Usual Copyright information goes here. Diablo is © to Blizzard, but it should've belonged to me L
Final chapter for Time Blood…which means I get to write the sequel for Lord of Destruction very soon…Mhua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Expect a return of the characters, as well as the Druid and the Assassin joining in J
And guys…thanks for all of your reviews J You've all been very great, and each and every review has given me more inspiration to write. You rock. Every single one of you J Sorry if I haven't replied to every single review, but believe me, I appreciate every single one of 'em.
Also, I'm editing each chapter because I think my writing skills have developed drastically over the years that I've been writing "Time Blood". Check around!
While you're waiting for the sequel and edited chapters, why don't you go ahead to a story I'm co-writing with a good friend of mine at : ?storyid=1648702 It's a story revolving around futuristic dystopian world where a drug that's suppose to be the solution to every human's problems, turns out to be the a deadly enzyme that turned many humans into nocturnal flesh-eating beasts at night. Happy reading and thanks again J
Chapter 20: Hell's HeartSilence closed in around her.
Moran took a deep breath, as fear raced down her spine. Despite the heat of the air and the burning fire outside, the Chaos Sanctuary was strangely quiet. She felt watched.
Something moved and she felt a burning pain go down her cheek. She whirled around and pain shot down her injured shoulder.
"Watch it," Thorn grabbed her before she stumbled.
"What was that?!" She looked at the stained glass window in front of her. "I swore – it – it – "
"Moved?" Kail said quietly. "Yes, it moved. The Chaos Sanctuary is as alive as you are…" he looked at the window. "It's alive…"
He swung his war sword, bringing it down on the glass.
"Come on," he said. "Stay close."
He motioned for them to follow him with a gloved hand. Moran shivered and followed him.
"Shh…" he stopped. "Five Seals. One for each of us."
She saw that each of the Five Seals, a strange metal-like dome structure with a pentagram base that swung silently.
Five Seals…
They took their places, each at their own Seal.
"Together!" Kail shouted. "NOW!"
She stepped onto the Seal, and with a flash of light, a horde of Hell spawn and other beasts burst from a supernova of light, nearly blinding her. Red filled her vision as she brought up the bladed end of her staff and swung it, willing herself not to think about anything except for defeating the damned beasts that stood in front of her. With a cry, she lifted an Oblivion Knight off his feet and he disintegrated into a mass of dust.
She didn't know how long she fought – time and space seemed to melt into one. The Dark Mages that tried to bring her down only succeeded in angering her, and each curse they threw at her only fueled her senses as she threw her spells at them, her elemental magic forming a burning pool of fiery colors of blue and red.
For a few moments, she had forgotten who she was. Her armor and weapon molded into her body and she became a true Sorceress, with the Berserk spirit of a Barbarian, strength of an Amazon, the Necromancer's way of extinguishing life, and a Paladin's eyes to see through the truth.
Panting, she stepped back from the carnage that surrounded her and that strange feeling of destruction and war-hunger escaped her. She was who she was again: Moran.
She felt something trickling down her face and realized there was a large wound directly on her hairline and blood was flowing freely down her face. She touched it gingerly and pain shot through her head. She wanted to stop…wanted to stop and close her eyes and sleep forever.
But she can't.
She turned to the middle of the Sanctuary, where Diablo's Pentagram awaited them.
Kail was afraid.
The same scene was unfolding before his eyes, the same scene in his past when he had lost his love: the Five Heroes surrounding Diablo's Pentagram.
It was exactly the same! This wasn't right – it was just a trick of the light, perhaps it was only his thinking…but everything was the same!
His heart pounded in panic. If he didn't do something, Moran was going to die.
He ran towards her but a sudden beam of red, burning light broke through the middle of the pentagram and separated all of them further. Sweat ran down his brow as he clutched at his war sword.
Diablo stood before them.
