Hell And Back Again

Compliments of the highly talented I commissioned this from him to show one of the most important moments in Aries Passadar's tumultuous life.

Here we see her *desperately* reaching for the lost soul of House Scantillian's heir in spite of the heat burning away her very essence.

The story behind this is as grotesque as it is horrifying.

It began with Aries Passadar's first failure. She couldn't save a child she had promised to return. She came back to the parents, the both of them, and has to look them in the eye and tell them their child was lost.

It changed her life forever.

When a job offer came down the line at the Mercenary's Guild, the others regarded it as impossible, a fool's quest.

Aries took the job... The mission was to rescue the wrongfully taken soul of the heir of the fourth Volencian noble house, House Scantillian. The boy had been cursed and his soul dragged down to Hell.

Mephistasm, demon lord of the Ninth Gate, warned Aries against going further.

'Hell is where the wicked are punished. And your sins are numerous.'

She disregarded the advice...

... and she plunged.

The marks of damnation burned themselves into her hide, marking her forever.

She rescued the soul and emerged in the mortal world again, but she had once again been eternally changed...