(Scars do not appear to be cause of death –shock ... - Bad Request

The heads continued to moan, "Beyond the veil all is... shadowed,
illuminated. Nothing translates. Nothing easy. No."
"Then why are you still here?"
"Betrayed, despised, framed... punished, executed, made an example of.
Hung here by enemies. Lost, lost, lost." Their breaths rattled as one.
"Is it just me, or are there far too many talking, disembodied heads around
these days?"
The heads paused. They looked at each other for a moment, and then back
at me. They hung shamefully from the gate.
"Never mind that," I sighed. I needed answers, and this wasn't going to be a
pleasant trip, "Do you have any idea how to get there or get it back here?"
"Through the gate, into the prison... no return from the prison, no return.
Go through the gate, go through the gate... your destiny awaits you there."
I looked up, gaze firming. Those words sounded much too prophetic for my
comfort, "What do you know about my destiny?"
"The deva awaits you." The heads fell silent then, leaving only the thrum of
the portal to be carried on the wind.
Chapter 105
Bands of toxic gray clouds crept along the curve of the sky. For a minute all I
could see were fleeting shadows scuttling through a blood-red mist.
Moments ticked away with the pounding of my heart as my eyes adjusted,
interrupted only by bestial screams and shrieks of agony. Yet too soon the
world came into sharp, terrible focus.
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