Kolost sped through the corridors looking for a window he could slip out of. He figured he’s underground as not a single window of opportunity presented itself, even after exploring around a little bit. He peeked into a few rooms, they were deserted but not a speck of dust could be seen on the shelves. An unused storage room he guessed. Lot of those around here. Kolost didn’t loiter and with great haste he sped around some more. He didn’t find another living thing in the underground, but he did eventually he found a staircase to climb.

Kolost was amazed at the sight before him when he got to the top.

To his right a mighty palace made of a shiny white stone looked magnificent, many spires jutted around the grounds. Some connected to buildings, some rising from within them. In the middle of the complex a huge cathedral, with its massive darkwood doors shut. Apart from the cathedral the whole area looked similar to a city but something was missing. Kolost was right of course. Its people were nowhere to be seen. He is in the afterlife so it makes sense, but their absence made the city look hollow and unappealing. An imitation of the real thing, a beautiful attempt but an imitation none the less.

The thick perimeter wall looked less regal than the palace, but it clearly wasn’t trying to. Each section of the wall looked like it was made from a single smooth grey stone. The walls were very thick allowing 5 or 6 men to stand abreast without any wooden palisades attached to the wall. Kolost wondered what great foe they were defending from to warrant such defences.

Kolost turned his attention beyond the wall. He saw a harrowing sight. Souls as far as they eye could see. Like ants they squirmed around each other, always moving almost like they were searching for something. Occasionally a gap of barren earth could be seen, then it was immediately swallowed by the sea of souls. He looked at the swarm trying to discern some thyme or reason to why the souls are so agitated, he was a soul but Kolost felt fine.

He pondered a little on his question, then remembering the fact that he’s trying to break out of hell, Kolost floated down just above the sea of souls. He picked the opposite direction to the prison and sped off, chasing the horizon.

-

Like a muscle he’d never used Kolost was getting tired in his soul form. He had been speeding along the plains, sometimes a hill or a valley passed him. But the sea of souls never ended, and he didn’t dare to touch the dead. He knew nothing about how souls work, and he wasn’t going to be the test subject to find out. So he kept flying and flying, becoming more and more desperate for respite. While studying his surroundings he wondered what had made this land, its not natural. The few hills he saw were placed randomly and even worse were the ‘valleys’, its like a giant just took pieces out of the earth here and there. No trees or even grass in the earth, the soil wasn’t even sun baked or cracked. It probably looked the same as the day it was placed there.

But by far the worst thing was the sky, or lack of. There was no sun or moon, no clouds. Just a grey mist extending upwards forever. Such and endlessness made Kolost scared and anxious while looking at it. So he didn’t, he kept his ‘eyes’ trained firmly onto the ground looking for anywhere he could rest.

He was also thinking while flying and came to some conclusion about his stay in hell. First his escape was no orchestrated by someone else, he had a hunch but no way to confirm it yet. Second his escape went too smoothly, even if she opened the door there is no way all the servants of Gléowyn just happened to not find or not even try and look for him. They must have noticed something was amiss but made no move to hinder his escape for some reason. Something was wrong in the palace, and he was very thankful for aiding his escape.

Well for better or for worse Kolost was about to meet somebody.

He spotted something he hadn’t seen before during his flight, a hole. A dark hole extending down into the earth at an angle, so no light illuminated the depths. The most welcome thing about the hole was that the dead avoided it, no souls lingered near the entrance. Being tired and having no other choice Kolost descended near the entrance and waited to regain his energy.

This gave him some time to think about his situation, he had no idea where he was or how he was going to escape from here. No amount of divine intervention was going to solve his problem this time. Just before he could fall into despair once more about his new prison, he was once again stunned to hear a sound behind him.

“You there! What are you?”

Kolost turned around to inspect the presumed person who spoke to him but could only see darkness, he helplessly looked around for anything that could have asked a question. He found no such man.

“You were let through my barrier so I know you can understand me.”

Kolost was now sure the voice was coming from the hole, so he wiggled his arm around as placidly as he could. This was the best he could do without a body; he hoped the hole understood him. It did, kind of.

“Good. Now wiggle for yes and stays till for a no, because I’m going to ask you some questions. Been a long time since my last visitor.”

Wiggle

“Now easy question first. Are you human?”

Wiggle

“Did you escape from the Seat of Power?”

Kolost assumed the voice meant his prison as there was little else it could be talking about.

He wiggled

“Impressive my friend, I assume you had some help then. Last question for now.”

“Does the name T̵͎̝͈͇͍͗́̈͠h̷̡̙͍̘̜̤̜͎̘̩̳̯̹̰̠̿̇̇̾̈́͘o̴̳̭̠͔͐̏́̽t̷͎̣̰͉̮̾͐̓͂̑̅̈́̃̕͝ơ̸̛͇̫̲̞̭̝͍̺̮̰̬̘̒̀̇̈́͂̽͒̀͂̂̀̅̀̚ͅḻ̸̛͕͖͈͔̟̭̘̰͈̓̏̋̿̓̄̈́̐͠͠͝ sound familiar?”

Kolost was very confused at what noise just came out of the hole, so he stood very still.

No sound came out of the darkness for a very long time. Kolost wasn’t tired anymore, but a talking hole interested him quite a bit. So he waited for a reply from the hole as he didn’t have anything else to do. He waited and waited but nothing changed, the souls outside the invisible barrier still writhed and the dull sky loomed overhead.

He eventually got tired of waiting and turned to leave which prompted a surprising response from the darkness.

“Before you go I have one final question. Do you want to escape hell my friend?”

Kolost was intrigued, he did want to leave this purgatory very much. He wiggled his arm one last time.