Iridia fought like she had never before, every thrust of her spear felt perfect. She sensed attacks from all sides and moved with a slow sway, weaving through the mayhem that surrounded her. Her shield reluctantly swallowed the feeble attempts of the Orcs.

Esme filled the gaps with unmatched potency, covering vulnerabilities with graceful sweeping motions, swirling amongst her allies so calmly, like cream added to a warm cup of tea.

Morgan had moved to help Flencer, waving his blade about manically and without precision, it was enough to put a pause in his assailant's steps to afford Flencer the right and true shots.

The Orcs crashed to the marble floor like towers struck at the base. They tumbled in metallic heaps and released low groans of defeat, the inevitable moment of release the only comfort from the pain.

Once each foe was felled Iridia turned to face Esme and held up her spear, in the throws of blood spilling and with a rage that looked like a gift from Kaleb, she bore her teeth, a pearly glimmer to breaking up her blood-splattered features. “Explain yourself!”

Esme backed away delicately and threw her weapon down. “I mean no harm, I am with you.”

Morgan and Flencer took up Iridia’s flanks, they had enjoyed her support during the battle and respected her deadliness all while sharing Iridia’s sentiments of grave concern regarding her allegiance. They all breathed heavily, catching lungfuls of air to help quiet their bodies. Apart from Esme who didn’t even seem to let a bead of sweat dampen her pristine features.

“If you are with us, then why do you ally yourself with a demon?” Morgan spat, sword pointed.

“I do not, I needed him like he needed me, if I had wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have blessed you both.”

Iridia’s brow knitted, “Bless us?”

“I kissed you both upon the head before we departed, tis why you were able to pass through the magical barrier unharmed, you wouldn’t have survived like Kaleb.”

“Why didn’t you bless, Kaleb!” Iridia cursed, having to see her friend in such agony disturbed her more than she’d admit.

“I could not risk revealing my intentions before Thundial, he is no fool, I took the chance.” She smiled calmly, “I am a scion, the last one of Port Farlow, the two Paladins before you were the other two, we made up the triumvirate.”

Flencer narrowed his eyes but lowered his crossbow. “These two, why’d they turn?”

“They were swayed by the evil that lurks below, few men can resist its hopelessness. They ousted Thundial, and I pretended to swear allegiance to him, he just needed someone to get inside so he could retake power.”

Iridia lowered her weapon. “Kaleb…why didn’t he just let you bless him?”

Esme laughed, “You cannot bless a demon, dear.” she winked at Iridia which provoked her to raise her spear once more.

“I still don’t trust you…”

The Azure vault leapt up from the floor and chinked as it landed. The party looked at it with great concern, something was happening in there and they could not help.

“What do we do?”

Esme crouched beside the necklace, “Pray to the divine heart, I led Kaleb here to do this…his failure is my own.”

“You did?”

“I pull many strings in Angelspree.” She smiled.

Flencer raised his chin with a curious twitch of his lower lip, “Such as?”

Esme half shrugged, “Information here, tip off there, a quest issued, a young Paladin assigned to a certain house.”

Iridia’s eyes widen, she was about to speak but Flencer barged in, “Wait, was it you who sent me the message to meet a Paladin at the Bucks brunt?”

“Yes,”

“And it was you who sent Kaleb to kill my housemaster?” said Irida.

“Guilty.”

“Was it you who guided Zeth to Brimshire?” Morgan croaked.

“Yes.” Esme admitted with a solemn bow, “And it is me who got you here, for that I am sorry but not regretful, for our chances are falling away, and you all play a part in this now, the cost I cannot say.”

“Kaleb is going to be furious…” Morgan said.

“If the poor fella lives, he’s in there with a Demon…”

“He’ll live, and he’ll win…” Iridia said to herself.

Kaleb roared in pain as he was tossed into the blue glass of the vault. “I am enjoying this.” Thundial’s bellow was followed by a repulsive laugh. “You cannot win.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Your master will consume you, you’re foolish to follow him.” Kalebs spat black blood, his voice was choking and he barely made it to his hands and knees. He crawled towards the blade that had skittered away from him.

“What do you know? You’re nought but a pawn, and when I am done with you, I’ll string that whore Esme up along with your pathetic friends.”

Kaleb placed his hand upon the hilt of the song sword and groaned.

“When your wounds do not heal, you cannot fight, you are clumsy and weak.” Thundial licked his lips, his blackened image reflected off every surface, taunting Kaleb no matter where he might look.

He couldn’t deny the demon, he was weaker by the moment, the wound was more grave than the Wendigo strike, and he could feel his insides rotting away and the blood within his veins thickening. His body fought back to try and heal the damage being done but the battle would be lost. He wasn’t built for this fight, he was no demon slayer, he was the slayer of corrupted men, he was weak and clumsy.

“Tis time to finish this!” Thundial walked to the crawling Kaleb and pushed him over onto his back, his arms spread out, the song blade in one hand, the other hand bare. “Pathetic, did you ever think you could kill me?”

