Act 1: The Hunt for Cain

Thalasi fell to the ground, an arrow zinging right above his head. He knew he did not have much time left. Blood Raven kept pinning him down with her excellent archery skills, and her small army was advancing towards him.

Thalasi placed one hand on the ground, and started to chant.

"Io infond vita voi, terra! Aumentare in su e difend vostro padrone!"

The ground around Thalasi's hand trembled. The earth started to crack. Black steam rose from the cracks, seemingly drawn out from the nether world itself. The cracking of the earth continued, as if the earth was splitting below the surface.

Blood Raven paid to heed to the events happening, and fired a flaming bolt right at the head of the necromancer.

Just as the bolt was about to connect, a two-metre tower of earth emerged from the ground, impacting the arrow and flinging it aside. Thalasi grinned at the timely save, confident that his new spell was working correctly.

Cracks ran down the tower, and it suddenly burst apart, revealing a stout figure inside. At a cursory glance, the figure could just pass off as a human, except that it was brown and had cracks running up and down the entire length of its body. The figure shook off the remaining dust from its body, revealing two powerful arms and a stout frame. Its shape was generally humanoid, but it had shoulder blades about one and a half times the length of Thalasi's and had a head but no face.

"Attack her, golem." Thalasi commanded out loud. Theoretically, the golem could be commanded by his thoughts alone, but he wanted to play safe this time.

The golem obeyed. It charged at Blood Raven with unholy speed that far outstripped what its body looked capable of. Blood Raven, however, was still as nimble as ever, and managed to dodge the heavy punch that the golem launched. She telepathically commanded her zombies and skeletons to attack this new monster while she sprinted to the pile of corpses, intent on raising more zombies to aid her.

Thalasi saw that move, and was confident in his golem's ability to hold off her creatures. After all, its body was made out of the solid earth, and the weapons Blood Raven's minions wielded would do pitiful damage against his golem.

Thalasi did not intend to allow Blood Raven to raise more zombies, and so sprinted after her, his wand pointing to the pile of corpses and his lips chanting yet another spell…

"Liber agonia vostro morte, guasto essere! Inond terra con vostro rabbia!"

Blood Raven reached the corpses just as Thalasi completed his incantation. She bent down over one corpse, preparing to revive the body, when it started to tremble violently. Blood Raven halted her casting, as if in shock, giving the body all the time it needed to detonate. The vibrations increased to a fever pitch, then the corpse exploded violently, the concussion knocking Blood Raven off her feet and painting the ground red with blood and gore.

Seeing his chance, Thalasi immediately started to detonate more corpses, using the corpses around Blood Raven as his ammunition. Corpses around Blood Raven started to vibrate and explode, catching her off guard as she was trying to recover. The explosions tumbled Blood Raven around the vicinity, until one particularly big explosion threw her upon the few remaining corpses in the graveyard.

Thalasi gulped down a blue potion and pointed his wand at the corpse, his eyes burning with an inner blue fire, his features contorted by his anger and fatigue, his lips twisted into a maniacal grin as he completed the spell.

Blood Raven looked into the eyes of her slayer just as the corpse detonated underneath her, the shockwaves ripping her undead body apart.

At the destruction of Blood Raven, her remaining minions collapsed back into their inanimate forms, leaving Thalasi's clay golem standing in the middle of the graveyard, surrounded by corpses.

Thalasi walked over to where Blood Raven's head lay, thinking to bring that back as proof of his victory. As he picked up the head, he was surprised at the expression on her face. He was expecting anger, maybe resignation, but they opened eyes were staring at him with… gratitude. In the heat of the battle, he did not notice, but now, upon closer inspection, her face seemed to bear a semblance of peace and thankfulness.

"Maybe some portion of the noble human in her still existed, but was too weak to resist the commands of Diablo." Thalasi thought, his hatred for the demon increasing. Even though people looked upon necromancers with disgust and even open hatred, their order never bent any living person's will to their needs. They only reanimated and studied the dead. Unlike what had transpired here. Blood Raven was obviously not dead before Andariel corrupted her.

"I will find this foul demon and banish her back to the depths of hell, where she belongs."

Thalasi ripped open another town portal scroll and stepped into its midst, carrying his gruesome prize. The clay golem followed silently behind him.

The familiar blue portal transported him back to the rogue encampment. Evening had fallen, and Warriv was nowhere to be seen. Thalasi assumed he had found a tent to stay in, or had returned to the caravan. He looked around for Kashya's tent, his searching the many identical white tents.

