It was just after Despera was sent to Hell. When she became a Sin, one of the first things Astaroth taught her was ‘Hell’s Gate: First Circle’, as every Archdemon was required to know at least one ‘Hell’s Gate’ spell.

The ‘Hell’s Gate’ spells were the most powerful spells a demon could learn. These spells were meant to combat strong enemies such as the angels or powerful monsters. But the other nobles could only learn 3 circles. Even a Sin could only reach the 7th circle before receiving severe permanent injury.

Astaroth and Despera were training on the bottom floor of Despond Castle. The whole floor was empty except for a hundred damned souls. They made great training dummies because no matter what injury befell them, they’d heal almost perfectly, except of course if it was done by a King or Queen.

That said, the ‘Hell’s Gate’ Circles that could strike down the damned, or even a King, permanently.

“Try again.” Astaroth told Despera. His voice was stern, unshaken by his Princess’ heavy breathing, and unstable stance that looked like she’d collapse at any moment.

Despera was exhausted. Each time she cast the spell, it drained a lot of her energy, yet she kept trying. Not because she wanted to learn the spell, but rather because her King was making her do it. Frankly, the spells scared her. Just not enough to disobey her King, who she feared far more.

She extended her right hand. “Hell’s Gate, open! First Circle!” A reverse pentacle opened in front of her, and she reached into it, grabbing something hard as steel, and hotter than magma. “Sword of Limbo!” She yelled. Then, with all her might, she pulled her hand out the circle along with a sword covered in hellfire.

When the flames diminished, the blade was black with red engravings, and covered in razor-sharp spikes. The guard had a hook on each side, and the two-handed handle was wrapped in dragon leather. The pummel was a red eye with a slit pupil.

“Good.” Said Astaroth, almost with a grin. “Now strike.”

Following his order, the Princess gripped her sword tightly with both hands and charged at one of the damned souls before her. The blade ran through the soul that had been begging for death, and the pain was already worse than anything he had felt before. Then he was incinerated from the inside out, without time to scream.

She stabbed the sword into the ground, and rested on it, taking in heavy breaths. She would have been horrified by the fact that she had just killed someone, but it had already been years, and death she understood she had just ended the soul’s suffering. She consoled herself with that fact.

She turned to her King, attempting a smile as she had finally succeeded. Astaroth smiled back, and she found the sight both disturbing, yet comforting.

After that, they trained occasionally, but not as often. And due to how the First Circle drained her energy, Despera refused to learn another ‘Hell’s Gate’ spell. Although, some of the other Kings and Sins, like Avaritia still wanted her to learn the next Spell and become stronger.

Some time after, she found Astaroth dead on his throne, a familiar blade run through his chest, and the back of his seat.

‘Hell’s Gate’ was a set of spells specifically designed to kill anything, living or dead, Archangel, or Demon King. And it was ‘Hell’s Gate: First Circle’, that killed Astaroth. Since that day, the spells terrified Despera, even more than any of the Kings.

The sky was a great place for Despera to clear her mind. When she was high enough, she could barely hear the screams below.

A tear swept down her cheek and down into the stale air. She needed time to think and cool down, so she hovered over her castle for about half an hour, and the only thing on her mind was that one memory being replayed over and over. And the more she tried to push it out, the more prominent and vivid it became.

Eventually the tears stopped and she descended, gliding into the window of her room to avoid her servants. The girl wasn’t worried about them seeing her, but she just wanted to be alone. She shut the window behind her, then moved toward the bed.

Though Despera wasn’t exactly tired, she felt like she needed to stop the replay of this memory. And one sure way she knew was to sleep. Any memory of my past will do. She thought as she lied down. I just can’t handle this one any more. Not now. And she drifted off to sleep, tears streaming down her face again.

She almost regretted this decision. The nightmares were more lucid than she remembered. Once again, the whole experience was exactly the same as the first time she went through it. It captured the moment everything in her life started going to shit.

A 13 year old girl sitting in the corner with her arms wrapped around her 6 year old sister. The older sister, despite her efforts couldn’t stop herself from crying. And the younger of them did nothing to stop the waterfalls pouring down her cheeks as she screamed in terror.

“This is what you get, you cheating bitch!” Their parents arguing wasn’t something new, but their dad had never been this angry before. He was throwing things, and yelling, and punching.

The girls’ mom was lying on the floor. A beautiful woman beaten and battered until she was unrecognizable. She was covered in bruises, and her body twitched in her failed attempts to move.

“I’m sorry... It wasn’t my fault...” She whimpered, trying to explain again, but he didn’t care to listen.

The father grabbed his wife by the neck and pulled her up off the floor. “I don’t want to hear it! It doesn’t matter that you were raped! If you really wanted to stay faithful to me, you would’ve found a way!” He yelled back at her as she struggled to breathe.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She apologized over and over again, crying as she hoped he’d release her soon.

“Please stop!” The little sister begged, almost choking on her words. The elder sister grabbed her immediately and put her hands over their mouths.

Their father turned to them with the same furious expression. He threw the woman on the ground and walked over to the two little girls. “Shut it, brats! Or else you’ll take on some of her punishment.” He told them, his fist like he was about to punch them too. “I’m just giving your whore of a mother what she deserves.” He spoke in a calmer tone, yet it was so much more terrifying.

The mom saw her husband looming over the girls with his fist raised. In her panic, she struggled to her feet and stumbled towards him. She coughed several times to clear her throat for air to pass through. The pain all over her body was too much and she collapsed again, throwing her body onto her husband, hoping they’d run away while he was distracted.

The large man was surprised by his wife’s sudden collapse onto his back, but just shrugged her off. He turned to her, beaten and bloody on the floor like earlier. “You have no one to blame but yourself.” He told her as he raised his leg behind him.

There was a loud thump and a lot of cracking noises when he brought it back down into the woman’s face. And again into her stomach. And again and again, until she stopped breathing.

It didn’t occur to the 13 year old girl to cover hers nor her sibling’s eyes. They were in shock. Neither of them were screaming, or even crying any more. They just stared at the motionless body of their mother.

After some heavy breathing, their father pulled a phone from his pocket, seemingly not bothered by what he had just done. Beeps sounded as he dialled a number into it. He put the phone next to his ear and it was picked up immediately. “Bring the cleaners, now.” He said. Then, looking at his daughters, he spoke again. “You know what, bring the traders too.”

The girls were still focused on their mother’s corpse, but the elder of them had also managed to hear her dad over the phone, and was confused, but still very afraid.

He bent down to eye level with them and spoke softly, as if he hadn’t just murdered their mother without a care. “Felicity, go pack yours and your sister’s things, okay?” He said with a smile. “You’re going to be living with someone else from now on.”