"Sammy…."

Young James the Blade wiped away his tears as he steeled himself as his raft drifted towards the island. The Pirate's Stump, Claw Island, or simply the Slab. It didn't matter what it was called, this is where he would meet his end.

Though not without a fight. He had his anointed rapier and main gauche, three crossbows, a heavy, a hand, and a repeater like that of his master, several daggers of various alloys and blessings, and of course some cold iron garrotte wire if things got really personal. He would not let all his training go to waste, and would honour his master by fighting demons till he fell.

Young James knew the truth. The Slab wasn't just a haunted island, plagued by ghost pirates or some fool such notion, but a gateway to a lower dimension. From what the Baroness and Martinez had taught him, it was once a place of high wizardry but repeated invocation of magic had weakened the fabric of reality there. Strange things ranging from random lights, creepy noises, mist shrouded castles, zombie invasions, talking furniture, and other spontaneous magical effects would happen in areas such as this. It wasn't that uncommon to find areas like the Slab in a magical world such as Grom, but the tears in the aether here were much worse than your typical spooky swamp or haunted house.

Though the area looked plain enough, a rocky island less than a mile in length sitting outside of the merchant routes of Grom, James guessed it was once the location of either a powerful wizard tower or some great evil temple. Whatever structure it housed had long been wiped away, leaving only several curious pillars to guard its mystery. Martinez had paid the area no heed, claiming that the place was sealed by some great enchantment, trapping whatever creatures managed to crawl and slither into this dimension until they grew bored and returned to their pits. The Baroness however was always curious, and actually took James to the island once while she scribbled archaeological and magical notes about the place. It was a trip in the daylight of course, with Raoul the half giant in tow as a guardian, and all three of them shielded by her powerful wards, but it impressed upon James at the time of the dangers of the area.

Dangers in which he would test himself on tonight.

It didn't take long for James' blades to taste blood, or ichor as the case might be. Two forge Halflings, or Dretches, tried to rush him but he literally smelled their ambush, and they were quickly dispatched with a slash across the first one's belly, and a plunge with his main gauche into the other's throat.

One of those tall rubbery rutterkin attempted to skewer him with its fearsome but poorly balanced polearm, but James easily slipped behind it. A quick loop with his wire around its neck, and a bit of leverage saw the much bigger and stronger demon easily vanquished, though his trusty garrotte wire did get stuck in the folds of its thick hide.

A teleporting Barlgura, got some good slashes on his back and side, but it didn't take long for James to time its gating with his finely honed nose and surprised it with a double plunge with his blades as it phased into existence. The big baboon creature was in shock, and barely managed to howl in pain before James sawed through its guts and hopped out of range of its death throes.

As the Barlgura died, James braced himself for another attack. He had the opportunity to scramble away and guzzle a potion or apply a salve, but that would just delay the inevitable. He wasn't here to win, but to die in glory. As James waited impatiently for his looming death, he saw a dark winged humanoid soar into the night sky. Judging by its height, fur, and gaunt appearance, he identified it as a Nabassu demon, a type of life draining fiend, that rapidly grew from its kills. James readied his crossbow as it hovered briefly, but was surprised when it dived towards several of the standing columns near the middle of the island, and even more surprised when it was hit by glowing blue bolts on its way down.

James wasn't sure what was happening. Was it an internal demon feud? While common, most demons fought each other with tooth and claw, not magic. Was someone in trouble? Possibly, but what sort of person would come to this accursed place at night besides himself.

Curious, James sniffed the greatest concentration of demons and jogged towards the commotion. He was surprised to see several fiends besides the Nabassu circling what appeared to be a large knight with his back against one of the pillars. The knight wielded a large two handed blade. His helmet had been knocked off, revealing a bearded face with a large blue lion tattoo emblazoned on it. Though his weapon looked formidable, James was intrigued when the man weaved a spell, partially with his hands and partially with his blade, and froze an ugly black skeletal demon in place. With a smooth movement, the knight then transitioned his blade from an instrument of magic to one of butchery as he half severed the paralyzed creature's neck, causing it to flop lifelessly to the ground.

James shook his head as he knew what came next. The knight's blade began to hiss as the skeletal creature leaked acidic ichor on his weapon. The knight tried to fling the acid off, but his demonic attackers seized the initiative and swarmed him. Despite his efforts the man would have been overwhelmed and torn to shreds, had not James decided to intervene.

Given that the demons' backs were towards him, it wasn't that great of an effort for the young Demonhunter, but it looked damn impressive. A quick skewer to the back of the spine incapacitated one of the goat demons. Two daggers to the top of the shoulder blades staggered a vulture demon, while a knife across the throat stopped it before it unleashed its deadly spores. As the demons reeled from his sudden onslaught, James switched to his heavy crossbow. A careful shot through the wings of the Nabassu unbalanced it enough for James to loop a rope across its leg and brought it crashing into the ground. James was about to stab the fallen demon with the crossbow's bayonet, but the knight beat him to it by stomping its head apart with his great iron boot. All in all James thought he did pretty well, if Sammy could see him, she would….he stopped as he let that thought passed and concentrated on the task at hand.

"Thank you…." Gasped the knight as he recovered his breath. "The lunar eclipse was greater than I anticipated."

Lunar eclipse? James stared at the moon but did not see anything different. That didn't mean the knight was incorrect as Grom had multiple moons and some were invisible unless the proper magics were used.

"I am Ulfgar, formerly of the Great Order of the Lion, but now with the Order of the Mystical Bat," said the knight as his big mailed fist shook James' much smaller hand.

