Shared: 05/05/2024
Updated: --/--/--
"Escape from Hell's Aisles" is a work-in-progress concept story in which a ragtag group of souls band together to escape and dismantle the hellish world of the psykojics, Hell's Aisles. It features Riven Scholl, Ambrose McNeal, Mable Sanchez, Carric valKrait, and "Will," and follows their group as they come together and begin to work their way through the seven levels of Hell's Aisles, taking down every overlord and department manager they come across.
WHAT IS HELL'S AISLES?
Hell's Aisles is a hellworld created in Era 6 after the gods' disappearance into the ether. It was formed originally to contain a soul gone mad, that of an experiment who named himself Porphyrius Rex. While it should be noted that Rex was created by accident by one Nathan Shasear in an attempt to replicate what the Seven Heathen Mages did in Tartarus, not every bad thing about Rex was a direct result of Shasear's unsuccessful soul creation attempt.
Porphyrius Rex started off a blank slate, and turned himself into a monster. Before he was banished to Hell's Aisles, a smaller, rudimentary copy of Planar World TR-5, he possessed the body of a teenage boy in [ x ], corrupted and consumed his soul, and assumed physical form. He attempted to destroy a school, then a town before being caught and reprimanded.
Once in Hell's Aisles, then known as Cavern Plateau Experiment 7.H9, he turned his prison into a personal Hell, and began dragging others into it. He created more psykojics (for he himself was the first), and together they began to exchange deeds for souls via contracts, earning psykojics the nickname "contract demons." Every soul claimed from a successfully completed contract not only amplified the power of the psykojic who completed it, but brought that soul to the Aisles, slowly adding to the workforce enslaved to do the bidding of their psykojic and demonic overlords.
Hell's Aisles earned its name because of the middle layers' resemblance to a great, fiery storage warehouse. With towering, multi-level shelving units and nepotist managerial levels to rival that of your average big-box retail store, the Aisles are said to greatly resemble the eternal nightmare of all retail and customer service workers in the multiverse. (They're not far off; Hell's Aisles became a soul well, similar to the Iron Archipelagos, and has been noted to specifically draw in the souls of deceased retail workers, managerial failures, and "Karens" alike.)
GENERAL STRUCTURE
Level 7 — better known as the Pit. This is the point of origin of all modern psykojics (i.e., all psykojics except for the originals Porphyrius Rex created when overhauling the Aisles). It is also the place particularly rowdy or dissenting souls are thrown into as punishment for their troubles. Occasionally, they are pulled back out after serving an indeterminate sentence, but they are never the same.
Level 6 — processing. Where all new arrivals stop through to be assigned a work area, quotas, etc., whether they be new psykojics from the Pit, acquired souls of contractees, or souls pulled in by the soul wells. Characterized by long lines, terrible music, and bland architecture.
Most souls go through an arduous re-formation process when they pass through Level 6. This includes being given a new physical form (usually similar or identical to their previous one) in order to perform labor. This new form is easy to keep up: titanium bones, limited requirements to eat, sleep, or drink, and significantly stronger than the baseline human. They do bleed and flesh injuries are common, but most Hell's Aisles workers are hard to kill and borderline indestructible.
Level 5 — work level one, where most contractee and ensnared souls start out after exiting processing on Level 6. Includes most hard labor assignments, including weaponry management, storage, supply acquisition and distribution, and mining (Hell's Aisles is continuously growing in population; someone has to work on expansion). Workers are heavily monitored here.
Level 4 — managerial offices and out-of-world contact division. Some souls will get promoted here from level 5, and some will be sent here directly from processing. Depends on how they ended up in the Aisles, and whether or not they were owed something in their contract with a psykojic. It is said that, once you enter Level 4 (whether you're a manager or a worker running errands), your personality instantly becomes either bitter and callous, overly cheerful to a creepy extent, or bland and uncaring. (This effect does not fade for managers.) Resembles an eternally-repeating office building.
Level 3 — low-level psykojic residence level. Also called "the tenements." Has some greenery, and is home to at least a few Hellcats (large, feline companions some psykojics choose to keep). Heavy surveillance here.
Level 2 — home of the overlords and upper-level psykojics, aka the highest performers. Grand architecture, largest cavern space, home to Hellbats (giant bats tamed for riding and domestic pets), Hellcats, and a select species of dragons. Characterized by grand, empty-feeling homes, callous social hierarchies, and a distinct chill that sets this level apart from Levels 7 thru 4. Less surveillance, but only because this is the second most dangerous level.
Level 1 — the creation point, and the home of Porphyrius Rex. Center of Hell's Aisles' "government." The most dangerous level.
OTHER NOTES
Hell's Aisles is notably one of the multiverse's biggest source of anarchy, bloodshed, and diversion. Contract demons can be hired out for any number of things and required only a summoning circle to contact. The price may be your soul, but there are many people willing to pay it.
Each level is separated by heavily-guarded gates. It is very unlikely that any being would be able to break these gates or sneak past their guards, except perhaps a trained psykojic with the right credentials (or an exceptionally capable Mindbreaker).
Managers are the only ones with weapons, except for the guards. Managerial weapons range from bludgeons to hyperarms to knives to polearms, and can therefore be range or melee weapons. These weapons are highly dangerous and are capable of killing most workers (or rather, sending them back to the Pit to re-form). If a worker were to obtain any one of these weapons, the managerial staff would be... in trouble. Workers are, by and large, much more durable and combat-capable than managers. They also hold significantly greater and longer grudges...
