"Silva, Silva, where is she? Where is she?"
"Mom?!? I'm here!"
"Silva where are you? I can't see..."
"Mommmmmmm!"
"Come with me If you want to live."
"Not without my mother."
"It's too later for her, come."
"Noooooooooooo!"

Heat, like I've never felt before burned away the curtain of slumber. The air itself seemed to be on fire. tears tried in vein to wash away the acidic air. I was not alone around me my companions. None of us spoke. We were all compelled to move. Behind us the great lake of fire stretched as far as I could see. Was that a ship on the sea. If I was dreaming it was beyond me to awaken. The sky was at war with itself crimson clouds pierced by burning rocks. All around us was desolation. The soil was a mix of blackened glass and ash. It too was hot to the touch. My feet were beginning to blister in my thin shoes.

Once we were free of the burning lake I searched the ground for signs of our quarry. He too had passed this way. Reading his signs here was like nothing I had experienced before. The ground itself seemed to heave with the troughs of life. The moans of the damned carried on the hot winds that scoured the land here. The goal had not changed. we must catch the Tailor. He is our ticket out of here. Celeste says we must destroy him in order to prevent the legions of Hell from entering into our world. All I know is that I must escape this place. I will do whatever is required to depart this forsaken land.

Ahead of us I saw a white creature near in size to that of Melecore. His long ram-like horns nearly equal to the length of his body. He moaned in despair. "Why me" it repeated looking skyward as if expecting a response. He said his name was White Imp and that his master Caim had sent him to guide us on our path. He said he knew of the tailor and how to find him. He added that his master was no friend of the Morning Star, which I came to understand was Octavious' name here. Corman rattled of something to the effect of the enemy of my enemy... Whatever it meant we seemed to be in agreement that we would follow the white imp.

We set out across the wastes. I verified his directions were true. He was taking us in the direction of the Tailor. He observed no trail sign. Nor did he confer with any celestials. He seem to intuit the direction as he floated ahead of us.

Ahead of us appeared a a grey wall. As we drew nearer the wall revealed itself as the leading edge of a great woodland. The great oaks were barren of their leaves. At the base of the trees a mist clung forming a gauzy blanket. The tailors tracks continued into the place the imp called the Dead Forest. Enzo smarted off about the lack of creativity in naming the forest. The imp responded that there creativity in naming in Hell was left to describing pain and suffering for which there were endless creative names. This seemed to end Enzo's quips.

The voiced of the damned were louder here. Through the mist I could hear movement of armored beings. Soon the yellow of torchlight appear all around us in the trees and the mist. We had enough time to ready ourselves against the attackers. Red knights like those we had seen in the battle for St. Rose were all around us. Directly ahead of us standing twice the height of the knights was the burning animated corpse. In one hand it held a whip in the other a scythe. Celeste and Enzo formed up facing the hellish entity. For the rest of us we were to wither the numbers of the red knights.

Casper, ever attentive to the greatest threat, lanced the flaming demon halting his advance. Calais and I conscious of or limited supply of arrows used our skills to maximize yield. Calais' penetrating shots tore through the red knights. I turned my head to scan for enemies and saw Corman grow to an enormous size. Brandishing the holy weapon of Cuthbert he was nearly as impressive as the Balor demon. Our ridiculous imp guide was nowhere to be seen.

The red knights continued to press in closer and closer. The chorus of metal and bow string was wearing them down, but now the Balor had closed with Enzo and Celeste. I could smell burning flesh. I didn't have to chance a look to know they were in close combat. The slicing of the scythe and the crack of the whip seemed to come at me thou I was not the target. I glanced at Calais. His quiver was shrinking as was mine. Then he dropped his bow and pulled his sword. It was time to get dirty. Corman was attacking like a spear fisher near the shore. He would strike at the knights from behind us. The tide was turning. Then it fell silent behind me. The Balor was gone!?! Was it destroyed. The look on Celeste's face said he was gone but not defeated.

In less than a minute the remaining knights lay in ruin. The mist of the dead forest swirling around us. The quiet of the moaning damned returned. Our guide returned exclaiming that we had passed the first test. Perhaps he might get his promotion after all.

The balance of the day was spent traveling the length of the woods. The distance seemed less than twenty miles. but our guide explained that we had traveled more than three hundred. Thing were very different here and nothing could be taken for granted.

At the edge of the woods I looked out upon an expansive plane. Here would spend our first night in Hell.