Warcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Bloodstained Shadows - Chronicles of a Lost Soul ❯ Memories of the Twilight - Chapter 6 ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 6:

 

 

Only a little later we were all back inside the Temple of the Damned.

I was sitting on a bench at a large table inside the general room of the warlock quarters with Kaal on the opposing side.

I still was not sure if that had been a fight against the succubus or not. But I have to admit, she was an impressing succubus. She had also paralyzed Kaal without even having looked at him. He didn`t confess that, but I was relatively sure that it was that way from the moment on he said that what I did was something reckless and incredibly dangerous. As if I had had a choice or had done that out of fun.

While we were talking, Darnys was lying on a large pile of pillows in a corner not too far from us. She didn`t stare, but there was something strange about the looks she gave me.

After she backed away from me only moments ago, the paralysis wore off and I just simply fell to the floor. Kaal's apprentice had to help me walk, so that I was able to get into the temple again.

At that point my succubus even gave me a kind of worried look. She was such a strange creature.

Everywhere she touched me felt somehow numb. It took quite a while for this effect to wear off. The first time she touched me after having said her name I flinched. I didn`t know that she could control this aura of hers to such an extend that it wouldn`t hurt me anymore. Even though I guess if she wanted to, she could still inflict pain to me.

Whilst I was resting Kaal told me about the forth and last demon I had to get if I wanted to become a warlock of skill. He also mentioned that this would be the most difficult to overcome because the Felhunter, as this demon is called, feeds on magic. I would have to fight in a very clever way and full of wit to bring down such a beast as someone who uses magic.

At one point when Kaal was talking, Darnys suddenly stood up and came over to us. If I really didn`t want her to do this, I probably just could have ordered her to go away again or dismiss her to the demonic realm, but somehow at that point it still was strange to order her around. But on the other hand, she just came over and sat down onto the bench next to me.

She came as close to me as possible, lay her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. Again I flinched when she first touched me, but I realized relatively fast that it did not hurt at all.

She was breathing slowly, her eyes were closed.

Kaal also had a sort of disbelieving look on his face when he saw her..., well, cuddling with me.

After a short while of silence Kaal started to talk again. He told me more about the felhunter and the whereabouts of these creatures.

I was told I would need the assistance of a strong warlock residing in Ratchet to be able to summon this demon. But I would also need a special grimoire, the Tome of the Cabal, written long ago by warlocks associated with the Burning Legion. Concerning this I should talk to Jorah Annison on the other side of the moat in this quarter of Undercity. He should be able to help me out in this matter.

After having finished explaining what I would have to do next, Kaal used the time that I still needed to rest, to start a bit of small talk.

He tried to find out more about me. But at first he started out by telling me that most people who call themselves warlocks weren`t even able to summon three different demons. Most of them only have imps and even only one of those. There are many impostors if you think about it. Then he started to compliment me, how fast I had learned and how fast my power grew. I had obtained my first three demons in not even two weeks. He said that he had never met someone like me before. At that time I still was a bit astonished every time somebody talked about me like that, but it told me that I was on the right way. Even the head of the warlock guild of Undercity acknowledged the progress I made. He told me, after I had obtained the felhunter, he would teach me some of the stronger and more difficult spells. Those which could easily kill you when performed wrong.

The succubus by my side was still calm and quiet. I guessed she really fell asleep after a while. I lay my right arm around her, careful not to wake her up, it was kind of a reflex.

Meanwhile Kaal started trying to question me. It was no secret that hardly anybody knew something about me. The only thing that everybody knew was the name Hector, and that wasn`t even right. And I was quite sure that even Kaal wouldn`t believe me if I told him my real name. But I seized the moment and tried to get rid of being called Hector. I had to think of an alias quickly and came up with the name Ceberus. This was a strong name, easy to remember and yet concisely, also capable of striking fear to an opponent's heart.

So in the end, the Soulreaper wanted to get to know me better and all I did was giving him an alias as a new name. I didn`t tell him anything about myself, still in fear of what might happen if I would reveal too much of my former life.

Kaal seemed a bit disappointed by the outcome of our little talk.

Shortly after we had ended our conversation, my succubus raised her head slightly and rested her chin on my shoulder. She looked at me with drowsy eyes and stretched her arms and legs, her thin tail was raised high up into the air for a moment. Then she noticed my arm on her back. She offered me a lustful smile and winked at me. To be honest, I didn`t really know how I should handle this situation, I slowly took my arm away, but she just started to embrace me once again.

