The next time I awoke I was quickly whisked out of the cave by a group of excited snake people talking amongst themselves. It seemed to be early morning of some sort as the crystals in the roof of the massive cave glowed with a pleasant orange.

We arrived at a small clearing near the corner of the camp that seemed prepared for some sort of ritual. Runes were carved into the dirt along the perimeter of a circle and the magic using snake woman from last night who seemed to be meditating with her staff in hand. The crystal in her staff glowing as she focused.

I was carefully dropped into the center of the circle as the lamia opened her eyes. Staring seemingly straight through me as she stabbed her staff into the circle itself. The runes lit with a near blinding brilliance as they seemed to come together and seemingly lifted from the very ground they were carved into.

Slowly forming into a circle of mysterious text as it spun around and steadily constricted around me. When the magical creation finally closed itself onto me I felt as if I had caught a glimpse of knowledge far beyond what I should know.

Brief sights and memories clashed with my own as the text slowly imprinted itself on my mind. A vision of a mysterious figure offering the Shé Lamia, my people, safety. We were a strong and hardy people yet often discriminated against as lamia. A quick flash of holding a tiny lamia with the deep love of motherhood blooming in my chest. And finally a vision of an ominous yet beautiful city which seemed to be carved into a massive mountain.

Stunned by the information invading my head I also felt and seemingly saw the language which had once befuddled me slowly slide into place as if a puzzle had been solved. All the basics and essentials of the language, which I now knew as Enochian, fell into place.

My vision slowly returned as I found myself laying on my back staring up at the glowing crystals of the distant cave roof. Standing patiently by my feet was the magic using Lamia with a calm smile. I sat up with a slightly nervous expression.

“So do you understand now?”

“Yes.. I do.”

“Then I suppose we have some time to talk now. Come with me, human.” she continued as she calmly turned and gave me an expectant look as I hesitated. Coming to a decision I simply followed as she led the way.

After a short walk we had arrived at what seemed to be the largest structure in the village. It was a small building constructed with stone and mortar. It was far more advanced than most of what I had seen in the village so it was slightly jarring to see the gap in technology. As I hesitantly followed her inside of the building she guided me to a sparsely decorated room with a low table sat on a rug that seemed to have been constructed with the plants in the jungle.

She gestured for me to sit and quickly grabbed a small pitcher that seemed to be made of clean cut wood and poured a small cup of water for both of us. The cups in question were seemingly made of some sort of clay. I hesitantly accepted and quickly drank realizing how thirsty I had been from the night before.

As I drank she continued to speak

“So how exactly did a human, and one who doesn’t even speak Enochian at that, manage to end up all the way down here?”

Quickly gulping the rest of the water down I wiped my mouth before responding

“I.. I’m not sure actually.”

Should I reveal everything? She seems trustworthy enough.. But I don’t want to act rashly. It’s probably for the best if I omit most of it for now. I need to learn more about where I am and who they are first.

I continued to speak

“I was trying to cast a spell when something went wrong and I ended up here somehow.” I silently apologized in my head while spitting out the half truth.

She narrowed her eyes slightly in response.

“Interesting, an apprentice mage perhaps? Though you seem a little lacking in mana for that.”

She observed me curiously before shrugging and continuing.

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“Even if you were from a different world it wouldn’t be that surprising.” she said while closely observing me for any reaction.

I tried not to show anything, but my nervous smile must have called my honesty into question.

“Um.. If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is this place?”

“A hidden cave on the first layer.” After watching me for a response for a split second she continued with a sharp toothed and slightly ominous grin on her face.

“Oh my oh my, you really don’t understand do you?” a sinister laugh escaped her lips and she spoke again.

“Now tell me, what exactly do you think this place is?”

I hesitated just a moment before responding “It seems to be something related to hell in some way.”

She tilted her head in response.

“Not a wrong answer I suppose. Just not entirely right either. Consider it like this, a place where the strong advance and the weak will shrivel and die. We call it Gehenna, however you can call it whatever you’d like. The only chance you have at survival is becoming one of the strong. I’ll tell you more once you earn that right” She punctuated her statement by flaring her magic slightly.

“Currently you’re nothing but a weakling that will die stuck on the first layer. But you’re a cute little thing so I’ll give you a chance. Gain enough strength to pass our warrior’s rite in thirty days and I’ll let you go free, or even join us if you’d like. However, if you fail or give up… Your freedom may as well have never existed. You’ll be nothing more than a rare commodity to some big, bad demon.”

I took a deep breath as I felt a wave of differing emotions wash over me. Irritation at being looked down on, fear of what the future held for me and a strong desire to prove myself. I was done with just letting life take me for a ride and going with the flow. I would beat this challenge not only to prove to her that I could do it, but myself. I shook off my self doubt before speaking.

“I’ll take that challenge.”

With a grin full of bravado I stood up looking this mysterious lamia in the eyes. She grinned back as she stood. Holding out a hand she spoke.

“I look forward to it. It’s a little late for introductions but I am Cecilia, the leader of this tribe.”

“I’m Kieran, Kieran Dochas.”

I firmly took her hand while filled with a strong motivation.

After the discussion I was sent back to the cave they were keeping me in. Deciding I didn’t want to waste my time as much as possible I began to start with a basic workout. Pushups, situps, squats, burpees and stretching was all that I could think of doing in the small room. Having not worked out very hard for the past few years I reached my limit pretty quickly and was now collapsed on the floor trying to figure out what to do next.

As I was resting the massive stone door opened and I was handed some sort of kebab like cooked meat along with a mysterious green fruit and a big bowl filled with water. Quickly downing the food which was surprisingly decent I began to try and figure out how this magic worked. Thinking it may be like the many fantasy novels I’d read I closed my eyes and tried to look inwards.

I tried to search inwards in order to locate some mysterious energy but was met with nothing as I focused. What about the strange energy I picked up off the crystals back where I started off? Think about the energy I felt. Understand and find it.

I focused as much as I could but my thoughts and self doubt quickly began to kick in as I felt nothing. Was I mistaken about the strange energy? How is this magic stuff supposed to work? Maybe I should try remembering what Cecilia did? But how did she do it..

I continued my fruitless attempts for at least an hour before being interrupted. The door was slowly partially pushed open with what seemed like a struggle and I saw a familiar little lamia staring through the small hole that had been opened.

“Um, hi?”

I hesitantly greeted the little lamia who quickly squeezed through the hole that had been opened. A surprised look appeared on her face as she shouted in surprise

“You can speak normal after all!?”

“Yeah, at least now I can. Your mom cast some sort of magic on me.”

A look of understanding flashed on her face before her snake tail curled around her in a show of excitement.

“So we can talk! What were you trying to do just now!? It seemed kinda weird? But also interesting! Also where did you come from? What’s your name? Oh yeah I’m Ran.” she spoke in rapid fire so it took me a second to comprehend all the phrases she shot out. My first impression of her being a quiet child seemed to have been entirely wrong.

Smiling slightly at the excitement I responded as calmly as I could.

“I was trying to figure out how to use magic, I’m Kieran and I’m probably from a different world.”

She only seemed more excited as her tail shook in excitement.

“Magic, I can help you with that! But more importantly can you tell me about your world!? What was it like!”

“Wait, can you help me with magic?”

“Mhmm! Mommy taught me! But more importantly! what was your world like!”

“After a story you wouldn’t mind helping me with magic?” she nodded twice in excitement in response. Honestly it was the only lead I had right now so I suppose it was time to tell a story. Smiling slightly at the show of cuteness as well as the good fortune I began a story.

“Once upon a time..”