Demon

[Silvarn]

Silvarn threw Samuel's lifeless body onto the floor of the cavern. The fatigue hit him hard, causing him to double over, forcing him to grab onto his knees for support, his chest heaving air in and out in a desperate attempt to restore some semblance of normal breathing.

You are terribly out of shape. Scorcahr snickered.

Confident he would not pass out, Silvarn sat tentatively upon the ground, his face red with the prior exertion. The cave had not been too difficult to locate. However, a pack of wolves had called the cave home not an hour before. But, on a signal from Scorcahr, the alpha bolted off, followed by the pack, off on some wild deer hunt. Of course, the smell of wet fur and canine excrement was gag-inducing, but it was a place to hide.

Silvarn watched as Raine completed the barrier, though he would offered to use his own magics to protect them -- if his own magic allowed defensive casting. A small fire burned moments later, lighting the cave, but not enough to alert outsiders. He rubbed at his suddenly very tired grey eyes, a headache beginning to form.

"Raine," he blurted out, "there is something I have to tell you." Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Immediately before the tavern collapsed, I was caught somewhere between life and death. I met..." he sighed painfully, "Let me state it bluntly: the Risks are no longer the only ones hunting us."

[laraine]

Raine turned to him, blinking slightly at his announcement. "Someone else?" She asked, curious but also cautious. She sat down next to him, wincing at the pain in her leg and side as she sat down. "That isn't good. If you don't wish to tell me, that's fine, I know you have your own secrets. But I would like to know at least at what scale who is planning on killing us besides my family." Suddenly she remembered and gave him a slight frown. "That reminds me, idiot! Don't do that again! I don't know what you used in there but it was dangerous! You nearly killed me and yourself! But at least I know more about you." She smiled softly at the thought, then winced again as she lied her back against the stone wall. She had used up all her strength keeping the barrier from dropping. "I mean from the beginning I knew you wanted to kill me for your own reasons. I accepted that, if you still want me dead I will still understand. But you know so much about....me....I wanted to...know you...more...hehehe silly.....huh?" Her hand touched the side of her cloak and soon was covered in blood. But she ignored the pain and looked at Silvarn taking another deep breath.

"Silvarn how is your wound? That was a pretty bad hit you took. I thought for sure you were dead. I have some healing powers...if you want me to use them. It wont do much but it will stop the bleeding at least."

[Silvarn]

"I am fine." he gasped, his wound suddenly remembered. He looked down at himself, finally realizing the gaping hole through his midsection.

Damn your weak flesh! Scorcahr whined, Do you realize how much effort it is taking to keep you in one piece? I will not be able to keep this up much longer -- you had better take the lady's offer.

Silvarn winced at the idea, though it could have easily just as been from the pain now setting in. He looked at Raine with his dead grey eyes, squinting through the utter discomfort. "If you patch me up, I will answer all of your questions. Since I am putting you in danger, even as I am trying to keep you safe, I owe you that much -- to explain what, exactly, you are up against."

He paused a moment to mentally force himself to forget his physical anguish, tensing his entire body in the effort. "Just, please, resist touching me unless absolutely necessary." he gritted through his teeth.

[laraine]

Raine nodded, unsure why he didn't want to be touched. She tilted her head slightly to one side, curious but not pushing the matter. She grasped the wall and pulled herself as close to him as she dared. She held out her hands towards his wound, they hoovered a inch or so above his injury, a pink light surrounding both hands and tiny sparks of magic falling upon his wound, healing and mending the tissue and stopping the bleeding. As she healed his body a memory slid past her and she closed her eyes, tensing every part of body trying to forget the memory. Yes, she did try to heal him before he died. Danny tried so hard to protect her but in the end, she couldn't save his life as he was in her arms, dying. The thought brought her back to the matter at hand. But she could save Silvarn. For Danny, she would save someone else wounded badly because of her. The silence between the two as she healed him was hard to bear. But, she had nothing to say. Her eyes opened and pulled her hands away from him as she felt the healing was complete. "There you are. It probably isn't the best job, I couldn't heal everything. But the wound is smaller and I managed to stop its bleeding. So you should be fine with rest." She hadn't realized she was until she wiped her brow with one hand, a hand stained with blood. She cursed and pulled her cloak off to reveal a deep wound embedded in her side and leg. blood dripped onto a small puddle near her leg. She sighed and tore a piece of her clothing off, wrapping it around her waist where the worst of the wound was. She quickly tied it up as tight as possible to stop the blood flow. Then turned to Samuel who was still unconscious.

"So, those answers to my questions?" She asked gently to Silvarn, looking over Samuel.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn nearly groaned with relief as the pain reduced exponentially, leaving behind only blissful numbness. He nearly collapsed into his own private oblivion at that point, but managed to hang on to consciousness. Instead, he just let himself take several deep breaths, letting the feeling seep through his whole body.

"I apologize for not being able to aid you in the same fashion, but the magic under my command is utterly offensive, in both senses of the word." he panted. "But, I have a feeling you will endure."

He took one, final breath, letting it go slowly. "Now, answers -- the most dangerous things in the world. Answers can destroy kings, empires..." he opened his dead eyes and they focused on something far away into the past. "...worlds.

