A blanketed somberness followed Raphael's tears, the gravel was silent, every step was soft. The silence was sweet and bitter, so pleasing to the ear, and yet there was something yelling in it. It wasn't truly silent, it felt like the silence was in itself made from screaming. The silence was talking now, the emptiness was screaming in pain recently. Raphael's anxiety shot through the roof, his body began to shake violently, he had chicken skin running up his body.
"We're coming up on the first labor you'll witness, on the road you will see several to try and change your mind, I recommend you pay attention when you look, for the sake of yourself." Said the Devil as she gestured to her left. The field was clearing itself, the grass was getting shorter as they walked, the ground becoming visible within a few feet. The ground itself wasn't dirt, Raphael couldn't tell what it was, it resembled an infinite landscape of scales, like it was all made of an alligator. It was unnerving in a strange cold way.
There were hundreds upon thousands of individuals all just standing around, nothing to do, each one with their hands chained to the ground with maybe 3 feet of give. "These are the stubborn" Said the devil as she stopped in her tracks. Each individual here for their first punishment will remain here for varying periods of time. There is always a beginning and an end to one's sin, the period in between is important. However long it was, you'll remain here three times as long, chained to the floor, unable to move, leaving you only to think about that period and nothing else. Some people will be here for decades, some for a century, a slim few may only be here for a few months.
It was baffling, none of them were sad, none of them were angry, none of them were even confused, it was a fluid sea of blank expressions, as if all hope and sense of pain had been removed from their minds. They were just sitting and thinking with no external factors, no wind, no heat, no noise, pulsing waves of thought as each and every one of them breathed deeply, and rhythmically in and out. It was depressing to see them, like robots, all sense of soul removed. It wasn't horrible though, it just seemed depressing.
"I don't think this is horrible, only thinking of a certain period of your life is a little depressing but at some point you have to just become complacent about it right? Every one of them looks complacent." Said Raphael turning back to the Devil who was still facing emptily into the field. "They aren't Complacent Raphael, they're crushed, All they have is looking at the worst of their life, without any other thought they don't become complacent, they just have to contemplate for however long they are here. "From what I've gathered you would be here for 35 years chained to the ground with nothing but the thoughts you have been having in the past decade, any idea of sadness you had at that point will be your entirety, no escape, no safety just deep contemplation." she said with a single tear rolling down the cracks of her porcelain face.