They didn’t need to search for the devil, or the formation, or the book. Not because it wasn’t hidden, or because Dianthus already knew the location.
No, instead, it was because of the enormous misty cloud made of red light particles surrounding the stone maze area and the smell.
Now, Velvet was used to the smell of fish meat, having lived on Casrey all her life, where fishing was the most prominent job. But she wasn’t used to the smell of raw meat.
If she had to compare, the red mist smelled like a butcher’s shop, if the butchery had a hundred people constantly working on butchering pigs. With no one buying.
And the closer they got to the red mist, the more the area around them changed.
A devil carries a piece of their original hell wherever they go.
Udulluay’s modified the reality around him, concealing everything and everyone, making them appear like hooded figures, every one of them identical to the other. Sound, smell, touch… his mere presence affected all the senses.
And Frenese’s… his hell was a stomach.
The hard, cold stones forming the maze previously had softened, a wet glister covering them as they compressed and relaxed in procession, almost pushing them forward, towards the center.
A liquid substance, bile-like, erupted every now and then from the soft holes in the wall, expelling a disgusting smell which permeated the already stiffened and humid air.
It was hot. Not scorching hot, but Velvet felt her sweat sticking to her dress, mixing with the foul-smelling red mist.
Her boots didn’t fare better. After stepping over the fleshy road, some vile had grazed them, corroding the leather. She could only hope they lasted until the end.
Dianthus fared the same, except that he had tried to directly touch the bile, burning his hand on the process.
The first corpse they found was just at the maze’s start.
The mage had ripped his guts out, before stabbing his brain through the eyes with his fingers, making a gruesome scene.
A third of his body had been undone by the bile already, getting slowly absorbed by the floor’s flesh.
The gluttony devil doesn’t need to get you before devouring you. Velvet thought. A knot had formed in her stomach, and the pixie kept twisting its tail around her wrist.
A feeling of absolute disgust towards food had grown on her, and she was sure it was the fairy’s way of blocking the devil’s influence.
She hoped it only lasted until the fairy left, because she was prefering to starve to death than being forced to eat anything.
Splat.
Splat.
Splat.
Heavy, wet steps were coming towards their position. And there was only one thing interested in greeting them.
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Frenese.
He didn’t try to ambush them, trick them or pounce on them. No, he simply walked towards them, like a person would advance towards a table filled with delicacies: savoring the moment, picking the first plate they would want to taste with their eyes, but also choosing the second.
Frenese.
Velvet had thought about Udulluay when she heard the term ‘devil’ coming from Dianthus. But she was oh so wrong.
Different hells made different devils.
A short, first glance description of Frenese would be: a hundred mouthed wolf.
Frenese was like a starved wolf. His bones pressed against his skin, marking every rib, vertebra, scapula… devoid of any kind of fat, his stomach curved upwards, concave, absolutely empty. His hair was not animal hair; instead, it resembled long, extendable flesh leeches.
With each step, the tendril-like leech meat hairs on his feet dug to the ground, connecting to the floor’s newly formed stomach, sucking the nutrients it had previously devoured.
On his back, lumps resembling malformed animal maws opened and closed. Like teratomas, some of the animal’s partial faces had eyes and noses. Also starved and hungry, they constantly tried to escape his flesh connection, foaming and drooling, wanting to devour the walls, to devour everything.
Always eating, but never full. The eternal consumption of a bottomless void.
Instead, what they got was the tendril-like leeches injecting themselves on the fleshy walls, taking and taking, not giving anything to the mouths.
Frenese’s main head was formed by three conjoined wolf’s heads, each side sharing an eye, with four eyes in total. Drool constantly flowed from his mouth, dripping into the floor.
His eyes were fully open and white, like a rabid, mindless beast. But assuming he was one would be a mage's last mistake.
Four eyes looked at Velvet up and down, before focusing on Dianthus.
Dianthus took a step back. He would lie if he said he wasn’t a bit afraid. It would be the second time he fought the devil, and he knew what Frenese was thinking.
The Chosen One is just a never-ending dish.
“You can leave now.” He told Velvet. “Just… hurry.”
“Goodluck, Dianthus.” Velvet answered, taking a step back before rushing towards another maze path.
“Good luck to you.” Dianthus said, not turning his head to look at Velvet’s disappearing figure.
He couldn’t afford to do so.
The second round had already started.
…
Velvet ran, her steps making splattering noises. She didn’t want to use a broom, the constantly twisting and turning paths of the maze being difficult to maneuver.
Breathing through her nose, as to prevent anything from getting into her mouth, she kept on advancing, the noises of Dianthus’ fight reaching her.
She hoped it was at least a fight, and not a one sided massacre. Even so, she acknowledged her power, and admitted her presence in that battle was not needed, and a would-be nuisance.
Her skills lay in her chains. They were the only thing she possessed able to reseal the book.
They did keep the Chained Man still, after all.
But now, she had to hurry.
…
Velvet was aware of the gruesome sight waiting for her deep in the maze. But, even so, she had to use all her willpower to take the remaining steps.
Demons needed a flesh passage to enter the material realm, same as devils. But only for entering. Once they were in, they didn’t need any.
Alas, where the law resided, the cheat did too. Flesh passages allowed demons and devils to ignore the laws forcing them to reside only in hell, giving them access to the material realm.
And Frenese had figured out a way to use a flesh passage to ignore the seals who remained unbroken.
In front of Velvet, there was a book. And, surrounding the book, there was a ring.
Thirteen mages. Thirteen bodies mangled and twisted beyond recognition. Their arms and legs had been broken, bone shards stabbing the skin from the inside out, to facilitate the bloody tangling, the braiding, the completion of a flesh ring. A flesh ring which worked as a flesh portal.
The squirming, coiling meat floated a few feets from the ground, the faces of the mages grimacing with each creak, with each noise.
One of these faces met Velvet's. It was Vina's. She opened her mouth, a broken, strangled mess inside. But, even so, she managed to speak.
"You. Are. Here."
Velvet opened her own mouth, like a fish out of water, but nothing came out. She knew summoning a devil wasn't their plan. No one would suicide willingly. They had simply been cheated. Used. And disposed of.
Do you really want to become a mage? That was one of the things every mage always told her back in Casrey. You can never go back.
Yes, I do. Was Velvet’s answer every time.
"Velvet." Vina spoke again with difficulty. "Help. Us."
Her reminiscences broken, she managed to react. "H-how...? Have you seen...?"
Vina stared at her in silence, her face a mix of hopelessness and defeat.
Being made into a portal to hell had damaged their brains, Escas and souls. None of those were possible to heal. Both of them knew that.
Velvet bit her tongue in silence. "I'm sorry." Even if they were enemies, their conflict was born based on the difference in choices of mages who weren't themselves.
She didn’t know how they were still alive. Velvet lowered her head, looking to where her knife was stored. "There's only one type of help I can offer."
And it wasn’t revenge.
Was revenge even possible in this world?