It took me a while to shake her off. Although she didn't seem too pleased with this outcome, she accepted it, at least for the moment.

I said farewell to Kaal and made my way out of the temple. Before I left, he reminded me that I should return to him here in Undercity if I would be successful. I was excited, this would be the fourth and last demon I had to obtain before I was looked at as a skilled warlock. This all was occurring so fast. It was as if my power was growing with every hour.

The succubus by my side was skipping while we walked towards the moat with the green fluid. She was definitely disgusted of it telling from the look she had on her face upon seeing it. I just walked on towards the bridge being used to the sight of the green ooze. Darnys took her chance and linked arms with me as she had caught up to me again. She surely was a clinging demon.

I found Jorah inside the bookstore of Undercity. Actually it was more like a small library but well, he was a map maker and most of the literature he had in his store was about geography. I asked him about the folio which I needed. He was actually pretty surprised that someone knew about that book. He called it a piece of great fell literature.

There never were too many copies of it, but after about three copies, all in different places in Azeroth, were lost or destroyed the elders of Stormwind tried to preserve at least one of the books. As they actually found out where one of them was located they made plans how to retrieve it. It was spotted in the depths of Jaedenar in Felwood in the north of Kalimdor. A group of hired mercenaries, not knowing what the book they were searching for was worth, fought their way into the caverns of the Shadow Council.

They suffered heavy losses, but nevertheless they could retrieve the book. In the meantime one of the human elders had been talking to a dwarven friend of his. That man was such a blunt idiot, giving such a secret away because of something as foolish as friendship. Only hours later the elders of Ironforge sent message to Stormwind that in the name of their alliance they want a share on the folio. But the humans refused to make a copy of it, knowing of the power the dwarves would have if they had the full text and were able to understand the meaning of it. So the human elders decided to render the book, vandalize it by ripping out almost half of the pages. This was still done be the mercenaries for in Ashenvale the two survivors were told that they should split up and deliver the two parts to different people. One of them should go to Auberdine, a small elven harbour north of their position and take a ship to the city of Menethil, from there on he would be escorted to Ironforge. The other one should undertake a trip to Gadgetzan and at the little harbour there take the ship to Stormwind. None of the two ever reached their destinations. The one travelling to Ironforge with the tome and only a rough third of the text boarded the ship to Menethil as he was ordered, yet the ship was lost along the shore of the Hillsbrad Foothills not too far from here. The rumours say the ship was attacked by a large group of murlocs for an unknown reason. There were only one or two survivors of the attack. The other mercenary with the tied up rest of the folio joined a caravan going to Gadgetzan. Unluckily they were attacked by a group of centaurs while passing through the area known as Thousand Needles.

“It is a pity to lose such a piece of great and powerful literature in such a pathetic way.“, Jorah shook his head while saying these words. The story behind this book was quite interesting, I believe even my succubus had listened carefully.

I knew I had no choice but to retrieve both parts of the book, the Forsaken standing in front of me would surely have paid a good amount of gold for the folio. But I guess I should keep my thoughts focussed on getting it because of the felhunter.

I wondered if I was the only warlock that had to go through all this trouble. I didn`t know but it somehow felt strange. By doing this I would surely pave the way for other warlocks. On the other hand by doing it this way I would also determine my strength, I could even make a name for myself.

After thinking about it for a while, a certain motivation was rising up in me.

I followed the advice of Jorah and decided to go to Hillsbrad first, I had to go to Ratchet anyway later on. That would be first time I went to Kalimdor.

I gathered a small amount of supplies from the local stores and then went off to the Hillsbrad Foothills immediately. Luckily for me the bat transport was at work again, this sped up everything a lot.

The animal had a much steadier style to fly than the creature I had last time, although I was almost kicked from its back once when it suddenly flew straight downwards to the ground for a few seconds. It took me about twenty minutes to get from Undercity to Tarren Mill. I didn`t even bother with asking the inhabitants of the village about the book, I assumed they wouldn`t know anything about it.

Darnys accompanied me on my journey this time. At that time I still thought of her company as pleasant and besides, both of my other demons would surely have only complained about the landscape being either not dark enough or too big to walk all the way.

Retrieving the tome from the murlocs was far more difficult than expected.

I made my way to the coast and as I reached the coastline I was basically standing right in the middle of a murloc kingdom. The beach was swarming with those ugly, noisy, fishlike creatures. My succubus looked at them with disgust.

