If you have never played the game, this story could be quite
confusing.
**************************************************************************** **********
He stood there, sweat dripping down his face and onto his helm. He blinked and gazed at his surroundings. He was in the worst place a mortal could ever imagine being, hell. Behind him he heard the savage battle between Zaren, the necromancer that had decided to travel with him, and the swarm of demons trying desperately to reach their master inside the chaos sanctuary. The paladin just hoped she could hold them back long enough for him to finish what he started.
In front of him he could see his hand that held the glowing blade that had saved his life many times now. It was an enchanted crystal sword, which froze anything he struck. Beyond the pulsing blade, however, stood the hellish creature he had come to kill. The full height of the beast was unknown to Dystrin, the paladin, but even hunched over it was well over eight feet. Terror was flowing through Dystrin's body, but with his faith to protect him, it didn't affect him as much as it should have.
The demon lord breathed out a black cloud of smoke before throwing a stream of lightning at the holy warrior. Dystrin jumped to the side, avoiding the lethal energy, and threw one of the small throwing knives he had at the creature. It struck Diablo in the shoulder, opening a small cut, before falling to the ground harmlessly. The demon grinned at Dystrin diabolically, and then charged him, with the small cut quickly healing.
'I better start thinking if I expect to win this battle,' Dystrin thought. He rolled to the side, barely avoiding the demon's claws. He pivoted on the ball of his foot as soon as he was back on his feet, and stabbed at the huge mass of red flesh that stood before him. The blade pierced Diablo's side, sliding in between a couple of the demon's ribs.
The yell that came from Diablo's mouth shook the sanctuary. Dystrin jumped back and watched as a portion of the demon's side froze. The blood that spilled forth from the wound burned holes in the rocky ground. The demon swiftly turned toward the paladin, and before Dystrin could react, barreled into him. He flew back twenty feet and skidded another five before he stopped and was able to return to his feet. He faced the demon lord, dazed, just in time to see a ball of magma flying at him.
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She stood over another deceased demon, chanting a ritualistic revive spell. After about ten more seconds the dead venom lord rose to his feet and blankly stared at Zaren.
"Go," she said pointing toward the door where her other minions were holding back the tide of demons trying to get in. She leaned back against the wall a moment to recover from her mass mana excursion. Her hand went to her belt, and she took a drink of one of the bluish potions. A bolt of energy shot though her body and she once again opened her eyes.
Her revived minions were easily holding the legions of hell at the door of the sanctuary for now. How long would it be before her magic gave out and she ran out of potions, however, she didn't know. Looking down she saw she had only one potion left. "Just great!" she cursed. He had better hurry up in there or he would have more than one demon to deal with. She then turned toward the door to see if there was any other way that she could delay the demonic assault.
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Dystrin lifted his tower shield, and blessed it, just in time to block the ball of molten rock. As it hit the shield, the holy energy protected the metal, and the lava slid off onto the ground. The paladin looked again to see what his enemy would do next.
The demon was curled into a ball with his demonic hands clasped together. Red rays of energy were shining outward from Diablo's clawed hands, and soon he threw what turned into a flaming spirit at Dystrin. The spirit howled horribly while flying toward the paladin. He managed to sidestep the spirit, but as he watched, it turned around and flew toward him once again. Dystrin concentrated his spiritual power in his left, shield, hand and let fly a bolt of holy energy. It collided with the spirit and after a bright, soundless explosion of energy both had disappeared.
The demon lord's grin had turned into a hideous scowl. Dark energy radiated from the demon's hands and he focused a mass amount of energy into an area between the paladin and himself. Reality started to warp in that area and soon a black portal had opened. Two venom lords made their way through before the portal collapsed. Diablo's malicious grin had returned.
"This will make things a little more difficult," said Dystrin as the two demons approached him.
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'What is he doing in there?' thought Zaren. She had just used her last mana potion and her minions where looking worst every passing moment. She said a silent prayer to Trang 'oul and summoned up two bone spears to knock the crowd of demons back. She then used her magic to form a bone wall in the doorway to allow her revenants to rest and heal.
In no time the demons were at the wall knocking there way through. Zaren could hear their savage growls as they ripped into the wall. Fragment by fragment they were making their way through the wall. Her minions were not fully healed yet but they would have to last.
