Here is the last chapter in this week's posting. This chapter deals in some dark happenings for Luther, events that may either lead to his downfall, or his ultimate triumph. Frost is showing her colors even more here, though it could either be ego, or it could be her hiding the pain she has inside. Which it is, well only time will tell.
This is kind of a long chapter, but I felt it all needed to be together. Hope I don't give anyone eye strain! I think the end of the chapter is worth the long read up to it. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
XI
"What do you mean you retrieved the cube without me?" Luther cried.
"You were hurt, and needed to rest, so I figured I'd help you out" Keltar explained.
"Well, thank you for the help, but I truly wished you would have waited for me. I am part of this quest as well!"
"It was okay, I took Frost along with me, and she did enough to cover both her part and yours. Besides, it's only been four days since you were injured, you should still be resting, not rushing into battle" Keltar said.
"Yeah, don't overdo it, tin man" Frost said arrogantly.
"You're right" Luther said, turning to walk away. "I shall go speak with Cain and find out where we should head next."
Luther was truly confused. He remembered being struck hard, pain piercing his side, then nothing but darkness. His next memory was awakening to the sight of Fara's face above him, at the inn in town. He had spent the past days recovering from his injury. In that time, his friendship with Fara had grown, though contrary to Frost's belief, it was purely plutonic. Luther had little interest in romancing the fire haired woman, having grown to see Fara like a little sister.
He had discovered the details of his injury, and of the timely intervention of Keltar, saving his life. He, like Frost, was impressed by the barbarian's strength, though humbled a bit by being in need of it. He was grateful that the barbarian had agreed to join them on their quest, even if he only did so for selfish reasons.
He noticed that Frost was quite taken by Keltar, and seemed to hang around him like a lost puppy. Luther was a bit angered by this, but did his best to ignore his feelings. He figured her attraction to be nothing more than a passing crush. Luther had not planned on a relationship with her, even though he had nearly kissed her previously. He denied, even to himself, his feelings for her, forcing himself to believe he didn't care for her that way. Yet, in the back of his mind, he could not stand the sight of her fawning over any other man.
Her fawning wasn't the only irritation in his mind, however. Every since he was injured, Frost seemed to act like he was a complete washout, unable to engage nothing larger than an unruly sewer rat. She sneered at him every chance she got. Luther wanted to slap the smirk off her face, wanted to remind her that it was he who had saved her life back in the monastery courtyard.
She seemed to have forgotten that incident, and now had led Keltar in retrieving the cube. He had lost a chance to redeem himself in her eyes. He reminded himself that he cared not for her opinion of him, yet his heart screamed with pain at the thought of losing stature in her eyes.
The next few days flew by for the heroes. They had retrieved the Staff of Kings from an infested maggot worm den, engaging in close quarter battles in the putrid poisonous tunnels. The den was crawling with dung beetles, man sized monstrosities that resembled some form of insect, and had the graciousness to emit flitting bolts of electricity when struck. Keltar shrugged off the shocks, due to his natural resistance to the elements, but Frost and Luther would have surely perished without Luther's salvation aura.
On the third level of the lair the heroes had discovered the maggot queen, a large orange worm, still partially buried in the desert ground. The queen was a dozen feet long, at the very least, and guarded by numerous smaller maggot worms. They were packed into the small chamber so tightly they could not move without walking over each other.
By the time the warriors had worked their way in and slain the queen, the blood of the worms was ankle deep. They took the staff from the chest the queen was guarding and made their way back to town, glad to be out in the sun once again.
From there they had moved on to finding the Viper Amulet, which when combined with the Staff of Kings, would form Tal Rasha's Rod, which was needed to open the way to the sealed chamber he was held in. The warriors knew that he likely had company there, hopefully the Dark Lord concealed as the wanderer himself. Hopefully they could end the quest there, and prevent Baal from being released.
