"Where... where am I? Why do I feel so horrible?"
Alex woke up lying on the glass feeling like he was bashed on the head and chest, Groaning he rotated his body to face the red sky.
[You are in Hell.]
"Who said that?" Alex scrambled to his feet, spinning around. The crater was empty, save for the glimmering glass. "Who are you?"
[It doesn't matter.]
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? Where are you?"
[Truly, it is irrelevant. You have bigger problems, Alex-boy. You are in the Pit.]
"Do you know how I get out from the pit?" Alex asked hopefully
[Define 'out.' Do you wish to leave this layer, or leave this realm entirely?]
"I want to go home! I want to leave Hell," Alex answered empty air. "And I want to know who you are!"
[To leave Hell entirely is an impossibility for one such as you. However... you might get your body out. Just not your soul.]
Alex felt the hair on his arms stand up. A cold shiver traced his spine despite the blistering heat. "Are you demons?"
[I sense a great deal of prejudice in that question, Alex-boy. What if we were? What if we were not? You've been told that every word from a demon's mouth is a lie, that they'll backstab or devour you the moment you blink. You wouldn't believe a word we say because of those little stories. But in reality? We can be quite beneficial.]
"Beneficial? How?" Alex asked, his hope raising.
[Simple. We aren't 'demons' in the traditional sense. Think of us as parasites of the mind fey-like entities that feed on the dark. We eat bad memories, trauma, and agony. You feel better; we don't go hungry. And in exchange? We provide the directions. What could be more useful in the Pit than a living encyclopedia inside your head?]
Alex wiped sweat and soot from his brow. "Fine. If you're so helpful... how do I get my body out? And if my soul stays... what happens to me?"
[Nothing happens to it. You walk the Earth as a ghost in a meat-suit. If you die up there, you simply wake up back down here. Permanent residency.]
Alex was silent for a moment. "So you're saying I can leave, and whenever I die, I just... come back here? What's the catch?"
["There is no 'catch' in the way you think. It is simply a matter of geography. You see, most people take the news quite poorly, but the truth is... you can never truly leave Hell. Humans like you don't usually stroll around these parts; you were supposed to end up there."]
"Up where? In Heaven?" Alex asked, a spark of desperate hope flickering in his chest.
["Shhh... no. We mean in Hell Hell."]
"Isn't this Hell?" Alex gestured wildly around him.
["No, Alex-boy. This is the Pit. This is where the demons live and work. Humans aren't supposed to be here. You were scheduled for the Torment Pits, The place with the fire and the screaming.]
"This is all very confusing," Alex said, shaking his head. "You really couldn't come up with better names than 'Hell' and 'Hell Hell'?"
He stopped abruptly A cold realization washed over him. Was he really standing here, casually critiquing the naming conventions of the afterlife? He was talking to literal demons, Or parasites, or whatever they were, And he was calm.
["Oh, Alex-boy, didn't we tell you? We've been eating,"] the voice purred, sounding fuller, more satisfied. ["We've been snacking on your terror since you woke up. We took that nasty panic and that sharp, jagged fear right off your plate. You're calm because we're full. It's much easier to have a rational conversation when you aren't vibrating out of your skin, isn't it?"]
Alex looked at his hands. They were steady. "You're... you're changing me."
[for Better or For worse?]
"I don't know"
["Then let it be through thick and thin, Oh, we are very happy you're here with us, Alex-boy. Truly. But if you insist on leaving, the path is simple. Go to a city. You'll find beings from a thousand worlds there hitch a ride, or you can find a transmitter. But the ferrymen don't work for free. It will cost you."]
"cost me what?.
["Souls, Alex. Any soul will do."]
"Do I die if I offer my soul?"
["Ho, ho, ho! Wait a minute, Alex-boy. Don't go selling your soul so cheaply. It's not worth it for a simple world-travel. This is Hell; any soul will do"]
"And how am I supposed to get a soul?"
[kill someone]
"You want me to murder someone,"
[Murder is such a heavy word. Such a... human word. Down here, we call it 'harvesting.' We call it 'winning.' You want to go home, don't you? beside think of the people you are saving]
"The people I'm saving?" asked Alex
["Of course! Every 'big, bad demon' you harvest is one less monster prowling the dark. If you end a creature that was destined to spend the next millennium torturing souls, haven't you effectively saved thousands from endless torment and suffering? ]
"How?" he whispered. "How am I supposed to kill a demon? I'm just a human.
["That is for you to figure out, Alex-boy. We've already given you the map; we can't walk the path for you. We'd love to help you smite a beast, really, we would but we can't physically touch your world; we're far too weak for that. So, how you harvest your first soul? That's on you, big boy."]
Alex swallowed hard, looking out at the jagged, desolate horizon. "Okay... okay. Then where is the closest city?."
["Oh, there used to be a very fine one quite nearby."]
"Where?" Alex asked, spinning around, searching for a silhouette of buildings or lights. "I don't see anything."
["Look down."]
Alex paused, looking at the shimmering, fused glass beneath his bare feet. "Down where? Under the glass?"
["Not under it, Silly. You're standing on it. There used to be a city here. A thriving city for people and commerce.... you erased it. Almost everyone in it is currently part of the atmosphere you're breathing."]
"Me?" Alex recoiled, his heart hammering against his ribs. "I... I destroyed a city? I killed people?"
[Not people, silly. Demons. Big, bad demons. You're a hero, Alex.]
"I am?"
["Of course! Now, take a moment. look at the ruin; look at the result. Think about what you did. Think about the thousands of monsters that will never hurt another child because you cleared the air. Take a moment to feel proud, Alex-boy. You earned it."]
Alex looked around the crater again He imagined the horrifying, clawed things that must have lived here, the things that would have hunted him, eaten him, or worse. He thought of all the Innocents in the universes he had unknowingly protected by wiping this place off the map.
Alex straightened his back, the ache in his chest replaced by a strange, humming warmth. He stood tall in the center of the wasteland, his chin lifted. He took a deep breath, proudly inhaling a lungful of the thick, sulfuric air