The lower realm (which the book later refers to as "Hell") is cold, dark, and barren. Albert and Chris are able to use their minds to make their surroundings slightly more bearable, but Albert warns Chris that this will be harder to do the further they travel. They eventually reach a place occupied by people who were violent criminals while alive. Chris witnesses a series of dreadful sights and is gruesomely attacked by a mob, though he soon discovers that the attack occurred only in his mind.