PLANNED WAR

A man, wearing a black clock completed with a cowl that obscured his facial features, save for a tatoo of a 5-sided star on his left cheek, stood upon a rocky outcrop facing Perion. The view from there was majestic and breathtaking but he cared not, for he was busy inscribing runes in a circle upon the rock. He completed the circle with his name, Kraw, and looked approvingly at the runic circle. He then walked briskly to the centre, where a bonfire burned, illuminating the area, for it was night in Perion, and tossed a vial of congealed Taurospear blood mixed with Yeti blood into the fire. The flames instantly burned blue and its warmth turned into a chill that was colder than that of the night. "Upon the blood of our fallen foes, cast thy foes into eternal slumber! Xnosphlepholum, mighty ice demon, ruler of the icy plains, destroyer of the great marches, I SUMMON THEE," he roared. The blue flames blazed, and a creature walked out of the flames. Its leather hide was blue, its long fingers and toes ended up in black, sharp nails, its eyes burned blue and its mouth snarled menacingly, sharp teeth showing ominously.

It grinned slightly when it noticed the lack of a restraining spell and launched itself at Kraw but a black fireball smashed it in its chest. It screamed, a roar that would have woken up the whole of Perion, hands patting frantically and its torso, the black flames slowly enveloping it.....The black flames disappeared, and it sank to the floor, steam rising off it. It looked down at itself, noticing a black mark on its chest that looked strangely like....

"Yes," Kraw said, "It is a symbol of obedience. You are now bound to me. Call me Master".
"Yes, Master" It said in its grating voice, eyes looking at him with great hate.
"I want you to attack Perion at first light. Go and prepare now."
"Yes, Master"

It vanished into smoke. Kraw turned his head slightly and spoke, "Adopolus, my apprentice, how was your mission?" Another man walked out from the shadows. He was wearing black robes and a cowl that also obscured his facial features, save for a single jagged line down the right cheek. He also looked younger than Kraw by at least fifteen years. "It went well, Master. It was great thinking to use a sound and illusion barrier, Master," he said, gesturing at the runes surrounding the bonfire, which had turned back to red. "But why did you choose to attack Perion?"

"The dark lord has spies situated all around Kerning, thus it is hard to strike there. Athena Pierce would have foreseen an attack should I have planned one there and old Grendel would have been able to trace the demon back to me. Dances with Balrog is away in Nautilus with Kyrin to train some new hero. This is the best place to strike."

Adopolus nodded and disappeared into the shadows. Kraw walked to the edge of the the cliff overlooking Perion and grinned. Tomorrow is going to be a better day....

***

Words from Dezna, Guildmaster of the Forsight Guild.

Kraw used taurospear and yeti blood because they were both creatures of the ice, thus allowing him to summon ice creatures.

Xnosphlepholum is actually a mix of Xnos, a shadow demon's name and Phlepholum, a teragolum's name.

The runes around the bonfire were NOT for summoning, but to prevent sounds and any extra light from escaping.

There were no monsters around the area because Kraw destroyed the spawning areas in advance.

Xnosphlepholum returned to his realm to gather his energy.

When Xnosphlepholum was first summoned, he unleased a powerful explosion which froze the great marshes over ( Demons sometimes release their full energy upon their first time being summoned)

Xnosphlepholum created the icy plains, so he is it's ruler.

Kraw looks older than adopolus by fifteen years, but he is technically older than him by a few thousand years.

Kraw is NOT the black magician, he only knows the black magician.

He didn't mention attacking Erev, new leaf city, or any of the other city beyond Victoria because it was troublesome to sneak past Ellina, Henesys and Kerning, as well as that Victoria's roots, like Yggdrasil, held a great number of demons for summoning.

See whether you can guess who the hero Daces with Balrog is training.