As the demon finally broke through the wall, Zaren saw that a couple of them up front had been crushed to death. Silently telling her revived to back off; she concentrated on the body that fell trough the breach first. As the first scavenger climbed through the missing segment in the wall, the body exploded. The demons nearest to the door were blown to pieces while the beasts and devils further away were thrown back.
"That should do for the moment thought Zaren proudly. But her face fell as a demonic snout peered around the corner and saw her. "Guess not," she growled, gritting her teeth. Her minions fell on the creature immediately, and soon it was nothing more than a pile of ruptured flesh and broken bone. It had not been alone however, and soon the battle for the door was on once again.
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Dystrin quickly uttered a prayer to the angels in the high heavens and focused his energy into a spinning hammer that rotated out and smashed into the two demons charging him. They both lost their swords and the demon on the right had been knocked down. The left venom lord sped up his pace, continuing its charge without its ally.
The paladin knelt down on one knee and put up his shield in front of him. The demon made as if to knock the shield aside, but Dystrin sprung up toward the beast. He first slammed the shield into the demon's chest, knocking it back. As the demon charged to retaliate, the paladin planted his left foot behind him, and flipped the demon over his head using his shield and shoved his blade deep into the demon's left side before it went flying behind him.
Dystrin turned to face his demonic opponent, only to find a pile of melting ice. He turned to face the other demon just in time to find a fist in his helm. The helm spun off, misshapen, and hit the ground a few feet from where Dystrin landed. The paladin returned to his feet just in time to parry another attack. They fought fiercely, but due to the paladin's enchanted sword, the demons clawed hands were soon nothing more than melting knobs of ice.
Dystrin knocked aside a blow from the knob now left to the venom lord with his shield, and planted his sword into its black heart. The demon froze and quickly melted in the extremely warm environment.
Unfortunately for the paladin, Diablo had not just stood idly by and watched the battle unfold. The greater demon now held the two swords that had been dropped. The red-orange energy emitting from the two swords suggested that Diablo had enchanted them while Dystrin had fought the two venom lords. The paladin also noticed that the icy wound in the demon's side had healed only a little.
He noted this in his mind and charged the creature, using his spiritual power to boost his speed. Diablo crossed the swords in front a him and braced himself for the attack. The paladin smashed into the twin blades and pushed the greater demon back a few feet. Then Diablo knocked the paladin back with a swish of one sword.
They glared at each other before they collided, and battled fiercely. Diablo, having centuries upon centuries of experience in battle was turning out to be the superior combatant. He constantly was pushing the paladin back and knocking him down.
Even with his superior skill, however, he was having trouble landing any serious blows, or inflicting any mortal wounds. The paladin was using his faith and spiritual power to make himself faster and stronger than any other mortal Diablo had yet faced. The holy warrior even healed any hindering wound that the demon managed to inflict.
Finally tired of the mortal man's antics, the greater demon pounded the paladin's shield with all of his demonic strength. The shield shattered, the infused holy power throwing both combatants away from each other. Diablo stood up first, his red skin steaming, and his horns blackened with burns from the holy magic. When the paladin stood up however, he looked revitalized.
Dystrin grinned, seeing the demon lord burned and damaged put some hope into his soul. Then an aura of fury surrounded him and the world turned red. He charged the stunned demon, knocking him back. Diablo recovered from the blow quickly and swung his swords at the paladin. With the new aura, the paladin's speed had been greatly enhanced, and he easily dodged the demon's attack and slashed his side twice before having to parry another attack. Diablo felt his other side freeze up a bit, this limiting his movement even more.
The paladin didn't slow down however, and soon Diablo had icy injuries all over his body. The demon's skin glowed a light red color for a second and then a circle of fire flew outward, knocking the paladin back. The master demon fell to his knee, with the last of his power ebbing. He looked up at Dystrin standing above him.
"If I had been at my full power mortal," the demon said, "you would've died quickly."
"I thank the high heavens you weren't then," said the paladin raising his sword.
"This is not the end, mortal," said Diablo as the paladin slashed deeply into his body.
Dystrin took a few steps back as the demon's body swiftly decayed and shifted into the body of the warrior who had tried to contain the demon's spirit. After it stopped he walked up to the dead body of the wanderer, knelt down and pulled the red gem shard out of his forehead. Just as Dystrin was about to get up and leave, a hand grabbed his arm.