After a while, he managed to spot one tent with a unique marking over the tent flap, which he assumed to be of some importance. Kashya or Akara should be inside there. Thalasi walked to the tent and cleared his throat. There were sounds of shuffling before Kashya come out of the tent.

Kashya looked horrified at the sight of Thalasi standing outside her tent, his hand gripping a severed head.

"I have defeated Blood Raven. Your brethren can now rest in peace, as will Blood Raven's spirit."

Thalasi handed over the head, aware that Kashya may want to bury what remained of her friend. However, Kashya declined. "Thank you, necromancer, for ending her torment. Even though I was once her best friend, I could not bring myself to kill her, no matter what." Kashya looked up at Thalasi. "Maybe I have misjudged your kind. Do come in and rest, for you have had a hard day." Thalasi accepted the thanks and placed the head outside the tent before continuing in.

Akara was already inside the tent. From the many parchments they had on the table, it was evident that they were having a heated discussion before Thalasi arrived. The interior of the tent seemed larger than what could be seen from the outside. A fairly large table occupied the centre of the tent, and 4 chairs where scattered around the table. Akara was seated on one of these chairs. There were many items tossed haphazardly on the sides of the tent. Thalasi took the proffered seat and Kashya sat down beside Akara.

After Thalasi updated them about the death of Blood Raven, and how he suspected Andariel managed to dominate her even when alive, Akara's face tightened.

"It is clear that we are facing an Evil difficult to comprehend, yet alone combat. There is only one Horadrim Sage, schooled in the most arcane history and lore, who could help us… his name is Deckard Cain. You must travel to the lost town of Tristram. I pray that he still lives."

Thalasi mulled over the prospect of visiting that doomed town. "How am I going to find my way there? By all the ancient texts, it was sealed off after Diablo passed through."

Akara pointed at one of the parchments on the desk. "The ancient texts that we have recovered from the monastery depict a way in which you can pass through to Tristram. By finding the scroll on the Tree of Inifuss and deciphering the code, the pathway to Tristram will be opened. If you could retrieve the scroll for me, I can interpret it and tell you the exact location of where to unlock the seal."

Kashya stood up. "Come with me, Thalasi. There is something I can show you that would increase your travelling speed." Thalasi followed her as she exited the tent.

Kashya led Thalasi to a corner of the encampment. There was a design sketched into the dirt. It resembled a huge circle, with a cross inside it. There were 4 blue flames, one at each end of the cross.

"When we fled the monastery, we managed to find out how to use and manipulate these formations. We have lost the knowledge of what they were called, and so now we refer to them as 'waypoints'. Akara managed to access many of the waypoints as we fled from the monastery, and they are bond together with ancient magic. By stepping into the portal and evoking several words, the waypoint can transport you to the other various waypoints that we discovered. Our scouts tell us that the tree of inifuss is closest to the waypoint we named 'Dark Wood', but is guarded by a huge beast. To travel there, step into the waypoint and say the activation phrase, 'luce mio percorso' followed by a pre-determined waypoint. For example, to travel to the dark wood, just say "luce mio percorso dark wood" and you will be teleported to the dark wood waypoint."

"Thank you, Kashya." Thalasi replied.

"No problem. I suggest only going after the scroll tomorrow, you should rest tonight."

Thalasi laughed. "For most humans, that would be true. But my order has been trained in the dark arts of death and undeath, and so we prefer to use the night rather than the day. I am more comfortable at night. Thank you for your concern, but I would rather start the search for the scroll right away."

"As you wish, necromancer, as you wish."

Thalasi unsummoned his golem, causing the clay to disintegrate and fall to the ground in large chunks. Scooping up the remains, he buried Blood Raven's head in one corner of the camp, and set a gravestone there. After paying his respects, Thalasi strode towards the waypoint and stood in the centre. "luce mio percorso dark wood" he chanted, and a bluish light surrounded him and blocked off all outside vision.

After what seemed like an eternity, the blue haze around his vision lifted. He was standing in a circle similar in design to the one at the rogue encampment, only that this one was far out in the wilderness. Thalasi could see a patch of dense forest up ahead. This must be the dark wood. Thalasi thought.

He summoned his clay golem back from the ground and strode into the forest, the darkness swallowing him and his golem up as they strode into the gloom.

Note: Sorry for the lack of updates as I played too much dota lolz. anyway, my exams are coming, so i don't think i will update for quite a while. Thanks for all the reviews!