"I suppose it would be best if I started from the most relevant beginning. I have always had a lethally voracious appetite for knowledge, particularly in the realm of magic. Knowledge was how I was able to stand out amongst my peers as a youth. So, when a being of immense power offered to teach me many things, new things, forbidden things. All he asked in return was my servitude. Of course, in an instant I accepted."

He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "An intrepid band of heroes saved me from my enslavement, freed my from my chains by slaying my master. I never had the chance to repay them for their deed, for I was half the realm away by that point. Despite being cut off from my font of knowledge, I retained all I had learned from him. What you saw in the tavern was one of the more, if not the most, powerful technique he had taught me.

"I be honest -- when I was in his service, he made me do terrible deeds. Horrible things. I razed entire villages with a raise of my hand, lay waste to armies with but a word. That is why Samuel never trusted me. He knew me for what I was -- a monster."

He bowed his hooded head, obscuring his irate features from Raine. "And what is to say I am not still one? This power I wield has no benefit, only destruction. And the being who gave me this power offered it to me again when I was trapped in that limbo. I have a terrible feeling that, somehow, he has returned to existence, or is at least acting through an agent, as he did with me. In either case, keeping you safe is going to be even more difficult, now that I will be hunted myself.

"Which reminds me...how much longer until this auspicious birthday of yours?"

[laraine]

Raine winced, from the pain and the question. She stared hard at the ground, as if it would give her comfort. She closed her eyes and sighed. "One month and seven days." She replied bitterly and turned to Samuel, pulling her cloak over him for a blanket and checking his wounds, healing what she could. Raine thought hard about what he said and absorbed all of his life into her memory. Now she knew more about him, yet, she still kept her own secrets from him.

" I don't know the details about my birthday, but everyone keeps telling me I will destroy everything I come into contact with the day I turn 21. I still don't understand the meaning of those words. Silvarn, you don't have to worry about being a monster. I am no better. I don't judge you based on that. How could I? I killed the people I loved most." She stopped there, trying to find a way to turn around the conversation. "Silvarn, does this creature you served have a name? I just want to know I guess, unless I accidently come across him while traveling with you. Calling the big bad guy 'Hey you' might not sit well with it, if he is as bad as you say. I'm sorry Silvarn, but I still need to ask you one thing." She turned to him, making eye contact with her purple eyes into his gray ones. "After I kill Rusty, will you kill me? You did bargain with me to banish me instead of kill me. But if the banishment somehow doesn't work, will you kill me?"

[thedookienut]

((Sorry for my lack of replies.))



Samuel slowly returned to conciousness, his head burning with pain. He took time to gather his surroundings and the vioces he could hear. They were familiar voices. Silvarn Grey Eyes and Raine, two people he wanted to call friend. Although he had hated the mage at first, he was beginning to regret saying such harsh things to the man, but he had threatened to kill him. It confused Samuel. Was Silvarn on their side? Was he playing with them or against them? Or neither?

He tried not to think of such things, and tried to rest. He stayed as quiet as he could, listening to Raine's and Silvarn's voices, and placed his arms behind his head.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn stayed quiet for several minutes, his eyes shut firmly in concentration. The silence pressed in around all three as the mental cogs in Silvarn's brain churned.

"No." came his answer, at last. "You have proven yourself too much of a good person to just kill you in cold blood. And I did not promise the Lockners to do that, just to facilitate their defeat of you, not to kill you for them. Either way, I dislike both sides of your family, and I do not intend on giving them what they want. Though, if you do turn out to be some nihilistic, crazed, powerful madwoman, I will not hesitate. I understand there are times when a person cannot be recovered."

Tell her. Scorcahr commanded.

"Tell her what?" Silvarn asked with a frown.

She asked you about --

"I know, but I do not want to utter that vile being's name again. But, I shall." his eyes snapped back into focus, and he turned his head to look at her, "My old master's name was..." he took a moment to center himself, "...Khul'Yddis."

The silence turned malicious, and Silvarn managed to repress the shiver that threatened to rip through his bones. But, he could repress the dribble of blood from the corner of his mouth. He had not even noticed it. Years of speaking the fiend's name had desensitized him from its effects.

[laraine]

Raine blinked in surprise. Not just at the name of the demon, but at Silvarn's reaction as well. The blood dripping from his mouth also worried her. She wanted to comfort him, but knew he would not let her. She clenched her fists at her sides and nodded. "Thank you Silvarn for telling me its name even though it caused you pain. I suppose in return you could ask something of me. I don't really know if there is anything you want to know that I haven't already told you, but you can ask if you want to, I don't mind, whatever it may be. After all, we are friends now, right? Oh, and thanks for saying you won't kill me. Its been a while where I can trust someone with my life." She smiled slightly and winced at the pain in her side and leg. "Though you might wanna ask soon before I pass out." She joked, laughing a little to push away the pain.

