November 27th (Hell)

Next thing I know, I wake up in Hell. Yes, actual Hell. Not like, 'Oh, my life is so hard, Hell,' but literal underworld hell.

The pain was like nothing I'd ever experienced when I was alive. Picture every nerve in your body being dragged across shards of glass while fire ants have a dance party inside your brain. And that doesn't even begin to cover it. Without a physical body to shield me, every sense - sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste - bombarded me in waves of agony. It was overwhelming, a thousand knives carving through my awareness. I could barely keep my eyes open for more than a few seconds without wanting to scream my non-existent lungs out.

But eventually, I managed to open my eyes. And the first thing I saw? The sky. It was this dark, bloody red, with a massive glowing pentagram cutting across it like some evil cosmic screensaver that seemed to hum with malevolent energy. And then, suspended in that hellish void, there were planets. Two celestial bodies, just chilling up there in the void. One, a fragmented crimson orb adorned with its own glowing pentagram, pulsating faintly like a sinister heartbeat; the other, radiating golden light, encircled with glowing wings. They seemed both drawn to, and repelled by each other. Classic enemies-to-lovers energy.

I realised I was sprawled in an alley between two towering buildings. The air reeked of sour flesh and rotting milk, the stench clawing at whatever passed for my senses now. I tried to stand but collapsed immediately. My body - if it could still be called that - felt alien, unrecognisable. When I touched the ground, it didn't feel like asphalt or anything solid. It was more like the idea of asphalt. Like my fingers could feel, but not really? My body wasn't flesh and bone anymore; it was like my brain had decided to cosplay as "human" but forgot what that actually meant. I was literally just… hollow sensation, like the shadow of a feeling rather than the real thing.

My body wasn't physical anymore. I was the idea of a body - nothing and everything at once. The disconnect was maddening, and I instinctively tried to vomit, only to be reminded this form had never eaten, maybe could never eat. The absence of such simple, human reflexes sent me spiraling into a wave of disorientation and panic. After several minutes, I steadied myself. Slowly, I adjusted to this surreal state of existence and managed to stumble out of the alley into the open street.

OMG, It was chaos. Imagine a grotesque fusion of time periods clashing together in a violent clutter. The street was like a battleground where decades had warred and died, leaving their bloodied corpses behind. Art Deco facades from the 1920s leaned precariously against brutalist monstrosities from the 1970s. A diner with a glowing neon sign flickered on one side of the street, its peeling paint revealing a 1950s aesthetic, while just across from it, a crumbling 1980s strip mall jutted out at a crooked don't even get me started on the cars, they were relics from the 1950s and 1960s lay scattered, rusting, their hoods splattered with dark stains I really didn't want to think about.

Oh, and the buildings? They were in advanced stages of decay, with shattered windows and collapsed roofs barely clinging to their frames. Cracks zigzagged across walls and sidewalks, and in those cracks - watching, waiting - were red eyes. They followed me, watching my every step, like, "Who invited her?" (Answer: no one.)

The air was thick with the sounds of distant wails and unsettling whispers, their sources hidden within the shadows of the disjointed architecture. It was a fractured nightmare made real, and as I stumbled forward, the sense that I was being watched, judged, and hunted gnawed at me with every step.

From around the corner, I saw this figure. At first, I was like, "Finally, a person!" But nope. As they got closer, I noticed that they were a miss-match of several animals clothed in tattered rags that fluttered in the acrid wind. They had the head of a wolf, a twisted arm covered in reptilian scales and legs that ended in cloven hooves. Total Frankenstein vibes.

And then there were more. They appeared one by one, stepping out from shadowed doorways and crumbling buildings. No two were the same. Some bore fragments of animals - a bird's wing sprouting where an arm should be with feathers tipped in metallic blades, a goat's eye glowed unnaturally purple in a human-like face - while others seemed to have fused with objects. A man-shaped creature dragged itself forward on wheels where legs should have been, its torso sprouting gears that clanked with each movement. Another had what looked like metal pipes replacing their arms, steam hissing out with every twitch.

The sheer variety of horrors was overwhelming. Each figure seemed trapped in a body designed to terrify, defy reason, or both. Their forms were an affront to the senses, an ever-shifting cascade of the unnatural and the absurd. My stomach churned as I forced myself to keep moving, their warped shapes etching themselves into my mind. It was a parade of nightmares, and I couldn't look away as I pushed myself hurriedly through the crowd.

And worse still, they all turned their noses up at me! Like, excuse me?! Their faces twisted in disgust, their weird noses wrinkling like I smelled worse than the dumpster milk. I was horrified. I mean, me? Disgusting? That's rich coming from creatures that look like they were assembled by a blindfolded kindergartener.

