Hundreds of hog-nosed spiders cease their work and scatter to make room for Ruby’s heavy, careless steps. At a safe distance, they all stand still and wary of the outsider’s presence… all except one runty treasure hunter who dashes right into the giant’s path to save an absent-minded friend from being squashed, and one rather large soldier with eyes full of ambition. Two others struggle to hold this soldier in place, believing that combat with the giant could only result in death, but even after a third joins in their effort, they only manage to delay the beast for a few short seconds.

  As it breaks free and charges Ruby, holding a blood-stained sword high above its head and wearing armor with chips and cracks that tell of countless battles, but not a single loss, one rank of soldiers takes notice of its stalwart aura. They begin to clank their weapons against their armor, creating a rhythm that resembles the drums of war. Meanwhile, another group places wagers on the battle’s outcome, using their finest, most rotten and maggot infested scraps of human flesh as betting chips.

  Every snout, eye and leg is enthralled by the excitement of what might be the most epic battle they have ever witnessed, but… as the challenger enters striking range, releasing a battle cry of true conviction – the kind of sound only a large, frightened boar could replicate – Ruby lightly kicks the strange looking pig into the pool of blood.

  The hell was that? He thinks, and a horrible, squealing cry answers, grinding his pace to a halt, and turning his attention towards the drowning soldier. Among its colony, there are those who fight, either in denial of wagers made or to apprehend those who failed to prevent the conflict, and there are those who cringe at the awful, splashing sight, but not a single one dares to approach the shore where Ruby stands. So, the soldier struggles alone, using up every ounce of strength it has until its writhing legs slow, and its armored body is swallowed by the blood.

  Before it sinks below his reach, however, Ruby cups the creature in his hands, feeling its limbs squirm and poke as he raises it out of the pool and brings it closer to his face. Parting his thumbs ever so slightly, he takes a peek and realizes, that *is not* a pig. No. It’s definitely more spider than it is pig.

  And this spider, forever bound to its serrated sword, stares into Ruby’s exhausted gray eyes with a hankering for blood. As it slices open his right palm and digs the tips of its armored legs into the cut, the giant pulls apart his hands, and the spider plummets back onto dry land, returning to its brethren a hero, and dripping proof of victory from the edge of its blade. In turn, the colony ceases its chaotic dealings and welcomes the soldier home with oinks and bows of admiration.

  How was that better than just letting it drown? Ruby thinks, sucking the blood from his crawling skin as he turns his back on the hog-nosed and walks the rest of the beach between him and the cat’s tunnel. Its opening, emitting a scent even more vile than the mound of rot it pierces, is low to the ground and unsupported – a hole haphazardly dug straight through the wall of flesh.

  Dark and not quite wide enough for the man’s shoulders, it looks to run for about seven meters, and against the light bleeding into its other end, Ruby sees blood and worms dripping from its ceiling. Well, he thinks with a heave, that’s plenty big for a cat… but for me… it’s not looking too good. Instead, his eyes shift up the mound where, as if they knew he would attempt to scale it, a band of soldiers waits with tiny crossbows at the ready.

  One touch of their treasure, and the addict is met with a wave of thin bone needles. Most of them fail to make it past his hair and clothes, and those that do puncture his skin, do so shallowly, but despite a lack of force… and Ruby’s tolerance for needles… the barrage is enough to make him reconsider his climb as the arbalists prepare a second round of projectiles.

  Nooo… the cat’s path is the correct path. I mean… crossbows? Should have seen that coming, he thinks, now squeezing his way into the tunnel’s putrid safety where the stench of death is so thick that breathing and heaving become one in the same, and the walls are so close that his arms become paresthetic. The only goal is the light of the exit, and the only way to reach it is by kicking and twisting.

  Problem is, the further Ruby worms his way through, the more constricting it becomes until moving even one more inch feels impossible…

  What’s the purpose of it? Always moving… always ignoring the horrors when *you know* they’ll catch up and we’ll be back. here. again. Just stop… stop trying. This wasn’t a way forward, it’s a final resting place – a place where you can rot away until all that’s left is thought. With nowhere to go… no way to tune us out, surely, you’ll come to understand that this is what you’ve earned. Feel those arms of yours? Those arms that refuse to move and those legs whose movements mean nothing… surely, once those rot away, you’ll feel better… you’ll finally come to the conclusion of all this thought…

  “Enough!” Ruby says, planting his chin in the ground and dragging his weight forward with the strength of his neck alone, “I’m not staying here to rot.” Into the ground… strain of the neck… over and over until at last, reborn beyond the exit’s light, he can stretch and wipe away the filth.

