Greystorm Chronicles

        The mangled corpses of the latest sacrificial rite lay scattered around the floor.  Blood coated the walls as if the walls, themselves were wounded and dying.  Dorean, Verth and Laurana stepped cautiously through the scene.  They knew what lay in wait for them and didn’t want notify him any earlier than they had to that they had arrived.

        The anti-chamber was small, almost claustrophobic.  Laurana gasped as she entered;  the wall decorations were moving, writhing in a state between agony and ecstasy.  There was great power in this room.  The three looked at each other  and set their jaws.  Their goal was not much farther in.

        “Stay behind Verth, love, we have to keep you healthy so you can keep us healthy,” Dorean smirked at the cleric.  He often wondered just how far that vow of chastity really went.

        “I can take care of myself Dorean, but thank you for your concern,” Laurana scolded.  One last mission and she could be his, but she couldn’t let him know that till they were done.  That was the deal.  He had to prove his intentions were good before she could give herself to him.

          “Would the two of you shut up, please, I really do want to catch this thing off guard,” Verth shook his head as he spoke.  Why don’t they just tell each other how they feel.  Hell, they aren’t hiding anything from anyone but themselves.  He will never understand their relationship, and really didn’t want to.



        They walked into the great hall where the beast Doin-ja-harah slumbered.  This was it.  Seven years of searching, seven years of failure, they had finally tracked down the demon they were commissioned to kill.  After seven years, freedom was mere moments away, except there was no slumbering demon, only a large angry mob of the demon’s devout followers.  Verth growled, he hated being set up.

        “It seems our goodly king had no intention of giving us our freedom,” Dorean stepped next to Verth as he grumbled, pointing to one of the members of the mob.  Their sovereign grinned at them with sadistic delight.

        “Ah, very observant Master Greystorm, I’m sorry things had to play out this way, but my master needed a pure sacrifice to solidify his hold in this world, and your friend Laurana seems to fit the bill nicely.”  The king laughed as he spoke.  The mob laughed with him.

        The door slammed behind them and they heard a low grumbling from behind the mob.

        “Well at least the demon was not too much of a coward to at least watch his plan play out.  I might have lost respect for him otherwise,” Dorean seethed through gritted teeth.  This was not going to end well.

        Verth pulled his axe and sword from his back; he was not going to lie down for these degenerates.  Dorean, following suit, took a fighting posture, the air crackled with power as he pulled a ruby from one of the pouches on his waist.

        “My thoughts exactly, Dorean, we really don’t need to waste our time with the mob.  Our prize is on the other side,” Verth bellowed as the thought of battle filled him with excitement.

        Dorean grinned, kissed the ruby, and threw it into the middle of the crowd.  As it hit the ground a great dome of fire consumed the mob.  Their screams lasted only a short while as they were incinerated within a matter of seconds.

        “You’ve never used that one before, when were you going to tell us you were capable of such carnage?”  Laurana scolded.

        Dorean looked at Verth and they both shook their heads.  “Never, in seven years, have I found the need for that specific spell.  It’s not like we have run across angry mobs we just wanted to kill on a daily basis,” Dorean tried not to laugh at the absurdity of this conversation.



        They moved ahead.  The piles of ash that used to be the mob that stood in their way made the hall look all the more sinister.  Suddenly, the ground shook, tossing the trio to their knees.

        “I must thank you sorcerer, I was none too happy that my followers felt it necessary to stand between myself and my sacrifice.” The demon’s voice rang through the hall like a church bell.

        “Then you really aren’t going to be happy when we deprive you of your sacrifice all together,” Dorean seethed as he started searching for a gem.

        “What, are you going to consume me in a dome of fire as well?  It doesn’t work very well on those born of the flame, mortal.”  The demon grinned a jagged grin as he mused.  He could smell their fear.

        “I think it’s about time to shut this thing up and go home, remember the plan Dorean.”  Verth hunkered down, ready for battle, but Dorean wasn’t listening.

        “I got this one Verth, I’m not gonna put you and Laurana in harms way anymore.  It’s time to show this second rate demon who he is dealing with.”  Dorean stopped fumbling in his pouches and pulled out a large onyx.  This was the end game.

        Before Laurana and Verth could object, Dorean had kissed the black stone and thrown it at the demon.  It exploded behind the beast, creating a swirling void that began to suck the demon into it.  The beast howled in anger and disbelief.  The sorcerer had bested him, but there was still one thing the beast could do.  Black spikes shot from the demons torso.  Dorean ducked, but Laurana and Verth weren’t so lucky.

        “Your arrogance has cost you your friends sorcerer.  You have bested me, but at what cost?  While I find a way out of the prison you are sending me to, why don’t you take an eternity pondering on what transpired here today.  Should you have done as your friends wanted?  Or was your way truly best?  Only time will tell.  I curse you with immortality, and once a lifetime, the souls of your fallen friends will revisit you in a new incarnation.  Once they have, you will have to make the choice between them and you.  Once you get it right, the curse will be lifted.  Enjoy your life, Dorean Greystorm.”  The demon’s laughter shook the hall as it disappeared into the vortex.



        Dorean rushed to his friend’s side.  “Oh gods! What have I done?  Stay with me dammit!”  Dorean looked over his friend’s wounds.  They would be an easy fix for a cleric, but the cleric was lying in a pool of her own blood.

        ”Did you get him?”  Verth spat, and blood trickled down his mouth as he spoke.  “I’ll forgive you if you got him.”

        “He’s gone old friend, and I’m the only one who knows how to get him out.  It’s over.  Dorean whispered.  Tears began to stream down his face.

        “Good, I can rest then.  Do me a favor; make sure I am returned to my family.  I want to go home.” Verth wheezed; his dying breath spent.

        “It will be done.  Gods I’m so sorry.”  Dorean pulled both Verth and Laurana close to him and bawled.

        “It almost sounds like you were in love with him.”  Laurana’s weak voice joked.

        “You and I both know who I was in love with,” Dorean whispered as he kissed her head.

        “Well our quest is over, and I can release myself to you without the order getting upset.”  Laurana curled into Dorean’s chest as she whispered.

        Dorean looked towards the heavens with shock and anger.  Why did this have to happen?  What cosmic joke were the gods playing on him?  Before he could utter another word, Laurana slumped into his lap.  A smile froze on her face, as she lay limp in his arms.