Demon

[laraine]

Raine was on the ground, breathing hard from the attack on her. She struggled to stand, but barely managed to get to her knees. The figures pointed their wands at the girl who seemed defenseless. She glared up harshly at them all, her sword sparking with energy. She knew with her scream the others would be here and she refused to get them involved.

"I wouldn't be worried about your other companions. I am sure the one called Silvarn is handling your friend called Samuel."

Raine's eyes widened at this. "What?"

"Ill tell you this since you are going to die anyways. Silvarn betrayed you, apparently information from our oldest books is more important than a life." She shrugged. "I don't care. As long as you die, I don't care what we have to give up."
Raine sat there, in shock, but also not in as much shock as she would be. Somehow, she knew deep inside this would happen. But she refused to believe it. She clenched her fists and stood up, her frown slowly forming into a smile.

"Its okay." she said to herself, or at least to no one in particular. "After all, who would want to save someone like me?" She looked up, her eyes no longer purple, but a deep red.

The witches instantly froze, backing up instantly. Raine's entire body seemed to glow a bright red.

The lead witch cursed. "She's going to do it again!"

[thedookienut]

"Holy....!" Samuel shouted, stumbling back as he gazed up at the suddenly burning trees. The sudden shock caused him to trip and land roughly on the floor. As Silvarn spoke, his own voice grew hateful and poisoness.

"You?" He stammered, shuffling across the ground, all his fear spreading across his face and his hands shaking nervously. Some vage part of him seemed to take over him and cause his hand to grip his sword tightly once again, allowing him to stand.

"Your a monster. You were banned from this land! Yet you return without a care! Like an animal." He spat, glaring at him, his icey blue eyes desperatly wanting to burn a hole in the man.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn returned his gaze with equal venom. "You have heard that old adage, the one regarding judgment and a book's cover, yes? Had you not given in to idle gossip and hated me before you knew me, I might not be so tempted to shatter your being for such impertinence. Because of that, I find no reason to justify my actions.

"Know this: What I do, I do for Valear. I seek to banish myself, once and for all." The silver lightnings exploded into sunset-colored flames blazing around Silvarn's hands, "And I will kill any who stand in my way. I may be a threat now, and I intend to rectify that."

The grey mage stood aloof, regarding Samuel with disdainful imperialism. "The only way you are getting to Laraine is through me. If you wish to try and save her, then strike at me." He held his hands, no longer burning, at his sides, palms facing Samuel, as if inviting him.

[laraine]

Raine's own emotions seemed to spurn on her power. Her body glowed a bright red, the same color as her eyes.

"I knew you were demon." The witch hissed and ran towards Raine, wand ready with purple energy.

Raine's face held no emotion as she dropped her sword and flung her hands before her, forming a ray of demonic energy. It launched from her hands and towards the witches. They dodged and attempted to attack her from behind, but Raine spun fast and, with her hand still glowing, impaled one of the nearby witches through the heart. Her face held no emotion as she stared into the dying witches eyes.

"I'm sorry." was all Raine could say before she pulled her arm out and faced the others. Horror etched in their eyes, the hybrid flew towards them, hands alight with blood and magic.

"You beast." The witches screamed, "You half breed, you should die like your boyfriend."

Raine's eyes blazed. "Don't you DARE bring Danny into this!" The energy seemed to spiral uncontrollably around Raine at this point, her anger consuming her.

That's when the witches saw a hint of pink energy mixing into he demon energy.

The witches eyes widened. she's going to use it! That magic!

The two colors of magic seemed to merge, forming a new magic that turned bright white in color.

"Its going to explode!" The witches attempted to flee. But, Raine's eyes opened wide and the energy spilled from around her, exploding anything in its path.

It was a small blast. Only managing to form a crater 5 feet around Raine. But it was big enough to kill all but one of the witches.

The last witch held her arm and laughed. "So that is the power that shall destroy us. Perfect."

"Listen to me." Raine said, eye color returning to normal. "I could care less what you do to me, but at least let me live until I kill the one who killed Danny. I have to seek my revenge before I die."

The witch stared at her and smirked. "Final act of revenge? You are a demon indeed." She looked at Raine. "Do it before your birthday and we have a deal Laraine. You will allow us to destroy you before your birthday if you get revenge."

"That's all I want. I will not rest until this anger within me has vanished. If you try to destroy me before then, I will kill you."

The woman looked to Raine briefly, then turned away. "We will see Laraine. What grandfather thinks."

