After our visit to the Pleasure Dome, we gathered outside the Academy's main entrance. The afternoon sun cast long shadows across the obsidian courtyard as we prepared for our expedition to the Second Circle.

  "I brought some special gifts," Aria announced proudly, patting her satchel. "Made them during lunch break today."

  "What kind of gifts?" I asked, already suspecting the answer.

  Aria grinned mischievously and opened her bag to reveal several small vials filled with different coloured liquids. "Offensive potions. This red one's explosive, the green one paralyses, and the purple one..." she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "well, let's just say it makes the target very, very friendly."

  Isabella raised an eyebrow. "An arousal potion? Really, Aria?"

  "Hey, we're succubi. Sometimes the best offence is making your enemy too distracted to fight," Aria defended, carefully closing her bag.

  "Fair point," Isabella conceded, then reached into her own pack. "I've brought supplies and tools for our journey."

  She handed each of us a small kit containing various implements—lock picks, a compass, a small obsidian knife, and what looked like a silver wand.

  "The weapons are enchanted with fire magic," Isabella explained. "They'll be particularly effective in Glacius, where most creatures have aren't used to heat."

  I nodded appreciatively at the thoughtfulness of her preparations. "These are perfect, Isabella. But I wanted to contribute something too."

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out several small talismans I'd crafted during my lunch break. Each was a small disc of black metal inscribed with protective runes that glowed faintly red in the dim light.

  "Defensive talismans," I explained, handing one to each of my friends. "They should absorb the first magical attack directed at the wearer."

  Aria looked impressed. "Isn't this second-year magic? How did you figure this out?"

  "Library research," I replied with a small smile. "I've been reading a lot of additional material when I was still searching for a way back to Earth."

  Isabella examined her talisman with approval. "Excellent craftsmanship, Lily. These will be useful."

  With our preparations complete, we set off toward the Eastern Transition Zone. We moved quickly through Ardorkeep's streets, maintaining casual conversation to avoid drawing attention. As the city's obsidian spires gave way to the volcanic plains beyond, we paused to ensure no one was watching.

  "Coast is clear," Isabella confirmed, scanning our surroundings. "Time to fly."

  I nodded and released the partial glamour I'd been maintaining, allowing my wings to manifest fully. The sensation was always strange—a brief pressure between my shoulder blades followed by the liberating feeling of my wings unfurling. Unlike Isabella, who proudly displayed her bat-like wings at all times, I kept mine concealed with glamour magic when not in use.

  Isabella's wings were already spread, their dark membranes catching the crimson light of Igneus. "Remember the plan. We'll take turns carrying Aria to conserve energy."

  Aria looked between us with a grin. "My two strong friends, fighting over who gets to princess-carry me. I feel so special."

  I rolled my eyes but couldn't help smiling. "I'll take first shift," I offered, moving behind Aria and scooping her into my arms. She was surprisingly light, though I knew the real challenge would be maintaining flight with the extra weight.

  "Your wings are bigger than Isabella's," Aria observed as I adjusted my grip.

  "They are?" I hadn't really noticed before.

  Isabella nodded. "It's true. You have an impressive wingspan."

  I beat my wings experimentally, feeling the mana flow through them. Though physically too small for sustained flight, I'd learned that pureblood succubi instinctively channelled magical energy through their wings to generate additional lift. It meant we didn't need to constantly flap them, which would quickly exhaust us.

  "Ready?" I asked, tightening my hold on Aria.

  "Born ready," she replied, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  With a powerful downbeat of my wings, I launched us into the air. We wobbled precariously for a moment, Aria clutching me tighter with a small squeak, but within seconds my body seemed to remember what to do. My wings adjusted their angle, my back muscles engaged properly, and we stabilised with surprising speed.

  Isabella followed closely, her wings cutting through the sulphurous atmosphere with practiced grace. Despite never having flown for any significant distance before, I found that flying came naturally—another instinct buried in this body that emerged when needed. As we continued, my flight path steadied even further, the initial uncertainty giving way to a smooth, confident rhythm.

  "Eastern Transition Zone, here we come," I said, adjusting our course toward the distant boundary between circles.

  * * *

  The wind rushed past my face as I carried Aria through the crimson skies of Igneus. Despite my initial concerns about maintaining flight with her added weight, my wings seemed to know exactly what to do, adjusting their angle and beat to compensate. There was something deeply satisfying about the rhythm of flight—the pull of muscles I'd never used before Lily, the rush of air against my skin, the freedom of movement in three dimensions.