They may look like animals, but I'm sure they are far more than that.

I attacked the first one without mercy, the wretched creature died from the first shadow bolt. Yet it still could shout out for help. Their language may only consist of gargling sounds, but the social network of murlocs is developed pretty good. Upon the sound of the scream, `Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!`,

six murlocs came racing towards me with spears clutched in their slimy hands.

I tried to take out more of them with my corruption and curse of pain spells. Even though the effect of corruption seemed to be amplified if I compared it with the usual effect, most of the murlocs just simply ignored the curse.

One of the creatures was able to reach me and my demon. It jumped directly at me the moment it was in range to do so. Its teeth dug deep into the undead flesh of my right arm. Darnys came to my aid immediately. One strike with her whip and the pressure of its jaw loosened. As it fell to the ground without further movement I heard it again, but this time twice.

“Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!“

Two of the injured ones cried out loud. At first I didn`t notice anything, but only moments later I already heard them. At least thirty of those creatures would be here in not even a minute to come. I had to retreat. Darnys and I fled from the shore and up the hills again.

Luckily none of them followed us.

Now I had to solve two problems. First of all, I had to find out where the book could be and secondly how to get rid of the little murloc army down there at the coast. Concerning the second I already had an idea. I wondered whether the touch of my voidwalker would have the same effect on murlocs as it had on humans.

Searching the book would be difficult. The murloc tribe was alarmed and ready to attack. Those dumb creatures. I just wanted that one old rest of a book and I`d be gone again, but no... And I didn`t think that they would want to kill me because they could be hungry. I assumed they didn`t eat undead flesh, even though my hopes that they could be vegetarians were destroyed the moment I saw their fangs for the first time.

Their slimy skin, their gazing almost lifeless eyes, their razor-sharp fangs and claws.

God, I hate murlocs.

By coincidence I spotted the folio fast, even from the hills above of the coast. Well, okay, I only saw something gleaming in one of the huts of the murlocs, not too far away from the little army. They still stood there looking for me.

Now I had to explain to Darnys that I would need the aid of my voidwalker for a while now and that I`m not strong enough to keep them both in this world by my side. The expression on her face darkened immediately, not even because of anger, but sadness.

At first she really didn`t want to go, but I was able to convince her. The only thing I had to tell her was that afterwards I would call for her right away. “Don`t do anything I wouldn`t do.“, those were her words before she kissed me on the cheek and left to the demonic realm.

I often wondered what the reason was why she liked me that much, we barely knew each other, yet she was clinging to me from the first moment on. What was her intention?

With a loud moaning sound my voidwalker was summoned by me. He looked around in disgust, everything was so colourful and bright. I supposed he would have loved the murlocs, they all had bright green or violet scales with a red toning sometimes.

Me and my voidwalker approached the beach again.

I just prayed this hit and run tactic would work. I still didn't know a single spell that could deal with all of the murlocs at once. I ordered my voidwalker to attack the murlocs. The moment they saw my demon they charged at it. In the same moment I started to run to the beach myself.

Luckily, it worked. Every murloc my voidwalker touched with its hands fell to the floor shivering. Yet it seemed my luck came to an immediate end.

Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!

It seemed that about five of the murlocs cried out for help. I had thought that the whole murloc attack squad was rallied there around that blue bulb called Belmon, but no, from the far east and the far west dozens of those creatures came running towards us. It was unbelievable how fast those murlocs could be.

I had to hurry.

As I reached the murloc hut the reinforcements of the little murloc army had almost arrived. I grabbed the book, I didn`t even have the time to look at it to confirm that it really was the right one.

A few creatures leaped towards me. I tried to keep them away from me by simply casting corruption on them. The number of murlocs around Belmon also didn`t diminish, they recovered too fast. I passed the voidwalker and ordered him to follow me immediately up the hill and away from the shore.

If we only got away far enough, the murlocs wouldn`t follow us any more. They are bond to the water in a kind of way. Their skin desiccates quite fast and most of the murlocs that were following us right now hadn`t been in water for quite a while now.

Slowly, but constantly the number of pursuing murlocs was growing thinner as I drew nearer to the mountains of Alterac. As I had reached the road even the last and most stubborn murlocs had given up and returned to the coast.

By then I had the time to look at the book in my arm. I opened it slowly. Most of the text was written in Eredrun. In the middle of it pages were missing, so this actually could be the right book. I decided not to go back and search for other books, I would take the risk of having the wrong one and just started to walk towards Tarren Mill.

