Disclaimer: I do not own any classes, techniques, or any other such thing from Diablo II. I own the names, but that's besides the point.

Chapter 1 : The Druid's Awakening

The Druids are known for many things, including their secluded nature. They study in forests with trees and animals, eventually mastering a form of elemental magic and the abilities to summon certain animals in their great forests and become some as well. Of course, the druids knew the time would come when they would send out their strongest Druid to destroy the three Prime Evils. They just didn't expect their best to still be in the academy, learning skills.

The druid in question has a name, but unlike any others. He is named Terra, after the earth that the nature they love inhabits. He had just reached the age where it would be safe to start some of the higher and more dangerous magics of druid lore. Going into the academy, he was immediately top of the class. But good things can sometimes spoil. Such as when the day came for him to leave the Druid Academy and begin the hunt for the Prime Evils. As he began travelling to the area near Tristram, he reminisced of the last days he had been in his homeland in the forests of Mount Arreat.

begin flashback

He was sitting in his seat, like always. The other students didn't talk to him, but he didn't care. He supposed they were too envious to be able to talk to him without yelling or crying at how they were still on adept magics and he was already moving to full adult magic. He looked around and saw the tree on which this building was built around. They all heard the tree, even though it seemed not possible for trees to speak. "Class is now in session, young ones. Please sit and ready yourself for today's learning." That was when the young Terra got up, telling the tree, "I'm not supposed to be here now, venerable one." The tree paused for a short time, then replied, "Ah, yes. Terra, you may be off to the Advanced Arts Class. Just follow the tree branches that move left to right."

Terra stepped outside the classroom and made his way through the hall, following the branches that were moving. Five minutes later, he arrived at a doorway, and inside, he could see adults of all ages, though none as young as he. "Please be seated, young Terra. Then we may begin today's lesson." Terra was surprised, but caught himself before he could show it, for it would certainly lead to questioning at the head of the most embarrassing sort. There was a druid in the classroom, but this one Terra could actually feel. The raw power coming off of the druid was amazing and the most powerful thing that Terra thought he would ever feel.

He took his seat the class in the last empty desk. "Okay, we may now begin. A lot of you are beginners in the art of summoning," The druid said, indicating towards the younger people, and just practically pointing at Terra. "For you, this may be hard to learn. All we want to do is add the knowledge of how to do it to you. As you get stronger and more mature, you should be able to summon some of the strongest summons ever." Terra was ecstatic as he was sitting in his seat, but he quickly grew scared as the teacher rose his hands and a vine suddenly came alive and left a slimy floor where it had once been.

"This is a poison creeper. If you are ever attacked by low level monsters, this is a good monster to summon. It will poison the enemy and attack them at the same time." He reached down and touched the creature and it was instantly gone from existence. He raised his arms, but this time a raven appeared near the roof. It started to fly around and look everywhere. "This is a raven. After a certain number of attacks, they will be instantly dismissed. The raven was dismissed so suddenly, there was a flash of light from the entire roof as it blinked out of existence.

The druid raised his hands again, this time though, a wolf appeared. He raised his hands four more times and there were five wolves standing next to him. The druid looked down and began petting one of them. It moved closer to him, so he could get his hand on its head a lot easier. "These are regular wolves, and can be quite tenacious if you anger them." One of the men reached down to one of the wolves who had spread out through the room. The wolf snapped upwards toward him, almost severing the new druid's hand.

The teacher quickly threw out his hand and the wolf stopped and returned to him. The new druid was looking frightened, but the teacher was smiling. "You shouldn't worry about it. I wouldn't have allowed him to hurt you." The teacher unsummoned all of the wolves, before summoning a spirit that glowed orange. It suddenly appeared as though everyone in the room grew tougher, and their feet glowed the same color as the spirit. "This is a spirit. This one is in control of the health of everyone in my party, or in this case, everyone in the room. Terra smiled as he felt the warmth of the spirit rushing through his veins.

"Okay class, I want to see if you can manage to summon a raven. All you must do is concentrate about the raven, and think about its body and every nuance of the raven. Then bring your thoughts forward in your mind and form it like the younger druids would form an insect." Terra heard flashes around him and realized that everyone else probably had at least a little practice with the summoning arts, but he focused on his training. The image swam forward in his mind and he saw it, its feathers gleaming in the light, it's beak shaped perfectly, its talons razor sharp. He concentrated and thought about it, trying to will it into existence. He felt a pop and looked up, smiling at the sight of a perfectly formed raven.

The teacher looked at Terra with an impressed look on his face, and said, "You are really good for a beginner, I'll give you that. Though, I know you do not have the physical stamina to summon anything greater for a while. At first, Terra didn't know what the teacher meant, but after a few seconds he began to feel it. It took all of his mana to summon a measly raven. He realized that it would take much more mana to solidify a wolf, or a spirit, and decided to begin to train hard. The teacher smiled at the class and dismissed them for lunch.