It was the same Beast that he had set his eyes on before – the same butchered lamb-like head with the gargantuan horns of a goat on his great head. The entire body was covered with scales as red as blood and his claws sharpened and pointed at the heavens, each of them well over six feet long. Smoke hissed from his clawed hooves as he slowly straightened and smiled at them. His eyes burned the color of pus and the sharp teeth that grinned at them flashed like knives.
"The Five has come for the Dark Wanderer," the Beast said. "And the Dark Wanderer awaits…"
"MOVE!" Kail shouted. "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!!"
The rays of red lightning came towards them in a wave faster than any of them expected. He was knocked flat on his stomach as the deadly energy hit him. Fire burned in his bowels and a spray of blood shot from his lips. But he was back on his feet, knowing that if he stayed for another second, he might never get up again.
He cast a spray of teeth at Diablo, but it seemed to do nothing against the Beast. He frantically looked around for the others. Nikan was shrieking and throwing bolt and bolt of her lightning javelin at Diablo and it pierced through his skin. He hardly flinched as he turned towards her and opened his great mouth.
"NIKAN!!" Kail cried.
The Amazon leapt and rolled as a long jet of flame shot straight from his mouth, the fire narrowly missing her body.
"We can't do this!!" Kail shouted. "Everyone! Portal!"
He unrolled the parchment, tearing off the blue seal with his teeth and spitting it out. Moran teleported to his side and he roughly shoved her inside the cloudy blue energy just as it was unfolding into a portal.
"Go, go, GO!" He shouted, grabbing Nikan and Ollan by the arm and pulling them into the portal. Thorn leapt over Diablo's thrashing tail.
"Go first!" He cried, as Thorn brushed past him. He was about to fling himself inside the portal when a bone cage very similar to the ones he used sprang around the portal, blocking his escape. He turned to the Beast, Diablo, and hissed angrily.
Diablo said nothing, the remains of the bone cage spell leaving a greenish residue on his claws. He smiled down at Kail, his teeth glittering at the same tempo with the burning red soul stone embedded in his damned head.
Without another look at Diablo, Kail lifted his war sword and hacked at the bone cage, screaming his lungs out to provide his limbs with the strength he needed. The bone splintered and cracked as he felt heat behind his back. He dove into the portal as he felt the fire from Diablo's Flame Wave spell scorch the heels of his boots.
He fell and rolled into the Fortress, coming up and one knee and using his sword to balance himself. His entire back felt like someone has taken a sword that was held over a fire and rolled it over his skin. Panting, he pushed himself up.
"We can't do this," he said.
Thorn turned to him, the Barbarian's dark eyes blazing. "What did you say?"
"We can't do this!" He shouted, throwing his sword down. The sweet, ringing tone of metal hitting stone sounded through the fortress and summarized his anger and pain. He covered his eyes with one gloved hand.
"We did not come all this way to stop now!" Nikan said angrily.
He uncovered his eyes and looked at them. Thorn was looking at him as if he was mad, as if he was on the very edge of sanity. Nikan looked angry and flustered, as if he had betrayed all of them. Ollan remained silent, but he cast his eyes to the distant, holding his feelings back.
But Moran was on her hands and knees, her bladed staff next to her. He felt a surge of panic rush through him. But then, he saw that her hands were clenched into fists, and her entire body was shaking, if not with pain, then anger.
She slowly picked up her staff, and in the same fashion as he did earlier with his sword, used it to balance herself so that she could stand up. She kept her head down, and her hair that was slowly falling loose from its knot covered her eyes.
Suddenly, without warning, she shouted and whirled the staff above her head. He shouted as the bladed end narrowly missed his forehead. He stumbled backwards into a pillar.
Moran held the staff, her hands shaking and her teeth clenched in anger. She held it so the bladed end was placed with its diamond-sharp tip was held with it against the skin of his throat.
"MORAN!" Thorn roared. "Put that staff down!"