[thedookienut]

Samuel meerly growled, still glaring at the man. A small smirk grew slowly on his face, one of strange being. "If you want to banish yourself -"He grinned. "-then why not let me do it for you." He yelled, dashing forwards foolishly. His sword high above his head.

The only thought that seemed to occur to him at that point was one of great regret. He knew he would mostly likely die at this point and he knew it wouldn't be long before he did, but he felt he'd disappointed Raine. He'd wanted to protect her ever since the first demon they encountered. She'd saved his life before and he wanted to return the favour. Dying now would simply make him feel worse.

[Silvarn]

He waited for the blow he knew would come. He almost wanted it to strike him. He had been a blight, a parasite on this realm, and now his bloodsucking ways were about to be rectified. Perhaps the answer to leaving this plane laid in death...perhaps, only perhaps. There was always the chance that oblivion waited for the soul after its shell's dispatch.

This thought sent Silvarn into action. Or, rather, his body. His mind was willing to accept death. Part of it, anyway. The part that belonged to him.

Silvarn's arm snapped up, grabbing Samuel's arm by the wrist. You idiot! Scorcahr screeched, You are willing to let this whelp kill us?

"I am willing to try this little experiment." Silvarn snarled into Samuel's face, his eyes distant-looking.

If you die, all your accumulated knowledge will die with you. All those trials and tribulations, enslavement and freedom, will all be for nought. Even if you are willing to die, I am not.

"If you have forgotten, I am the master here, not you." the grey mage growled.

Master, Scorcahr pleaded, There are other means, we simply have not found them. The Lockners may be able to give us the answer. And even if they cannot, we can always let this whelp or the half-breed apple of his eye do away with us.

"Very well." Silvarn muttered half-heartedly. In this moment of self-resignation and Scorcahr's lack of focus, Silvarn's grip slipped, and Samuel's blade came crashing down into his shoulder.

The mage had prepared himself many years against attacks of mental and metaphysical aspect, not of strictly physical. As such, he was completely unprepared for the searing pain now ripping through his body. Roaring like a wounded beast, he turned into his wound. He brought a fist blazing with sunset colors crashing into Samuel's face, but the blow missed by a mile, instead send a glittering, multi-colored fireball into a stately pine, shattering it into wooden shrapnel. He staggered about, relying on Scorcahr to keep tabs on Samuel as he fought through the pain.

Arcs of silver electricity flowed from his fingertips up his arms and from around his ancient, grey eyes. He snarled up at Samuel, his left hand dripping blood from his wound.

"Congratulations," he spat venomously, "you have drawn first blood. Do you feel better now?" he gritted his teeth, pushing the pain to a distant corner of his mind, "I certainly hope so," the grey mage clenched his left hand into a fist, and the blood along his arm erupted into silver flame, "Because you are about to feel much worse."

[laraine]

Raine watched as the witch vanished from her sight. Then she turned around when she heard noise near the outskirts of the forest, instantly her mind was on alert.

"Samuel, Silvarn." Though her body was bleeding and battered, Raine ran through the forest, towards the two people she believed were her companions, even if Silvarn had betrayed her. To say she was pissed off was a understatement. But she knew Silvarn wouldn't betray her without a good reason.

"He'd better have a darn good one for making me go through this." Raine muttered and then broke through the forest into the clearing where the two were fighting. Blood trailed down her leg and arm from deep wounds. She panted, trying to keep herself from fainting or dying. She looked at them both hard as she limped closer to the duo.

"The fight is over, both of you stop this, unless you want to die for nothing." She turned to Silvarn. "I made a deal with the surviving witch, they will not kill me just yet until I do some business. Then you can have whatever it is they offered you." Raine waved her good arm, and looked at Samuel. "Thanks Samuel for trying to save me. It really did mean a lot. Don't blame Silvarn too much. He's just doing what he feels he needs to do. Whatever reason it may be. I'm used to this, really its fine Samuel." She gave him a caring smile and also used the same smile on Silvarn as well. "So, Silvarn if you and the others could wait until I finished my business until you kill me, I would appreciate it."

[thedookienut]

Samuel hadn't expected his sword to even touched Silvarn, let alone hurt him. He'd expected himself to be flying across the ground, on the edge of death, though now that seemed imminent.

He stumbled back as his sword crashed onto to the mage’s shoulder, its weight suddenly increasing. He let out a few short breaths, mostly with sheer shock, and watched in terror. The simple phrase ‘because you are about to feel much worse’ seemed daunting and fearful. He wasn’t ready to accept his own death, even if it stood right in front of him, snarling.

