The sentinel demon's wait was nearly over.

The wall in front of it was the location of a portal that was glowing so powerfully that the light it emitted lit up the entire room. The light illuminated the normally deary and dark chamber and gave the bizarre torture chamber an eerie golden glow.

If the creature turned around it and faced the room's inhabitants and prisoners it would have been able to see the room's inhabitants in all of their unholy glory due to the golden glow of the portal banishing the darkness that had previously dominated the room.

The portal was several meters tall, several meters wide, and growing by the second. The sentinel busied itself by basking in the heat of the energy the portal had already released into the room.

A demon's heart was not like that of a mortal. Though the terrifying monsters possessed hearts, theirs did not pump blood through their veins but rather pumped a gooey tar-like substance that could impede efforts by heroes or anyone else tasked with slaying them. The heart of a demon was also located in a random location somewhere on their body.

The sentinel demon's heart was located in its left arm, a thick and scaled appendage that the creature gleefully used in combat, perhaps to challenge mortals to try and strike it down or to lead them to believe that its circulatory organ was located elsewhere.

The demon's heart was beating a mile a minute, and it knew that soon it'd be free to go on a rampage. And not rampage in another layer of the Heart of Darkness, but rampage throughout a mortal world.

The grotesque and cruel creature was drooling, its drool a thick and weakly acidic substance. The drool had been pooling for a few moments now and had started to create a tiny puddle of ineffectual but hot acid not far from the feet of the monstrous creature.

It had spent a long time fantasizing about terrorizing and devouring mortals, and an even longer time fantasizing about tasting plants or species that could only be found in a world of mortals. Only unholy plants grew in this plane of existence and though those may have filled its stomach, they were hardly tasty. And the creature had a refined palate that caused it to refuse to eat other demons.

It wasn't a love for its cousins that made it refuse to eat them. It was because they tasted disgusting. It ate lifeforms, but it preferred the taste of kind-hearted creatures who had died violently, not the flesh of demons which was spiced by malice and bile.

The odd unholy hybrid of ape and swine sometimes daydreamed when it grew bored of torturing anyone foolish enough to visit the hellish castle it lived in. When it did, its thoughts were filled with elaborate and gruesome fantasies.

Perhaps the most common one of those fantasies was one wherein the creature went to verdant jungles and spent days devouring all manners of delicious fruits. At night in these imaginary jungles, it'd awaken native primates and then command them to join it in destroying nearby settlements built by sentient creatures and terrorizing anyone with the audacity to defy them or the luck to escape the settlements in the chaos.

It was plausible that such a fantasy was playing out in the creature's head as the portal began to solidify and reveal what waited for anyone who crossed it into a mortal world. If the creature was distracted by such a fantasy that would explain why it fail to notice the little girl whose arcane blood and powerful emotions created the portal in the first place, and who was herself staring at it with an abnormal calmness.

The tiny human was visible to anyone looking through the portal, but her small frame and the fact that she was on the floor did make noticing her something someone as tall as the demon would have to focus to do.

Selena Moonbond wept for her dead parents for several minutes. Once she felt as though she could cry no longer, she turned around, mute and numbed by despair. Before she noticed the portal, she noticed that the floor behind her had been drained of all color.

She stared at that strange floor for a few moments, questioning what could have caused that, before she looked up and saw the portal that had seemingly consumed a good portion of the wall of her parent's room. It was at this point that she finally noticed the deformed hybrid creature that seemed to wait just beyond the portal. The creature looked glossy and unfocused through the portal, but she could still clearly see it.

She looked at the demon and felt an odd numbness instead of the fear many adults in her situation would have been paralyzed by. She knew it was a monster of some sort, but really had no idea what kind of monster it was. She had very little experience with monsters or wild animals and had only rarely been allowed to go onto the grassland outside of the town.

She studied the creature with the casualness of someone looking at a caged animal in a menagerie, perhaps a bit emboldened or calmed by the natural filter of the portal.

For several minutes the sound of fighting had been the noises someone would have heard in the part of the small town dominated by small huts. But now the silence that ran rampant throughout this part of town was as eerie and unsettling as the sight someone in the area would have seen had they been watching what was going on.

In the area dominated by and surrounded by tiny huts stood two creatures. One of them looked human and the other was an orc. The one who looked human had its hands up in front of its chest and they were glowing. The creature was using healing magic, but not on itself or even on the orc who was standing.

