The doors flew open.
Keilious, Archarbitor, Tyxor, stood with his back turned to them. In front of him stood the child after whom he chased into the Orifice, whose face now looks familiar as the girl in the memoires of the half-orc, Cavitt. A blue altar lies toppled in the corner.
Glyph, his robes flashing behind him, strode towards him, but before he could take even two steps Keilious spoke, half turning to see them. "You're too late to stop me now, and far too weak." He turned back to the child. "And then I will aid you in joining the deceased."
Presavoir took a clanking step forward, R'Kel materialising in his gauntleted hands. With another command his Spined Shield detached silently from his left arm to begin circling around his armoured figure. He pointed at the Hashmalite awesomely. "Patriarch Keilious Ahruhk, fallen angel, your time in the material world is through!"
Raven, the ranger, rolled his eyes. "How useless flamboyant."
Ulric staggered forward, brandishing his weapon from his back. His Lion's Shield roared in confirmation of his actions as he yelled at Keilious, "Every single dwarf who ever lived is behind my axe!" He screamed a Dwarven oath and charged at him, before being grabbed by Presavoir, just as Raven and Arzulian began their onslaught.
Raven's hands worked in a blur as arrow after arrow flew towards Keilious. Arzulian's was more methodical, and the enchanted projectiles of his Oathbow sang forth with unnatural grace. Keilious simply stood, however, and just as the arrows were to impact his figure danced a blur of cloaked light, easily dodging incoming missiles. The last one he caught and snapped like a twig.
A beastly roar emitted from Curwëlenya as the normally lithe half-elf shifted her form into a monstrous bear. Her Dire Wolf companion, ever loyal, sprang forth at the swiftness that was Keilious, barking primal fury until a backhand from the Archarbitor sent him sprawling with a yelp. Yelling, Ulric charged across from under the cover of arrows and attempted to strike at Keilious, but too failed to land a blow. Keilious turned, dodged, and knocked Ulric flying back with a single blow, before catching his feet and slamming the dwarf on the floor. His fist rocked into the prone warrior's figure with such force that the stone under him splintered. He pulled back his devastatingly powerful arm for a finishing blow when the great shape of the Dire Wolf tackled him across the ground. An precise shot from Raven spiralled itself into Keilious's side even as Hashmalite and beast tumbled their way across the sky, and Keilious simply grimaced before landing on his back and sending the Wolf fifteen feet behind him with a rollout kick.
Ëlenya went roaring into battle even as Glyph followed her lead and shapeshifted into his true form. Ëlenya's massive form was framed by the rapidly expanding Glyph as he assumed the shape of a majestic Silver Dragon. Ëlenya lunged claws first at Keilious, but the connected with nothing as he sidestepped and sent her massive figure flying.
Presavoir, with surprising dexterity, mounted the large Dragon in under a second, and Glyph raised his head to shout his power. Keilious simply stood there, watching their approaching mass. He raised his hand and caught an arrow from Arzulian, before shimmering backwards and smashed a lunging Ëlenya towards the far wall. The room was too low to allow the Dragon Rider and his cohort to take to the skies, but their ground speed was still considerable. Presavoir charged.
The lance almost impaled the Archarbitor when his sheer speed took hold once again, and Keilious almost seemed to fly out of the way. Keilious deflected yet another arrow, and this time he blurred across the room to in a heat drive to connect with Raven. Raven's weak body hurled past Arzulian before Keilious was once again tackled by the Dire Wolf. Arzulian quickly muttered a prayer, and reverently for salvation. Corellon, the Protector, heeded his subject's call. Divine power flowed through Arzulian and he directed it towards his battle-brothers (and sister). The Wolf, imbued, actually managed to drag Keilious down before Keilious grabbed the Wolf by the throat and began to strangle it, with it yelping the cry of the helpless.
Ëlenya appeared from nowhere and screamed of her nature, sending Keilious flying with enough power to decapitate a normal man. Keilious, however, simply sprang to his feet, his golden cape fluttering behind him. Ulric sprang out from under him, and Keilious raised an eyebrow at the Dwarf's resilience. But Ulric was injured, and before he could strike at him, the Hashmalite simply reached forward with blinding speed and snatched the Dwarf's Vicious axe from him, and threw it with enough force to knock Ëlenya over and then smashed Ulric thirty feet and into unconsciousness.