Kaleb opened his mouth meekly, “I don’t have to kill you.”

Thundial raised a brow and shook his head, “Lost your mind I see.”

“Lost your words.” Kaleb clenched his empty hand and activated the blade within his bracer, it was a short and ornate piece, brittle and deadly. He shoved it under the jaw of Thundial and broke it off, the tip dug into the roof of the demon's mouth and had him reel backwards, trying to pick it out. “I hope you enjoy your eternal life…Imith-Idith-Allath-Igith”

Kaleb appeared amongst a circle of dead Orcs, wet and blacked from the infected blood. “My hammer!”

Esme acted first and kicked up Zale, tossing it to Kaleb as he rose. Kaleb tossed the song blade to the ground and caught the hammer. “Ahhh!” He brought the hammer down like a judge would upon a disorderly court and sentenced Thundial to a bitter eternity within the shattered Azure vault. He could not keep his grip on the weapon and collapsed to the ground alongside it.

Iridia, Morgan, Flencer and Esme rushed to his side as he lay there, black blood spurting from his lips. “Iridia.”

Her outline came into view through his blurry vision and he reached out to touch her cheek. “You must continue the quest…” he grunted.

“No, no you’re going to be fine, you’ll heal, Kaleb!”

Esme bit her bottom lip and sat back, she knew the wound was demonic and nothing was better a slaying a Paladin of Kaleb’s abilities than a cut from a beast like Thundial. She leaned in, “You will go to the Demon, he is taking the souls of the dead for his own power, in your dying breath call his name out, he may reveal it.”

Iridia scowled at Esme through her crystalline tears, “Is that all you care about?”

“It is the quest, if we fail, we lose more than the ones we love…” She placed a hand on Kaleb's chest and then lowered to kiss his forehead. “The cost of victory is bitter to the deliverer but sweet to the recipients, and those are the ones we work for.”

Kaleb felt the pain wash away from his body and a sinking feeling took over him, it was comforting. He sailed towards the divine heart, just like in his dreams when the sweet release of death was offered after a great moment of valour, like those who came before him. He wouldn’t be soul-bound to an item, he’d serve in the halls of the Heart, share with them the glow of righteousness. He had forgotten the quest and the stakes, the light can only be victorious, and the heart would beat eternally.

He sank down, the heart in sight. No. No, he continued, the Divine Heart faded away, and deeper he sank. He thrashed, he remembered the quest, Iridia, Esme, Flencer, Morgan, the Elves, the seed, the demon and its name. Why? He did not need to concern himself with thoughts of the flesh, the living had their duty his was done.

“And so you come to me.”

The great black one's voice rippled through his body as it settled on the hands of the sea bed, dead fingers clutched and snatched at his naked body, for in death you take nothing with you but your own soul to weigh before the divine. “Where am I?”

“You are with me, as all the dead come, all those you killed, all those that will be killed. You are to be planted like a seed and carry me across the infinite planes of the sea bed, your body will be but a stone in the monolith that will raise me into the flesh. You have failed, Kaleb.”

Kaleb shook his head, he knew he was long dead now, time did not move the same here, a second may have passed or perhaps a thousand years. He remembered the last words he heard before dying, maybe he could do something with it, the name. “You know my name, Demon, you have defeated me, I cannot resist.” Kaleb spoke in half-truths, “So what is its name, the name of the one grand enough to defeat me.”

The great demon released a ghoulish cackle, but it was flattered nonetheless, for this demon was boastful as he was clever, he knew when not to call out his name, but when strategy would permit he could not resist. “I am Uxhandrickal, the keeper of souls, the seller of power, the boastful one. I pumped life into your Divine heart, I imbued your first Paladin hero, I am here to reclaim the debt of your kin and I shall take without mercy!”

Kaleb went to speak, to call out the name, but he could not say such a word, it was too perfect for him to repeat. He had submitted to its greatness and now he’d join the rest of the souls like a single thread in a grand carpet. Death was always taught to him as a gift, a slumber from a life of hard gruels. This had been shattered by Uxhandrickal, he had taken that from him and all those souls around him. Old wounds resurfaced the pains of every moment of his life, from his first scraped knee to the black wound delivered by Thundial pulsating angrily about his flesh. Eternal torment in a hell designed by a demon that held nothing but contempt. He hadn’t the will to pray to the Divine Heart, his mind was cast to the sea of the living, stranded on an island, alone, Iridia, he could not help her now.

The demon’s tendrils slithered from the blackness and a trillion eyes lit up for a flash of a moment, revealing just a portion of its vast wretchedness. An impossible expanse of furious flesh that bubbled with a veiny hunger. “I will bury you beneath me, where you belong.”

Kaleb could feel his body being pulled under the glassy sand. Feet first, over his legs, chest and then his face. His mouth filled with the sharp stones that choked him yet would never kill. His hands pushed out of the ground like a budding shoot, calling for the light to grow, but in this darkness, his fingers could only wilt. His screams were silenced. His heart: broken. His fate: sealed.