  But it turns out, the filth of the mounds – remnants of those gutted by the carvers between the world above and the world below – do not just rain upon the pool that broke Ruby’s fall. To the gray horizons of a vast wasteland, hills of human remains roll, each one a collection of unique anatomical materials disinteresting to the carvers directly overhead.

  Though none stand quite as tidy or tall, many hills consist of the same, indiscriminate, red and white mush used to create the snouted spiders’ fortress. There are hills of only heads and hills of only skulls, a few of which still possess rotting eyes while others lack teeth or a lower jaw. Some collections exclusively contain femurs and humeri lodged into the ground and between each other like enormous thistles of bone. But, perhaps most rare of all are the mounds of complete human bodies touched only by time’s decay.

  Occasionally, as the carvers’ waste trickles down upon these rolling hills, about a gallon of blood follows. First creating depressions, then creeks, streams, ponds and even aquifers, the network of blood flowing through this land connects each and every horrific sight it has to offer… each breathtaking image all too clear in Ruby’s eyes until just a moment ago.

  In an instant so brief it is unclear whether it happened during a blink or if these are the waking moments of a nightmare, a bubble took shape around him. Its dark walls dance like smoke in oil, and within its ten-foot radius, there are no sights, sounds or smells of rot… only a restless addict… and a cat with perked ears and extended, golden claws.

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  “Do you know where you are, buddy? Have you… figured out what’s happened to ya?” The cat asks with an old-timey accent and unfounded familiarity that brings palpitations back to the addict’s failed heart.

  Didn’t I die? He thinks, raising his chin and peering down at the cat’s piercing, yellow eyes. I *do* have a pretty good idea of where I’ve ended up… but who’s really asking? This devil-cat, it’s just a trick, isn’t it?

  “Just a *trick*?” A fa?ade of shock and disdain briefly wrinkles the creature’s brow. “Trust me, pal, there’ll be a time and place for tricks, but this ain’t it.”

  “Seems like it is. How else could you know my thought?”

  This time in a penetrative, demonic voice, the cat asks, “DO. YOU. KNOW. WHERE. YOU. ARE?” Its mouth contorts into a half-moon smile which might have matched its desired, sinister vibe if not for an innocuous, button nose. “Ever heard of hell?! Hades?! The underworld?! The nether?! The Inferno?! Et cetera, et cetera?! You’re in hell!”

  Each synonym still vibrating in his skull, a bitterness strikes Ruby’s face and tone as he admits, “yeah… I thought so.”

  “Ahhh! Had your suspicions, did ya?” The deep, old-timey accent returns. “But hey, friend, it’s not the end of the world! Well, no, it is. It *really* is! But I guess uh… you’ve still got plenty to live for… or die for!”

  “So… a yapping little animal, huh? That’s what I get for forcing myself through that damn hole? That’s all you are?” The addict lunges forward to grab the little demon.

  But it dodges with ease and points its arrow tipped tail right at Ruby. “You don’t ‘get’ me! You fear me: Veteran hell-spawn, Kaicif the… Kaicif the… well, Kaicif the cat!”

  Who? No, you’re too slippery to be my lunch. *That’s* what you are, Ruby thinks, his stomach growling as he turns away from the cat to approach the dark walls of its imprisoning bubble.

  In turn, Kaicif takes a nervous gulp, watching the addict reach towards the darkness. “I wouldn’t do that if-” it starts before Ruby’s inner discord jumbles the words it intended to say.

  Never really were interested in anyone but yourself, were you? That isn’t true… this thing… it’s just… too annoying? To up in your business? Not useful enough? Funny how picky you are with the only ones actually *willing* to give you the time of day… like it’s your prerogative to deem them worthless. And oh how they must view you… always looking at you with those same startled eyes… like you’re crazy… like they don’t believe a word you say!

  Baring that exact expression, Kaicif thinks, what is he possessed or something? No, that’s not it… I only see a single soul. Then, friend-o’s brain… there’s somethin’ wrong with it… somethin’ worse than half of hell. So, as Ruby’s hand passes through the bubble’s wall, losing all feeling in the process, the cat decides to shout louder than the discord itself.