Keilious dashed across to Ëlenya and prepared to deliver a crushing blow to her downed figure, but Presavoir was behind him, Glyph having turned and began another spirited charge. With seemingly eyes on the back of his head, Keilious prepared to sidestep once again when Arzulian acted.
Arzulian's Elven whisper turned into a declaration as he spoke the oath which would mark Keilious an enemy of Corellon himself. The Oathbow suddenly pulsed with such extreme magic that even Brix would be impressed, and a single arrow flew from it as a blur to Keilious's eyes. He only saw the arrow when it had pierced into his right hip, faltering his step. Presavoir's lance R'Kel impacted.
Sheer force of the brilliant weapon tore Keilious off the ground and carried him a full ten feet before he flew off it. Keilious's bracers held, but the devastating power ripped through his body like lighting and Keilious, for the first and last time, screamed the scream of death. As he fell, his body was pinned by the newly awakened Ulric, who yelled at Raven, "Hurry up, ya useless lump of flesh! Get the potion!" Ëlenya ran on all fours and jumped on the grappling dwarf (earning herself an angry "Oof!") and the Wolf followed his master. Presavoir halted Glyph and quickly dismounted for the final execution. Glyph too polymorphed into human form and strode over to witness the last act which would seal the fate of so many.
Raven scrambled to his feet, still dazed, and staggered across the ruins of the room to the weakly struggling Keilious. He finally shambled over to the prone body, and stared into his face. Smiling a ruthless grin, he raised his bow and latched on one of Brix's alchemical potions. He aimed at the helpless Hashmalite. "Goodnight, for the last time."
The arrow pierced straight into Tyxor's heart and the potion swiftly injected itself. The effects were immediate. Keilious sighed a death whisper as his immortality was stripped from him like Cort so many decades ago. His body began to simply smoke away.
"Yes, kill him. Kill him. Quickly!"
Presavoir turned, shocked at the little girl. Glyph also looked sharply at her, and she smiled back the insane smile of the darkness. "What did you just say?" Presavoir stammered.
"Kill him…now...Kill...Kill…" The voice was distorted, as if something was struggling to burst free.
Suddenly she clutched at her heard and shrieked. Arzulian jumped, and Ulric cried, "What's wrong?" Presavoir took a step back with Glyph as they looked on helplessly at the agonised girl. Ëlenya was as shocked as the rest of them, but Raven raised his bow at the girl. "Something is happening!"
And with a primal roar which echoed the hatred of an infinity of slaughter, the girl exploded in a haze of blood.
It was tall, covered in chains and flesh. A mutilated parody of a woman's face peered from behind a mound of lank hair. Ropes of shadow wrapped around the monster's exoskeleton, and there was the constant sound of dragging chains. Her legs ended not in feet, but in ragged spikes dripping with the blood of the innocent, hovering a few feet above ground.
"Eons have wept, my arrival beginning. Now, end the War."
Papers litter the floor, scrolls of the truths too devastating to comprehend. The Prophecy of Tyxor, fully revealed. Presavoir looked at the demon in horror. He turns to Glyph. "What is this…monstrosity?"
Glyph gave mo response. Apparently he was just as stunned and baffled as the knight.
"The girl, full of despair. Easy to take, easy to control."
Glyph stared at the demon in horror. "This was Keilious' plan…He planned it from the start. But it didn't go the way he expected…" It was plainly obvious now. Keilious, in his imprisonment in the Abyss, convinced the Demons that he had finally been driven mad in his eternity of chaos and evil, and tricked them into allowing him to escape. Finally, he decided that he would wield immortality to confront the Sculptor, and embarked on his mission to destroy the gear at Mechanus. But…it didn't go the way he planned. He didn't count on Ulric, Presavoir, Ëlenya, Raven and Arzulian to destroy him. He didn't count on dying.
