Time Blood Chapter 11: To Use Death's Scythe, a diablo fanfic

Sorry for the delay people, but what can a writer do when the writer has work that drowns her everyday? Maybe I should stop writing this fic…HA! FOOLED YOU ALL!! Nah, I'll be writing this until it's done. In fact, I already have the Expansion Set's (sequel) first few chapters done J . I know…stab me with your pitchforks. I should be keeping my mind on Time Blood J

Um…a few more things. Some stuff in this chapter hints what will happen in Expansion Set chapters *see my eyes twinkle*

Website? Did someone mention websites? Or was it me? I gave up on the idea. Yet, they'll be a "Diablo section" in my personal website for art. Maybe if I finish my sketches I'll be done soon…

Did I mention that my computer was off without sound for a while so I had to play the Expansion set without ever hearing the noises? Well, lo and behold by the power of Tyrael's wings and a bit of my own technical knowledge I get at the Intro classes, I fixed it. And…anybody notice that the Druid's voice is extremely sexy? Yes, I know you need to know that…

Chapter Eleven: To Use Death's Scythe

"This is the Dry Hills, I'm sure of it!" Nikan pushed pass Moran. The Amazon ran up a high dune and pointed down. "Look! Lut Gholein is glittering in the distance!"

Moran tried to swallow and found out she couldn't from the extreme dryness in her mouth. She coughed and squeezed her gauntlets covered hands. The arm locks on Ollan's shield she borrowed from his room was cutting into her wrist painfully and the light sword at her side was starting to feel heavy. She felt like dropping on her knees and passing out.

"Moran!"

"Coming," she shouted and scrambled up the dune. True enough, she could see something glittering in the distance that was probably Jehryn's palace in Lut Gholein. Closer, much closer, was an aged and weathered building that rose from the sand that looked liked a cross between a temple and an eastern type mausoleum.

"The Halls of the Dead," Nikan pointed. "There lies the cube we seek."

"Yeah and…" Moran stopped. There was something wrong. The dome that was glittering so brilliantly was now dark and dull. She looked closer and noticed some sort of shadow was creeping very rapidly over the city, and was heading right for them.

"Nikan!" She cried. "Nikan, what the hell?"

Nikan crossed her arms over her breasts. "I see. The Claw Vipers are at work again. A little bit of light before it reaches us…"

She walked to the nearest pile of skeletons belonging to a large animal and tore out a large piece of bone. "Moran, do you happen to have any pieces of cloth you can spare?"

Moran reached into her pack and pulled out a worn cloak she managed to find in a chest. Nikan took it and after shredding it into long strips, she carefully wrapped each strip around the bone until she had formed a tight round ball of cloth. It somehow looked like an enormous Q-tip.

"One fire ball Moran, and aim carefully," Nikan warned and held out the bone.

"It is done," Moran held out her hands and the spell recited itself inside her head. She felt warmth and a fireball as large as her head erupted from her fingers and hit the cloth. It burst into a bright fire.

"Any time now," Nikan held out the torch.

Blackness washed over them and it wasn't for the burning fire on the bone, she would have been in complete darkness. The temperature dropped dramatically yet the sand was still burning hot.

"Weapons out," Nikan said.

"How are you going to fight?" Moran asked.

"This is an exceptional weapon," Nikan waved the torch around. She swung her large gold shield around. "And this can be used as a weapon as well. Keep that in mind."

She led the way with the light and Moran followed. "So," she said when the silence was too hard to bear. "Someone better explain to me about this entire Horadric business."

"I'll explain while we walk. Is that all right with you?"

"Why not?"

"Long ago, the Horadrim sealed off Tal Rasha's tomb by placing a specially designed staff over his chamber door," Nikan said. "This staff serves as a key and the tomb can not be opened except through this staff. Sometime later, they nearly lost to staff to a thief and so they decide to separate the parts of the staff and hide them in different places. The Horadric scroll that we found in the sewers tells us the exact location where these parts are. Well…tell Cain anyway, because he's the only one who could read the runes. And our job is to find those missing pieces and restore the staff so we may open Tal Rasha's chamber and kill him."

"Sounds simple. We know where the parts of the staff are, so we take them and put them together."

"Not as simple as you think," Nikan stopped and waved the torch. "There's a well there. Take a drink."

