Yuna clasped onto the black bars of the cage, holding on for dear life as the carriage plummeted down the side of a cliff. She wanted to scream, but the fear of being killed kept her mouth shut, her lip held between her teeth.
*WHOOSH*
The carriage suddenly began to slow its fall, evening out. Yuna looked down, seeing the ground below them slowly rising up the greet them. The ground was laden with what appeared to be black sand, most likely ash.
"What… is this place..?" Tanner asked in awe. The black sand seemed to stretch on and on forever, demons crawling across its surface in mass.
"Purgatory." Edric said grimly.
"Wow, someone has a brain." The older girl said, but she was still blankly staring at the corpse.
"Look, if all you want to do is be negative, then just shut up." Edric said.
"Yeah, we need to stay positive!" Yuna agreed. "The gods will save us!"
"Just shut the fuck up you stupid little girl!" The girl hissed. "The gods won't save us! Look where we are! You think they'd come all the way down to purgatory just to save us?"
"Stop, please.. we shouldn't be fighting amongst each other.." Tanner pleaded.
"He is right. We need to focus on a way to escape." Edric said.
"Escape?" The older girl scoffed. "You really think that's possible?"
"It has to be. There has to be a way out."
"There isn't. Purgatory was designed to imprison the demons forever, it isn't possible to escape."
"Yeah, it was designed for the demons." Edric said. "Not us."
The carriage suddenly came to a sudden stop, the cage jerking forward and slamming them against the metal bars.
"What's going on?" Yuna asked quietly as other carriages stopped beside them.
"I don't know." Edric said.
The demon who had been beside their cage before came around the cage, opening up the back of it. The metal door swung open and the demon stared all the children down for a long moment, then stepped aside.
"One at a time, out." He hissed. "You first." He pointed at the older girl.
"Me..?" She asked in surprise. Yuna swore she could see a flash of fear in the girl's expression, but it was quickly wiped away and replaced by a nonchalant expression of boredom and confidence. But Yuna could see her shivering.
"Yes you, get up and come here." The demon hissed.
The girl slowly got to her feet, moving forward. She held on to the black bars to keep her balance as she stepped over the corpse of the child, her foot becoming coated in blood. Yuna moved aside, closer to her brother, as the girl made her way to the door, stepping out and onto the ash-like sand.
The demon's talons struck outward, clasping the girl's arm which resulted in a yelp. It pulled out some kind of paper with strange symbols etched into it and he wrapped about the girl's arm. Once it had been secured, the paper gave off a faint flash of red light before it was no longer paper, the markings sinking into the girl's skin as the paper faded away. What was left now was just the markings, etched into her skin like tattoos in a ring about her upper arm.
"What is this..?" The girl asked.
"Does it matter?" The demon growled. "Go over there and join the other kids." It pointed off in some direction beyond Yuna's line of sight in front of the carriage.
The girl turned to face where the demon was pointing, and her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened as her head tilted back as though she were looking at some kind of giant structure.
"Get! Go!" The demon growled, startling her out of her shock. She then began to walk away from the demon, all the time her head being tilted back as she stared up at something until she was out of sight around the carriage.
"You are next." The demon pointed to a small boy. Yuna made room for the boy and whoever was after him to get out by scooting closer to her elder brother.
She wondered what those markings were for. Why were they being put on them? What did they do..? Was it some kind of demon magic? Or was it just a way to keep track of the kids, like cattle tags? And why did the demon seem to be calling them out in a specified order?
Why did these demons even want so many children? As Yuna looked about at the other carriages, all of them filled with children, she couldn't help but wonder why would the demons need so many? What purpose did they serve? And if they did serve a purpose, why did the demons kill the kids so nonchalantly after all the effort they went through to get them? It made no sense to her.
"Next." The demon hissed.
Yuna was still lost in thought in that moment, and then the demon growled louder, "NEXT."
Yuna looked up, startled. The demon was staring directly at her, as though he was expecting something. Yuna clung to Edric, who placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Go, Yuna. Just do as he says, we will be okay, I promise." He said.
"Yes, do as your brother says, girl. As long as you obey us, you will be fine. If you do not.. well.." the demon looked over at the corpse in the cage.
"Okay.." Yuna said reluctantly, giving her brother one last hug before she turned, putting her feet over the edge of the cage.
"Please be careful…" Tanner said meekly.
Yuna turned back to him and smiled. "I'll be alright." She was trying to stay positive, holding onto the strings of hope that the gods would save them, but she was truly terrified.
She dropped to the black sand, which her feet seemed to sink into as it crunched beneath her. The demon grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. His talons were cold and sharp, causing her to wince as they dug into her arm.
"Hold still." It hissed, grabbing the paper. He wrapped it about her upper arm and a moment later, once he had tightened it, a flash of brilliant blue light burst from the paper.
"What the-" the demon hissed, stepping back.
A sharp pain ran through Yuna's arm and she collapsed to her knees as the paper seemed to cut into her skin and the marks were etched into her. Unlike the other from before, her marks were blue, not black.
Once the flash of light had faded, the demon crouched down beside Yuna, observing the mark.
"Interesting…" he looked into her eyes. "So this is what the Prince had spoken of."