PROLOGUE
When Diablo escaped Hell and came to Sanctuary, the world changed. The dead rose to strike down the living, once shy and gentle creatures were twisted into deadly monstrosities, and new horrors appeared to stalk the land. Terror reigned and no one was safe. Archbishop Lazarus of Tristram in Khanduras fell under demonic influence and set Diablo free by shattering the red soulstone which had trapped the demon's spirit for centuries. Diablo established his base of power in the ruins of the old Monastery, spreading his evil aura of terror in the forms of his Hellspawn.
Many adventurers came to Tristram to face Diablo and his minions, some for the glory, some for the challenge, some for the money, some for the chance to study this evil, like Sorcerers from the Vizjeri Mage Clans, and some because they truly wished to destroy this evil. Many came. Most were killed, maimed, or frightened away. None left unchanged.
Then came two unusual adventurers: a Sorceress, with the brown eyes, hair, and tanned skin of a jungle-dweller, and a silent, cloaked warrior. They had traveled at least partway to Tristram together. The warrior, calm and focused, was unknown and remained unnamed to all the people. But the woman was Mistri of the Zann Esu, the female sect of the Mage Clans. She had a daughter, Jermala, who was training to be a Sorceress like her mother despite her young age. However, Mistri had left Jermala in Kingsport in Westmarch so the young girl would not be exposed to the dangers of Tristram. However, as a Zann Esu Sorceress, Mistri believed that her duty lay in aiding the warrior against Diablo in the besieged town.
Although both Mistri and the silent warrior fought their way into Diablo's lair, only he came out alive. Mistri was slain by Diablo. As Diablo's death cry rang through the skies, only Deckard Cain, the last Horadrim Sage, heard Jermala's scream, the anguished cry of a child, through the demon's roar as she felt the death of her mother.
The warrior left Tristram a changed man, within and without. He bore a terrible wound on his forehead, a red gleam in his eyes, and was filled with a strange restlessness. He soon left Tristram, but the evil brought forth from Hell did not dissipate with Diablo's "death."
As for Jermala, she was left orphaned at the tender age of ten in a strange land with no means of support. The married couple who had been entrusted with Jermala during her mother's absence was killed by several of the Undead soon after Mistri's death, leaving Jermala without even their scant protection. But she was a fledgling Sorceress and she was determined to survive. And for fourteen years, that is exactly what she did. Jermala traveled throughout the Western Kingdoms of Sanctuary, never willing to stay too long in one place for fear of being found and trapped by minions of Hell, or, worse, getting those who sheltered her killed. Since Mistri had badly wounded Diablo, it made sense that Jermala feared retribution by the forces of Hell. She dared not travel north to the Barbarian lands, or East to Lut Gholein or further east to her jungle home. For Jermala sensed that Diablo had survived and was slowly recovering from the wounds that Mistri had inflicted on him. He was still in the Western Kingdoms, that much Jermala could sense. She dared not leave, for fear she would loose his scent, and she dared not come to grips with him. As Hell's hold on Sanctuary grew, so did Jermala's knowledge and powers, but she was not strong enough to confront him . . . not yet.
