Diablo II: The Epic Behind the Game
Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II, I, or anything else that blizzard created. In fact, some of my dialogue comes directly from the game, for accuracy purposes only.
The Characters however are of my own design, directly from my chars on Battle. Net
Wow, I got some comments and I'm luving it ^_^
Now, where did my last cliff hanger end…? Oh, yeah.
Exactly where we left off last time
*******************************************************************************
"Natalie?" The demon asked its bright green eyes wide with surprise. "Is it really you?"
"STAY BACK!!" Natthilea told it, scooting herself back and closing her eyes. She had read about monsters with the power to read and take over minds with a stare. And she had also read about what became of their victims when they were useless.
"Stay away! Or I'll..."
"It is you!" She heard the beast say as it rushed towards her again. It had a strange kind of excitement in its voice.
"I thought that I'd never see you again, Natalie."
Natalie? Nobody had called her Natalie since she was taken from home and joined the Zann Esu (The Sorceress Guild) when she was seven.
She felt a claw touch her under her chin and tilt her head up, and then she jumped when she felt another at her neck.
'This is it..." She thought, "This thing is going to slit my throat!"
Much to her surprise, the clawed hand gently wiped away the drool, which had been running down her neck, before it flowed down her chest and onto her clothes.
Shocked, Natthilea opened her eyes and looked up to the demon. It smiled with a closed mouth. No teeth, drool, or malice, Just a kind, caring smile.
And the bright green eyes showed emotion which, she had been taught, demons should not possess.
Unless...
No, it couldn't be...
"Who are you?" Natthilea asked, hoping that she was right.
"Natalie," It said, "It's me... Elric."
"Elric?" Her entire brain shut-down, as a flood of memories from her child-hood came rushing to the top of her mind.
Could this be true?
The half-demon nodded and a moment of shocked silence passed before one solid fact soaked into her mind.
It WAS Elric.
"WHOA!!!" Natthilea called out with a happy excitement as she lunged forward to embrace the beast.
Elric, being very careful of his claws, hugged her back
"Oh, God's girl! It's been so long!" Elric said with an excited happiness (which proved that he was who he said beyond any doubt) "After all these years."
Then, he pulled back with a look of horror and panic, saying,
"Oh, lord! I am SO sorry Natalie! Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"I'm fine Elric." Natalie told him, "You scared me to death, but I'm none the worse for the wear."
Elric breathed a sigh of relief and then, using a single claw, reached up to sweep some stray hair from her face. It pleased him to see that she didn't pull away when he touched her.
So, she really did remember him. After over fourteen years.
"I can't believe it..." Elric said, then, cocking his head to the side curiously, "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean 'What am I doing here?'? What are you doing here?"
"WOULD SOMEBODY, PLEASE, TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!!"
The half-demon and the sorceress looked up to see a shocked necromancer and a very confused barbarian standing in the exact spot where Elric had left them a few minutes before.
"Natthilea Tasslewind! As your traveling companion, I demand an explanation!" Cathim shouted.
"Has she betrayed us?" Tozam asked the necromancer in a quieter voice.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Little Bugga!" The priest of Rathma said harshly.
"Oh..." Natalie started sarcastically, "And I suppose that you've never just stopped after a battle to hug a demon that tried to kill you only a moment before?"
"Well, there was that time I broke my mother's favorite butcher knife while I was training, but I don't know if that counts as a demon..."
"FOCUS TOZAM!!!"
"You don't actually hang out with humans like this, do you?" Elric asked Natalie, tilting his head to the side to indicate Cathim and Tozam
"No, not usually. Just for this quest." Natalie said to Elric before turning to her traveling companions.
"It's alright, guys." She told them, "I know him; he's not as dangerous as he looks."
"Say's you." Elric said, backing up a few paces and sitting on his haunches like a dog again. "I'm dangerous, alright. But only when I have to deal with monsters and defend myself from certain human's who attack first and ask questions later, if at all."
"You're not helping."
"Hey, I'm just being honest, Natalie."