"No, Thorn," Moran said, her eyes fixed on him. "He's Leader here, and he's preventing us from killing the one thing that's going to kill all of us – Diablo. I want him dead. When he dies, we can go and kill Diablo."
"Moran, stop this! This is madness!" Ollan whispered.
"No, I'm not the one who's mad," Moran said. "Kail is. We didn't travel into Hell just to do a bit of sightseeing – we're here to kill Diablo once and for all, and that's what I'm going to do!"
"You are not going to drag me into this world just for me to do nothing!" She shouted.
"Moran…don't this…" Kail said. "You'll
"Then we'll die," Moran said, lifting the staff away from his throat. "We'll all die. Together. The Five."
He slid down and covered his face with his hands. "No. Please, don't make me do this…I'll be murdering all of you with my own hands if I let you go back to the Chaos Sanctuary."
"We've been given another chance."
He looked up and saw that it was Ollan who had spoken those words. The paladin held his sword by the blade and was offering the hilt to him.
"Fight with me," Ollan said. "Brother."
Kail looked away.
"Fight with me."
He looked up and saw that Moran was biting her lip and looking at the sky, tears leaving trails in her dirt and blood covered face.
He looked into Ollan's gray eyes, and slowly, he lifted his hand and took the hilt. He stood up.
"Even if it is for the last time," Kail said. He clasped Ollan's shoulder. He looked at Moran and she nodded at him.
He held his sword in his hand and nodded back.
When they went through the portal, they were ready.
Thorn emerged first, screaming a war cry of fury and using his axe to tear down the bone cage that Diablo had cast around the portal. Moran came in after him as the bones cracked and splintered, raising her hands to cast a Glacial Spike spell. Nikan and Ollan emerged after her. Then Kail felt the portal melted away from his body as he entered the Sanctuary last, leaving safety behind. He raised his war sword and started chanting. He dropped his shield and held out the empty hand.
"Trang'Oul…" he whispered.
The last words of his chant turned into a scream and he heard the thousand voices of the spirits of the dead in Hell join in his song. A bone spear, the Talon of Trang'Oul formed in his hands and he clutched at it, sweat pouring from his brow.
He threw the spear, screaming his rage and vengeance into his Death Song.
"A REQUEIM!!" He cried. "A REQUEIM FOR YOU, DIABLO!!!"
The Talon of Trang'Oul swept past the other Heroes, and embedded its point into Diablo's throat.
The Beast froze and so did the rest of the Heroes.
Slowly, Diablo fell on his knees, his hands trying to reach for the Talon that protruded from his grotesque neck. Blood flowed from his wound and hissed as it hit the ground.
"No…" Diablo moaned. He slowly slid on his side.
"No," Kail heard Moran whispered. "There's something wrong."
He looked at the gaping wound at the beast's throat where he had torn out the Talon, and even though there was a line of crimson fluid that connected the wound to the floor, the blood didn't seem to be moving. It seemed to be frozen – as if it had suddenly turned to ice.
Diablo started chuckling.
"NO!" Moran shouted.
The blood started flowing back into Diablo's wound, from the ground and back into his flesh. He stood up and watched as the flesh in his wound slowly started to heal.
"Is this all you can do, mortal?" Diablo hissed.
"NO!" Moran screamed.
Then Kail saw it. He saw all of it again.
Moran ran towards Diablo, swinging her staff so that the bladed end was pointed to the heavens. Diablo turned to her, shouting his fury. She slid the last few feet that was remaining between her and Diablo and shoved the bladed end of the staff into his throat.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Kail screamed.
He knew that it was going to happen. Again. Diablo's spiked tail was going to swing, and he was going to tear Moran in half.
Tear his love in half.
It was going to happen.
He held his eyes open, preparing for it to happen.
Moran screamed her rage, holding the spiked end of the staff and shoved it up the Beast's throat as far as it would go, trying to reach for its brain.
Kail dropped his sword and shield, releasing his hands so that he could push her away before the spiked tail would get her.
