The Lost
Part 1, Arrival
1-1
PLACE: UNKNOWN
TIME: UNKNOWN
The peculiar falling sensation and sense of vertigo, which Buffy absently thought felt very much like the time Willow teleported Dawn and herself to the Magic Box not so long ago, quickly disperses as she feels solid ground beneath her feet.
Immediately on the alert for any threat, she does a quick self pat down to ensure everything is where it should be.
Name: Buffy Anne Summers. Check.
Occupation: Vampire Slayer. Check.
Two arms: check.
Two legs: check.
One head: check.
Clothes: check.
Fanny pack, double check.
And most importantly of all; The Scythe: triple check.
'Well,' she thought, 'At least I'm in one piece, armed and most importantly clothed.'
"Now," she asked herself quietly, "Where exactly is here and more importantly how did I get here?"
Reflecting back to the earlier sensations she felt, she shook her head and sighed, the answer obvious to her.
"Stupid portal." She said wondering how it happened and quickly coming to the unhappy conclusion she was probably no longer in Sunnydale and possibly not even on Earth or with my luck not even my dimension.
"Maybe I'm in Hell, again." With that cheery thought she tentatively called out.
"Hello?"
"Anybody?"
"Spike, Faith?"
'Where is everyone?' She thought. Realization quickly came to her, 'I'm alone, for the first time since becoming the Slayer, I'm alone,' she thought depressingly. She quickly killed that line of thought. 'I wouldn't want the rest of the gang here in this place just so I wouldn't be alone, I'll just have to find my own way back home.'
With that decision made, she began looking around, surveying her new surroundings, looking for a way out.
A quick glance showed her to be in a stone worked fifty foot square room with an exit in the middle of each wall and looking up a domed ceiling rising to approximately fifteen feet. A closer look at the walls revealed the north and west exits to be closed doors that looked like they were made of very heavy and thick wood with a heavy, thick but old fashioned iron lock and hinges. The exit to the east had what looked like a closed heavy iron portcullis. The southern exit however, had an open archway with a faint light emanating from it, which she noticed slightly illuminated the room she was in.
Due to this low light Buffy was able to see at the base of all four walls and scattered throughout the room were what seemed to be numerous bodies in various states of decay. From what she could make out most of the bodies were stripped of anything of value and looked as though they were dumped here as an after thought.
As she moved to study the bodies against the walls, she noticed the floor changed color. Squatting down to take a closer look she saw that the center was had some kind of greenish octagon mosaic design imbedded in the floor and that upon the mosaic lay eleven lumps of what she assumed to be more bodies or bundles of clothes. She reached out with her Slayer senses. What she discovered was a low-grade buzz of evil that permeated everywhere around her but nothing in the immediate area presented a threat, however, there seemed to be an increased threat of evil coming from the south from beyond the open and inviting archway.
Taking another quick look around, Buffy took in the three closed exits and the open inviting archway and made her decision.
"I know I'm going to regret this," as she started walking south toward the archway.
As Buffy made her way through the bundles of clothes, one in particular stood out looking very familiar. Like the clothes Riley and his commando friends from the Initiative used to wear in Sunnydale.
'So, maybe I'm still on Earth,' she thought as she started to squat down for a closer look. Just then her 'spidey sense' started to spike, coming from the direction of the open archway. Looking up from the bundle she was about to examine and towards the archway, she noticed for the first time that along with the light emanating from the archway there were also shadows moving beyond. Quickly forgetting her examination of the bundle she stood and more rapidly approached the archway.
As Buffy got closer to the archway she noticed above the keystone were glowing runes or characters that she couldn't read.
"I wish Giles was here, I bet he could read them," she said, then added sarcastically, "Be nice if it said 'Exit'."
Once Buffy reached the threshold of the archway she stopped to look in. The first thing she saw was that the green light was coming from a green pillar of flame set towards the back of the room.
"If that's not a portal, I'm a flying monkey," mumbling to herself.
The second thing Buffy noticed was that said assumed portal had guardians. Orbiting the pillar were four of the strangest and bizarre creatures she had ever seen or heard of for that matter. All the creatures were round like oversized leathery beach balls. Two of the largest had tentacles. The medium sized one had, instead of tentacles, stubby what could be described as antenna and looked older than the others. Finally the smallest of the creatures had fewer antenna but more importantly it was triggering her 'spidey sense' giving off massive undead vibes.
Buffy decided to test the waters so to speak and took a step into the archway. As she did this the older one seemed to sense her presence and turned, looking towards her. Buffy gasped in shock. When it turned she saw that what she thought to be antenna actually had an eye in each of them. That paled in comparison with the one giant eye in the center of the body and below that an extremely large mouth with lots and lots of really sharp and pointy looking teeth. The thing looked like it could swallow her whole or more likely just bite her in half. She quickly withdrew her foot and the creature surprisingly turned back and resumed its orbiting of the pillar.
'So it job is to protect the portal but won't leave the room', interesting she thought. "At least I don't have to worry about that for now. I so do not want to go up against that until I absolutely have to," Buffy says quietly to herself. As if to reinforce that train of thought, on the ground inside the room were dozens of what appeared to be statues, shattered statues and decaying bodies of those she assumed attempted to either attack the creatures or gain access to the portal. The major difference between those bodies and the ones in her room were that those bodies looked like they had all their belongings with them. She could even make out different types of armor and . . .
"Wait a minute," looking more closely, "Armor?" Apparently so, Buffy could see what looked like a breast plate, some chainmail, and leather armor. Along with their armor were their weapons; swords, hammers, crossbows and bows.
"Ok, so maybe not on Earth or maybe in Earth's past, but on the bright side, possibly not a Hell dimension. That thought cheered her up somewhat.
So intent on studying the contents of the room and the leathery beach ball creatures, lost in thought and the fact that her Slayer senses weren't alerting her to any immediate threat nearby, she almost didn't hear the sound of clothes shifting and moving and the low groaning coming from behind her.
Rapidly turning around while reaching behind her back, Buffy pulls the Scythe into a defensive posture. She begins scanning the room trying to sense the direction of the threat, but oddly senses nothing.
Suddenly and horrifyingly, Buffy watches as not one or two but all of the eleven bundles that she thought nothing of, start to rise from the floor of the room within the mosaic octagon. They begin moaning and groaning as they stand upright.
"Great," Buffy mutters to herself while taking a quick glance at her watch, "Just great, a whole fifteen minutes and I'm fighting for my life, stupid Powers." Buffy grips the Scythe tighter and assumes a fighting stance while searching her potential enemies for the greatest threat.
Almost instantly she spots, Him, the mop of dirty blond hair, the young handsome face, the light brown leather duster.
'But he's dead,' her mind tells her, 'I killed Him. Sliced, diced and julienned.' Without further hesitation she charges Him, running past all the others going for who she perceives to be the greatest threat even though her Slayer senses do not register Him as evil.
Just as she is about to reach Him, something seems off, in her mind's eye, Buffy subconsciously sees that He's not wearing his Collar.
Nevertheless she pulls back the Scythe, with the full intention of cleaving Him in half, again. 'How many lives does He have?'
As she begins her forward swing, this time aiming for the top of His head, a hand reaches out and grabs her by her wrist and a firm voice saying, "Hold, Warrior."
TBC