He tensed himself as the entire of Silvarn’s arm seemed to catch fire. He quickly took in a breath, anticipating it as his last, though he seemed more than happy when Raine’s voice suddenly spoke from the forest behind.

Once again, she’d saved his life, now he was truly in dept. He took another step back, breathing quickly.

[Silvarn]

"What?" the mage snarled from behind clenched teeth. A further complication to the plot. He had been so ready to discharge all his hate and ire onto the fool, Samuel, and now the halfbreed strode boldly back onto the forest path and called for a ceasefire. The mage shook and twitched visibly as he tried to keep his temper under control. Stray arcs of silver energy crept along the ground, invoking grey mist where they touched.

After a minute or two of intense concentration, the electricity died away, as did the mists, leaving only a grey-robed, pallid figured with a face of great displeasure.

Was she that committed to simply giving herself, her life away?

Just like you were a moment ago. Scorcahr whispered, jumping onto his train of thought.

"What if...?" Silvarn began, his brow furrowing. He lost contact with the world around him, delving into the inner workings of his mind.

His head suddenly snapped up, a cold glint in his eyes and a cruel smirk on his lips. "Miss Laraine," he began, his voice the mist on the water, "if I were to present an alternative to death, would you take it?"

[laraine]

Raine blinked at Silvarn's words, trying to figure out what he meant.

"An alternative to death? I suppose, but its not possible. My family wants me dead on both sides. There's no way I could survive without them chasing me everywhere." She looked up at Silvarn's cold eyes. "What are you scheming this time Silvarn?"

[thedookienut]

Samuel darted his head between the two, wondering what each were thinking, mostly Silvarn. He watched the mage, his own eyes decreasing in size, narrowing into a hateful glare.

"What exactly are you planning?" He growled, still holding the glare. Whatever Silvarn was thinking, it surely had to match the large twisted grin on his face.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Nothing too terribly complicated." he answered cryptically. "Not complicated, but rather dangerous."

He regarded Laraine intensely, his grey eyes boring into her, "You recall that little trick I did with your demonic relative?" his gaze was unbreakable, unblinking, "I can do the same to you." He held up a long finger to both of them to silence any outbursts, "But, only temporarily. See, if I 'kill' you for the Lockners by Banishing you, I get what I want; and, when you come back from your excursion into the aether, you will still be alive.

"The only inhibition to this plan is if you were to return. You see, I made the error of breezing over the finer points of the Lesser Banishments, choosing instead to devote my efforts to mastering the Greater Banishment. Thus, I do not know the exact date of your return. Or, for that matter, if you would return. And not necessarily to this realm."

Silvarn bared his teeth in a smile, the enamel blending nearly evenly with his skin, "How foolish of me, I now realize. But, miss Laraine, that option is available to you, if you so wish to take it."

Meanwhile, Silvarn had not noticed his servant's absence. Scorcahr had infiltrated the conversation between Laraine and the witches, and spent the last ten minutes mulling over a name: Danny...?

[laraine]

Raine blinked at his offer and thought about it hard. While it was true she wanted to stay alive for revenge, she never thought a situation like this would come up. A situation that ended with her surviving her family's wrath. "So there is a chance I would be lost forever right?" She looked back into Silvarn's cold stare. "Well, sure. I mean I don't have anything else to lose anyways. But...Silvarn. Before we do this, there is something I need to do." Her eyes faded into a deep purple. "You and Samuel may join me if you'd like. I like company, and despite your betrayal I still believe you are a kind person. Even if you try to intimidate me thoroughly." She smirked at him before turning to Samuel. "That is, if Samuel doesn't mind."

[thedookienut]

The thought of being banished from this world seemed unbelievable. Somewhat scary. Sameul listened, wondering if that's what he truely meant. Wondering if he was actually covering up for the fact he would kill them both.

Hearing Raine mention that she thought Silvarn was a kind person nearly caused him to scream in agony. Instead, he took a deep breath, just able to hold back his anger. His earlier near-exposer to Silvarn's power had startled him. It wasn't something he wanted to be threatened with again.

"I'll go with you." He replied, nodding a little as he spoke. There was a chance that neither of them would return, but he'd be willing to take that chance if it meant protecting Laraine.

[Silvarn]

She is, perhaps, the greatest fool I know. Scorcahr sneered. Even after you blatantly betrayed her to the Lockners, she still wants to be all friendly with you?

"Perhaps we could learn from this." the grey mage mused. "Nevertheless, we cannot pursue this curiosity as of now. You have unfinished business, and I must experiment to get the spell right. I hope these few months are enough for you to set your affairs in order."