"Thank you," said a wavering voice, "I am at last free."
"Rest in peace, friend," said Dystrin, blessing the dying warrior. He then stood up and started walking out. Suddenly the ground began to shake. Pieces of the ceiling started to fall and the ground began to split. He started running, and started sprinting after hearing a scream that he recognized.
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Her minions were falling quickly and she knew she would have to run soon. Just as the last revived demon fell, the ground began to shake violently, knocking her down. The attacking demons gave up and started retreating, seeing the sanctuary tearing itself apart. She returned to her feet in time to dodge a part of the rocky ceiling that had broken away.
Stumbling she started to make her way out when a big dog-like demon pounced on her. She instinctively let out a cry, then recovering from the initial fright, started to defend herself with the poisonous dagger she used often to kill an opponent or in a ritual.
Even though she was skilled in using the small blade, she was exhausted. The demon scratched her up badly before the young necromancer saw the familiar bluish blade run through its head, right before the creature was about to rip her throat out. The demon collapsed on top of her, blood poring from the freezing wound.
As the demon was pushed off of her, a friendly face came into view. The paladin she had traveled here with had apparently defeated Diablo.
"Took you long enough," she said in mock disappointment.
"Yeah, well I managed to get here in time to save you," he smiled. He helped her to her feet.
"You still have that hammer?" the paladin asked, as he helped her walk out of the collapsing sanctuary.
"Yes, right here," she showed him. He set her down outside and started to heal her more serious wounds.
"You look a little tired," he said.
"You wish," she said grinning, "the next demon I see will end up with his head watching while I peal the skin from his body."
"Still as morbid as ever I see," said the paladin helping the now healed necromancer to her feet.
"You know you wouldn't want me any other way," she said, laughing at his expression.
"You're as bad as the demons down here," he said looking disgusted, then smiled, "well maybe not 'as' bad."
"Let's just destroy the soul gem," she said turning away from him, "you can fantasize later."
"I would have you know," He started to say.
"Oh, be quite," she said spotting some demons heading their way, "we have business to attend to."
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Thank you for taking the time to read this story.
**************************************************************************** **********
He stood there, sweat dripping down his face and onto his helm. He blinked and gazed at his surroundings. He was in the worst place a mortal could ever imagine being, hell. Behind him he heard the savage battle between Zaren, the necromancer that had decided to travel with him, and the swarm of demons trying desperately to reach their master inside the chaos sanctuary. The paladin just hoped she could hold them back long enough for him to finish what he started.
In front of him he could see his hand that held the glowing blade that had saved his life many times now. It was an enchanted crystal sword, which froze anything he struck. Beyond the pulsing blade, however, stood the hellish creature he had come to kill. The full height of the beast was unknown to Dystrin, the paladin, but even hunched over it was well over eight feet. Terror was flowing through Dystrin's body, but with his faith to protect him, it didn't affect him as much as it should have.
The demon lord breathed out a black cloud of smoke before throwing a stream of lightning at the holy warrior. Dystrin jumped to the side, avoiding the lethal energy, and threw one of the small throwing knives he had at the creature. It struck Diablo in the shoulder, opening a small cut, before falling to the ground harmlessly. The demon grinned at Dystrin diabolically, and then charged him, with the small cut quickly healing.
'I better start thinking if I expect to win this battle,' Dystrin thought. He rolled to the side, barely avoiding the demon's claws. He pivoted on the ball of his foot as soon as he was back on his feet, and stabbed at the huge mass of red flesh that stood before him. The blade pierced Diablo's side, sliding in between a couple of the demon's ribs.
The yell that came from Diablo's mouth shook the sanctuary. Dystrin jumped back and watched as a portion of the demon's side froze. The blood that spilled forth from the wound burned holes in the rocky ground. The demon swiftly turned toward the paladin, and before Dystrin could react, barreled into him. He flew back twenty feet and skidded another five before he stopped and was able to return to his feet. He faced the demon lord, dazed, just in time to see a ball of magma flying at him.
************************************************************************
She stood over another deceased demon, chanting a ritualistic revive spell. After about ten more seconds the dead venom lord rose to his feet and blankly stared at Zaren.
