FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Alright, many of you are probably wondering why this is in the MGBB folder when originally it was just my stand alone story for the Midnight Secret Contest back in September 2010. Well, it's not just that. Won't get into details too much, but there will be a crossing of paths between the two characters in here with Kyle and Katie in MGBB. Just how that happens, you'll have to wait and find out. ^_^

Also, special thanks to Yukigo Kurosaki, Deathsia, and id Software for inspiration. Redemption

A Strange and Bloody Tale of Furry Mythology It was the witching hour, nothing so crude as midnight of course. Anyone can be a witch at midnight under a full moon. It was past 3 am and he had been awoken by a hand on his shoulder, shaking him urgently. His eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling and the usual questions of "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Am I wearing clothes?" filled his head and were promptly banished. A finger pressed against his lips and words were whispered into his ear barely above the threshold of hearing, the voice one of a distant memory his sleep addled brain could not yet recollect.

"I want to tell you a secret."

"Ah, whaaah?" I groggily moan as I sit up and hold my aching head. "What secret?"

"You're dead, but you can still escape," the voice replies.

My eyes widen as I look around the dark cave that I have somehow come to rest in. "What are you talking about? How can I be dead if I'm talking to you? And what do you mean by 'escape?'"

And then she appears before me; a stunningly beautiful wolfess with snow white fur, dark blue eyes, a flowing white mane, and wings like an angel. Wait? Wings? I rub my eyes, thinking that I must be seeing things. But no, her wings are still there. I also realize that she isn't nude, but that she's wearing a white, knee high tunic that perfectly matches her fur, and a cord of brown leather acting as a belt synched tightly around her trim waist. She smiles at me, obviously enjoying my confusion as I try to decipher whether she's real or not. "Who are you?" I ask.

"Your guardian angel."

Oooookay, now I know I'm dreaming. "Um, yeah. Right."

"Do you have a better explanation?" she asks.

"Yeah. I'm guessing I'm high as a kite right now, and when I'm done tripping I'll wake back up in my bunk."

She chuckles at this. "Oh ho ho my, you never do cease to amuse me. But no, I assure you you're not dreaming, nor 'high as a kite,' and that I am quite real."

She talks as if she's known me for years, and the strange thing is I feel as if I know her. Her face seems so familiar, but I swear this is the first time I've actually talked to her. "Who are you?" I ask again.

"My name is Remy, if you must know, and as I said before I'm your guardian angel."

"You're serious aren't you?"

"Yes, quite," she replies with an exasperated smile.

I look around the room; a dark, empty cavern with no apparent entrance or exit. "You said I'm dead...which means this is...?"

"Hell," she curtly replies.

"Hell? This is a lot less painful than I would have imagined it."

"You've been here two minutes, give it time," she says with another chuckle. "For the moment, let's just pretend everything you've said is true," I say as I walk around the room trying to find some sort of window or door. "Why are you here? And how did I get here in the first place?"

She tilts her had at me and smiles again. "Simply put, I'm here to help you. As for how you got here, you got shot in the head and died."

Shot in the head and died?I try to remember where I was before this and...oh. Right. I was in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban. It was my turn to lead our patrol, and as we walked down into an open valley I vaguely remember seeing a silhouette move atop a nearby hill.

"Let me guess, I got picked off by a sniper didn't I?" I ask.

"Bingo. You were dead before you felt the bullet or heard the gunshot, so that's probably why your memory feels a little hazy," Remy answers me while nonchalantly inspecting her finger nails.

"Then why am I in Hell?"

"You tell me," she retorts.

"Huh?"

"Why do people go to Hell?" she said, clarifying her question.

"Because...they did bad things in life?" I semi-answer as I try to remember how the different after lives worked. Obviously, this kind of thing never interested me much...although now, that's definitely changing.

"Right you are," Remy replies. "And that's why you're here."

"Fair enough." What can I say? She's right. I won't bore you with all the details, but let's just say that I've made some bad choices regarding women and other people's property in my lifetime. "That still doesn't explain why you're here though."

"Well," she said while taking a more serious tone, "I don't think it's fair you've been sent here. I've watched over you since you were a pup, and I know you're a good wolf on the inside. That's why I argued for you, and got permission to come help you escape."

"That's very kind of you," I say, "But I've never heard of anyone escaping from Hell before."

"You've just never tried," she says. "But there's gotta be a first time for everything, right?"

"You're asking me?"

"I'm asking you if you're willing to do your part to escape," she explains. "Hey, if it means getting out of this cave I'll do anything," I reply.

"Good, because I should warn you it won't be easy. I'll try to help you along your path, but ultimately whether you escape or not is going to be up to you."

"I see. And...wait, what happens if I don't succeed in escaping?" I ask.

"Umm, let's not dwell on that question at the moment, alright?"

"Ooookayyyy," I say hesitantly. "How do I even get out of here? There aren't any doors or anything leading out this cave."

Remy smiles and walks over to one of the walls and presses her left paw against it. Amazingly, a round section of the stone wall carves itself out of disappears into thin air. "You were saying?"

"How'd you do that?"

"Hello? Guardian angel? I have divine powers for protecting my assigned being from spiritual harm."

"Oh, right," I say with mild embarrassment. "Wait, how do I even get out of Hell though? I'm pretty sure they don't have a convenient set of signs telling me where the exits are."

"You'd be surprised," she says as I follow her out the door. "But don't worry, I'll be here the whole time to help lead the way. I'm just gonna need you to do two things for me, okay?"

"And those would be?"

"One," she says, "I'm going do my best to help you along the way, but don't rely on me to survive. Remember getting out of here is up to you. Second, I'm your only friend down here, so if you see anything that isn't me, I'd suggest you kill it."

"Okay sounds like a... kill it? What exactly am I gonna be facing out there?"

