HOME | DD

Description
To fall is terrifying, at least when you fall and can see where you are going to land, however this was not an issue in Firnis' case. After being shoved he had fallen for several minutes. Slipping between the gaps between the bridges leading to the central tower. Only then to fall down towards more even lower down.

It was akin to falling into a hole in the floor, only to suddenly be falling from the sky once again, it was an odd sensation that was so surreal it would rob even the most terrified person of their fear of falling for just a moment, however his descent didn't stop at the next level, slipping between the gaps time and time again.

As he fell for what seemed an eternity he took note of his surroundings, each "floor" he descended seemed to be from a different era to the last, like taking a step back in time every time he reached a new one. Even the central tower seemed to change its architecture as he fell, at the beginning it was more like a large skyscraper used as an office building in the human world, but now as he fell the walls where like those of an old castle.

Looking around there where others falling too, some where screaming, to which Firnis' only though was they had quite the lungs to have been screaming after such a drop, others where silent like him, and some where getting snatched up by various flying creatures and taken away to god knows where, he closed his eyes with a sigh.

This not being due to his situation, but more this time he saw he was on a direct crash course with a connecting bridge, he braced himself for the impact though quite honestly doing anything to prepare himself for an impact from a drop of this magnitude was sort of an effort in futility unless the preparations came with a parachute.

Its was then suddenly he could no longer feel the rush of the wind around him, he couldn't hear it rushing past him, he had hit the ground and oddly enough he didn't feel any pain. He assumed he had probably been broken on impact to such an extent he just couldn't feel it, but something was off about that assumption since he could feel the stones of the bridge beneath his body, and when he opened his eyes there wasn't a gory puddle as he expected, just a woman before him staring down at him.

He tried to move his body as broken as he thought it should be, and it did with ease, as though he had just been lying there from the get go with the fall being nothing but a dream. He climbed to his feet his mind reeling, trying to figure out just what had transpired as he gazed about.

"Its rather rude to ignore a lady you know." The woman from a moment ago stated quite bluntly in a mocking tone. Her voice snapped him out of his confused state and he turned his gaze to her, and after the events so far he was not too shocked to see she was not quite normal.

She stood a head taller than him, making her rather imposing, her body coated in what looked to be rather sturdy ebony armour, the fires of lamps that where placed at regular intervals on the bridge gave it a somewhat otherworldly appearance.

She however wore no helm, having silvery hair that spilled down her back in a less than tidy manner, her skin was an almost deathly pale and her red eyes had a piercing quality to them that seemed to penetrate through the errant bangs that littered her face. He mouth and nose however where covered by a mask that seemed to be made of the same metal as her armour. All together she was a very intimidating being to look at, especially if you where standing before her in a daze with nothing but rather tattered clothes on hand for defense.

Firnis quickly straightened himself up trying not to show any kind, after all if he was going to do anything here it wouldn't be to make a show of himself in front of the second being he had met in this place, he took another quick glance around as he composed himself.

The immediate area seemed to have qualities usually associated with the medieval era,grand buildings made of stone as far as the eye could see, a long wide road that spilled out from behind the woman whom was watching him with an amused expression. The road had several intersections leading this way and that but the main path just seemed to stretch on forever forwards, it was quite daunting but he returned his attention to a more pressing matter.

"My name is Firnis, I am not too sure quite what is going on but I would be grateful for some help miss." He said in an overly polite manner bowing his head a little in a way that really seemed to catch her off guard, probably having expected a more worried or demanding reaction.

She was slow to hide her surprise, something Firnis found a little odd about someone of her imposing figure but he said nothing as she replied rather quickly in an voice that betrayed the fact she had said these lines several times before. "You have been sent to the fifty third circle of hell, presumably due to an archaic sin, I shall serve as your guide to your host who shall oversee your punishment, so if you please can you hand over your papers?" She said this holding out her hand expectantly.

Firnis was a little confused at first at the mention of papers, but recalled the man from earlier putting some into his pocket before he got pushed, he quickly fished them out, still surprisingly neat and uncreased despite being battered about in the wind, it was more amazing they hadn't been blown away but he didn't question it too much, stranger things had happened so far, as he handed her them.

She quickly unfolded the papers, reading over them, her expression bored, then after a few moments confused, then finally she looked somewhat annoyed. "Really?" She grumbled clearly displeased. "Just for that they go through all this trouble..."

She glanced at him, a withered pitying look as she shrugged. "Ah well it cant be helped I suppose." She seemed to have abandoned her recited greeting it seemed. "Though I must ask how you know Charlotte?" She asked somewhat nosily, this behavior didn't seem to quite fit her appearance, but looks could be deceiving.