Moran suddenly became aware of her thirst again and she hungrily ran to the well. She fell down on her knees and scooped the lukewarm water into her mouth.

"To restore the staff, you need a special box called the Horadric Cube," Nikan went down next to her and drank the water. She wiped her mouth. "This Horadric Cube has special transforming powers that may transform two items into something else. So after we find parts of the staff, we place them inside this cube and if it transforms, then we get out key to Tal Rasha's chamber."

"And that is not all the cube does,' Nikan stood up. "The cube transforms many things. Some of great use to us…some of worthless rubbish."

"…Sounds mysterious," Moran raised her eyebrows. "So we find this cube in there?" She turned and looked at the dark gaping doorway.

"The Halls of the Dead," Nikan struck an impressive yet threatening pose as she pointed her torch at the dark doorway that looked like a mouth of a beast, wide and open. "The Halls of the Undead. Let's go Moran, send them all to hell one last time, and permanently."

"I can never get use to this!!" Moran half screamed as a skeleton about twice as tall as she was rammed at her with a broken sword. She ducked and whacked her sword against the dusty knee joints. The pieces of frail, arthritic bones flew and scattered over the sandy floor.

"That wasn't so hard," she grinned at Nikan.

"Just wait," she murmured, kicking up a dusty bow into her hands. "I'm out of javelins so this will have to do."

A cold wind swept through the tomb. So cold that it made Moran go down on her knees and cough as the freezing sensation pierced her bones and her brain. She gasped for breath. "Nikan!" She rasped. "Nikan help!"

She coughed and shivered. I can't take this anymore…it's too cold…it's too cold…

"Here!" Nikan shouted and she heard a sharp clink of a healing potion vial.

The bottle clattered and clinked against the stones as he hit Moran's hand. She peeled open her drying eyes and clutched the bottle.

One chance to survive, one chance to…

She ignored the pain in her sinews and tendons as she placed the cork in her teeth and pulled. The potion dripped and flowed into her frozen tongue.

Heat regenerated itself into her body and in no more than a few seconds, she managed to leap on her feet and run to Nikan's side.

"What was that?" She rasped, hitting her chest.

"A Greater Mummy, a Revealer, a Reaper," Nikan said. "There's many species, but they all look a like except for a few differences, like for example, Tal Rasha is a Greater Mummy. The one that managed to hit you with one of its Resurrecting spells is a Reaper."

"So it resurrects…"

"Anything that was dead before," Nikan looked at her with stormy blue eyes that flickered gold with the torch's flame she was carrying.

A thought struck her. "Kail…"

"I know what you're thinking," Nikan said. "I don't pretend I'm an expert on Necromancers, because I'm not, but Kail does not have a single drop of a Reaper's blood in his body. He raises the dead, but only to use for the light. You're not born a Necromancer, you become one."

"Why would he even want to become a Necromancer?" She burst.

"Necromancy isn't all about raising the dead," Nikan said softly. "Kail's very quiet about this subject and as far as he's told us, his entire family had a reputation for keeping honor in the family on a certain type of magic…well, I don't really know if that certain magic is Necromancy because it isn't considered a very high honor among people."

"Well…Kail's strange," Moran shrugged.

"And so are you, Sorceress," Nikan tapped her on her forehead with the end of the torch. "Come on. I hear the Cube calling to us."

Nimbly, the Amazon ran forward and Moran followed, jumping over bones and a head of a Reaper.

"Fuck you," she muttered as she stepped on it's decaying tongue. Acid squirted from one of the bubonic like taste buds, biting through the steel toe of her boot.

"Moran! I've found it!"

Excited, she ran as fast as she could through the piles of bones and rotten corpses. Nikan waved something small and rusty at her.

"That's the cube?" She cried. "We fought through tons and tons of dead bitches for that?"

What Nikan said was the Horadric cube was basically…a cube. It was a little larger than her fist and was once probably gold. The metal and the fancy etchings on it were weathered down to a charcoal black.

"Can I see it?"

Nikan tossed it to her and she looked at the little box. For the first time, she noticed it had a small button on its side and she pressed it, almost expecting a Jack-in-the-box to pop out. Instead, the lid popped away and a small gold light peaked out in a thin steam, as if someone had placed a flashlight inside.

"So…"

"Here, let me show you what it does," Nikan reached into her pack and pulled out three small sapphires, all of them badly chipped. She dropped them into Moran's hands. "Put them inside the box."