Just then we step outside the cave and I find myself standing on a walkway jutting from the side of a towering mountain. More round stone doors line the walkway, although these are closed. I look up into the air to see a star filled sky with a massive swirling red nebula in the center. The nebula sort of resembles a hurricane cloud, and to be honest it looks quite amazing. I then look below me and see what appears to be a city jutting up from the landscape, with massive sky scrapers and factories with smokestacks that pump out clouds of black smoke. Around the city I see black, barren fields of ash with streams of orange molten lava running through them. And despite the fact that there is no sun in the sky, and that it appears to be nighttime, I can see quite clearly.

"Whoa...this is Hell? It looks so...I mean this is much nicer than what I'd originally pictured."

"You were guessing it'd be like Dante's Inferno, right?" Remy asks with a sly grin.

"Umm, kinda."

"Yeah, that's not how it is. Turns out the ancient Greeks were closer with their version," she explains. "Still, it may look scenic, but you haven't met your neighbors yet. Believe me that will change your mind in a heartbeat."

And then, as if on cue, I met one of those neighbors three seconds later. To my left I hear strange voices talking in a foreign dialect, and as I turn to face them I'm confronted with the most terrifying looking wolf I have ever seen in my life. His fur is dark grey and matted with blood, and his eyes glow with a dark olive green tint. His teeth are yellow with brown stains, and his flesh seems old, gray, and decayed. He looks at me, snarls, and then raises his assault rifle at me and...ASSAULT RIFLE!?!

"Get down!" Remy shouts as she pulls me behind a large stone lying in the middle of the pathway.

The wolf opens up, unleashing a spray of bullets in my direction. His clip runs out after a few seconds however, and I soon hear him reloading his weapon.

"What the heck is that?!" I ask Remy while peaking over the top of the boulder.

"Oh, he's just a guy like you who after centuries of imprisonment agreed to be horrifically transformed into a zombified minion whose job is to prevent people like me from helping other prisoners escape. No big deal, just kill him when he comes around the corner to look for you," Remy says before suddenly disappearing into thin air.

"Wait, what?! Remy! Where'd you go?" I ask as look around for her.

Click cock.

Oooooohhhhhh......crap.

BLAM!

I feel a bullet punch through my left side, and then exit out my right. Amazingly though, aside from a slight sting, I don't feel much pain. Huh, bein' dead ain't so bad I guess. I quickly move back behind the rock and wait as I hear his footsteps come about. Then, just as he starts to peak around behind the rock, I jump up and grab his rifle, pulling the barrel to the side with one paw, and striking him in the face with the other. I follow up with knee-strike to his stomach, which knocks his torso forward and brings his head within reach. I quickly grab onto his muzzle and left and TWIST! SNAP! And pop goes his vertebrae....and his head. "Holy crap!" I exclaim as I realize I just twisted the poor bastard's head off, and now held it in my hands. I drop it in disgust and casually knock it off the side of the pathway, letting it fall to God knows where. Remy then reappears behind me and says, "Ah very nice, if not a bit overkill. But hey, who am I to judge?"

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?" I ask in surprise.

"Heaven, remember?"

"No I mean...ugh forget it. But next time, can YOU be the one to kill the vicious hell spawn and I'll go and hide somewhere safe."

"Afraid not," she replies regretfully, "My abilities only go so far down here. Remember, I said it's going to be up to you because you're the only one who can kill these things."

"Let me get this straight...my guardian angel, whose job it is to protect me, can't do the very thing she's supposed to do because we're in Hell?" I ask with a blank expression.

"Pretty much. But don't fret, I can still help you out. Oh, and it looks like you got a bit of a scratch there," she says pointing my bullet wound. "I'll have to get something for that in a bit. In the meantime, take his weapons and his clothes; you're gonna need them."

"His clothes?" I say while looking over at his black, and now bloodstained, BDU style uniform. At this point I also notice most of his blood has pooled beneath his body, and it rapidly begins to evaporate into the air, only to then materialize into a reddish ghost like creature and drift away. "What in the...what just happened?"

"Oh right, you were asking what happens if you fail to escape. Well, the answer is basically that," Remy replies.

"WHAT? But I'm already dead, how can I die again?"

"You're not dying, per say. Right now you're just a physical apparition of your soul. If you get hurt too much, you'll break apart and be reduced into your spiritual essence and thus damned to aimlessly wander this world for all eternity."

"That's REAL fucking comforting, you know that right? That's just what I want to hear."

Remy rolls her eyes at me and says, "I know we're in Hell but do you have to use that kind of language?"

I roll my eyes back at her as I finish stripping the dead wolf's corpse of his ammo and clothes, and then change into them myself. Surprisingly, they fit pretty well. Picking up his assault rifle, I discover it's pretty similar to an M-4, although it's had some slight modifications, and has several pentagrams and other satanic symbols printed on it.

"Say Remy, where'd this gun come from anyway?"

"Those factories down there in the city. They make tons of weapons like this for their zombie minions."

"Why a gun though?" I ask.

"Because it's something that'll feel familiar. What, you think Hell is still stuck in the stone age?"

"I don't know what to think! Ten minutes ago I woke up butt naked in a cave with a bad hangover, and then find out I'm dead and in Hell," I say with utter exasperation.

"Yes, I can see how that would be a bit of a shock," Remy said with attempted sympathy, although she still sounded a little patronizing. I'm guessing she's not used to talking with mortals like me. Just then I hear some more voices behind me. I turn and see five zombified furs coming at me from down the path. I duck back behind the boulder as they take aim and open fire at me, effectively pinning me behind the rock.

I wait for them to expend their clips, and then turkey peek over the top of the rock. They're all busy reloading, so I raise my rifle and let 'em have it. Their fragile, decayed bodies break apart under the hail of bullets, and soon all five lay dead in festering pools of their own blood. I eject my now empty clip and load a fresh one, as it took all thirty rounds to drop them. I then walk over to their corpses and start picking up some extra magazines and begin stuffing them into my belt, cargo pockets, and anywhere else I can store them. Behind more voices echo off the stone walls of the mountain.

