Almost there! Only a few more chapters until the story's conclusion. I will post the final two chapters on Thanksgiving day, if the Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise. I hope you enjoy the ending, I certainly enjoyed writing the last chapter a great deal. I'm very excited to see what everyone thinks about it. I'll be waiting with bated breath for a reaction come the week after Thanksgiving. Anyways, on with the show, this chapter is about the pair's arrival in Hell, and contains some adult situations as they express their love to each other. R&R, and I'll see yall back next week!

XVIII

The pair found themselves in a place beyond their imaginations. The sky above them was not recognizable by any means. Instead of a soft blue, it was a cold hard grey, with nothing to mark it at all. No clouds, no moon, nothing but endless, depressing grey. Sulfur hung in the air like an inescapable cloud. Evil and oppression was present in every form imaginable. They had truly arrived in Hell itself.

"Diablo!" Luther whispered, instantly raising his guard.

"No, the Dark Lord is not here."

Luther whirled around and discovered Cain, who was hobbling towards him, leaning heavily on his ever present wooden staff.

"What are you doing here?" Frost said, turning to face the old sage.

"Do not underestimate the power of a Horadrim. I might be old and frail, but my power has not diminished. And lucky for you as well! If I had not intervened and pulled you two down here, you would have landed in the middle of Diablo's Sanctuary. You would have walked right into a trap, surely Diablo knows of Mephisto's fall, and laid in wait for his brother's killers." Cain explained.

"Don't worry about that business back in Kurast. If you two succeed in destroying Diablo, I'm sure the entire world will forgive both of you." Cain stated.

"So they know" Luther sighed sadly.

"The death of mage slayer is quickly noticed. Try not to think of that now. The Iron Wolves sought both you with the intention of sending you to Hell, but they did not expect you to arrive in this manner. In a way, justice has been served" Cain said with a light chuckle. "Go rest, use any of the buildings here. There is no one else here, but us, and the two vendors down by the gate. When you are ready to proceed, I will tell you the way."

Luther and Frost moved into a large building to the west side of the fortress silently. The interior of the building was as bleak as the outside, with no color or decoration anywhere. The building was a single room, with no walls dividing up the space. A large wooden bed rested against the far wall, not far from a rough hewn table. In the center of the room was a large fire pit, and a couple of benches were arranged around the pit.

"There's only one bed. I guess I'll go find another place to sleep and let you have this place" Luther said, moving towards the door.

"No, we will both stay here."

Luther turned to Frost to protest, but was met with a sight that took his breath away. Frost had removed her blouse, and stood facing him nude from the waist up. Luther's eyes drank in every curve of her breasts and felt passion burning in his soul.

Frost moved to Luther and kissed him hard, her smooth skin pressing hard against his armor. As Frost explored his mouth with her kiss, she took his hand and removed his gauntlet. She led his calloused hand up to her chest, encouraging him to explore. He somehow found the courage to do so.

After lingering a few moments in the sweet embrace, Frost finally broke from him, leaving him feeling hollow without her. She took his hand and led him to the bed, and began removing his armor. She kissed every piece of skin that became exposed as he was disrobed. After what seemed like an eternity of bliss, Luther's armor was completely off, along with his boots, and padded shirt. He stood before the topless sorceress in nothing more than his trousers.

"Let me show you how much I love you" Frost whispered, dropping her skirt while helping Luther remove his pants.

The time together seemed like an eternity and a split second at the same time to Luther. He wanted to stay here with her for the rest of his life. He held Frost tightly against him, feeling every inch of her beautiful body against him. He allowed himself to enjoy the blissful afterglow of their lovemaking, pushing aside all other thoughts of Demon Lords, murders, and anything else negative.

"Stay here and hold me some more." Frost pleaded.

"Of course, why would I go anywhere now?"

"I don't know, just don't go anywhere. This will be the only time we will ever have." Frost said, sadness creeping into her voice.

