The mages stood awkwardly around their prisoner, his body covered in a myriad of bruises and cuts. They had brought out the whip the day prior and his body clearly reflected that, but obviously it still wasn’t enough to break the man. He had been asking for something called ‘pudding’ which the mages assumed was some type of devil food. They fed him what some could consider food, a strange slop of leftovers from their earlier torture sessions.

The man breathed raggedly, he had two missing nails on each hand, the middle finger and the pointer. On his left hand the pointer finger was missing from the top knuckle onwards. His already ragged gown was nearly nonexistent at this point. The mages looked at one another and sighed, they only had a day until they were expected back with their soldiers and they still had yet to make any leeway on their current subject.

If he didn’t break soon they were going to have to kill him, though they didn’t want to waste any warrior, they just didn’t have the time. “Take an eye next, if that doesn’t work.” the one eyed mage inhaled deeply, “Kill it.”

The other mages nodded, they too knew of the time limit they were on and as things stood if something as painful as taking an eye wasn’t enough, than they had no chance to break him in a day. The oldest mage walked out of the room without another look at his companions, and the two mages walked over to the blood spattered tools. The youngest withdrew a spoon like object with small pointed ridges around the bowl.

He smiled maliciously at the thought of hurting this demon, he prayed fervently that this would be the time it finally screamed. The middle eyed mage had summoned his fire elemental, and was stand guard at the base of the table. He was still wary, as the first time the demon escaped the elementals had been missing with no explanation. Truthfully, he didn’t understand why the old man and the other mage seemed so carefree about torturing a demon. A demon!

He had heard some of the stories of people who made deals with devils, entire towns found smoldering with not a body to be seen. Small city states reduced to rubble and undead. The thought of something going wrong sent a shiver down his spine. Yet still he nodded towards the other mage, “Do it.”

The mage smiled and stooped down to the table to work, he put his thumb and forefinger on the sleeping man’s eyelids and pried them open. “Are we playing again?” the man asked innocently.

The mage scowled, his fun had been ruined. Somehow this demon still pretended to not care at the abuse it was suffering, that took all the fun out of torture. The mage violently jutted the spoon under the man’s eye, scraping the underside of it. The man sucked in a violent breath, “It’s fine. I only need the one.” he said referring to his eyeball.

The torturing mage let out a dissatisfied noise and hooked the spoon to the back of the eyeball, running the sharp ridges along the cord that connected the eye. The man let out a quiet breath and smiled up at the man currently sawing his eyeball out, “If you push while you rotate it should cut cleaner.”

The mage let out a sound suspiciously like a growl and shoved the spoon violently forward, a small snap sound signified the eyeball’s escape from its fleshy prison. Yet still the man didn’t scream, though the mage did. He screamed in frustration at the unfairness of it, he had done his best and still the demon didn’t cry out! It just wasn’t fair!

And to make matters worse, the now one eyed man smiled up at him, his left eye socket leaking red down his cheek. “S’allright buddy, you’ll get em’ next time.” he said, punching him friendly with his free hand.

The two mages stared at the man, mouths hanging open, “You should close your mouths, might catch a fly like that.” he advised. The mages did so, shock written over their features.

The man wiggled about until his body seemed to pop free from the invisible restraints, “Attack the demon!” the middle mage commanded to his flame familiar. The elemental shot forward to the ragged man that was wiping futilely at his clothes.

The elemental raised it’s hand and thrust it forward like a spear, blisteringly fast. Though the instant before it hit he man standing there, it disappeared in a flash of golden light. The mage looked at the spot his familiar used to be in before turning tail and running, he might be loyal to his country but he wasn’t about to fight a demon that could banish a familiar without so much as a gesture!

As soon as he turned around he was greeted by several feet of burnished steel straight through his throat, he looked up at this wielder of the blade, and gurgled faintly. The man who had pierced his throat had green eyes and hair so blonde it seemed to be made of metal. His face was twisted into a look of disgust and his iridescent white armor was spattered with blood. ‘My blood’ he thought faintly, before the light left his eyes.

“In the name of our lord Aasari, I decree you unclean!” the warrior shouted out before pointing his finger at the man bleeding on his sword, the body seemed to be consumed from the inside by a golden light. The golden light turned out to be a crackling flame that licked at the charred remains long after he was dead.

The blue eyed mage stumbled back. He had never fought a real enemy, the biggest thing he had ever fought was a wild dog that he had stumbled across. Now, faced with an enemy that stood regally a head and a half higher, that had so easily dispatched his ally, he panicked. He had seen how the paladin had banished the flame familiar, he knew the demon hadn’t done it. The light that appeared was obviously holy light, and no demon could wield it.