The creature the human-like entity was healing, using raw magical energy turned into potent and invisible bursts of healing power, was currently laying down. He had been kicked into the wall of the hut he laid against and presently the brutalized orc was unconscious but heavily injured.

The creature being healed was one of the two unconscious orcs who had been defeated by Althos. Althos convinced the orc's brother, the orc who was standing and waiting for his sibling to recover from the wounds it sustained during the fight against the young god, to aid it and become its servant in exchange for healing all of them. Of course, if the orc had refused the deity's generosity it simply would have killed all of them, but it had suspected that the orc wouldn't refuse and was delighted when he hadn't.

The other orc laid on the floor, not far from a hut behind the human-like entity. He was face-down but an examination of his unconscious form revealed that he was still breathing and seemed banged up but not particularly worse for wear.

For now, both conscious creatures were focused on the more heavily injured orc, but Bazur hoped that soon they'd turn their eyes to the orc behind his new master. He could see his injured brother and was aware that he was breathing but the punch the unconscious orc took that stole his consciousness from him was a staggeringly powerful blow. Because of that, Bazur wanted both of his siblings healed as quickly as possible.

Bazur himself was also injured. He took several blows, and even the godling's idle counters had left the orcish brawler in pain. The orc was doing a good job of suffering in silence, but both the orc and his master were aware of the pain that he felt.

Althos intended to heal him fully when it was finished healing his siblings.

Bazur watched his new master, the mysterious creature who called itself Althos, pour healing magic out of its hands and through the air towards his heavily injured brother. The orc didn't know much about magic, but he could sense the intensity of the rejuvenating energy drifting through the air towards his sibling. He could also see the strange creature's hands glow and give off a bright light.

Though the orc didn't know this, the reason why the godling chose to emit the light was to give the orc reason to believe it was a spectacular being and in fairness, that was true. The light was completely unnecessary and was only being used for dramatic effect. The move was Samyaza's idea, and the light was actually just an application of flashy illusion magic.

The healing magic used by Althos was a powerful but simple technique made infinitely stronger by Althos's limitless magical reserves. Rather than waste time trying to teach it a complicated technique, Samyaza simply told the deity of a potent but simplistic tactic that involved mentally converting some of Althos's magical reserves into bursts of positive energy. After that Althos simply mentally flung that positive energy at those it wanted to heal.

Samyaza intended to teach the deity how to use normal magic eventually, but for now, all the deity needed were results and this simple but normally costly technique could get results. It had told the deity itself as much and the deity agreed with its assessment, thanked it for its help and proceeded to use the knowledge it had gained from it.

The healing energy that filled the air between his master and his sibling was intense, so intense that a bit of it was able to begin to heal even Bazur despite the orc not being the intended target of the magic. Seeing his strange new master immediately set about fulfilling its promise was encouraging to the orc, who wanted to know more about Althos's capabilities.

The godling continued to emit healing energy for several moments, and then Bazur noticed his sibling beginning to stir. The orc painfully groaned for a few seconds but with each passing second his groans grew less pained.

Althos began to grin slightly when it noticed that the second orc was beginning to stir. It actually noticed it before the orc's conscious sibling did. The unconscious orc began to make nearly imperceptible movements that the godling could detect due to its potent vision.

The godling wondered what would happen when the orc noticed the scene that surrounded it. After all the orc it was healing was the first one to pass out, having been severely injured by a kick from the godling at the very beginning of the fight. At the moment one of its siblings was unconscious, and the other had sworn loyalty to the trio's foe. It was certainly an odd scene, and both the godling and the angel were prepared for healing the unconscious orcs to result in smaller fights.

After a few moments, Bazur also noticed his sibling beginning to stir.

The first time Anthus the orc reopened his eyes he was shocked at what he saw. Directly in front of him stood the foe who had attacked him, its hands alight with a strange glow, and to its left stood the orc's own brother, Bazur. Confusion filled the orc, even as he noticed that the pain he felt was gradually receding.

Anthus turned to look at his sibling and spoke.

"Bazur... care to explain what's going on? Why did this creature, our enemy, apparently heal me?"

Bazur had a deep voice, a voice that rumbled like a rock rolling down a hill. Anthus's voice was much lighter. As it waited for its new servant to begin to explain what had happened while the second orc was unconscious, it also took time to truly examine the orcs.

