The Final Campaign of Ceres the Forsaken: Book II

The Telling of the Witch Abild and the Wastes of Hell

By Travis, Period 4

Ceres felt himself falling, never stopping like he was falling into outer space. As he fell, the air around him grew thick with smoke, and the air smelled of sulfur. He began to see a red hue below him, and he began to make out shapes in the smoke. Terrible things in all shapes and sizes materialized out of the thick, hot air. Most ignored him, continuing on their way without a second look.

Knowing that he had to stop somehow, Ceres thrust his sword into the wall of the chasm, sending sparks and rock chips flying. He managed to slow himself to land safely on a rock ledge, only to be snatched up by a flying dragon. After stating its intention on eating Ceres, he jabbed his sword deep in its belly. The ailing beast sank, flying straight at the ground. The immense dragon pulled up at the last minute, putting Ceres at the bottom of the abyss scratched and bruised, but otherwise unharmed.

As soon as he landed, he witnessed a small boy being assaulted by two Centaurs armed with battle-axes. They seemed to have some wasting disease, as the flesh seemed to be falling from their bones with whole sections of their skeleton showing through. Ceres killed them without a second thought, and as soon as they were felled the boy transformed into the beautiful sorceress Morganna the Chronicler. He asked her how he was to get out of the forsaken pit, and she told him that only a journey through the Heart of Hell would allow him to escape. She offered him aid in three magical powers, the power of far seeing, the strength of a hundred men, and the ability to turn himself invisible at will. For weapons she gave him a larger shield with the power to heal wounds, a powerful bow with arrows carrying poison enough to kill a lion with a single scratch, and a spear said to be the only instrument capable of killing Satan himself. She did Ceres one more great kindness: she enchanted Ceres’ sword Titan, giving the wielder limitless stamina and a blessing: "NO WEAPON SHALL BEST THIS SWORD AS LONG AS THE WIELDER HAS THE WILL TO FIGHT." With these gifts, Ceres proceeded through the massive wrought gates and into the first region of Hell, the Wasteland of Hell. As he passed through the gates, he read the inscription on the corroded, pitted metal: "Abandon Hope, All Yea Who Enter Here."

Ceres continued along the road as the sorceress had instructed him, slaying all those who got in his path. Griffins, gargoyles, serpents, and vampires all met their end at his hand. Word got back to Satan that there was a mortal hacking his way through the waste land, and suspecting Ceres, he sent an army led by the shadow witch Abild to head him off.

They met on an open field. Abild had about a hundred Gorgons, hideous 4-armed creatures whose heads were covered in fire breathing snakes and whose eye contact was lethal. If one sustained direct eye contact for over 10 seconds, the victim was turned to stone. The Gorgons were armed with light throwing spears and large swords, usually one sword and a number of spears. Some Gorgons carried a bow and fired flaming arrows; still others relied on twin battle-axes. Standard bearers carried flags, while others carried the impaled heads of previous opponents. The witch herself rode a skeletal steed, and was shrouded in a robe as black as her heart. Her magic was rumored to be invincible, and it was said that nothing mortal could defeat her.

Ceres watched as the terrible army approached, noticing the slow progress. Although terrible and frightening, they seemed to move slowly. He noted how they seemed to have limited eyesight, and how although they had many arms, they were not very coordinated. When she was 50 yards away, Abild asked the lone warrior for surrender; in response, he smiled and vanished.

As Abild searched for her target, she noticed a gorgon warrior to the right of her slump over, and then collapse. As others rushed to it, another screamed from the opposite direction. They found it sliced neatly down the middle. As the gorgons frantically searched for the unseen assailant, one of the archers fell from its vantagepoint, gurgling from a sliced neck. Suddenly, arrows rained down like deadly hail on the unsuspecting gorgons. Dozens fell victim to this terrifying flaming barrage.