"Ereht eh si! Ekat mih nwod!" shouts a zombified fox as he leads three other zombies up the path towards me. Before I can turn to face them however, a pack of zombified wolves comes around the bend on the opposite side, thus trapping me between two large groups of them. Crap, what do I do? I press myself against mountain and start firing at the wolves, managing to keep them held back around the natural curve of the mountain's path. Still, that doesn't stop them from peeking around and taking a pot shot at me every couple of seconds. Remy, quickly moves over and takes cover next to me.

"You trust me, right?" she asks, flinching as a bullet impacts the rock two inches above her head.

"What? Yeah, of course I do," I hastily answer as I turn and fire at the pack of foxes coming up behind me.

"Good, because I'm going to do something that seems crazy, but it'll end up saving your life."

"Say what?" I ask in utter confusion. The next thing I know, Remy grabs me by my shirt collar and pushes me forward...off the side of the mountain. "HOOOOLLLLYYYYYYY SSSHHHHHHHHIIITTTTT!" I scream as I plummet towards the ground three thousand feet below me.

What in the hell is Remy thinking? I DON'T HAVE WINGS, THEREFORE: I CAN'T FLY! I spread my arms and legs and try to slow my descent as much as I can, but it doesn't make much a difference. Great, I'm gonna die because my good for nothing "guardian angel" doesn't realize that gravity is NOT your friend when it comes to mountain climbing! And...

"Gotcha!" Remy says as I feel her grab my ankles.

Looking behind me, I see Remy holding onto my legs with both paws while her wings spread to their full width and greatly reduce the speed of my fall. We slow down to the point where my body actually goes vertical as I hang from Remy's grasp. For a second I forget that I'm still 2,000 feet in the air as I look back at the magnificent creature that has just saved my life...for like the third time in five minutes. Her wings must be at least twenty feet from wingtip to wingtip; nearly three times her height. Then I realize that we're also still falling at a pretty good rate. The ground comes up quickly below me, and just before I think I'm going to hit it Remy gives her wings a strong flap and releases my legs. I close my eyes and brace for the impact with the hard barren ground, but instead I hit something else.

SPLASH!

Cough, cough, ugh! What in god's name is this? I've just landed in a pool of something very warm, and very sticky. Whatever it is, it's only about three feet deep, and I'm easily able to stand in it. Ick, this stuff is thick and...OH MY GOD! IT'S BLOOD!

"ACK! BLOOD! GET IT OFF! Oh sweet Christmas it's in my mouth! Fleckh!" I say while spitting out blood and wiping off my eyes and discover that she threw me into a small stream flowing with fresh hemoglobin. I wade my way to shore and walk over to Remy, who I can tell is a little embarrassed at my condition. I simply glare at her as I leave a trail of bloody footprints and streaks on the ground as it drips off of me.

"Sorry about that," she says, "But it was either the ground or the blood."

"You know, you could have told me you were going to throw me off of the mountain," I say, deciding to let the issue of being covered in blood go for the moment. "Yes, but would you have let me throw you off of the mountain if I said that?" she asks.

"....alright you have a point," I reply. Gawd, I'm really starting to hate when she's right like that.

"Also, you'll be needing these," she says while handing me a new assault rifle (since I now just realize I dropped my old one during the fall), along with a bullet proof armor vest, a semi-automatic handgun, and a knife. The last of those items is quite amazing, as it has a curved, six inch long blade made from polished bone. Nice. I quickly put on the armor and load up with the rest of the gear.

"Thanks," I reply while stuffing my pistol into the built in holster on the armor vest. "Where'd you get all this stuff anyway?"

"From a couple of those zombies you shot back on the mountain. I'd have been able to catch you sooner, but I figured you'll need some more weapons if you're going to get out of here. Now, I have to run and go get something to take care of your wounds, so in the meantime you should head into the city. We're on the industrial sector's side, so there should be no shortage of weapons and ammo," she explains while spreading her wings and preparing to take off again.

"Wait, I'm gonna have to go in there alone?"

"Oh come now, it's nothing you can't handle. Now just make your way through the industrial sector and get to the monorail station. After that it should be smooth sailing, okay?"

Before I can answer she takes off and then disappears into thin air again. Damn it, this isn't going to go well. I sigh, and then take off towards the towering metropolis in front of me. Now that I'm close enough to see it properly, I realize this is definitely not a place where I'd want to stay. The buildings are all made of stone, and the air reeks of burning sulfur and rotten meat. Ugh, god I hope I don't puke. Furthermore, the sounds of heavy machinery mixed with weird chants and the beating of drums seems to only foreshadow my eminent demise. At first the streets seem deserted; no cars or people walking around. I make my way deeper into the city, wondering where everyone could be. Then I hear what sounds like heavy breathing mixed with fingernails tapping on the cobblestone street. I whirl to my right and come face to face with my first true demon.

He has thirteen white, beady eyes in his skull, along with sharp needle thin teeth. His skin is gray and leathery, and on each of his hands are a set of five inch long claws. However, the scariest thing about him is his strange talent. Grinning sinisterly at me, he spits a large glob of white mucous into his right hand, which then suddenly ignites into a flaming glob of napalm. Ducking to the side as he chucks the hunk of flaming snot at me, I quickly bring my rifle to bear on him and unload a six round burst into his chest. The bullets just tear him open, making a nice cloud of black blood and guts and his corpse hits the ground.

"Kool ereht eh si! Teg mih!" a raspy voice shouts behind me.

