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on her.
    The soul screamed and collapsed in on itself.
    “Speak to me again,” Nyx lied, “and everything I do to you, I will do to your children threefold.”
    Aleyd fell silent.
    And now for the last step.
    The transformation of her body was simple enough, but reshaping the soul she was holding inside her took more effort. At the end of it, though, she had the appearance of a large-eyed, emaciated woman, whose breasts, once full, were now flat and hanging down from years of starvation. Nyx made sure to create mortal organs inside her, and made sure her blood was red.
    It’s time.
    Nyx let go of the bottom of the Lake and let the currents carry her. They pulled her body toward the shoreline and buoyed her up until she broke the surface.
    Nyx screamed and flailed her head desperately.
    It was a human scream of agony that did not even come close to expressing the amount of pain Nyx was in. But then, that wasn’t the point. Nyx kept screaming as long as her head remained above the Hellfire, and took the time to have a good look around. A hundred demons were on the nearest section of shore, surrounding a dozen of the Descended. The Descended were fishing, using a barbed Hellstone spear on a chain to catch souls and pull them to shore. Nyx screamed a little louder, then allowed herself to sink into the waves again.
    The spear slammed into her flesh, impaling her and sending Hellfire into her body. Both she and the soul trapped inside her jolted with the pain, then again as the chain on the spear went taut, hauling her backward through the Hellfire toward the waiting Angels and demons. Nyx kept up her screaming and writhing as they pulled her to the shore. Rough hands grabbed her and hauled her out of the lake, throwing her five hundred meters from the shore. The demons raced after her and the Angels laughed.
    Nyx hit the ground hard and let her body break as a mortal body would. Bones snapped and blood spurted. The demons howled in delight and fell upon her, biting and clawing and tearing away flesh. One of her breasts was ripped off immediately. The demons began fighting amongst themselves for the right to eat her, and Nyx crawled away, letting her body show Aleyd’s terror and pain.
    The nearest Descended—a brute named Andromalius—picked her up by the leg and smashed her against the ground, destroying her face and spattering her blood and guts everywhere. Then he drew his flaming whip and applied it to her body, ripping the already-torn flesh as he yelled, “Get up, sinner! Get up and be judged! Get up or I’ll cut your legs off!”
    After what Nyx had been through, it was no worse than mosquito bites. Still, she put on a proper show, screaming and struggling to rise, knowing that Andromalius was deliberately making it impossible for her to do so.
    “I’ll teach you to do what you’re told!”
    His sword came out and hacked through both of Nyx’s legs just below the knee. He grabbed her hair and pulled her upright, forcing her to walk on the bloody stumps of her knees. “You’re going to see Lucifer now, bitch. And if you think this is bad, wait until he gets done with you!”
    Nyx/Aleyd cried, and Nyx forced her body to slow down its healing so it wouldn’t give the game away.
    It was a half-mile to Nyx’s palace by mortal terms. Andromalius whipped, cut and beat her every step of the way. Demons scampered in and out, tearing at her flesh, never giving her a moment’s freedom from pain or suffering.
    But then, thought Nyx, that is the whole purpose of Hell, isn’t it?
    They came to the line and Andromalius dropped her to the ground. The rocks cut into her flesh. He stopped beating her and drove the demons away. “You should be whole when you meet Lucifer,” he said.
    Nyx started babbling her thanks, and Andromalius smiled. “I said whole, not free of pain.”
    He kicked her facedown and held her there with one nail-shod boot. He took the barbed spear and rammed it into her backside. He lifted her with