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Buffy fought the return of consciousness. Her last thoughts had been of her family and friends. She was at peace with her gift of death. Coming back to herself was an unwelcome surprise and the oversized manacles that locked her arms together were an added irritation. But life was rarely fair, why should death be any different.
Buffy looked warily at the men that surrounded her with swords drawn. Only four in clunky armour. She could win, but it would hurt and she would still be stuck in here unless one of them had the key to the cell. Before she could decide whether to attack, the door opened and two women entered.
“Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now?” asked a badass chick with a prominent scar.“The conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you.” Great, Buffy had somehow gone from sole death to sole survivor of a completely unknown event.
“Because I’m a useful person to have around when things are being blown to hell?” suggested Buffy. The woman looked at her skeptically.
“Explain this,” she demanded lifting Buffy’s hand. Buffy was shocked to see it glowed with a green energy. At least that explained why it felt like her hand had been lit on fire.
“Can’t,” Buffy said succinctly while carefully examining her extremity.
“What do you mean you can’t?” The woman looked at Buffy with suspicion and anger.
“I’m the one with the pointy sticks not the books. No clue how I got the glowy hand.” Buffy should have expected one disaster to lead straight into another. How long had she been out? There were several medieval looking dungeons in Sunnyvale, but she didn’t recognize this one.
“You’re lying.”
“We need her Casandra.” The second women moved out of the shadows to intervene. Buffy guessed she was a the good cop although the outfit left some doubt.
“Of course you do,” said Buffy in resignation. She swung her weight back so she could stand without using her hands and face her accusers on more equal footing. The red head took a half step back and Cassandra put her hand on her sword. “Just standing up. Don’t get twitchy.”
“Do you remember what happened?” the red haired woman inquired. “How this began?”
“Doc used my sister’s blood to open a portal to a demon dimension for Glory. I jumped into the breach so my death would close it.” Buffy expected this explanation to be met with confusion, but both women noded as if she totally made sense.
“This Doc is a mage?” Cassandra asked bruskly.
“I’m not sure,” Buffy confessed. Doc hadn’t seemed important so she had never tried to discover exactly who or what he was. She regretted that now. “He may be a demon or some other evil thing that looks mostly human.”
“Likely an abomination then. Go to the forward camp Leliana,” Cassandra ordered. “I will take her to the rift.” The redhead noded and left. Cassandra unlocked the manacles. Buffy shook her arms and bounced a couple of times experimentally. She was happy to find that she was feeling fairly normal.
“What’s a rift,” Buffy asked cautiously. Unknown magicy sounding words almost never stood for good things.
“It would be easier to show you,” Cassandra answered and lead Buffy out to a snowy village. It was not Sunnyvale. The village looked like something out of one of Giles older tomes. Could she have time traveled? It seemed unlikely that California had ever had this type of architecture. An alternate dimension seemed more plausible. Buffy’s eyes were drawn to the sky where she saw a portal exactly like the one she had jumped into. If the portal was here, was it still open in Sunnyvale as well?
“We call it ‘the breach’. Its a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each…”
“I have to close it,” interrupted Buffy. “It will be really super apocalyptically bad if I don’t close it. Demons everywhere.” Jumping off the tower didn’t work. Did that mean killing herself wouldn’t close the portal or had she done it wrong. Spike had said it always had to be blood. Maybe she had to be bleeding when she died.
Cassandra looked concerned at Buffy’s words. It was a novel experience for a stranger to take her babbling about demons completely seriously. “We already have reports of demons coming through the rifts from the fade. It is the largest rift but not the only one,” Cassandra cautioned.
“There’s more?” asked Buffy incredulously. “There was only one rift in Sunnyvale… or maybe I only saw one.”
“They are appearing all over Thedus. All caused by the explosion at the conclave.”
“This is so not good. I need to get a closer look.” As Buffy finished speaking, the Breach pulsed and the pain in Buffy’s hand flared. She gave a hiss and cradled her glowing hand to her chest.
“Each time the breach spreads, your mark expands and it is killing you,” Cassandra announced.
Buffy rolled her eyes. It was hard to get too worked up about another thing trying it kill her. It didn’t seem to be having much success so she focused on more immediate problems. “Do you know how to stop it?”
“We believe the mark on your hand may be the key to stopping this,” Cassandra answered. That was all the confirmation Buffy needed. If she was somehow now the key, she had a job to do.