  "Time to switch," Isabella called after about twenty minutes. "We should conserve our strength."

  I nodded and gradually descended until we were flying alongside Isabella. With practiced coordination, I passed Aria to her, our friend squeaking dramatically during the transfer.

  "Oh no! I'm falling!" Aria cried with exaggerated terror, though her eyes sparkled with mischief.

  "You know slow fall," I reminded her with a laugh. "And we're barely ten feet off the ground."

  "It's the principle of the thing," she replied primly as Isabella secured her grip.

  We continued this pattern for the next hour, trading Aria between us every fifteen minutes or so. Each time, Aria performed her little theatrical routine, gasping and clutching at whoever was carrying her as if she were genuinely afraid of being dropped.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "You're enjoying this way too much," I told her during our third exchange.

  "Being carried by two beautiful women? Absolutely," she confirmed with a wink.

  Finally, the landscape below us began to change. The volcanic plains gave way to more rugged terrain, with deep fissures cutting through the black rock. In the distance, I could see our destination—a massive circular opening in the ground, like the mouth of an ancient volcano, marking the Eastern Transition Zone.

  We descended gradually, landing on the rocky outcrop that surrounded the entrance. As my feet touched the ground, I folded my wings behind me but didn't dismiss them entirely. The sensation of having them extended felt too good to give up just yet.

  "That was..." I paused, searching for the right word. "Liberating."

  Isabella nodded in understanding. "Flying is one of the greatest joys of our kind. Many succubi say it's second only to feeding."

  Aria stretched her arms above her head, working out the stiffness from being carried. "I can't wait until I learn the flying spell. Not all of us were born with fancy wings, you know."

  "Aria eager to learn something?" I gasped in mock surprise. "How unexpected. Should we alert the Academy administration?"

  She stuck her tongue out at me. "Don't get used to it. This is purely for practical purposes."

  "Of course," I agreed solemnly. "Nothing to do with showing off at parties or dramatic entrances."

  "Focus, you two," Isabella interrupted, though her lips twitched with amusement. "We've got a climb to make."

  We turned our attention to the massive opening before us. From our vantage point, I could see a spiralling path winding down into darkness, occasionally illuminated by patches of bioluminescent fungi clinging to the walls.

  "Remind me again why we can't just fly down?" Aria asked, peering over the edge with visible reluctance.

  Isabella sighed. "The air currents between layers are intense due to the temperature differences. Hot air from Igneus meets the cold air from Glacius, creating unpredictable turbulence. And it's not as simple as one layer being above another—they're literally two separate dimensions that connect at this junction."

  "Right, right," Aria nodded quickly. "I knew that. I was just testing you."

  "Of course you were," I said with a smirk.

  Isabella led the way toward the entrance, where a narrow path began its descent into the transition zone. As she had mentioned earlier, the passage was deserted. With the establishment of transport gates between circles, these natural pathways had fallen out of regular use, now frequented only by smugglers and demons on the run.

  * * *

  We began our descent, following the spiral path that wound its way down into the transition zone. The obsidian walls glistened with condensation where hot air from Igneus met the cooler temperatures below. With each turn of the spiral, the oppressive heat of the First Circle gradually subsided. While the temperature had never bothered me—one of the perks of being a succubus—I still appreciated the change as a cool breeze began to caress my skin.

  After about thirty minutes of careful climbing, the narrow passage suddenly opened up before us. Instead of the continuing spiral I'd expected, we found ourselves at the edge of an enormous cavern that stretched far beyond what should have been possible given the constraints of the transition zone.

  "What the hell?" Aria whispered beside me, her eyes wide.

  I stepped forward cautiously, taking in our surroundings with growing amazement. The cavern was filled with lush vegetation—not the twisted, fire-resistant plants of Igneus or the ice-flowers Isabella had described from Glacius, but something else entirely. Dense foliage reminiscent of Earth's tropical jungles spread before us, though with distinctly magical qualities. Several species of plants emitted a soft blue-green glow, illuminating the cavern in ethereal light. Above us, the stone ceiling gradually dissolved into what appeared to be open sky, though that should have been impossible this far underground.

  "Isabella," Aria turned to our friend, "are you sure we're going the right way?"

  Isabella pulled out her map, studying it with a frown. "According to this, yes. But..." she hesitated, "this map is about two hundred years old. The transition zones aren't exactly popular travel routes these days."