Porphyrius Rex does not do contracts... except in very, very specific circumstances. If he were to take a contract, it would have to be highly beneficial to him, and yield great profits. Otherwise, he's not interested. He's already contracted out, after all. Can't exactly split his time these days.*
Hell's Aisles has existed since mid-Era 6, and not once has there been a successful revolution of the enslaved workers, managers, or psykojics. They dare anyone to try.
No one in Hell's Aisles is immune to Hellfire completely. They are, however, very resistant to it. (Except when paired with an exorcism circle...)
*Porphyrius Rex and Nathan Shasear resumed contact with each other after Crisis 8.
WHAT IS "ESCAPE FROM HELL'S AISLES?"
Great question.
EFHA has been a bug in my coffee, so to speak, for several years. It has been a comic idea, a short story idea, a video game concept, and an animated series pitch. It has been a story about finding yourself, a game about finding the afterlife, and a story about finding your way back to someone. Right now, it is a planned anthology of short stories and excerpts following the gang as they do the impossible and, well, escape from Hell's Aisles (and take down a significant portion of its murderous upper class in the process).
At it's core, EFHA is about found family. Secondary to that, it is about overcoming your past, and sticking it to your abusers (this pertains especially to Riven and Will, who ended up in Hell's Aisles by making some shitty and/or stupid choices). The gang takes on their worst fears and the mistakes of their past in this story, and (mostly) come out better for it. They also come away with at least four people they can trust besides themselves, and have a close-knit family to return to should they ever need it.
As for what form that all takes...
Right now, EFHA is planned to be a written anthology. It may also end up including comics, illustrations, and skit animatics. It's an experiment, and it's meant to be fun! We'll see where it takes us.
THE MAIN CAST
Riven Scholl — human-Shade, 5'7", Caucasian, blond, green eyes, died at seventeen years old. Made a deal with Porphyrius Rex to save the life of their dying father, but was swindled out of their soul and made to commit suicide so he could get out of his end of the deal. Rex claimed their magic and connection to Darekaeii, and dumped them into level 6 for processing.
Ambrose McNeal — can'in, 5'9", rusty-brown fur, brown eyes, died at fifty-two years old. Suffered cardiac arrest while working outside. Was pulled into the Aisles by the soul wells, and has been there for over two decades by the time he meets Riven.
Mable Sanchez — human-Ialuan, 5'5", mixed race, dark gray eyes, red-purple/gray hair, died at forty-eight years old. Reformed Karen, but specifically ended up in the Aisles because she made a deal with a psykojic to off her abusive sister-in-law and save her niece. Her soul went to the Aisles when she died from Stage 4 cancer, as part of the deal. Has been in the Aisles for six years by the time she meets Riven, and works closely with Ambrose.
Carric valKrait — Herrenic-Bronzeblood, 5'9", blue-purple skin, dark blue hair, fluorescent blue eyes, died at twenty-one years old. Made a deal with a psyokjic as a last resort when her company was taking heavy fire and about to be wiped out. Succeeded in saving her comrades, but burned herself up in the process. Was offered a position as a Level 6 manager, but turned it down. Has been in the Aisles for two years by the time she meets Riven, and has grown very attached to Ambrose and Mable, who remind her of her parents.
"Will" — near-human (residual Lionan), 5'8", mixed-race, salt-and-pepper hair/scruffy beard, weird arm tattoo, died at forty-something years old. Refuses to identify himself by anything other than "Will" or "Wilson," and never talks about his past or how he ended up in the Aisles. Spent ten years in the Pit, served in the mines in a sub-level of Level 5 for two years, then eventually met and joined Riven, Ambrose, Mable, and Carric. Really good with weapons of all types, but especially anything that shoots. Also a major tech whiz, and is skilled enough to hack various Level mainframes. Gets very attached to Riven, and repeatedly mistakes them for his son.
OTHER NOTES
The gang all meet each other in Level 5, but Will comes into the group later. Ambrose and Mable have managed to secure jobs that involved receiving new arrivals and integrating them into the workforce. As a result, they meet Riven first. They're introduced to Carric during a shift change. Eventually, the four of them begin making plans to leave (Riven is notably the mastermind on this; their story about making a deal with Porphyrius Rex has some pretty notable holes...).
On their way out of Level 5, they encounter a miner taking advantage of the present chaos: this ruddy guy named Will who just wants to get back to his son. Mable takes a liking to him, and the others take that as a sign (Ialuan heritage and all), so he comes along. He turns out to be invaluable, and has the most fighting experience out of all of them but Carric. The two of them become fast friends.
In Level 6, the gang encounters this guy called Dave. Dave worked his way up to the position of manager and oversaw the area Ambrose first worked. He gets his ass kicked when he attempts to betray the gang. We do not like Dave.
Notable psykojics the gang encounters: Mardonious Rex, one of the other original psyokjics. Myrixel, this scrappy thing that has a bone to pick with Will (and gets its ass handed to it). Hyperion Kor'da, not so much a psykojic as the remnant of one; seems to recognize Will, but does nothing to help nor hinder the gang (swats Myrixel). Porphyrius Rex, of course. Deis Dromeda, who seems only partly there. And'kora, who might not even be a psykojic, but then how else would he be in the Aisles? Others.
Final note: EFHA is NOT meant to be a kid-friendly story, and will likely be rated 13+ or 17+. It may vary depending on the installation we're on. There will be gore, language, extreme deaths and mentions of them, extreme experiences or recounting of trauma, and extreme instances of grief. Riven, Mable, Ambrose, Carric, and Will did not end up in Hell's Aisles for no reason. Please take this into account when reading. Thank you!
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