Charlotte, that was the second time Firnis had heard that name since coming here, and he did know a Charlotte, but he assumed they would have to be different people since the Charlotte he knew he met while he was alive, and she seemed to sweet of a girl to be here so he shook his head. "I don't know who you are talking about."

She reacted somewhat unexpectedly, somewhat heavily dropping her open palm atop his head and leaning down so she was eye to eye with him, a look of mischief in her eyes as the pointed tips of her gauntlets dug into his scalp a little causing some mild pain. "You shouldn't lie to me you know, it is my duty to find and punish liars." She let go still keeping her face level with Firnis' "And I am very good at it."

Firnis took note of that, wanting to ask something about it but thought he should explain his "lie" since right now she really seemed to be inexplicably angry at him. "What I mean is the only Charlotte I know was when I was living." He rubbed his head still feeling a little sore. "She really didn't seem the type to be sent here."

To that the woman seemed to relax, standing back to her full height and scratched the back of her head looking a little embarrassed. "Oh an oversight? Well I suppose if that the case..." She closed her eyes and took a breath before getting onto one knee like a knight before their king, a gesture Firnis wasn't expecting. "I apologize sincerely for misinterpreting your words, please forgive my indiscretion."

Now Firnis just felt a little awkward, seeing her like that he sighed and smiled a little. "Its fine honestly, I'll take it as a learning experience. Though in return could you answer a question of mine?"

To that she nodded getting back to her feet. "A question?"

"Yes, well two questions really, first being why I wasn't hurt by that fall?" He said asking his question in an even tone, trying to keep his overwhelming curiosity at bay. "And what is your name?"

She nodded for a moment thinking before speaking having put some thought into her answer. "Well in this realm you may only harm those who wrong you or provoke you. As such if you steal from a demon, damage their home or try to harm them, they can harm you back. The same applies to sins, for example so long as you do not lie to me I cannot do anything to you." She nodded again seemingly satisfied with her explanation. "Oh and as for my name, it is Veritas, Veritas Aperio."

Firnis though it over, having some interesting ideas of what he may be able to do with this knowledge, but before he could think of anything else he needed to know Veritas began to walk down the long road.

"Are you coming?" She called over her shoulder. "I shall lead you to All That Remains, I shall even have time to introduce you to your host as you are my last charge for the day and I shall be able to enjoy my time there as a patron."

Firnis shrugged and followed here figuring he didn't have much choice in the matter, as he began to walk down the road, the street they walked down was desolate and silent aside from the two of them, and the screams of some who where falling from the tower.

Description
To fall is terrifying, at least when you fall and can see where you are going to land, however this was not an issue in Firnis' case. After being shoved he had fallen for several minutes. Slipping between the gaps between the bridges leading to the central tower. Only then to fall down towards more even lower down.

It was akin to falling into a hole in the floor, only to suddenly be falling from the sky once again, it was an odd sensation that was so surreal it would rob even the most terrified person of their fear of falling for just a moment, however his descent didn't stop at the next level, slipping between the gaps time and time again.

As he fell for what seemed an eternity he took note of his surroundings, each "floor" he descended seemed to be from a different era to the last, like taking a step back in time every time he reached a new one. Even the central tower seemed to change its architecture as he fell, at the beginning it was more like a large skyscraper used as an office building in the human world, but now as he fell the walls where like those of an old castle.

Looking around there where others falling too, some where screaming, to which Firnis' only though was they had quite the lungs to have been screaming after such a drop, others where silent like him, and some where getting snatched up by various flying creatures and taken away to god knows where, he closed his eyes with a sigh.

This not being due to his situation, but more this time he saw he was on a direct crash course with a connecting bridge, he braced himself for the impact though quite honestly doing anything to prepare himself for an impact from a drop of this magnitude was sort of an effort in futility unless the preparations came with a parachute.

Its was then suddenly he could no longer feel the rush of the wind around him, he couldn't hear it rushing past him, he had hit the ground and oddly enough he didn't feel any pain. He assumed he had probably been broken on impact to such an extent he just couldn't feel it, but something was off about that assumption since he could feel the stones of the bridge beneath his body, and when he opened his eyes there wasn't a gory puddle as he expected, just a woman before him staring down at him.

He tried to move his body as broken as he thought it should be, and it did with ease, as though he had just been lying there from the get go with the fall being nothing but a dream. He climbed to his feet his mind reeling, trying to figure out just what had transpired as he gazed about.

"Its rather rude to ignore a lady you know." The woman from a moment ago stated quite bluntly in a mocking tone. Her voice snapped him out of his confused state and he turned his gaze to her, and after the events so far he was not too shocked to see she was not quite normal.

She stood a head taller than him, making her rather imposing, her body coated in what looked to be rather sturdy ebony armour, the fires of lamps that where placed at regular intervals on the bridge gave it a somewhat otherworldly appearance.

