Humanity's Last Stand

by Kingsrookie

A spoof of diablo but is not diablo You may have seen it else where but I took it down here’s the update R&R please and I hope you enjoy.

Humanity's Last Stand

The young man was standing before the world of destiny, on the brink of a change in his life, ready to plunge in and to rid the world of the evil in which he sought to destroy.

It had been many years since the world had been at peace with the forces of supernatural powers but many tried to balance these factors out. The world was a place for plagues, demons, and the even the very supernatural forces from the depths of Hell itself, and upon that throne was the Hell master himself placed upon his throne of old decaying human bones which he has feasted on for many years. Upon his throne the Hell master controls the forces which are hell-bent on destroying the very civilization and ridding the world of humans. Many try to stand up and to force their way through the ranks to destroy as much as they can, lowering the population of the evil spawn's forces. There were many victors which people praised to eradicate them of their vile state of affairs but all were brought down causing a state of mourning all across the world, mourning not for their fellow man being brought down but for the fact that now someone else would have to arise and take the place of the previously slain. Many different demons were produced in the Wars of Sin; many were total abominations and were so grotesque that many died of the sight they saw. Limbs grew out of places where other things were supposed to be, such as heads and- torsos, but all were fierce and knew how to fight and slaughter, even to murder on a moments notice. But others were halfway right, looking like a normal demon should, with huge leathery wings sprouting from the back and a single horn protruding from the middle of the forehead. But all of the decent looking demons had runic scriptures drawn all over the body, telling of the demons life, all their life written on their body for the rest of the world of the world to see. These demons were the ringleaders controlling the lesser demons, bending them to do their will. The highest ranking demon was Hell himself, Satan. Flames shooting from every part of his body, the temperature around always rose fifty degrees no matter where he went. He wanted to shape the world into his own fashion, wanting it the way he saw it everyday in his mind, and now he had his chance. His minions had finally overpowered the "God" the humans worshipped, slaughtering him and all his holy servants in a rolling ball of fire, incinerating most into a pile of cremated ashes. The world the humans lived on suffered many natural disasters during this period, with hurricanes forming in the middle of an open plain, tornadoes spouting great gusts of water all across the ocean and other waterways, volcanoes erupted spewing a vomit mixture of hellish fire and molten rock causing all nearby cities to flee in the terror of its power. During this time was when Satan battled against the "almighty god" in a very intense battle. The "god" fought with the fury of the faith the people put into him but it was no match for the Underworld's lord power and the "god" failed miserably, being blown like a feather in the breeze. Satan almost defeated himself in the battle for drastically overestimating the human "god's" power but he quickly regained control of his tormenting power and defeated him with only a brief expense of his power sending the decrepit "god" to be banished for gods were immortal and always were, and the rest of his time he spent the days sitting upon his throne fashioned of human bones creating his forces that would soon destroy the world and replace it in a foul place of corruption and chaos with lava flowing everywhere bathing the new inhabitants in its heat. But until that time, the people had a hope for selected warriors to eradicate them from the forces that held them in siege. No, Satan had not had enough time yet to destroy what little forces the pitiful humans had but with every on-going day there was more for the weak humans to fight. Leaning back into the uncomfortable looking chair, it was actually quite comfortable because human bones are one of the softest bones in the world and the chair melt into the shape of the Satan's back, relaxing the huge demon allowing the demon to think about what sort of demon to create next, and already, before him a shape was forming out of some liquid that just appeared, and the features were melting to form a new and different being.

The young man walked forward, noticing the vast effects the evil had on the world. Trees were black and so was the grass as if showing a sea of mystical mirages. Everything was the same except for what the evil did; it was absorbed into the trees which twisted in return into large and knobby masses that resembled what, a new thing, and the bakers called the pretzel. The grass was the same as always, just with a darker tint pushing on black and the fact that if you walked over it, you would most likely cut and rip your feet into bloody shreds allowing the moisture of the blood darken it the tint further. The sun hung in the sky in a great massive ball of huge spouting fire spewing in every which way threatening to rain the world in its glory. The town had not been affected so drastically, the gate was rotting from the evil trying to bore into it and the atmosphere that hung around it was unhealthy but it fared a lot better than most towns, the usual town had long since fallen prey to the wrath that Satan's minions produced. This town by far produced the healthiest people, sending them off occasionally to lower the effects of the evil by exorcising the demons that lay in the waste barren beyond but like all the other town heroes, none return from the finished job, all they did was weaken the forces of Hell as a boy would weaken a horse with a needle prick. But the other minions were being produced far to fast and the humans needed a good miracle, a miracle which their "god" should have answered but alas had not yet, so they waited, waited for a small sign that their god had not yet abandoned them, even though he was locked away on the very edges of the universe.

The broad demon stood before the broad open wastelands. Ahead of him was his goal, the port town of Cal-muan which lay on the bank of the Gradula Sea and also which in his case was to be destroyed as fast as possible. His master had told him of a world where there was nothing but corruption, plague, and devastation all around for everyone to get a helping from. Around him was his army of largely mutated demons ready to do the broad demons every whim, it had been tough to subdue Satan's minions at first but the broad demon told them of the place his master had envisioned and readily they all stuck to him waiting for that pleasurable command to destroy and to lay waste less destruction to everything all around them. The big demon was different though, unlike all the others that had the mystic runes scripted all around their body the big demon had none, his skin was not marred or disfigured by any dents, bruises and the like, which meant that he had a life in which he could not remember. He was a fine figure of a demon with large bat-like wings spouting out of his back and a single horn protruding from the base off his forehead, spiraling into an auger shape which the big demon sometimes impaled other helpless creatures on. The skin was lighter than most demons, pale pink rather than the bloody red or the opaque black and he had muscles upon muscles, a feat that not even the other demons had. All the other demons and hell spawn looked at him as different but the big demon made sure they didn't say anything about it. Behind them lay the waste of the forest and the hidden city in it, everyone in it and around it were either slaughtered or caught up in the blaze in which the demons created feeling pride when the screams of tortured agony and pain arose from the soft crackle of the trees, the big demon could still the faint aroma of charred flesh and wood burned smoke lingering on the air. That fight had been bloody but the demon didn't want any other mistakes. This time he would take them by surprise, slaughtering everything in sight. Above the mass ruins of the lower demons were the big demons lesser in command. They were all shaped and most even looked like him but all were red and black with those deep engravings scrawled into their sides, the big demon watched as the ones just like him were busy each with their own groups of abominations to poke fun at, laughing at who could knock who the farthest merrily pulverizing the lesser. At the edge of the group were the humans. They were the slaves of there previous raid and already were they wearing out from only just a two-day trek they were in charge caring the supplies and a select few, women mostly were going along carrying the demons weapons, the big demon had placed big brutes of demons in charge of the slaves, demons with great protruding bellies and fat monstrous arms which could deal agonizing pain from a whip snap. Indeed, as the big demon stood thinking about a procedure, the faint sound of SNAP could be heard on the wind and the rich sounds of laughter following. The whips cut cruelly into the slaves' backs and already there was torn open skin flayed across the back flapping with the wind in many but all felt no pain, after the torture that they felt the pain lessened down into a dull but intense throbbing with each new whip snap being an add on to that pain. If they did this to the new batch of slaves, they would be soon carrying there own provisions. The sounds of cheering and laughter, not from demon-folk but from man drifted over to the big demon's ears. This was just what he was waiting for, it was autumn as the humans called when the harvest came in, and the sounds of celebrating could only indicate one thing, the harvest had come in and they were feasting on what little rations they had that had not been tainted with evil. Soon, when the sun went down the big demon could carry out his plans for the complete and total destruction of the peaceful city of Cal-muan. Yes, the wait would not be long now.

