The corridor was long and dark.
The sound of crackling fire from the torches mounted along the corridor echoed lightly off the walls.
A damp musk and a hint of blood lingered in the air.
Along the corridors metal doors are lined up on either side, like soldiers standing at attention.
Grossly large rodents scurry across the ground and into a crack in the wall.
"Squeeeeeek!....."
"Crunch... munch... crunch..."
As Kane walks along the corridor, following the hooded Monster, he's disturbed by the thought of what could be behind these doors.
"Hay big guy. You said I'll be fighting somebody. What do you mean by that? Is this like some kind of underground fighting ring in Hell? Am I really dead?"
Kane questions the monster, trying to get some answers.
The hooded monster keeps walking forward, leading Kane by heavy metal chains.
He completely ignores all of Kane's questions.
"Hay big fella, come on, you can at least tell me where I am right?"
Silence.
"Hay look here you massive motherf...."
The hooded monster suddenly stops in his tracks, causing Kane to crash right into his back. He loses balance and falls on his ass.
"Hay big guy, I was just playing. You don't have to take it to heart right? Why're you so sensitive, it was only a joke."
The hooded monster turns to his left and unlocks the metal door in front of him.
He pulls the door open and steps in; still holding onto Kane's chain.
The hooded monster grumbles to whoever was locked in that cell.
"It's... time."
About a minute later, the hooded monster exits the cell with another chain in hand. He yanked on the chain, causing a small man about a metre tall to stumble through the cell door.
Kane knew that this prisoner was a man as he had the biggest beard he'd ever seen. The small man's wiry beard reached all the way down to the dirty floor.
He was almost a spitting image of the Dwarves on that Lord of rings movie he'd watched before.
As the dwarf follows right behind the hooded monster, Kane quickly catches up.
"Hay little guy, you dead too? Man sucks to be you. Do you know where we are?"
Kane keeps rambling on, but similar to the hooded monster, the little dwarf didn't pay much attention to Kane.
He kept his head down and mumbles some things under his breath to himself.
Kane strains to hear what the dwarf is saying. He catches the phrase:
"My dear Dulora, I will see you soon."
Even in this dark and musky place dimly lit by torches, Kane could see a tear coming down the side of the dwarf's cheek.
"I will see you soon. I will see you soon... I will..."
The dwarf kept repeating himself over and over again.
Kane quickly shut his mouth.
The face of a beautiful and young brunette lady flashes through his head.
He whispers,
"Maria..."
Kane doesn't know why, but as soon as he heard what the dwarf was mumbling about, his heart sank.
And the image of his wife Maria Reed showed up in his head.
"I wonder if she's ok..."
The hooded monster stopped several times and entered the cell doors at random during their long walk along that corridor.
Each time he stepped through a door he would say the same two words.
"It's.. Time."
By now there were 13 men, including Kane. All chained up and following right behind the hooded monster.
Kane looks at all the guys around him.
All of the men were regular sized, except for Kane himself in his young teenage body and the dwarf.
They all had one thing in common: they were extremely thin and malnourished.
The hooded monster made another stop, but this time something unexpected happened.
When the hooded monster stepped in the cell to say his iconic two lines, the guy inside the cell suddenly lunged at the hooded monster.
Kane was standing right by the cell door.
He looked in to see a man, or a giant to be more precise, standing at least three metres tall rushing at the hooded monster.
Kane was stunned to see that there was a man who was even bigger than the hooded monster in this cell.
"What the hell? This guy is even taller than NBA players?"
Kane stands in silence as he watches the giant attack the hooded monster.
Before Kane could process what was going on, the hooded figure moved.
He raised his arm slowly and punched out.
A simple punch from his standing position.
That one punch hit the giant right in the chest and brought him to a screeching halt.
Kane stood at the hooded monsters back and he caught the face of the giant..
He saw the terror in his eyes.
Like a picture caught on camera, the two figures stood in the centre of the cell frozen still.
"Badump... Badump...."
Kane swears that the only sound he could hear in that moment was the sound of his own heart beat.
The hooded monster slowly turned around and exits the cell.
He pulls the chain to lead everyone forward.
Kane watches the hooded monsters back, then turns back to look at the giant.
Kane was horrified at the image before him.
Standing in the middle of the cell, the giant had a hole the size of a car tyre ripping apart his chest.
Kane could see the other side of the cell through this mans chest.
One punch. All it took was one punch from the hooded monster, and this 3 metre tall giant was dead. Destroyed.
