Sealed. Veloth was sealed. Worse, something was wrong with his magic. Immediately after he one-sidedly slaughtered the blood mages he attempted to break out of the dome-like room he was summoned to.

First he tried his magic. No matter what spell he attempted, it would have same dark aspect as his first spell. Whenever he attempted to cast a spell at the domed ceiling, the floor, or the door, the darkness would dissipate from his spell, leaving a weakened version of the original spell.

Veloth attempted to remedy this by producing an even stronger spell. Veloth imagined an explosive ball of fire, the explosion would have had enough force to make C4 look like child’s play. He imagined blue fire for the highest temperature. The fire ball formed around a foot before him, however the flames were black, as though they consumed the light rather than oxygen.

Though the flames were not what he imagined, the heat of blue fire was still there, so Veloth deemed it sufficient and willed the fire ball toward the doorway. Just as the fire had connected with the surface of the door, the darkness was sucked from the flame into the door’s surface. What was left was a pitiful flicker of flame as though emanating from a match stick.

Forgoing magic, Veloth attempted to use his physical strength. With every forceful strike against any surface, he felt the strength sapped from him. Only when his strikes sought to damage the room, was his strength sapped. He could tear apart any desk or chair that happened to be in the room, just not any part of this domed structure.

[They took precautions, tenacious bastards. I’ll work my way out of here eventually and decorate your gaudy corpse with every precious thing you own and smelt it!] Veloth vowed to himself.

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

It was too quiet. The human hero, Tara, cautiously advanced up the stairwell in the midst of the demon palace Pandemonium. Tara was an unparalleled prodigy in both the sword and holy magic among humans. Tara was the 8 year old daughter of a simple farmer in a modest village on the edges of human territory. The lands there yielded very grand harvests, but the danger in such an area was just as tantamount.

Though there were a barracks of roughly 50 soldiers stationed in such towns, it did not prevent harm befalling them. There was an attack on Tara’s village by a force of demons. The demons were repelled, but the losses were high, and that included all of her family, mother, father, elder brother and younger sister. When reinforcements came to the village from the capital of Meilum, Tara immediately enlisted.

Tara was hailed as a prodigy at young age of 10 and trained almost non-stop in the arts of the sword and learned the most useful of spells from the light mana class, or holy spells. The demons apparently used dark mana spells almost exclusively, which made light mana spells, its perfect counter, and the ideal weapon for her crusade of vengeance.

At the age of 20, Tara had received the title of hero, and deemed herself ready. Not wanting to drag anyone else into her spiral of vengeance, and confident in her abilities, she immediately set off for the palace Pandemonium. Finally arriving at the palace, she forced her way in. Once inside, it was eerily quiet, unguarded, not a soul to be seen.

Reaching the top of the stair well, it appeared to be a dead-end. Tara, however, knew better. She could see the light mana surging through the obsidian stone that made the dead-end. Tara had read stories of heroes past, and marveled at their exploits.

Before her was the previous heart of Pandemonium, where a powerful monk hero named Davek battled the demon king Kel’thul to a stand-still for 3 continuous days. In the end, Davek was the one to fall. Though he had sealed the room with a magnificent light mana barrier, Kel’thul’s right-hand subordinate, Prast Pride of the Seven Sins, managed to create an opening, and the Seven Sins entered and dealt a fatal blow to Davek.

The room they battled, to this day still maintained the barrier infused within the stone, and it was before her. Using light mana, Tara willed an entrance to appear, and entered the dimly lit room. After stepping through, she let go of her light mana holding open the entrance, and it formed closed once more behind her.

Tara could smell the thick scent of death and blood within the room, and it was still fairly fresh. There were 5 light sources. Three of the light sources were flickering candles, nearly at the end of their wicks.

The two remaining light sources were very disturbing. Cold blue orbs of light that seemed to spark with an angry energy, and they were looking directly at her. A shiver went up her spine.

Chapter SelectChapter 5 >>