The trembling mercury grows calm beneath our feet
Safe from devastation, a bittersweet treat
We wade out of the silver water,
Our frail bodies reduced to a series of coded fodder

"Our new home," speaks a woman to my right
"A steel vessel bathed in lucent starlight."
She evaporates into the air,
My final sight her mercury-coated hair

The water bubbles and turns vile; something lurks below
Looking to defile, monsters emerge from the undertow
I see large, scaly heads with tongues that flick,
Long arachnoid legs that dance and trick

They shed azure skin and crimson scales,
Leaving in their wake a violet trail
Welcoming new flesh, a chance to be reborn
Trapping the same old prey, they dine just as they did before

Engulfed by the frenzy, he searches for a way out
As his vision's obscured, soon creeps in his doubt
"How will I save humanity, if I cannot save myself?" he laments,
Backing into a rapidly shrinking cell

"To end this rapture you see,
To set these people free...
Is that what you wish for?"
Lionel lifts himself up; his sight reveals a distant shape
Guided by her brilliance, he dashes to a reckless escape

The pale man scurries down the path of indigo debris
"Oh, won't you help me?"

Sprinting on his battered soles, the feminine form retreats
As the darkness devours her whole, he feels a faintly emanating heat
Relying on but a single sense, he follows the tepid breeze
With heart held in deep suspense, Lionel drops to his wounded knees

He crawls into a dimly lit tunnel with lingering scent of potpourri,
The aroma of dried lotus alluring subtly
From the other side of the passage, echoes ride on the wind,
"At once shall your judgement begin."

The chasm narrows and fills with heavy smoke as his clothes as swept away by razor-edge thorns
His palms cling to the resinous earth, viciously torn. The coarse surface now lies gruesomely adorned
Bizarre odors break through the dense haze
Seeping from the cracks in the dirt comes the stale stench of decay

Rotten hands erupt from both walls of the path,
Hungrily they wreak their wrath
"Something's clawing at my back!"
"Pray your soul remains intact!"

Limbs and ligaments litter the corridor
Lionel's suffering, hovering along the floor
"You guts, our guts; you bones, our bones!
We feed on your tortured moans!"

"Such agony, a minor hindrance!" He pushes on
Nearly drained of fluid, the pain's almost gone

From afar, a silhouette gazes in patience,
Admiring the beaten soldier's diligence

Released from the talons' grasp, Lionel makes for the shimmering light
At last, the illusive shroud floats in plain sight
"I am Celeste, shepherd of the righteous
Take my gift and continue to your next test."

She sprinkles on him pale, pink sand, and he falls instantly into a trance
Seconds pass, and she's disappeared without a glance