First came peace… Then came fire…. Then came the hammering sound.
When Hector's eyes opened, he struggled to maintain his composure. The world around him had changed within an instant. The once bland grey stone ground of the training field had been entirely replaced by a blazing red stone that was hot to the touch.
"What the fuck." He muttered to himself as he gazed around at the new land before him. As far as the eye could see, he was surrounded by crimson red stone, through which hot flames flickered and danced. The ground was treacherous, and the sky corrupted, the black sun sending waves of miscolored light down on the world.
Strange purple and black clouds floated through the bloody sky, their nimbus forms crackling with a peculiar energy.
This world truly was hell. The sweltering heat and horrid black light immediately strained both his mind and body, a wave of nausea washing over him. Truly, without the training from the Head Instructor, he would not have lasted long on his feet.
Now in the best shape of two lives, he was confident he would manage for a short while at least.
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his back as a sharp blade cut through his robes and sliced into his skin. Hector screamed in pain, hand flying to his waist to draw his blade and face his attacker, but it was not there.
Startled, Hector realized that he was wearing nothing but a simple brown loincloth and thick black boots rather than his long black robes.
Unable to draw a weapon, he whirled around to face his attacker.
"Get to your feet, you filthy slave!" A sharp, inhuman voice barked.
Now facing the figure who had spoken, Hector realized the weapon that had struck him had been a long-bladed whip. Wielding the torture weapon was a strange, inhuman monster. It was shorter than Hector and humanoid, but possessed red scaly skin and deep black eyes.
It was scrawny, its ribs jutting out, and it was naked, all its disgusting appendages on full display. Its lips curled back, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth, its expression filled with disdain.
Hector's eyes narrowed, and he swiftly analyzed the world around him. The new world had so enraptured him he faced that he hadn't noticed the commotion behind him immediately.
The sight of what was happening stunned Hector a bit. Hundreds of humans were being worked to the bone, their bodies bloodied from whippings and moaning in pain. All around them were the small demonic humanoid creatures, all wielding whips with blade tips.
It was a quarry. Humans holding pickaxes and other tools were driven to mine the red flaming stone. Amongst the humans, there were a select few who Hector actually recognized. "Are those other trainees?" He asked himself, surprised to see them. Weren't the infernal trials supposed to be individual tests?
He didn't know them well, but after spending days being brutalized by the Head Instructor, he had come to learn the faces of all the other trainees in his group of seventy people.
The others all seemed to notice each other around the same time, their eyes flickering over in confusion. Unfortunately, this moment of shock halted their work, angering the demonic slavers.
*CRACK*
A whip struck Hector's back, the bladed tip slicing through his flesh, leaving another deep laceration in his skin. "Get backssss to work!" The Demond hissed, its forked tongue flickering out as it spoke.
Hector snarled in anger and pain, but resolved to do as he was told. Right now, no good would come from resisting. The demonoids were too numerous, and the situation was too ambiguous.
If he attempted to resist and there were more demons than he and the other trainees could handle, then they would die. Hector was not willing to risk his new life so easily.
Instead, he gritted his teeth, gripped the large red stone block before him, and heaved it onto his shoulder. His back flared in agony under the weight, blood from his wounds dripping down his skin. Despite this, he pushed through the pain and joined a long line of humans walking while carrying the red stones.
As he walked towards the line, another trainee, also carrying a stone, stepped before him. Their eyes met briefly before the trainee turned his back on Hector and stood in the line just ahead of him.
Hector followed the other trainee, watching as the humanoid demons stalked through the lone of humans, ensuring that none were slacking off. After a few moments, the demons walked far enough away, allowing Hector to talk to the trainee ahead of him.
However, the trainee spoke before Hector could. "Hector? You are Bloody Hector, right?" he asked, his tone hesitory.
Hector's eyebrow raised at the mention of his nickname. He had been aware that his violent display had gotten around and earned him a nickname, but no one had called him that to his face. "Yes. So you are also a trainee? What is going on?"
"I don't know. I am concerned about what many of us being brought into a single trial could mean. I have briefly studied this topic, but only in passing… I fear that this trial will be more difficult than we were warned of." the man fell silent as a demon walked past, its beady black eyes flickering over them before continuing.
Hector went to speak, but the man behind him hissed, "Shut up! I don't want to die because you two can't shut your traps! If the Demons catch you talking, then..."
Hector ignored the man and continued to speak in a hushed whisper to the other trainee. "So this has happened before?"
"Yes. I will…"
He was cut off by the voice that had come from behind, loudly shushing the two. Hector turned and levied a harsh glare at the man, but the slave man scoffed, "If you want to talk, wait until they send us to the burrows to rest. You won't get us all killed that way."
Hector paused, considering a moment before nodding. "What's your name?" he asked, returning to the trainee before him.
"Hurian." He whispered quickly, his eyes darting around to observe the demons.
"Hurian, when we get to this burrow place, let's meet up and get the other trainees together."
"I agree," Hurian said quietly before returning to silence.
Hector gazed past his new acquaintance Hurian towards where the line of humans were walking towards. Far in the distance, on top of a large flaming hill, stood a half-complete stone castle.
It was an impressive display of engineering and architecture, built from stones mined from the quarry. It was a deep blood red, and the wicked Gothic design was still in the beginning stages of construction, but it was marvelous to behold.
Around the base of the castle walls were dozens of demons, some being much larger and more fearsome than the small goblin-like slavers that watched over the human workers.
They all mulled about, working on the impressive castle, sculpting it by using a mixture of strange abilities that Hector could barely see from this far out.
From in front of him, he could Hurian mutter to himself, "By the Heavenly Demon... This is bad."