The Rebirth Of Evil

Chapter 4

A New Evil

His eyes suddenly opened, bringing him back to reality from the terrible memory slashing through his brain. He quickly shut his eyes from the light that stung them, but began to gradually open them again. He glanced around to assess his surroundings, and determined that somehow he had ended up on a soft mattress that had been set on the floor in a small tent. The sounds of early morning activity floated to his ears through the thin cloth walls as he spied the tent flap to the outside tied shut. He sighed in satisfaction and began to stretch lazily when he felt something holding his right arm down and stopped.

He opened his eyes again and rolled his head to the right, only to find a beautiful woman's face just inches from his own. He was startled but didn't move, instead he gazed at her beautiful raven hair splayed across the pillow they shared, half covering her beautiful olive skin and perfectly shaped face. Her soft skin brushed against his cheek as he moved his right arm that was currently underneath her neck and began to stroke her hair, carefully placing it behind her ear to reveal the rest of her beautiful face. Feeling her silky hair glide between his fingers he moved his head closer and kissed her forehead, causing her to stir slightly.

He turned his gaze toward her face again, and was suddenly short of breath as a pair of beautiful almond eyes stared at him behind a few loose strands of her raven hair. As he gazed at those endless black pools he gently pulled her closer toward him.

"Hey," he gently whispered as she delicately smiled at him.

"Hi," she responded shyly, "I'm glad to see that you're still alive," she smiled before burying her face in his chest.

"Why are you here?" he asked, afraid of the answer as he saw her eyes dim and her face fall slightly. He shook his head to clear it then continued to stare at her, but the look in her eyes confirmed his suspicions as he closed his eyes as if to shut out the truth.

"I… it doesn't matter, just so long as your alright… then everything is ok…" she trailed off as she continued to stare into his eyes, the events of the previous day returning to her in a painful rush. He slowly pulled her back into his embrace as he gently placed his head on top of hers. After awhile he gently moved her away again and stared into her eyes again, a smile spreading across his face.

She smiled back at him as she moved her head toward his, when suddenly the tent flap flew open and a taller woman dressed in a light blue outfit strode in. The two figures lying together jumped apart as the woman's jaw dropped. She shook her head before looking at her younger brother.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you two," she said quickly, "I'm glad to see that you're awake Locke." A smile spread across her face as she saw her little brother sitting up, apparently recovering quite rapidly from yesterday's events.

"I need to talk to Locke as soon as you two are finished speaking," Marianna said as she turned and quickly strode out of the tent, shutting the flap behind her.

"Wait, uh...wait!" Locke cried as he glanced at the woman on the other side of the bed, and saw the shock in her eyes. Suddenly she started laughing as she glanced over at Locke.

"Well, you heard her," she said, still giggling, "Go talk to her."

"Are you sure?" He asked, his mind a little fuzzy as he glanced around the small tent. He glanced at her again and vaguely wondered why she looked familiar. He shook his head and dismissed it as coincidence.

"Of course, I'll talk to you when your done," she said as she came over and hugged him. He smiled as he looked into her eyes. He hugged her again before letting go and rolling over to the edge of the bed. His head throbbed as he rose and began to dress himself from a small pile of clothes that was next to his wash basin. The hot water steamed as he leaned over to grab his clothes, and he stopped when he noticed the strange figure staring back at him from the still water.

The individual that stared at him seemed so different than the boy he had thought he was. His face seemed thinner, his jaw more pronounced. Probably from the fact his cheeks had sunken in, losing some of its former plumpness. He had begun to grow some facial hair, though mostly just stubble. His eyes are what caused him to stop, for they now carried a slightly haunted look, having sunken in just enough to cause faint black rings to appear below them.

His eyes widened with shock when he realized he honestly had no clue who the figure staring back at him from the steaming water was. He glanced up at the woman still lying under the sheets and quietly muttered, "Who am I?"

He quickly threw his shirt on, jumping into his boots as he darted out, flinging the tent flap aside as the woman was yelling for him to "come back." He quickly glanced around looking for the other woman that had burst into his tent, because he wanted to know who she was. He spotted her shoving her way past a guard that just glared at her as he continued to hobble toward the healer's tent.

He took off as the strange woman came through the tent flap, quickly running around the same guard that he had run into and yelling something he didn't understand. He wasn't listening to her anyway, he was too intent on catching up to that strange woman that was dressed in elegant flowing blue clothing embroidered with silver glyphs, underneath a plain red leather jerkin.