As a man who fights professionally for a living, Kane was used to seeing blood.
But this was too much, even for him.
Kane starts gagging and tries to throw up.
Unfortunately for him, nothing came up.
Kane could never bring himself to finish the food that was provided for him earlier.
The plate was full of rotten food, of course he couldn't eat it.
He probably would've died again from food poisoning he'd thought at the time.
So because his stomach was empty, nothing actually come out of Kane's mouth.
All he could do was dry retch, which caused his eyes to water.
"How is that possible? One hit?"
Still gagging, Kane couldn't believe what he'd seen.
That image would forever haunt him.
A three metre tall giant was just killed in one punch.
Staring at the back of the hooded monster, an unfamiliar feeling washes over Kane.
His legs starts to tremble and the back of his shirt is soaked in cold sweat.
"Is this fear?"
Looking at his trembling hands, the reality of probably being in Hell finally sinks in.
"Get a hold of yourself Kane."
Slapping himself and trying to calm his nerves, Kane attempts to steady himself as he continues to follow along with rest of the prisoners.
The corridor stretched on for at least 800 metres.
Along the way, more and more prisoners were picked up and dragged along with them.
A few times, some braver new prisoners tried to revolt and attack the hooded monster along the way.
But without fail, the hooded monster throws one punch and the prisoners explode like water balloons.
An eerie silence falls over the marching prisoners.
There were at least 40 prisoners now marching forward behind the hooded monster.
Even with their numerical advantage, no one even thought about over powering the monster who could make people explode.
Ever since the giant was killed, Kane had kept silent and stopped talking as much as before.
Letting the situation around him sink in, Kane decided to observe those around him first.
The more he observed the weirder things seemed to be.
One of the prisoners had pointy ears and dark skin, kind of like an elf but darker.
Another prisoner had tattoos all over his body from his face all the way down to his calves.
Another prisoner had an outfit similar to the monks of Asia back where Kane came from.
"So even Monks get sent to Hell huh?" Kane thought to himself.
Other prisoners had strange attires, like wearing the skull of a beast as a helmet or plane white masks covering their whole face.
All in all, everyone here was a weirdo in Kane's eyes.
Trailing at the back of the line was a small man standing at 1.5 metres.
The man had his head wrapped in black cloth like he was a ninja.
His shifty eyes darts back and forth scanning the crowd ahead of him.
He locks on to Kane and stares at him for a while.
Like he had made a toughest decision in his life, the Ninja lets out a heavy sigh and walks towards Kane.
"Yoshi Yoru. You are?"
Kane looks over to Yoshi and examines him for a bit before answering.
"Kane Reed. You some kind of Ninja? Didn't know they still had them in Japan."
"Ninja?"
Confused, Yoshi looks at Kane like he's an idiot.
"I know not of this Ninja or Japan you speak of. I am Night Walker Yoshi of the abyss."
Yoshi introduced himself but still keeping an eye on his surroundings, remaining vigilant.
"OK Mr Yoshi of the abyss, do you know where hell we are? And the hell is up with the hooded monster? Is he a fucking beast in a man's skin?"
Though there was a hint of sarcasm in Kane's voice at the start, but his curiosity of his surroundings got the best of him.
Yoshi stares at this strange man who apparently was clueless about his situation, wondering if had made the correct choice of partner.
Giving him the benefit of the doubt Yoshi asks his own questions.
"Can you fight?"
Kane looks at Yoshi like an idiot, but just as he was about to respond arrogantly, he remembered the scene of the giant being killed in one punch.
Kane drops his head and ponders seriously.
Could he dodge that punch with a sway? Could he duck under it and counter?
Kane decided to be brutally honest with himself.
"Against that big monster, no. I could probably last less than 10 seconds, 20 at most against him. Against your average man? Then, yes. I don't want to brag, but I am the current world heavy weight Boxing champion."
Though Yoshi had no idea what a world heavy weight Boxing champion was, it sounded like the man he chose could fight.
He sighs out in relief.
"At least he can fight, our chances of survival may have increased just a little." Yoshi thought to himself.
As Yoshi is pondering to himself, Kane has been examining this Yoshi guy to try and figure out what he wants.
Suddenly the whole crowd stopped moving.
Right in front, the hooded monster slowly turns around and grunts.
A thunder like echo rumbles through the corridor.
"It's.. Time.. You... all... Fight.. or DIE!"