Part 10: New Enemy, Old Friend

On the other side of the stepping disc, Rahne saw that she was still in Limbo, though she knew that she may have traveled through time. She immediately shifted to her transitional form and scanned her surroundings for any sign of danger, then tried to figure out if she should go back through the disc. She wasn’t sure if it would take her back to the same place and time she came from, and hesitated for minutes trying to decide what to do.

The area was not wild like where she and Wolverine started; it was built up and constructed much like the Throneroom of Belasco. The walls were old and worn, made of some stony material, and overgrown with fungi and cobwebs. It was apparent that she was inside some sort of structure that was no longer used for its original purpose. She saw some stairs and thought it might be wise to look down them before deciding if she should try the disk again.

At the bottom of the stairs was a hallway that split off into three directions. Wishing she had Sam with her to help with all these decisions, she settled for looking in them all one at a time, from left to right.

As she crept slowly down the left hallway, looking behind her almost every second, she smelled the familiar, strong odor of decaying flesh. At the end of the hallway she had to shift back to her human form because the smell was so pungent. She reached a room dimly lit by some unknown source and was horrified to find the remains of a man, old and rotting, and being eaten by several small demons. She started to run, but seeing that they were small and frightened by her anyway, she shifted into wolf form and attacked them.

“The Nightfeeder! She is upon us!” they screamed and bolted for the exit. Rahne was confused by their terror. What were they so scared of? She wondered as she shifted back to human form. Her dress had ripped when she shifted to wolf form, and was almost falling off of her now. She was very worried about losing it. She never even changed clothes in front of her teammates; she would hate to be lost in Limbo in her underwear.

Reluctantly looking back at the corpse, she tried to see if it could give her a clue about her whereabouts. The body looked as if it had been there for quite some time. She was puzzled about what could have done this to him—he had been ripped open from his chin to his waist, and nothing inside was left. Then she recognized the body. Wolverine’s metal bones made a grisly contrast with his putrefied flesh.

This was simply too much for her, and tears again burst forth from her weary eyes. “Why, God, why? When will you just kill me and be done with it? I hate this place, I hate life, I hate EVERYTHING! What must I do to get you to help me? Am I so wicked, that I must have no peace, no joy in my life? Must I become a killer, like they want me to be? Or a strumpet, like the other girls? I swear I’d do anything if you would just take away my sadness. Show me some sign, please, that I am still in your favor! I am so alone…”

Her throat was in great pain from crying. She cursed her tears, she cursed her sorrow, and she cursed the day she was born. Her fear of Limbo was defeated by her hopelessness as she knelt down, not even looking up to see if the demons were all still gone.

After a minute her stomach started rumbling. She cursed her hunger, but wished she would just starve to death rather than go on living like she had been. She slowly stood and left the room, though not sure what she was looking for. She went down the middle hallway but found nothing. When she went down the right hallway, she saw that it was a twisting labyrinth. Not wanting to get lost, she turned around to return to the disc where she started.

When she reached the stairs, she was jolted by the sound of a mighty howl that filled the entire chamber. The impact of it almost knocked her down. There, at the top of the stairs, was an enormous lupine creature with fearsome jaws. It was muscular and powerful looking, but filthy. Three skulls hung from its huge neck. It glared evilly down at Rahne with an almost tangible malice and spewed out hostile speech.

“Yuir prayers are wasted, girlie! No God down here. Or anyplace else, for that matter! Ye suffer from the Reverend Craig’s poisonous lies! Oh, but I’ll cure ye…”

Rahne shifted into transitional form and fled back into the right hallway and adjoining maze. She was terrified to say the least, and though she had just cursed her own life, she ran desperately trying to save it now.

Every moment the thing was right there at her back, howling terribly and slashing at her. Her smaller size was her only advantage in this maze, and she turned corners quickly and acrobatically.

By the time she could no longer hear the creature, her heart was pounding inside her chest and her sides hurt. She was completely lost. She wasn’t sure if it was safe to stop or even slow down, but she knew she’d better think of something or she would wear herself out.

Much to her relief, she found a stepping disc around the corner. It was a dead end also, which made it easy for her to decide to take a chance on it.

Please, Father…show me you still love me. Let there be something good on the other side of this disk. I don’t care what…anything. Or let me die and find some peace! I trust you, Lord. I am sorry for all the things I said earlier.

Once on the other side, she saw that she was in some kind of dwelling. She didn’t think it looked vacated at all, but maybe a little crude. Still, it was without a doubt the most hospitable place she’d ever seen in Limbo, even when Illyana was still the ruler. She looked around again and gasped in shock.

There before her stood Doug Ramsey.