Natalie shook her head and turned to the necromancer and barbarian. "Well, I suppose that introductions would be helpful. Cathim, Tozam, this is my baby brother, Elric Tasslewind." She said, indicating the half-demon.
The two men looked at each other with a look of complete confusion, and then looked from the monster, which was now licking blood from its claws, to the beautiful young sorceress.
"You know," Tozam said, tilting his head to the side, "If you look at the two of them like this, there actually is some family resemblance."
Elric stopped licking his claws and laughed at the human's antics while Natalie gave Tozam an indignant look.
"Well I never..."
"Come on, Natalie." Elric said, getting up on all fours again, "I'm sure he was only joking."
"Well, actually..." Tozam was cut off when Cathim rammed him in the stomach with his wand.
"Natthilea, are you saying that you're some sort of demon as well?" Cathim asked, taking up a more offensive stance as though the two of them would attack the necromancer at any moment.
"WHAT!!" Natalie started a scolding look on the necromancer. "Why of all the..."
"Hold on," Elric said, trotting up to Cathim and Tozam. "First off, I was adopted. So there shouldn't be any resemblance. Second off, I am only HALF demon, so don't go jumping to any conclusions about her. And third..."
Elric's ears perked up and his eyes went wide. Slowly, he tilted his head back and took a sniff of the air.
"And third, we need to get outta here. There's a herd of gargantuan beast coming this way out of the east. Normally I would stay, but I don't think you guys are prepared to handle five of those things at once."
"Wait, we still have to get to the Den of Evil like Akara asked us to." Cathim said, "It's the only way that we can get the support of the Rogues."
"The Rogues? You mean the Sisters of the Sightless Eye?" Elric asked.
"Yes, how did you know...?"
"Well, if you need to get in good with the sisterhood, you've come to the right demon. I have a friend high up in the ranks of the Order of the Sightless Eye, if you guy's would be so kind as to show me where their monastery is, I could talk to her and see about getting you what you need."
"To the Monastery guarding the Rogue pass? Are you mad?" Tozam started.
"Well, I wouldn't look like this when I went up to it. I'm not stupid enough to walk right into arrow range of the monastery looking like a demon. The rouges would pick me off as soon as they saw me."
"Elric, the rogues don't control that monastery anymore." Natalie told him.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"The monastery was taken over by real demons over three months ago." Natalie told the shocked half-demon, "The passage way to the east has been blocked since then and the rogues have been driven into a small encampment about a league away from here."
"When did this happen?" Elric asked.
"Let's talk about this somewhere else shall we," Tozam said, squinting out into the east. "I think the demon thing..."
"ELRIC!" Elric scolded
"Sorry, I think that Elric is right. There is something coming this way, and they look big enough to be wendigo's"
"No, wendigos have more of a tattered leather smell to them. These are gargantuan; they carry the scent of pine with them like a skunk carries its stink."
The three human's looked at the black beast with a questioning gaze.
"I've been roughing it out in the wilds for almost five months! I think I've had time to figure out what every thing smells like." Elric started up a bit frustrated at the idea that they did not believe him.
He took a steadying breath and closed his eyes in thought.
"Besides it's getting late, and it might be a good idea to find a place to camp for the night." He said, "I saw a cave about a quarter of a mile from here that should do rather nicely."
"WHAT! YOU'RE GOING TO STAY WITH US?" Cathim voice said plainly that he did not like the idea at all.
"Of course i am," Elric confirmed, hopping back to stand beside his adoptive sister. "I just found a long lost loved one. Do you think that i'm just going to leave?"
Cathim and Tozam had no answer.
"Besides, if something is going on, I would like to know about it. I noticed that there have been a lot more monsters in the woods lately but i never thought that the Sisterhood of the sightless eye had lost their monastery. You have got to tell me what happened."
"Alright, but let us do it quickly," Tozam said, "They're coming."
Cathim saw Natalie pet Elric, or so the beast called its self, fondly. He didn't trust the demon one bit, and he wasn't about to go following it into a dark, shadowy cave.
"And why should we follow you to a remote cavern in the middle of no where, Elric?" Cathim said, drawing out Elric's name with an oozing sarcasm.
