Infernum Purification

During her pilgrimage, Eireen was visited by a winged group of demons. They’ve looked… civilized, compared to the Abyssals she was avoiding all these times, and roaming minor demons that were scattered all around Infernum’s lands. They’ve brought word that the Lord of Dis has requested her to visit his quarters, immediately. The given request was clearly an order, and the voices in Eireen’s head started squirming, getting louder and telling her to continue heading North, there is no time for courtesy visits of hellspawn that wants to play king.

As the demons conversed with Eireen, Sahmael was watching, studying her from afar. He was enamored with her looks and wanted to know who was behind the lovely bloodshot eyes.

When she was brought in, she was unable to converse with the Lord. Her eyes darted back and forth, her speech was strange and torn. Sahmael could feel the essence of another being trying to ravage Eireen’s mind, and it was winning, slowly. He came up to her and took her by the hand, sending his power through her. Eireen’s mind cleared up from the fog, she regained control and looked upon the creature holding her hand. It was as if she finally understood that this is who she was looking for all this time.

Knowing what ailment was plaguing Eireen, Sahmael summoned Ba’alzathar, the head warlock of Dis, and ordered him to find a solution to the situation. A few days later Ba’alzathar returned to his Lord with a plan. This plan was far from ideal, but it was the only one that could work. He offered to bring Eireen to the Great Temple of Voices, which stood not far from the river Phlegethon, which served as a border between the realms of Hel, Hades, and Infernum. This temple was built in times before the Fall and is imbued with ancient powers, knowledge of which was lost due to time.

This purification would either take Eireen completely or will clear her of the interloper that is trying to gain control of the vessel. Even still, the warlock made rituals in the temple before and would be able to safely stop the purification if something went awry.

The next day a convoy was arranged, and Sahmael himself would take part in this trip, to ensure the safety of the primordial. The trip to the Great Temple of Voices was through the Planes of Voices. It is home to the most dangerous and twisted creatures of the Infernum, and very deep in the planes, close to the Great Temple, the Abyssals distort their being so much that they turn into Abyssal Horrors. No one is sure about why that occurs, as even the mighty Lords of the past tried venturing into these planes to learn of these creatures, but never returned to tell anyone of their findings.

As the convoy of 200 minor demons and hellspawn were set out to the temple, Sahmael received the sigils from the southern outposts. This brought news of a powerful army of unfamiliar creatures marching towards the capital of Infernum, purging everything they ran into. Reaping souls, destroying fortifications, and outposts. He sent his best scouts to investigate, meanwhile, he had to deal with the purification ritual.

The trip was thankfully uneventful, and the convoy led by Ba’aelzathar was able to avoid most of the Abyssals. As they got closer to the temple, Eireen started to whale and thrash around, trying to escape her captors, refusing to walk any further. It was the temple’s powers that frightened whatever was inside of her. And she tried to run towards Tartarus. The warlock, knowing who was imprisoned there, was confused why she would choose to run that way every time she managed to slip her guards.

At the steps of the Great Temple of Voices, Ba’aelzathar stopped the convoy. From here only he and Eireen could venture forth. The warlock confined her in sigils of imprisoning and made his way up the stairs, while Eireen hovered behind him. At the entrance into the Temple, the warlock put on the mask of Nimrod, protecting himself from the maddening tirades of the Temple’s voices. Inside, Eireen was thrashing in her sigil prison, whoever was inside was not having it. The screams were bloodcurdling, but Ba’aelzathar in all his wisdom knew it was an act, and he ventured ahead. The warlock reached the centerpiece of the temple, where he put Eireen right in the middle of a great big hall, before releasing her out of the sigils that were her protective shell and slamming a giant slab door shut, only followed by the agonizing screams of Eireen.

As soon as the shell was taken off, Eireen’s head was filled with thousands and thousands of voices of elders who lived and perished within these walls and started an invisible battle within her mind with the thousands of voices of Ichoridan’s victims and Ichoridan himself. Eireen started throwing up blood that boiled like the Phlegethon river, it was clear that Eireen’s body was being purified from the Ichoridan’s plagued blood. As the pain grew stronger, Eireen understood that the ritual is working, and she is regaining control of whatever else will be left after the process is complete. The convoy didn’t have to wait too long before the warlock brought back the limp body of Eireen to Sahmael’s feet. He assured him that she is alive, but he was unsure whether or not her true self would remain intact. Theoretically, she was suppressed and could not fight the voices that were plaguing her in the first place, which meant that during the purification process she shouldn’t have been able to try and fight the voices of the temple either, leaving her untouched by the process. But only time could tell.

They made her comfortable as much as they could and the convoy started marching back to Dis.