He ran and each breath tearing its way out of his lungs so painfully he could have imagined his ribs breaking and the sharp edges of bone burying itself into his lungs.
Moran gave a final cry and shoved the staff. Diablo screamed with terror as the blade pushed its way out of his skull, pushing the Soul Stone from his forehead. The red jewel seemed to freeze in the air.
He grabbed onto her shoulders, ready to shove her away, but then he saw it. Diablo's tail. He prepared for it, waiting for the razor sharp spikes to hit his body. Hit his body instead of Moran's.
The Paladin leapt and placed his body between his and Diablo.
"NO!"
He and Moran were swept back along with Ollan, but all he felt was a dull thump that echoed through his bones, and he felt one of his ribs crack. He hit the ground with a brutal force and the Paladin's blood splattered over both of them. Blood ran down his field of vision.
"OLLAN!" He cried.
Moran scrambled up to the other side of the Paladin and took his hand. "Ollan, don't…"
"It's over, finished," the Paladin said, blood trickling out of his mouth. "Diablo's gone."
Diablo…gone. A pillar of flame erupted at his place, breaking through the roof of the Sanctuary and breaking through Hell.
Dead. Forever. No longer will the Lord of Terror reign on Earth or Hell.
Moran was crying silently. She cradled Ollan's head on her lap. "Your cloak," she whispered to Kail. "Cover his body."
Kail removed his cloak from his shoulders and used it to cover Ollan's lower body that was torn into shreds of hanging flesh.
Thorn and Nikan came to his side.
"Valhalla awaits," Nikan said, reaching down to touch Ollan on his shoulder. "Go there, Ollan."
Kail clutched at his head, shaking violently. The moment of Diablo's death that was supposed to be a time of joy and celebration was nothing more than pain and grief.
"God be with you, my friend," Thorn said, dropping down on one knee. "Ollan."
"You did well," Kail said, looking up to the heavens. "You did well."
Ollan managed to smile before closing his eyes.
Kail threw his head up and roared.
Moran picked up Diablo's glittering Soul Stone, and she held it against her for a moment, looking at it. It was more beautiful than she had ever imagined – yet it was such an evil thing.
She looked up and saw Kail walking towards her, his eyes unfocused and his steps wandering. She winced as she reached towards him, the wound on her shoulder crying out in pain. He silently placed his arm around her and they walked away from the Sanctuary. Every once in a while, he'd turn his head and Moran knew that he was looking at Thorn, who was carrying Ollan's body, wrapped in Kail's cloak.
They walked out of the Sanctuary to the Hellforge, and Kail handed her the hammer. She placed the Soul Stone on the anvil and lifted the hammer high over his head.
She brought it down on Diablo's Soul Stone and it broke into shards of the most brilliant colored stones – like crystallized blood slowly turning back into liquid. It was the end. The voices of a thousand spirits that had been tortured killed by the Beast rose from the shards, and melted away into the darkness. Lightning and fire shot across the celestials, confirming the end to Terror.
"YOUR darkest hour, Diablo!" She cried, holding the hammer. "And our greatest moment!"
She let the hammer fall. "The Harrowing is finished."
She collapsed on Kail's shoulder and sobbed.
6 Hours Later, Kurast
Ollan's body was removed of the tainted armor he wore, what was left of his body washed and covered with oil. A glorious, shimmering piece of cloth was place over his lower body as he lay on the pedestal inside a large stone structure at the Docks of Kurast, as if he was sleeping and not dead.
Moran kissed him on his forehead and stepped back.
"He saved us," Kail said.
"I know," Moran answered him as he slid his arm around her. They walked out of Ollan's resting place and outside in the darkness. The people were laughing, singing and celebrating Diablo's death, but the Five – no; the remaining Four Heroes were away from the singing voices and laughter, each mourning Ollan's death in their own way.
"You're free to go," Kail said, as they reached an end of the pier. He sat down.
