Chapter 2 - Judgment
When the ferry arrived on the shores of Gehenna, the women screamed; Dozens of Imps rushed towards the boat. The short, red gremlin-like demons stood about the size of a toddler. Small antlers grew from either side of their heads, and the creature's had disproportionately large ears that, apparently, allowed them to hear the whispers of sinners from miles away.
Imps were crafty and malicious, they loved nothing more than to torment and terrorize sinners - But they were the lowest class of demon and lacked any real sapience - They didn't differentiate between guilty or innocent. The little demons were armed with tiny pokers and pitchforks which - In any other context - Might seem cute instead of terrifying.
As the Imps rushed onto the ferry, the girls kicked and stomped at them. A few were messily squished against the deck, others were sent flying. Mrs Warner threw one of the creatures into the magma, and it screamed a humorous yet painful yelp as it dissolved inside the molten rock. They put up a good fight, but the sheer amount of the tiny demons overwhelmed them, and Imps were deceptively strong for their size; They were like a spider caught in an ants nest.
The Imps swept the women off their feet like a red tide and dragged them, kicking and screaming, onto the river bank beforing plopping them down on the hot ground. The cruel little demons cackled mischievously to each other as the girls laid scared on the rocks.
The creatures spoke to each other in a sequenced series of cackles, before pointing at the forlorn women.
Swarming around them, the demons forced them to their feet. With their pitchforks and pokers, the Imps poked and prodded the crying girls into a line of sinners that stretched over a hundred miles long. The creatures - Of course - Preferred to go for the humans' backsides.
It was a tender spot they could reach and it always seemed to get the humans to move. It was made much easier targets since thanks to Charon, most souls arrived at the Infernal Gates au nature. It was enough to make them move.
It took the women four months to cross through the Fields of the Nephilim.
An unpleasant journey to say the least.
They thought that crossing the River Styx with Charon was a dreadful experience but the Nephilim fields proved downright awful. At least Charon proved somewhat lenient. Hell was run through bureaucracy but it wasn't always as efficient as it could be.
Not all of these girls were "evil doers", but their unfortunate deaths occurring at the same time brought some complications as to how they were processed.
It was easier just to send them all in as guilty. Easier for the Princess Regent, anyway.
The paperwork could be filled out and sentences laid while they braved the Fields. Later when they reached the end of the penance line, the demons could sort the innocent from the wicked and transfer them accordingly.
Though that wasn't much of a consultation to the girls in the group who had done nothing wrong in their lives.
For the past four months, all twenty five of them had been menaced by Imps that surrounded them at every flank. The girls and their teacher clearly looked out of place in the congregation of miscreants and delinquents - Though there were others that seemed to be in a similar position as them. Regardless, they were forced to march long miles barefooted across the hot rocks that made up the ground in the Fields.
It was a mixed gendered line but all the sinners were too busy being tormented by the demons around them to fraternize with any others in the queue.
There were millions of the tiny Imps dancing joyously around the feet of the crowd with pokers and pitchforks, cackling with hilarity.
On either side of the line were Liliam, the sons and daughters of Lady Lilith herself; Goat horned demons with red skin, and oxtails. Several of them also had bird talons, but others had legs that more resembled humans. The Incubi and Succubi were outfitted with bullwhips and seemed to organize the movements of the Imps.
Occasionally, there were other demons who would take to the blackened skies. They soared over the miles long line of sinners to supervise their processing. These were the Fallen, the angels that sided with Lucifer in his endless war against God. The sight of these winged demons soaring above their heads certainly gave a fright to the pious group of Catholics.
Sometimes, the girls would feel a whip against their backsides and the line would stop. Why that was, they didn't want to know. All they knew was that they would wait for days, standing with their bare feet baking on hot rocks - And when it was time for the line to move again, the girls would feel the crack of whips against their backs.
If they fell behind in their pace, sharp objects would poke and prod their tender cheeks. Always followed by mischievous giggling - Not that the line in the Fields ever moved much. The entryways to Hell were more than overburdened. Most of the time was spent waiting. The long, intolerable waiting.
The girls were never allowed to sleep. No one in the line was - But that didn't seem to matter here. They were never fatigued, at least in the traditional sense. They felt tired, but not as though they needed sleep - Or food, for that matter.
Not that they had much time to think about it between the sporadic periods of butt-poking that the group infrequently suffered. Everybody was just so scared and their baking feet ached on the hot rocks from which they got no release from.
As they finally crossed the fields after what seemed like decades, were haphazardly ushered into processing by the ill disciplined Imps. Caught up in a large wave of sinners, the group was mistakenly swept to the side. Mrs Warner bravely pulled two of her students out of the crowd and safely into the rest of the group. If they were going to Hell, they were going to Hell together. So far, she hadn't lost any of them. She aimed to keep it that way.
Mrs Warner quickly gained her initiative, and used the commotion to scurry away with her group. Hell seemed so big that their group was probably small enough to sneak away - At least, for a while.
Unguided and unprocessed, the group wandered their immediate surroundings. The frightened girls hid behind their teacher as best they could. Not that it would do them much good.
They hid behind a colossal ruin as they watched an endless field of naked slaves laboring away to build some unholy city of cyclopean proportions. When he slaves fell behind, they were whipped, or pokers were inserted up their rectums - But these pokers were red hot and super heated.
Mrs Warner didn't want that for herself - And she didn't want it for the class either. She had to find the manager fast. She hurried the girls along, despite the fact that the hot ground burned her bare feet. She knew it hurt the girls feet too.
Eventually, they stumbled across a demon standing over a pit. The pit was full of sinners who were pushing some kind of wooden turbine.
There were men and women in the group, all of them naked but locked in chastity and crying - Bound together in black chains made from an unearthly element and walking on hot coals. He whipped the sinners in a rhythm as they screamed and turned the large wheel around to fuel a furnace. Their suffering appeared to give the naked demon an extraordinary amount of pleasure.
The Incubus had fiery red eyes and large goat horns. It's crimson skin was bare and wore nothing except a utility belt around it's waist that dangled with torturous instruments. The creature was ripped with an athletic body - Not to mention- Was incredibly well endowed.
Its large throbbing erection on full display left little question towards the creature's gender.
Mrs Warner felt sinful but couldn't help but find the creature attractive, even if it terrified her.
Her loins tingled, just the tiniest bit.
She pushed the impure thoughts from her mind and found her sense. He looked like he might have been in charge, or at least, he looked like he knew someone who was.
The woman swallowed her fears and carefully led her students across the deep pit that radiated an immense heat. The demon did not appear to notice her or the girls as it was too busy laughing sadistically at the sinners it was currently tormenting. They walked up next to the Incubus and Mrs Warner nervously addressed it.
"A-are you in charge?"
The surprised demon pivoted on the spot to face the woman. It shot her a furious and fiery glare.
"Excuse me? Are you speaking, sinner?" The creature raised its whip aggressively.
"Because I don't remember giving you permission to do that."
Mrs Warner cowered behind her hands and pleaded desperately with the Incubus.
"I-I'm sorry but I don't think we belong here! These are good Catholic girls!"