The guard hung over the gates that protected the city from most harm in a drunken stupor, in his hand was a flask of ale half drained by him already as he stood watch over the desolate wastelands for any signs of movement. His job was a dull one and nothing ever happened when he was on shift but he just stood there, momentarily swaying in the light breeze. He desperately wanted to get back to the celebration as he lifted of the flask of ale up to his lips draining the rest of the fluid in a long draft swallow filling his stomach in liquid fire. He threw the flask over the top of the gate, watching it swirl down in a smooth motion before it struck the ground, a sudden wave of nausea filled him as thoughts of attacking and invasions filled his head like a signal horn. The swaying momentum stopped for time being while the guard stared out at the horizon, barely being able to see beyond the dull glow that the sun produced for him. Convinced that there was no one beyond that could cause harm during the festival the drunk settled back into his delightful stupor and allowed the waves of pleasant euphoria pass over him in a calming and soothing force. As he settled the night became corrupted as the big demon sought to lay waste to the entire town and it's folk. The guard laughed out loud and never knew what was going on as he dreamed of getting another flask of ale.

The young warrior reminisced as he walked through the desolate forest he now entered; he was remembering how happy he had been when he was at home with his family in the peaceful town of Rambolic. He left it all behind him for what. So far he had been in this forest for a few hours and those few hours had been very uneventful. He pulled out his sword and began idly chopping at the nearby vegetation. Watching as the waves of green flashed up and landed without a sound on the forest floor. The young warrior whose name is Grando had heard the stories about the sin wars and the amazing if not frightful stories of Lokitar, a savage demon not scarred with the markings of the strange runic scriptures marked into the skin of all the other demons, except for the main demon himself, Satan. It was he who Grando wished he could destroy but he did not want to get his hopes up to much he did not want to make too much of a fool of himself. Beyond the forest Grando could here the sounds of birds chirping, singing there graceful songs out to each other. Grando momentarily stopped his pace and let the graceful sounds of the chirping fill his ears, calming his thoughts about home. Behind him a bush shuddered and Grando whirled around readying himself in case of a fight. What the bush produced however was merely a short waddling creature about the size of a large rodent. Large quills were coming off the creature at every angle ending in long and very sharp spines. Grando had heard of these rodents and recognized it as a porcupine, although they were not very common to these parts of the world. They usually stayed in more humid climates; this one must have wandered far from his home. Grando lessened the grip of his sword letting it fall down to his side, he felt that he had no reason to be afraid of the creature and he was right. The creature waddled on a few steps before passing out in a heap of sweating flesh and quills. Grando walked over to the peculiar creature, kneeling down beside it trying to figure out what was wrong with it. The porcupine rustled a bit at the disturbance that Grando caused but allowed the man to allow what it was doing, the creature did not have the strength to fight back." There there little creature, no reason to be afraid, here have some water." Grando pulled out his water skin which was full to bursting since he had filled up at his last stop and poured some water onto the ground so that the creature could drink. The creature rolled its tongue out to the puddle of water and Grando could not help but notice that it was parched and dry, the tongue pulled in and out as the porcupine lapped up all the water, even licking the wet spot on the ground. "Hold on don't be too hasty, here's some more." Said Grando as he poured more water on the ground as the curious creature greedily lapped up as much of it as it could. Grando could not help but notice the surging vitality flourish in the lapping creature. The creature looked up at Grando with hungry eyes pleading for something but Grando did not know what it was. He figured he creature was hungry and had to resort to eat the vegetation around it but Grando thought that he remembered that the porcupine species were insectivores, and all that he had was meat. Grando decided to play against the odds and produced a feeble amount of meat and dropped it on the wet spot. The creature surged forward downing the piece of meat in a hurried gulp but started to cough as the effects of the saltiness filled the mouth of the porcupine. Again the creature looked up at Grando and he laughed as poured some more of life's precious fluid for the creature. The creature lapped this bit quickly and looked meaningfully up at Grando. "That's all I got honest, I have more water but at this rate you will be bloated before to long." Grando got up leaving another feeble amount of meat behind and another puddle of water and got up, leaving the creature behind as Grando once again set off. He passed over a low bush and beyond saw a clear sparkling pond with fish leaping all around, funny that Grando had not heard it yet. He stepped forward to go to the sparkling pond. He marveled at the beauty all around and the serene motion of everything, he pulled his water skin out and filled the part up that the creature had drunk. As he filled his skin up he heard a rustling sound again and turned to greet the waddling pursuer. "I told you that that was all, know if you want some more there is plenty here." Grando gestured at the pond behind him but kept his eye on the creature, the creature moved closer to Grando until it was at his side. He would have reached down to pet the creature but from the look of the quills he would result in a pained hand. The creature picked up its two front paws and put them in Grando's lap looking into his deep and dark brown eyes. The creature shook Grando out of a daze with a low bark issued from somewhere deep in the throat. Grando pulled off the paws from his lap, there were no spines protruding from the legs, and set them down gently on the ground. Grando stood up and began to walk away when another low bark stopped him. "I told you that there is no more if you want some go and look." He turned and continued forward knowing that somewhere behind him the peculiar porcupine was following him. Whistling a tune Grando pulled his sword out again and idly began chopping at the surrounding vegetation again. Behind him the porcupine did not let the man out of its sights, thankful for the water and food.

Lokitar, the unscripted demon stood in the haziness of the sinking daylight. From this distance, the demon could see the drunken guard hanging over the edge of the parapet and he regarded him as an easy obstacle to get around. In his mind, Lokitar thought of the easiest way to destroy and break the humans, since this time was their festival, Lokitar figured that surprise was his best tactic. During the time when the sun hung in the air, Lokitar had to cease the beatings the fat demons gave, he did not want any noises for the humans to catch, and he did not want the humans to know their position. The weapons were handed out and given to all of Lokitar's lesser in command and readied them for the onslaught that would follow. The abominations did not need weapons of any sort, their ferocity was good enough and their speed was even better. The fat demons would stay back and guard the slaves and they would keep watch and would try to enslave any fleeing humans that tried to escape the onslaught that Lokitar's force would produce, if they couldn't the fat demons were to flay the fleeing humans to death with their whips and brute strength. Their could be a problem if Lokitar's force was to be wiped out but Lokitar highly thought that unlikely, but if it came to that point they were to leave no one for the humans to get. The fat demons would have to kill the slaves, which Lokitar knew they would do with glee, and all were to fight till the very end, even ready to take their own life if need be. The sun finally slipped in to night's evil wrath and the moon hung in the sky like a glowing orb, illuminating everything. The town of Cal-muan was very active and lights shone brilliantly through the feeble gates, lighting up the field which the demons were about to cross. More laughter and drunken singing floated along the wind telling Lokitar that the time was ready and that he should move ahead now. Lokitar produced a harsh guttural noise, all the demons head lifted up to look at their leader, who lifted up one leg and walked toward the joyful town, which should never see anything coming.

The guard lay passed out on the rampart, half hung out over the edge with a fine line of vomit trickling out from the corner of his mouth, dripping down into a shiny puddle on the ground before the access way to the gate. Out on the plane the lone figure of Lokitar stood, and behind him came the slowly moving masses of his force, each silently stopping behind him until the moon shined darkened with the plague of demons littering the plain.

A little boy was lying awake in his highly uncomfortable bed, feeling the scratchiness of the straw poking at his back, outside his mother was joining the festival in a wide array of fun and games in which the young boy wished he could join, his father was no doubt drunk with his favorite liquor in his stomach as he stood watch for the peaceful little port city. The boy lay awake wishing to get back, his mother had put him to bed very early, when the sun had just started sinking its ray into the earth, that had been quite awhile ago as now the moon's rays strayed from outside and splashed the figure of the little boy with its cold light, and he hated her for that, he hated everything. The little boy shut his eyes as he settled for going back to sleep and thought of his father drunk in a passed out pile of poisonous fumes and with that the little boy went into a sleep which was both comforting because he needed it but also plague riddled with nightmares of death, but the boy had already begun to think of these things at his young age and welcomed them as his heart slowly dropped another notch into a hateful lump of coal.