"Go," she said pointing toward the door where her other minions were holding back the tide of demons trying to get in. She leaned back against the wall a moment to recover from her mass mana excursion. Her hand went to her belt, and she took a drink of one of the bluish potions. A bolt of energy shot though her body and she once again opened her eyes.
Her revived minions were easily holding the legions of hell at the door of the sanctuary for now. How long would it be before her magic gave out and she ran out of potions, however, she didn't know. Looking down she saw she had only one potion left. "Just great!" she cursed. He had better hurry up in there or he would have more than one demon to deal with. She then turned toward the door to see if there was any other way that she could delay the demonic assault.
************************************************************************
Dystrin lifted his tower shield, and blessed it, just in time to block the ball of molten rock. As it hit the shield, the holy energy protected the metal, and the lava slid off onto the ground. The paladin looked again to see what his enemy would do next.
The demon was curled into a ball with his demonic hands clasped together. Red rays of energy were shining outward from Diablo's clawed hands, and soon he threw what turned into a flaming spirit at Dystrin. The spirit howled horribly while flying toward the paladin. He managed to sidestep the spirit, but as he watched, it turned around and flew toward him once again. Dystrin concentrated his spiritual power in his left, shield, hand and let fly a bolt of holy energy. It collided with the spirit and after a bright, soundless explosion of energy both had disappeared.
The demon lord's grin had turned into a hideous scowl. Dark energy radiated from the demon's hands and he focused a mass amount of energy into an area between the paladin and himself. Reality started to warp in that area and soon a black portal had opened. Two venom lords made their way through before the portal collapsed. Diablo's malicious grin had returned.
"This will make things a little more difficult," said Dystrin as the two demons approached him.
************************************************************************
'What is he doing in there?' thought Zaren. She had just used her last mana potion and her minions where looking worst every passing moment. She said a silent prayer to Trang 'oul and summoned up two bone spears to knock the crowd of demons back. She then used her magic to form a bone wall in the doorway to allow her revenants to rest and heal.
In no time the demons were at the wall knocking there way through. Zaren could hear their savage growls as they ripped into the wall. Fragment by fragment they were making their way through the wall. Her minions were not fully healed yet but they would have to last.
As the demon finally broke through the wall, Zaren saw that a couple of them up front had been crushed to death. Silently telling her revived to back off; she concentrated on the body that fell trough the breach first. As the first scavenger climbed through the missing segment in the wall, the body exploded. The demons nearest to the door were blown to pieces while the beasts and devils further away were thrown back.
"That should do for the moment thought Zaren proudly. But her face fell as a demonic snout peered around the corner and saw her. "Guess not," she growled, gritting her teeth. Her minions fell on the creature immediately, and soon it was nothing more than a pile of ruptured flesh and broken bone. It had not been alone however, and soon the battle for the door was on once again.
************************************************************************
Dystrin quickly uttered a prayer to the angels in the high heavens and focused his energy into a spinning hammer that rotated out and smashed into the two demons charging him. They both lost their swords and the demon on the right had been knocked down. The left venom lord sped up his pace, continuing its charge without its ally.
The paladin knelt down on one knee and put up his shield in front of him. The demon made as if to knock the shield aside, but Dystrin sprung up toward the beast. He first slammed the shield into the demon's chest, knocking it back. As the demon charged to retaliate, the paladin planted his left foot behind him, and flipped the demon over his head using his shield and shoved his blade deep into the demon's left side before it went flying behind him.
Dystrin turned to face his demonic opponent, only to find a pile of melting ice. He turned to face the other demon just in time to find a fist in his helm. The helm spun off, misshapen, and hit the ground a few feet from where Dystrin landed. The paladin returned to his feet just in time to parry another attack. They fought fiercely, but due to the paladin's enchanted sword, the demons clawed hands were soon nothing more than melting knobs of ice.
Dystrin knocked aside a blow from the knob now left to the venom lord with his shield, and planted his sword into its black heart. The demon froze and quickly melted in the extremely warm environment.
Unfortunately for the paladin, Diablo had not just stood idly by and watched the battle unfold. The greater demon now held the two swords that had been dropped. The red-orange energy emitting from the two swords suggested that Diablo had enchanted them while Dystrin had fought the two venom lords. The paladin also noticed that the icy wound in the demon's side had healed only a little.