Two massive pillars of flesh shot out of the demon's back and slammed into the walls of the stone room. Entire sections collapse and the roof suddenly jumps downwards, threatening to crumble. Ëlenya and the Wolf narrowly dodge a piece of bursting stone, just as three Shadows materialise in front of the right pillar of flesh. In that bore an altar of the purest blue. Ëlenya immediately knew that it was the Altar of the Moonflower, and that with it the Astral Plane can be sealed off. Ulric stared at the other pillar. Three Shadows blinked into existence to guard a brilliant red gem. Ulric recognised it as the relic which his grandfather entrusted him to guard so long ago. His life work. The Godsbane Engine, a device to which can sunder the gods themselves. The prize which Forestar the ranger was obsessed with, which drove him to suicide in the Dreamscape, the prize which led to his madness at the hands of Keilious in Mechanus.
Glyph finally understood. "By using the power of the Godsbane Engine, this…thing will open a portal for the Devils, who will charge out and die here in the Dreamheart, where death is permanent. The Demons will win the Blood War…" Presavoir yelled at Glyph to shift back into Dragon form, and Glyph complied, once again shifting into a magnificent Silver Dragon.
The Sculptor, for there can be no doubt what the demon was now, hovered higher. Glyph shouted, "Use adamantine to destroy the Engine, now! There is no time! She is absorbing it!" But before any of them could move, a floating demonic apparition appeared on the far side of the room. Purple balls of energy shot out from Tyxor's Axe at the hands of Ulric, the orb in Arzulian's possession, and finally a brilliant white light drained into the apparition from R'Kel. Presavoir almost sagged into his saddle as he felt arms weaken as his strength left his body, and he could see his friends suffering similar effects. His back slumped, and finally, coughing, he fell from his saddle. Raven had collapsed entirely, while Ëlenya was on all fours roaring her defiance as he Wolf whimpered prone. Ulric grasped Arzulian and Arzulian, gasping, cried out to Corellon for his divine pity.
Immediately, Presavoir found most of his strength returning, and managed to catch himself before he fell off Glyph, who was now beginning to rise. Nodding his thanks to Arzulian, he viewed the rest of his friends rising before preparing for battle.
Ëlenya recovered first, and inwardly she pleaded to her god to deliver divine retribution. Ehlonna headed her call, and a great strike of flame impacted on the group which protected the altar. The others finally noticed that Ëlenya was accompanied by the images of Komachi and Cort, who were urging her to deliver them unto the Altar of the Moonflower. Her Dire Wolf lunged towards the Shadows, but a pillar erupted beneath him and he was tossed away. Ulric cursed in Dwarven, and leapt forward towards the towering figure of The Sculptor. Before he got there however, a mound of spikes ten feet tall shot up from beneath him, puncturing his armour and throwing him high into the air, before he rebounded off an invisible shield and landed in front of the demon.
Meanwhile, Raven once again worked his hands in a blur, with no less than fifteen arrows impacting on the demonic apparition. It screeched a high-pitched scream before it darted into a hole in the wall to avoid more damage. Arzulian, who had also shot at the demonic spectre, immediately turns and mutters an prayer to his god for assistance. Raven floated into the air, stretched momentarily, and then set off in pursuit of the drainer fiend.
Ëlenya summoned yet another pillar of fire which burned one of the Shadows to a crisp, even as Glyph let out a cone of freezing air which completely shattered another protecting the Godsbane Engine. It seems the Shadows were ordered to do nothing but guard the relics, and they simply stood taking punishment. Ulric cursed at his lack of strength, and rose to charge across the towards the two remaining Shadows protecting the Godsbane Engine, only to be stopped by yet another pillar.. Presavoir and Glyph charged on, only to have his now magically-dead lance pass straight through the Shadow.
Ëlenya, seeing Presavoir and Ulric's powerlessness, invoked an ancient druidic chant. A massive spiral of air materialised to form a huge Air Elemental, appearing right next to the speeding Raven. Raven paused for a split second, and then let out a gracious smile even as the roof began to tumble. He and the Elemental speeded into the gap and found the apparition some fifty feet away, hiding. Raven screeched to a halt in mid-air and drew his bow, but the huge Air Elemental rushed past him. Its sheer size disturbed the walls even more, and the entire room began to shake even more uncontrollably. The Air Elemental slammed into the apparition with incredible force, and it once again screamed a high-pitched scream. A final arrow from Raven sent it spiralling out of control and it eventually vanished into the darkness.
