The sensation of travelling through this portal was less like the simple movement of passing through the portal created by a Chime and more similar to when Garrick had teleported Dante to the Nascent with his Chimera. There was a sense of time passing, much longer than this first teleportation. But then a light appeared, growing larger at an immense speed.
Dante was flung through the other end of the portal, and he found that there was no ground beneath his feet. His legs spun uselessly in the air and his chained arms reached out desperately as he sought something, anything, for him to catch hold of, but there was nothing. He screamed as he fell, but only half of his cry of terror was from the lurching sensation in his stomach as he plummeted downward. The other half was from the giant mouth lined with countless, hook-like teeth that waited below him.
The cool air grew hot and rancid around Dante as the monster exhaled. As he passed though the monster's lips, Dante flicked the chain connecting his hands to his legs, and it snagged on the weirdly shaped fangs, stopping his fall with a jolt that made Dante's neck pop painfully, and he dangled, there, dazed, as he tried to think through the terror numbing his brain and process what just happened and what he should do next.
A wet mashing sound came from below him, and while he was sure he didn't want to know what was causing it, Dante looked anyway.
The weird fangs, like barbed hooks, continued in uneven rows down the monster's mouth and into its throat. Several sets of these teeth were masticating on a large wet lump of meat, splintered bone, and hair.
The terror within him grew, but it became tinged with sadness as he realized that Jemma had come in before him and was likely a part of that soggy mass of flesh. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, and he blinked them away while stifling a sob. He so badly wanted to mourn the loss of his friend, but he also knew that there would be no mourning if he didn't survive this.
The gray-tinged light faded away as the mouth began to close. Time was running out. Dante pulled his hands apart, straining against the prison they had been encased in. The metal yielded to his strength, but slowly. His heart thudded wildly against his ribs and he pulled again, willing every muscle to work at its limit.
There was a creak and then a snap as enough of the encasing broke for Dante to free one of his hands. One hand was still caught in the casing, but it was enough that he might keep himself from becoming a snack for a hungry monster.
He reached up with his free hand and grabbed one of the fangs. The barbs across its surface punctured deep into the flesh of his palm, and he cried out in agony. At least this proved his theory that his skin wasn't any tougher with the Chimera.
He clenched his teeth against the pain, and ignoring the blood dripping along his arm, he used his new leverage to kick up his legs and plant his feet firmly in the beast's gum line. He reached hand that was still encased in metal above him and wedged it between two of the monster's fangs. He then pushed with all his might, preventing the monster from closing its lips.
The closing of the maw slowed and then stopped.
Sweat was already pouring from all of Dante's pores. He could feel it dripping down the back of his neck to be lost in the void below him. His muscles shook with the effort, and he wasn't sure how much of his new abilities were because of the Chimera amplifying his strength, and how much of this was pure adrenaline. But he wasn't going to give up. He wanted to live.
But the monster also wasn't giving up. Frustrated by its snack fighting back, the creature shook its head side to sit, trying to dislodge Dante. But Dante kept his hold, even as the jostling caused the barbs on the fang he was holding on to for dear life to tear into the flesh of his palm until it felt as raw as minced meat.
The monster finished shaking its head and then lowered it, so Dante could see more of the world than the desolate, swirling gray of the sky.
His new view wasn't much better.
The land was barren and filled with giant, squat, toad-like monsters, their mouths open and facing the sky. Horns that grew like tangled old trees sprouted from the sides of their heads and ran down the sides of their scaly bodies. The air above them shimmered, and as Dante watched, a man fell through one of the shimmering patches of air, his scream cut short as he vanished into the waiting mouth of one of the giant toads.
Dante gulped. He still wasn't certain he'd be able to escape that same fate.
He shifted carefully, trying to wedge himself into a better position. He knew he needed to be facing the other way if he wanted to survive this. If he were facing into the mouth instead of out, he could push out and maybe only lose a hand, and he'd rather live without a hand than die here. However, there was no way he could turn around like he needed to. The chains connecting his wrists to his ankle, while they had saved his life, now proved to be a hindrance. He could only push up so far without hitting their limit, and there was no way he could break him while he was wedged like this, and the monster's jaw would need to be opened much further in order to manage that maneuver. Also, the chains connecting his feet were tangled in the monster's fangs.
There was no way out, and his last hopes were fading fast.
His limbs felt numb from straining so hard against the hungry monster's mouth, and his hand was in such a blinding pain that he couldn't help but wish he had gone for his mother's Chime that morning, been caught by Tobias, and been whipped. That would've hurt less. And then, he and Jemma would both be alive and safe in his own world.
A new wet noise came from behind him, and Dante looked over his shoulder to see its source.
The creature's tongue was moving toward him, thick and sticky. Dante let out a long, shuttering sigh as his last bit of hope left him. The toad monster would stick him onto its tongue and drag him into its rows of masticating throat teeth, and he'd be dead. He couldn't escape it. There was nothing he could do.
He heard a faint buzzing, but he couldn't tell where it came from, and considering the situation, he didn't care. His short life was already over, his time with a Chimera cut short in the most painful way possible.
He squeezed his eyes shut as the tongue grew near, and the buzzing grew louder, like it was a herald of death coming to take away his soul.
But instead of the wetness of the tongue, Dante felt two sets of powerful arms wrap about him and yank. Reflexively, he let go of the fang he held onto, throwing his fate into the arms that held him.
There was a loud crack, and Dante was lifted free from the maw. He opened his eyes and looked down. He was flying. The fangs that had been caught in his chains were still snared among the links, but they were no longer attached to the monster. The buzzing was deafening, like a thousand giant mosquitos, and Dante realized that it must be from the wings of whatever had pulled him from that creature's mouth.
As he was lifted higher, Dante watched as the one that had tried to eat him blurred into a sea of countless other monsters. Soon, he was too high. The air was thin and chilled him to the bone. His consciousness faltered, and he felt himself begin to slip away. He had already been limp, but he felt the muscles in his body let go for good as he drifted off unto unconsciousness, letting himself be carried away by whatever unknown force, be it savior or rival predator, that had just claimed him.