Turning around, I see a group of five zombie wolves, along with a pair of foxes. This time I don't bother to aim properly, I just fire from the hip while jogging parallel to them. A couple of them go down right away as I empty my first clip into the crowd, while the others stupidly stand in place and try to line me up in their sights. I discover that these guys are not very good shots, as all of their bullets have missed me so far. I'm guessing they're having trouble acquiring a moving target, and they're zombies too. I mean who gives a zombie a gun, seriously? I quickly slap a fresh clip into my rifle and unleash a torrent of fire into the crowd again, ripping their fragile, decayed bodies apart in mere seconds. I reload again as I make my way over and loot a couple of the bodies for extra ammo, as I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need every bullet I can get my paws on. Checking around me, I see another crowd of zombies dashing towards me from down the street. What was that I said earlier about the streets seeming deserted? Gah, focus. I can't fight them here, I'm too exposed. Looking around, I notice an open gate leading into an open courtyard with a large factory in the middle. I run into the courtyard, and then move to a flight of stairs leading up to a catwalk that runs alongside the building. Behind me I see the crowd run into the courtyard, but they seem confused as to where I went. Good. Creeping along the catwalk, I find an unlocked doorway leading into the factory. Once inside, I discover I'm on an interior catwalk overlooking a pair of assembly lines being manned by hundreds of furs...furs like myself who have yet to be zombified. So, this might have been my fate had Remy not shown up. I decide to keep moving, but just as I turn a glob of flaming snot impacts the wall in front of me. I turn and look back down to see that several of those thirteen eyed demons have noticed me from their posts on the factory floor, and all together they begin hurling a volley of fireballs. Crap! I duck and run down the catwalk, only to come to a dead end. Great. I turn around to run back, only to find that these pesky buggers can use their claws to scale the walls, and now six of them have climbed up onto the catwalk with me. The lead demon shrieks at me, evidently not pleased that I've broken into his factory. He spits into his hand just as I raise my rifle and begin unleashing hot lead into his gut. Spurts of black chunky blood shoot forth as he collapses forward and lies dead on the floor. I'm able to drop two more, but then my magazine runs out and I'm forced to reload. As I take the time to slap a new clip into place, another demon spits and throws at me. I look up from my gun just in time to watch it hit my left arm. "Gah! Frickin'...shoot! Fire, got-dang it," I groan as I hold back curses through gritted teeth and quickly pat my arm out. The fire only burns for a couple of seconds, but part of my arm is now red and furless. I ignore the pain and retake aim and pop the sucker who hit me right between his eyes. His two colleagues surprise me though and leap forward. One of them lands right in front of me and slashes his claws at me, but I step back just in time and counter attack by holding my rifle at hip level while unloading into him. My bullets just rip through him like tissue paper, but while I focus on tearing demon number one to shreds, I forget there's also a demon number two. Out of the corner of my eye I see him crawling along the wall, and just as I turn to fire at him he jumps off and lands right in front of me. He quickly gets up and slashes at me. His claws miss me, but I discover just how sharp they are when they hit my gun and break the barrel off. I toss my now useless assault rifle away and then grab his left wrist just as he's about to take another swing at me. Then, with my free paw I grab my knife and quickly stab him right in his face with a satisfying CRUNCH!!! "Very nicely done, I must admit," Remy says as she appears out of nowhere from behind the demon's corpse. "Gah! How do you do that!?!" I ask with a startled shout.

"How can I not?" she replies with a coy smile. "I see you're faring well, although it looks like you've got a nasty burn there, plus that bullet wound from earlier. Here, take this," she says while pulling a blue glowing orb from a small bag tied to her waist. I go to reach for it, but just as I'm about to touch the orb it bursts into a cloud of blue dust that then covers my hands and gets absorbed through my flesh. Suddenly, I feel pretty good. No, scratch that, I feel great. The pain in my stomach and arm is suddenly gone, and looking at said afflicted areas I realize I've been completely healed!

"Whoa, what was that?" I ask in utter awe.

"Soulsphere," she replies.

"Say what?"

"It's a physical manifestation of the very energy that makes up a good person's soul, something you can't find down here. By absorbing it all of your wounds are reversed, and any excess energy that wasn't used to heal you will make you all the stronger," she explains happily.

"I hope you brought more of those," I say.

"Three, well, two now. Also I got you this from one of the zombies you left dead in the streets," she says reaching behind her and lifting up a pump-action shotgun.

"Nice! This should come in handy, but unless you have some ammo for it..."

She drops a backpack in front of me, which I can see is filled with boxes of shells for it.

"Awesome," I reply as I put the pack on and load up my shotgun.

"As much as I enjoy our little talks, it's time for us to leave," she says while noticing a group of zombies enter the factory from below. "You picked the perfect factory to enter though, as this one has a connection to the city's underground monorail system. Just find an elevator and head to the lowest level."

"Great, but how do I get down from here without getting shot to pieces by all those zombies down there?" I ask while pointing to the crowd of nearly fifteen wolves and foxes standing on the ground floor. "Oh, right," Remy says as she pushes her way past me and places her left paw on the wall, causing a wolf shaped section of it to turn red hot and then evaporate into thin air. "There you go, an elevator should be just down that hallway to your left. I'll meet you at the monorail, in the meantime I need to get you some heavier firepower."

And without another word she disappears again. Still, I've got a shotgun and a way around all those frickin' zombies. I step through the impromptu door Remy's made and turn left down the hallway. I then stop when I realize just how twisted this factory is. Huge veins run sprawling across the walls, pumping thick black blood through them. The halls echo with the sound of a thumping heartbeat, and the smell of burning sulfur seems even stronger here than it did out with the assembly lines. Pah! I'll be glad to get out of this place and into some fresh air. I make my way down the hall, and sure enough I find the elevator a little ways down. I step inside, select the lowest button on the keypad, and enjoy the brief moment of respite as I ride the elevator down.