  “Ow! Watch it, pal! You’re killin’ me here!” It falls on its back and frantically waves its paws in the air. Yet, seeing Kaicif’s pain only pushes the man to stick his arm farther and farther in.

  “Nooo! I’m dying! I’m dying! I’m…” the cat’s exaggerated movements come to a sudden stop as it jolts back to its feet, “I’m just messin’ with ya… but you really shouldn’t dangle your arm out there, not unless you want somethin’ to take it…”

  Letting out an awful sigh, Ruby lowers his head and lets his arm fall. Given the choice, you choose… to hurt. Sadistic… diluted… are you set out to prove them right?! Or… are you trying to convince yourself that you’re scarier… more twisted than everything else? By all means, go ahead and prove it – take your leave, and we’ll see who’s *really* scarier… you, or whatever’s out there…

  Oh buddy… I can see why he needs these. “Sorry you couldn’t have one for the way down,” Kaicif says, capturing the addict’s eyes with a cigarette wrapped within its tail.

  In a heartbeat, he calmly walks towards the demon, patting it on the head as he squats down to accept the peace offering. Well isn’t that convenient for *you*. But this cure… you know just how temporary it is. Sooner or later, we’ll be back here ag- “Got a light?” But like a flare, it catches flame upon contact with Ruby’s hand.

  “Aha! Thought that might happen,” says Kaicif, now smoking a cigarette of its own, “listen uh, Ruby, right? Well, no point in pretendin’ like I don’t already know… so Ruby, you want out of this place, don’t ya?”

  “Nope.” He takes a long drag, exhaling the smokey nectar through his nose. “Seems like the smokes flow freely, and the company’s not too bad either.”

  “As if your shallow praise didn’t depend on that smoke.” Kaicif rolls its eyes. “But not this bubble, I could let you out of *here* whenever I want. It’s *hell* I’m talkin’ about. Do you want out… of hell?”

  “I don’t really have a life worth returning to if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  “And it’s not. That life is over. Done. Caput! But… there are plenty of places a soul can end up… many things a dead man can do that a living one can’t.”

  “Nothingness…” says the dead man, gently shutting his eyes and forming a slight grin. “How about a place where it all fades to black-where there’s nothing left to deal with. Does a place like that exist, cat?”

  “Heh, if only, right? If it does, the only way you’re gonna find out is speaking with the big man downstairs. You know, the devil, satan, luc-”

  “Save me the et cetera’s this time. I’m Familiar.”

  “More than you probably know… but forget everything you’ve heard about em’ and listen up! Whatever it is you need to be satisfied, the big man can give it to ya. In fact, it’s his power you *really* want… everything else will follow.”

  “Nah,” says Ruby, finishing his cigarette and snatching the cat’s right out of its mouth, “right now, all I want is this.”

  “Bur-gl-er?” Kaicif stammers with the twitch of an eye. It raises its front left paw, and five threads of darkness stretch from the walls of its bubble, twisting as they reach for and flow into the tips of five golden claws. The more darkness absorbed, the more the veil dissipates until the hills of rot and streams of blood it obscured are hidden no more.

  “What about when that cig dies out?” The only thing left to mask the air’s miasma of rot and iron. “How about later, when the buzz wears off? When those events come to pass… are you *looking forward* to stumbling through these wastes with nothin’ but your own thoughts to keep you company?!”

  “No, I… hold on, cat, why are you giving me an out?”

  It shakes its head and turns away from the addict. “I’m not ‘givin’, pal, I’m just tellin’. And… I don’t really have a choice in this one. Look, you can’t find a peak higher than this… not in hell, and the big man – he resides in its very depths. *If* you can make it there, I’m sure he’d find you deservin’ of whatever you need to make your peace…”

  Unease creeps from Ruby’s nerves to his stomach as he watches his new, cig-lending acquaintance strut off into the distance, its dark coat slowly becoming one with the air’s sheer green haze. Cracked out little thing forgot to tell me how to get there…

  “You have to follow your will – it’s what carried you this far after all,” Kaicif calls out, giving the man one final, piercing glare. “Oh and, you’ll come to find that you look quite different than most souls around these parts, and that’s because… well, I’ve already said too much, and I really must be on my way. See ya next time, Ruby!”