The shambling piles of bones clawed their way from the fissures matting the hall. Some were still in the process of decay, meat and blood still hanging from the skeletal remains, others their lively features completely withered away. Joining them were ghouls similar to the one that infiltrated the Toltus forest. "Fire!" Brambert commanded his Elves to lay siege on the undead horde before them.


"W-who are you?" Mint gazed upon the great sight before her. He was tall, much taller than any being she had faced. The bottom was void of legs, His body ending at the pelvis and went from there. Meat and organs began to fill the skeletal features. The chest cavity pressed out against the decayed skin that stretched from shoulder to shoulder. Four appendages suspended from His back, each one moving at his will. His face. Mint's eyes welled with tears as her sizes narrowed on His visage. Mummified? No. Certainly it was a human face that has long since dried out and matched the pinkish hue of his body.

"What do you want from me?" She follows up her previous question. The being before her looks down at her. Patient, calm, standing-rather hovering-tall and proud. "You have the stone." He says, His voice just as terrifying and heavy as it was when she first heard it.

The cleric shifts back away from him. "W-what do you mean? What stone?" He reaches for her, Mint acts fast and lifts her staff in defense. A force field circles her, repelling Him. He hisses and screeches and pulls away.

"You possess a Holy power. I was careless. It won't save you a second time." He starts off in a circle slowly hovering around her.

"I am a Primordial Being. Far older than the soil you cultivate." Mint sat frozen trying to focus all her energy on the barrier she placed. She could feel her stomach tighten and her chest sink in, cold sweat trickled from her forehead in rivulets down her cheeks. The grip on her staff was slipping, she tightened her hold numbing herself to the pain. Please God no!

"I am Mephisto, Lord of Hatred!"


Cless parried the skeletal knights thrust and closed in, he cracked the flat end of his blade against its temple causing the skull to cave in. Feeling satisfied he turns his attention to Lysander.

The self-claimed Prophet proved to be as adept in close quarters combat as he was at Necromancy and Magic. Upon closing the distance, he skillfully backed from Cless's swing and countered with a hard kick to his side. The self-claimed Prophet proceeded with a quick jab to his jaw and another kick. Lysander would then snap his fingers and reappear to another spot.

"Cless! How ya holdin' up?" Chester called out as he fired. The arrows hit their mark, puncturing either the chest cavity or the skull which emanated a purplish glow. It became apparent that was their weak point when the Elves rained their arrows.

Cless held himself on his knees and cradled his right. "Just peachy." He huffs and spits the blood flooding his mouth. "Lysander you coward! Hiding behind your abominations and tricks!"

"Oh please. I think I've proven I can kick your ass!" Lysander retorts, sticks a finger out with his thumb bent like a crossbow sight. "Lightning." His arm crackles as his finger glows, a bolt of light soars and closes in on Cless's position. He heaves himself into a roll as the bolt connects missing him by a hair.

"For being the 'Heroes of Eternity', you surely aren't much of challenge." Another bolt of lightning darts to him, another exhausting roll but the attack impacts. "Gah!" Cless convulses into a fetal position. Lysander laughs and prepares for the kill. He points up and chants his finishing spell.

"Indignation!" The hall of the Monastery illuminated, at up in the rafters the light shined brightest. Beams of light fired from the rafters raining down unto the battle below.

"Give me the soul stone!" Mephisto demanded of Mint. She held her staff resolutely though frightened she wouldn't give in. "I don't know of any stone. If I did I wouldn't hand it to the likes of you." The Lord of Hatred had been repelled again in his vain attempt to obtain that which was rightfully his.

"You may ignorant of its existence, but your appearance deceives you." The force of his power however, was becoming too much for the young cleric to endure. The barrier she erected wouldn't withstand another attack.

"My power grows and yours wanes. I will get that stone. I will rule over Creation." He strikes again, the barrier collapses along with Mints frail body. She lay before the Hell Lord limp unable to defend herself further. A bony finger reaches to her and rips at her ear. She cried in pain and held her head with what little strength she could summon.

