I followed the path around the edge of the pit and leaned into the turn at the next tunnel mouth. My footfalls echoed as I pelted down the path until it opened up into an oval chamber with torches lining the walls. In the center of the room was a sarcophagus. But, what brought me up short was the color of the flames on the torches, it was a red so dark it was almost maroon. I'd never seen fire burn that color.

I almost shit myself when the lid of the sarcophagus suddenly split down the center with a loud crack. The two halves slid to the sides and fell to the floor. The realization that something undead was waking up, that undead could even exist was terrifying and I stood rooted to the floor as a skeleton sat up and looked at me. The bones were dark as if it had been burned and it wore black plate armor.

"I was once called Brovkin, Avatar of Wrath. You are the chosen one?" The voice was so low and guttural I almost wasn't able to tell that it was asking me a question.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to muster my courage. Then I opened them and said, "I have been sent by Azgollan.."

"For this." It concluded my sentence as it reached down and brought out a length of black metal. I stepped closer to get a better look and the skeleton held it out in offer with both hands.

I examined it before I touched it. In the skeletal hands was a mace. It was about two and a half feet long with an oaken handle. The wood was reflective and so darkly stained it almost looked like black metal. A strip of black leather was wrapped around the base several dozen times and a small black smooth metal ball was attached to the base.

The head of the mace was what caught my attention the most though. A very thick cylindrical piece of metal was wrapped around the top with six elegantly shaped flanged blades coming off of it at equidistant points. Towards the top, the flanges curved in and at the bottom they jutted out in small hooks. Between each flange was four spiked studs with one more at the very tip. It was beautiful.

Reaching out I gently took the mace from the skeleton. As I held it I could swear I could feel it vibrating in my hands, ever so subtlety. It reminded me of the sensation of having my bones vibrant. I was surprised by the weight, maces are supposed to be heavy so you can crush your enemies, but it weighed barely more than a gallon of milk.

"Destroyer is a mighty weapon that brought me countless victories when I lived." The skeleton said, interrupting my inspection. "A word of warning, only those of us with demonic blood may wield or even hold Destroyer. It is cursed to mortals. It will corrupt them, drive them insane. Do not allow others to handle the weapon. If you were to lose the weapon, it will make its way back to you because you are now bonded with it. Be prepared, the carrier will attempt to use it against you. This is a test for you to prove you are still worthy to carry it."

"As for its use, have you felt Azgollan's power within you yet?" The skeleton asked

"I'm not sure, I don't think so." I replied

"It will feel like vibrations deep within your body at first."

"I have felt that." I replied with a nod.

"The vibrations are a small wave compared to the ocean of force your body can channel. As you receive injury and strike out at your foes, those attacks will cause shockwaves through your body. You can control its path of travel, amplifying it and using that force to hammer your enemies. Destroyer is unique in that it will channel that power and use it to transform into even more deadly versions of itself. You must practice to learn all it is capable of."

"As a final note," He said. "Your emotions guide the weapon's power. Let your anger define your intentions while wielding it. Your anger, your wrath will amplify the force waves within your body to provide armor to your skin and the force waves will amplify the function of Destroyer as well. You don't need to be struck to gain power, but it must be physically instigated and be aware that any blows you do take will add to your power, whether you want them to or not. Timing is critical, you want to amplify the waves of force in your body, a poorly timed injury does run the risk of canceling out any existing force waves; like two waves meeting in a pond. Doing this intentionally at the point of impact can negate the impact of incoming strikes and even reflect them if you counter with more power than you receive."

"My time here is ending. So I must be fast. There are many ways to use the power and the weapon. With each piece of the Sentinel Relics you collect, the strength and scope of all relics you have will increase. The temple to Kaligian, the Sentinel of Envy lies on this continent in the far west." The skeleton began to sink back into the sarcophagus and its voice began to weaken as it spoke. "Make that your next destination. Kaligian will guide you further from there. Farewell, may your power be unbridled and unmatched."