"That's not what you're really asking, what you're really asking is 'why should you trust an evil, hell-spawned demon?'"
"Indeed, you seem to have a knack for reading my mind, so how do we know you didn't just implant some false memory in Natthilea's mind so that we would follow you? Your kind will stop at nothing to manipulate the people of this world, so how do we know that you are who you say you are?"
"Look at the facts, Necromancer. A). I just saved all of your lives from those Fallen, for which I have yet to receive so much as a 'thank you'. B). YOU attacked ME, not the other way around. C). I was not at Natalie's mercy a moment ago, she was at mine. What in the high hells make's you think that a creature of my power would go through all this drivel and try to make you trust me when I could have easily killed you all a moment ago. Or right this second if I
really wanted to."
Elric's tone was agitated, almost to the point of a small fury.
"Now, I'm offering you a chance to come to a place of safety for the night. If you want to stay and be eaten by gargantuan or whatever the hell comes next, be my guest." He turned his head up to Natalie, "Do you believe that i really am the Elric you remember?"
"Not a doubt in my mind." She answered.
"And I will go to." Tozam said, walking over to stand beside Natalie. "A good warrior knows when to fight and when to listen, for both must be done in order to secure life. I apologize for attacking you before, half-demon, and I plan to make it up by giving you a chance."
"Tozam, you can't be serious?"
"Listen, Cathim, he makes a good point. If he wanted us dead he could do it. And after saving us I think that I acted a bit irrational when I attacked..."
"Apology accepted, by the way." Elric chimed in.
"Thank you. But, Cathim, what do we have to lose besides our lives."
"You're mad... Following a demon..."
"HALF-DEMON" Natalie and Elric said together, and then they looked at each other, and laughed.
"Just like old times, huh Natalie?"
"Shall we get on to the caves then," Tozam rushed, looking back out to the east where small figures had appeared on the horizon. "We really are in no condition to fight them. Come on, Cathim."
Cathim looked to the ground.
He knew that this was insane. He knew that this was such an obvious trap.
A demon? helping humans?
It was impossible, unheard of.
This was all beyond crazy.
But, nobody had ever considered a priest of Rathma to be sane anyways, so why the hell not. After all, his people did not fear death.
"Alright, let's go." He said in a defeated tone. "But, I'm watching you, demon. Don't think for a moment that i'm going to fall asleep with you around."
The Half-demon, Elric, smiled and trotted into the south.
"Well, let's go, then. After all, Natalie and I have fourteen years to catch up on. And i really want to hear about what's happened with the rogues."
"In time, Elric," Natalie said as the three human's started to follow him, "But, what i want to know is, How in the world you got away from the farm at Atisar. Father must have been furious when he found out you left. He was always so protective of you and the others."
Elric stopped in his tracks and bowed his head, allowing Natalie to catch up to him. When he spoke again, his eyes did not meet her own.
"You don't know, do you?" He said to his sister.
"Know what?"
"I... I'll explain when we get to the cave and set up camp." He said, a lump definite in his throat. he tried to swallow it down, but it wouldn't budge.
"No... Tell me now; What are you talking about, Elric?" Natalie asked, sounding worried.
"Natalie..." He had trouble putting the words against his tongue and his teeth. "Atisar was destroyed, everybody else is dead."
*******************************************************************************
Another Chapter up and running!
Yippee!!! (Wait, I left it off on a sad note, why am I cheering?)
Alright, now to comment on some of the comments I've been getting.
First off, I know my spelling isn't top notch but until this chapter, I've been unable to use spell check on it due to the fact that my new computer, which I am using, did not have Microsoft Works on it until now. So I will be reposting the previous chapters with all corrections made.
And also, for anybody who has noticed, i know that the prologue is sketchy and lacks detail and that is the way I was intending it. In the prologue, Elric is dreaming and i doubt many people have very vivid dreams. I WILL go into detail about my half-demon's history in future chapters.
I await more comments, flames, and constructive critique. SO, come back and leave something or i will be forced to feed you to my pet dragon. ^_^ just kidding.
Come back soon...
