Chapter Text
Prologue
The most prominent smell was burning flesh. The putrid smell of sulfur filled the air. Daylight was a distant memory. The only illumination was a constant light from the fires that burned eternally.
No daylight.
No nighttime.
No reprieve.
Buffy was exhausted since arriving in this place for iniquity. This place of eternal punishment, also known as purgatory to the wicked and the damned; Domain for the immoral and iniquitous; where eternal suffering was awarded to the unrighteous.
She clung to the memories of her previous life as best she could. The memories shifted like rippling water in her mind. Her sleeping patterns adjusted to where she could survive on little or no sleep.
She closed her eyes briefly thinking of her mother. It was getting harder and harder to hold that memory in her head. Her mother; oh how she missed her smile, her mannerisms, her constant ribbing about going to hell; what she wouldn’t give to hear her sweet voice. If only she could see her daughter now. But that was part of her previous life. Here, there was only survival.
Time had no meaning.
She just wanted to find her way out of this place. She saw few humans and tried to save the ones she could. The demons were coming after her less and less as time or what was a semblance of time here in this dark eternity. Her brutality destroying them with the justice she met out had somehow started to sink in their thick skulls. The last demon she killed begged for his life. She would have let him go if he hadn't attempted a final time to kill her. Nobody said Demons were smart.
Hell was a lot bigger than she originally thought. There were actually towns of people here and even parts with a desert wasteland. Most of the people however were so shell-shocked that their minds tended to be about as stable as silly putty.
She had killed thousands of demons. Or was it thousands? Maybe it was hundreds or maybe even millions. She had killed too many to keep count anymore.
Despite the images that were ingrained in her brain. The images of Angel being killed by her blade were the most vivid in her memory. She could barely keep her eyes closed without imaging his torture. She highly suspected that was a ploy to weaken her. Her mind however despite the hardships had remained intact. Ironically, the more tactics the creatures employed the sharper her mind became like a steel trap. Her body had turned into a veritable killing machine. She did what she had to survive. Retaining her humanity had become a daily battle, but if she did not escape soon… She feared her ability for human emotion was slowly losing its grip.
She scanned the area she has just entered. No greenery to hide behind. Just desolation as far as the eye could see. It was darker now; she knew this was hell's version of nighttime. This was also the time that things became quiet and then it was the pre amble to the gates of hell opening. She hoped to find something on the other side of the mountain that was across the desert. Her eyes shifted slightly, and she noticed a door. Her mind knew to question this. When did hell have doors out in the middle of nowhere? She approached apprehensively, still on her guard. She observed the door; a normal door practically, but a door in the middle of nowhere with no walls tended to make one's spidey senses go haywire.
A stranger she had met in one town had mentioned a possible escape on the other side of the mountains. She didn't recall him saying anything about a door.
Buffy looked at the door. She had survived this long by taking chances, looked like she was going to have to take another one. She reached for the knob with slight trepidation and was surprised to find it unlocked. She opened it to suddenly feel a great wind whooshing at her back, which yanked her through and out the other side. It slammed shut with a loud thunderous boom.
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