Eugene, like the other spirits was already in the second phase of refining, in this place which could be said be even worse than hell. The first thing he saw when he left the dark zone was a completely red environment filled with screams as people were being tortured continuously by malicious beasts and monsters that couldn't be described with common sense. 

When he finally entered this place, he was immediately stuck to a wall that was so hot it began to char his body, he couldn't move yet again as a terrifying force held him in place. With cracks appearing on his skin, extremely hot lava from the ground beneath him began to flood into the cracks directly as if it had a mind of its own

AHHHHHHHHHHHH

Eugene screamed as he felt pain on a whole different level but couldn't move and his eyes began to roll backwards

Suddenly, a beast about five feet tall having the head of a bear and an extremely muscular looking human body wielding what looked like a macuahuitl started approaching his direction

As Eugene laid on the ground, gritting his teeth and when he saw the ferocious creature approaching him and fear engulfed him.

"It's over, this is my fate" Eugene resigned himself to his sad fate and future

He was mentally prepared but suddenly felt another strong force pulling him towards a certain direction out of this space and hellzone he was currently in.

This was Alak's doing as he drew the spirits towards the area he was currently in. At this point Alak had already transformed himself into a middle aged looking man before he arrived so as to speak freely with the spirits.

When they arrived, he immediately spoke

"You all should feel grateful as his Lordship has placed a great importance on you, so from this point on you will be separated from the rest and thereafter be taken to the palace of his Lordship" Alak spoke as humbly as he could

Eugene couldn't understand what was happening, he was indeed relieved he couldn't feel any pain at the moment but he disliked how his life and direction was being controlled by someone else.

He glanced around and realised that there were four other spirits besides him in almost the same pathetic state as he was

Eugene kept silent and he kept observing everything around but he was also stunned that he could understand the language being spoken but pushed that thought to the back of his mind, that wasn't important right now. What he needed the most was information and just as he was still thinking, middle aged man spoke and snapped him out of his thoughts

"Now, since you all are the select chosen, you will naturally be given preferential treatment and no one here, me included will dare touch you"

Alak smiled and did his best to sound honest because this mission of his was absolutely important and he couldn't afford to mess up. He observed the reactions of the spirits who were all relieved to be free from torture at the moment and his eyes were fixed on one that displayed a bit of cautiousness and he knew this one would be a bit of a bother

"Hmm, this spirit seems defensive, well that's a natural reaction as well considering what it has passed through" Alak thought as he immediately came up with a solution

"I will do my best to answer a few questions you have but they have to be reasonable" Alak felt this was the best course of action as this can give them a little sense of security and power

"Good, he took the bait"  This was Eugene's plan as he intentionally hid his relief from the torture and he acted unwilling to pressure the man into giving a little information. He knew that if he appeared satisfied off the bat, the man would assume that he was happy enough with his current situation so he had to put on a little act

"Uhm, excuse me" 

"..." Alak became silent

"I knew this spirit would be the first to ask" He was satisfied as he thought to himself then he nodded

"You may speak"

"Where is this place" Eugene though carefully and asked

"This is the Netherworld" Alak answered truthfully, although this place is a seal and the name isn't known to the universe, the spirit couldn't escape anyways so he might as well just tell him.

Eugene then asked again

"What is this Netherworld and why are the five of us special"

Alak looked at this spirit and felt he was too cool headed for someone who had gone through such an experience 

"Hmm, what I can say to you is that you all are already dead so you ended up here"

Eugene nodded as he already thought of that option, meanwhile the other spirits were slightly shocked and began murmuring. Eugene observed the situation and wanted to know what's so special about them and was about to ask when the man suddenly spoke

"The reason you all are special is because you have the capacity to evolve and become a citizen of the region to be of use to the Lord" Alak said as he picked his words out carefully

Eugene, noticed a slight change in tone and expression and as someone who studied psychology he immediately knew that Alak lied and his heart began racing. He felt that for this man to go through this hassle to lie to them meant one thing that they were indeed special and had to be handled carefully but not in the way this man explained. He controlled himself and asked his last question

"So, where do we go from here"

Alak observed this spirit and felt a little uncomfortable, he couldn't shake the feeling that this spirit was up to something but he immediately dismissed it because the spirit in front of him now was powerless so there's no much cause for worries. He calmed himself down and answered the question

"Under the command of the Lord, I will be taking you to a place to consolidate your spirits, you can see the cracks on your surface...it is a sign of breakdown so first you need to consolidate your spirit to heal them" Alak chose his words carefully again just to be safe

Eugene nodded and acted as if he believed everything ..."I'm afraid, this time we're actually doomed"  he thought

The other four spirits recovered from their initial shock and were happy with what they heard and one of them voiced out his opinion

"That's quite sensible, we're dead and nothing we can do can change it. You said we had privileges right, so does that mean our movement is somewhat free from now"

Alak looked at the spirit and observed the expressions on the faces of the rest of the spirits and was satisfied with himself and he answered

"You all shall be taken to a special domain to consolidate your spirits but you'll be given the lord's mark to deter anyone who has ulterior motives, you can move but you'll be monitored just to offer a little more protection and safety"

The spirit nodded and was happy with what he heard and then kept quiet

Eugene however kept up his act and pretended to believe everything and he thought

"Isn't that basically a slave mark"  He kept these thoughts to himself and maintained his satisfied expression

"Alright, let's get moving and if you have any more questions you can ask them after you're done consolidating" Alak said as he was tired of answering these questions

He immediately spread his arms and a huge gust of wind circled and wrapped them, everything became blank for a second and when the wind subsided they were in front of a huge black gate, standing in front of this gate was centaur holding a spear

As Eugene opened his eyes and saw the centaur he was quite shocked 

"Isn't this a bloody centaur, something I can at least recognize. hmm it seems this man used something like the fabled teleportation or something similar to bring us here"

Alak then spoke

"Welcome to the Grand Abyss, this is where you all shall remain at the moment and this is the gatekeeper"

Eugene and the rest nodded and he made sure not to forget the name of this place he just heard

Alak then gestured for the gatekeeper to open the gates for them and when they entered they were greeted with a completely different scenery

Eugene was stunned as this was the polar opposite of where he was, he looked at the rest and saw how happy they were and decided to act happy as well to keep up appearances