Signed, Robin
Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo II, I, or anything else that blizzard created. In fact, some of my dialogue comes directly from the game, for accuracy purposes only.
The Characters however are of my own design, directly from my chars on Battle. Net
Wow, I got some comments and I'm luving it ^_^
Now, where did my last cliff hanger end…? Oh, yeah.
Exactly where we left off last time
*******************************************************************************
"Natalie?" The demon asked its bright green eyes wide with surprise. "Is it really you?"
"STAY BACK!!" Natthilea told it, scooting herself back and closing her eyes. She had read about monsters with the power to read and take over minds with a stare. And she had also read about what became of their victims when they were useless.
"Stay away! Or I'll..."
"It is you!" She heard the beast say as it rushed towards her again. It had a strange kind of excitement in its voice.
"I thought that I'd never see you again, Natalie."
Natalie? Nobody had called her Natalie since she was taken from home and joined the Zann Esu (The Sorceress Guild) when she was seven.
She felt a claw touch her under her chin and tilt her head up, and then she jumped when she felt another at her neck.
'This is it..." She thought, "This thing is going to slit my throat!"
Much to her surprise, the clawed hand gently wiped away the drool, which had been running down her neck, before it flowed down her chest and onto her clothes.
Shocked, Natthilea opened her eyes and looked up to the demon. It smiled with a closed mouth. No teeth, drool, or malice, Just a kind, caring smile.
And the bright green eyes showed emotion which, she had been taught, demons should not possess.
Unless...
No, it couldn't be...
"Who are you?" Natthilea asked, hoping that she was right.
"Natalie," It said, "It's me... Elric."
"Elric?" Her entire brain shut-down, as a flood of memories from her child-hood came rushing to the top of her mind.
Could this be true?
The half-demon nodded and a moment of shocked silence passed before one solid fact soaked into her mind.
It WAS Elric.
"WHOA!!!" Natthilea called out with a happy excitement as she lunged forward to embrace the beast.
Elric, being very careful of his claws, hugged her back
"Oh, God's girl! It's been so long!" Elric said with an excited happiness (which proved that he was who he said beyond any doubt) "After all these years."
Then, he pulled back with a look of horror and panic, saying,
"Oh, lord! I am SO sorry Natalie! Are you alright? I didn't hurt you, did I?"
"I'm fine Elric." Natalie told him, "You scared me to death, but I'm none the worse for the wear."
Elric breathed a sigh of relief and then, using a single claw, reached up to sweep some stray hair from her face. It pleased him to see that she didn't pull away when he touched her.
So, she really did remember him. After over fourteen years.
"I can't believe it..." Elric said, then, cocking his head to the side curiously, "What are you doing here?"
"What do you mean 'What am I doing here?'? What are you doing here?"
"WOULD SOMEBODY, PLEASE, TELL US WHAT'S GOING ON!!!"
The half-demon and the sorceress looked up to see a shocked necromancer and a very confused barbarian standing in the exact spot where Elric had left them a few minutes before.
"Natthilea Tasslewind! As your traveling companion, I demand an explanation!" Cathim shouted.
"Has she betrayed us?" Tozam asked the necromancer in a quieter voice.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out, Little Bugga!" The priest of Rathma said harshly.
"Oh..." Natalie started sarcastically, "And I suppose that you've never just stopped after a battle to hug a demon that tried to kill you only a moment before?"
"Well, there was that time I broke my mother's favorite butcher knife while I was training, but I don't know if that counts as a demon..."
"FOCUS TOZAM!!!"
"You don't actually hang out with humans like this, do you?" Elric asked Natalie, tilting his head to the side to indicate Cathim and Tozam
"No, not usually. Just for this quest." Natalie said to Elric before turning to her traveling companions.
"It's alright, guys." She told them, "I know him; he's not as dangerous as he looks."
"Say's you." Elric said, backing up a few paces and sitting on his haunches like a dog again. "I'm dangerous, alright. But only when I have to deal with monsters and defend myself from certain human's who attack first and ask questions later, if at all."
"You're not helping."
"Hey, I'm just being honest, Natalie."
