Ch13: One Mystery Solved
After making it through the last bits of the gauntlet and destroying a ton of cultists, we finally emerged in a large room filled with flame traps and a very loud and dangerous monster behind a locked gate. And who should appear before us then the old hag herself. "Leah must be back in Tristram crying over the old man's corpse," she said with pure malice in her voice. "She'll soon have more to cry over: yours! Meet the Butcher, one of the strongest creatures of the armies of hell!" her visage then vanished as the gates were lowered and the Butcher walked forward, his girth jiggling with every move he made.
"Fresh meat! Time to roast you!" the Butcher exclaimed in a demonic voice, the battle commencing shortly after. "Taste some disintegration rays, punk!" I shouted as I shot the beam right at him, the rays actually doing more damage than I expected. It shot right through his left arm and when I motioned across, it sliced his entire body in half horizontally! "GRAGH!" he exclaimed as he fell over and died seconds later. "You're definitely the most powerful of us without a doubt, Lisa. I'm a little jealous to be honest," mom smirked at me. "Okay then. Now let's continue," I smiled as our trio and our zombie dogs proceeded forward down a huge staircase until we saw a grim sight of the Stranger being attacked and tortured by the cultists' dark magic.
"HEY! You freaks! Leave the Angel alone!" Serena exclaimed as she rushed forward before we could and slaughtered all the cultists that were hurting him, the blast afterwards defeating the others. "I... I am... dying..." the Stranger coughed as I took his sword from the sheathe on my back. "Take your sword, Angel!" I exclaimed as I handed him the sword. "M-My sword..." he gasped as he touched it.
The exact moment he touched it, his transformation happened as quickly as it was in the game, his armor covering his entire body as well as his body gaining the heavenly power it deserved. "I remember now," he said in a much more serious voice. "I was an Archangel of the High Heavens. The Angel of Justice. I was... I am... Tyreal."
"Whew... at least we now know that he's an Angel... I thought I recognized that scent on him before," Serena frowned as she hid behind me for obvious reasons. "There is no need to be frightened, young imp. You helped me and you are not filled with tainted heart. So I have no need to slay you," Tyreal frowned at her. "Sorry..." she frowned. "Indeed... and I have two things to tell you, Lisa and Janet Farthing."
"What would that be?" mom asked him. "Well, for starters, the two last Lords of Hell, Belial and Azmodan, are plotting an invasion to rule over all of Sanctuary. We need to stop them before it is too late," Tyreal told. "And the second thing?" I asked. "The second thing is... your coming here from a different universe wasn't your technology's fault. It was a correlation between that and my falling from heaven that sent you to this world."
"Whoa, what?!" I gawked in pure astonishment. "And I know that this world is a video game in your own. I knew that much just by looking at your thoughts the moment I regained my powers," Tyreal said. "So you know everything that will happen... but what about us going home at all? Can we do that at least?" I asked. "Indeed," Tyreal smiled. "When all of our work for the timeline of this adventure is completed, including destroying the Black Soulstone BEFORE it consumes Leah's soul, as you plan on doing, I will use my power to send you two back home as regular humans rather than zombies," he said.
"Um... excuse me... Mister Tyreal?" Serena asked with a smile. "I can already sense what it is you want, Serena. And if you wish to travel to their world as a human, I can make that happen," Tyreal smiled. "You mean it?! THANKS!" Serena bubbled as me and mom could only smile. "Okay then... let's get back to Tristram and talk to Leah. She'll be happy to know that we freed you for sure," I smiled at him. "Indeed," Tyreal said as we all traveled back to town with the Town Portal.
"You really did it? This is... Tyreal?" Leah asked as we made our way towards her. "Indeed, child. We must make haste for Caldeum, however. That is where we shall find Belial, the Lord of Lies," Tyreal said sternly. "Okay then... but we must see Deckard Cain off before we head out. He deserves a fair ceremony before we depart," I frowned. "Indeed... and the road to Caldeum will be quite long as well. About a 1 day trek by caravan," Leah sighed. "You ain't going to Caldeum unless you take us with ya as well ya know?" spoke the smiling blacksmith Haedrig and his wife Mira. "Okay then. We can see Deckard Cain off before we head out. Afterwards, it will be a long trip," Tyreal frowned. Now would begin Act 2 of the game. Defeating Maghda, meeting Adria and Zoltun Kuelle, and killing Belial once and for all.