I just hate those freaking murlocs.

Something that was unusual was that the animals in this area started attacking me for no reason. I had no problem with dealing with the mountain lions or bears here, but they usually avoided me because they sensed that I was stronger. So the book was somewhat dangerous after all.

The closest and fastest way to get to Kalimdor from here would be by airship. I saw the tower where they dock already on my way from Brill to the ruins of Lordaeron. Kaal told me about the goblin airships connecting the Undercity with Orgrimmar. He also told me that it would be fairly dangerous, but definitely the fastest means of transport.

After I arrived again in Undercity by bat, I dismissed my voidwalker and summoned Darnys. I had promised it to her after all.

She was fairly happy to see me alive and well. I've never stopped questioning her behaviour, anyhow I was the warlock and she was my demonic slave.

My next destination was the valley called Thousand Needles. I only had a rough idea where that would be, so I went to the cartographer in Undercity and got a map of the whole continent.

It would take some time to get there, but maybe if I`m lucky the orcs might have a similar way of transport like the Forsaken had the trained bats.

We left Undercity and boarded the airship on the tower. The goblins somehow reminded me of my imp.

They were almost equally small, their voices were also high pitched and most of them were complaining and nagging all the time. I wondered if the two races might have been far relatives.

The flight itself took about a day. The ocean is huge. We also made a detour to the coast of Northrend because of a giant storm in the midst of the ocean, they called that area the Maelstrom.

It is hard to believe that the centre of the world was once there in the middle of the ocean and that the continents were once connected, the tale of queen Azshara.

I used the time we spent on the airship to learn a bit more Eredrun. I ordered Darnys to talk to me in demonic for a while, afterwards she translated only the words I hadn't understood the first time.

I felt no pain anymore when hearing the language. Also I understood most of it already. I didn`t really know why that was like this but, well I didn`t question it.

It is hard to believe that the language of the demons is actually in a way really poetic if you take the time and translate the rough and cruel sounding words they use.

After we had finally arrived in Kalimdor I took the time to have a look at the city of Orgrimmar. The city itself was huge, it was built into a canyon and the entrances were heavily fortified.

As we passed through the main gate, we entered the wide and open market district. Vendors, taverns and a giant bank formed the centre of Orgrimmar, the Valley of Strength as it was called. A large tower right behind the large hut in the middle.

I personally didn`t like the style of the city. I prefer Undercity. Yet I took my time and looked around a bit. In the northeast of this part of the city a long and dark alley led to the Valley of Wisdom, where also the hall of the Warchief was. I followed my intuition and turned left into a small chasm with a way leading downwards.

I looked around in this little cave, summoning circles everywhere, orcs in long robes following their studies of dark arts as I assumed. I found the Orgrimmar warlock guild. I guessed it would be easy to remember where to find them.

I continued my excursion through the city by following the signs to the Valley of Wisdom. I had no interest in meeting the Warchief of the orcs, but I wanted to have a look at his residence and after all, it should be one of the most important parts of the city. You never know when you might need such information.

I always thought the Warchief would be living in a small palace, but then I stood in front of a normal orcish stronghold. Well on the other hand, I should have expected something like this.

In front of it there was a statue of a giant demon. I wondered who or what this demon was. Darnys didn`t want to look at it so she turned away. I asked her what was wrong.

“His eyes...“, her voice was trembling. I looked at the monstrous skull, but I couldn`t see anything.

I lay my arm around her for a moment and we walked on.

We came past another large hall as we drew nearer to the Valley of Spirits. We were fairly high now, we were on the same level as the top of the tower, a rope bridge connecting where we were with it. I had not noticed that we had gone up this high.

On the top level of the tower I found what I had been searching for since we had arrived here, something similar to the bats of the Forsaken. Only that they used a strange animal I had never seen before, the orc called it a Wyvern or Windrider. It had the body and the head of a lion, wings like a bat and a tail that reminded me of a scorpion.

I dismissed Darnys and told her that I would call for her as soon as I had arrived in Thousand Needles. She gave me the usual sad look, but she agreed after seeing the strange thing I would take to get there. What a funny animal, even a demon looked at it as awkward.

The flight with the Wyvern took me through the area in central Kalimdor called the barrens. Only a few oases disrupt the constant wasteland and give it a bit more colour. That area was large, it took rather long to get through it. I didn`t want to imagine how long it would have taken if I had went through by foot.