Natalie shook her head and turned to the necromancer and barbarian. "Well, I suppose that introductions would be helpful. Cathim, Tozam, this is my baby brother, Elric Tasslewind." She said, indicating the half-demon.
The two men looked at each other with a look of complete confusion, and then looked from the monster, which was now licking blood from its claws, to the beautiful young sorceress.
"You know," Tozam said, tilting his head to the side, "If you look at the two of them like this, there actually is some family resemblance."
Elric stopped licking his claws and laughed at the human's antics while Natalie gave Tozam an indignant look.
"Well I never..."
"Come on, Natalie." Elric said, getting up on all fours again, "I'm sure he was only joking."
"Well, actually..." Tozam was cut off when Cathim rammed him in the stomach with his wand.
"Natthilea, are you saying that you're some sort of demon as well?" Cathim asked, taking up a more offensive stance as though the two of them would attack the necromancer at any moment.
"WHAT!!" Natalie started a scolding look on the necromancer. "Why of all the..."
"Hold on," Elric said, trotting up to Cathim and Tozam. "First off, I was adopted. So there shouldn't be any resemblance. Second off, I am only HALF demon, so don't go jumping to any conclusions about her. And third..."
Elric's ears perked up and his eyes went wide. Slowly, he tilted his head back and took a sniff of the air.
"And third, we need to get outta here. There's a herd of gargantuan beast coming this way out of the east. Normally I would stay, but I don't think you guys are prepared to handle five of those things at once."
"Wait, we still have to get to the Den of Evil like Akara asked us to." Cathim said, "It's the only way that we can get the support of the Rogues."
"The Rogues? You mean the Sisters of the Sightless Eye?" Elric asked.
"Yes, how did you know...?"
"Well, if you need to get in good with the sisterhood, you've come to the right demon. I have a friend high up in the ranks of the Order of the Sightless Eye, if you guy's would be so kind as to show me where their monastery is, I could talk to her and see about getting you what you need."
"To the Monastery guarding the Rogue pass? Are you mad?" Tozam started.
"Well, I wouldn't look like this when I went up to it. I'm not stupid enough to walk right into arrow range of the monastery looking like a demon. The rouges would pick me off as soon as they saw me."
"Elric, the rogues don't control that monastery anymore." Natalie told him.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"The monastery was taken over by real demons over three months ago." Natalie told the shocked half-demon, "The passage way to the east has been blocked since then and the rogues have been driven into a small encampment about a league away from here."
"When did this happen?" Elric asked.
"Let's talk about this somewhere else shall we," Tozam said, squinting out into the east. "I think the demon thing..."
"ELRIC!" Elric scolded
"Sorry, I think that Elric is right. There is something coming this way, and they look big enough to be wendigo's"
"No, wendigos have more of a tattered leather smell to them. These are gargantuan; they carry the scent of pine with them like a skunk carries its stink."
The three human's looked at the black beast with a questioning gaze.
"I've been roughing it out in the wilds for almost five months! I think I've had time to figure out what every thing smells like." Elric started up a bit frustrated at the idea that they did not believe him.
He took a steadying breath and closed his eyes in thought.
"Besides it's getting late, and it might be a good idea to find a place to camp for the night." He said, "I saw a cave about a quarter of a mile from here that should do rather nicely."
"WHAT! YOU'RE GOING TO STAY WITH US?" Cathim voice said plainly that he did not like the idea at all.
"Of course i am," Elric confirmed, hopping back to stand beside his adoptive sister. "I just found a long lost loved one. Do you think that i'm just going to leave?"
Cathim and Tozam had no answer.
"Besides, if something is going on, I would like to know about it. I noticed that there have been a lot more monsters in the woods lately but i never thought that the Sisterhood of the sightless eye had lost their monastery. You have got to tell me what happened."
"Alright, but let us do it quickly," Tozam said, "They're coming."
Cathim saw Natalie pet Elric, or so the beast called its self, fondly. He didn't trust the demon one bit, and he wasn't about to go following it into a dark, shadowy cave.
"And why should we follow you to a remote cavern in the middle of no where, Elric?" Cathim said, drawing out Elric's name with an oozing sarcasm.
