Avariel explained to Matthew and Ffyr that her Sister, Nanael, had fallen in love with a human. To be with her, she cast away her wings and lived on Earth with him. She was happy for a while, but then her husband died and she lost her mind.

Nanael eventually took her own life in grief.

"Can angels die?" Matthew asked upon listening to her story while they were walking. He knew demons were immortal and that they eventually were born again.

"Once an angel casts away their wings, we become mortals, almost humans." Avariel explained.

"So your sister is a Damnata." Ffyr contemplated.

"Yes." Avariel said.

"Can you take out souls from hell and bring them to heaven? Won’t the gods be mad?" Matthew asked, while helping Avariel climb a small boulder.

"I don’t know about the gods. But our lord is benevolent. I’m sure He will give us grace." Avariel said while spreading her wings to keep balance on the rugged terrain.

Ffyr flew and landed near them when they reached a high place. She looked at Avariel with a saddened expression, but didn’t say anything.

"Since she took her own life, she’s probably in the dark forest." Avariel said, looking at the distance.

"Silva Suicidiorum." Matthew commented looking far away.

The dark forest, or Silva Suicidiorum, was a place in Violentia reserved for those who committed suicide. Those Damnata would be turned into trees of black bark and no foliage. There, their bark served to feed hell harpies, creatures with bodies of black feathered owls, bust, breasts and heads of women and pointy beaks.

Matthew himself was never there personally. He just knew of it. To reach the forest one needed to traverse the river Phlegethon, a wide river of boiling blood, which Matthew never had a reason to cross.

"Are you sure about it?" Matthew said while jumping down the hill they were on.

"About saving my sister?" Avariel also jumped down using her wings to soften her fall.

"About being given grace." Matthew answered, showing the way towards a village of Damnata that were harvesting some mushrooms for themselves.

Avariel kept silent while walking behind Matthew. She should be sure about it. But a part of her doubted herself.

Upon seeing the odd party approaching, the villagers all hid inside their stone houses. They seemed even more scared of Avariel’s halo than of regular demons.There was something in the holy light that just scared the Damnata that none of them could understand.

"These poor souls." Avariel pitied them.

"We’re in Violentia, Avariel." Matthew admonished her. "These are the souls of murderers and warmongers."

"Still." Avariel protested. "They’re just lost children."

"Call them what you want. Doesn’t change the fact that they brought this unto themselves." Matthew was harsh.

"If you believe that. Why do you protect them from the demons?" Avariel asked, trying to look into his eyes.

"Because sometimes, it is too much." Matthew said in a sad tone. "Sometimes."

"It’s impressive." Avariel commented watching his face. "Where do you take the strength to fight it? The demonic nature, I mean."

Matthew didn’t answer and just pressed on the pace, getting out of the village.

"It’s love." Ffyr answered for him. "He has a girl on Earth waiting for him."

Matthew scoffed, but only a way to hide his embarrassment.

As they kept on walking, the smell of sulfur became less prominent in the air. It was now being replaced by a smell of iron and a thickness in the air.

"We’re getting close." Matthew said while drawing his sword and Aym’s dagger. He ran out of bullets a year ago.

Avariel also drew her wavy blade from her waist seeing Matthew preparing for battle.

"I hate this place." Ffyr said, taking out a knife made of bronze.

"What’s wrong?" Avariel asked while looking around for enemies.

"Watch the ground." Matthew said, getting ready.

Suddenly something jumped out from the ground and missed hitting Avariel’s face by an inch.

It was a worm-like creature made entirely of rocks. It was small, about 20 inches long. But it had sharp fangs and hid inside the rocky ground. Not to mention they were fast.

Ffyr flew high to get away from them and Avariel hesitated for a moment unsure if she should fly as well or stay at Matthew’s side. But she eventually flew as well when another Stone Worm jumped out and took a feather from her back.

Matthew had the Sense Others skill, which, in conjunction with his Sixth Sense skill, made him able to dodge the Stone Worms attacks even before they jumped out.

