Grounded ~Book Four of Winged~

Mission

  I somehow lost consciousness and when I wake up I am in a hammock. There are many dead branches blocking my view, but I do see the dark red sky through them. My head is slightly fuzzy, but I do remember Sammael taking me. I sit up fast and look around. The hammock I am in is attached to two dead trees and I am in the middle of a circle of dead trees. Sammael is leaning against one of the trees, watching me. I try to control my breathing and keep myself from panicking too much.
"What do you want?" I question and carefully get out of the hammock.
"You know what I want... I want Mammon back and you're going to help." He says confidently. I know he wants Eli back.
"How did you find me? Dominic will come here and find me." A smirk spreads across his face and he tilts his head slightly.
"Asmodeus was the one who gave me your location. He is not going to come looking for you if he already knows where you are and what you are doing." A small pit forms in my chest and I stare at him. Dominic gave me away? He sided with his father?
"Why?" Is all that I can ask.
"He feared for your health and he wants me to protect you." I'm slightly confused. Sammael protect me? I look around past the circle of dead trees and at the landscape. To one side is a large black crumbling granite structure and to the other side is a vast forest of dead trees and thorny plants. Past the large forest, I can just barely see a city.
"I'm supposed to get Eli back..." I whisper to myself and the image of his lifeless body comes to mind. Sammael watches me closely. The emotions I felt when he sacrificed himself for Dominic and I surface, but not as strong as they were in the moment. He didn't deserve to die. "How am I suppose to bring him back from the Pits?" I question loud enough for Sammael to hear.
"You have to find him and the rest he will know. He is the one who found that it was possible to bring back a demon from death. He only got to share so much about it before he died." After he finishes talking, Sammael waves his hand and the trees begin to crack and disintegrate around us.
"How will I find him?" I question and he takes a couple large strides toward me, stopping in front of me.
"Follow your heart." He points a finger at where my heart is located in my body. He just said the most expected thing ever.
"How will my 'heart' know?" I question and he tilts his head, dropping his hand and walking past me toward the crumbling structure behind me.
"Those emotions you felt during his last days alive came from somewhere and they're still there, just not as strong as they were then." I turn and stare at the back of his head before starting to follow him closer to the structure, toward a door like opening in the middle.
"Those emotions were just because of the Demon side of me. That side is gone now." I respond and hesitate as he strolls through the entrance before following him.
"Not gone. Just weaker and dormant." He steps over some rubble, "I can sense it inside of you." I look down at myself, expecting to see something, but obviously just see the pajamas that I was wearing before Sammael took me from Zerach's hut. After walking down a granite hall for a few yards, we come to a large open room. Torches along the wall immediately light. On the walls are carvings of sprawling pictures. Before I can ask what the pictures are, Sammael explains, "It's the story of life. Birth. Childhood. Growing up. Love. Loss. Death." We continue to walk across the room and I skim over the carvings. This place must be old. We enter another hallway, but it has no torches and its pitch dark. I can't see at all, but I know Sammael can since he is a Demon.
"If I still have a part of me that is Demon, then why can't I see at all in the dark?" I question and use the smooth cold granite wall as help to know where I am going.
"It's not enough. Let the Demon part take over more and you'll be able to see." He responds and he suddenly grabs my hand, using it to lead me down the pitch-dark hall while my free hand trails lightly against the cold wall. The cold granite wall. It's strange that the air is hot yet the walls are ice cold.
"Why would I want the Demon part to take over more?" I question and I wonder how long this hall is.
"The power and perks." He responds and my hand that was trailing along the wall, loses the wall and I take it as a sign that we are no longer in the long hall. A torch in front of us quite a ways lights, providing light for me to be able to see some. I look around the very dimly lit room and stop in my tracks, making Sammael's hand slip out of mine. There are skeletons piled up on both sides of the room. I start walking again and follow Sammael across the room to the wall, to the torch. He summons a knife and holds it out to me. I slowly take it, confused.
"Cut your palm, I need your blood." I look down at the knife and press it into my palm. I take a deep breath and press it down more while dragging it across my palm. Underneath the torch is a small stone bowl molded into the wall. I hold my hand over the bowl and blood drips into the bowl. The whole place seems to begin to shudder and I look up at the ceiling, afraid that it might collapse down on us. The granite shifts loudly behind us and I glance back to see that the granite floor is moving and rising. I take my hand away from the bowl and press against it, trying to stop the bleeding. The granite shifts into steps and then at the top of the steps is a black granite archway. The archway is about ten feet tall and three feet wide. I take a step forward and a bright light fills the archway. The light blinds me for a second until it dies down to a dull greyish purple.
"What is that?" I question and take another step forward, amazed.
"The only entrance to the Pits... besides death." I glance back at him. "I can't lead you or assist you any further. Get Eli and bring him back." He stays in his spot and I look up at the entrance to the Pits. I take a deep breath and walk to the stairs. It takes everything I have to step onto the first step. I go up all the steps and stop in front of the portal. The air coming from the portal is ice cold. I take a step back.
"I don't think I can-" Hands shove me forward and straight into the portal, into the coldness. It's completely white all around me and it's blinding. I feel as if I am falling and then everything goes dark and I'm unconscious.

I'm shivering before I even wake up. I'm freezing. I open my eyes and all around me I see stark white snow, but since its nighttime, it's not blinding. I thought the Pits were in Hell, why is it so cold? Why is there snow? I get to my feet and look around. I need to find Eli. I start to walk along the stone path in front of me. I feel nothing. Sammael said that my heart would lead me to him, but what am I supposed to feel? I rub my arms slightly, trying to create some warmth. It feels colder than the winters back in Washington that I am use to. I walk for what seems like hours and the scenery barley changes along the path that I am walking. I can't feel my fingers or toes. My legs and arms are numbing and close to the point where I'll no longer be able to feel them and if my legs get to the point where I can't feel them then I won't be able to walk. I stop walking and look back at the way I came from and then forward at where I am going. It looks the same. I'm going to freeze to death before I find Eli.