Zefiro found himself in a space similar to the void, with the difference that he could feel he was traveling to a specific place.
He could not move and so he meditated on the recent events.
Thanks to his Heart of Ruination, he didn't feel much bewilderment.
He was obviously very angry; he would surely come back to take revenge on the man who banished him from his house and alienated him from his family.
He also felt anguish, because he had left with his loved ones an evil man, he hoped that he would leave, even if it would make his family worry, but it was always better than hurting them.
He worried about the pain they might suffer, but not their death: if they died, he would simply go to heaven to force them back, and torture all of Astaroth's offspring to death.
At the moment he wasn't paying too much attention to homesickness, as he was also very excited; the prospect of living in a fantasy world filled with monsters and magic exhilarated him.
Suddenly, Zefiro stepped out of the void he was traveling in, before he could observe his surroundings he was in the worst pain he had ever felt.
Thanks to his Hearth of Ruination he was able to ignore the pain, showing no symptoms of being afflicted at all.
So he looked around, he was on a beach, the sea,black and opaque, was as flat as a table, the sand instead was red, like the sky: he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
He was surrounded by creatures of various shapes, many of them humanoids, other souls, he assumed, they uttered extremely disturbing cries of pain and agony.
He turned towards the sea, and noticed a small boat that wasn't there a few moments ago.
It was a small planking boat and it seemed to be falling apart: the wood was rotten and there were many holes; on a closer look, you could see how the boat was floating above the water.
Above the boat, stood a tall, thin figure, its perfectly still body wrapped in a tunic the same color as the sea, with a hood from which a gray skull with glowing fireballs for eyes was visible.
It had a raven on its left shoulder, its black eyes sharply reflecting its surroundings.
In its hands it held what might be an oar: a staff made of bone culminating in a skull, with bright green gems in the eye sockets and curved black horns.
The crow took off and began circling above Zefiro, finally landing on his left shoulder.
It looked at him in the face and opened its beak; without moving it, it continued to speak in a voice so distorted that he could not understand its gender or its age and it seemed to whisper directly into his ear:
"Oh damned soul, your presence surprises me.
I never brought you here, and you're no older than me.
It doesn't look like the gods sent you here either.
So tell me, how are you here?"
Why would a dragon lie to ants?
According to Zefiro, no one was strong enough to make him lie.
If the truth was inconvenient to his enemy, he could simply destroy him, so he answered:
"First I would like to ask how is it that we speak the same language as I am from a distant planet but a demonic cultivator, Astaroth, swapped our souls while he was dying.
I want to go to Eternium to have some fun before returning to my world.
Anyway, is this place hell? Sounds... boring"
His voice was very different from that of his physical body, sounding much deeper and echoing slightly.
-"It has been eons since Astaroth died, if your soul has taken that long to arrive you must have come from far away.
We can understand each other because you are a soul, all souls understand each other because they come from the same place.
I can communicate with all souls as their guide: I am Charun, helmsman of the damned.
I guide souls to the afterlife, and vice versa.
But the latter won't be your case, as you'll have to stay here until Astaroth is captured, also because souls must have something in common to be exchanged, so it wouldn't be safe to bring you to the surface.
I will tell the gods of your arrival here."
Zefiro began to laugh, but before he could speak he was interrupted by a sudden apparition: someone in a black tunic, or rather, it seemed that the tunic was empty and could stand on its own feet.
Upon its arrival the waters of hell rippled and the boat took off.
It spoke in a calm but authoritative manner, with a strident and annoying voice:
"He will ascend, he already has a body waiting for him.
I'll take the responsibility of communicating it to the other gods"
A chuckle escaped it before fading away.
The sea calmed down and the boat lost altitude, after which Charun told Zefiro to get on.
After a few hours of calm "navigation" in the seemingly infinite sea, a voice was heard from above:
"Answering your last question, here is very boring, yes.
At least the lesser souls like you, have divine punishment to keep them company, but I have only the cold."
Said the crow circling the boat while the skeleton rowed, after a short pause he added:
"I too would like to be able to feel your pain, oh damned ones, it allows you to forget your sins, but I live alas in regret, since one of the purest souls suffers endlessly because of me, and that is my divine retribution."