Lokitar stopped when he was just about three-hundred feet from the feeble gates. The guard had rolled over in his sleep and fell off the ramparts, a full eight feet high and landed on his head, killing him instantly, Lokitar felt that this moment was the right time and nodded to a demon next to him, which wielded a huge rust studded sword which curved at the top into a fine sweep, and the demon acknowledged the motion and moved forward, moving in a slight motion to the left preparing to flank the unsuspecting city to the left, and in the demons steps were the swift movements of the abominations as they swarmed behind following every move the larger demon gave. Lokitar gave another nod and another demon walked forward, silently almost producing no noise, this time sweeping to the right with his own trail of abominations to follow. Lokitar gave no other nod but instead walked forward, straight into the front gate leaving the other bigger demons to follow in his wake with their own force each. Lifting his own sword, a fine remarkable sword with studded jewels in-laid on each side but this one was straight able to pierce even the toughest armor, a little gift from his master, he brought it down, and feeling the cool wave of air ripple through the night as the blade sliced the very air itself.

The demon which went around to the left side reached his destination, stopping just before the wall which was made of rotten oak. There was a slight crack in the frame and the demon stepped forward to peer through it and what he saw were humans dancing around a highly erect pole, each with a streamer in hand dancing around it, letting the streamers flow around it. The demon took a small motion back and raised his head up to the dark sky, over head the moon was taking refuge behind a cloud, blotting out the light that it produced, leaving the ground in a faint inky blackness. The demon lowered his head again while walking backward, until he stood with his force of abominations. He took a slow step and turned around to face them, lifting his sword up high, he uttered a growl. The abominations went into a frenzy, rushing forward to the wall ready to tear it down and already the twisted constructs of the abominations were tearing down the walls. The destruction had begun.

The demon on the right had barely made it into his position as the sounds of destruction filled the calm night air of celebrating with the tone of evil and death. The celebration abruptly stopped as screams of pain and horror rose, the demon looked forward raising his sword and pointing it to the town before him, allowing the wave of abominations to join the gleeful fray of death ahead. The demon walked behind the paw prints of the abominations, wanting to join the little battle.

Lokitar walked forward holding his sword high, leaving the demons behind him in case the humans defeated his force but that was highly unlikely, still better to be prepared. The demon with no inscription came to the front gate and with a powerful swing, the gate before him crumbled into a split pile of rotten kindling and a few stray pieces of timber. Ahead he saw the oncoming mass of abominations crowding around a feeble force of humans, on his itchy bed the boy slept.

Inside the humans were singing and dancing when the wall at the left side of the town crumbled revealing a large mass of grotesque figures ready for devastation against the fugal forces of the humans. That was when the screams started. The abominations rushed forward gripping as many humans as they could and began the task of ripping everything apart even if there was nothing to rip apart. in a time span of seconds, the ground was already starting to stain with the torn pieces of human flesh as more abominations stepped over the bodies ready to rip some more. The humans screamed and fled as far away as they could from the frightening figures. That was when they were ambushed, with never a chance to gather up a force to protect themselves, The right wall crumbled and another mass of abominations came in for their chance in the little fight. The small force of the humans gathered in the middle of the town. The maypoles forgotten armed with nothing but their fists, the abominations approached slowly in a circle. When the circle had enclosed the defeated humans in a space not much wider than a few feet away, the demons stopped. They parted in the middle like the humans do when brushing their hair and a lone figure approached. It was Lokitar and he came forward with the point of his sword leading the way. He came to a halt just before the humans and looked them over appraisingly, scanning the humans to see how useful they would be. When done Lokitar said to kill the children and to keep the rest for slaves, and he turned away happy at how easy his idea had worked. The humans looked at the abominations as they encroached, grabbing the humans and preparing them for slavery. Of course, some struggled but the fierce lashings from the abominations stopped them from struggling too much and the abomination carried their new slaves out. One woman, the mother of the hateful little boy cried out for her baby but was quickly hushed with a wave of tears as one knobby fist found its way into her stomach, causing her to lose her breath. The abominations and their commanders turned and left setting fire to the whole town as they left. Trying to leave nothing behind, and already the blaze was fierce, burning everything in a vicious wave of heat and fire and the peaceful port town of Cal-muan went up in flames. Even the little boy crept into the deeper sleep as his bed straw caught fire and burned him alive. But with his hateful thoughts he never noticed as his skin charred and melted away.

Lokitar went back to the place where his reinforcements were placed, while his minions shoved the slaves to the fat demons. Cries came up at once as the cracks of whips arose from the backs of the slaves as the fat demons set about the task of keeping the humans in check, making sure that they would not step out of line any time soon. The battle this time caused very few casualties and the casualties that resulted were mostly from Lokitar's own kind, when the abominations got into a frenzy they would not stop until something made them stop and that was even hard to do, so some fell to the ripping masses of the abominations, tearing their own apart. The fire claimed the bodies as it swept over them, liking the taste of the flesh and licking it raw. Lokitar was very satisfied and stood resting where he stood watching as the last remnants of the fire swept over the poor guard which fell from the top of the ramparts sending another foul smelling waft of smoke into the air; Lokitar inhaled deeply and liked the smell allowing it to fill his nostrils. Lokitar settled down to the cold ground as the grass's dew cooled his bottom, making it wet. Lokitar went into a slight snooze as the action around him began to die down and he wondered how long he would have to wait before the next big battle would take place, these miniature battles were very boring and Lokitar wanted action. He went into a deep sleep which was plagued with dreams which, as always, he would forget in the morning, but in this one the dream was with a human holding a lone sword smiting down his master. Lokitar snorted and forgot the dream and was overcome with the blackness of unconsciousness.

The little porcupine creature had been with Grando for the past three days, feeding from his hand and drinking from the flask. It had grown used to the human and liked him; it thought that it might as well wait with him, traveling where he went. The three days that they had gone brought them out of the forest and onto a long and open plain. Grando's feet were in tattered ruins as the blades cut cruelly into the skin. Ahead he could see a town with beautiful lights dancing merrily on the horizon and this was what Grando strived for, not caring for the dull pains in his feet. The porcupine which Grando had taken upon himself to call Scrale was not affected by the blades of grass so easily kept up with him. It seemed to suit the little rodent because it could always "scale" whatever Grando did and so Grando thought it suited the porcupine perfectly. He looked up at the night sky and saw that the moon had come out of its hiding place and it splashed on Grando's face, he looked forward and saw the town closer. If he kept walking he knew he could make it there by morning but at the rate he was going he was pushing himself to hard. Grando looked over and even saw the porcupine glisten with sweat from the light from the moon. He would have to stop or he would collapse very soon. He forced his legs to quit moving and knelt down to the ground as the grass crumpled as he shifted his weight to his stomach. He looked over to his rodent friend and told it that he was done for the night and he rolled over on his back, placing his hands behind his head grimacing as the grass cut his hands, and he peered up at the sky, looking at the beautiful pinpricks of the stars on the night atmosphere and the large orb of the moon. The cold night air tickled Grando's arm causing goose bumps to arise as Grando shivered. The clothing attire he wore offered very little protection from the biting cold but Grando allowed it to happen, letting it make him shiver, letting it make him tougher. His muscles in his legs cooled from the gratification of the ending of his walk. His muscles thrummed from the overuse of them and in morning they would be sore but Grando knew that it was strengthening him allowing him for much longer treks to come. Grando turned to his side where he saw that Scrale had fallen asleep. The little porcupine was breathing short bursts of breaths onto Grando's face, he let the warmth of the porcupine creature wash over him and he felt his lead studded eyelids fall down making him sleep. He began to dream liking the dream. A dream where he was smiting down the evil demon, Lokitar, with out a scratch. And somewhere else on the world Lokitar forgot the dream