Both orcs were heavily built brutes. Both wore simple but effective metal armor, presumably made of bronze due to its color. And both were fairly tall themselves, perhaps right under two meters in height. Both orcs were bald and wore nothing on their faces, though their still unconscious sibling did have hair.

Both orcs had muscled bodies with pectoral and abdominal muscles that pressed and pushed against the armor they wore. Both orcs had thick legs and wore bronze-colored cuisse's, poleyns, greaves, and sollerets.

The two did have a few key areas of difference though.

Bazur's skin was more tanned than that of his sibling. His face was a darker shade of green than that of his sibling, and his fists were also darker than Anthus's. Anthus was also taller than his sibling, just by a little bit but by enough of a difference that it made the taller orc look like the leader. Anthus was actually the tallest of the trio of siblings as well as the youngest of the brawlers.

Bazur had tiny, white tusks and his sibling did not. Bazur's tusks were small, not large or thick enough to jut out from his mouth with his mouth closed, so the only time they were visible was when the orc spoke or roared.

And at the moment they smelled different. Bazur smelled of orcish sweat, an unpleasant but tolerable smell. Anthus, who had broken bones in the fight that ended just minutes ago, smelled of a different and altogether worse scent. The orc had soiled himself after he was sent flying. The godling was polite enough to not say anything, but that was the key reason why the deity had stood so far away while healing the orc.

Bazur put up with it, out of a mixture of respect for his sibling and sheer joy at seeing him still alive, conscious, and in much better shape than Anthus had been just minutes ago. Anthus keenly disliked the smell himself, and the gross sensation of his armor and undergarments being ruined.

Once Bazur finished explaining what had happened fully, both the godling and the younger orc waited to hear what Anthus would say. They were both curious as to how the youngest of the siblings felt about its new and strange circumstances.

Anthus, for his part in all of this, felt a variety of emotions. He knew that there was no point in trying to defeat Althos if the mysterious creature took on both of his siblings at the same time and came out on top. Such an attempt, especially if he was alone or worse yet if Bazur joined his new master against him, would only result in Anthus experiencing more pain.

Anthus still had his pride as a warrior, pride which urged him to fight the godling, but he also had his pride as an orc. His orcish pride and martial intellect told him that the right move was to join Althos and fight alongside his brother. His feelings of admiration for his brother also urged him to join the strange duo peacefully. He stayed silent for several moments, and once Althos realized that the orc wasn't going to talk it turned to begin to heal the last orc.

At this point, the once wounded orc stood up, slowly at first. Its caution came from fear that the creature's magic had only healed the most intense wounds and otherwise anesthetized it so that it wouldn't feel pain. The basis for this concern came from the limited experience the orc had with healing magic and healers themselves, who had once treated the orc and his siblings.

In the past, the trio of orcs went on a raid with spell-slinging orcs. They had gotten seriously injured during that raid and turned to the magicians in their group demanding to be healed as part of their reward for their work.

The orcs had gotten their wish, but the magic the magicians had used was not very effective. It only focused on the most urgent wounds, closing them and then numbing the orcs to lingering pain. The problem was that their healers hadn't told them what the magic would do and the orcs got themselves even more injured because they weren't aware of how the magic used on them worked.

This time the orc had been healed by powerful healing magic that mended its body and temporarily strengthened the creature. It noticed that after it was on its feet, and had taken tentative steps to make sure it could walk. The orc was relieved that the magic seemed to actually heal all of its wounds, even though it had been healed by an enemy.

Althos was silent during Barus's explanation and during Anthus's examination of the quality of healing he received. It was content to watch its orcish minion do his best to do the talking and for the orc's ally to be skeptical of how much healing he had received.

It was curious as to if the orc's ally would join them and believed he would, but it also considered the possibility that the orc might try to fight it, or might try to undermine the decision of Bazur to serve it. It enjoyed the thought of such subversion and wondered if it'd be able to instill in Bazur genuine loyalty and therefore prevent future betrayal.

The portal began to hum once it was completely formed. The sound roused the sentinel demon who had long since gotten accustomed to the strange weeping that had previously filled the torture chamber. The terrifying monster finally moved forward from where it had stood still for what felt like an eternity, but had actually been just a few minutes.

The sentinel demon had been so bored that it began to day-dream towards the end of its period of stoic vigilance. It had spent several minutes day-dreaming about a lush jungle where it could rule over a hoard of primates. But now it was finally time for the creature to venture forth. It took several large steps to reach its destination and then walked through the mystical and sorrow-powered portal into an unknown mortal world and the ruins of a small bedroom.

