Angel—daughter of Taal, Queen of the Abyss—crawled at his side. Since consuming human flesh, she had grown to monstrous size. Her stone body was still shapely, her waist narrow, her hips full, but her limbs had stretched out, too long to let her stand upright in this tunnel. She crawled on all fours. Drool dripped between her sharp teeth, and cracks glowed upon her craggy body, revealing the lava within.

"All in the Abyss and the worlds above will see our love." Angel licked her lips. "Our love will burn the world."

Raem draped his left arm, the squirming tentacle, across her back. His right arm, the lobster claw, clanked at his side. His hoof stepped on a gaping face in the floor, crushing the poor soul's teeth. His talon drove into blinking eyes. They kept walking, accompanied by the chorus of screams.

After walking for what felt like eras, the tunnel opened up into a great chasm—the throne room of the Abyss.

Here was a sister to the throne room of Eteer, a dark mimic buried marks underground. Festering ribs, hundreds of feet tall, formed its foundations. Craggy rocks grew between them like boils. Many creatures hung from the walls and ceiling, bloated to obscene size, their bellies distended and threatening to burst; here were the living blood-sacks of the abyss, creatures to feed the warriors of the underworld.

A throne rose ahead, taller than three men, made of many tongues woven together. The severed muscles twisted, licking, drooling, coiling together, stolen from humans whose words were forever silenced. That great throne now cried out with thousands of voices, unintelligible, laughing, slobbering, wailing, smacking together.

Creatures scuttled around this throne, danced across the floor, clung to the ceiling, and flew through the air. The dragons of Requiem had slain a thousand demons, but many still filled these halls. Blobs of slime dragged themselves along the walls, leaving glistening trails. Furry balls with red faces tore the limbs off feathered men, crunching the bones and sucking the marrow. Horned, hoofed creatures with bearded faces copulated on the floor, thrusting into shrieking red swine with vulture beaks. Centipedes the size of men flew on translucent wings. Lanky giants lumbered across the room on many-jointed legs, their bodies turned inside out, organs pulsing and dripping.

"My hall of nightmares," said Angel. After crawling through the tunnel for so long, she finally unfurled to her full height. The stone woman towered over Raem; his head only reached her hips.

"Our hall," Raem said. He stroked her. "My bride."

Several demons rolled forth, balls of metal, and unfurled into tall beetles. They raised bone horns and blew out clarion calls. All across the hall, the demons hissed and howled and knelt. Bones creaked and saliva spilled. Smoke wafted from nostrils. All the demons gazed as the bride and groom walked through the hall.