Page:Weird Tales Volume 5 Number 2 (1925-02).djvu/131



COULD not sleep that night. My body was tired, but my soul was wide-awake. My soul was rebellious. It seemed striving to break loose from its imprisoning body, bent upon making some strange tour of discovery, an exploration of the unknown.

My physical being shrank from contact with the unnatural; my spiritual being yearned toward it.

For some minutes a bitter fight was waged within me, earthly and spiritual lives alike struggling for mastery. My brain burned like molten lava; my heart leapt within me with an awful excitement. The strain imposed upon my senses was terrific, the pain I was enduring unutterable.

Suddenly my body weakened; its powers of resistance diminished. And, seemingly realizing its opportunity, the soul sprang forward, hurled itself with horrible force against the enclosing barrier of flesh, and burst forth. My brain and heart, clinging to the spirit, passed out along with it; soul, life and mind alike deserted the earthly dwelling.

More swiftly than thought itself, I shot into midair and dashed on into unknown space, cleaving the ether.

Far out across the universe I sped, leaving behind me stars and moon, sun, earth and planets.

At last I had arrived at the very edge of the world, and looking down, saw beneath me a great abyss.

Far, far below me, hung a vast curtain of smoke-clouds, concealing from my view the underworld.

Spurred on by insatiable curiosity, I flung myself downward through the clouds, and penetrating the thick mass, found myself—in HELL!

Yes, I was in the pit itself. All around me were tall steep walls, stretching upward to meet the ceiling of clouds. The whole area reeked with the smell, of brimstone, and underneath me, scorching me with their fetid breath, were huge fires.

Gathered around the fires, and feeding them from time to time, was an army of fiery fiends. These were hideously formed, their fingers armed with long, poniard-pointed, red claws; their bodies squat and misshapen; their short legs deformed; their flat feet cloven.

These dreadful fiends were many-handed, and in each hand they held souls of the damned. Stretching out their snaky arms, they dangled the souls above the flames, toasting them to a brown crisp while the victims shrieked and screamed in torment. At