The amulet was kept on an altar in the Valley of Snakes. The demons had overrun the area, however, forcing the trio to fight their way in. The valley was properly named, vipers were everywhere. They were man sized creatures, their two hands ending in razor sharp claws. They also had tails, coming to a sharp bone point like the salamanders that ambushed Luther and Frost. In fact they were virtually identical, save their dull grey color and the fact they were much stronger, faster, and tougher.
The group made their way into the temple located in the valley, and began their trek for the amulet. The vipers mixed in skeletons and mummies into their forces inside, making for impressive packs of foes. They slowed the heroes some, but with the heroes combined might, they were able to press through.
After going the wrong direction once, and discovering nothing but a dead end, the group finally found the correct hallway that led to stairs down to the altar. Upon entering the altar room, the group was ambushed by a large group of vipers. One viper stood out, a leader of the group. This viper had considerable might. Every strike it made carried a magical frost that chilled the victim to the bone. The rest of the vipers fell quickly, but it took a combined effort to bring the boss viper down.
With all the vipers dead, the heroes claimed the amulet from the altar, and returned to town. Luther placed both the staff and the amulet into the cube, and closed it. By some magical means, the one foot cube held inside it a four foot long staff. Luther turned the cube over twice vertically, bringing the top to face up, and then rotated the item four times in place, before pressing the button featured prominently on the lid.
The cube shook violently, and magical energies crackled in the air. After a moment of shaking, a brilliant light emitted from the edges of the light, accompanied by a magical metal tone. Luther carefully opened the lid to the box, and discovered an ornate brass head standing erect. He pulled the head upwards, only to find it was the cap piece for a staff. As Luther pulled the wooden shaft was revealed, and finally another ornate piece of brass that served as the staff's foot. In all, the staff that emerged from the foot tall cube was nearly five feet long.
"Ah, Tal Rasha's Rod!" Cain exclaimed. "With this, you can complete your task here. Quickly make your way through the arcane sanctuary to the canyon of the magi."
"Well, lets get moving" Keltar said, walking behind Frost. He slapped her ass hard, causing her to jump.
Instead of her raining fiery death upon him, she blushed hard, with a lusty burning look in her eyes.
Luther sighed, such displays had become common between those two. Throughout their travels, the pair had flirted a great deal, dancing around the edges of outright lewdness in both deed and word. Luther desperately wanted to keep the pair apart, but could not allow himself to speak up about it. If he did so, he would have to admit to himself that he wanted to be with her, and that was something he wasn't ready to do.
The trio quickly moved through the harem under Jerhyn's palace, and into a portal leading to the arcane sanctuary. The sanctuary was a strange place, seeming to exist outside any normal place thinkable. It was as if the entire place was hung in midst of the stars themselves. Cold stone paths struck out in each of the four cardinal directions, single walkways that split apart after a dozen yards or so. The branches flowed in opposite directions briefly before resuming their march forward in their chosen direction. Essentially the pathways formed a large box, with a dead end path forming from the top.
They had split up to tackle the area, Luther going down one side of the box, Keltar on the other. The sides were close enough together that the warriors could see each other. They were too far for Keltar to jump, but not for Frost to teleport, and she did so, providing support when needed.
It took the group three tries before discovering the correct direction to go. When they finally made their way to the end of the path that contained the magical book they were searching for, they were met by the ghostly visage of the Summoner. The magic casting spectre threw about glacial spikes and firewalls like they were toys. Luckily Luther had his salvation aura active, reducing any damage taken to minor injuries easily healed by health potions.
After the Summoner fell, they read the book he was protecting, learning of the true mark of Tal Rasha's tomb, and opening the portal to the canyon where it lied. When they stepped through the glowing red portal, they found they were no longer in space, but back in the sun blasted desert. Several tombs were spread out against the wall of the canyon, but only one carried the mark they sought.
They entered and worked their way through, beset by monsters on all sides. It took a great deal of time and fighting to move forward even a few feet. After several hours, and a handful of trips to town for supplies, they finally arrived at their destination.
They could see at the end of the hall that they had entered a room, with a large altar of some type reaching up towards the ceiling. This was the altar for the Rod that would open the way to Baal's prison chamber. Luther, having learned his lesson from the ambush, motioned to Frost and Keltar that he would shoot forward into the altar room, allowing a pincer attack if indeed there was an ambush waiting.
