Chapter 9 Rising Darkness

The Architect stood ready as a multitude of various demons came rushing through the portal. Fierce winds thrashed about the Temen-ni-Gru, hurling humans off its edges to their doom. The ten other cloaked men present, the "Inner Circle," latched on to the black bells surrounding the apex of the Tower and cried to The Architect,

"M-master!!! Master Dormin!! What's happening?!?! You didn't say it would be like this?!? The-the spirits!! They weren't supposed to attack US?!?!"

The Architect kept a fixed gaze on the ever growing portal and the words spewed out of his mouth as if mind were absent from body,

"He will come...the Prince of Chaos...he will do as he sees fit with us…..he will grant me power……he will expel me from this flesh-ridden prison to become something more…..something-I…..I can…" his language became choppy and near incoherent as he continued, "I can feel…. presence…he draws near…absolute power…..drowning….drowning in chaos….absolute...power….chaos…..darkness…."

The lightning became more intense and began to strike the Tower itself, cracking several parts of its structure. Five members of the "Inner Circle" fled, leaving their apparently psychotic Master behind. Suddenly a terrifying screech boomed from the portal opening and the out flowing demons ceased. Silence settled around the Tower as the Architect stood in wait.

Then, without warning, a burst of cobalt smoke appeared in front of the portal and out came an incredible demon which resembled a gigantic Clydesdale the color of dark sapphire. Azure fire poured out of its eyes and mouth. Even its mane and tail were made of blue flames. A large spiked chariot was pulled behind him, on top of which was a dark rider with clawed hands, a flowing tattered cape and a hollow, pale blue eyes. He whipped the horse, driving it forward.

The Architect's eyes widened as the horse and rider came closer. Suddenly, the dark rider raised his clawed fist and the entire Temen-ni-Gru was muted in a storm of frozen fire. As time dilated, the motion of demons and humans alike was annulled, save for the dark rider and his wicked steed. He unleashed a series of blood red orbs on and around the Tower. As three of the remaining cloaked figures touched them, long gray spears mysteriously appeared all around them, impaling their limbs and faces. The Architect, alone now, remained standing at the top of the Tower.

The dark rider leaped from atop the chariot toward the Architect and then disappeared. The Architect's body went limp and he suddenly began to move like a marionette, slave to threads being unmercifully plucked, finger and toe. He convulsed while the dark rider flowed in and out of his body, as if trying to rip his very soul from his chest. The dark rider entered the Architect's body one last time and did not come back out. The Architect's body began to convulse again, and he let out a scream of agony as black demonic energy discharged from his eyes and mouth. As the energy flow ceased, the Architect uttered one last thing, ever so faintly,

"Anna….."

After the screams stopped, the remaining "Inner Circle" slowly approached the Architect whose nostrils and mouth crackled with black smoke. His face was now slightly deformed and mutilated as an eerie demonic energy seemed to pulsate beneath his skin. One of the Circle members addressed him,

"Master Dormin, are you alright?"

The Architect did not respond but instead mounted the gigantic horse. His hands then became black and clawed and he dug them deep into the neck of the horse to maintain his balance.

"M-master?"

The Architect's voice came out raspy and homophonic as if multiple voices were speaking in unison, "Meet me in the lower levels of the Tower. We must cleanse this world before his coming." The Architect and the horse then disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke, leaving the befuddled "Inner Circle" behind.

The town stood still as the demons began flowing through the portal again. The fall of mortals had begun…….

And two long years would pass…….

Shortly after the opening of the portal, various demons were "appointed" to different sections within the Temen-ni-Gru's infrastructure. Cerberus, with his three heads, was chosen to guard the front entrance of the fortress and attack those who approached without prior notice. Beowulf, because of his grisly and gruesome demeanor, was appointed to the underground prison beneath the Tower which became a terrifying torture chamber. The undeniable succubus Nevan was appointed to the caves under the flowing waterfall, where she would take human captives and seduce them before allowing her ravenous bats to feed on their lifeblood. Phantom was appointed head of the Arachnid nest and moved throughout the Tower as he pleased. An enormous demon, resembling a whale floated cyclically around the fortress and occasionally "fed" on the town itself, attacking the traveling mariners and their ships numerous times.

