“Well if it isn’t Meredith.” Meredith winced, she heard Feng’s voice behind her, slowly she turned but it wasn’t Feng she saw isntead on the ground a few meters away from her was what looked like a pile of wriggling internal organs and gore that seemed to be pulling itself towards her, there were all manner of bits and pieces amongst the grotesque ooze.
“That’s right, I’m this delightful pile of flesh now” Feng sounded spiteful and Meredith backed away then stopped quickly checkign to see where she was only to find that she was on the very edge of the vast tower and another step would of had her tumbling to her death.
“You’re dead?” Meredith was looking for a way around the thing that had Fengs voice.
“If only! No, no I am not dead! But maybe if I kill you I will be!” Meredith looked at the pile for a moment a lost look on her face when mangled bloody arm sprouted from the gore and propelled itself towards her. She leapt out of the way and the Feng pile roared in anger.
“Die! die! DIE!” Feng screamed she rolled and got back on her feet as what looked like intestines that had grown a row of razor sharp teeth exploded towards her this time she took a different tact, leaping forward in and a single smooth motion drawing her blade and slicing the foul thing from its host the end dropping to the ground and flopping about on its own accord like a severed worm not yet having the good grace to realise it was finished.
“BITCH” Feng let out a shriek, more bizare appendages sprouted from the gore but none of them reached Meredith who had steadied herself and exploded into a furious flurry of slices and stabs leaving the tumour quite literally disarmed and trying to slime its way away from her.
“There’s no need to be rude Feng, if you wanted me to slice you apart piece by piece all you need to do is ask and I’ll happily oblidge.” A wicked smirk crossed Meredith’s face as she stalked the thing. Another stalk protruded this one now with the tortured stretched face of Feng on it.
“I didn’t mean to Meredith, don’t hurt me any more it already hurts enough!” It continued to back away yellow buldging eyes pointing in opposite directions.
“You should of thought of that earlier.” Meredith sliced the head limb in half used forced the thing off the edge of the tower, Feng screaming in her head for several seconds before falling silent.
“I suppose I didn’t get sent back home then.” She spoke to herself and looked for a ways down into the tower itself when she reached where she assumed Feng had come up from the ground began to giveway to create a staircase.
“Going down.” She followed the stairs as they opened up for several minutes before coming to a new room.
The room looked like some kind of seers observatory, strange charts adorned the walls, bottles with strange things inside them stakced on shelves and books everywhere. A table in the middle of the room had a what looked like a corpse halfway through a dissection.
“Ahh visitor!” Meredith looked to her side and saw something hanging from the ceiling, weird and spikey it was attached to the ceiling by what looked like a bundle of veins and pipes, bone and muscle. But whatever it was also seemed to grow out of that bundle. Four gangly arms an eyepiece over one of its half dozen human like eyes, eyes that looked like they came from as many again people. It’s fingers all looked like surgicle implements and it didn’t have any legs that she could see. However it came over to her and looked her up and down.
“Ahh Ela’s guest yes? Yes. Ela has been expecting a guest. You don’t look particularly delicious.” Its mouth was slanted with no lips just a set of perfect human teeth in nice pink gums. She gulped memories flooding back to her.
Meredith tried to say something.
“Has a cat taken ownership of your tongue?” Its long tongue waggled but it didn’t come out of the things mouth but instead some other orrifice at the side of its thing.
“I, yes, what?”
“Look at it, so confused.” It slid along the roof towards the corpse on the table and stuck a needle finger into its pink brain the corpse’s eye opened and screamed. She noticed now that it was harnessed to the table, it’s hands spasamed. Her eyes darted back to the monster which returned her stare and grinned at her and it wriggled its finger a bit more resulting in more screams of terror.
“You’ll find Ela lower down in the tower, you shouldn’t stay here less I get curious and decide to play with you instead of my latest toy.” One large eyeball looked down at the man that the thing was tormenting. Another of the creatures arms was pointing in the direction of a door. Meredith looked at the man again, it occured that she knew him, he was the seargent who had been at her door in the capital. She shrugged and then headed to the door leaving the thing behind her and carrying on around the corridor and down a flight of stairs.
“I sure have been climing a lot of stairs today” she pushed a door open and found what could only be an abatoir, the stench was overwhelming, Meredith looked up at the ceiling as though looking at the creature from the previous floor.
“Really if you’re going to have toys you should be made to clean up properly.” She trudged through the room unfazed by its macarbe content.
“Meewadif” She turned to the source of the sound an emaciated arm reached up towards her and with a begrudging look on her face she headed over to see what it was.
“Meewadif” It groaned again and she kicked it onto its back.
“I thought I recognised those choppers, hard gig there Bedros” She knelt down and looked him up and down he was emaciated, both his hands had been replaced with tubes that connected to the ground and the same had been done to his legs.
“Meewadif” it glared at her, eyes a milky white. She stood up looked around and then back at the shit covered Bedros.
“Fine.” She lifted her foot, pursed her her lips and broght her boot down crushing Bedros’s skull.
“Whose gonna do me?” She turned and headed out of the door and down to the next floor.
The next room had someone sat facing away from her eating, she frowned.