Luther charged forward, nearly crashing into the altar. He quickly turned, and sure enough, there stood a myriad of monsters, waiting for the heroes to arrive. Luther charged again, crashing hard into the pack of skeletons standing to the left of the door. The skeleton he struck instantly crumbled into a pile of bones.
Luther began swinging fiercely, striking bony skulls with his trusted scepter. These skeletons were a bit tougher than normal, and did not fall very quickly. Suddenly from the very corner, a large figure loomed up. A mummy had been hiding behind the skeletons, on its knees. Damn it! Luther thought to himself. If he had known there was a mummy, he would have attacked it first. Instead the mummy had time to cast, firing a dark bolt into the first skeleton that fell. The mass of bones quickly reconstructed itself, and the skeleton resumed his attacking as though he had never fallen.
A flapping noise arose from behind the paladin, as a pack of shocking bats swooped down. Luther quickly raised his arm, and a magical hammer shot forth from his hand, and spiraled around him. It struck each creature hard, stunning them briefly. This allowed Luther to quaff down a healing potion, recast his holy shield, and resume the attack. He was in a tight spot, but not a desperate one.
Meanwhile, the pack of monsters that had waited on the right side of the doorway had charged forward and blocked off the passage. This served to separate the warriors in such a way that Keltar and Frost could not see Luther, and vice versa. Keltar was swinging his weapons furiously, but was not making quick progression. Frost threw spell after spell, but the creatures were slow to fall.
Even when one did, it wasn't a moment later before the mummy resurrected them, nullifying their work. Keltar realized that taking out skeletons three or four times before they stayed dead wasn't going to work. Luther might be in trouble, and if so, they would have to move much faster.
"Frost! Teleport in and take out the mummy!" Keltar bellowed.
Frost nodded and quickly disappeared, teleporting into the interior of the room. She quickly raised a firewall that spread from under the feet of her target all the way over to the wall, and under the mummy that had beset Luther.
Both mummies died from the fire, not able to move quick enough to escape its deadly flames. The skeletons that were attacking Keltar turned to face her. They began advancing towards her, surely with revenge on their minds had their skulls carried any conscious thought.
Frost remembered that the rod shaft was made of wood, and how important it was that the rod remained undamaged. She quickly removed the artifact from her back, where she had been carrying it since they had entered the tomb, and threw it towards the altar. Using her telekinetic abilities, she guided the staff right above the altar, standing it up vertically. She released it, and it fell down into the small hole in the center of the altar.
The room began to shake violently, and lightning issued forth from the altar and crashed into the far wall with a thunderous roar. The wall, defeated in this attack from the altar born bolt, crumbled away, revealing a large hole covered in darkness.
The diversion created by the quaking allowed Frost enough time to teleport back behind Keltar. She resumed throwing frozen orbs and glacial spikes at the remaining skeletons, which were disoriented by her disappearing act.
Keltar took advantage of the opening as well, using the spare moment of distraction to begin his whirlwind attack. He spun up to speed rapidly, becoming nothing but a blur with weapons. He crashed into the skeletons, quickly reducing them to dust. The doorway now clear, Keltar turned to Luther.
Luther was still hanging on, raining blows down on the creatures around him. There were still a good deal of bats and skeletons, but Luther knew he would win this battle.
"Luther, duck!" Keltar yelled out.
Luther did so, and the barbarian whirled into the pack, demolishing the remaining beasts. Luther stood as Keltar spun down, and drank a health potion, restoring him to full strength.
"God, Luther, that's twice you've had to have your ass saved" Frost said, as she sauntered into the room.
"I didn't need any help, I had it covered" Luther grumbled.
"Yeah, sure you did. I swear you are becoming more and more useless all the time" Frost shot back, as she walked to Keltar's side. "You, however, were magnificent" she said to barbarian. Frost then leaned up, took Keltar's face in her hands, and kissed him hard.