"Free to go? Where?" Moran asked, as she touched the heavy bandage around her shoulder. She was going to have many scars from this battle…to remind her of what happened. She sat down next to the Necromancer and gently pulled back a lock of Kail's white hair from his face so that she could see his eyes better.
"Tyrael can open the doorway into your world again, he told me," Kail said. "You can go."
"And why would I go?" Moran asked him gently. She took his hand. "My place is here…with…" she trailed off. "I don't belong in my world anymore, Kail. But know this: I am not your former lover. I am Moran, not Moranah. You need to know that."
She was afraid, afraid that he might lash out at her.
"Moranah's gone," Kail said after a moment. "Dead."
"I know."
"Will you stay with me?" He asked her, finally turning to focus his green eyes into hers. "Will you stay with me, a Necromancer?"
"Yes," she said. "I will. I'll stay, Kail."
"Then I'll stay with you."
The burden lifted a bit.
Rain started falling and they walked back inside the shelter they were sharing. Thorn and Nikan would be leaving for their homes – Nikan to the South, and Thorn back to his Barbarian Highlands. Moran didn't know where Kail was going, but where he was going, she would go with him.
Till Death draw them apart.
She opened their trunk and pulled out weapons she didn't need, things she would sell before they leave in the morning. She pulled out a few useless daggers and Kail's armor that desperately needed repairing when her fingers clinked against a vial of some sort.
Odd…she didn't remember keeping vials inside the armor chest because it might accidentally break. She pulled it out and froze.
It was the Elixir of Life. The Elixir of Life that she had never given to Ollan.
She didn't even realize that she had left the shelter, clutching the Elixir in her hands. She vaguely heard Kail calling out for her, but she didn't care.
She ran into Ollan's tomb, the torches flickering a way for her. Gasping, she tore the cork off the vial with her teeth, and with her fingers she held his lips open.
She tipped the bottle into his lips and watched as the shimmering essence of life itself move to his lips.
She half expected the essence to pour from his lips, as water would when it is poured inside a corpse's lips. But the essence seemed to turn into a light, shimmering powder that slowly melted into his lips and disappeared.
"Please…" she prayed. "Please…"
Nothing happened.
She cried out and flung the bottle at the wall opposite her. "WHY?" She screamed. "WHY!"
Kail appeared at the tomb, a look of disbelief on his face.
"It didn't…work…" Moran whimpered.
Kail pushed past her and ripped the cloth covering Ollan's lower body.
It was no longer torn, no longer broken.
Ollan's eyes flew open and he gasped, trying to breath. Moran cried out in joy as she took his hands as he violently coughed, his eyes rolling to the back of his head. Kail grabbed his hand and shouted. "Ollan, we're here! Ollan, open your eyes."
Ollan gasped again, his back arching. He fell off the pedestal and coughed again, but his eyes were finally focusing.
Moran took Kail's other hand and squeezed it tightly.
Ollan leaned against the pedestal, his naked body covered in sweat and his eyes focused onto the world around him.
"I saw it," Ollan whispered. "Heaven. Valhalla."
"But it's not your time," Kail said.
"Not my time," Ollan said. "Not written in my destiny…"
They helped the Paladin up and Moran threw the discarded cloth over his shoulders. They each took an arm and slung it over their shoulders as they slowly walked away from his tomb.
"I'm back," Ollan said, as he looked up at the raining sky, where a few clouds had already broken away and they could see a few stars. "It's not bad…Death…" He said.
Two figures moved towards them, and Moran knew it was Thorn and Nikan.
"We heard something," the Amazon said. "Is everything…"
Her voice trailed off and she clutched at Thorn as they realized whom it was that Kail and Moran were supporting on their shoulders.
Moran threw her head back and laughed, and she caught Kail's eyes. He smiled at her and she reached over Ollan to touch him. He took her hand with his free one and kissed her fingers.
The War to end Terror's Reign was finally over.
And they can all have hope again.
The End