"Wait! Uhh... augh!" Locke growled as a guard roughly shouldered his way past him, causing Locke to stumble slightly. He turned around and glared at the guard, then when he turned around again the woman was gone!

"Damnit!" he yelled as the turmoil of the milling crowd suddenly began crushing on his already fragile grasp on reality. He screamed aloud and he dropped to his knees as a loud ringing began to press in on his swirling brain. His vision began to swim as he glanced up and saw an old man grasping a cane and frantically reaching into his old, dust covered gray robes. He saw the ground rushing to meet his numbing body as the mass of feet began to close in on him. He choked for breath as he saw his body collide with the ground, and vaguely wondering why he didn't feel it as his vision swam with black and his connection with reality was violently severed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The light hurt his eyes more than it should have as he slowly positioned his right arm behind his still form and propped himself up on his elbow. As he shaded his eyes from the blinding sun, he glanced around to find himself in a small tent. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air as he blinked away his confusion. He glanced at the tent as though seeing it for the first time as he saw the broken furniture in the corner, with a huge hole burning into the top of the tent admitting the sun. He scrambled from his bed grabbing his clothes and turning back to stare at his bed and wondered what was missing as he quickly got dressed. He dismissed the feeling as a dream he had of something or someone being there and quickly spun to strap on his sword when he realized that it was gone.

"Shit!" he screamed as he grabbed his dagger from its boot sheathe and blasted through the half burned tent flap into the sunlight. The whole tent collapsed as he flew through the air, being concealed as a huge cloud of dust went up as the collapsing tent hit the ground. The smell of acrid smoke hung heavy in the air as he glanced around, not seeing anything but dark shapes running by through the thick dust cloud. He ran forward and was bowled over by a charging creature with pale white skin covered by a small leather jerkin. It was carrying a bow with a quiver attached to it's back, and a dagger hidden in it's right boot.

"Excuse me, but what's happening" he asked as the creature he now determined to be a she, instead of an it turned toward him and snarled. He backed away as she pulled her short sword from her hip sheath that he hadn't noticed before. Suddenly the woman screamed as a blade protruded from her chest, and a bright light erupted from her inside of her. The woman's corpse feel to the ground with a thud, lifeless and he saw a woman with raven black hair flying around her as she whipped around, cleaving another creature in half. Her emerald green eyes flashed as she spotted him staring at her, and a small smirk crossed her face.

He glanced around him and spotted another woman, a sorceress by her long flowing robes and glowing hands casting an inferno spell at a group of Fallen that had ventured too close. Their charred bodies fell to the ground as she whipped around with her staff and struck a Goatman's feet out from underneath it. She quickly slammed the end of her staff onto the fallen creature and a shower of sparks flew as it screamed in agony. Suddenly the woman fell, an arrow protruding from her chest, and the beast that had slew her came into view.

The giant creature snarled as it dropped it's huge black composite bow and drew a sword that he could only think of as pure evil. The blade was at least 6 feet long and was reddish-black. Their seemed to be a violent red light pouring forth from the blade as the beast swung it, cleaving an old man in gray dusty robes, desperately clutching to his old wooden staff completely in half. The beast turned its gaze upon him and he froze with fear as it took a menacing step forward. He heard a scream and turned to his left to find the woman he had spotted earlier being torn apart by a huge group of Fallen and Goatmen. He turned back and raised his dagger into a defensive posture but dropped it as the monstrous creature drove the giant demonic blade through his chest.

He screamed as the giant creature let out a guttural laugh and lifted him off the ground using the sword as leverage. His screams intensified as he slowly slid down the blade, and the creature continued its blood-chilling laugh. He screamed as he grabbed the blade, trying to at least slow his descent as the horrible bat-like wings that composed the crossguard dug into the back of his hands, pinning them to his chest. He screamed as his vision began to fade to black, feeling his life flowing from his body, he gave up and slumped on the blade, causing the spiked crossguard to impale his hands further, but he no longer felt it as he slowly died.

The creature glanced around at the slaughter that was almost complete, and it suddenly held up his blade, displaying its prize as it roared into the darkening sky as the sky began to rain.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He awoke screaming and struggling against what he thought were undead zombie's restraining him. He turned away as he smelled warm breath against his face, imagining the putrid stench of decaying flesh. He lashed out, kicking and struggling, effectively freeing his right leg, which he immediately put to use, flailing it about as he felt it striking various other beings.