Presavoir felt the strength and dexterity returning to him at once, and he laughed a victorious banter. R'Kel flamed, its previous magical sheen replacing the lead it had been transformed into. Ulric smiled grimly as well, and with a roll dodged another set of spikes attempting to impale him. Arzulian aided Ëlenya and shot a series of arrows which punctured the incorporeal form of a Shadow and destroyed its essence. Ëlenya bowed headfirst and charged across the terrain, and finally destroyed the last Shadow guarding the Altar of the Moonflower. By now the body of Keilious has all but vanished, and the spirit of Komachi gave his figure one last look before she and Cort entered the blue altar.
The Air Elemental had now burst from a wall, attacking the nearest foe, which was The Sculptor. Before any blow could be made however, her shields flashed, and the Air Elemental simply disappeared. Ulric shouted, "The Shadows are all gone! Hurry and destroy the Engine!"
The Sculptor simply stared forward, and suddenly the entire room was populated by undead fiends once again. Just as Presavoir groaned two familiar figures entered the room.
It was Thamior and Melphus, Regent of Regina. Raven, now back in the room, threw across the room, "Aren't you meant to be in the Realm of Eternal Nightmares?"
Melphus grimaced. "Yes," he yelled back. "That was an unpleasant experience. But no time now! Destroy the Godsbane Engine! We will hold back these Shadows!" Melphus sliced his sword across the body of a Shadow, while Thamior pummelled two in a row with his vicious Dire Flail.
Sensing the urgency in his voice, Glyph lets out an devastating attack on the nearest Shadow, even as Ulric hacked another apart. Raven and Arzulian shot another one down, but Presavoir's one still stood. Desperate, Presavoir pushed all his strength into a final attack with his lance, which finally pierced through its incoporealness and shattered the undead fiend apart. Ulric, finally seeing an opening, ran through. But their time was up.
"Quick!" Thamior yelled. "You must leave! The portal is opening!"
Thamior and Melphus looked at each other helplessly before they're forced to retreat because of the roof collapsing. Ulric's mad dash with his last strength blasted through the remaining Shadows and he reached the Godsbane Engine. There, with his final ounce of strength, he channelled the anger of the entire Dwarven race into a single strike with his adamantine gauntlets.
The gauntlets crash against the fleshy exterior as they close over the Godsbane Engine. The force drove the spiked gauntlets through the flesh, and finally, Ulric heard them impact on the wretched artefact. He pulled his hand back.
He could see the damage his gauntlets had done. Even though he had smashed through the flesh and hit the actual device…the force was not enough to destroy it. Ulric moaned; a desperate, dying moan.
The Godsbane device absorbed into The Sculptor's body, and primal power flowed through her maimed body. Behind them, a vast portal the size of the mouth of Hell itself opened, and they could see hordes of Devils pouring in, and dying the instant they stepped foot into the Dreamheart. With no way they could inform the beings behind them, they simply flowed forward, and died in their masses.
"I know I should be grateful for getting rid of fiends…but...the enemy of my enemy is my friend, at least right now." Raven shook his head in awe.
"All daemons are irrevocably evil! All o' them must die, and we'll start with you!" Ulric yells.
The roof imploded. Outside, there was the true Dreamheart. Vast uncontrolled elements flew through the vacuum which could sustain life. Great blocks of ancient stone made by unspeakable gods rained down upon the Sculptor and her opponents, but her shields simply deflected them. Presavoir was almost crushed by a particularly large portion but at the last second his Animated Shield managed to slap it aside. Raven and Arzulian had no problem dodging the falling debris, and Ulric and Ëlenya were away from the epicentre of the cataclysmic act of power. The Wolf, however, was flung upwards as one of eight altars erupting around the Demon came out directly below him, and he fell down yelping.
"The portal opened, the War won," the Sculptor whispered. With a single blow, Ulric, who was closest, was sent crashing through the wall. Presavoir uttered a cry and sped after him by air. As the Dwarf fell into nothingness, his body was pummelled by energies elemental, before Glyph finally snatched him out of midair. Presavoir's enchanted shield was able to absorb the brunt of the elements, but still a bolt of lightning smashed into Glyph but the tough dragon showed no indication he felt anything at all. Swooping back into the arena with Ulric muttering his thanks, they could see a fierce battle beginning. Presavoir flew Glyph over the exposed room and dropped Ulric down, before swooping into the darkness.