He noted this in his mind and charged the creature, using his spiritual power to boost his speed. Diablo crossed the swords in front a him and braced himself for the attack. The paladin smashed into the twin blades and pushed the greater demon back a few feet. Then Diablo knocked the paladin back with a swish of one sword.
They glared at each other before they collided, and battled fiercely. Diablo, having centuries upon centuries of experience in battle was turning out to be the superior combatant. He constantly was pushing the paladin back and knocking him down.
Even with his superior skill, however, he was having trouble landing any serious blows, or inflicting any mortal wounds. The paladin was using his faith and spiritual power to make himself faster and stronger than any other mortal Diablo had yet faced. The holy warrior even healed any hindering wound that the demon managed to inflict.
Finally tired of the mortal man's antics, the greater demon pounded the paladin's shield with all of his demonic strength. The shield shattered, the infused holy power throwing both combatants away from each other. Diablo stood up first, his red skin steaming, and his horns blackened with burns from the holy magic. When the paladin stood up however, he looked revitalized.
Dystrin grinned, seeing the demon lord burned and damaged put some hope into his soul. Then an aura of fury surrounded him and the world turned red. He charged the stunned demon, knocking him back. Diablo recovered from the blow quickly and swung his swords at the paladin. With the new aura, the paladin's speed had been greatly enhanced, and he easily dodged the demon's attack and slashed his side twice before having to parry another attack. Diablo felt his other side freeze up a bit, this limiting his movement even more.
The paladin didn't slow down however, and soon Diablo had icy injuries all over his body. The demon's skin glowed a light red color for a second and then a circle of fire flew outward, knocking the paladin back. The master demon fell to his knee, with the last of his power ebbing. He looked up at Dystrin standing above him.
"If I had been at my full power mortal," the demon said, "you would've died quickly."
"I thank the high heavens you weren't then," said the paladin raising his sword.
"This is not the end, mortal," said Diablo as the paladin slashed deeply into his body.
Dystrin took a few steps back as the demon's body swiftly decayed and shifted into the body of the warrior who had tried to contain the demon's spirit. After it stopped he walked up to the dead body of the wanderer, knelt down and pulled the red gem shard out of his forehead. Just as Dystrin was about to get up and leave, a hand grabbed his arm.
"Thank you," said a wavering voice, "I am at last free."
"Rest in peace, friend," said Dystrin, blessing the dying warrior. He then stood up and started walking out. Suddenly the ground began to shake. Pieces of the ceiling started to fall and the ground began to split. He started running, and started sprinting after hearing a scream that he recognized.
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Her minions were falling quickly and she knew she would have to run soon. Just as the last revived demon fell, the ground began to shake violently, knocking her down. The attacking demons gave up and started retreating, seeing the sanctuary tearing itself apart. She returned to her feet in time to dodge a part of the rocky ceiling that had broken away.
Stumbling she started to make her way out when a big dog-like demon pounced on her. She instinctively let out a cry, then recovering from the initial fright, started to defend herself with the poisonous dagger she used often to kill an opponent or in a ritual.
Even though she was skilled in using the small blade, she was exhausted. The demon scratched her up badly before the young necromancer saw the familiar bluish blade run through its head, right before the creature was about to rip her throat out. The demon collapsed on top of her, blood poring from the freezing wound.
As the demon was pushed off of her, a friendly face came into view. The paladin she had traveled here with had apparently defeated Diablo.
"Took you long enough," she said in mock disappointment.
"Yeah, well I managed to get here in time to save you," he smiled. He helped her to her feet.
"You still have that hammer?" the paladin asked, as he helped her walk out of the collapsing sanctuary.
"Yes, right here," she showed him. He set her down outside and started to heal her more serious wounds.
"You look a little tired," he said.
"You wish," she said grinning, "the next demon I see will end up with his head watching while I peal the skin from his body."
"Still as morbid as ever I see," said the paladin helping the now healed necromancer to her feet.
"You know you wouldn't want me any other way," she said, laughing at his expression.
"You're as bad as the demons down here," he said looking disgusted, then smiled, "well maybe not 'as' bad."
"Let's just destroy the soul gem," she said turning away from him, "you can fantasize later."
"I would have you know," He started to say.
"Oh, be quite," she said spotting some demons heading their way, "we have business to attend to."
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Thank you for taking the time to read this story.