Satan got up off his chair and strode forward, passing over little lava rivers not feeling the heat from them for he was heat, and death and hell and a whole lot of other things. In his mind he saw the destruction of Cal-muan and the death of one little boy. A boy whose heart was filled with hate and desire, who Satan thought was the leader of the so called prophecy. He watched slowly as his mind played the death over and over and over. From the melting of the skin to the cruel smile which stayed on his face the whole time it took to do the process. Satan stood in deep thought trying to think about his next maneuver. Already his forces were too big, so he stopped producing more, if he made too many they could riot, not that Satan cared, but he just did not want to go through the trouble of destroying them. His lesser in command, Lokitar, had proven very worthy in the battles against humanity and Satan was beginning to think that he might be able to make something out of the peculiar demon. Satan had fashioned him himself, trying to make a smaller image of himself and came up with Lokitar. Still he was not displeased and he became more increasingly fond of the unscripted demon. He purposely made the demon different. He wanted the humans to cower in fear of something different, to be afraid of something that should be like the others but was not, his construct was different. He fashioned Lokitar out of the lava that flowed through his chamber making his heart hot with evil while all the others were not evil, just ravenous for destruction. It had taken a lot to construct something that everything would be afraid of and that his other constructs would look up to. Yet the reason for Lokitar's past is not entirely clear. He constructed him from an idea he got from a prophecy he had heard a long time ago, when Satan had just taken over from the hated Hades. The prophecy told him that he had only one chance to destroy the human which might be able to smite Satan down, and Lokitar was the idea he came up with. Yes, Lokitar was a fine figure and Satan thought that he would be the one to destroy the world, making Satan's job easier. Of course, Satan would have to kill him when the prophecy and it would be a shame that he would have to but Satan could not have any rivalries for power, and even though Satan was immortal and Lokitar was immortal, Satan had made him powerful enough to best him. But that chore would be a long time from now; he did not have to worry about that for awhile. Satan turned to go back to his chamber fashioning a human soul from thin air, grabbed it while it was moaning, it was the freshest that way, and greedily chewed on the savoring flavor of the cries and despair.

The peaceful town of Rambolic had fallen prey to the vastness of evil surrounding the area shortly after Grando had his dream. The city had no chance as another well known demon, one even more ruthless than Lokitar if possible, came in and slaughtered the men, raped the women, and devoured the flesh of all the virgins in the city, there were a good bit do to the fact that Rambolic was a peaceful town and slightly religious. In a matter of minutes, the town was over run and the forces of evil went about and did what they did best, wrack havoc and to commit destruction. The town did not have guards to protect them because they did not need them; the town was well known and flourished from trade and the sort, so it never really had a chance. But a big drawback for Satan's side, in the short and brief battle, a member of the prophecy was brought down and he was brought down in an easy maneuver. He charged in with his minions but did not suspect the vitality of the humans and in the process the member of the prophecy was brought down by his own blade. His name was Negus and he was slain by a simple rock, a rock which jutted out of the earth and shattered on impact when the demon hit it, impaling him on his own sword. The prophecy was part of the one that Satan had assembled Lokitar from, and Negus was the only thing that could defeat Lokitar, Satan did not know how but he believed the ancient text and believed with a lot of faith. But the damage was done and the young warrior had no home to go to now, when he was done with his adventure he would have to look for somewhere else to call a home.

Grando woke up the next morning feeling happy and very refreshed. He awoke with a faint tickling sensation on his hands and he swatted to bat the feeling away. He hit a face which recoiled and Grando was immediately woken up by the sharp bark that was issued afterwards. His eyelids opened and he saw that Scrale had gone about the task of licking his hands again. He pulled them away and examined them. They had a few minor cuts but they weren't as bad as he had thought they would be, at least his hands weren't hurting as much as his stomach rumbled. He groaned and Scrale barked at him making Grando laughed.

"Alright little buddy let's see if we can go get some food." Grando stood up stretching his leg muscles so they would not cramp up and he could feel how sore they were, like a distant throb. But Grando would just have to get over it. He put one foot in front of the other as he walked away heading back for the town before him knowing that Scrale would follow. Scrale barked and Grando turned around, behind the peculiar rodent was a small pile of fruit and off to one side was a greta bird, which appeared to already have been gnawed on. Scrale barked again and Grando came to him thinking at how the porcupine had known he was hungry, probably heard my stomach, he mused as he sat down next to his rodent friend, grimacing as the blades of grass scraped across his legs. "So is this for me?" Grando asked looking at the porcupine. The porcupine barked and waddled away to its bird and began chewing on it stopping only to spit out bits of feathers. Grando reached out and grabbed a piece of fruit from the pile, a rather large one with only little pinpricks in it to show how the porcupine carried the fruit. Grando laughed at the idea of picturing a porcupine stabbing fruit with its quills and Scrale looked up at him with twinkling eyes, it bark again and went back to its morning breakfast, oh well, Grando thought, might as well fill up. He bit into the piece of fruit and loved the sweet taste of the fruit and the succulent nectar which spilled out and dribbled over his chin, Grando tried to stop the flow but his hand wasn't fast enough and it dripped onto his tunic. The fruit was delicious and Grando quickly grabbed another this time trying to swallow all the nectar loving the glorious taste and the slightly odd feeling of it. While Grando was busy swallowing his third piece of fruit the porcupine rejoined him letting the blood drip of its lips. It went over and grabbed a piece of fruit in its small jaws and began tearing greedily at it. Grando finished his third fruit and stopped. He was beginning to get full and he did not want to have cramps while walking, he would save the rest for later, after the porcupine finished ravaging his piece of course. Parts of the fruit hung off of the porcupine's lips but the porcupine merely pulled its tongue out and licked the rest up lapping up the pieces that fell. Scrale looked at Grando and wiggled, sniffing the ground for a moment and then walking along towards the town leaving Grando to pick up the rest of the fruit which Grando did by placing them in the back of his knapsack. He picked up his feet and followed after the porcupine. "You're a funny little guy aren't you?" Grando asked trying to catch up to the creature. Scrale simply turned around and barked in answer keeping a slight distance between the two. Deep inside the porcupine thought it funny to see the clumsy human barely able to keep up. The human got closer and Scrale barked picking up the pace a little bit. Grando spurted the distance and pulled ahead of the porcupine running full speed, his muscles were sore things of agony but he knew he had at least a friend to do the traveling with.

Lokitar busied himself and the rest of his horde with a long march with almost no time to stop. Many humans fell prey to the sun's frequent heat and many more fell due to overexertion. Lokitar cared little for the slaves, they would have died soon anyway because of the frequent beatings which the fat demons satisfied themselves with. In his mind his master told him of the next step in the role for destruction. He was to travel to the next town, Lokitar could not remember the name and did not care for it, and he was to destroy it as effortlessly as he could. Satan had told him of the dangers this town had. In his mind Lokitar could see the glinting metals that could only indicate one thing, arrows. This town would not be weak and it would not be easy to defeat. Just in his mind Lokitar could notice that this town would not leave the ramparts guarded in drunken glory and stupor. If Lokitar were to destroy this town he would have to be swift and he would have to find a way in. In his mind the gates opened and hundreds of men armed with glorious swords and majestic armor billowed out in tightly formed formations. The gates shut behind and the group of swordsman split up encircling the fortified town, checking for anything that might endanger it. The town's walls were high and nicely constructed coming to a point at the top so if anything tried to come in they would have to be careful in order not to get cut. There was one thing that Lokitar saw that might go into his favor. The walls, as strong as they looked, were made of wood and wood was no match for the powerful abominations. They would have to attack at night of course, when the humans' vision was at its worst. Lokitar could tell that he would result in some casualties but with enough time and a carefully plotted ambush he would be able to do it with few deaths on their side. The vision blurred and the last thing that he heard before it obscured from his mind was his master telling him how long the trek would be, approximately a few days from now if they went there normal pace. Lokitar grunted, the last part of the vision disappeared and talked on the top of his lungs. "Our new objective, my fellow hellions, is to go to a heavily fortified city and to bring it down. Our master tells me that we could make it in a few days but I disagree, we should be able to make it tomorrow, the day after at the latest. Now we will pick up the pace come on! Let's move." Lokitar walked a little faster but stopped when he saw a red and powerful arm on his wrist turning him around.

