Sunday, January 9, 2011

Exercise: Your Personal Hell - Level 1

This exercise is called "Your Personal Hell," which can be found on The Periwinkle Pen. Copied and pasted from the thread (because I'm feeling lazy right now):
"Like Dante's Inferno, a fictional Hell is created. In Hell, according to Dante, there are separate levels labeled by numbers, and sinners are sent to the level that corresponds with their worst crime (1 being the least horrible to 9 being the most intense). Certain types of people are sent to said levels.

The task of the exercise is to build your own personal Hell. It doesn't require 9 levels ("circles," Dante called them). It needs, however, as many levels yours would hold, be it three, five, seven, nine, or eleven. Describe what lies in each level with the scenery, the punishment, and the people that are sent to the level. Be as creative as you wish with the scenery and punishment, even if it's stuffed with gore that surpasses the average morbid scale. It's Hell, after all!"

The theme I'll be using is the seven sins. I've arranged the sins in order of which I personally find to be least evil to greatest offense. The first level is Gluttony. I attempted to write this exercise in second person because I felt second person would be more effective. This particular level was written on November 21, 2010, during NaNoWriMo, and the other levels haven't been started yet.



[Your Personal Hell - Level 1]

An imp takes you by the hand and leads you down a corridor with luscious walls licked by hungry flames. At the end of the corridor, you see a door labeled "1" in splotchy red, some areas darker than others, the bottom lining of the number having a dripping effect. You wonder to yourself if it was painted with blood--it's Hell, after all.

You watch as the imp opens the door with ease, its red tail flicking back and forth, purposefully hitting your legs. Luckily you are unaffected since the tail is not a great mass, so you show no expression of pain on your face, which naturally displeases the imp. Nonetheless, almost ignited by your actions, the imp tugs you into the room.

The first thing you notice is that this room is misty and murky, blurring your vision to the point of obscurity. It doesn't help that there is little to no light in the entire room, making the task of observing most difficult for you. One step into the room and you step on something, and it does not take long for your ankles to be submersed in the same mushy material. The uncaring imp continues to pull you along, distracting you from watching your feet drag in the substance, and it directs you to one of the walls. A shape starts to emerge, and from what you can tell, the object is hanging. A few steps later and you see it's not only one object, but numerous of the same one. The same shape even appears away from the wall, and you deduct that the hanging masses are in more than one place.

The imp lets go of your hand and roughly pushes you forward, and you almost fall--only barely catching yourself by flailing your arms about like a maniac. Once you are completely balanced, you squint at the silhouette in front of you. As the image becomes clear, your eyes grow wider and wider until the sight is completely revealed, and you turn heel and run from the grotesque sight of a decaying, bloated human corpse gutted with its intestines spilling onto the floor.

Then the squishes and splunks of the floor material (after seeing the corpse, you now know they are more intestines) become unbearable as well. You immediately stop running and stand in place, eyes welling up in horror as your body trembles from the trauma. You cross your arms and clutch onto your opposite elbows, trying to comfort your stomach; to no avail, as everything currently in your stomach now joins the intestines on the floor. Your body continues to convulse when the imp returns to your side, gripping a shoulder and pushing you ahead.

You shake your head violently, shouting out no in protest, but the imp's hold is unbreakable. From the distance, the sounds of cracks, chewing, and complaints reach your ears. The mist clears, and what lies before you is a field of humans shackled and bound like farm animals, their leashes held by dark red devils with sprouts for horns, laughing maniacally. In their other hand you see a whip of which they struck at the humans. They barked commands at the humans, ordering them to eat, eat, and eat. Eat the intestines, eat the innards, and eat the remaining flesh on the corpses. While staring at the sight you chance upon someone biting into a succulent chunk of purpled intestines.

Your stomach empties once again, but unlike the other chunks of your disgorgement the fresh batch is not alone. Other patches of human regurgitation spread out like puddles. You completely sympathize with the tortured gluttons, for you understand that the corpses and viscera is by no chance a pleasant sight to see, that anyone, in your opinion, would feel their stomach churn and choke in this atmosphere, not to mention the scent, of which was heavy with decay and rotten materials.

This place, you are sure of, would be the most horrible place to wind up in, but as you know, you are not a glutton. You are not required to walk through this level, but even though you don't know exactly why, you just suppose sadistic Lucifer wants to revel in your misery, and indirectly gets his kicks by commanding this imp to give you a grand tour of the evil lord's palace.

Finally you cannot bear to look anymore, so you turn your head from the suffering. The imp grins and pushes you in a different direction, and your feet keep trudging through the human entrails and waste until another door is approached. This door, you see, has the number "2" scrawled upon it. You then realize this room is only the first level, and if you thought this level was bad, how would you fare with the rest?

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