The Ninth Circle
Nexii rematerialized on the edge of a frozen lake far under the Temple of Treachery. She was on the frozen surface of the Cocytus, the final river at the center of GM Hell. She had read in her studies that the river was once an oasis sanctuary for the Tier'Dal when they first arrived in the Underdark. But the Cocytus had been cold and hardened aeons ago from powerful GM and Developer magic. It was rumored that the staff had conscripted ice dragons to warp this serene place into a prison for the most wretched of souls.
"Welcome little cleric...to true Hell..." a distant draconic voice rang in Nexii's mind.
"It's...so...fucking...cold..." Nexii whispered to herself. She thought she knew what cold was from Velious. But this place was far colder than any she had visited. Breathing in the frigid air pained her elven lungs; she could only manage shallow gasps. She wanted to cry upon not seeing a zone out pad. She asked herself why hadn't she listened to Sirken? And why didn't he follow her? Perhaps he knew how extremely foolish she had been. "Just a stupid girl...fucking around and...hedonistic..." She staggered, and fell to her knees. Everything hurt and yet...she still felt the Hate in her despite being so far from home. She could still feel Innoruuk's divine powers within her being and this pushed her to continue on.
"No...I won't go down alone like this! I'll find the way out. Every zone has a way." She got herself back up to her feet with renewed determination. She found it difficult to walk with the ground being sleek ice. This place was eerily silent aside from that telepathic voice in her mind. But she knew that more sinners were out there. With trembling fingers she got out her Pegasus cloak to levitate above the slippery surface.
"Surrender...as those here have. You know their crime. That which is worse than giving your soul to another?" The voice rang in Nexii's mind once more. She tried to shake it off. She didn't want to think about anything but escaping...but yet...the message left her with a sense of dark curiosity. She made her way around a massive stalagmite of ice to see the first soul of the Ninth Circle.
"<Aftermath> sucks. So many players yet so incompetent as a whole. Finally a Massive Heartwood Thorn drops here and I can't get it..." Jumbasa looked up at her with frozen, soulless eyes. As if he knew her but was so consumed with pixel lust that he couldn't say her name. There was no warm shoulder massage as a greeting this time. He was fixated on pulling the immersed dagger out of the ice, but it was a futile quest. The Tunare dagger was stuck in deep and it wasn't going to come out any time soon.
"What? Spent all your Retoxx bucks too soon?" Nexii said, coughing from the cold as soon as she'd taunted him. She knew it was bad karma to do so. There was a force, one beyond GMs and players that even she didn't comprehend. "I...I'm sorry. I can release you from this, if you wish." She raised her flail at his affirmative nod, but stopped short. "No...I just can't do it." With a defeated sigh, she continued on. "Perhaps I underestimated you. Is that pity for the Immersed I saw? Some other emotion than raw hate?" The eerie voice derided her decision.
"Vith'os!" she cursed, using the Tier'Dal words for 'fuck you' which came more naturally to her. "I'll...wait, what is that?"
A icy eye of Zomm was floating above the frozen lake. The eye was moving very slowly as the owner was focused on performing more important tasks than scouting the depths.
"Eye of Sedyt...scanning. Scanning Neriak Library. Scanning Cecily post #4209. Scanning Cecily post #4210. Updating <Aftermath> DKP. Scanning Nexii post #249... post #250. Erotica...anomalies...detected..."
"Shit. He's gonna find me here where I shouldn't be and screw me over with a conspiracy theory. Find my location here soon like Floppin. I need to just...hide...don't reply...don't yell for help..." She found it very tempting to let the eye see her, but the fear of losing all her Retoxx bucks prevented her from giving up. She had to resist the temptation. She dashed to an alcove at the side of the lake. Here she saw two souls, half-frozen into the ice. One was a Half-elf and the other was a Troll.
"Hraasshna...will...pop...someday. The voice tells me so..." The Half-elf Nexii recognized as Detoxx. He was in a bad state, completely unaware that Nexii had sauntered up next to him. He was fantasizing about having his very own Sceptres of Destruction, swinging
each in turn with what little energy he could muster against the cold. His eyes seemed to light up as he imagined the Anarchy procs.
"No...Ventani first! My alt DPS monk will have that Shroud! <Aftermath> is the most dominant guild... we'll crush them so easily and get it..." Uyan murmured. Even when Nexii waved her hand in front of his eyes it did not phase him in the slightest. All he saw was the Shroud in Reticulated's chest inventory slot. Nexii felt like telling both the war between <Rampage> and <Forsaken> was long over and no one cared about warder loot. Though that was easy for her to feel as none of the warder loot was usable by herself.
"Yes, little cleric. Don't say you haven't ever felt that lure. The lure to obtain best in slot pixels at any cost. Come my child, and gaze upon my true form." Nexii was snapped out of her trance by the voice. The voice seemed closer and more intense now. She considered that perhaps her resolve was weakening. She had seen so many of her friends succumb to their very own desires to end up with infinite self-loathing and rage. It was anathema to how she had been trained: only to hate others and never herself.
"Fine. As you ask." Nexii whispered as she continued along the river. She could sense the direction of the voice. And after going a little further, she saw it - the entity which was the Avatar of Immersion. It was a three-headed undead Vulak`Aerr which chewed on the half-ice-immersed bodies of the three most tortured souls known to the server. The left head chomped on Unicity, the effigy of autism. Not a single joke would be understood by this sinner. The right head, Floppin, the effigy of elitism. No skillful play-action would be good enough for this soul. The center head chomped on Bellringer, the effigy of hypocrisy. Mercy was wasted on this one, as Tempest had so quickly gone back to their old ways of lawyerquesting and extortion.
"Ugh...gross." The priestess saw a pile of blood around where the three were being chewed. And yet they each seemed oblivious to the pain they should have been in.
"FTE...FTE...FTE..." The trio chanted in unison.
"POP!" The voice echoed. Nexii felt the desire to bolt just on hearing it, despite being way too uninterested to ever race before. But she wondered, how would they race when frozen in place?
Her question was soon answered as they each reached down between their legs and stroked their cocks furiously. At first she thought it was some ritual to get back body warmth, but then it dawned on her. Only after Floppin, Bellringer, then Unicity came in turn did she figure it out.
"First to Ejaculate. Cute." Nexii sputtered. The cum mixed in with the blood and guts. It was a rather grotesque scene. She had no doubt that this sick race would be done in perpetuity. And this in turn reminded her how sick FTE racing was.
She looked up at the damned trio and each one was smiling at her. The thought that each enjoyed the twisted race was more twisted than she could process.
"No...enough...I give in..." She begged, falling down to her knees, whimpering in a pathetic way that she'd only ever made Sirken do for her. The cold lure of full immersion had claimed her. Her eyes were icy and cold just like the sinners in the clear reflection of the lake.
"It's...all...over..." She gasped before she blacked out.
(im not the author)