  "Even so," I said, stepping closer to examine the map over her shoulder, "that wouldn't explain this. A cavern this size doesn't just form in a couple of centuries."

  "No, it doesn't," Isabella agreed, folding the map carefully. "This was created deliberately. Either by some eccentric demon with too much time and power on their hands, or..." she paused, considering. "Transition zones are technically pocket realms connecting the layers of Hell—they're not actually part of Hell itself. It's possible a fragment of another realm attached itself here."

  I looked around at the strange jungle before us, thinking of the interdimensional theories Nyx had been so excited to discuss. "Nyx would probably love to be here with us right now."

  Aria groaned dramatically. "Yeah, and she'd most likely bore us to death with lectures about dimensional frequency collisions or whatever."

  Isabella's lips quirked into a smile before she returned her attention to the jungle ahead. "Either way, it seems we have to walk through this to continue our journey. The path to Glacius should be on the other side."

  "At least it's pretty," Aria offered, already moving toward the dense vegetation. "And not full of lava or ice spikes. I call that a win."

  I followed behind her, keeping my senses alert for any potential dangers. Whatever this place was, it wasn't supposed to be here—and in Hell, unexpected things were rarely benign.

  * * *

  The jungle was unlike anything I'd seen in Hell before. The plants here weren't the twisted, fire-resistant varieties that thrived in Igneus, nor were they the crystalline flora Isabella had described from Glacius. These were lush, vibrant species that reminded me of Earth's rainforests, though with distinctly magical qualities—leaves that shimmered with inner light, flowers that seemed to pulse with their own heartbeats, and vines that swayed gently despite the absence of wind.

  "Look at these," Aria said, pointing to a cluster of luminescent mushrooms that changed colours as she approached. "I bet these would make amazing potions."

  Isabella nodded, examining a nearby tree whose bark appeared to be made of some kind of iridescent material. "This entire ecosystem shouldn't exist here. These species aren't native to any circle of Hell I've studied."

  I was about to respond when movement caught my eye. Through a gap in the foliage, I spotted a figure moving methodically between plants, gathering something into a woven basket. As we drew closer, I realised with a shock that it was an elf woman.

  But something about her was... different. Unlike Bellas, whose body had been modified, this woman's form felt original, untouched by Hell's transformative influence. I couldn't explain how I knew this, but the sensation was unmistakable—she didn't belong here any more than the jungle did.

  Isabella and Aria froze beside me, clearly sensing the same wrongness I did. We stood there, momentarily paralysed by the impossibility of what we were seeing—a true mortal, moving freely through a hidden jungle in one of the Hell's transition zones.

  The woman finally noticed us. Her eyes widened in terror, and she let out a piercing scream before dropping her basket and bolting through the underbrush.

  "Get her!" Isabella shouted, breaking our collective trance.

  I didn't stop to question why we needed to capture her—some instinct drove me forward, my legs pumping as I pursued the fleeing elf through the dense vegetation. Aria and Isabella were right behind me, our demonic speed and agility giving us a significant advantage over our quarry.

  Within moments, we had her surrounded. I grabbed her arm while Aria seized the other, and Isabella blocked her escape route. The woman struggled frantically against our grip, her eyes wild with fear.

  "Please," she begged, her voice breaking. "I've done nothing wrong! I was just collecting fruits for my family. Please don't hurt me!"

  Her pleas continued, growing more desperate and shrill with each passing second. Strangely, instead of sympathy, I felt only irritation at her noise. The reaction surprised me—shouldn't I feel some compassion for her obvious terror? Yet all I experienced was annoyance that she wouldn't stop screaming.

  Aria seemed equally bothered. "Shut up!" she snapped, slapping the woman across the face with her free hand. The elf's head jerked to the side from the impact, and she whimpered. "I swear, if you don't quiet down right now, I'll pluck your eyes out and feed them to you."

  The woman immediately fell silent, though her body continued to tremble violently in our grasp.

  As I watched tears stream down her face, I realised something disturbing—I wasn't troubled by Aria's treatment of her. In fact, I felt relieved that the noise had stopped. Where was the part of me that should be horrified by this?

  All I felt now was curiosity. What was this woman doing here? How had she come to be in this strange jungle between the circles of Hell? And most importantly, how had she maintained her original form when all other mortal souls in Hell were either transformed into demons, made into slaves with bodies created from Hell's essence, or compressed into soul coins?

  "Now," Isabella said coolly, stepping closer to the trembling elf, "you're going to tell us exactly who you are and what you're doing here."