She however wore no helm, having silvery hair that spilled down her back in a less than tidy manner, her skin was an almost deathly pale and her red eyes had a piercing quality to them that seemed to penetrate through the errant bangs that littered her face. He mouth and nose however where covered by a mask that seemed to be made of the same metal as her armour. All together she was a very intimidating being to look at, especially if you where standing before her in a daze with nothing but rather tattered clothes on hand for defense.

Firnis quickly straightened himself up trying not to show any kind, after all if he was going to do anything here it wouldn't be to make a show of himself in front of the second being he had met in this place, he took another quick glance around as he composed himself.

The immediate area seemed to have qualities usually associated with the medieval era,grand buildings made of stone as far as the eye could see, a long wide road that spilled out from behind the woman whom was watching him with an amused expression. The road had several intersections leading this way and that but the main path just seemed to stretch on forever forwards, it was quite daunting but he returned his attention to a more pressing matter.

"My name is Firnis, I am not too sure quite what is going on but I would be grateful for some help miss." He said in an overly polite manner bowing his head a little in a way that really seemed to catch her off guard, probably having expected a more worried or demanding reaction.

She was slow to hide her surprise, something Firnis found a little odd about someone of her imposing figure but he said nothing as she replied rather quickly in an voice that betrayed the fact she had said these lines several times before. "You have been sent to the fifty third circle of hell, presumably due to an archaic sin, I shall serve as your guide to your host who shall oversee your punishment, so if you please can you hand over your papers?" She said this holding out her hand expectantly.

Firnis was a little confused at first at the mention of papers, but recalled the man from earlier putting some into his pocket before he got pushed, he quickly fished them out, still surprisingly neat and uncreased despite being battered about in the wind, it was more amazing they hadn't been blown away but he didn't question it too much, stranger things had happened so far, as he handed her them.

She quickly unfolded the papers, reading over them, her expression bored, then after a few moments confused, then finally she looked somewhat annoyed. "Really?" She grumbled clearly displeased. "Just for that they go through all this trouble..."

She glanced at him, a withered pitying look as she shrugged. "Ah well it cant be helped I suppose." She seemed to have abandoned her recited greeting it seemed. "Though I must ask how you know Charlotte?" She asked somewhat nosily, this behavior didn't seem to quite fit her appearance, but looks could be deceiving.

Charlotte, that was the second time Firnis had heard that name since coming here, and he did know a Charlotte, but he assumed they would have to be different people since the Charlotte he knew he met while he was alive, and she seemed to sweet of a girl to be here so he shook his head. "I don't know who you are talking about."

She reacted somewhat unexpectedly, somewhat heavily dropping her open palm atop his head and leaning down so she was eye to eye with him, a look of mischief in her eyes as the pointed tips of her gauntlets dug into his scalp a little causing some mild pain. "You shouldn't lie to me you know, it is my duty to find and punish liars." She let go still keeping her face level with Firnis' "And I am very good at it."

Firnis took note of that, wanting to ask something about it but thought he should explain his "lie" since right now she really seemed to be inexplicably angry at him. "What I mean is the only Charlotte I know was when I was living." He rubbed his head still feeling a little sore. "She really didn't seem the type to be sent here."

To that the woman seemed to relax, standing back to her full height and scratched the back of her head looking a little embarrassed. "Oh an oversight? Well I suppose if that the case..." She closed her eyes and took a breath before getting onto one knee like a knight before their king, a gesture Firnis wasn't expecting. "I apologize sincerely for misinterpreting your words, please forgive my indiscretion."

Now Firnis just felt a little awkward, seeing her like that he sighed and smiled a little. "Its fine honestly, I'll take it as a learning experience. Though in return could you answer a question of mine?"

To that she nodded getting back to her feet. "A question?"

"Yes, well two questions really, first being why I wasn't hurt by that fall?" He said asking his question in an even tone, trying to keep his overwhelming curiosity at bay. "And what is your name?"

She nodded for a moment thinking before speaking having put some thought into her answer. "Well in this realm you may only harm those who wrong you or provoke you. As such if you steal from a demon, damage their home or try to harm them, they can harm you back. The same applies to sins, for example so long as you do not lie to me I cannot do anything to you." She nodded again seemingly satisfied with her explanation. "Oh and as for my name, it is Veritas, Veritas Aperio."

Firnis though it over, having some interesting ideas of what he may be able to do with this knowledge, but before he could think of anything else he needed to know Veritas began to walk down the long road.

"Are you coming?" She called over her shoulder. "I shall lead you to All That Remains, I shall even have time to introduce you to your host as you are my last charge for the day and I shall be able to enjoy my time there as a patron."

Firnis shrugged and followed here figuring he didn't have much choice in the matter, as he began to walk down the road, the street they walked down was desolate and silent aside from the two of them, and the screams of some who where falling from the tower.