I flew past an orcish camp and later a tauren camp. To the west lay the green land of Mulgore, home of the tauren, I suppose that was a far more pleasant place compared to Durotar or the barrens.

As I reached the south end of the barrens I saw a kind of elevator, finest tauren architecture. I've never understood how these things worked if I`m honest, they don`t use any rope at all. Probably some form of magic I don`t grasp, assumingly simpler than I would imagine. But well, I did not waste too much time thinking about that.

The moment I entered Thousand Needles I understood for the first time why it was called that way. The Wyvern flew rather close the ground. The large stone pillars everywhere were a miraculous thing to see. On the other hand, you start to hate the place if you have travelled through it as often as I have. At the bottom of the valley the centaurs have their domain and the Grimtotem tribe of the tauren have an outpost on some of the pillars too. Unfortunately they are not too friendly with members of the Horde, so they attacked me the moment they saw me riding on that Windrider. Luckily for me the Wyvern knew the way it had to go and I guess the creature was already used to the spears these tauren threw at us, it dodged them with ease. A few pillars later it slowed down, I recognized the huts early, bearing the symbol of the Horde.

We landed safely in the middle of a tauren settlement. They welcomed me with open arms, I wondered why they were so happy to see me. But I assumed they didn`t have so many visitors there. I asked one of the inhabitants of the camp where I would find the closest centaur settlement. Fortunately that was just up north from the point I was. The tauren also showed me the elevator and told me that I would just have to pass through the two stone pillars directly in front of me and then I would be in the middle of the centaur camp. He asked my why I wanted to go there, but I turned down his question and told him that this was none of his business.

Those elevators are quite fast if you're on them. However, if you wait for them to come up to you, you'll usually stand in front of the one arriving later. But you don't want to go to the other one because you are standing on a long wooden runway hovering in mid air because the elevators are always in a fair distance to the surface of the upper level.

As I had reached the bottom level of the valley, I took a look where I would have to go. That steak on two legs up there hadn't been joking, the centaurs had a large settlement right behind those pillars that I was standing in front of at that moment, only a few metres away from the camp of the horde.

I summoned Darnys as I had promised. She greeted me a bit too friendly and flung her arms around my neck. She said something like that she was glad to see me, but I could imagine how she formed the words 'What took you so long?' with her beautiful mouth.

I passed through the stone pillars first, Darnys close behind me. A small ridge of spears formed a kind of wall that you could bypass easily. I had no idea where I would have to search for the rest of the folio. So I did the thing I had to do, I started killing my way through their encampment. I guessed the tauren approved of that idea too.

The stench of those creatures was unbelievable, flies were everywhere. I was sure no one on this planet would miss them. One after the other fell. They were no match for me, nor my magic. A single shadow bolt ripped their bodies in two, leaving nothing but a bloody mess behind. Darnys didn`t attack a single one of them. Although I have to admit, I never ordered her to do so. She looked a bit annoyed, which I was in fact too. These creatures, so tall and such a thick skin, yet they all were so fragile and feeble.

After a while most of the centaurs that were left fled the camp. They would surely remember my name and try to take revenge. Not that I would care about it now. Well, even at that time I couldn`t have cared less about them. I could easily obliterate all of them.

The fact that the hoofed ones had left made it easier for me to search for the text. Yet I could not find it in any of the huts here. Had they taken it with them? Or was it hidden somewhere else? As I asked myself these two questions, Darnys tipped my shoulder. I turned around to her. She was pointing at the stone wall.

“I feel a demonic presence in there.“, she whispered.

I knew I should investigate that, but how to get in there? We followed the stone wall a bit to the east and we really did find an entrance to a cave. If that demonic presence really was the text then the centaurs probably were worshipping it like an old god. I knew that this book would surely be dangerous but that it was able to attract and influence the simple and small minded creatures like this was a bit disturbing.

We turned around into the first stone corridor, not exactly knowing where would have to go, only following Darnys' intuition. The whole cave was lit with torches standing basically in every corner. To our right we saw a way into a bit larger circular room filled with spears. On everyone of them a head of a fallen enemy was reminding of his or her defeat. I saw the heads of orcs and humans, tauren and trolls alike. Even one or two elves had fallen to the centaur. I didn`t see o a single one of the Forsaken and I knew at that time, they wouldn`t get mine for their collection.

