The low sky, the restless demons, and the boundless space caught between them, filled with nothing but the pungent reek of blood and filth.
Ruger stood where he was. At some point, disjointed phrases sprang into his mind, describing what he felt. It was as though the entire world were pressing down on him. More demons gathered, stretching beyond sight, and he was merely one among them. He could feel the heartbeats around him, feel the demons shifting restlessly. The four-hoofed demons kept lifting their feet and setting them down again. The crush of bodies and the stench seemed to bind them into a single whole, himself included. He drew a deep breath, filling his chest with bloodstink and filth, as though all their hearts were beating together.
He had lost all sense of time. This was different from the oppression and suffocation of staring at the sky of the Abyss. Standing amid an endless horde of demons, he seemed to have merged with them, his mind dulled until it could no longer turn. He waited there with them, then at some unknown point began unconsciously walking with the tide of demons, never noticing how much time had passed.
Only after they had walked a long way, for a long time, did the demons gradually spread apart.
A gap opened in the bloodstink, the foul odor, and the endless heartbeats surrounding Ruger. Only then did he come back to himself and find room to breathe.
It was an extraordinarily strange experience. He had never imagined feeling anything like it, nor had he ever been part of a force this vast.
Ruger glanced from side to side as he walked. About seventy demons had gathered around him now, adjusting their movements to match his pace.
The two-headed demon on his left