Then the doors open, and I'm greeted with the grinning face of a thirteen eyed demon. Before I can react he flails his claws at me, sending nasty inch deep cuts into my right arm. I kick him back and fire my shotgun into him, which in turn blows off his left arm and leaves him lying in a pool of his own blood. Stepping out of the elevator, I find myself standing on a large platform overlooking the monorail tracks. The lighting down here is awful, and I can barely see more than thirty feet away before everything becomes shrouded in darkness. The halls echo with the moans of a group of zombies, along with the hiss of a demon or two. I walk around the platform, trying to find the source of their voices. Just then I hear a demon hock a wad of mucous into his hand, and as it ignites I quickly spot him in the darkness.

BLAM!

I pump a shell into his face and sent him falling on his back before he has a chance to throw his fireball at me. Suddenly another shotgun blast rings out, only this time it's not mine. I fall on my left knee as my left thigh suddenly gets struck by several pieces of buckshot. My eyes dart left and right as I try to spot where the shot originated from. Then the zombie fires again, only this time the shot goes over me. The muzzle flash from his shotgun gives him away and I quickly send a shell his way, blowing his chest open leaving another bloody mess on the floor. I walk around and finish clearing the platform, taking out another demon and two fox zombies as I do. One of the foxes carries an assault rifle, which I pick up and sling over my back in case I my shotgun runs out of ammo. From down the tunnel I hear the monorail approach, and for a moment I feel relieved. Great, now I can finally get out of here and...oh crap.

The monorail pulls up to platform and opens its doors...only to unleash a huge crowd of zombies, demons, and a new creature I have yet to encounter. I take a step back as the new demon steps forth. He resembles a Minotaur from the legends of old, with glowing red eyes, massive horns like a bull, and thick furred legs with goat's hooves. His claws glow green in the darkness, making him easy to spot, and impossible to ignore. Red pentagram tattoos cover his black upper body and seem to glow whenever he snarls in anger. Clearly he's in charge, as the other demons hold back their own attacks while waiting for him to give the order to finish me. I don't wait for him though, and I immediately begin pumping shotgun shells into him. Eight shells and one empty shotgun later the behemoth still stands before me. He's able to just shrug off my shells; it's like I'm throwing pebbles at a brick wall. I then learn why his hands are glowing green, as like the thirteen eyed demons, he can throw fire. Only instead of spitting into his hand, he simply swipes his arm through the air and sends a green ball of flame straight for me. I'm too shocked by this sudden display of power to think about trying to dodge it, and it ends up striking me right in the chest. Pain like I've never felt before surges through me. It's as if I've broken every bone in my body, had my skin torched and picked from my bones, and had my still living organs eaten from my gut. And then I feel okay again, save for a minor burning sensation in my chest. Note to self: DON'T get hit by one of those again. I shake my head and then take off down the platform to put some distance between me and the hoard of demons trying to kill me. "REMY! HELP!" I cry into the darkness as I hastily slap another eight shells into my shotgun and open fire on a pair of thirteen eyed demons just before they can get within clawing distance. The other demons and zombies have broken ranks and now they try to rush me as a group. My shotgun manages to keep them at bay for a few seconds, but soon I've expended my shells again. Four demons and three zombies lay dead on the platform now, but that still leaves the minotaur and another six zombies to deal with. I drop my shotgun for the moment and re-equip my assault rifle. A pair of bullets rips into my right leg just as I prepare to take aim. I grunt in pain but do my best to shrug it off as I return fire wherever I see a muzzle flash in the darkness. It's easy to tell when I've scored a hit, as the zombies always give off a distinct animalistic grunt, followed by a loud gurgling sound as their blood spilt forth from their blackened veins. Suddenly I get clawed from behind as I reload my rifle. I whirl about to see a thirteen eyed demon standing before me, and I realize he must have climbed up from the tracks and onto the platform to sneak up on me. I crack him in the face with the butt of my rifle, and then finish reloading so I can put another couple of rounds into his heart. Just then another green fireball whirls past my head, missing me by inches. I turn back to find that the minotaur is only ten feet behind me, claws poised to strike any moment. I duck and weave past him and make my way back towards the elevator, dispatching two more zombie foxes as I do. However, I end up coming face to face with another zombie walking out of the elevator, this time a huge black bear...armed with a belt fed machinegun. He immediately snarls at me and raises his gun, and fires at me just as I raise my rifle and shoot at him to create a symphony of heavy caliber gunfire. BOMBOMBOMBOMBOMBOM!

RATATATATATATATATAT! I grit my teeth and cry out in pain as I feel his bullets tear through my chest and arms, although I manage to keep my composure long enough to break his face open with my own hail of bullets. The beast crumples to the ground as I clutch my horrifically shredded right arm. Gawds, I'm missing so much meat I can see my bone at places. My face is stained with my own blood, both from a leaking wound near my left temple, and from the blood spatter that came from my arm getting torn to pieces. I cough and feel a wad of fresh blood fill my mouth and run down my chin. Suddenly I'm knocked flat on my face from behind, and immediately I realize I've been struck by another one of those green fireballs from the minotaur. I can barely move; my whole body just seems to shut down as aching pain throbs through every nerve ending in my flesh. Shaking like a leaf, I manage to roll onto my back and see the minotaur slowly walking towards me from 100 feet away. A pair of thirteen eyed demons walks on his flanks, fireballs at the ready. Slowly, I try to crawl away while firing single shots at them. My right arm is utterly useless, and I'm forced to hold my rifle with just my left paw. I can barely keep the gun steady as I fire potshots into the minotaur's chest, only for him continually shrug off the pain of getting hit as each bullet seems to just bounce off his torso. A fireball lands on my left shin, searing a hole in my pants and charring my flesh.

"Urk!" I grunt in pain as I set my rifle down to pat out my flaming leg. "God damn it, REMY! WHERE ARE YOU?!?"

"Right behind you," she answers from out of nowhere, as usual.

Just then I feel her paws tightly grip my shirt collar and she begins to drag me towards the monorail.