We turned away from the chamber with the spears and followed the corridor of the cave again. It ended sooner than I had expected. We reached a large cave with a small lake in its middle. Two fiercely looking centaurs were guarding a chest in between two torches with blue flames. What a strange thing to see, but I was sure I had to get into that chest.

I did not care about the two centaurs. None of them would be a worthy opponent. One of the two went up in flames due to my immolate running off screaming, jumping head first into the small lake and the second one was hit in the chest by my shadow bolt, leaving an almost circular hole in its middle. The creature fell to the ground, blood flowing from the wound. I thought of the one centaur behind me in the lake and cast a curse of agony on him. The screams of a centaur are gruesome to ones ears. From that day on I tried to remember to never cast this spell on one of them again.

I opened up the chest and took the withered pages of the folio. If I think about it, this was all terribly easy. The murlocs of Hillsbrad at least had put up a fight.

I took the tome out of my bag and put the missing pages in it. Afterwards I put it away again, storing it.

The way out of the cave and the centaur encampment was easy. The only strange thing was a group hyenas attacking me as we had reached the road. I dealt with them quickly and took the elevator to the top of the stone pillar. As I reached the top, the guards were all looking at me with mistrust, even anger. I could not imagine why their attitude had changed this much since I had left them only a few hours ago.

One of the elders came out of his tent and walked towards me. He stopped several metres in front of me and said something like: “I don`t want to be too unfriendly as you have fought many centaurs today and probably erased a threat to our little settlement up here... yet, you carry something with you we can not tolerate to have in our midst. You will have to leave immediately!“

His voice was gentle and his words were as polite as they could be. I nodded silently and turned to the Wyvern behind me. I dismissed Darnys, she gave the elder a sharp look the moment before she left to her realm. I guessed she didn`t like how I was treated there. On that day I learned that someone like me, dealing with demonic magic would never have too many friends.

The young tauren who was taking care of the Windriders and who greeted me so friendly, at first refused to give me one of his beloved animals to get to Ratchet at first. Yet the elder convinced him quickly, probably he told him that this would be the only way to get rid of me fast.

There I was, alone again... yet this time, I was strong and I knew how to gain more power.

The flight to Ratchet didn`t take too long. We didn`t pass the Grimtotem tauren at the entrance to Thousand Needles, instead we flew directly to the north. By taking this way we passed a swamp area called the Dustwallow Marshes. The Wyvern flew along the coastline, we passed a large human stronghold on our way. Later I found out that this was the famous city of Theramore, led by the noble lady Jaina Proudmoore.

The city of Ratchet was close by after I had left the marshes.

The Windrider sped up and we reached the town after about five more minutes. Ratchet was a goblin city. I don`t like these little green fellows, their only concern is money, money and more money. They sell their fighting ability and their technological advance to the highest bidder. Even for answering my question about the warlock residing here they wanted money. It`s a shame. I paid the goblin the gold he wanted so I could just go on quickly. I was told he lived outside the town in a tower on a hill, the goblin pointed past me. I turned around and saw the tower. I bit my tongue in anger to have paid five gold to a goblin for this little piece of information.

I found the way up there quickly. You just had to turn right immediately after leaving the city. I summoned Darnys on my way to the tower. I had the feeling it would be good to show up with a strong demon by my side.

As I drew nearer to the tower I already saw a man standing in front of it.

“I was awaiting you.“, I looked at the old human in disbelieve. “Well, did you expect me not to notice you while carrying such a dangerous artefact? I felt your presence the moment you put the text into the tome. The demonic energy of the folio is tremendous. There are many ways to summon a Felhunter, the way you took is definitely the most dangerous one. But for congratulating you it is still too early.“ Anger rose up in me upon hearing those words. The man pointed inside. “Now please, Kaal has sent note to me about you, yet he underestimated your speed. My name is Strahad Farsan, me and my apprentices will assist you in summoning the creature you seek.“, he mad a short pause. Three young female orcs were already standing in position inside.

“ But be careful, by using this book to summon one you will definitely summon a strong and more powerful demon then with the other methods.“

At least having taken this way had its advantages. The warlock was brief with his explanations and directly went on to summoning the demon, he told me to step into the middle of the drawing on the floor and read the summoning from the book when he gave me the sign to do so.

The summoning circle beneath my feet was a lot more difficult then the ones I had seen so far, actually, it was rather two circles then just one.

