Time Blood Chapter 3: Awakening Powers, a diablo fanfic

Oh, and so might as well know, you might have noticed that all the characters already have skills such as the Amazon with the Plague Spear, the Barbarian with the Howl and so on, is because the story takes place in Hell Mode. Thank you. J

Chapter Two: Awakening Powers

She finished lacing up the last lace on her boot and walked out of the tent. Surrounding her was a wooden fortress built from rotting logs, sickened chickens, wagons, and a cow chewing a pile of hay. It looked like a silly excuse for a fortress. A couple of tall woman, all with hair tied up on top of their heads, carrying bows, and wearing the same uniform stood on guard wherever there was an opening. The sky above her rumbled with thunder and the wind chilled her down to the bones.

"Good, you're done," Nikan said, taking her hands. "Come on."

She led her down to a purple tent, one of the largest in the encampment. "Stay here," Nikan said and walked up to the doorway. "Akara," she said softly. "She's here."

Nikan bent down and helped an old woman wearing a purple cloak out of the tent. Her hood was pulled up to conceal her face from view. She walked up to Moran and laid an aging hand on her shoulder.

"My child…sorceress, welcome back," the woman said. "I am Akara. High priestess of the rogues."

"Yeah…I'm Moran," Moran said.

"Do you remember…anything at all?"

"Remember what?" Moran asked. "I'm sorry but…"

"Can you fight?" Akara asked.

"Fight? Well, I had a couple of tae kwon do lessons," she shrugged.

"What?"

"Martial arts of the east," Moran said, sighing. She had to remind herself what part and what century she was in. "I'm not htat good though."

"If you can fight then…you will remember your skills when time comes," Akara nodded.

"First of all, what are my skills you're talking about?" Moran asked.

"Elemental powers…lightning, ice, and fire," Akara said. "Each one of you has your own unique powers. The Amazon deals with bows and javelin magic as well as passive and magic skills. The barbarian deals with war cries and melee attack skills. The paladin-holy auras and sacrifice. The necromancer…deals with bringing creatures back from the dead, to fight for him."

Moran shut her eyes.

Blood. Everywhere. She was floating…she was looking down at a corpse…it looked like her…Oh god it is her! She was looking down at her own dead body!

And suddenly, the bones rose from the corpse and stood up, holding balls of fire in its hands.

"MORAN!"

She gasped and fell to her knees, gripping her chest. She tried to suck in a breath, but can't!

"Someone get me water!"

She felt something very cold and very, very wet slosh over her head. The pain in her chest stopped immediately and the world came into focus.

"Ah-" She sat back, shivering. Apparently, Thorn the Barbarian had come running up with a bucket the size of a dog washtub and thrown all of the contents over her head.

"What happened?" She groaned.

"You were on fire!" Thorn bellowed. "What did you do?"

"I don't know!" Moran gasped, looking down at her shirt. It was burnt. "I saw…I saw myself. I was dead and a there was a she-bang skeleton holding fire coming out of it!"

Thorn dropped the bucket. "Nikan…"

"I know," the Amazon said. "Is that all?"

"Did I say anything else?" Moran asked.

"Why don't you all…rest for awhile," Akara said. "Tomorrow you have to cleanse the Den of Evil."

"Are you up to it?" Thorn lay a heavy hand on Moran's slumped shoulder.

"What? Cleaning the Den of Evil? Give me a bucket of Magic Klean and sure," Moran said, rubbing her chest. "Yeah…I guess. But I don't have anything to fight with."

"We have your staff, some armor, amulets," Nikan said.

"A staff? Why not a sword?"

"A staff's a sorceress's prime weapon," Nikan said, helping Moran to her feet. "Yours is pretty good too, it's a rare staff, containing many powers."

"Uhm," Moran started walking back to the tent when she noticed Kail the Necromancer standing by himself looking out to the moor. "Is he all right?" She suddenly asked, without meaning too.

"He'll be fine, a moment in depression," Nikan shrugged as they came to their tent. "Go in and rest. Unless you want to eat?"

"Roasted porcupines with foot long quills?" Moran suggested.