Her target found, Abild put a nullifying spell on Ceres’ invisibility prowess. Realizing that his trick had been discovered, he leapt down and into the main body of the hideous mob. A gorgon tried to kill him with its fire-breathing snakes, but Ceres merely put up his shield and threw the spear clear through the beast. Retrieving the precious spear, Ceres was almost beheaded by a sword wielding gorgon warrior. He managed to dodge the blow, however, and thrust his sword up into the abdomen of the hideous creature. He pulled Titan free and as the creature slumped to the ground, he was tackled from behind. He turned around to meet the most hideous creature he had yet faced: a 10-foot gorgon with two heads and eight arms, each wielding a wickedly curved sword. The witch Abild, down to her last two warriors, cast a spell fusing the remaining gorgons into one hideous creature. For a split second the two faced each other, and then Ceres felt a strange, cold feeling in his left leg. He looked down to find his left leg completely made of gray stone, right up to the knee. Unable to move, he drug the leg and attacked the hideous freak.

It seemed that he had met his match, however. Every thrust, every feint, every blow was blocked with ease. After a short period of time, it was Ceres who found himself being forced back. The sound of metal clashing on metal echoed one the cavernous walls, causing stalactites to fall from the ceiling of the cave. Ceres continued to fight, and began to collect injuries: scratches on his arm, and a long gash running from his left brow to his chin. He felt his right leg grow cold, and knew the process was continuing. He fought back more fiercely, and succeeded in slicing off one of the arms of the monstrosity, but this only seemed to make the beast angrier. As he felt the cold sensation take his left arm, Ceres launched a last ditch effort, his sword flashing like lightning. However, his worst fears were realized when he felt a coldness in his right arm. As his began to go immobile, he desperately threw his sword before he totally went cold---.

Suddenly it was over. Ceres opened his eyes and found himself lying on the ground. He stood up and found his sword imbedded in the chest of the monster that had almost killed him. The sword entered through the breastbone and exited through the spine, severing both heads’ nervous system. Ceres inspected himself, and turned to face the witch.

Abild stood transfixed at what she had just seen. She told him that while he had just defeated her army, she was ten times powerful as he could imagine. She whispered some incomprehensible spell, and a vial containing a green liquid materialized from nowhere. She ingested the liquid, and that is when Ceres’ day really got interesting.

Some said the transformation caused earthquakes and tidal waves; others claimed the sun vanished and the rivers rose from their banks. What is known is what the witch became: it had 10 legs each as big around as tree trunks; it had an immense segmented body 20 feet high; it had two pincers each big enough to grasp a man; it had a tail like that of a scorpion, it was covered in green scales, and there were three heads on necks 40 feet long, the middle one of Abild herself, and the other two of gorgons.

The left gorgon head attacked first, the head coming down and all of the snakeheads, each as big as that of a draft horse, attempting to devour Ceres in pieces. He warded off the attack, loping off the snakeheads when they were close enough. The gorgon head recoiled with an inhuman scream, however, as he watched, the snakes regenerated, with two for every one he had removed. The wretched monstrosity gloated, speaking through all three mouths simultaneously. As it gloated, Ceres drew his bow and fired an arrow at the left head.

The head died on contact, and the neck supporting it shriveled up and fell off. Once it hit the ground, it disintegrated and blew away. The other two heads looked at the bloody stump where the other head had been, and turned back to Ceres. The creature tried striking with the tail, but to no avail as Ceres was too fast to be felled with such an attack.

Ceres found an opportunity, pulled back, and fired another arrow at the right head. It found its target directly in between the eyes of the beast, and that head was done for. However, before he could draw again, Abild seized him with her pincers and violently shook him so that he lost all his weapons. Abild laughed at him, and as her head came down to devour him whole, he saw an arrow imbedded in the corpse of the right head. He grabbed it and threw it with all his might right into the gullet of the beast.

Abild paused, looked at him oddly for a few seconds, and then dropped him. She took a few steps backward, and then her body began to unravel. The head collapsed from the neck, and the body shriveled and blew away just as the necks had done. The head looked at Ceres for a moment, then shriveled and blew away as well.

Ceres stood there for a moment, and then retrieved his weapons. Suddenly a shining light descended upon him, and he felt new powers fall upon him just as the light had done. His power of invisibility was back as well, the curse over with the witch’s death. He continued on his journey, passing into a new region of Hell, the Pit of Souls. He walked on, continuing his quest for freedom.