Soulbound - A Double Life Story

-The Other Side-

Unknown

I turn with my sword in hand and a paper in the other. A horn sounds from far away and I see shadows of a flock of birds launch into the air. The sun has set.

"You ready?" I turn and take in the arch of obsidian. Martyn stands before it, his knife and rock held in his hand.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" I say, sheathing my sword and double checking the paper, its edges frayed to time. The arch looks right but, how can we be sure this isn't a waste of time?

"Ha, no." I roll my eyes and nod, folding the paper and stuffing it into my rucksack.
   Martyn kneels beside the arch, placing down his items and fixing his bandana. He picks up the knife and rock, positioning them over the obsidian floor of the arch. He strikes once. No spark. I take a step forward as he strikes a second time. The arch glows for a moment before sputtering out.

"Oh come on..." He strikes a third time and suddenly the ground around us is lit his an eerie purple light. The veins of the obsidian fill with an oozing purple-ness and the substance begins to drip out, spiraling towards itself. There is a moment where Martyn stands up and places his knife in its sheath. The flint is gone. The spiral grows tighter and tighter until a purple mass covers the archway.
   I approach, my hand held out, gently reaching for the portal. My hand passes through, the nerve endings tickling before my fingertips become quite hot. I pull my hand back and turn to Martyn.

"We did it."

"Heck yeah we did!" Martyn pumps his fist in the air and throws his rucksack over his shoulder.

"Ladies first." He bows and holds out a hand. I slap it away.

"You know it." I answer, pushing my long hair behind my shoulders.
   I pick up my foot and step through testing the ground before pulling myself the rest of the way. My vision swims as I stumble out of the other side, collapsing to my knees as I level my vision.
   What awaits me is, quite literally, hell.

As much as the songs tell you about hell, they underestimated. It is hot, dry, and covered in things that want to kill you. The rocks are oddly soft and it feels as if I begin to sink every time I take a step. There is an eerie glow about and I approach what looks to be a puddle of liquid fire.

"DON'T TOUCH IT!" I hear Martin shout from behind me. His forehead is already dripping with sweat and I feel my jacket become moist. I shrug it off, leaving me in my tank top, even then it seems like too much. I feel as if we've been thrown into an oven and set to bake.

"I wasn't gonna." I say, fanning my face with my hand.

"Holy hell it is hot here." Martin exclaims, pulling his hair back and re-tying his bandana. I pull my own hair behind my shoulders and tie it with a strap of leather, not the best hold but it'll do.

"Hey Martyn?" I say as we walk, my jacket thrown over my shoulder. Martyn walks a bit in front of me ducking under the oozing leaves of the trees. We entered the forest a little while ago and got immediately attacked by huge hogs, we've been on our toes since but the vine-like leaves make it difficult to make out anything between the oozing trunks.

"Yeah?"

"Who do you think your Soulbound is?" We already know we aren't paired. Martyn got attacked by a zombie when we found the Spawner and I took no damage that wasn't my own. He is a good friend though.

"I don't know. Whomever is left when we get back, I guess." He slashes through another set of vines and stops. I step up next to him and gasp as my foot almost slips on the edge of a cliff. Martyn catches my arm and yanks me back his mouth open and his eyes unmoving. When I look up I can see why.