The barge barrelled down the wall of magma recklessly smashing anything in its way. Solomon was very clear about this as he watched from his high viewpoint in the lookout post. He watched in awe as monsters and volcanic rocks were laid to waste by the front of the barge.

Beneath him, demons crawled along the vertical deck on prearranged footholds while fighting monsters. Solomon had to admit that Hyde looked pretty cool when he breathed out fire and roasted one of the scaly monsters.

Floating up above the boat, being dragged along by his tail, which was wrapped around the mast, Solomon could see very far ahead. Which was why he was the first to see the platform rushing up to meet them.

Just as he was about to scramble down to the mast and get beneath the deck, he also caught sight of something else.

In the depths of the abyss that was ringed with lava, a glow appeared. Firey red and in the very centre of the abyss, he couldn't be sure if they were moving down towards it, or it was coming up to meet them. Maybe both.

After squinting at this light that was growing to fill the whole passage beneath the barge, Solomon gasped, "Something is getting closer!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Hearing his shout, the Captain dropped down to the railing at the front of the boat and looked straight down. Beneath her feet was a fierce orange glow rushing up towards them.

"Full speed ahead!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice cutting through the battle.

As if on cue, all the monsters that were attacking the deck leapt off and dived deep into the surrounding magma.

Marco, who was using his spikes to stick to the side of the deck tried to raise a complaint, "But captain, the engines will be damaged if we"

"It's an elevator you prude," She yelled back

"Right you are captain, Full Speed Ahead,"

When all the sailors heard the word geyser, their expressions changed to become extremely solemn. They didn't even look this serious whenever they were fighting the monsters.

Under the boat, the platform was rushing up to meet them, but they weren't going to make it. The glowing light was going to get there first.

As if on cue, The engines lept into action and the barge shuddered forward. Stream billowed out of the rusted chimney at the back of the boat and the engines screamed In protest. The strain was clearly wearing them down.

Right now, they were going to make it but that wouldn't last if the engines didn't hold out. And, if the engines stopped they would be sitting ducks.

Solomon ran down the horizontal mast onto the deck with slightly unstable feet and jumped onto the door he had run out of earlier.

Yanking it open, he jumped inside and Hyde rushed in after him. Behind Hyde, Fike barrelled in followed by some of the sailors.

Everyone was lost for breath and ended up panting there in solidarity. Solomon was in pretty good shape compared to everyone else, but he hadn't done any fighting.

As the ship plunged towards the platform at breakneck speed. All the while the glowing light expanded below them, threatening to swallow them up.

The engines groaned in protest and the barge nearly skipped along the surface of the magma. The reason this was so hard on the engines is that they were pushing through lava instead of water. It would be similar to a person trying to swim through syrup.

The water wheels at the back of the barge churned the molten rock and the prow of the boat split apart anything that tried to delay them.

Right then, the captain jumped through the open door and closed it like a hatch above her head. "Brace for impact!" She yelled

Everyone scrambled to find somewhere secure to hunker down and Solomon ended up grabbing onto a chair that was bolted to the floor. Everything was bolted to the floor in fact, otherwise, when what was going to happen next happened, everything would be destroyed.

As if to prove this, the whole bolt slammed into something and everything inside jolted upwards. Solomon held onto the chair for dear life and wrapped his tail around Fike who was flying past him and about to slam into a wall.

After saving Fike from being smashed into a wall and turning into mush, Solomon gasped at the added weight and his knuckles turned white as he gripped tightly onto the steel chair.

While the inside of the boat was being tossed about along to the soundtrack of the captains delighted laughter and groans of sailors. The outside was finally resurfacing on the platform.

The barge broke the surface of the lava and burst out into the open. Rocking back and forth dangerously, the barge made hideous groaning noises and the engines were almost dead.

Once they felt the boat settle a bit, Hyde, Solomon and Fike ran out onto the deck. They were desperate to see whatever it was they just avoided.

The platform ringed the sides of the abyss and was a few hundred meters wide. On the platform, the giant steel barge was being dwarfed by a titanic pillar of magma. The temperature on the deck rose sharply as the entire centre of the abyss exploded with magma.

Dumbstruck, Solomon gaped at the pillar of fire rushing up the tunnel they had just come down. "What the fuck is that?"

Behind him, Scorn, who had walked out onto the deck replied, "We call it an elevator, how else did you think we got up to the top floor?"

"You ride that to the top... crazy," Hyde muttered.

Hyde walked away to the front of the boat while muttering under his breath, leaving Solomon and Fike behind.

They looked at each other awkwardly and went their separate ways. To be honest, Solomon and Fike didn't know each other that well. Hyde could be called their connection friend.

Solomon went back up to the top of the lookout post to relax and Fike went after Hyde. On the deck of the boat, the sailors ran about trying to repair the damaged ship temporarily in order to land at the docks.