A chill of dread crept through me as I glanced down at my hands for the first time.

They were light blue, covered in a fine, soft fur that shimmered like velvet in the dim, hellish light. My stomach dropped. Slowly, I turned toward the nearest shop window, its cracked and grimy surface barely reflecting the world around it. I stepped closer, wiping at the glass with trembling hands, until I could see my own reflection for the first time.

There I was. My entire body was covered in that same blue-velvet fur. My hair? Bright pink, short, cascading in soft waves that framed my face and was totally fabulous. Atop my head sat a pair of pointed cat ears, twitching ever so slightly, and just behind them, two sleek black horns curled upward, glinting faintly. I turned slightly and caught sight of small bat-like wings protruding from my lower back, fluttering weakly as though testing the air.

But amidst all the strangeness, one thing remained fire - my outfit. It was as hot and iconic as it had been when I was alive. Somehow, Hell hadn't managed to strip me of that one piece of my identity.

Still, seeing myself like that was… a lot. I was me, but also not me. It was like I'd been turned into some dark fantasy version of myself. And as cool as it looked, it was a sharp reminder: I wasn't alive anymore. And I wasn't going home.

I was wandering around Hell, when I saw a giant billboard with Blitzy-kun's face on it. Apparently, he runs some kind of assassination empire down here? The slogan was "Goat an asshole in the Living World!? Come to I am Pee!?" which is obviously him trying to be funny. Naturally, I took it as a sign (literally) and decided to pay him a visit.

I arrived at a tall building with large black and white horns sticking out from the sides. Overwhelmed I began to yell for my demon Master to come and whisk me away from this grotesque filth into his loving arms.

"I'm here, Blitzy-Kuuun! I saw your billboard! I'm here for you my love! I'll be by your side forever! BLITZY-KUUUN!"

I waited a few moments. But no one came.

I went inside and wandered around until a demon pointed out which floor his office was on.

I knock on the door and when no one answers I burst into his office (because subtlety isn't my thing) and yell, "Hello? Blitzy-kun? It's me, Emberlynn, the girl you MURDERED last night? I totally forgive you, btw, because I know you just wanted me to join your harem. So, where are you hiding my demon prince?"

Behind the desk was a grey and white wolf girl who was fully ignoring me. She didn't even look up from her computer.

I said, "Excuse me, do you know where Blitzy-kun is?"

She flicked her eyes up at me for a moment, shrugged, then looked back to her frankly ancient computer.

So I yelled again, hoping he'd hear me, "Excuse me, Blitzy-kun, but you can't just kill someone and then ghost them. That's bad demon etiquette!" Still, nothing.

I paced the waiting area for a few moments, then sat down in his infernal office, determined that I wasn't going to leave until he acknowledged me because, let's be real, I'm the best thing to ever happen to Hell, and he needs to recognise that.

I'm manifesting that Blitzy-kun comes to his senses and realises I'm the main character in his little demon saga when the wolf-girl finally speaks.

"You know he's not coming, right?"

"Of course he is, I'm his one true love."

She scoffed, "I doubt it. Look, we assassinate people for money. You were a target. That's it."

"But I'm supposed to be part of his harem…"

The wolf girl howled with laughter, "Blitz? No way. Orgie, yeah. Harem no."

After a few moments I ask, "What happens now?"

"How should I know," the wolf girl replied, "And why should I care?"

"Shouldn't I be his responsibility? He KILLED me."

"Not how it works."

"Then… how does it wo-"

"What part of 'how should I know' did you miss the first time? Go figure it out!" She snarled.

"Fine!" I yelled back, "But I'm taking this with me!" I grabbed a notebook off the table with a black pen that said 'IMP' in red letters on the side. "I'll write him letters until he sees we are destined for each other!"

The wolf girl scoffed, not even bothering to look up from her screen this time.

Defeated, I left Blitzy-kun's office, stepping back into the grim chaos of Hell. The oppressive heat hit me like a wall, and the stench of sulfur and decay filled my lungs - or whatever I was breathing with now.

The streets were just as I'd left them, a grotesque mishmash of time periods and architectural disasters, with those creepy red eyes still watching me from every crack and shadow. My tiny bat wings fluttered instinctively, as though they wanted to carry me away from the suffocating dread.

I stumbled down the cracked sidewalk trying to process everything. The truth was setting in, heavy and cold: I wasn't his responsibility. I wasn't anyone's responsibility. For the first time since waking up here, I felt truly alone.

But then again… wasn't I always destined to make Hell my stage? If Blitzy-kun wasn't going to realise I was the main character, I'd just have to make him. Or maybe the whole underworld!

And this diary will be my chronicle of how I became the most powerful and important person in all of Hell!