Keltar was surprised, but quickly recovered, and kissed the sorceress hard back, his hands finding their way around her. He worked his hands down her slim, powerful body, and pulled her tight against him.
Rage, pure furious, murderous rage shot through Luther instantly. There was no denying now that he wanted Frost, maybe even loved her. He could not stand the sight of her kissing another man. It was just too painful.
As the pain and anger coursed through him, he began to shake, and his thoughts became muddled. Auras shifted and swirled around him, pausing for only a brief second before being consumed by a new one. With every split second, the shifting became faster, until it seemed to be only one powerful white aura encasing him. His shield somehow blessed itself, glowing white. The magical energies of the shield moved into his armor and body, and suddenly his entire armor glowed the same white.
He had completely lost control of his powers, and became consumed by his pain and anger. He was in this moment at least, no longer a paladin, he wasn't even Luther anymore, but instead a creature bathed in the holy powers of the Light, born from thoughts of Darkness. He was the closest any mortal could come to an Angel of Death.
Luther threw his shoulders back, facing skywards, and released a tremendous scream. White light issued out of his mouth and eyes, consuming all shadows in the room. When the anguished cry ended, Luther turned to the couple, who had abandoned their kiss and any other lustful thoughts in the wake of these events, and gave them a hard stare. Luther's eyes, however, were no longer their usual deep brown, but instead were pure white, and glowing.
Luther, though his armor and even his eyes were covered in Light, retained enough of his conscious thought to know not to attack either of the two warriors. Instead he turned silently to the gaping hole in the far wall that stood like a demonic mouth, and served as a gateway to Tal Rasha's chamber. He charged forward into the hole, his speed at least three times faster than normal. He moved so quickly as to seem to teleport, leaving the lovers in the chamber to ponder what had just transpired.
Apparently the Dark Wanderer had indeed beaten the party here, since the Lesser Evil Duriel defended this place. Calling Duriel lesser of anything was truly a disservice. The beast towered a good nine feet, and only a touch shorter than Andariel. What he lacked in height, he made up for in length. He appeared almost insect like, a long abdomen stretching behind him, with several small legs attached. His torso was covered in skin as hard and thick as any plate armor, with two huge hook like arms attached. His eyes glowed a sickly, evil yellow, and his mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. An aura of perpetual, magical cold surrounded him, completing the gruesome package.
Luther was not fazed in the slightest, however. He was alone with the demon, and so he allowed his holy rage to take completely over, wiping any vestiges of human thought from his mind. Duriel charged the paladin, only to have Luther step to the side at the last instant and grab one of his arms. Luther pulled with all his might, and combined with the momentum of the charge, was able to launch the beast into the wall. Duriel crashed into the wall with a mighty thud.
Duriel turned, stunned. The demon had never seen a human move that fast before, nor had he ever seen one that could resist his chilling aura. Luther had done both, and seemingly with little effort. Duriel wasn't about to give up, and once again charged forward, his arms flailing.
Luther crouched as the demon charged, and a split second before impact, he jumped. He landed on Duriel's head, and began to rain blows down as hard as he could. The demon screamed in pain, throwing his head all around, dislodging Luther. Luther landed directly behind the creature, and immediately seized his tail. Giving a loud grunt, Luther snapped the vile tail around to the left, throwing Duriel against the wall, a feat that should have been impossible for a mortal.
As Duriel struggled to rise from the impact, Luther shot forward in his own charge attack. The demon wasn't as fast as the paladin, apparently, for Luther struck hard and true. Duriel had nowhere to go, and bounced into the wall again. Luther did not relent, instead began his zealous attack, quickly breaking through the monster's tough skin. A huge gaping hole opened in Duriel's chest, and Luther's scepter became stuck in his hide. Luther released his weapon, and thrust his hand deep into the demon's chest. He grabbed the demon's black heart, and ripped it out.
Duriel howled, dark, sticky blood issuing from his wound. The large demon began to fall, the life draining from him. Luther quickly stepped aside, allowing the demon to crumple to the floor. As Duriel landed, the sickly glow fled from his eyes.