While he had never met Ulfgar before, he had heard of him. He was a Knight of the Norther Orders, a rare mage knight, that specialized in hunting demons and ghosts. While he was in the same business of his master Martinez, they rarely crossed paths, since Ulfgar specialized more in uncovering dark artifacts and lore rather than active bounties.

"I'm James….err Jimmy the Blade," admitted Jimmy as he dropped his airs. It sounded good in his head, but just didn't seem right to introduce himself as such before a seasoned mage knight like Ulfgar.

"Ahh, Martinez's apprentice, the one with the nose correct? Did he get tired of hunting Asura and Rakshasa? I heard he was doing a stint in Vinraji, "he said as he scanned the small island, no doubt looking for Jimmy's master. "I trust he's safe, catching up on his drinking since I heard alcohol is forbidden in the Impossible kingdoms."

"Forbidden yes, but you can get it if you know where to look."

The big knight nodded.

"I too know where to look for exotic items. I'm here collecting rare reagents myself," explained Ulfgar. "The seal here is weakened during an eclipse. Most of the time only manes and Dretches roam this island. The stronger the eclipse the more powerful the tear in the seal so to speak."

Jimmy was not aware of a seal here, a magical ward that limited other magics. He knew of the tear here, but did not realize there was a spell that kept the more powerful demons at bay.

"I was hoping to collect a Nalfeshnee hoof for my research, but it seems these small fry were a little too much for me. And yourself?"

"I'm ..I'm here by myself," shrugged Jimmy. "I…I was testing myself against the demons."

Ulfgar stared at the young boy. The big man's steely eyes saw straight through Jimmy, or at least that's what it felt like. "Is that all?"

"I…I was hoping to die here."

"For what reason?"

Jimmy paused and carefully thought out his answer. "To prove that I am more than what I was born as. To show that you don't need to be a noble to accomplish…"

"For a girl right?" smirked Ulfgar as he suppressed a laugh.

Jimmy's silence was all the answer Ulfgar needed. "Sit down son and let me speak. Whatever this girl did to you sounds tragic, but hear my tale. I come from the north, back when the mists enveloped the land, and the Gnoll Lord's demons stalked my people. My family was killed before my eyes by these demons, and I would have been slain too had it not been for the Order of the Lion. I was pretty much conscripted to their cause, and grew up in their ranks until I had my own command. My battle brothers and I were ambushed by demons during a crusade to the Western Freeholds, we were almost wiped out to the man. Since I was leading that expedition, I was honour bound to resign my position and wandered as a dispossessed knight for years till I met my wife Maria a knight of the Bat, a secretive organization that specializes in demon hunting, similar to your master's loose order, though we take them on more directly with might and magic instead of using stealth and subterfuge. She died sadly, along with my young son, a victim of vengeful demonologists, but here I am. Broken and reforged by tragedy. I could have moped about and ended my life in some fool quest, but I decided to stride ahead and make my life mean something instead."

Jimmy grew red. His troubles seemed minor compared to the Knight's past. While Ulfgar's words were a direct jab at himself, Jimmy was more curious about the man than his past. While he looked older than himself, it wasn't by much. Maybe five or six more years, but given his lengthy history, perhaps magic was involved in the extension of his life. Jimmy also noted that for such a sad story, Ulfgar told it pretty plainly, as if he was reciting a report or reading some boring news article.

"I'm sorry, I see my sad story bores you," shrugged UIfgar. "If you would not mind, could you assist me in retrieving my reagents from these slain demons before they rot away, then I will leave you to seek whatever relief you desire from that girl that wronged you so badly."

Jimmy knew he was being mocked, but helped the man anyways. He was friendly and interesting enough, and had a personal magnetism to him that kept him distracted from his memories of Sammy. While several demons did attack them during the course of the night, they were getting progressively smaller and weaker as the dawn approached.

"It seems I missed my opportunity, the wards are returning to their full strength," sighed the Knight. "I suppose I shouldn't complain, these ancient spells were meant to protect us after all. "

"There's more of these wards?" asked Jimmy.

"Aye, unseen ruptures in reality on this world that some ancient force sealed with eldritch magics. Here, the Wyrmsteeth range, under the Great Plateau, Bat mountain, and even in some great jungle in Vinraji where you recently left. It might have been early archmages, some lost theological power, or it might have been the gods themselves, but for the most part they keep the world safe. Well mostly. There are other minor rifts that keep the world on their toes, and of course legends of a blade that could cut the wards."

Jimmy did not know this. He had a basic understanding of areas such as this one, but did not know their history. He queried the knight some more, and Ulfgar was glad to share his knowledge until it was dawn, and his opportunity to die at the hands of the demons was over.

"Well, it looks like the good hunting is over for now. Only Manes and the occasional Quasit or two will crawl out of the rift now," said Ulfgar before he turned to Jimmy. "As for you boy, I don't want to make light of your situation but I want you to think hard about it. Everyone goes through something like that, but in the end you'll realize it's trivial. If for some reason that isn't the case, then perhaps you are looking at it in the wrong way. Perhaps instead of going out in a blaze of glory, you should improve, change yourself for the better. I've fought demons for a while now, and I can honestly say you have a gift for it. It would be ashamed if you threw it away for some boyhood infatuation. You said something about not being a noble, well perhaps you should become one. It's not easy, but you're in Grom, you can buy a title if you have enough gold. It sounds crazy, but not for a kid that can garrotte a Vrock. I'm sure someone would pay a lot more coin than Martinez for a skill like that."

With that, the man vanished in a shower of motes, leaving Jimmy alone on the Slab, thinking not of the past, but of his future.