"Don't just sit there, keep shooting!" she admonishes me.

I lift my rifle back up and find a burst of new strength as I empty the rest of the clip at the three approaching demons. With my rifle now empty, I have no choice but to set it on my lap and draw my pistol. I begin firing at the thirteen eyed demons, hitting one four times in the chest and thus bursting his heart and lungs. I force a smile as I watch him choke to death on his own bodily fluids. That's for my leg you cocksucker! Remy finally finishes pulling me into the monorail car, and then quickly pushes a button on a control terminal, causing the doors to close and the monorail to begin speeding down the tracks. "Whew, that was close," she says while noticing that the minotaur had only been a few feet from the doors when they shut. However, her mood quickly changes once she notices me start to pass out. "Oh gods, look at you! No, don't fall asleep, stay awake!" she says while frantically patting my bloody face.

Remy quickly draws out one of the soulspheres and quickly presses it against me. The effect is immediate, and I sit up gasping for breath as my punctured lungs become whole again. Still, my wounds are so grievous that she ends up having to use the second one on me to fix my legs and arm. I pull off my shredded armor vest, as it's taken so much punishment it's just become dead weight on my shoulders. Remy then surprises me by throwing her arms around me and giving me a strong embrace.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, okay?" she says with a slight crack in her voice.

"Then don't leave me to die again, alright?" I reply with an air of sarcasm. "I'm sorry, really I'm sorry! I just wanted to get you some heavier firepower, but when I tried to get back to you there we too many of them blocking the elevator and I had to find another way into the subway tunnels," she lets go of me looks at the floor.

I study her face, and then ask, "Wait, Remy have you been crying?"

She turns her head to the side and tries to hide the fact that she's wiping her eyes.

"Huh, being an angel, I take it you're not allowed to lie then, are you?"

"Correct," she says with as little emotion as possible.

"Wow, I didn't realize I was that important."

"You're damn right you're important!" she shouts, and I realize this is the first time I've truly seen her lose her composure. "Do you have any idea what it's like when you try to save someone, and then they die because you weren't there for them?"

"Actually...I do." I'm not lying either, but that's a story for another day. "Look, Remy I know that was a close call, but I'm still here. I don't know where the hell I'm going, so I need you to calm down and finish leading me out of here. After that, you can cry and de-stress all you want, okay?"

She looks at me and forces a smile. "So you're not mad at me?"

"You've saved my life so many times in the last forty minutes that I've lost count, thus I'm not allowed to be mad, okay?"

She chuckles and stands up. "Alright, I'll take that as 'apology accepted.' Plus, I gather that you're starting to run out of ammunition right?"

I look at my assault rifle. The clip is empty and I realize that I dropped most of my spare magazines back when I was hit with the minotaur's second fireball. Even worse, I totally forgot to pick up a new shotgun after discarding my old one, thus making the fifty shells in my backpack utterly worthless. "Don't worry, as I did manage to find you something," she says with a smile. She turns and picks up a belt-fed machinegun similar to the one the zombie bear was carrying.

"WHOA. Now that is something I can use," I say while eagerly taking it from her and checking to make sure everything on it is in working order.

"Indeed, as it comes with a 200 round belt loaded with 6.66x45 mm bullets and yet it weighs only twenty pounds when fully loaded."

"6.66? I've never heard of that bullet size before and...oh. Never mind, I get the joke," I say as I appreciate the subtle humor that Hell applies to its standardized ammunition. "Alright, so where are we headed next?"

"Well, you're headed..."

"No," I say interrupting, "We're headed. You're not leaving me alone again."

"But I don't have any soulspheres left to heal you, and there's bound to be more demons guarding our destination."

"I'll get by," I say. "Now, where exactly are we going?"

"Look out the window and you'll see," Remy replies.

At this time I realize that the monorail has emerged from the subterranean tunnels, and is now running along the elevated track through the city. Through the front window I can see a mountain at the end of the monorail tracks in the distance. Looking closer, I realize this mountain is huge. It seems to touch the very sky itself. Actually, I think it does! Remember that swirling red maelstrom I mentioned earlier? It appears that that very storm is hovering directly over the mountain. For some reason the sky appears to be lower to the ground on this side of Hell than the other...interesting. "Let me guess, I need to get to the top of that mountain don't I?"

Remy just smiles.

"Great. Is there at least an elevator to the top?" I smile as she chuckles at my joke. At least she's feeling better now.

As we get closer, I notice that the mountain is surrounded by a sea of molten sulfur, and small streams of lava pour out from the mountainsides and into the fiery lake surrounding it. The mountain also isn't all that tall; it's only a few hundred feet in height. I take a deep breath as I ready up and watch the train platform come into view as the monorail pulls into the station at the base of the mountain. "What do they need a monorail for anyway?" I ask.

"Mostly for ferrying new arrivals back to their cells. You were unconscious when you came in though, so that's why you don't remember riding this train before."

"How do you know that?" I ask with a curious glance to the side.

"Oh, because I stowed away in the car with you," she replies while once again nonchalantly inspecting her fingernails.

"How'd you get by without them noticing you?"

"I just used my light controlling powers to bend the light around me and thus make me invisible," she replies as if it's nothing to be proud of.

"So that's how you keep disappearing on me," I say as another mystery about her is solved. Just then the monorail pulls up to the station and the doors open. Remy and I quickly disembark and are met with a hail of bullets from a waiting group of nearly twenty zombies. I open fire with my machinegun and cut them to ribbons in mere seconds, although I use up about half of my ammunition. No matter though, as the pathway into the mountain is now clear. Remy follows me as I enter a long, earthen tunnel and make my way into the mountain's heart. After a quick jog, I find myself standing in a large open chasm in the center of the mountain. A winding staircase wraps its way up the sides of the walls, leading up to the open mouth of the mountain's peak. And there, hovering just a few feet above that peak, are the swirling red clouds that I now realize are the very gates of Hell itself. "Nice, so I just need to climb those stairs and get through those clouds up there and I'm home free, right?"