"We need to rest; we can't be pushing any harder than we can, we may be used to the heat but our slaves are not and we are not used to this conditioning, we must stop." the demon stared into Lokitar's eyes, searching for the answer that he wanted. Lokitar stared back in return feeling loathsome against the rude demon, he would push his horde as far as he felt like it and this little demon would not be the one to stop him.

"You know maybe you are right, maybe we should stop but I have a better idea." the demon started to tremble even though demons were supposed to be tough and not afraid. "How about you rest while the rest of us keep going and when you are up to the task you can rejoin us." Lokitar finished, knowing that he had the interrupter right where he wanted him. Lokitar turned and continued walking. "We move out now! Leave him where he is he will catch up when he can." Lokitar smiled inside while behind him the demon stared in disbelief knowing that something must be awry. The rest of the horde filed around him following there leader and leaving the poor demon behind.

The demon started to leave after the last of the horde disappeared not wanting to be there in case someone came back to find him, the sun was hotter than ever but it didn't matter to the demon for he was born and used to this condition. The demon left leaving nothing but footprints in the ground.

Lokitar mused at how easy it was to get rid of the banished demon. He wondered if the demon thought he would get off really easy. About an hour after they had left the demon Lokitar had called forth a couple of abominations and told them to get rid of their little problem, this time Lokitar allowed his army to rest and they did so with happy and resting pleasure sprawling all about on the warm grassy ground. Only Lokitar sat up as he watched as the abomination's small and distorted bodies grew increasingly smaller as they got farther away. That had been quite awhile ago and Lokitar was growing restless, he wanted to move on and to continue his destruction. But all Lokitar could do for now was wait and that would be what he would be doing.

The demon ran. Behind him were the grotesque forms of the abominations loping after him. There were maybe three or four and the demon still had his sword but the abominations were ravenous and they would keep fighting until they were done with their opponent. So the demon ran. It was all he could do yet the abominations were gaining and were gaining rapidly. The abominations loped after, chasing their prey as their master told them. Their master told them to do what they wanted to the prey he was after all just an enemy to him now. So they ran, gaining and salivating while doing it. The ground glistened with their spit as it poured out in great spurts flooding everywhere. Yes, when the abominations reached their prey, they would feast. Eat by ripping apart body parts and gorging themselves on the tainted flesh.

The demon stumbled on an upturned rock which jutted out of the ground. He sprawled on the ground exposing his body to the light of the sun and the advancing troops of the abominations. They loomed closer, now approximately twenty feet away from their target. The demon now pulled out his sword, leaping to his feet and brandishing it at his enemies. He stumbled again on the stone and fell directly on his bottom. The abominations rushed in on the unprotected prey and ripped in, sending chunks of flesh into the air. The demon never had a chance to squeal as one of the abominations sunk its sharp canine teeth into the exposed neck of the demon. The blood gushed out and down the throat of the abomination. It couldn't get in more of a frenzy. They all ripped and shredded the large body of the demon in a matter of minutes and all that was left were a few bones and a few bone splinters from the abominations that got a little greedy.

Lokitar stood up when he saw the approaching forms of his abominations. They had taken longer than he had expected but that would be alright, they would soon be recovering their lost time when they began their march again. He moved towards the front of his army and turned to face them. "Brethren of Satan, we shall move out now, the abominations that I have sent out are now arriving. They shall catch up but in the mean time we are moving now!" Lokitar rallied up the demons and forced them to march which most did half heartily not wanting to walk but they did for fear of the wrath that their commander might inflict. Under the hot sun they got up and walked. The energy drained from their tired legs but they walked. And behind them the abominations ran full tilt to catch up, one died along the way, and the evil black heart burst inside of the monstrosity causing it to collapse on the spot. The others kept going with out a look back.

Grando reached the gate of the town. He was accompanied by a large force of heavily armored swordsmen who found him and his little friend straggling to make it to the city. They told him of the perils which had happened of late and Grando replied with his own little adventure. When the gate opened to the city, Grando was awe-struck by what he saw, hundreds upon hundreds of archers sat upon the top of the gate guarding the walls at all points of view. Huge catapults stood upon large stone towers each armed with a single stone boulder. In the middle was a glorious mansion with guards posted at the doors, ensuring that no harm comes to it. All around the city was a bumbling mass of society, with hundreds of people trying to buy and sell items. The guards left Grando where he was and departed to the gate once again doing their frequent sweeps to detect if there would be any trouble. Grando went to his own devices leaving Scrale to follow. The first stop that Grando went to was a little store that sold shoes. Grando didn't have anything to purchase them with but the merchant was greedy enough to take Grando's fruit. Grando, thinking it was a fair trade, traded the two items quickly placing the shoes on his feet, which were made of animal skin probably from a domesticated animal. The shoes warmed Grando's feet up considerably and soon the liquid moisture of sweat caused him to pull them off allowing them to cool in the atmosphere of the city. Grando became frequently lost when he asked for directions to the nearest inn, not getting anywhere when all he could see were the backs of the city's inhabitants. Scrale had to climb on top of Grando's head, which Grando made sure to watch out for the spikes, to avoid getting crushed by the rampaging feet. Eventually night fall came and the warm humid air settled down into the cool autumn air which everyone was used to. Grando still had not found the inn and it was getting late, he found himself staring at the large mansion when he fist arrived with the complacent guards looking at him waiting for him to cause trouble. Behind him, some of the archers turned to help the guards in case of any trouble. Grando shivered because of the weather and replaced his shoes back onto his feet and walked forward to the guards.

"Halt! Who goes there?" one of the guards said staring Grando over, drawing his sword. "State your name and your reason for being here!" the other guards followed suit, drawing their swords brandishing them at Grando. On the top of Grando's head, Scrale shivered shaking his quills menacingly. The guards disregarded the motion as an inconvenience.

Grando's voice piped up from far away hoping to not make any hostile movements and definitely not reaching for his sword. "Sorry for disrupting your peaceful city but my name is Grando. And this is my pet, Scrale." Scrale shook at the mention of the word pet and nipped Grando on the ear causing him to wince out loud. "A force of your swordsmen accompanied me here; they found me outside on the plain. I was merely searching for a place to lodge for the night, I had directions but I got lost on the way." Grando finished his little speech and looked back at the guard who just returned the look with a cold hard stare. Grando began to become uncomfortable when the guard did not reply back and he was becoming nervous but the guard finally piped up.

"Yes, I heard that our guards found someone outside and I have not seen you here so your story could be true, but you may have to be here for awhile, we have tough times ahead of us. We have heard information of a large demon force approaching these very walls. Since you say you are new you must not have a job, correct?" the guard put his sword back into his sheathed for the answer.

"Yes, that is correct, I wan----"

The guard cut Grando off with a hand which he held up. "I doubt that you would find any jobs around here since we are a very reclusive city but we do have a need for warriors. There would be free food and a free place to stay; besides we would be able to upgrade that dagger you carry by your side. Of course we will give you a place to lodge for the night and your pet would be well fed but tell me what you think in the morning."