"Hey, where are ya goin'? Coward!" Ulric shouts.
"Do not falter! I will return!" Presavoir shouts back, his shield flashing as it swooped around him, deflecting deadly elements.
Ëlenya was in behind the Demon as she attempted to bat aside the Dwarf, but her attacks simply bounced off the hunkered Ulric. Chains smashed into his plate armour, and her spiked legs slashed into his shield, but Ulric remained motionless as he truly earned his title of Dwarven Defender. Ëlenya, seeing an opportunity, prayed, and an Arc of Lightning sprang across the Sculptor. However, the potent electric ray jumped above the Demon and strikes two altars instead, destroying them but rendering her unharmed. Ëlenya curses and swiftly morphs back to human, and hid behind a pillar.
"Destroy the altars! They're protecting it!" she yelled.
Ulric swore viciously before he realised the large Demon was slowly pulsing with light. Arzulian yelled from the other side of the room, still shooting, "Be careful! That energy is very powerful!"
"You don't say," Raven mutters under his breath as he ducked behind one of four pillars littering the room. With a single precise shot, he penetrates a potent arrow straight through an altar, shattering it. At the same time, the Wolf destroys another one by viciously leaping upon it and toppling the wretched artefact and Arzulian blew another to pieces with his bow.
The final pillars were destroyed in this fashion.
Ëlenya fired off a bolt of energy from her Holy Icon and reduced one to dust. Ulric managed occupied the silent Demon for another few seconds as the Wolf ran right behind her to topple another one.
The final one was destroyed by Glyph as he passed it, his speed unbelievable.
Glyph, as he sped straight for the unaware Sculptor, batted aside an altar with an offhand stroke using his claw. Presavoir had urged Glyph to incredible speed even Arzulian was forced to duck, not being able to use even his prestigious dexterity to dodge out of the way. The Sculptor finally succeeded in penetrating Ulric's defences and flung the groaning Dwarf away. And at the last moment, she turned to see death bear down on her shining form.
R'kel flared into a brilliant white energy as it struck the Sculptor with enough raw force to break adamantine. The Sculptor's exoskeleton crumpled and peeled away as the Cold Iron quality of the lance pierced the Demon's very soul. The holy weapon roared once, and hot purities flashed, completely disintegrating the Demon's left torso, destroying the heart of beast. The lance again shined and injected the wrath of all that is pure and righteous into the Abyssal creature, and the right torso was annihilated, obliterating all but her spine. Finally, the bane of Demons ignited, and the light and darkness of all which opposed the entire race of fiends was discharged in a final, brilliant explosion of red energy, and finally the head, and the mind, of this most evil outsider was completely vaporised in a mist of gore.
But even as Presavoir left the steaming corpse, a voice fluttered across the minds of entire multiverse.
"Kill me, it does not matter. Reborn…Raven…."
The shining energy which had encompassed the Demon suddenly expanded in a huge sphere of sparkling electricity. It flew outwards at an enormous rate, not even slowing down as it reached nothingness which surrounded this single room. Ulric simply died as the wave shocked all life from the battered Dwarf, and his limp body fell forward. Ëlenya cried out in the open, but perished not as her Wolf leapt in front, shielding her from the blast. Ever loyal, the Wolf finally fell, his body rendered apart. Arzulian, at the last possible second, screamed to his deity for life-bringing help, and a wall of the purest force sundered reality in front of him, protecting him from the deadly energy. Even that, however, wasn't enough to completely save him, and the force field's backlash flung him against the wall with incredible force. The wave of destruction expanded even quicker, and soon caught up to Presavoir. However, the noble knight had used his skill as Dragon Rider turn Glyph around, and his shield protected Glyph even as R'Kel deflected the unholy field with a mighty spin. In shielding Glyph, he had made him vulnerable to the swirling mass of elements which made up the Dreamheart, though, and at that depth into the nothingness hundreds of elements pounded into his and Glyph's body, and finally, slowly, the knight and his great Dragon fell. And continued falling, into oblivion itself.
Raven, however, was unaffected. The pillar in front of him glowed blue, and the field of crackling energy simply dissipated in front of it. A few more seconds of desperate waiting occurred as the energy around him flew and destroyed all but the floor, but eventually, the massive destructive wave ceased. Ravens stepped out from the protective pillar.