On the lookout post again, Solomon sighed. It didn't feel as good now that they were going so slowly. He would have liked to ask them to speed up a bit but, he knew the engines couldn't handle it even if they said yes.

"I never would have taken you for a thrill-seeker, Maybe the dog demon but not you," Came the captain's voice from behind him.

Immediately, Solomon grasped the railing on guard against another push, 'How does she keep creeping up on me?' He wondered.

Nevertheless, he pondered her words. She was right to an extent, recently he had been acting out of character. Even feeling disappointed whenever the fall came to a stop.

After thinking this through he wasn't really sure how to answer, "I think it has something to do with my path but I'm not too sure." he admitted.

"Wow, same!" Cried out the captain, "What is your path? Mines 'Carpe Diem apparently it means to live each day for the sake of that individual day."

"Hmm that's pretty cool actually," Solomon admitted

"I know right, it's nice being impulsive and not worrying about tomorrow."

"I think the essence of my path is similar, but, maybe it's more about choices. Like, I should be free to do whatever I want whenever I want. That should be it I think." Solomon explained.

The captain gave him a weird look, "So you don't know what it actually is? hmm... your destination should reveal itself the further you walk. That was pretty poetic huh."

Solomon nodded and asked the Captain out of curiosity, "What's your name by the way? Mine's Solomon,"

After he asked that, a strange atmosphere descended on the lookout post. He looked up to see the captain scowling at the mention of her name, "My name is the captain kid. got that."

"Damn, sorry if I touched a sore spot... captain" Solomon apologised.

Nodding the captain didn't elaborate and an awkward silence descended on the pair. Trying to break that awkwardness, Solomon grasped at straws.

"So, what circle are you on then?"

"The fifth circle."

"Would you be able to tell me anything about the next 'Penances'?" He tried his luck.

"Sure! When you... argh ahh!" Cried out the captain in pain, grabbing her head.

Solomon rushed over and apologised. He didn't know where to put his hands or what to do so he ended up fumbling about for a second before asking the most useless question ever invented. "Does it hurt?"

The captain, who was hunched over grabbing her head, stood up straight. She looked completely fine. On her face that was supposed to be scrunched up in pain was a smirk.

"Stop faffing about, I'm fine. I wasn't actually going to tell you anything. I'm not an idiot." She scolded.

Solomon tried to hide his embarrassment at being tricked with anger and ended up shouting at her. "Don't do that, asshole!"

"Don't call your captain an asshole. Do you want to walk the plank?" She smirked playfully.

Seeing that smirk he almost exploded in anger. 'This woman always ends up pulling one over on me' he complained.

Taking deep breaths he calmed himself down. And responded with his own biting comment. He looked down at her hooves and spoke.

"Nice shoes... oh."

The hoove that he was looking at rushed up to meet his face and then he was falling. The wind rushed past his throbbing head as the deck rushed up to meet him.

Desperately he flung out his tail and caught the mast that lead up to the lookout post. His fall came to a neck-breaking stop and he hung there in a daze.

"Can't take a joke," He muttered

Another approaching hoof brought him out of his daze when it approached his stomach.

"Die you, monkey bastard! I'm going to rip off that stupid fucking tail."

At that moment, as his life flashed before his eyes, Solomon thought that it might not have been the best idea to provoke someone who never thinks about the consequences of her actions. She might really kill him.

Shortening his tail, he just barely managed to dodge the falling hoove but still ended up getting caught on the side by a fist as the woman shot past.

Scorn ran up to the captain as she hit the floor and his arms extended like serpents wrapping around the captain and constricting her.

She became dangerously still and her vice took an icy tone.

"Scorn."

"Yes ma'am."

"Let. Me. Go."

"I can't, if the captain of the ship kills someone it will be bad karma for the whole boat."

At the front of the boat, Hyde watched this unfold with mirth. Where had Solomon been when he was being strung up to the front of the boat? Now he got to watch as the crazy woman targeted someone else.

Hyde and Fike wished they had popcorn as they watched Scorn straining to hold the captain back. She wasn't the captain for no reason and was naturally the strongest on the ship.

"Shit! Did she get stronger? Hey little demon, what did you say to piss her off?" Scorn swore as the Captain strained against his hold.

Solomon, who was just about to repeat himself stopped. The captain's glare was icy, it bored through his throbbing head. If he said it again he would die for sure. He gulped and swallowed his words.

Thankfully, the docks were approaching, so he ran to the front of the boat. Keeping his ears open for any sort of signal that Scorn had let go.

He didn't have much time to take in the scenery of the new residential area before him as he was too busy looking for the best escape route.

Behind him, he heard Scorn swearing "Shit!" Without a thought, he started sprinting and leapt off the front of the boat. Lava rushed past beneath him and the stone docks grew closer.

Just barely, he had made it, but only just. Flailing his arms a bit he caught his footing firmly. He took a step and took off into a sprint. He was now officially in the second circle.