Disclaimer: PLEASE DON'T SUE ME! I'm poor… I own nothing… any mention of Diablo, Diablo 2, and any characters related to them are NOT mine.
Pain… Why do I feel dead inside? I've murdered legions… Saved millions… why does my body ache? Why does my soul burn? Why has the peace I deserve hasn't been granted to me? Damn you… I feel my forehead and it burns. I remember now… The blood… The evil… the child… NO! NO? I killed him! I killed him… I feel hollow... The sword by my side pulls me down, the sword that banished demons… the sword that killed the child… I fall and struggle with dead hands to push myself up. My throat hurts, I drink yet no relief comes… no quantity of water helps me, only blood helps now... Though I am covered in folds of leather and cloth… through thick chain and plate… the cold still embraces me. I walk along a green road, trees and mountains flit across my path… my eyes see nothing... I can only see the empty eyes… I can only hear HIS voice… I can only smell the copper stench of ichor and meat. I sleep…
I see Death and Decay. Gore along a crimson road. Eyes empty and open in terror, Their Bodies mutilated and torn. I see men cry as curved talons rip their wives apart. I see children ravaged as hellspawn laugh. I see warriors die screaming as Terror rips their souls. I see HIM, laughing from a seat of human bones. I see friends die by his brimstone fires. I see myself beaten and bloody of humans and demons, advancing to the Him. To stop him, to slay him. I see myself crying… as a torn and broken child slumps to the ground… I am tired body and soul, after my war against the darkness. I rest… but the demons in my mind come unhindered. The sage claimed they were nightmares… How could nightmares kill those around me? An unclean presence laughs within me.
I hear the dying scream of my love fighting to the end as she burns from His fires. I hear the scrape of hundreds of blades as they plunge into my best friend, I still hear the dying wish of the mage… of immolation so he can never be brought back. The weeping cries of angels as souls burn in hell, cursed to be slaves to the devil they sacrificed their lives to stop. I hear the sadistic laugh of the traitor Lazarus, as he dances to the endless screams of his butchered children. All are dead now… twisted and mangled as only hell can make…
I smell death. Sickly sweet as only I can smell, the scent is on me, on my blade and plate whose magicks slayed the darkness. I smell the foul musk of death and decay as only He Himself creates. I choke; I empty myself every time to purge myself of the scent, which refuses to leave. It changes; changes every time I grow accustomed to its filth. The damn cycle continues. I eat little now, fearing that I may get sick. I feel tired… I can barely control my body. I was legend once. I was the pinnacle of strength and power. Warriors looked at me in awe, wanting to be me, wanting to kill me. Now, I can barely stand. I am a corpse, blind, deaf, and mute. Responding to nothing and everything. I have no idea where I'm going... Tristram is far behind me...Burning and dead. I travel east...
Sometimes I wonder why I am so suffering. Why I am living in this…. in this foul nightmare. Everyone looks at me as if I was nothing, or look at me pitifully, pitifully at my face scarred and battered from months of pain, baked skin from baking in the fires, at my hair filthy and matted from blood spilled in battle, slowly falling away, at my eyes, empty and red. Why I am treated as an outcast, a dredge of society, a leper, a freak, a murdering fiend. Why I am ignored and feared. I was the savior am I not? Was it not I who killed a Prime Evil…Him… Even the Horadrim needed legions to contain them. When only I alone, with my soul mate and best friend stormed hell itself and slew the Darkness itself. I am the hero! I should be celebrated. I should be famed in song and legend! I should be honored above all! And is that happening? No, whores gather their brats to their bosom when they see me approach, as if I'm there to defile them... Bastards draw swords and laugh at me, swearing at me and threatening to run me through if I enter their worthless lands. An outcast, a worthless devil, a filthy nothing... Do I deserve all that? NO! Even the heavens have abandoned me... damn them… damn their Light… their hope… I have ended their greatest enemy and I still suffer. Why did I take this damn quest? This fiendish ordeal. Was it to gain riches? To prove my skill? Was it not for Sanctuary itself? And yet I am living like this. Alone, forgotten, feared and nothing…
I wonder what has happened to me. I wonder why this evil exists in me even after the end. I hear His voice sometimes... In my nightmares, I see Him and he laughs at me. He honors me, He praises me. I, a mortal killed him and He loves me. It is a trap I know. For I fear he never died. He is within me, in some unholy manner I know not. He seduces me with dreams of power and glory, of Love and Friendship. Dreams of me free from this burden of pain, loss and death. When I refuse in my dreams, He smiles at me. And though it is only a dream, I wake up sometimes, screaming and feel Him staring at me... I weep sometimes, tired and exhausted, my scars open and bleeding... Cuts on my arms dripping and wet. My bones feel broken, but He keeps me going, I have to walk. I scream at Him to let me rest, to sit down and sleep, but He just grins at me... I walk on… to the east… To the East… always to the east where I don't know what He wants... I feel him touching me… my soul shudders at every touch… revulsion and hate throughout my being… I am losing my battles… I fight as I can, fearing the evil he would unleash if he took over completely… But I cannot last long. Dread is around me. I'm scared to sleep, afraid of his temptations, of his nightmares… of young empty eyes staring at me… I want to give up sometimes, but I dare not. His word cannot be believed, His temptations too good to be true… The moment I give up, I will die. Like Albrecht, his eyes… NO! Not those empty orbs! I shall become him. I shall make him stronger… I still fight for the fools who hate me. But I can't fight anymore… I am tired… so… tired… I walk to the east… Always to the East… To darkness… to sands… to mist… Save me… please…
Please Review… Flames, Comments, Emotions, anything is welcome…