"Why would you say that? After Diablo falls, we will return to the west. I know a very nice place in the hills that you will just love. We will get married and spend the rest of our lives there together." Luther assured her.

"No, we won't. I will not survive the next battle." Frost said matter-of-factly.

"Of course you will! You're Frost, the most powerful human to walk the earth remember?"

"No, I'm not. That will soon be very clear."

Luther was completely baffled. He had never heard Frost admit to anything less than utter perfection in her power. She was scaring him a great deal.

"Let's not talk about that anymore." Frost pulled Luther tighter against her.

The pair abandoned words in exchange for more passionate kisses, and the melding of their souls into a single one once again. The pair fell asleep in each other's arms, both truly happy and completely in love.

The pair woke after a restful sleep. Time had finally come to track down their prey. After they each drank in one last look at the other in all their natural glory, the two geared up and found Cain.

Cain explained to them that they must pass through the Plains of Despair into the City of the Damned. There they would find a stairway to the River of Flame, and beyond that, Diablo's throne, the Chaos Sanctuary. The pair grabbed supplies and struck out towards their fate.

True, pure demons infested Hell, like one would expect. Balrogs roamed the plains, dull green behemoths with wings and fiery breath. There were also hordes of Flesh Spawners, vile creatures that appeared to be a twisted human. They walked on all fours, and had the ability to nearly instantaneously reproduce, releasing larvae of their kind that charge in and attack to protect the parent beast.

The worst of the lot had to be the Abyss Knights. They were skeletons, but not the weak kind reanimated by magic. These were native to Hell, the warrior kings of the Underworld. They wielded huge rapiers, and had the ability to shoot out magic missiles. A rare few even possessed the ability to curse the warriors, severely hampering their ability to fight.

The trip was difficult, but not impossible for the duo. Several times they had to return to the fortress for supplies. Once Luther's weapon even broke, leaving him unarmed. He was able fell the demons with just his fists, but was quite upset about breaking the Blessed Hand. Thankfully, the smith in town was able to salvage the weapon and return it to service.

The pair finally passed through the City of the Damned, and descended into the River of Flame. The River was filled with maggot worms like the ones in the Desert by Tal Rasha's tomb. These worms were stronger and more numerous than the previous ones. They clogged the entire pathway, forcing the warriors to engage and destroy every last worm. As they worked through, the adults kept laying eggs, producing endless streams of baby worms.

After what seemed to hours, or maybe it was days passed, the warriors finally destroyed all the worms. The path was clear, and the duo quickly made their way to the entrance of the Chaos Sanctuary.

"I love you" Frost sincerely said.

"I love you too" Luther answered.

"Please, protect me in here" Frost pleaded.

"I promise. I won't let you die. We're going to get through this."

Frost just nodded, and then walked into the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary was packed with demons, and it took considerable time for the heroes to clear it. They also found five seals placed inside, two to the west, two to the east, and two to the north. With each seal they opened, they faced one of Diablo's lieutenants, complete with a horde of minions. One was an apparition, a ghostly demon that drained magical energy but was very ineffective against a physical warrior like Luther.

Another was protected by a Balrogs with unbelievable speed. Again Frost was relegated to the back of the battle, unable to handle the heat from the group's fire breath. Luther destroyed the pack with little trouble, with the assistance of his salvation aura.

The last boss was an Abyss Mage. They were the same as the Knights, only purely focused on magic, making them formidable foes. They possessed a curse very similar to Luther's thorns aura, causing all damage done to them to be reflected at the attacker, rendering Luther useless. He could do nothing but run around, diverting their attention to Frost. The sorceress destroyed them with several frozen orbs and a few firewalls.

When the final seal opened, the entire Sanctuary began to shake violently, and Diablo's voice floated in the air.

"You will find nothing but death here!"

The duo braced themselves, and began towards the center of the Sanctuary for the final showdown with Evil.