With a simple slash, Matthew cut them in half mid-air as soon as they missed him.

Avariel was stunned. Matthew’s expression didn’t change. Not even a little. He didn’t even look like he was fighting, he just had a bored expression on his face as if he was doing gardening work.

Ffyr was more dramatic. Flying above the field where the Stone Worms were, she had a face of disgust. She concentrated a ball of fire on her hand and threw it downwards with no regard towards Matthew’s safety.

Avariel only had time to scream a protest and see the land under her be consumed in a ball of fire.

"Are you mad?!" Avariel screamed at Ffyr. "Matthew is down there!"

Ffyr laughed at the angel.

"He’s tougher than you think." The fairy said pointing down where Avariel saw Matthew coming out of a shadow.

The fire made the Stone Worms get out from the ground. It was never meant to harm them. Being creatures made of stone that survived in hell, that amount of heat was not enough to harm them. But they were creatures that fed on blood and fire. Their main form of surviving was to consume the blood of the Phlegethon river, or eating the blood of the Damnata or fire when it rained from the sky.

That was precisely what they were doing now. They all came out from their hiding spots inside the earth to eat the fire Ffyr made rain over them.

This made them vulnerable. Without being buried in the soil for protection, all it took Matthew was to walk around and step on them like cockroaches.

Avariel looked at that, surprised. She was expecting her tour in hell to be filled with battles like the old tales of war between demons and angels.

Instead, she was seeing the work of an exterminator.

Where were the imps? The cambions? The Baalors?

Avariel sheathed her sword and flew down, landing beside Matthew.

"Is it always like this?" She asked while he stepped on the last of the worms.

"How so?" Matthew asked, storing his weapons in his Inventory.

"So... mundane?" Avariel asked, looking around.

"You were expecting to face an army?" Matthew laughed at her.

"Kind of..." Avariel said timidly.

"We can arrange that." Matthew smiled. "But I learned to avoid them and they learned to avoid me after all this time. But if you want, there’s a city not far from here that we can storm if you want."

"No!" Avariel screamed, waving both her hands no. "I was just... Surprised."

"You don’t need to worry." Ffyr said, landing behind the angel. "We’ll get plenty of fights from now on.

Avariel looked at the fairy puzzled.

"Phlegethon is centaur territory. I don’t think they’ll let us just cross the river with no trouble." Matthew explained.

"And we never traveled beyond the Phlegethon. We don’t know what we’ll face beyond there." Ffyr added.

Avariel’s hand held her sword’s handle to comfort herself. She looked upon the red sky and the rugged terrain. While she pondered about the dangers to come, Matthew and Ffyr resumed their stride leaving the angel behind.

She soon woke up from her trance and ran after them.

They stopped on top of a hill after a couple of hours. They had to kill more and more Stone Worms on their way which made their traveling speed really slow. But now they were finally there.

From the top of the hill they could now see the river of boiling blood. A light red mist covered the whole valley where the Phlegethon ran. On its shores there were few villages of large houses made of stones and leather and bones.

They could see various parties of centaurs, creatures that had the bodies of horses and the upper torso of men. They were expert archers that ran at incredible speeds. They hunted the Damnata and dragged them inside the river to boil alive.

Those who tried to swim out of the river, were shot down and dragged back in.

Avariel looked upon the scene with horror.

"Why do they do that?" She asked herself out loud.

"Because it’s fun." Matthew answered. "It’s a sport for them." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"That’s..." Avariel tried to find an adjective.

"Demonic." Ffyr gave her one.

Matthew cleaned his face from the blood the red mist brought to his face. Without saying a word he walked down the hill, soon being followed by Ffyr and Avariel. With each step they could feel the heat of the boiling river getting hotter.

The blood bubbled, releasing red vapors in the air that made everything smell and taste like blood and covered the whole valley in red mist.

Avariel tried to bring her white wings closer to herself to protect them from being stained with blood, but it was useless.

"I don’t understand this place." The angel said, hugging herself.

"No one does." Matthew answered.