The old man started talking in demonic, the three apprentices quietly focussing on the creation of a portal to the demon world. Normally these portals were somewhat more circular with edges moving like flames. This one was different. The old warlock gave me the instruction to read the lines from the book. The moment I did so a black hand rose from the ground and hovered at the height of my face. As I went on reading aloud the colour of the hand turned to a dark violet and it started to split up into six smaller ones. The fingers were all connected in one point and then they slowly drifted apart leaving a dark area behind them. So this was a portal to the demonic realm that even I could step through. It was tempting to have look through it, but I had to go on reading the lines from the folio. Darnys was still standing outside the tower only glancing past the entrance door into the portal. She was afraid of something.

“X alar maev ur rikk nagas!“, I heard no voice, just as if the words were coming directly from my thoughts.

Something jumped out of the portal with a high velocity. I turned around immediately, the portal closing behind me. So this was a felhunter. It looked a bit like the demon form of a dog or a wolf, still it was totally different. The body was covered with scales glistening in a bloody red toning, only a few parts of the creature were covered by something resembling pitch black fur. The feet of the demon were sole claws. Two giant horns came out of the shoulders of the creature, they were easily equally long as my arms. Two black tentacles came out of the back of its head pointing directly towards me. The head of the creature was slim and rather long with a mouth filled with giant sharp teeth. The only thing I really could not make out on this creature were its eyes. Did it even have some?

I demanded that it should tell me its name, but received no response at all.

It charged directly at me, the demon was fast. I heard how the warlock behind instructed his students to keep out of this fight at all costs.

I used the spare seconds I had to cast an Immolate and a Corruption spell on the demon before I had to dodge it. Yet the demon only opened his mouth one or two times and I heard his voice is my head again, “Kanrethad...“

I ordered Darnys to attack the felhunter. She did as I said but the hits with her whip hardly did anything to the demon. The felhunter didn`t even care about the succubus standing behind him, or it, or whatever.

I sent a shadow bold directly flying towards the creature. It hit it directly in the face, but... not even a scratch. Normally creatures die instantly after receiving such a hit. The old warlock also looked surprised, seemingly such hits usually do at least a little bit of damage.

The demon charged at me again, this time I couldn`t avoid the full hit, one of his claws scratched my arm. It hurt incredibly, it was as if his claws were able to create an effect equal to the curses I used on my opponents.

I had to think of something quickly, my magic wouldn`t work on the creature, neither the magic of Darnys and I didn`t want to ask the old man for help. As I saw the tower in front of me I knew this would be quite a gamble, but I had to take my chance if I wanted to get this demon.

I ran into the building, right into the middle of the summoning circle. The demon followed me just as I had hoped it would.

I used the few moments I had to send a shadow bolt flying to the ceiling above me, it pierced through the wall slightly below it, sending some smaller stones flying down towards me. As I prepared the second shadow bolt the demon took me down, but I could still send it flying to the ceiling yet it hit the other side of the wall also close beneath it.

The demon was now standing above of me. The razor-sharp teeth were only a few inches away from my face.

“X alar gular adare mishun shi rikk ante shi. X karkun nagas aman ashj amanalar alar arakal melar matheredor .“ The demon pinned down my arms. The two tentacles from its back attached to my chest and I felt how my stamina and energy were slowly fading. Darnys charged at the demon, but her attacks hardly did anything to the scaled body of the felhunter. The demon just ignored her and kept on, well, drinking.

I tried to concentrate on one last shadow bolt, I only had to hit the ceiling once, only one damn time. I yelled at Darnys to get out of the tower, but she wouldn`t move. I tore my right arm free underneath the claws of the felhunter. The claw tore away a part of the undead flesh of my arm. Yet a small jet of dark purple light flew up.

I heard how the stones of the tower crumbled, I couldn`t see it, everything around me grew blurry, the demon almost had me done. I yelled at Darnys again, that she should get out of the room immediately. I didn`t know whether she had done what I had said or not. The next thing I can remember is that the body of the demon was suddenly pressed against mine and the creature let out a howl of pain. I used the body of the creature as a cover for myself.

It took a while until somebody got us out of the pile of rocks.

As the stones were taken away I rolled the body of the felhunter off me and stood up. I was staggering a bit as I made my way out of the tower. The old warlock ordered his apprentices to get the felhunter out of the tower too. Darnys jumped right at me throwing her arms around my neck.

After it was dragged out by the young orcs I took a close look at the creature and heard a faint voice in my head. So it wasn`t dead after all.

“Thoonum“