“Okay lets do this thing.” Buffy set off purposely towards the breach and Cassandra fell into step beside her. The villagers looked suspiciously at Buffy as she passed.
“They have decided your guilt. They need it,” Cassandra explained. Buffy listened half heartedly to the explanation of mages, templars, and divines. She focused on moving towards the breach as quickly as possible.
The appearance of the first demon was almost a relief. Buffy was in a strange dimension and she didn’t know how to stop the world from ending, but she could fight. She rushed the enemy and kicked it hard in the groin. It had less effect than Buffy had hoped, but fortunately she saw a glint of metal in the snow. She dropped to the ground to avoid the demon’s attack and came back up with a sword in her hand. As she fought, she could see Cassandra out of the corner of her eye fighting with well trained grace. It was nice to know that her companion could take care of herself.
When the fight was over, Cassandra turned towards Buffy with her sword still raised. “Drop the weapon,” Cassandra commanded.
“Nope,” said Buffy succinctly and turned to continued moving towards the breach. The other woman may have had an advantage while Buffy was handcuffed and surrounded by swordsmen, but not anymore. Best to know immediately if the other woman could be counted on as an ally.
“Fine, keep to sword. I cannot defend you,” Cassandra decided and started walking a couple paces behind Buffy. Buffy hoped it was to guard her back, but it seemed more likely that Cassandra wanted to have eyes on her at all times. They worked their way up the hill fighting several small bands of monsters. All of them were dispatched relatively easily.
About a mile up a steep track, they arrived at some ruins. Buffy could hear fighting ahead. She did not need Cassandra’s urging to move forward and engage the enemies. At the far end of the uneven stone floor, a portal glowed green. As Buffy killed the last demon with a swing of her sword a weirdly dressed elfy man grabbed her wrist.
“Quickly before more come through,” he yelled thrusting her hard towards the rift. A green energy connected her hand the rift and closed it.
“That is so much better than how I thought we were going to have to close them,” Buffy commented. “Green lightning is totally preferable than bloody death.” Closing the rift had not been painless, but it was way more pleasant than opening a vein.
“Whatever magic opened the breach also placed that mark upon your hand,” the pointy-eared man said solemnly. “I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the breaches wake.”
“Because it made me the key,” Buffy agreed. “Can I do the same thing to the big one? I like that plan. Kill all the baddies then wave at the glowing portal.”
“Possibly.” The man looked slightly disapproving of Buffy’s attitude. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.”
“Good to know. Here I thought we’d be ass deep in demons forever.” As short man carrying a large crossbow walked up to join them. Buffy was beginning to feel that she was in the Dungeons and Dragons dimension. Was it possible she was actually talking to an elf and a dwarf? “Varric Tethras: rouge, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong.”
“Buffy Summers, Slayer” she introduced herself. “That is a nice crossbow you have there.”
“Ah, isn’t she? Bianca and I have been through a lot together.” This guy was more Buffy’s style. He had an air of casual experience that Buffy found reassuring.
“Cool name,” Buffy approved. “I should name more of my weapons.”
“We can start brainstorming between fights in the valley.”
“Absolutely not,” Cassandra broke in. “Your help is appreciated Varric, but…”
“He can come,” Buffy interrupted. The other woman may be used to being in charge, but Buffy didn’t take orders easily. Cassandra made a disgusted noise.
“My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live.” There was something about the elfy man who made Buffy’s slayer senses tingle. He didn’t feel evil exactly, but old and inhuman. Of course, she could also tell he wasn’t human by simply looking at him.
“He means 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept',” Varric interrupted.
“Thanks for that,” Buffy replied. “I prefer to not die whenever possible.” Sola’s look disapproving and turned away.
“Cassandra, you should know that the magic involved here is unlike any I have seen,” he continued gravely.
“I’ve seen it,” Buffy broke in. “Glory intended to break the boundaries between dimensions and I think it worked.”
“I do not know of this Glory,” Solas said suspiciously.
“She is a really old God,” Buffy explained. Now she was wishing she had paid more attention to Giles lectures. Historical details had seemed less important than tactics. “I don’t know what she is a God of, but she wants to go home.”
“An old God,” Cassandra seemed horrified. “Surely it is too soon for another Blight.” Buffy had never heard of a Blight, but she was willing to bet it was unpleasant.
“We can stop her by closing the portal. It is the only way.” The other three nodded agreement. Buffy was still completely confused but she had a plan and companions to help her. She could only hope that her efforts to save this world would save her own as well.