"At last it's mine." He stares triumphantly at the unicorn shaped earring and with a simple wisp of his breath reveals an onyx colored jewel.

The floors above them shook vigorously so much that Mephisto wondered what was happening. "It makes no difference." He said turning his attention back to Mint. "I have use for you young maiden."


The spell was as if it were divine judgement sent down. All across the hall the smoldering bodies of the undead lay. Lysander was sprawled about, his body marred by the raw power of the Indignation Spell. "Damn it!" He said coughing. "Damn it all!" He gasped, hacked, and struggled to move but his body wouldn't budge.

"What the hell?" Chester looked around for the source of the attack that just saved their hides. Only one person I know could have done that. No time for that he decided and hurried over to his fallen comrade and childhood friend. "Cless? Dead God are you okay?" Cless grunted and groaned in pain, his body tender to any who touched him.

Just as the archer reached him he was met by another individual garbed in, "purple pants?" He looked puzzled and looked up to the appearance of someone familiar. Their back was turned to him as this individual also was tending to Cless.

"Arche." Chester mumbled just loud enough for her to hear. Arche Klaine craned her neck to look at Chester and shot him a half smile before turning back to her former leader.

"Is everyone alright?" Brambert called to his fellow Elves while examining the ones who fell during battle. Deckard Cain accompanied him and he too studied the remains of the fallen, both enemy and ally. The remaining Elves regrouped and gathered what they could from their comrades, the rationale being no sense in letting the arrows they had not be used. The blue robed Reverend turned to the "Prophet" Lysander and started towards him.

"Cless are you okay?" Arche gently pulled on his shoulder pad to reveal the impact of the lightning bolt he took just minutes ago. "A-Arche?" The swordsman turned his head and gazed up at the half-elf he hadn't seen in so long. A loyal companion, friend, and essential ally in their fight against Dhaos.

"Don't move too much. The wound isn't life threatening but you won't heal properly if suddenly jerk your body around." She said tenderly as her hand glowed over the injury. Cless winced and groaned his body convulsed some more before the burning sensation went away. "Just lay here for a while until your strength returns."

Chester watched in awe as Arche displayed skills she never showed him nor anyone else during their travels. "Hey I thought you could only conjure magic spells." Arche smiles to herself still back facing Chester. "100 years is a long time. You pick up on a few things."

"Where is Ms. Adenade?" Cain looked down at the incapacitated Lysander who struggled to maintain his consciousness. "You're all dead." The fallen "Prophet" laughed, Cain drove his staff into his shoulder. "Cease your antics Hellspawn!" The pummel pressed further.

Lysander cried out. "She's below us. You won't save her though." He laughed again. "The end is near no matter what you do from here on."

In that moment his body burst to flames, every inch of him consumed by the blaze. Deckard Cain stepped away from the scene and turn to his fellow travelers. "Mint is below us. Though I fear she is in the presence of the evil that plagues these walls."

"Then we finish our mission." Cless forces himself up wincing from the pain he sustained from their battle. "We'll go to her, defeat whatever this 'evil' is and rescue her." The grinding of metal and stone echoed throughout, the group turned their attention to far end of the hall, to the altar. It rattles and shifts revealing a dark hole from where it originally stood.

Everyone watches intently and patiently as footsteps grow close. First, a cleric's hat comes into view, then blonde hair accompanied by a familiar face.

"Mint?" Cless sighed in relief that his friend was okay.

"Ms. Adenade? You're alright. I thought for sure-" Deckard Cain didn't move from his spot, instead preferring to call out to his assistant. Something didn't feel right. Too easy. He thought.

Mint ventured closer to her friends, a calm collected expression on her head despite the injury she suffered from Mephisto, and the blood had coursed down her neck and visibly stained her clothes. The closer she stepped the more wrong everything became.

"Hi everybody. I'm sorry to have worried you." Mint smiled.

((Another day, another chapter done. What did you think? As always R&R. Thank you!))