Outside the Cycle - Act III

Bit early, but I had it done early so yeah.

Act Three: Too Far Fallen

Kardel gazed down the barrel of his sniper rifle, looking for the perfect shot. From his vantage point, a ridge above the middle lane, he could see over a large stretch of river, and all he had to do was wait until some unfortunate Dire hero appeared, and their head would become a red mist faster than they could comprehend their death.

A pale horse emerged from the fog of war, its rider shrouded in black robes and even darker mist. He wielded a titanic runeblade with effortless ease - not that it would help him.

Kardel smiled, and fired.

The line was perfect - the bullet sailed with sublime precision to strike the head of the rider. The horse reared back, and both steed and rider vanished as if they had never been there.

"Illusion rune," said a murky voice behind the sniper. "Barely a fraction of the true Lord, but it served its purpose."

Kardel whirled back to find the rider staring down at him, his face covered by a helmet that light could not penetrate. The runeblade was raised to strike, and swung down in a glittering arc which smote the keen nearly in half.

Abaddon laughed dryly, the blood vanishing into mist to leave the blade perfectly clean as he withdrew the weapon from the sniper's corpse.

"Your fate was foreshadowed in the mist, little sniper," he hissed, his steed howling in concert. "As is your entire faction."

He hefted the blade over his shoulder and rode onwards to the two he hunted.
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The path was somewhat beaten that led to the Shopkeeper. Arash's stride was merciless, and Lanaya had trouble keeping up with him. She wasn't sure what to make of him yet. On the one hand, he was a psychotic, murderous half-demon - but she couldn't blame him for it, and he seemed to genuinely want to be something other than the pet of the Shadow Fiend.

His motives in bringing her along in his little conspiracy were questionable. She felt the influence of her Ancient, urging her to kill him as a foe, yet she resisted those urges to see what would happen next. They had grown more insistent lately, and perhaps even desperate. Was there indeed something in Arash's mad theory?

The Secret Shop - not really that secret, was it? - appeared before them, and the two stopped.

A massive demon was before them, casually lounging on a rocky outcrop while spinning an orb shimmering with cold in his hand. As they approached, he rose to his feet and bowed mockingly.

"Arash'ruin," he rumbled. "I have heard much about you."

"I do not know you," the Psychomancer replied. The demon laughed sharply.

"I'd be much surprised if you did, little human. I am the most recent arrival to the Dire side, risen from the broken walls of Foulfell."

Lanaya's eyes widened. "Holy ****… you're Terrorblade." He winked at her, and Arash looked at her in surprise.

"You are well-read to know of me," the Demon Marauder acquiesced. "He does well to have you on his side."

Arash stepped forward. "What do you want." It was a statement, not a question. Obviously, the Psychomancer, while he did serve demons, did not like them. She couldn't blame him at all.

Terrorblade stood to his full impressive height, half again the size of Arash who was himself fairly tall albeit whip-thin. The demon's wings fluttered, their razor edges glittering an inky dark in the morning light. "To help."

Arash frowned. The Keeper let out a small chuckle.

"You Heroes, always so dramatic," he said jovially. "No wonder so many of you are dying."

"It is a convincing cause," Lanaya replied.

"And what part do you play in all this, Keeper?" the Psychomancer asked. "Two Ancients fight with the world itself as a prize, and here you are selling trinkets to the highest bidder."

"The world itself?" the Keeper asked.

"Don't give me that ****. You know full well what is at stake here."

"Indeed I do," came the reply from the counter. "The question is, how do you?"

Arash held up a hand, which Lanaya recognised as the one that had been transformed by the shattering of the crystal. It seemed long ago already.

"I have my sources," he said. "Now answer my question."

The Keeper sighed. "We are the wardens of the Ancients, taking no side but ensuring that no side can get the upper hand. We protect the world."

"You can protect it no longer," Terrorblade intoned, his voice shattering the calm of the morning. "The Ancients have grown desperate. They call powers they cannot fully control."

As if on cue, the sky exploded into a storm of electricity, and a sonic boom ripped through the glade as an orb of pure power slammed into the ground near the Radiant fortress.

"Io, the Wisp. A Fundamental of the universe," the Keeper announced. "His brethren will join him soon."

"How can we fight the Ancients now?" Lanaya asked, feeling the hopelessness of the situation.

"In any way we can," replied the pudgy man.

She turned on him furiously. "Do you have ANY idea how MAD this is?! It's not even a game of magi now - they've called the ****ing forces of the universe to participate in their global ****-measuring contest! And who do we have? A group of balding old men with a few artefacts? An assassin, a hunter demon, and a psychotic semi-human?"

"What choice do you think we have, assassin?" Arash snarled. "We're dead for certain if we do nothing."

"We're dead if we get within vision of that ball of lightning - let alone anything else!"

