Once upon a time, there was a place that wasn’t a place. It had a great many names: Avernus, Gehenna, Tartarus, Hades, Abaddon, Sheol . . . It was an inferno of pain and flame and, where every nightmare had come true long since. We’ll call it hell.
It was not considered a pleasant place by the majority of its inhabitants; however, being dead, and being there (as they imagined) against their will, their opinions counted for little.
And indeed, had hell been pleasant, they would have felt cheated: They were there for pain, for suffering, for torment.
Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Season of Mists