"Thank you. I really mean it. I should have an answer to your offer in the morning but I would prefer it if my pet stayed with me." the guard motioned Grando to follow and he did as the guard opened the doors to the mansion. When Grando slipped into the doorway and the guard shut the door, he could here the shuffling of metal which meant that the other guards were moving to fill the space that their friend had left. The guard took Grando down a long and splendid hall filled with many glorious paintings which depicted many fearsome warriors and splendid artworks of peace and serenity. They finally came to a stop at the end of a masterwork hallway with a huge crystal chandelier hanging on by a thread in the air threatening to fall. The walls were splendid, with elegant wallpaper embracing it. On the floor was a little door which you could pull up which is what the guard did. He reached down and grabbed the door's handle (which was a huge iron bolt) struggled a bit but finally managed to pull it up. It landed with a thud on the opposite side holding only by the hinges. The air that wafted out was a dank and murky smell and Grando wrinkled his nose at it. The guard however appeared to be used to it and disappeared into the dark depths and all that Grando heard from him was the rapidly descending footsteps. Grando stepped into the darkness to follow laughing when Scrale sneezed, and followed the sound. After a few minutes Grando got used to the smell and he thought he was getting closer to the guard, surely his steps were getting louder? The steps abruptly stopped and Grando found himself face first in a mouth full of metal. He had been behind the guard the whole time!

"Watch where you are going!" the guard hissed, "The door should be around here some… Hah! Here it is. Now stand back!" Grando took a step back and covered his eyes as a light appeared. First a crack and then a larger one continuously opening. The guard had found the door. The door scraped along the ground, stone on stone, and then it was open. The guard stood, bathed in a sea of light and the room before him, Grando's eyes had finally adjusted, was a room that smelled awful. Full of sweat and a sickly sweet aroma of alcohol and tobacco. The room was filled everywhere with beds, most occupied and others with headboards with names engraved on them. The guard walked into the room and Grando followed.

"Now, you must be quiet, some of the soldiers are deep in sleep and need to rest, some of them you may have seen earlier. This is where I leave you, when you wake up just exit the way you came and there should be someone posted outside and you can ask him for food if you are hungry. He should take you to the mess hall. Now I must get back to my post. Goodbye." The guard left with the light still on and Grando turned to face the bed. It was a hard bed with a blanket made of cotton and the pillow was filled with goose down all in all it was a pretty comfortable bed. Scrale jumped off Grando's head and landed on the bed, curling up at the foot of it. Grando followed suit and went to the side and undressed, pulling the covers up he slid in the bed and went to straight to a relaxing sleep with no dreams to hinder him. The light did not keep him up at all. Scrale, not comfortable crawled up on top of Grando's head and curled into a ball, leaving Grando's head a mass of spikes, the porcupine to fell straight to sleep. Somewhere very close, Lokitar's forces moved closer to the heavily fortified city.

Lokitar woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. No nightmares, although he should be used to them, haunted him in the night. He knew that he only had two more days before he reached the gates of the powerful city but if he pushed his horde, he would be able to make it there by the time the night came out, but he would not be able to fight today, he would have to wait until tomorrow if he were to destroy proficiently. The sun was hotter and more fierce today but Lokitar did not care he would push his minions to the brink of destruction if he had to. He got up and walked forward moving ever closer to the warrior city.

Grando woke up the next morning feeling fit and refreshed, the cuts on his legs were completely healed and Grando did not feel sick at all. The only thing that was bothering him was the fact that he felt like he had a fever but he knew it was just Scrale lying peacefully on the top of his head. Grando took the time to look around as much as he could, he could not move much due to his prickly friend but he saw enough of what he felt like looking at. All around were people sleeping and producing great guttural noises on the same bed type of bed that he in fact lied on. The bed right next to him however was the bed which the guard that brought Grando here yesterday, snoring right into his face. The stubble on his face, which Grando did not notice yesterday night, really stood out in the light. On top of him Scrale shifted and fell off the top of his head, landing on the pillow behind. Before Scrale could get back up Grando sat up and stretched his legs. The bed may not have been comfortable but he sure had gotten a good night's sleep and it was better than staying out all night and freezing for death. Grando stood up and decided to do what the guard had told him the night before. He walked over to the door looking at how easily the beds had filled up; even with a large number of soldiers searching outside the place was still pack yet comfortable. Scrale ran up after regaining its composure and followed Grando on his way out. Grando opened the door and departed looking for food and a way to join the ranks, he may not have that have the adventure he wanted but at least he could have the power to help and to serve people.

Lokitar forced his men to the march of a life time. By the time they paused to rest, the city only lay about forty miles east, a distance which Lokitar and his demons could cover in a few more hours, he wanted to get their by the time it was nightfall and that was only six more hours away due to the positioning of the sun. He only let his minions pause for a moment, enough to allow the muscular legs enough time to recuperate and then they would be off again. The humans, their slaves, had mostly died out, they had pretty much lagged behind in the group not used to the strenuous walking and the huge and fat demons had flogged them to death, leaving them to rot in the sun. Only a strong but small handful remained. Mostly the women.

Lokitar arrived at his destination, muscles in his legs were screaming for rest which he complied to. He was a few kilometers from his destination (maybe two or three) and he did not want the humans to know that they were there and he wanted his horde to feel somewhat refreshed, besides, Lokitar knew that death on his side would be inevitable but hopefully if he were to attack fast enough and without warning he could keep most of his demons alive. He would have to do it after the soldiers did there frequent check, and of course it would have night when the humans were at their weakest vision but Lokitar knew that these were trained warriors, they may not be used to fighting in the dark but they would be more used to fighting than a group of village armed with only rakes and other pitiful farm and tree cutting equipment. Lokitar looked up at the sky on the base of a hill, where the demons would be camped tonight and for most of tomorrow. Over the hill would be a straight path for the city to which Lokitar did not know the name of, but once they traversed over it the path would be very easy to reach the city. Lokitar thought about his battle strategy and laid down to rest, allowing the rest of the group to collapse in exhaustion save for the small group slaves who had to pick up the supplies from the rest of the demons. Lokitar's eyes glazed over as he drifted into a sleep, he would not worry about assassination tonight, his senses were far too sharp and the rest of the group would be far to tired.

Grando was sent to the training grounds where he was currently practicing with a sword, his instructor, a burly and very battle scarred old man, stood at the edge barking commands while Grando attacked a plush dummy that stood upright in the middle. Grando swung effortlessly at the dummy, making it rock back and forth.

"Swing harder and faster, now, we need you to be strong not some pathetic whelp!" The instructor moved towards the weapon rack where a single club lay amidst the rest of the swords and bows. This weapon, the instructor picked up, and walked over to the dummy. "Now maybe you will learn if I DEMOSTRATE!" he swung at the dummy with full force and veins popping up somewhere beneath the fat and the dummy was uprooted in a shower of dust and pieces. The instructor grunted and stared coldly at Grando, "Now do you understand?" Grando muttered a yes and the instructor promptly replied back "Good now dig a hole and put another dummy in!"

Awhile later a new dummy was in place and was in the process of being attacked. Grando swung every time the instructor barked a command, Scrale barked every time the instructor barked who stayed at the edge of the ring perched atop the shovel that Grando had been shoveling with, but he was not doing as well as he would have liked. Grando began to lag in his efforts as the weight of the club became unbearable.

"Alright that's enough you can rest, in my days young boys like you would be able to last as long as some of the soldiers around here today, but believe me boy, when I am through with you should be able to last quite awhile under the conditions that I will give you, now go put up the club and wait here for me to return." The instructor left leaving Grando in the middle of the ring next to the dummy with sweat glistening in the air. Scrale, seeing that the older man had left, raced over to his human friend hoping that it was time to eat. Grando picked him up, avoiding the spines and despite how much his arms hurt, and picked up the club while the porcupine creature licked him all over. Grando placed the club on the rack and sat down waiting for the instructor to return. Ass he waited he began to feel tired and laid down, eventually sleep overtook him. Sleep overtook Scrale but Scrale moved back to his original place allowing the cool dirt to soothe him to sleep. While Grando slept, muscles began to cramp and he began to shake violently yet the instructor had not yet returned.