"Yes, although I don't think it'll be that easy!" Remy replies with fright in her voice. I shift my gaze from her to the open ground before me, to see a colossal demon enter the cavern from a pair of large stone gates on the far side of the room. He resembles the minotaur demon I fought earlier, only he stands forty feet high and appears to be half-demon, half-machine. His stomach cavity is open and exposed to reveal a mass of protruding wires and pipe from it. His left arm has been amputated, and now a rocket launcher of sorts has been attached in its place. Even his right leg is missing and instead replaced with a mechanical prosthetic one. He stares down at me, and sinisterly grins to expose his well polished steel teeth. At that moment the perfect name for him pops into my head: cyberdemon.

"Move!" Remy shouts as she pulls me behind one of several boulders lining the edges of the room. I then feel the concussion of several rocket blasts against the rock as the cyberdemon sends a volley of five rockets after me. Looking around, I see another boulder resting at the foot of the winding staircase. I pause for a moment, and then dash alongside the wall while firing my machinegun at the cyberdemon. I discover many of his bones are metal, as my bullets seem to just ricochet off of him and do nothing. Remy quickly follows me, using her invisibility trick to avoid getting shot at. However, this just means the cyberdemon stays focused on me, and thus proceeds to chip away at my rock with a trio of rockets fired in rapid succession. "Damn! Remy, can't you just pick me up fly us out of here?" I ask as dust and loose pieces of rock fall on me.

"I wish I could, but my wings aren't strong enough to lift both of us," she says regretfully while shielding her head with her arms as another volley of rockets pounds our position. "If you want though, I think I can get you a rocket launcher like his and..."

"No! I told you we're not doing that again. How far is it to the top?"

"543.5 feet precisely," she says off the top of her head. "But I doubt you'll make it with him shooting at you!"

"True, but I know I won't make it if I have to wait for you to get me a new weapon," I say while tossing my machinegun to the side. The ammo belt is almost depleted, and the bullets just bounce off of him anyway.

"So what, you're just going to try and outrun his missiles?"

"Ideally," I reply before taking off and running up the staircase. The cyberdemon immediately sees me, but he fails to lead his shots and so each of his rockets explodes a few feet behind me. Fortunately his rockets aren't very big; otherwise the explosions would probably have knocked me flat on my face. I complete one loop around the staircase, which brings me about thirty feet off the ground. I try to do the math in my head; 543 feet to climb divided by thirty feet per lap...which roughly equals twenty laps give or take a couple. KA-BOOM!

Crap! Right, eff the math and just keep moving. I push myself to run faster while also trying to maintain my balance. The stair case thins out slightly at this point, and now the stairs go from being five feet wide to only four feet. Another rocket sails forth and explodes above me, destroying a section of the staircase and causing a chunk to fall down and punch a hole in the stairs behind me. Shoot, nowhere to go but up now. Remy suddenly sails past me as she darts into the air and hovers above the cyberdemon. While I've been busy nearly getting my tail blown off, she's been picking up several baseball sized rocks and begins to drop them onto the cyberdemon's head. I keep up the pace and continue running up and about the staircase, as the cyberdemon turns his attention to Remy and roars at her in annoyance. Seconds later I've completed another lap and I'm now able to look down on the cyberdemon. He's pretty pissed off now, as Remy continues to pelt him with small rocks. I pause for a moment to catch my breath, not to mention enjoy the sight of Hell's champion warrior being beaten with rocks. However, my joy is cut short when the cyberdemon zeros in on Remy and fires a rocket straight for her. She dodges to right in the nick of time, but the rocket hits the staircase behind her and chunks of debris and shrapnel pelt her from behind. I watch in horror as she falls onto the staircase below her and lies there, motionless. The cyberdemon zeros in again, taking his time to line up his shot and finish her off with another volley of high explosive ordinance. "Remy! Hold on!"

I look around for something to use, but all I can find is a small rock. Desperately I chuck it at him, but this only makes him flinch and look at me with a scowl. Great, now I'm gonna get trucked by him and...wait he's going back to aiming at Remy! Of course, he knows I can't leave without her, so if she dies he'll have no problem finishing me off. I continue to sprint up the stairs, racking my brain for an idea on what to do. I draw my empty pistol and throw that at him, making him flinch and lose his concentration again. This time he roars at me and sends a single rocket my way, but then goes back to aiming at Remy. Shit! What do I have left? Wait...my knife! I draw my knife and look at it for a moment, and then down at the cyberdemon who is now twenty feet below me. I quickly move further up the staircase until the cyberdemon now stands with his back to me. And then without thinking I throw myself at him. It's only when I'm in mid-air do I feel the surge of fear that comes from jumping onto a massive forty foot demon's back. Fortunately, I aimed my jump correctly and I manage to slam onto his shoulders and catch myself on his neck. I've caught him completely off guard, and he begins to madly dance around the room trying to shake me off. I hold on for dear life as he swipes his non-machine right arm across his back and manages to send a deep gash into my left shoulder. I shrug off the pain though as I feel a rush of adrenaline mixed with anger as I pull myself up, grip my knife, and then sink it into the left side of his neck. The blade plunges into his flesh up to the hilt, and the cyberdemon gives a huge, booming roar that shakes the entire cavern. It doesn't deter me though, and I force the blade forward, cutting a huge gash through his carotid artery and across his throat, causing his thick, black oily blood to flow out and run down his body. The cyberdemon flails his arms in pain, and he accidently lets a few rockets fire forth into the floor of the cavern. I notice a familiar smell, and looking down at the floor I see that his rockets have hit a volcanic vein, and now fresh, bubbling liquid sulfur pours into the room through the cracks caused by his rocket barrage. The cyberdemon falls to his knees, and soon I hear the sound of sizzling flesh as the sulfur runs into him and continues to flow into the room. I look down and start to panic, realizing that in a few seconds the cyberdemon will fall head first into the bubbling lava and take me with him. Looks like all those people who told me to go "burn in Hell" are about to get their wish. "Hang on! I gotcha!"