"Whatever you say," she dropped the gems into the box and shut the lid. Light exploded from inside, filtering through the cracks, causing her to yell and drop the box.

"No harm done," Nikan laughed. "Now look inside."

Moran bent down and picked up the box. She pressed the button and flipped it over, giving it a few good shake. A single heavy object hit her hand. Nikan flashed her torch over it and a single beautiful yet slightly flawed sapphire glittered in her palm.

"That single sapphire, when inserted into a weapon can kill an Unraveler with one blow," Nikan said softly. "The Horadric cube is an amazing thing."

"I bet," Moran whispered. "What other things does this box do?"

"It can hold a bow, a spear, and a javelin at the same time," Nikan said.

"As they always say, size doesn't matter."

"Let's go."

It was strange to walk through Lut Gholein at around noon without any sunlight. People still went through the daily lives as if nothing happened. Yet, their actions showed an increase in their cautiousness. Children were snapped and scolded at when they played too close to the darkness parts of the town. Far too many candles, more than they would use on a normal night were burned in every house and shop. A large number of people had gathered at Atma's place to enjoy each other's company and to avoid the loneliness and horror of darkness.

"Would you like to go in for a drink?" Nikan asked Moran as they walked pass the bustling place. "I'll go and drop our things off for repair and get something better for you to fight in."

"Sure," Moran bent her head down and pulled off Leoric's crown. She handed it to Moran and massaged her temples. Wearing that crown made her feel more powerful, but right now she was glad it was off. It was starting to feel like she had place an entire sack of potatoes on her forehead.

"Go on," Nikan said.

Moran smoothed down her shirt and walked inside. Atma's place was as crowded and noisy as ever. A pack of men sat grimly and argued.

"I don't care if the caravan is long past delay! Do you know how many fouls are active in this darkness?"

Swallowing hard, she walked past the men and was jostled hard in the shoulder by someone.

"Oof-"

"Sorry," a boy said. He was about fifteen or sixteen, with wavy brown hair tied at the nape of his neck. He was about ready to walk away when he took a second look at her. "Wait! You're the sorceress!"

"I…am," she said.

"Hello!" The boy took her hand and shook it. "I'm Jahear – Atma's son!"

"Hi," she said weakly and massaged her head.

"Would you like to sit down?" He said, taking her hand and dragging her to a chair.

"Can you show me somewhere quiet?" She said. "I don't feel that well."

"Ach-shament!" the boy exclaimed in his own tongue. "Anything you say, Sorceress. You killed Radament – I owe you everything!"

All Moran could do was nod tiredly as the boy led her behind the kitchen where Atma was shouting orders to her workers. It was not as loud as outside, but not as quiet. She wished she were back in her inn, maybe with a roaring fire and something cool to drink. Her head ached enough to split open Lut Gholein.

"Atma – " she said weakly. "I'm sorry, I guess I'll just sit down –"

"Yes, yes," Atma gave her shove that sent her sprawling on a chair with a single cushion on it. "Get the potatoes, Albo! Pechra, the chickens are burning!"

Moran shut her eyes and stiffened the bile that was ready to rise out from her throat.

She was walking through some sort of tunnel, holding a large and glowing staff in her hands. She felt powerful and energized, as if nothing can hurt her. Demons and the Undead backed away from her as they saw her staff.

Then she saw some sort of alter with seven signs upon it.

Walking up to the alter, she placed the staff on it's resting place.

The ground shifted underneath her and the wall behind the alter crumbled and shrieked madly along with the cries of fear from the beasts and monsters.

"Moran!" A man's voice cried from the crumbled wall. "Moran!"

"KAIL – "

Another voice rose from the wall. "You have woken Duriel who had rest so calmly in Tal Rasha's chamber. For this, you must pay with your life and soul."

"AHH!" She cried and split her eyes open. "KAIL!"

The tomb, the alter, and the crumbled wall melted into Atma's kitchen with many faces staring at her as if she were mad.

She shoved the chair back so hard it clattered and fell back. She ran from the kitchen, even pushing a large man back hard enough to make him fall.

"Nikan!" She screamed. "Nikan!"

The Amazon and Fara stared at her as she pushed back the racks of weapons and armor to get to the two women.

"Nikan – " she panted. "I know where Kail and Ollan are. I know for sure."