As I watched, the skeleton went still. I looked down at the weapon in my hands. I would use this to save my friends and avenge all of the slaves. I made my way back to the entrance and allowed my anger to channel into the mace. Each corpse I saw flooded the weapon with wrath and as it did the impacts from each step cascaded up my legs and into my chest. I experimented with controlling the path those waves took and found that I could cause them to sort of orbit just under the skin of my torso. Each new step added a small wave to the mix that I used to compound the orbiting force.

I rounded the corner into the entry hall to find Becca and Haley standing under the statue of Azgollan, they faced away from it and two men had them back against it. "If you ladies would care to entertain us before you go looking for any treasure, I'm sure we can find the time." The bigger of the two said.

Fury coursed through me anew and I charged with a yell. The two stepped back into fighting stances and immediately drew their weapons but the big man was a hair too slow. I forced the built up power down my arm and into Destroyer timed so that the power would hit the head of the mace just as the weapon hit the man. I was unprepared for what happened. The man's chest exploded at the impact and his body was launched into the ceiling above the entryway door. The top half of his body disintegrated as he went through the stonework there.

The smaller man had already drawn his weapon and was attacking me as I was killing his friend. The point of his sword pierced my left shoulder and I felt the tip of the blade glance off the bone. He flinched as blood splattered him from the other man and yanked the sword out with a twist that tore open my shoulder. Both motions of his blade sent shockwaves throughout my body and I redirected them into the mace in my right hand as I brought it down on the man's head. It popped like a watermelon and his torso was pushed down with enough force that his pelvis and thighs were driven right up into his abdomen and rib cage. Somehow he stayed standing. A massively bloated chest supported by two legs from the knees down, fountaining blood from the empty neck hole.

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I was coated in gore and bleeding profusely from the shoulder. It hurt incredibly bad. "Haley, your moms a nurse right? Anything you can do for my shoulder?" Or at least, that's what I had intended to say, instead I let out a groaning cry and collapsed to the ground. I looked at the two girls who were looking at everything with horror, including me. "Help, me," I finally got out through gritted teeth.

The two girls finally seemed to snap out of it and ran over to me. "Oh my god Scott, are you okay?" Becca gasped. "How did you do that?"

She reached for the mace but I moved it away, "Don't touch it, it'll gerr, it'll kill you if you do," I forced out. While Haley ripped open the sleeve to my shirt. I gasped in pain as she squeezed my shoulder in a vice grip, covering the hole with one hand and holding the torn flap of skin and muscle in place with the other. My vision narrowed to a small dot as she squeezed my shoulder back together.

"I need something I can tie this with." She told Becca with her soft voice. The two began to look around frantically.

The pain was excruciating and it radiated through me. In a desperate attempt to stop the pain I tried to redirect that pain back to the wound. With a bit of trial and error I was able to keep it localized and I focused on doing that. "What the hell?" Haley exclaimed under her breath and pulled her hands away with a gasp. I opened my eyes and looked over to her but she was staring at my shoulder.

"Unreal" Becca said in astonishment and I looked over at my shoulder. It was glowing bright red and it was radiating heat as if it was hundreds of degrees. As we watched the hole from the sword cauterized itself shut and the ragged chunk of flesh resealed itself in place. When the glowing stopped the pain was gone and I had a scar that looked like it was several years old.

Both girls looked at me as I pushed myself up to my feet. "You two stay here, in this room. You'll be safe here. I need to go save Jaz."

"Scott." Becca jumped to her feet. "What in the hell is going on here?"

"There's no time to explain, I need to save Jaz. I promise we'll talk and I'll explain everything once we're all safe." Before she could say anything else, I ran from the temple.

Outside four men were gathered around the remains of the larger man I had already killed, examining what was left of his corpse. I sprinted from the building at full speed and never slowed. They saw me coming and got ready for a fight. I built up each pounding step gathering the kinetic energy, prepared to unleash it. Leaping for the first man I swung Destroyer with everything I had. The man attempted to block the blow with his sword but it shattered on impact. The shards of the sword shot through the man's body, peppering the others who all collapsed dead to the ground. A moment later Destroyer connected with the man’s falling corpse and launched it back into the wall of a hut. A mist of blood exploded from it when it struck the first wall, and when it broke through the one behind that.