[thedookienut]

Samuel continued to listen, remaining as quiet as he could possibly be. He wanted to know what they were talking about, since he'd woken up half way through their conversation. Khul'Yddis... He thought, trying to think of what kind of being it was, if it were a being at all. He ended up with the image of a large man, shrouded in a charcoal black robe, blocking all but its mouth and pointing jaws from sight. He shuddered at the thought; if that were the creature then he did not want to meet it at all. No matter what. He would push all boundries to keep away from the vicious creature that haunted his mind now. Whether the man of which Silvarn spoke looked like his thoughts or not, its name seemed bad enough.

[Silvarn]

Silvarn merely nodded, keeping his mouth firmly closed. He finally noticed something tickling his chin, and blotted at it. When he realized it was blood, he quickly drug his sleeve across his mouth as indiscreetly as he could manage.

"There is nothing I need to know more about -- regarding you, that is. All I need to know is you will go through some sort of ascension in little more than a month, and there is a chance you will become a fiend bent on destroying the world. I only hope, if that indeed is what comes to pass, that I will have the power to subdue you. And, once more, I apologize for not being able to heal you. I sacrificed that power to learn of the Twilight."

Silvarn then became eerily silent, a veritable vortex consuming what little mirth there was in the cavern. He glanced around at the walls, but the fire made the shadows dance. He could only visualize Khul'Yddis beckoning him, staring at him with his terrible cyclopean eye, with the eight ebon-blue spires radiating from it.

"If he does find us." Silvarn broke the silence with little care, "Promise me one thing...that you will run as if the end of the world were behind you. I must face him alone. Muster what defenses you can, gather friend and foe alike. If I fail, it will be my last failure. The Twisted Mirror does not tolerate betrayal."

[laraine]

Raine glanced at him as he said those words. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, looking down at the ground. "I don't know, I don't usually make it a plan to abandon friends, those in need for my own benefit. Its really not how I work. But I understand that you need to defeat this monster yourself. But, if you plan on dying, I will be very pissed off Silvarn. No one deserves to die for whatever happened. That's what I have come to believe with my own past. But whatever happens on my birthday I know you will make the right choice. But I won't abandon anybody Silvarn, just make a note about it. If you're at deaths door, I will help whether you like it or not."

She stared at him hard, then sighed. "Well, I should get some sleep, I need strength to keep the barrier up and to heal. If you want you can sleep too. I am sorry though that I got both you and Samuel mixed up in this."

[thedookienut]

Samuel listened, although his conciousness began to fade into exhaustion and his slowly started to doze. As much as he forght it, the much needed sleep took over and he drifted off into a nightmarish dream.

It was haunted by the ghostly being he had imagined several moments ago, but this time it seemed all to freakish. He fought hard to wake himself but all failed; and he found himself chasing through the streets of his burning home.

[Silvarn]

"Do not be upset about that. I inserted myself into your ordeal by killing one of your demonic aunts, remember? Though, I probably could have removed myself by slipping away and letting the Risks focus on you first. But," his apathetic mask faded for a moment, then returned with renewed vigor, his scowl deepening. He remained silent long enough to ensure he would not finish the thought.

He stayed vigilant, sleep wisely keeping its distance from him. He watched the shadows dance across the wall, growing larger and blending together as the fire slowly died. As the last flicker of light and heat died, darkness covered them, interrupted only by the breathing of the embers.

A wisp of illumination crept in, a faint glimmer of the moon. There, silhouetted against the light, stood a figure in a long, flowing robe. Although the moon was behind it, the figure's exposed hands and face glowed with an eerie silver radiance. The robed man smiled maliciously directly at Silvarn, then slowly drew back his hood, revealing the damned insignia. It glowed blue, and Silvarn snarled in utter rage, hurling an orb of sunset at the figure. The eye opened lazily as the projectile hurtled at it, and absorbed when it made contact.

"You cannot kill me with my own power, Grey-Eyes." the man laughed mockingly.

Silvarn roared and charged at the man, but the man only laughed more and stopped Silvarn with a palm. Silvarn stared at the arm protruding from his chest, and watched in horror as the attached hand retracting, pulling his heart out with it.

"I will always control you, Grey-Eyes. Your mind, your soul, your power, your heart -- they all still belong to me!" the man exclaimed, crushing Silvarn's heart in a flare of dark blue.

Silvarn sat bolt upright, a shout of fear ripping itself, unbidden, from his throat. He panted heavily, throwing a hasty hand through his sweaty, matted, silver hair. He only hoped he had not woken the others.

[laraine]

Raine had awoken by that time. She blinked at Slivarn's shout and turned abruptly, wand in hand, ready for any attack headed their way. But when she saw nothing she sighed, the moonlight drifted across her pink hair, transforming it into a glowing pink. Her purple eyes focused on Silvarn as she put away her wand. "Don't scare me like that, I thought there was a invasion." She brushed dirt off her body and sat next to him. "Couldn't sleep much either huh?" She asked with a half smile.
The dark circles under her eyes told it all. She too had nightmares. As they drifted back into her memory she closed her eyes, shoving them away. But still she caught a glimse of a face filled with insanity, her as a younger child crying. And the destruction she caused, a large crater.
She turned her attention back to Silvarn who was and obviously in turmoil over his own nightmare. She tilted her head to the side, almost appearing like a curious cat.