It was dark. But, through the darkness were pinpricks of light... No, it was a hood over his head, light poking through the coarse fibers that scratched his face. Lucas tried to pull it off, but found he could hardly move. Where these... Shackles?

"Wh- what the hell?" Lucas cried out, struggling against his restraints. They wouldnt budge, and through the hood he saw shadows... People? Moving about, talking in a language he couldnt understand. Strong hands grabbed his arms, and he thrashed wildly in a panic, absolutely terrified and confused.

The hood was pulled off, and he squinted in surprise at the sudden brightness. In front of him was a beautiful young woman, dressed like old medival Europe nobility, with red hair and green eyes. What the hell kind of abductors were these? He guessed they were after the money he had just been loaned, but what the hell was a girl like this doing here? She couldnt have been older than seventeen, and why was she dressed like that?

"Who are you people?" Lucas demanded, trying to speak forcefully. Perhaps a risky move in his posistion, but underneath his terror was anger, and faced with some young girl cosplayer, his pride would never let him back down. "What the hell do you want? The way the loan is set up, I couldnt give you the money even if I wanted to!"

The girl ignored him, studying his face for a second before speaking to someone behind his in a different language. It sounded vaugely latin, but he couldn't pick out any latin roots, and frankly Lucas's language skills were limited to a very basic level. Lucas did not have the time or money to study them, much as he might have wished too.

"Can you understand me?" Lucas shouted, "What do you want from me?"

The unseen voice behind him, an older man by the sound of it, handed the girl some kind of collar. Rather than answering Lucas's question, she lightly snapped it around his neck. At the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his right ear as something sharp was stabbed into the earlobe. Both his ear and neck felt suddenly hot, then the collar... And whatever the hell they had stabbed him with seemed to turn ice cold for a momment, before the sensation faded.

"Ahh, what the fuck?" Lucas yelled, the pain wasn't bad, but the surprise would have caused him to jump had he not been held so securely.

"Greetings Lord Hero," The girl in front of Lucas spoke, and although he could still hear the Latin-esque language, he somehow understood it.

"I am Terrasin deVon Almistraus," she continued speaking in a musical voice. "The fourth princess of Almistis, and it is the tradition of my family to welcome you to our world."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Lucas said, before realizing that they couldnt understand him anyway. However...

"Unfortunately, this is not the place to explain." Terrasin glanced to the side, anxiety clearly written in her young face, "And so I beg your forgiveness for now, for we must flee."

Lucas became aware of the sounds of screams and what sounded like steel hitting steel. Additionally, he noticed he was in a beautiful marble room, with a stunningly intricate pattern carved on the floor and beautiful stained glass win- His eyes widened with shock.

"What the hell is that thing!"

There was a shadow on the other side of the window, clearly trying to claw its way in. A shadow that didnt corespond to any living creature he knew of, and as a biologist and gentecist, Lucas prided himself on his knowledge of the species of the world. But the silhouette was large, a five legged monster with two wings... No... probably four legs and a specialised prehensile tail of some kind...

He must be going into shock, Lucas couldnt keep focus even as the two people who had been restraining him began to undo his bindings. Like the girl... princess... Whatever she was, they were dressed like they came straight out of medival Europe, in light armor of leather and chain mail, with leather caps studded with iron, and broad swords at their waist.

Lucas barely registered that his arms were still bound behind his back as he was pulled up and away through the crowd of robed priest-like people, leather and chain armored soldiers, and plate armored knights. At this point, his mind has pretty much given up and Lucas was fairly convinced he was hallucinating.

"The ritual is complete!" Shouted one of the knights, he was distinguished from the rest by his ornate silver armor. Which was resplendent with gold accents and beautifully crafted, in his dazed state Lucas wrote off the fact that the armor seemed to glow from within as part of his mental breakdown. "Reform the lines and prepare to breakthrough the center!"

As he was pulled from the beautiful room by the two soldiers, Lucas revised his opinion. He hadnt been kidnapped, clearly he had died, and this was Hell.

Outside the hall he had awoken in, everything was in ruins. Through holes in the scorched and scarred walls, Lucas could see the ruins of a majestic city, or once majestic city. The ruins showed less the effects of age, but more the results of pillaging and defilement. Blasted manors, castles, and residences stretched out through the gaps... All of which were covered in layers of filth and dirt, shattered beyond hope of repair.

The floor was slick with blood, and as he was pulled forward behind the soldiers, Lucas nearly tripped over the fallen bodies that littered the corridor. Their armor had been rent to pieces, and a few were little more than charcoal and ash. The smell was horrendous, and only years of dealing with the fluids used to preserve specimens for dissection prevented Lucas from throwing up then and there.

Suddenly, the guard on his left screamed as a tentacle wrapped around his leg from a hole in the floor, bruttaly pulling him into it. The hole was small, and the guard too large to pass through. But whatever was on the other side had inhuman strength, and as he guards screams turned to shrieks he fell back from the hole, not so much released from the tentacle as released from his leg. His limb had been pulled apart at the join and he lay on the ground writhing as the remaining guard pulled Lucas forward.

"Yeah," Lucas breathed, "this is hell." His mind could handle no more, and he passed out.

*Terrasin deVon Almistraus*

"My lady," Cardinal Gorra was out of breath, but fear and duty keep the old man moving as the guards pushed forward. "The Hero seems to have lost consciousness, we must regroup with the main force and have a healer attend him."

She frowned, "The traditions passed down by my familiy say that the summoning weakens the Hero for a while, so long as we keep him from injury he should recover."

Terrasin cursed those traditions in her head as her long skirts caught on the jagged edge of broken armor and she nearly tripped. She envied the soldiers who could wear pants and boots, though she did admit to herself she thought of such things as a way to distract from the horror around her.

She had been born for this duty after all, the Almistrauses were not just one of the four families that held the blood of the ritual, but they led and guided them. Which was why even though Terrasin deVon Almistraus was a woman, Cadinal Gorra showed respect to her.

Finally they left the old palace and made it to the courtyard, its paving stones cracked with evil and unhealthy looking weeds poking through the gaps. Terrasin said a silent prayer of thanks to the Gods that the detachment of soldiers and paladins here had held out. From the back, a sorceror cast a spell, throwing a fireball into the teeming mass of demons that battled against the soldiers at the front.

Over the screeches and calls of the monsters, the rythmic chanting of the Paladins, who called unceasingly to their Gods for aid, could be heard. Their swords wreathed in brilliant white flames carving the horde to pieces, used the gap caused by the exsplosion too push further forward, slaughtering the demons with near contemptous ease.

As the Princess hurried to the waiting carriage, specially armored and enchanted for this purpose, with knights and paladins mounted on horses nearby to escort it out, she could not help the tears that fell from her eyes.

Terrasin knew, no matter how valiantly those men fought, no matter how they slaughtered the demons, they would face wave after wave until they were dead, and that there role now was nothing but to be bait and die to allow the Cardinals and the scions of the Four Families, to escape with the Hero.

The Hero was very nearly thrown into the carriage by the guard who had carried him, who then slammed the door and joined the knights serving as bait. Terrasin and Lady Amelia (another one of the scions) layed the Hero gently on the seats of the carriage.

As the carriage began to move, pulled by a team of warhorses in enchanted armor, she could only pray looking down at the unconsciouss Hero.

"Lord Hero, please be worth this sacrafice."