Selena had been staring at the monster when it finally began to lumber in her direction from beyond the portal. The lumbering monstrosity still hadn't detected her, so she did her best to hide by inching towards the ruins of her parent's bed. She never took her eyes off of the creature, thankful for the fact that in its bored state it wasn't rushing towards the portal.

The monstrosity that was just beyond the portal was a misshapen and rough-looking mixture between an upright standing massive ape and a pig that had bloated to obscene proportions.

It had a face that looked like someone drew a sketch of a demented child's nightmare, with a mouth filled with sharp teeth and brutal tusks. Additional rows of tusks protruded from its cheeks and chin, giving it brutal weapons with which to slash at enemies. Its nose was nonexistent, instead, it had thin holes from where a nose would have been on a human's face. Its eyes were purple and it had a bored look on its face as it walked closer and closer to the portal.

It stood upright on two thin legs that ended in furred hoofs. The demon's stomach was a mess of splotches of fur in some places and dark purple skin in others. It had long and muscular arms covered in ape-like fur. Its hands ended in cruel-looking claws that twitched from time to time and seemed primed to cut through armor as easily as skin.

Selena couldn't see beyond the demon's massive frame, but she could hear sounds from beyond the portal aside from the thundering steps taken by the sentinel demon. She could pained groans and cringed each time she heard them.

At almost the same instant Selena managed to crawl underneath the bed, the demon began to cross through the portal.

Samyaza watched the scene in front of Althos with great interest. The deity was apparently content leaving its servant to do most of the talking, and Samyaza found this curious but not foolish.

Althos had a reason behind this odd decision. It was consciously aware that Bazur knew his brothers well and the deity wanted to see if the orc could convince them without its assistance to be united in service to its own as of yet vague goals. This was a test of its new servant, as well as a way to test the limits of orcish culture with regards to gaining new servants, minions, and worshippers.

As Althos began to heal the last of the orcs, the orcs who were awake spoke in hushed tones. Althos had turned to face the final unconscious orc, but that didn't mean it was deaf.

The siblings did not seem aware that Althos could hear them even though they spoke quietly. They had also chosen to speak in their native language, a rough and brutal sounding tongue, as an extra yet useless defense against spying by the godling.

They were ignorant as to the creature's true nature and such ignorance led to them weakly trying to protect their conversation. Althos was aware that they were speaking in another tongue, but it understood their words. It remained silent because it didn't want them to know it could understand them.

Better for them to gossip using words than to try something that took actual subtlety.

Anthus looked at his brother, concern written across his face even though he had the rough features of a grizzled orcish brawler.

"Brother... are you really joining this creature?"

His question was sensible, but also pointed and judgemental. His brother looked at him, annoyed at the judgment in his voice and responded after taking a second to consider how scathing his response should be.

In the background, Althos and Samyaza learned through this sentence that the two orcs were siblings.

"Anthus, this creature nearly killed you with a single blow. Even if the three of us were caught off guard, Ragnor and I fought this creature. Its strength is the real deal, and judging from the fact that you're alive and on your feet so is its ability to heal."

Anthus sighed and momentarily turned to glance at the creature who had been responsible for their injuries but also healed them. It annoyed him that he had seemingly recovered fully from the incredible kick the creature, Althos, landed on him.

The silence that filled the air between the two siblings was tense. Anthus wasn't a big fan of orcish culture, unlike Ragnor who they both suspected would join Althos eagerly.

"Brother... If Ragnor joins you, and we both know he is likely to do so, then I suppose I should as well. Even if just to keep our family together. But I do not trust this creature."

Anthus's voice was quiet. Anthus rallied, even now, against many orcish traditions and structures. Bazur found something about that vaguely comforting and quietly smiled at his sibling. Perhaps what sprung to the orc's mind was the idea that even though somethings change there are always constants and this odd constant made Bazur feel tied to his brother even as their world threatened to change forever.

The mood amongst the squad assembled and led by Modred had only gotten worse in the past few minutes. The source of this depressing sentiment? The imp who served Modred revealing an ill-omen and a portent of disaster just minutes after one of their own warriors suggested they prepare themselves for battle with orcish raiders.

