Coughing and gasping, you stumbled through the cage. Tears filled your eyes, the air was scratchy.

Tiny sparks danced in the dark. As they settled on your skin, they left black marks and a burning sensation. One of those sparks landed on the sleeve of the jacket.

The glowing orb ate into the straws, dry fabric and began to bite deeper into it, causing a small hole to open. A small flame ignited at the edges of this hole, slowly spreading further and further until half of your arm was on fire.

Hastily, you tore the jacket off your body and threw it to the ground. But it was a bit too late, the little hair and a small spot on your arm already slightly turning black and red.

You stumbled over your own feet, reaching out and trying to grab a hold of something. Burning hot metal pressed against the palm of your hands, making you scream in pain and agony. Immediately, you let go again, but a bit of skin got stuck to the heat and tore off.

"Motherfucker!", you screamed, holding back the tears and the urge to close your eyes and give up.

Was this how death felt like?

Was this hell?

"Burn.", there was Jacob's voice again.

It sounded close, almost in reach.

Suddenly, anger burned up inside of you. With a pained facial expression and raging fury in your eyes, you got back on your feet. The feeling inside your hands disappeared, they felt like nothing but weight hanging from your arms.

Your fingers stiffened and didn't want to move at all. As if they had fallen off. Or burned off.

With two big steps, you jumped through the cloud, ignoring the increasing heat and flying ash, and found yourself standing right in front of the gates of hell itself.

Burning piles were lined up in front of your eyes, safely laying behind a wall of metal bars, out of reach. The smoke and ashes from the burning wood got blown right into your face by the wind. Everything was red. The air was so warm, that it flickered before your eyes.

And there he was, standing in the middle of this burning world, with this strange expression in his blue eyes, as if he was the lord of hell itself.

He was staring at you, with those strangely blue eyes, not moving, not even blinking. He didn't seem to be bothered by the fire, not pained by the dry air nor irritated by the ash in his face. He just stood there and stared.

"Jacob!", you screamed in anger and rushed toward the bars.

Without thinking, you reached out and stuck your arm out of the cage. He was standing close enough for you to grab him by the collar and pull him close. Burning hot metal bars pressed against your skin, as you pressed yourself against them, so look him in the face.

It hurt.

It hurt so much, you thought your skin was melting like wax, while getting stuck on the walls of the cage.

He didn't flinch. He didn't even blink, nor bat an eye, as you pulled him abruptly towards you, causing his face to crash into the hot metal. A sizzling sound filled the air, mixed with the cracking of burning wood.

His skin twisted and turned like bacon in a pan. Slowly, the pale shade turned red and blistered, until the edges were as black as sin.

Grinding your teeth, you looked him in the eyes.

Those eyes. How lifeless they were, so dark and stiff.

They didn't look the usual way. The only thing that was the same was the colour and the shape, but neither the shimmer nor the way he was looking at you matched with his self in the car.

"You. You goddamn bastard!", burning tears ran down your face, a cough made your chest shake with pain.

His lips moved for a moment, but he did not give away a single emotion. The red of his beard and hair matched the shades of fire that were raging in the background. He truly looked like the master of this realm, like a lunatic dream.

At that moment, he seemed unreal. Not human.

"Burn.", he said, not moving at all, while his face started to melt. "Run. Earn your place."

He talked strangely, as if he wasn't really talking to you. His voice echoed inside the cage.

"Wh-what..?", unsure, you frowned.

Your grip loosened, giving him just enough space to pull back and grab you in return. With one mighty pull, he tore you towards him.

Your face hit the metal bars, a burning pain chased through your face. A shrill scream escaped your lips.

Trying to resist, you grabbed the metal bars with both hands and pushed yourself away from him.

But his grip was strangely strong. It was just one hand, but he held it so steady and tightly shut, as if he wasn't human at all.

The sound of fabric tearing apart sounded. Holes opened in your shirt.

With a shaky breath, you wanted to throw yourself back and get rid of him by ripping the shirt apart, but he reacted faster.

Suddenly, he let go, his hand chased up to your neck and squeezed it.

A surprised breath left your lips, you choked. Tears filled your eyes. As you tried to gasp for air, ash filled your lungs and you had to cough. But his hand made it impossible to breath and the pressure on your throat was slowly crawling into your brain.

With trembling hands, you grabbed his wrist and dug your fingernails into the soft skin, right where the veins were travelling through.

But even as blood was gushing out of little cuts in his skin, he did not flinch.

Instead, his lips moved and formed a slim smile. Then, he let go and gave you a push.

Struck by surprise, you froze. You stumbled, too weak to support yourself and fell back. But instead of hard, dry ground, emptiness greeted you. Your heart skipped a beat, as your body fell through the world. Flames swallowed your sight. Everything turned red.

"Burn.", Jacobs voice echoed inside your head. "Earn your place. Good. Very good."

The felling of falling wrapped around your body. A shiver crawled down your spine. Suddenly, the urge to scream overcame you. You tore your mouth open, your sight faded to black.

And as you blinked, the world was normal again.