Remy suddenly appears behind me and hooks her arms under my shoulders. I hear her grunt as she flaps her wings as hard as she can and actually manages to lift me into the air and carry me over to the stairs. She sets me down a little roughly, but considering how she just did the impossible I'm in no position to complain. We both catch our breath and look over the edge to see more boiling sulfur pour into the room, and soon the cyberdemon's massive corpse disappears beneath four feet of glowing yellow lava. The smell, which you can't possibly imagine, is absolutely atrocious to say in the least. Suddenly, an explosion shakes the whole mountain, and I realize the cyberdemon's extra rockets have all just simultaneously detonated from the intense heat. The entire floor of the cave is blown away, and the millions of gallons of boiling sulfur below begin to bubble up...thus turning the mountain into a volcano. Remy and I both get up and frantically begin sprinting our way around the stairs, but the sulfuric lava continues to flow up the walls faster than we can climb the stairs.

"Ugh, this isn't gonna work!" Remy shouts. "Get ready to climb and don't look down!"

"Say what?" I ask in confusion as she spreads her wings again and hooks her arms back under my shoulders. "Climb!" she shouts.

I grab the wall in front of me and start working my way up while Remy helps pull me up. We move surprisingly fast, as her pulling makes my climbing all the easier, and visa versa. Each time we come to a section of staircase though she has to pull me back and flap her wings extra hard to lift me over the stairs jutting from the wall. I do my best to follow her advice and not look down, and judging from the increasing intensity of heat I feel on my footpaws, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know how close the lava is. My eyes start to sting and I find it hard to breathe as I'm forced to inhale the noxious fumes coming off of the sulfur. Ugh, gods it feels like someone's lighting a match in my lungs. "Keep going, we're almost there!" Remy encourages me as my pace starts to lag a bit.

I cough a reply as I force myself to ignore the pain in my fingers and hands as I continue to scrape myself on the jagged walls of the volcano. I clench my eyes shut and silently curse through my teeth. Repeatedly I tell myself to just lift my left paw, then the right, repeat. The heat gets worse, and I feel my leg fur actually starting to burn from my flesh. Focus. Just keep climbing, just keep climbing! It seems like I've been at this for an eternity despite that it's barely been a full minute. And then suddenly as I reach forward my paw grips nothing but up air. I open my eyes and look up to see Remy flying into the swirling red clouds, and suddenly I feel nothing. The pain, the pungent smells, then sounds of boiling sulfur, gone.

I look around to see that we're now floating in space, although strangely I can breathe. Although since I'm not physically real anymore, I'm guessing I don't need air to breathe. Below me I see the swirling red cloud, but past it is just black, star filled space. Remy releases my shoulders and instead pulls me up to her and gives me a strong embrace again. "Well, that was intense," I say with a relieved sigh while she holds me tighter. I notice she's crying again. "Remy? What's wrong? We're safe, we made it out!"

"...t-thank you," she whispers while silently sobbing into my shoulder."

"Thank you? I should be thanking you, I mean you're the one who got me out of there and all."

"But you saved me after I got knocked down by those rocks," she replied. "And for that I'll forever be in your debt."

"No you won't, because I saved you once, while you saved me more times than I can remember. That means I'm still in debt to you," I answer her.

She smiles and blinks away her tears. "Yes, but you finished off that last demon with just your knife. I could tell he was eager to have another chance at killing me, and you stopped him. And for that..."

"Another chance?" I ask, interrupting her.

"Yes, the first time was when I made my own escape in the same way you did," she replies.

"Hold on...YOU mean you were in Hell and got rescued by your guardian angel?" I inquire in total disbelief.

"Of course, how do you think I knew my way in and out of there so well?"

"I...I...but...if you're an angel then what happened to your guardian?" I ask.

She turns her head and looks away uneasily. "He...he didn't make it."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that he..."

"It's okay. You avenged him when you slit that bastard's throat wide open," Remy said while closing her eyes and envisioning the cyberdemon's blood spurting forth. She then looks at me and says, "And by doing that, you have certainly earned your wings."

"Wait, you mean I'm gonna get to be an angel like you?" I ask as the surprises keep mounting.

"Yup. Your newfound freedom comes with the price of having to go back in and rescue someone else, just like I did with you." I think about this for a moment, and then crack a smile. "Very well, but after I bust some poor sap out of Hell do I earn something else?"

Remy slyly looks to the side and replies, "Well, I'm not supposed to tell you, but I can give you a hint."

"Oh?"

She answers by pressing her muzzle to mine and slips her tongue into my maw. As she pulls away I'm utterly speechless and probably look like a moron. "So, get the idea?" she asks. "Uuhhh huhh," I say, still a little shocked from what just happened.

"Good. Now come on, let's get you home," she says taking my paw.

"Hold on," I reply, pulling her back next to me and looking out into the infinite void of space. "Let's just take a moment to finally rest, okay?"

"Hm hm, alright," she replies while wrapping her arm around my back.

And so we simply stood there, admiring the billions of stars, planets, suns, galaxies, nebulas and countless other inhabitants of the universe. In the span of a few minutes I had completed a journey that most never even dream of embarking upon. Now one door closed behind me, and another one opened to reveal a new mission, a new purpose for my existence. I smiled, knowing that what would come after the next chapter of my life would make it all worth it. But for now, I just enjoyed the moment while being surrounded by the universe's infinite beauty, being with Remy, and finally being able to breathe and not smell sulfur. Little did I know how short lived those simple pleasures would be......