Hellfire | Isle of the Lost

TWENTY-THREE: Facing Our Fears

The five continued through the Forbidden Fortress, still searching for the Dragon's Eye. They followed the machine's directions with the beeps its rhythmically gave off. 

Jay dragged his feet along the crumbling floor. "Seriously where is this thing? I don't think my feet can take much more," he moaned. 

"Yeah, well you're not the only one whose feet are hurting," said Helena.

"I didn't wear the right shoes for this," whined Evie. 

"I'm pretty sure my blisters have blisters," added Carlos, stopping a moment to rub his feet and hiss in pain. 

The group continued walking in silence until they eventually came across a set of doors that was unlike any other in the castle. These were large and made out of steel, a skull with crossbones underneath in the center of each door. On the side near the doors was a sign that read: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING.

Carlos held his box up to the doors, watching as it started beeping. "The box says that we have to go through there."

"Oh yeah, let's just go through the doors with the skulls and crossbones on it. Sounds like a great idea," said a sarcastic Helena.

Jay shook his head, "No way, man. We are not going through the doors with literal symbols of death on it." 

"You know, maybe we can find a shortcut that will-" Evie began, only to get cut off by a stern Mal. 

"If the box says we have to go through these doors to get to the Dragon's Eye, then we're going through these doors. End of story," said the dark fairy before pushing open the doors. 

A rush of wind hit the teenagers in the face, the sound of spirits howling in their ears. The group all froze, not wanting to take another step. 

"Nope. Not doing it," Jay said with a shake of his head. He turned around to leave, only for Mal to grab his arm and drag him with her through the doors. 

Evie walked behind the two, her eyes scanning the new chamber. Carlos stuck to Helena's side as they walked through the doors as well. This new chamber was hot though, which was a stark contrast to the rest of the castle. 

"How is it possible that the rest of this castle has been freezing cold, but this room is extremely hot?" asked Evie as she fanned herself with her hand. 

"What is this place?" questioned Mal. 

The group came to a stop, all five of the travelers taking their time to look at their new surroundings that were unlike the rest of the castle.

Everything was dark and gloomy, the source of light being the bright red fire that ran through the entire chamber. Behind them, the steel doors that they entered had changed into a steel large gate. In front of them was a road leading them to black pavilion in the center of the chamber that looked almost like a large tent. From that pavilion, there were two separate roads. One led to a field of barren trees with a multitude of spirits roaming through it. The other led to a field filled with spirits as well but had more fire and spirits doing various activities. The new location had looked all too familiar to the daughter of Hades. Her mind was racing as she tried to figure out how she knew of this place. But it soon stopped abruptly once she figured out the answer. 

Helena's eyes widened as she gasped. "The Underworld!"

"That's impossible," Mal said bluntly. 

Carlos shook his head, refusing to believe that they were actually in the land of the dead. "But in order for us to be in the Underworld, we would have to be..."

"Dead?" Jay finished. 

"Exactly. And we're still alive... I think." 

"What are you doing?" Evie then asked, watching as Helena started waving her hands about. The Greek girl looked down at her hands as if she was expecting something to happen.