Nikan laughed. "Try Gargantuan Beast meat."

"A what?"

Morning came faster than she thought it would, and before Moran even knew, she already had breakfast (roasted chicken and goat milk, no sign of Gargantuan meat), and was stretching out in hers and Nikan's tent. She knew better than to go out and killing demons in stiff muscles. She arched her back and raised her arms above her head.

"Nearly done?" Nikan dashed in, with her breastplate hanging off half her chest.

"You need help with that?" Moran offered. "I can tie the strings at the back."

"Sure, thanks," Nikan turned her back and Moran tied the leather thons together. Amazing, her fingers seem to know how to do it. After it being securely tied, the Amazon sat down on the bed and began pulling on the heavy chain boots.

"Where's my…ah-stuff?" Moran asked.

"Over there, in the trunk," Nikan mumbled while holding her belt in her mouth.

Moran flipped over the latch and pulled it open. She blinked in amazement. Inside was a heavy breastplate, similar to Nikan's except it was made for her size and was the color of flaming copper. There was a circlet with six spikes protruding from it, two rings, a necklace, and a staff as tall as she was with a large, clear crystal on top of the knot. Rummaging deeper underneath folds of silk to keep the metal from rubbing, she found a pair of gold gauntlets and plated boots.

"You know-" Nikan paused to fit in healing potions into her belt. "You're the one who found the most unique items among us. The Doomfingers gauntlets, Spirit Blazer boots, Eye of the Raven amulet…and that crown. We know it's life stealing, but rumor says it used to belong to King Leoric himself."

"Leoric?"

"Long before Diablo possessed the body of the warrior who defeated him, King Leoric was the ruler of Tristram. When his son had disappeared, the old King went mad and…it's a long story. Anyway, when he became the Skeleton King by a horrible, terrible mistake, he wore that crown. How you managed to find it…I still don't know," Nikan finished with her armor. "I'm going outside to warm up. Dress quickly."

Moran slipped on her things, finding them not heavy at all…which was the strangest thing she had ever felt. Even stranger, the moment she picked up her staff, she felt power oozing from it and into her fingers. She gripped it tighter and walked out to where the others were waiting.

"Morning, Moran," Ollan the paladin said.

"Hey," she answered. Kail lifted his head up a little and looked at her. She swallowed and looked away. There was something in his piercing green stare that she can't look at. If she did, her heart would start to feel that pain again.

Don't look at me like that, she said in her head. Please…

"So do we set out?" Thorn broke the silence. "My axe is waiting to drink the blood of the enemies."

"And they're waiting to drink you're blood too," Kail said, fingering his war sword.

"Where's your spirit, friend?" Thorn slapped him on the shoulder so hard he staggered. "Come on."

They set out to the gate and one of the rogues said, "Beware. Don't die too quickly."

They head out to the Blood Moor.

"Dammit! What am I suppose to do!" Moran shouted with terror at the zombies surrounding her. They were all Minion Zombies, plus a boss. A few Devilkins mingled with them, shaking their fists and screaming, "Back off!" and "Maka Buchu! Ya ya ya!"

"SHIT!" She gasped as a fireball from the Devilkin Shaman aimed straight for her. She ducked and heard it hit the wall above her, scattering rocks over them. As she got up again, one of the zombies struck her across the face.

Her face flipped to the side.

Warm blood pooled down to her throat.

Anger burst through her.

"DIE YOU MAGGOT!" She screamed, kicking out at the zombie. "Die, die, die!"

She grabbed one of the oil potions scattered on the ground and threw it at the zombie. Most of them dropped into a mangled pile of severed arms and torsos. She killed the rest by knocking it sharply with her staff.

She ran to the Devilkin Shaman. "Think you're so smart-have a piece of this!"

She shoved the end of her staff straight into its pudgy stomach and lifted it up high into the air. The Shaman screamed out words, probably calling out to its servants. Blood ran down her staff and poured into her hands. Devilkin ran up to her, screaming and shaking their fists.

"Ya, ya, ya, ya, back off!" They screamed.