“Four men with one swing?” I heard in awed tones.

I turned to my right to find Tomalin, Amrald, Jaz and nine other men staring at me. Jaz was still tied to the post and gagged. Every one of the men looked like they were about to shit their pants except Tomalin who wore a cocky smile. “Now that's the kind of treasure I was expecting,” He said. “Hand it over boy.”

“Come get it.” I Shot back with a low voice

Tomalin rolled his eyes and made a small gesture towards me. “Bring me that weapon”.

The nine men all drew their swords and eight of them approached me cautiously, fanning out to surround me. The last man stayed to guard Tomalin and Amrald. I knew I couldn’t let them get the upper hand, so I charged the man on the far right, leaping into the air and landing in a crouch just before attacking to gain just a little more energy for it. I caught the man under the ribs as I rose with the attack and the man launched straight up into the sky as blood rained down on everyone.

All seven of the remaining men were watching the man’s body and I wasn’t about to let the opportunity go. I dashed forward into the pack and opened up with a wide backswing that caught four men. I hadn’t built up as much energy but the swing still crushed two skulls and two chests. The three remaining men spread out even further and two of them charged me as the third attempted to circle around behind me.

I locked eyes with the one on the right as he came for me and I swung for the fences. But he jumped back out of the path of my attack and lunged with a stabbing counterattack with his sword. The momentum of the mace carried me around and my back was to him when his sword pierced my right side. Luckily my rotation prevented it from going deep and I was able to remove his head as I came around again.

The next man was mid attack though and I wouldn’t be able to dodge or get Destroyer up in time so I kicked out, hitting him squarely in the chest and knocking him back a few steps. I spun and used Destroyer to remove the lower jaw from the man behind me before turning back just in time to see the corpse of the first man fall from the sky and tackle him to the ground. I raised Destroyer over my head and brought it down to finish the job. Now, only three remained.

Blood dripped off the mace as I approached them. I was exhausted and I knew it showed in my walk. I briefly looked down at Destroyer and realized the mace was capable of dealing massive damage but at a cost. When I was about twenty feet aqay Tomalin shouted out to me. “Stop right there, or I'll have my man slit her throat.” He said as the bodyguard raised his sword and laid it on her shoulder.

I stopped and said, “Let her go and I'll let you live,” to the bodyguard while holding my right side with my left hand.

The bodyguard looked terrified but stood resolute. “My men are loyal to me,” Tomalin said with a chuckle.

“Your men are dead, your grave robbing expedition is over. All I want are my friends, alive.”

“Then I have the upper hand. It’d be impossible for you to reach us before he can provide her a new air hole. Put the weapon on the ground and back up away from it.” Tomalin shouted to me. I didn’t move for a long time. As I considered my options he kept repeating for me to drop the mace and back up. “I am starting to lose my patients” he eventually said.

I took a step back with my right foot and focused my intention into Destroyer. The moment my foot hit the ground I lunged forward off it and brought Destroyer over my shoulder hurling it at the bodyguard’s head. I watched in what seemed like slow motion as the mace shot straight for him, passing over Jaz’s shoulder and exploding the man’s skull all over Tomalin and Amrald. Time sped back up as the body collapsed and the remaining two men gaped in shock.

Jaz screamed into her gag and fell to her knees. I rushed forward to her, falling to my knees and reaching for the gag. The two men took off running and I saw Tomalin bend down and scoop up Destroyer before they disappeared into the trees. I pulled down Jaz’s gag and she immediately said “what the fuck is wrong with you. You could have taken my head off with that stunt.”

So I immediately replaced the gag and moved over to untie her hands instead. “You're welcome,” I said as I fought with the knots. I glazed up to see Jaz’s patented death glare and it made me chuckle. Becca and Haley ran over and helped me get Jaz out of her bindings.

“Okay Scott, spill it. What the fuck is going on? Where are we? Why did we almost get killed? How the fuck are you suddenly so damn strong?” Becca was shooting questions at me rapid fire before I could even answer any of them.

I held my hands up, “not here, let's at least get inside one of these huts just in case they decide to come back.”