Over time, most of the humans who opted not to fight the demons, or join them, fled to neighboring towns to hide in caves and catacombs. Those unable to flee remained in their homes for as long as possible, until their souls were claimed by a figure known only as "The Reaper."

However, all was not lost, there were those who chose to oppose the demons. They came to be known as the Resistance. They stood up to the demons, relying on guerilla warfare and mobilizing large forces to rout the invaders. There were many skirmishes where the Resistance mobilized their forces to attack the Temen-ni-Gru head-on. Several thousand humans went in, sword and shield in hand, but few ever returned to tell of their defeat. Others stood back, manning the catapults with incendiary missiles, but the Bloodgoyles and Leviathan prevented them from ever hitting the fortress. Needless to say, the Resistance made little progress in reaching the upper levels of the Tower.

Thus, over time, the Resistance attempted less and less to penetrate the Tower and more to hold their ground against any further decay of the human realm. A suicidal strategy indeed but it did seem to work well enough to catch the attention of the Demon King Mundus.

Sitting on his throne, he watched as his minions were consistently put down by the human Resistance and the battles devolved into a war of attrition. Summoning all of his generals before him, Mundus decided to take action,

"As you know the human resistance has defeated yet another of wave of my legions. Their foolish hope and will to live has made their forces nigh impenetrable. They have become a nuisance. They must be put down. Sparda, from now until the fall of humanity, you will be in charge of crushing their spirits and eliminating their resistance. Do not hesitate, kill all those that stand against my will."

And with that order, Sparda called upon his comrade Beowulf and several other lower class demons. Descending from the Underworld, Sparda and his soldiers prepared to slaughter every human in sight.

The first human to fall before Sparda's sword was an innocent man, not even part of the Resistance. Beowulf charged through the town, smashing several huts with his bare hands. Suddenly, humans began to rise from underground catacombs and reveal themselves on rooftops, wielding bows and arrows. They were a small sect of the Resistance prepared to defend this part of the town.

There were five hundred of them in total and they greatly outnumbered Sparda's small squad. However, not even this was not enough. The humans on rooftops shot their arrows and the humans on the ground attacked with spears and swords but they only managed to kill a few demons. Sparda stood in the middle of all this and looked around as if studying the way the humans fought and moved. Until today, Sparda had never seen a human before, and he was surprised that they had been able to provide any resistance at all. So slow….so unskilled, he thought.

Suddenly, a man, actually larger than Sparda, clad in black armor and wielding a mace, attacked without warning. The mace crashed into Sparda's body but did nothing. The man swung the mace again but this time Sparda blocked it with his forearm, knocking the man off balance. Before the man even knew what was happening, he was under Sparda's blade. Sparda sliced off the man's mace wielding arm and stabbed him through the chest, only once.

The humans fell left and right as the preternatural power of the demons overwhelmed them. Sparda hovered around the battle, allowing the lesser demons to ravage the humans, and attacked only those who showed at least minimal skill at sword play. The battle lasted mere minutes, and even then, this was only because Sparda toyed with his adversaries before putting them down. Almost all the men were slain, and though some had fled, their cowardice would be "accounted for" in later sweeps of the area. Only one man, who lay on the ground weaponless, remained. He spoke in a trembling voice that belied the courage of his words:

"You cannot break us. Others will take our places. We will never give up."

Sparda slowly approached the man until he stood directly above him.

"You. You are evil. We will eradicate your kind from this world. The Darkness cannot overcome the Light."

Sparda looked at the man in a peculiar manner and then sheathed his sword between his wings. He picked the man up by his throat and pulled him in closely to gaze into his eyes, as if he were inspecting his very soul for some defect or deformity. His expression was initially one of curiosity but it changed to disgust in an instant. Then, without a word, his grip tightened on the man's neck and then there was a sudden snap. He dropped the limp body, and looked back towards Beowulf.

"Go back to Lord Mundus. Tell him that the first wave has been destroyed."