He rolled off the bed and immediately collapsed as the breath flew from his body. He felt those same hands lifting him off the wooden floor and set him once again on his makeshift medical cot. He opened his eyes to see his friends along with his sister and an old man all wearing worry openly on their faces closely peering at him. He coughed and tried to sit up, but was quickly forced down by a strong hand.

He opened his eyes again, expecting the hand to be his sisters, but was startled when an old wrinkled hand slowly lifted off his chest. For being so frail looking, he sure is strong, he thought as he settled back down onto the cot.

"Locke, how are you feeling?" The old man asked as he placed his hand over his chest and muttered a few words. Locke felt the spell run through him, it was a simple diagnostic spell but the feeling of magic coursing through his veins brought back memories of his last battle.

"Where are we?" He asked as he sat up in sudden confusion, remembering he had blacked out after preparing to throw some spell at…

"We are on a boat to Kurast, now lay down brother," Marianna said in a soothing voice as she put her hand on his forehead. "You gave us quite a scare back in Lut Gholein, especially after the battle…" her voice suddenly trailed off as she looked around her at the assembled crowd. They all seemed to share the same look of awe and worry as they all slowly turned away and walked out, leaving Marija and Locke alone.

"Thank you," Marija she quietly said as she leaned toward Locke and hugged him. His breath caught in his throat as he slowly realized that this was the same girl in the tent with him. She slowly let go as she turned around and followed Cain out and gently shut the door. As he heard the door close, he gently lay back down and reflected on all that he could remember happening.

Suddenly he remembered his dream and quickly rolled out of bed, getting dressed as he practically sprinted for the door and burst through it into the bright sunlight and seemingly endless sea. The boat rocked hard suddenly, and for the first time he noticed the cabin had been rocking all along.

He shook his head as he heard startled voices from the crew as he quickly ran up a flight of stairs to the upper deck and looked back at the smoking ruins of Lut Gholein. The memories came rushing back to him, all of them this time and he slowly sank to his knees and let out an anguished cry.

"Yes, the city is gone Locke, but you helped save most of the people that lived there," Marianna's calming voice drifted to him over the turmoil of thoughts in his head. He slowly lifted his head and stared at her as she came to kneel next to him.

"I saved them?" he asked, nearing the point of tears.

"Yes, and they were all so grateful for what you did," she said with a small smile as she brushed back the hair that had fallen over his face, "even though you were unconscious, most of the city came to thank all of us for what you did."

"The creature, it stole the blade you gave me… I'm sorry." He said as he buried his head in her shoulder and began to cry.

"Shh… it's alright." She said as her eyes welled up with tears too. She hated seeing her brother cry, but she understood why he was. That blade had cost one of her best friends his life. Kalaleq, her druid companion, had traveled with her and everyone else to the very depths of hell and back. Well, they had come back at least.

"I still remember how you got that blade for me, and what your companions had to do…" Locke trailed off as he sniffed, trying not to cry anymore.

She gently lifted his head and stared into his eyes, a look of kindness in her eyes. "I shall tell you the whole story, but later." He looked at her in mild shock, There's more? He thought.

"Come find me after supper little brother, I shall be in the officer's quarters talking with Meshif about our voyage." And with that, she got up and ruffled her little brother's hair affectionately before walking back the way she had come.

He slowly lifted himself off the deck and walked to the rail. He leaned on it as he reflected upon his friends, and the roads in life he had chosen to get to where he was now. As he stared at the burning city a thought gradually came to him.

"Marianna!" he shouted after his sister, "Who destroyed the city?" She turned around and looked at him from halfway across the deck, but even from that distance the pain on her face was evident.

She just stood there frozen, so Locke slowly walked to her. As he did, he noticed the crew had stopped working, and were all staring at his slow procession across the deck.

"These are things we must not speak of," she said as she grabbed his arm and quickly led him toward the officer's quarters, "especially with so many ears listening that should not be," she quietly whispered as she glared at the crew.

The crew began uneasily muttered between themselves as the officer quarter's door shut behind the pair.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N

I know it took a long time for me to write and post this, but at least it's done! I'm gonna be writing a lot more lately, so tell everyone you know to read and review! Please review!

Thank you,

Fallen215

P.S. Special Thanks to my Proofreader! My own personal proofreading paperclip!