She brought the screaming Shaman swinging down, crushing some of the other Devilkin flat. She stepped on the head and pulled the corpse off her staff, breathing loudly.

A beam of light made its way into the Den of Evil.

Smiling, she turned to meet the others in the cave. They were all gaping at her.

"Wow," Thorn said. "Moranah never fought like that."

"You just cleanse this place out," Ollan said.

"You gave the Devilkin quite a fright," Nikan laughed. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine…wow," she looked at her bloody hands and the staff.

"You-you have a gash across your cheek," Kail said.

Moran touched the side of her face and winced.

"Here-" Kail came up to her. "Stay still…this will hurt."

He soaked a piece of cloth with some sort of strange, oily liquid and brought it to her face. She cried out.

"Ow!" She gasped. "Damn…that hurts so much!"

"Suppose to," Kail tucked the cloth back into his belt and handed her a potion of healing. "Drink this."

"T-Thanks," she said as she took it from him, her fingers slightly brushing his. She looked into his eyes and was surprised to find the pained look gone from them. He smiled.

"Let's go back," he said. "Akara will sure have a reward waiting for us."

"Like what? Blood Raven tomorrow?" Ollan cleaned the blood from his sword.

"Oooh, I forgotten Blood Raven!" Nikan moaned.

"Blood Raven?" Moran asked.

"Once a rogue, now a beast that's taller than Thorn and has a head of a bull," Kail hissed.

"Literally?" Moran asked.

"He means she really does have a head of bull, horns and everything," Nikan said.

"Come on."

They trudged out of the cave, and surprisingly, the Blood Moor was washed in sunlight, almost in a mocking way. They all stood still for a moment, letting the light bathe over them. Moran took a deep breath of the air and felt the wind lift her hair a little.

"Come on, we have work to do, someone cast a portal," Ollan said. "Moran."

She fished out one of the blue scrolls and looked at Nikan. "Um…"

"Just open it and throw where you want the portal to be."

She shrugged and ripped open the ribbon. She threw it over Thorn's head and it burst into a floating, cloudy blue thing that shimmered. It looked familiar…

"Hey! That's the same thing that dragged me here!" She said.

"Of course it's the same thing," Thorn said. "It's a portal. If it's red it basically means you're going somewhere dangerous. If it's blue that means it transports you to the nearest town. It's actually pretty simple."

"Much more simple than your elemental magic," Kail looked at her. "Are you sure you can't do any of it."

"I'll try…but I don't know how," she threw her hands into the air, frustrated. "I'm sorry…"

She screamed as a fire bolt burst from her fingers. "Ah-" She gasped.

"Hey, you're doing it!" Nikan almost jumped up and down. "Do it again! I believe it comes from your anger!"

She focused her thoughts on the thing that angered her. Kingsley, her history teacher…

"One big fire bolt-" she hissed. A jet of flame came from her hands.

"Whoa! Inferno!" Thorn said. "We're getting somewhere. Whoa…that must've been three yards or more."

"Moranah was never big on fire spells," Kail said. "She was more of ice."

"Well, THIS Moranah has got a temper," Moran said. "I'm sorry, Kail. If fire doesn't suit you, then fine."

"Did I SAY anything? I just said Moranah was never big on fire," he shrugged. "Sorry."

"I can probably do ice if I'm calmer," Moran said, stepping into the portal and walked, nearly running into Kashya. "Oh, sorry."

"Watch it, sorceress," Kashya said. "Back so soon?"

"We cleansed the place out," Thorn said, coming after her with Ollan and Nikan.

"Where's Kail?" Moran asked.

"Probably resurrecting mages and golems, that sort of thing," Nikan shrugged. "Plenty of fresh corpses around."

Three skeletons holding various elements in their hands walked through the portal along with a steel golem. One of the skeletons looked at her. It was holding balls of fire in its hands.

She staggered. Her vision was blurring.

Skeleton…skeleton mage…. she sucked in a breath as she felt someone take her hand and tried to support her. Skeleton mage…must resurrect from a corpse…she's been one…

No! Shut up!

Blackness swept over her again, this time, pain raged from the tip of her head down to her feet.