"That's not what you're really asking, what you're really asking is 'why should you trust an evil, hell-spawned demon?'"
"Indeed, you seem to have a knack for reading my mind, so how do we know you didn't just implant some false memory in Natthilea's mind so that we would follow you? Your kind will stop at nothing to manipulate the people of this world, so how do we know that you are who you say you are?"
"Look at the facts, Necromancer. A). I just saved all of your lives from those Fallen, for which I have yet to receive so much as a 'thank you'. B). YOU attacked ME, not the other way around. C). I was not at Natalie's mercy a moment ago, she was at mine. What in the high hells make's you think that a creature of my power would go through all this drivel and try to make you trust me when I could have easily killed you all a moment ago. Or right this second if I
really wanted to."
Elric's tone was agitated, almost to the point of a small fury.
"Now, I'm offering you a chance to come to a place of safety for the night. If you want to stay and be eaten by gargantuan or whatever the hell comes next, be my guest." He turned his head up to Natalie, "Do you believe that i really am the Elric you remember?"
"Not a doubt in my mind." She answered.
"And I will go to." Tozam said, walking over to stand beside Natalie. "A good warrior knows when to fight and when to listen, for both must be done in order to secure life. I apologize for attacking you before, half-demon, and I plan to make it up by giving you a chance."
"Tozam, you can't be serious?"
"Listen, Cathim, he makes a good point. If he wanted us dead he could do it. And after saving us I think that I acted a bit irrational when I attacked..."
"Apology accepted, by the way." Elric chimed in.
"Thank you. But, Cathim, what do we have to lose besides our lives."
"You're mad... Following a demon..."
"HALF-DEMON" Natalie and Elric said together, and then they looked at each other, and laughed.
"Just like old times, huh Natalie?"
"Shall we get on to the caves then," Tozam rushed, looking back out to the east where small figures had appeared on the horizon. "We really are in no condition to fight them. Come on, Cathim."
Cathim looked to the ground.
He knew that this was insane. He knew that this was such an obvious trap.
A demon? helping humans?
It was impossible, unheard of.
This was all beyond crazy.
But, nobody had ever considered a priest of Rathma to be sane anyways, so why the hell not. After all, his people did not fear death.
"Alright, let's go." He said in a defeated tone. "But, I'm watching you, demon. Don't think for a moment that i'm going to fall asleep with you around."
The Half-demon, Elric, smiled and trotted into the south.
"Well, let's go, then. After all, Natalie and I have fourteen years to catch up on. And i really want to hear about what's happened with the rogues."
"In time, Elric," Natalie said as the three human's started to follow him, "But, what i want to know is, How in the world you got away from the farm at Atisar. Father must have been furious when he found out you left. He was always so protective of you and the others."
Elric stopped in his tracks and bowed his head, allowing Natalie to catch up to him. When he spoke again, his eyes did not meet her own.
"You don't know, do you?" He said to his sister.
"Know what?"
"I... I'll explain when we get to the cave and set up camp." He said, a lump definite in his throat. he tried to swallow it down, but it wouldn't budge.
"No... Tell me now; What are you talking about, Elric?" Natalie asked, sounding worried.
"Natalie..." He had trouble putting the words against his tongue and his teeth. "Atisar was destroyed, everybody else is dead."
*******************************************************************************
Another Chapter up and running!
Yippee!!! (Wait, I left it off on a sad note, why am I cheering?)
Alright, now to comment on some of the comments I've been getting.
First off, I know my spelling isn't top notch but until this chapter, I've been unable to use spell check on it due to the fact that my new computer, which I am using, did not have Microsoft Works on it until now. So I will be reposting the previous chapters with all corrections made.
And also, for anybody who has noticed, i know that the prologue is sketchy and lacks detail and that is the way I was intending it. In the prologue, Elric is dreaming and i doubt many people have very vivid dreams. I WILL go into detail about my half-demon's history in future chapters.
I await more comments, flames, and constructive critique. SO, come back and leave something or i will be forced to feed you to my pet dragon. ^_^ just kidding.
Come back soon...
Signed, Robin