During lunch, some of the kids in his class actually came over, appearing impressed. One of them started the conversation by saying, "I heard from my dad that you actually managed a raven! Not many people our age can do that." Terra smiled, feeling his strength returning. "Yeah, it felt good though. I guess I just need more challenges to actually be able to do better than that, though, not too much more of a challenge. It's way too easy to do all this summoning stuff." Right then, the tree called out to all of the people to return to their classrooms.

As Terra walked into his classroom, he noticed several large crates in the front of the room. Some of the adults were gathered near their tables and were speaking in hushed tones. Terra walked over there to see if any of them had any idea what the crates were. As he got near, he could hear one of the older ones saying, "I think they're actually going to make us fight against some monsters." The others scoffed at this, before one of the youngest said, "Yeah, right. They wouldn't bring monsters into the academy. That would tip off their masters as to where we are."

The teacher walked in and called for everyone's attention. He asked the class to summon their raven once more. Everyone summoned it, then drank the blue potion on their desks. They were instantly recharged, and Terra marveled at how he felt. "Now then, everyone. In these crates are some low-level monsters. Quill-beasts, which should be easy for you to defeat. Now then, when I let them out, they will instantly choose a target and fling their quills at you, so move quickly." Everyone tensed up as the teacher brought his pole-arm around and stuck it into one side of the crate. "Ready?" The instructor asked, and after everyone nodded, he flicked the pole-arm, sending the closest side of the crate flying. Instantly, quills went flying out of the crate, hitting a few of the new druids.

Terra quickly ducked down and moved low to the floor. Before he knew it, a quill beast was upon him, with its quills rattling. Terra's eyes widened in fear, and he thought about the wolf that the teacher summoned before. His thought was, If I could summon the wolf, this thing wouldn't be able to touch me. Suddenly he felt very cold as all of his energy was drained. Right before he passed out, he saw a wolf appear and tear the quill-beast apart.

While he was out, he dreamt horrible dreams. The first thing he saw was a valiant hero, slaying a horrible creature inside of a boy's body. The next thing he saw, the hero emerged from what appeared to be a church, sporting a horrible bleeding wound in his forehead. Suddenly he saw the first image again, but this time he saw the subtle movement the beast made, shoving its claw into his forehead. He had pulled out the claw and noticed part of it broken off, no doubt, inside of his brain. He could already feel cold claws trying at him.

The next thing he saw, the hero was standing in a doorway, next to an old man who appeared to be more powerful than even the hero could tell. After that, the hero left the town. Suddenly, the crack to hell opened again, and everyone was slaughtered, except for the old man, who was captured. The only one who even remotely survived was the strong man, who was raised as undead. Next, he saw so many images of suffering people, like the ones in that poor village. He saw the cleric burned to death by one of the shamans that emerged. The woman was first raped by the goatmen, then roasted alive by some of the shamans again. A drunkard was standing up, smiling stupidly at all of this, then he was slain by the strong man. The next thing surprised Terra. He saw a necromancer come in and cast corpse explosion on the cows.

Suddenly, Terra's eyes opened and he saw the trees branches resting on his head, the teacher also by his side. The tree spoke, in its way of speaking. "The dream was horrible, but it was not a dream. Word has come in just now from the birds that once resided in that town that the entire town has been overrun by demons. Druid, you are the only one to have seen it here, and thanks to you, I can now understand why the birds were so frightened. If what has occured in your dream true, then that means that we must once again take up a stance to protect our mountain." The teacher looked up suddenly and spoke one word, "Destruction."

The tree affirmed his guess, then told Terra, "Young one, you must venture to that area. I can alrady sense a powerful mind over there, feeling out this power just as I am. Head over there, and find this entity. I can only describe it as feminine." Terra looked frightened at first, but immediately stood up and nodded. Suddenly, the druid felt himself grow stronger. The teacher felt it too, and said, "Congratulations. You made it to level one. You can now level yourself up." The druid knew what he wanted to get stronger in, and immediately felt his mana reserve grow larger. Suddenly everyone heard a great thunderclap, and a heavenly being appeared. Everyone's eyes widened, and the angel spoke in his large, echoing voice. "I am Hadriel, an angel sent by heaven to transport you, Terra, to the first place you must venture. Know that all of your questions will be answered in time."

The angel opened a portal and held out his hand. "Well then, Terra, begin your adventure. Step through this portal." Terra looked back at everyone before walking into the portal and the beginning of his quest.

AN: I hoped you liked it. I enjoyed writing this first chapter. I plan on doing six more chapters giving back stories, then I'll begin where the game begins. And yes, this will use the entire Lord of Destruction theme, which means Harrogath will be in here.