Lokitar saw the town that they were soon going to be attacking. From here he could see the gates opening to spew forward a force of soldiers to check around the town for anything that could pose a threat to their city. Lokitar stood on a hill and stood there defiantly knowing that the humans' eyes were not good enough to perceive him from this distance. He had to force a calm to a few squabbles here and there but now there wasn't much of a noise from his force, they all just milled around waiting for night to encroach upon day. Lokitar stepped down from the hill and went over battle plans. First he would send the abominations to draw out the initial force and then he assumed that it would go easy from there, the only thing that gnawed at him was the trouble with dispatching the archers perched upon the tower tops, the fortressed city was one made of stone and would not be easy to burn down, maybe when they got in it would go smoother. Farther away, near the end of Lokitar's force was a fight that was about to begin, he would have to crush the noise lest the noise give them away. Lokitar got up onto his feet, his muscular legs trembling as he moved toward the squabbles, drawing his sword. When he moved, the noise that was happening stopped; the demons knew that at times like these, listening was usually the best answer. The quarrel immediately ceased to exist but Lokitar's scorn had not, he moved upon the demons and towered over them. They were lowly generals, only able to lead the weakest of forces and smaller than the regular elite generals sending the main forces off. These Lokitar could dispatch as a warning, since they were insignificant. Lokitar smiled and then swung his sword in an attempt to slice the wind and nearly succeeded in doing so, but the necks of the demons stopped him. They rolled loosely onto the floor while the bodies spurted blood and ichor into the air while it slowly sunk to the ground. The other demons then resumed their previous choice of milling around and doing nothing. Lokitar satisfied and not caring if the demons were scared or not, wiped what little blood was on the sword onto the ground, cleaning it half heartily. The sun sank lower.

The instructor was on his way to get ready to teach the kid about warfare when he was called away by a soldier.

"We need you to look at something we think maybe happening." The soldier urged and the fat instructor obliged willingly without a word, picking up the sword he was going to use with the student. The instructor knew that something was afoot.

In the middle of the town, more soldiers were assembled in an orderly fashion and in front of them were the mayor and their leader conversing. The instructor immediately joined in on the conversation.

"Ah, here he is," the mayor said noting the instructor; "while on duty one of the bowmen said that he saw something strange on the horizon. I'm worried of a frontal assault, because if this is so, we need to get the women and the children out of here in case we are overrun." The mayor looked at the instructor hopefully for an answer.

"Let me question this soldier about this matter, mayor, for now you must ease your worries while me and the soldiers confirm what to do. If anything, we will allow you to take the women and children out safely but if you do you must do it hastily. Now go while we solve this." The mayor looked up at the instructor and noted the wisdom in his eyes and did what the instructor bidded him to do. While the instructor watched the mayor go, his heart dropped fast. He did not like this situation at all. "Please call out the soldier who noted this.

"Will the soldier who saw the dilemma please step forward!" The instructor stared at the group of soldiers before him but saw that none of them were moving until he saw movement from the corner of his eye. On top of the ramparts was a soldier in flimsy armor but wielding a deadly looking bow. Of course the soldier would be over there! He was to be ready to fire in case anything threatened the fortress. As the soldier stepped down the stairway, the instructor saw how well the soldier was defined. His precision was good and his agility, from the movements of his feet, was exceptional as well.

The leader of the forces told the instructor that he would question the rest of the troops and departed with the forces on the ground turning toward him. The leader called them forward and they left without much noise.

"State your name!"

The young man spoke up confidently, "Matthew sir!" The soldier stood straight and ahead not moving.

"You may rest, now I heard that you saw something disturbing on the horizon is I correct?" questioned the instructor.

The young soldier slackened, "Yeas sir, I saw what appeared to be a figure, I couldn't tell what it was but it stood there for awhile as if wanting to take note of our city. I asked the rest of my fellow soldiers if they could see the form but they could not. I disregarded it for awhile and then came down to tell you guys. My leader told me to get back on guard duty until you came."

The instructor took everything into account and then told the soldier that he was dismissed. It was worse than he feared. The women and children would have to depart immediately in case of any trouble. "Oy! Matthew what side did you see it on!" he called.

Matthew, who was proceeding up the stairs, replied back "The north wall!"

The instructor left and ran as fast as his overweight body could take him. The people would have to evacuate to the south toward the peaceful yet moderately trained city.

The leader took his forces and led them down to the armory. All were already equipped but he wanted to make sure that they were all in good condition. The leader already knew that a fight would soon ensue and also knew that if it was the demons that they would ensue their attack at nighttime, when they were weakest. In the armory torches hung everywhere as the only available source for light as the giant wooden door was pulled opened by the troops' leaders. Inside were more torches only these were duller and did not offer more protection against the light. Inside, however, were glinting metal objects everywhere in the shapes of axes, spears, and armor. The swords were all being used. "I have had a change of heart. I will tell you troops, that the possibility of no slaughter is not going to happen, and blood from both sides shall be spilt if this is an attack. Most of you have not had experience in fighting but have trained for today. I am honored that you are my soldiers and I am happy to fight along sides of you. But I will not deny, I have had experience fighting these creatures and it is different for everybody. I have brought you down here to check your equipment but have decided against it. Today might be a day of great battle! Grab your weapon of choice and meet me out in town square! Someone grab the arrows to for the archers if you people would like back up." The leader of the forces swung the sword against the wall in an effort to rally his troops. He left to the sounds of his soldiers screaming shouts of encouragement and to the sounds of clanking metal.

The instructor arrived at the mayor's house and knocked on the door. Immediately the mayor opened the door and asked "What's the situation."

"Not good." I am going to need you to take the town and go with them to the nearest town to the south. I believe it is about a few days walk from here and I believe it is called Throngate. I will go and get the people and if you can do me a favor, go and grab the young boy in the training grounds, I believe he may be asleep he looked fit to faint when I left him."

"Sure sure, I'll go get him and meet you back here soon." The mayor walked out onto the front of his house and turned toward the training grounds, remembering it from when he was a child. Behind him the instructor ran to the archers who held a horn to warn anyone of impending danger. The mayor ran, his clothes flowing extravagantly behind him and rounded a corner to see himself at the walls of the training ground. He opened the door and continued to where he thought the boy might be at the weapons training place. The mayor searched everywhere, not quite remembering the way to it; he opened many doors until he found himself staring at the dusky sun. The boy was curled into a fetal position with the porcupine cuddled next to him. The mayor walked forward when he heard the sound of the horn. "Vurrroooh, Vuhrooooh." The boy woke up and got up on one elbow with what looked like excruciating pain. The instructor still trained his students hard. He may be hard on them but he was really a good person at heart. The mayor rushed over to the kid, his heart was pounding very fast due to the pressure and exertion. "Come on we have to go! Come on."

The boy looked up at him. "I know." The boy's dream had told him everything. He got up shakily and followed the mayor who wondered what the boy had meant.

Lokitar knew something was wrong. His sharp demonic ears picked up the sound of the horn and to him the horn sounded as a battle warning but Lokitar knew that the humans could not see him and wondered what they had gotten alarmed about. Nevertheless, it was now almost completely dark and the human's vision was now depleted. Now was the time to strike and if Lokitar and his minions were efficient in their attack, they would not suffer too many casualties. Not that it mattered of course, because Lokitar's master could rebuild the army if needed, it was the fact that those subordinates would take time to travel to Lokitar in his quest for utter annihilation. Lokitar lifted his head back and out came a long and dark howl. The veins on his neck popped out as the voice flowed through his vocal cords. Everything went silent. If the humans did not know where he was they surely did now but Lokitar did not care, it would be over all to soon. The demons around Lokitar looked up and quit everything. Lokitar howled again and in slow unison, the rest of the demons lifted there heads up high and complete the battle cry. Lokitar unsheathed his sword and pointed to the direction of their destination and target. And like a plague, the abominations lost all order and broke for the humans. Everywhere were abominations leaping over run another as they raced for the slaughter. Mutely following behind were the lesser demons and the ones that were higher in command. All unsheathing their swords and, likewise to not caring for order and discipline, followed in a formation attack which could be hard to defend against. One of disorderly fashion. Lokitar paced solemnly behind.

