Chapter 21
The Emperor had gone missing, the court was in a general panic. Modius sighed as he flipped through a tomb nestled in his lap. He watched the advisers run about, shrieking to the guards about places to search for Hakan. The black wizard did nothing to aid the search, the fact he was missing only confirmed his suspicions. He looked out the grand archways and waited to see if he would hear it again. A few silent moments passed before the faint but clear scream was heard. Modius closed the tomb, enough was enough. He told the guard he was going for a walk in the outer city to see what he could hear about Hakan's location. Once outside he made his way through dark alleys and short cuts through building until he was safely outside the city entirely. The scream sounded again, much louder this time. Modius figured it must be coming from the hidden camp where his brother and friends staked a place to stay. No one stopped him as he entered, in fact most of the camps occupants were finding ways to block out sound. The wizard eyed a women coming out of a ratty tent at the far end of camp. She looked exhausted and annoyed.
Modius came over and greeted the women. "Pardon me," He bowed quickly and rose. "Perhaps you can tell me what is shrieking loud enough to disturb the city?"
"..." Adria looked him over, unimpressed and tired as she was she still kept her manners. "A hunter suffering from Copperfang poison."
"Ah." Modius starred at the tent for a long while before looking back to Adria. "Perhaps I may try to alleviate his plight?"
The witch waved to Modius as she walked away. "Do as you please. I'd advise against accidentally killing him though."
"A cold creature." Modius whispered under his breath. His mind wandered briefly to his wife, a similar women who was also unaccounted for. He shook the thoughts from his mind and entered the tent.
He barely recognized Dante on the cot. The red hunter was thin and of a deathly pale color. Sweat glued his hair to his skin and he tossed about in pain. The pets cowarded in a corner, unsure what to do as their master suffered. Dante's breath was fast and shallow as he desperately tried to pull air into his failing lungs. Modius calmly sat his bag down and rummaged for several ingredients. It had been an age since he dealt with snake poisons, but at least he wasn't doing this for the first time. He pulled the large basin in the tent over to, pouring several liquids into the water. Modius carefully sprinkled a fine grey powder across the top and with a thin shard of glowing crystal, drew a complex glyph into the liquid. As the whole liquid glowed an amber color Modius prepared a needle and vial to inject the liquid into Dante. A droplet of blood beaded at the needles entrance. Modius closed his eyes and slowly chanted a healing mantra as he pushed the remedy into Dante's blood. The wizard knew that if this didn't revive the hunter, all was lost.
The sun had begun to set as Adria went over to Dante's tent. Modius came out cleaning his hands with a satin cloth. He smiled warmly at the witch as she drew closer. She peered into the tent and saw Dante breathing normal and color slowly returning to his face.
She looked at the wizard with suspicion. "All my magic and herbs did little to help. What did you do?"
"Tricks of the trade, old girl. Private ones." He said as he handed her the cloth. "Do tell Laufey the mask I left is for him. Should you choose not to, I think I'll fancy a personal visit to you."
Modius left for the palace again, Adria watching him with a fowl look as he vanished from sight. "..."
Laufey fell out of the final portal and back into the terminus. Kasler hurled Kulle's body through and stepped painfully through after it. Leah stepped back as the body skidded across the stone floor toward her. The pair remained on the ground, desperately trying to catch their breaths. Kulle floated at the center of the circular platform, waiting for the ritual to begin.
"We got...the body." Kasler weakly raised an arm and let it fall again.
Leah nervously nodded in response. "Then let me begin the ritual." She turned a fowl gaze to Kulle. "But I'm warning you, Kulle, you'd better not cross us!" She threatened the mage.
"You are surrounded by deceit, young one." He narrowed his dark eyes at her. "I am the least of your concerns." He chuckled as Leah prepared the magic.
Laufey starred into the void above him and pondered as to what Zoltun Kulle meant. He only half heard the shouts of encouragement and impatient demands the mage made of Leah as she worked. There was a white flash that drove Laufey and Kasler to stand again. They looked to where Kulle floated.
"My blood thundering within me!" He pushed out his chest as he breathed deeply. "The fetid air fills my ravaged lungs...I am alive again!" His cackled echoed through out the void.
Leah tried but failed to not sneer at the ancient mage. "You're welcome."
"The stone Kulle. A deal is a deal." Kasler growled as he limped came closer.
The mage nodded and slowed his movements. "Very well. The bargain stands." He waved his staff over the center circle. "Quickly, to my Sanctum!"
Kasler felt his hair rise as they appeared into a large circular chamber. A open pit with a massive black gem suspended over it. On either side of Kulle stood two massive stone constructs glowing gold. Kulle gazed at the black soulstone with admiration.
"At long last, I can complete my life's work. All will tremble at my power!" He poured vibrant energy into the stone across from him. A loud crack and burst of energy cut Kulle's magic off. "What is this!" He looked at the stone in disbelief.
Kasler and Laufey exchanged knowing looks and readied themselves.
"The souls of the dead Lords of Hell have been absorbed into the stone." Kulle turned an angry and disgruntled self toward the adventurers. "Abandon your quest, nephalems. Your allies seek only to control you."
Kasler and Laufey started to move to either side of Kulle and his stone. Kulle clenched his fist, passion rising in his voice. "With the power I offer, you two and I could rule over all creation."
Laufey smiled as he got lined up on Kulle. "Tempting to say the least. Although, Kulle, you said it yourself. The bargain stands. Give us the stone."