Just minutes ago the imp fell off of Modred's shoulder in a panic. That alone would have been vaguely depressing to the wizard, but the source of the imp's panic was actually far worse than a moment of strange behavior from a normally calm creature.

The imp had detected the emergence of a nearby but weak portal. A portal that led to, and more importantly from, the feared plane of existence known as the Heart of Darkness, the birthplace, and the home of demons. Such an event was likely beyond the ability of the squad to handle, but that was why they had been forced to command the bureaucrats in the squad to flee and ride towards the nearest town for reinforcements.

The imp's fear was due to the long-standing hatred between demons and devils. Both types of aliens were hateful and evil beings but they possessed vastly different belief systems and so their clashes were far more violent than their clashes with humans or other mortals. And nearly all types of demons were stronger and more ferocious than even the largest and meanest imps.

Modred had calmly contacted the baron, his employer, and instructed him about their current conditions. He also told the baron that the squad would ride on and at least see the town.

The imp had foolishly but honestly instructed him that it was possible and likely that the portal was small and insubstantial so he believed that at least riding to the town and checking that it hadn't been overrun by demons was a smart tactic. The baron agreed with that assessment and commended the wizard's courage.

The soldiers and the imp didn't share the wizard's convictions but the imp knew that he was not swayable in his current state. The promise of the baron's reward, whatever reward that would be, had transformed the wizard into an ambitious go-getter, and though normally the imp would be excited by such ambition in the present it worried the winged creature.

The imp steeled itself and waited for them to arrive at the town. They would be arriving very soon, and as soon as they did the creature would be able to sense the location of the alien portal. If they got to it fast enough it was possible they'd be able to close it or weaken it before anything slipped through.

Modred began to sing, his voice was hauntingly beautiful and began to rouse their spirits, just as the grasslands that made up the entirety of what they could see revealed the town they were heading towards in the distance. He was casting his first spell on the entirety of the squad that remained with him, as well as his imp. They were perhaps 25 minutes away from the town, the portal, the demon, and the orcs.

And of course, Althos.

The demon stepped through the portal and the first thing it did was examine its surroundings. It was in a room that it was nearly too tall to be in, surrounded by wrecked furniture and the smell of blood and entrails. Once the creature was entirely out of the portal it stood squarely in the middle of the room and looked around it.

The demon was quite happy with where it was. It quickly sighted the corpses on the ground and reached one of its cruelly clawed hands towards the corpse of June Moonbond, Selena's mother. It licked its lips in delight at the thought of so quickly and easily finding a humanoid snack.

This was the moment wherein Selena's numbness came to a screeching and furious end. The thought of the monster's massive maw and cruel tusks slicing into the corpse of her mother was too much for the girl to handle.

And in that moment of heartbreak, terror, and fury the tiny spark of magic that lived within her roared to life and revealed itself. The girl shouted as she moved to intercept the sentinel's claw.

Ragnor, the middle sibling of the trio of orcish brawlers laid on the floor. He was face-down, mostly still, but also breathing. He would awaken following just a few seconds of magical healing being pumped into him.

Althos turned his back on the newly reawakened orc and turned to his brothers. He had a question for the orc who had already agreed to serve him.

"Are you going to talk to your brother? Explain the situation to him?"

He saw that the orc nodded at him and turned back around to face the newest orc to receive his healing. This one had a more primal gleam in his eyes and looked at the creature who had healed him with a respect that wasn't found in the other orcs.

Althos liked this orc already and suspected that it wouldn't take much convincing to gain this one as an ally. Samyaza concurred. And at that moment both of them heard the orc they had encountered and buried earlier come within range of Althos's enhanced hearing.

Althos curiously wondered what that orc would do when he approached the new party. The young god turned to look at the distant newcomer noticed that the orc didn't have his massive bow with him.

[How strange.]

Althos thought to himself, as Bazur began to explain what had happened since Ragnor had been knocked out.

The middle-child of the orcish family listened intently to Bazur's explanation, not interrupting the explanation once. When Althos turned back to the orcs it had healed, it noticed that Ragnor's body language indicated that the middle-child of the orcish family was quite pleased with what was transpiring. If Althos had to wager a guess it'd say that the orc was even a bit excited to have been bested by someone like Althos, someone who wanted servants or minions.

Althos quietly sent a simple mental message to Samyaza.

[Orcs are... strange. Useful. But odd.]

In response, Samyaza mentally concurred with the deity.