Ëlenya kneeled, weeping over the body of her fallen animal companion. Arzulian laid by the dead body of Ulric and the still hot corpse of The Sculptor. The room had all but been obliterated by sheer force, but one thing was most apparent.
They had survived.
Raven sighed. It was finally over, and he could leave. He turned, but all he could see around him was darkness, and that great portal from which millions of Devils poured every minute to their deaths.
His hand itched. In horror, he stared at his fingers. Just like before in the woods when he touched the Orb, his hand and slowly his arm as well, were completely black. In his mind, he felt an intruding influence, and realised with terror that it was not over. Not by a long shot.
The Sculptor's voice reverberated around the room.
"Finally, the matter settled. It is useless, triumph in my hands. The Hashmalime will never leave this place, as you never will."
With a sickening sound, Raven's entire body turned pitch back in that very instant. He felt light, very light, like he could almost fly. Stumbling, he yelled, but Ëlenya was much too grief-stricken to even care. In absolute shock, he realised he was what they had defeated only moments before. He was a Shadow, and the new host body for the undying Sculptor.
But in his moment of destiny, truths to dark for man to behold flashed into his mind. The mind of a Shadow, unknowingly, protected him from instant madness as the knowledge of the Dreamheart absorbed into his magical body, and he suddenly knew. He knew that the runes on the remnants of the un-destroyed doorway to now nothing were an indication of a door. A door to leave this place. A door to salvation.
He knew not where it led. It did not matter. All he knew was that at least one of them could tell this story. Pass this story on, and carry the tale forever more through history. The Demons were now inconsequential, as Komachi and Cort activated the Altar of the Moonflower. But the story must be told, and held, and through this he as the memory of Raven could be preserved.
But who to choose? The Sculptor had said the Hashmalime would never leave this place, same as him, so Ëlenya was not an option. Ulric was dead, and Raven passed him over obviously, Presavoir and the Dragon Glyph were falling to an eternity of darkness and light, and they were unreachable, which left only Arzulian, the elf. Seeker of the Misty Isle. He would carry the tale well.
Quickly, he slid across the floor to emerge at Arzulian's side, and picked him up with focus to suppress his incorporeal quality. Almost grunting, he strode across the room and stood before the doorway. Reaching out with his mind, he activated the runes of transportation, and a white arch flashed into existence. But even as the gate forced itself into the Dreamheart, the reality around it bent, and the floor began to crumble. Ulric's body disappeared into nothing, as did the corpse of The Sculptor.
Sighing, with momentous strength, he flung the still unconscious Arzulian into the doorway to unknowable places.
His work was done. But one more thing was not.
He would not allow himself to become a fiend.
Once again, suppressing his incorporealness, he walked over to the edge of the rapidly disappearing floor. He peered into the darkness of the Dreamheart, and reached out to grasp a passing by element. A shard of ice. It felt like fire on the palm of his hand.
And with a final burst of courage, he drove it straight into his skull, even as the floor collapsed.
Arzulian woke.
It is noon. A light south-westerly wind blows, and its breeze is refreshing on his lightly armoured body.
The sea ripples around him, and he is surprised to find himself on a boat in the middle of the ocean. He's mind races as he tries to determine what has happened. The last thing he remembers is a brilliant glow of light as the force of might Corellon was disrupted by the energy blaze. But then what? A single flash of thought speeds by: a brilliant white light engulfing him as he is flung by something untouchable. But what? How much time as past? Where is he?
He finally realises that he has been beached. The sand feels incredibly comforting as he is on solid, Material ground once more. It is misty.
In awe, Arzulian, Seeker of the Misty Isle, stares around himself. Great cliffs, taller than the tallest Titans, loom overhead, overlooking the outlet he is on. Patches of vegetation litter across their height, but the mist makes it hard to see properly. Is this really the Misty Isle?
Arzulian decides to explore further, and he treks along the beach.
In front of him lie five bodies. In shock, he stares at the unconscious forms of his former companions: The glittering form of Presavoir. The robed scrollmaster Glyph. The armoured ball of Ulric. The fluid form of Curwëlenya. And finally, the graceful figure that was the human Raven.
He hurries to them, and they stir, beginning to waken.