"Enough!"

Terrorblade's command cut through the argument, and the demon's rage rose to the surface. He metamorphosed, and as Lanaya watched he grew in stature until he reached the treetops, wings unfurling to black out the sky. Power arced off his armour to match his hulking form. Cloven hooves as large as her head left flaming steps in the ground.

"This is a war," he intoned, his voice shaking the ground, so deep it was. "And in a war, the gods favour the sharper blade. I keep mine at a razor's edge."

"Not that I am ungrateful of your assistance, but what exactly can you do?" Arash said mildly, a stark contrast to the raging demon lord, who turned at the impudent statement.

"Yesterday, I drove my fist through the chest of a two-headed dragon, and ripped out his frost-fire heart. I have slain thousands of demons who thought they had themselves under sway, and have stolen from demigods and gods alike. I can do far more than you can, mortal," Terrorblade spat. He crackled with darkness, and returned to his original form. "Do not dare to presume yourself above me. Such an attitude will get you killed."

Arash bit back a response, and Lanaya somehow sensed that he had been about to say 'good'. He was still an enigma to her. Being of the Hidden Temple, she could usually sense on some psychic level the essence of others, but Arash was a blank - as if he had no mental presence at all, or perhaps it was hidden behind some mental defences.

She had talked to the Skywrath Mage last night, and from him pried the full story of the Psychomancer's past. It had been a disturbing tale, and she realised that she could in no way judge Arash for his actions. He was a lost soul, as much as any other victim of the Shadow Fiend.

She had been warned, however, that he was most certainly not to be trusted. "He was driven to madness by his rage and ambition," Dragonus had said. "Whatever noble instincts he may have had have long been worn away to bitterness and hate. There is nothing he would not do to further his own dark goals."

Thankfully, the Shopkeeper interjected to prevent a demon/Psychomancer argument which would likely raze the nearest lane to a pulp. "You seek my help," he said in his unique accent. "Why else would you be here?"

"Can you help?" Lanaya asked, to which the Keeper chuckled.

"Of course I can… the question is how you want me to help?"

"I have an idea which while certainly an unpleasant experience may help us immensely," Arash stated. "We're going to need a number of items."
He paused briefly - Lanaya sensed it was for dramatic effect - before continuing. "First, a Ghost Sceptre - where we're going, we'll need to be able to fade from touch."

His gaze alighted on a garnet rod blazing with flame. "Orchid Malevolence," he said, impressed. "You do have a full collection, Keeper. We'll need that too."

The Keeper nodded. "I take it you know of the staff's powers? To deaden magic?"

"That is most certainly the reason I intend to make this purchase."

The Psychomancer handed over some coins and in return was given the two items.

"What now?" Lanaya asked.

"Now, the person who has been tracking us can step out of the shadows and maybe we can be reasonable," Arash said mildly. Lanaya whirled around, just in time to dodge an overhead swing from a massive runeblade that threatened to split her in half with pathetic ease.

The dark rider wielding it cursed and twisted the blade for a sideways slash. From the weapon a bolt of energy blasted out and smote Arash, who staggered back, already pallid face losing even more shades of colour.

Terrorblade intervened, blades swinging down in a massive arc to knock the rider off of his horse. He tumbled to the ground and rose, robes flapping behind him.

"Abaddon - why do you fight us?" Arash asked.

The Lord of Avernus glared viciously. "The Mist spoke to me - told me you had betrayed us all. That you had joined the Radiant" - the word was almost spat - "side."

"You heard what we said just now," Lanaya stated. "Does that explain our actions?"

"I heard all. Not that I believed all."

"They are correct," the Keeper, who had remained neutral throughout the engagement, decided to take a side, which Lanaya considered rather out of character. "Even the Mist can be influenced through the power of the Ancients."

"Join us," Arash urged. "Do your House proud."

She could tell Abaddon wasn't convinced, which was fair enough considering her scepticism still remained. Yet his voice, hissing like mist, announced that he would indeed join the quest.

Arash smiled, and the expression was thoroughly terrifying. "There is one more I would have before we set off. Lanaya, may I request that we contact the Skywrath Mage?"

She furrowed her brow. "You are aware of Dragonus' opinion of you?"

"I am. He will understand."

She shrugged. "That aside, how will I contact him? If the Dire are out for your head, then the Radiant must be so for mine."
"Lie," Abaddon suggested. "They once knew and respected you - it should not be difficult to convince them that you are unchanged throughout these affairs."

She let out an overdrawn sigh, feeling as if a net were being pulled around her. "Very well. I will allow you to meet with him. I'm damned this far, I may as well go all the way."

Arash smiled at her, and it appeared for all the world to be genuine. Lanaya felt that perhaps it was the human within him that was rising to the surface, and the demon was slipping away.