The mayor met in front of the gate, and there waiting for him was the instructor and what looked like to be a fairly large amount of people behind all consisting of children that had not yet hit their teen years and women of all different ages, from young to the elderly. "I got as many as I could, the rest wanted to stay with their husbands. The other children are going to help fight with us but everything else is okay now move. The rest of the soldiers are getting uneasy, they have been reporting that we may very well be under siege, the demons' have been howling, you must get out before it is to late. I don't think we have much longer." The instructor urged.

The mayor took this info kind at heart and decided that he should leave before it is too late. "Yes, I suppose I must, tell the guards at the back entrance to open the gate and to allow the people through, I should be their in a minute or two I must grab a few things." The mayor left and quickly rushed towards his house leaving the boy under the control of the instructor. The instructor immediately told everyone to follow him towards the back entrance. Grando's muscles ached as he walked but knew that he would have to get over it since he knew that he faced a long walk ahead. The instructor took the group through series of alleyways and roads until the back entranceway was clear.

"Open up the gates under the mayor's orders!" the instructor boomed out. The soldiers at the top of gate immediately opened the gate, allowing the people out.
"Wait, wait for me." The mayor was running full speed to catch and even at the distance away that he was and the darkness out side, the red in his cheek could be seen darkening his appearance. He appeared to have grabbed nothing. He met up with the instructor.

"Goodbye, hope to see you soon. If we do not make it, we shall send an informative to you to tell you of our demise, but if we succeed we shall send one to tell you to come back safely. We shall also be sending a short regiment to follow and to make sure you make it to Throngate. May hope carry with…" HUUUHROOOOHHH. The instructor was cut off as the sound of the battle horn filled the air. HUUUHROOOOHHH. "Go you must leave now! May faith be with." The instructor departed as everyone ran, as chaos consumed them, out of the gate including the mayor. The gates shut behind them with a sick thud. Locking them out of their home. On the ramparts, the soldiers pulled their bows and knocked their arrows in case of an enemy flank.

The mayor chased the fleeing people and eventually caught up with most of them

Because they eventually stopped to cry. A few brave ones kept going though there were not many of them. The mayor did his best to calm them down but it was an effort because he was winded and had to gasp between words until he regained his breath. "Everybody… listen… we need to… remain calm if we… are to make it safely. We know that our friends… and family will defend us from this scourge. We need to stick together and to stop making all of this noise lest we attract attention. Our families will make sure we are protected. Now let's move on and stick together." The mayor's voice had spoken and the women and children listened taking his kind words to heart. The mayor got up and began walking Grando and his pet Scrale following. Eventually the other people got up and hurried to catch up to the mayor and the boy. The mayor's words really had emphasis. Meanwhile, the brave ones who ran ahead were running toward a small force of about ten to fifteen abominations and the noises that they were making would surely catch their attention. The guard at the top of the gate blew the horn as soon as he saw the wave of hellish creatures rushing forward. And almost exactly afterwards the archers released their arrows and the gates opened to reveal an experienced group of soldiers, many of whom had never seen combat. They stepped out into the dark k night drawing an array of weapons. The people who wanted distance and spears were at the top, and this was most of them, and placed behind them were the soldiers carrying swords, clubs, axes, and maces. The gate closed behind them as they waited for the enemy to meet them in combat. The arrows fell far short because of the lack of distance and perception the night provided but the archers knocked more arrows and this time waited for them to come closer. Inside the castle were the reserves led by the instructor who in turn carried a massive hammer, the kind of weapon that he liked to sport around. The reserves that were in the castle were the children, which hoped that the soldiers outside would be able to defend them against the attack. The children wore no armor, they would be faster this way and would not take to long to prepare plus they would tire out quickly. They all carried swords since it was the easiest weapon to moderately master and to attack with. The soldiers out on front began to march once they caught sight of the abominations, the archers loosed their shafts this time scoring a few hits, The rest of the demon's forces could not be seen yet due to the veil of darkness but there were archers placed all around the castle to prevent a sneak attack. A more larger force appeared this time jumping and charging over the fallen victims, the soldiers wielding spears rushed to meet the opposing force. There were about two hundred spearmen against the fifty or so demons that were sighted. The archers loosed their third arrows in to the wave quickly decimating the force. The few stragglers that were left were quickly run through with spears. The spearmen began a quick back step march to rejoin the rest of the formation. Out of the darkness loomed a larger force and again the archers fired but the demons retreated as the arrows struck almost nothing. A few of the archers scored and moans of agony came and then were silenced. Most of the archers on the front wall now only had one arrow left and a few had two but this would not support them long. They did not want to take the archers from the other walls in fear of an attack, the front wall was most of their army was located. The formation at the gate marched forward to meet the back stepping spearmen and quickly they came together again. They marched forward in an attempt to draw the enemy out. If there weren't so many archers, maybe the supply of quivers would have helped dearly but it didn't more archers were around than people knew so the quivers had to be passed out accordingly.

Lokitar laughed at the foolish little demons who rushed forward knowing that they would surely perish but when his force of fifty or so was instantly demolished he got angry, his acute demonic eyes could see the humans moving warily forward. Lokitar knew that the humans could not see him or his massive force of about six hundred abominations, not counting who he had in command. He waited for them to come closer and then he would leap out of the night and onto the humans, he would also be safely beyond the archers' range. The abominations made greedy noises as they hopped and pranced around, waiting for the human flesh to sedate their hyperactivity. Lokitar saw the sacredness of the humans and smiled. They may not yet have suffered a casualty but soon, very soon, they would no where fear spawned from. He held his sword forward and walked towards the human regiment. The abominations followed behind this time since they saw their fellow abominations being cut down. Not that they cared, they wanted to enjoy death by dealing it not by it being dealt to them. Lokitar took more damage than he thought but figured it would all be over soon. The humans marched forward, totally unaware of the demons coming to greet them.

The archers waited and watched as their fellow friends walked farther out into the gloom and out of the arrows range soon they would be so far out that they would not be seen. They were getting nervous. "How are we doing up there?" inquired the instructor.

The archer who was in control of the horn called back, "Good, we have cut down a fair share of demons but our soldiers are looking for more, presently we cannot see them the night has swallowed them up."

"You dolt! That is the idea of such demons, they wait and hide in the dark for their enemy striking out at the right time, call them back now lest we never see them again. Tell me when you see them again." The instructor was angry at the idea of the soldiers just walking off, he had trained them for this day and the ways of the demons, surely they should know better.

HUUUHROOOOH! HUUHROOOOOHHH! The noise of the battle horn drifted over the nightly battlegrounds. The soldiers heard this and ran fearing an attack on the fortress, they were less than ten feet from Lokitar's sword. Lokitar nodded and the abominations rushed forward at the sight of exposed backs. The fleeing soldiers could not distinguish the sounds of anguish from people near them or if it was farther away. The abominations ripped and tore into the flanks bringing a new meaning to cruel punishment. The soldiers turned realizing their folly and attacked but their was not enough to defend against the entire abomination force the spearmen were decimated at once and the rest were completely destroyed when the wave swarmed over the victims, they were still out of the archers range. Once the threat on the ground was abolished the demons retreated again leaving the bodies of humans who were still alive but would not be for long when the cold and the loss of blood affected them. Some bodies were dragged off, still alive and very full of pain with the abominations, the air was full of human sorrow and remorse for the people on the ground.

"I believe that they are gone, all gone, the demons attacked when I blew the horn, sir, there is no one left that I can see. There are a lot more demons than we thought there would be. I could not take a direct count but they outnumbered our force greatly and I didn't even see the bigger demons yet." the

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