Kulle hurled a ball of fire spinning at the younger wizard. He cackled as he sent his constructs into motion against the pair. Kasler threw down his sentries and unloaded volleys of arrows at the ancient mage. Kulle vanished and reappeared in front of Kasler. Laufey came running, send beams of heat into the back of Kulle. The mage threw a small smokey orb at Laufey that exploded to a large dome that slowed the time inside it. Laufey mustered his own magic and teleported from within it's confines. Kasler fired more arrows at the mage's back and dove just out of reach of a constructs grasping stone fingers. Kasler's pets lured them away by dodging between their legs and snapping at their arms. Kulle summoned twisters to pull the pair back into the smokey domes, training his fireballs at them once inside. The fight dragged on and the pair felt exhaustion tugging at them, just at it to tugged at Kulle. The constructs were piles of broken rocks again as the mage muster enough energy to hurl another fireball. Laufey teleported and summoned a hydra from beneath the stone floor. The flaming lizard snapped out at Kulle, throwing molten flames every which way he went. Kasler hoisted himself up by the back end of a sentry. He pulled the trigger as he stumbled and watched an arrow stick true inside Kulle's head. The mage sputtered and swirled slowly, sinking to the ground as he died. Kasler and Laufey watched his body to be sure that it wasn't moving anymore before making their way to the bridge beneath the black soulstone. Kasler reached high as the stone descended into his armored hands. The gauntlet 'tinked' as it made contact.
Kasler turned quickly as he heard a portal open behind them. From it came Adria and Leah. "Five Lords of Hell now reside within this stone." The black hunter glared suspiciously at the elder witch. "This was your doing Adria!" He exclaimed.
"Twenty years ago during the darkening of Tristram, Cain told me of Zoltun Kulle profane soulstone." The witch defended herself as she quickly approached Kasler and the stone.
Leah came over just as fast. "That's why you left me..." She sounded relieved. "You went to mark the demon's souls so that they could be drawn into Kulle's vessel!" Excitement rose in her voice as she smiled.
Adria nodded. "Yes, my daughter. I have sacrificed everything for this..." Her voice trailed off as opened her hand for the stone in Kasler's palms.
He cautiously handed it over, watching her walk off with it through the portal. Laufey came to the hunters side. "I don't think Adria is telling us everything. She confirms information given about her, but she tells us nothing first."
Kasler growled quietly to himself before agreeing. "True. Something is off about that witch and I don't trust her." He watched Leah chase her mother through the portal. "I can't bear to bring our concerns to Leah though. It would break her."
Laufey was silent in return as they both shuffled slowly into the portal. The air in the camp was lighter than they had expected. The shrieks of the agony ridden Dante were not heard as they strode past the tent. Laufey ducted aside and peered in to find it empty. Before he could raise alarm to Kasler he caught a glimpse of that familiar dark chocolate brown hair out of the corner of his eye. The wizard stood fully and saw that Kasler to had seen it to. Dante sat casually on a boulder shaded by the rocky cliffs behind him. His pets leaped at bits of food thrown to them. Kasler chuckled once to himself and as the image of his recovered friend sank in, he fell to howling laughter.
"Dante, you slick son of a bitch!" Kasler called out.
The red hunter looked up and raised a greeting hand. "Hey. You guys been busy?" He smirked.
Laufey shoved past Adria, Leah and Kasler to Dante. The wizard took Dante's face into his hands and forced a deep kiss on the hunter, tumbling them both from the rock. Kasler felt his stomach lurch a bit at the display but understood the emotion. Laufey hauled Dante to his feet, adjusting their slightly disheveled clothing. As Laufey saw the Dante remained in tact, he swung a right hook into the hunters jaw. Dante squared his jaw with his hand as the wizard helped him back on his feet. They smiled warmly at each other.
Kasler came over and clapped his friend on the back. "What happened? Last I saw you were looking to buddy up to death himself."
The red hunter tossed the last bit of food to the pets and joined his friends. "Honestly I was." He held up Modius's former mask. "Thanks to our greatest annoyance, I pulled through."
Laufey took the mask and looked confused at Dante. "Modius?"
"Yeah, this was left for you. The other tenant in that death tent I didn't know though." Dante pawed at the patch of Pumba's flesh that had mended to his own.
"Other?" Kasler asked, disregarding Modius's involvement.
Laufey could see Adria straining to listen in. He pulled Kasler and Dante farther from her. Dante spoke. "Another fighter, I think. Taller then anyone I've known and not a scrape of a face I could see. Some pointed hood, black, grey and that odd dark blue. He carried two sickle like swords and a odd combination of armor and robes."
"He say anything?" Kasler asked, noticing Laufey's move to guide them away from Adria.
Dante shook his head. "Nothing. A silent as the grave itself." He waved off the questions. "Haedrig and some old quack named Shen caught me up. So what now?"
"So we trap Belial and Azmodan in the soulstone." Kasler spoke up loud enough to call Adria over. "What then?"
The witch looked annoyed at having missed their private conversation. "Then I shatter it, and the Lords of Hell will be no more."
Leah followed and interjected. "We've got to reach the Emperor! He said he can lead us to Belial."
"Are you certain we can trust the child?" Adria voiced the collective unspoken concern of the men.
Tyrael finished his business with the blacksmith and made his way over to the conversation. "We have no choice." He threw in. "But know this:" He turned to the men. "if Belial gets desperate, he will unleash Hell upon Caldeum."
Leah sighed and nodded. "So before we face him, we must evacuate the citizens." She thought a moment longer. "The Iron Wolves can help."
Kasler and Laufey both groaned loudly, they found themselves with no time to rest. Exhaustion pried at them, but urgency had a greater pull. Dante uncorked a couple potion bottles for each of them and handed them over. The black hunter and wizard didn't argue about the mild help they would be, but downed them all the same. Dante pulled his gear together and tested his equipment for the final battle in the desert city. Everyone gathered at the exit of the camp and made their way toward the Bazaar where they could already hear the bombs of Belial raining down on the city.