The Garden of Azrael

A great dead tree protrudes from the fetid ground swollen with the effervescent souls of the eternally damned. An onyx sky starkly contrasts this ominous appendage of the earth and draws attention to the size of the tree. An eerie pathway runs beside the tree; paved with shattered skulls and broken bones which leads off into a maze of decrepit sepulchres.

    The light of a burning candle casts shadows against the stonework that bend and break with a breeze that flutters softly by and calls to the souls trapped beneath the earth. The walls of the maze are covered with an iridescent moss that shifts and dives into itself as if it were living and the air is thick with the smell of decaying flesh and heavy with the cries of corpses. The walkway continues along from the maze into a putrid mire; masked by a vicious fog. Skulls dissipate the further in the path winds into the fog and they give way to a coagulated mixture of water and earth that envelop each step deeper into the bowels of the Earth.

    A figure is off in the distance, partially visible through the impregnable fog. It stands atop a rotten tree; much like the tree at the entrance. Upon closer inspection the creature begins to move and turn, revealing tattered wings of black steel and the body of a demon. His teeth glint as the serrated edges catch shafts of light and his black wings drip with crimson blood. Its eyes burn a deep amber with flames spewing forth as he stares ceaselessly. His mouth opens and a cacophony of screams erupt from within, searing through the fog and silencing the lost souls. Two great hooves pound the earth as he strides across the infinite quagmire through the fog and twisted trees. A corrosive stench fills the air and decimates all manner of life in its path. He stands tall, with his black wings spread and his face staring through the layers of flesh and bone; into the soul. He reaches out a great scarred hand and crushes through the bone. He shears the skin from the carcass and cleaves the soul from the body. His eyes erupt in fire as the soul withers and dies in his palm. The beast returns to his post and all light fades to nothingness. The screams of a tortured soul builds as the void rushes closer and closer; tearing a hole through the silence. Nothingness remains.