Luther jutted the heart up high, as though it was an offering to the very sky. The light began to flee from him, his armor and eyes returning to normal, and his thoughts became rational again. He did not remember everything that had just happened, just remembered seeing Frost and Keltar kissing, and then a blur of the battle with Duriel. He finally recovered completely from his condition, and noticed he was holding Duriel's heart still. He threw the vile organ away, disgusted.
Frost and Keltar finally emerged through the hole, gasping as they took in the scene. A normal Luther standing beside the fallen carcass of Duriel was the only features of the room. A new door had opened opposite of the entrance hole, leading deeper into the tomb.
"What the hell happened?" Frost demanded.
"Yeah, you went all crazy, and just stormed in here" Keltar added.
"I'm not sure what happened, I just felt this power overwhelm me" Luther said, knowing full well what triggered the anger, but playing dumb nonetheless.
"Holy Hell Luther! You killed a Lesser Evil alone!" Frost exclaimed, looking over Duriel's corpse. "That is unbelievable! No human has this much power!" Frost was beside herself.
"Wow, that is amazing, Luther, truly" Keltar said, trying hard not to be awestruck himself.
"It was nothing, really, I just got lucky, that's all" Luther tried to play the whole thing off. "Let's see what else is in this tomb."
Behind the door leading deeper was a short hallway that made a right turn, leading to an open chamber. To the heroes' amazement, standing in this chamber was an angel. The celestial being was clad in golden armor, and had wings of pure white stretching out behind him. He was bound to the wall by thick heavy chains.
Luther rushed forward and quickly released the angel.
"Thank you for releasing me, mortal. My name is Tyrael. I am an angel of light. I came here to ensure that Baal was not released from his imprisonment. I arrived here too late however, the Dark Wanderer, who is Diablo in disguise, had already arrived. I battled him, but he ultimately won, and released Baal. He then chained me here to suffer the same fate his brother was sentenced to. You must hurry, go to Kurast, maybe you can prevent the Wanderer from releasing Mephisto. Waste no time here, go!" The angel instructed.
"We will go at once!" Luther exclaimed, bowing briefly to Tyrael. He then turned to Frost, waiting for her to cast a town portal spell. Frost was on the same page, and quickly opened the portal. The trio piled through quickly, urgent to be on their way.
When they returned to town they quickly explained the situation to Jerhyn. The town leader knew that the woes of his town were past, so he sent for Meshif, a ship captain. Jerhyn ordered Meshif out of dock, and to Kurast. Within one hour of arriving in town, the heroes were about to load on the ship and be on their way east.
As the trio began up the gangplank into the ship, a voice rang out behind them. "Luther! Wait!" It was Fara, waving frantically. "I have something for you" She huffed as she caught up with the paladin.
"What is it?" Luther asked.
"Oh, cmon, we gotta get moving here!" Frost snorted, irritated still by Fara.
"It won't take long, I promise" Fara replied, then moved to loosen the straps on Luther's armor.
"What are you doing?" Luther said, surprised.
"Just remove your armor, please" Fara begged.
Luther trusted Fara completely, so he complied, removing his chest plate and armguards.
"I have a gift for you" Fara said, bringing a shining templar coat armor out from behind her.
Luther gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Yes, it is the holy Guardian Angel templar coat armor. I have been the caretaker of it for some time." Fara held the armor out, "And now I want it to give it to you. Use it to defeat the Prime Evils and save our world."
"Thank you Fara, I am honored by your gift." Luther stood, arms outstretched, allowing Fara to clad him in the sacred armor of past paladin champions.
"Can we go now?" Frost said demandingly, furious at the delay.
Luther nodded, then turned and hugged Fara hard.
"Be safe Luther, and come back to see me" Fara said, tears beginning to streak down her face.
"I will, I promise"
"I'm gonna hold you to that, you know" Fara replied, releasing him.
Luther smiled, then ascended the gangplank, and boarded the ship. They were soon underway to Kurast, and the perils that would forever change all their lives.