He turned away from the paladin and looked at the one eyed demon, he still stood there, grimacing as he scrubbed vigorously at his dirty rags. Taking the risk, the mage sprinted past him and arrived at the other wall. The demon didn’t even glance up at the retreating mage, he just raised a hand in greeting and mumbled out a goodbye, before returning his utmost focus to cleaning his clothes.

The mage reached the wall and slapped his hands against it, while earth wasn’t nearly his highest affinity, he was still skilled enough to slap together a hasty earth forming spell. He extended his senses out into the wall, reaching deep into the steadfast earth. Feeling every imperfection in the cold stone, searching, searching.

And then he found it, a connecting tunnel nearly thirty feet away from where he now stood. He recalled a mana pattern he had seen in one of his books, it had reminded him of the mana pattern used to form ice, it wasn't perfect, but with enough mana to fill in the gaps, it should work. He focused on it, and inverted it. This gobbled up his mana hungrily, but with his monstrous cap of 3600 he wasn’t too worried. He knew using unformed magic that hadn’t grown into a spell yet was dangerous. ‘But so is that paladin!’ he thought to himself.

Using the hastily formed mana signature along with his impeccable control he managed to cobble together an earth un-forming spell. Using it he carved open a small pathway into the wall, before throwing himself inside and reforming the wall behind him. Before the earth swallowed him, he looked behind him towards the encroaching paladin and saw that he had been joined by five other individuals, each one garbed in holy looking armor.

The earth closed behind him, and he started the arduous process of carving his way to the connecting cave. This entire interaction happened in nearly twelve seconds, a testament to the potential held by the sadistic ‘noobie’ mage.

Back in the room a man covered in caked blood and dirt stood silently, rubbing vigorously at a specific patch of grime. The six paladins that surrounded him looked on silently, staring intently at the one eyed man. The man in question, seemingly satisfied with his job, looked up from his cleaning. His good eye opened a bit wider as he took in the men surrounding him for the first time.

“Who’re you guys?” he asked.

“We are members of the Holy Order of the Resplendent Holy Blade of Aasari!” they said in unison, each striking a pose for the man.

“So you’re paladins for the HORHBA. Bleh. That’s a real mouthful.” he scowled as he stumbled over the strange acronym.

“Aye! A mouthful of justice and holy vigour!” the leading man replied, a brilliant smile on his bloodied face, “Though we request you use our orders full name when addressing the holiness that is the Holy Order of the Resplendent Holy Blade of Aasari.”

“Nah, too many words.” he said simply.

“O-ok. I guess that’s fine.” he stumbled over his words, unused to people not following the requests of the Holy Order.

“You guys are real understanding." he smiled up at them, "Welp! Nice talking with ya, I’ll see you around!” he said merrily before waving and slipping between two of the paladins in the encirclement. Though slipping was meant in the more literal sense, as he had to pick himself up off the ground afterwards. They made no move to stop him until he was near the door.

A strong gauntleted hand grabbed his shoulder and held him back, “You musn’t leave yet! We require you to speak before our court and give description to this foulness!” the green eyed leader said, indicating the room they were in.

“I’m really very busy. Perhaps another time.” the dirty man replied. He made to move further away before he stopped and tilted his head quizzically, “Whatd’ya mean I’m not busy? I do stuff.”

The paladin behind him looked confused, “I didn’t say anything.” the man turned and looked at him, “I have just received a call from my Secretary. And as it turns out, I am not busy now, or ever apparently.” he nodded once.

“So… you will come with us to describe the horrors here? We will of course provide succor and heal your wounds.” the paladin leader had no idea what a 'secretary' was but he didn't feel like questioning it.

The man looked around before leaning in and whispering to the paladin, “I don’t swing that way but thanks for the offer.” he leaned away from him and said in a normal voice, “I will however take you up on the healing.” he pointed to the countless wounds on his body, “These are starting to sting a bit.”

The paladin, again, had no idea what he meant when he said he ‘didn’t swing that way’ but now that he truly looked at the man he noticed just how badly the man was injured. Truthfully it was a miracle he was still standing. The paladin had a newfound respect for this mentally disinclined man. To be still standing, even with such horrible wounds, he had to be strong, and this particular paladin respected strength.

The paladin outstretched his hand to the man who clasped it and shook, “Might I ask your name strange traveler?” the paladin asked.

“I’m Tobi. You?” he said with a lopsided grin.

“Why I am the Second Lieutenant of the Holy Order of the Resplendent Holy Blade of Aasari! Nickelios the Fourth!” he said, dislodging his hand from the man’s grip and smiling brilliantly.

“Alright. I got one last question Nick.” he leaned in conspiratorially and opened his eye, revealing an empty socket with bloody ropes hanging inside, “You seen my eye?”

Further away, past the entrance to the small cave system was a one eyed man with a host of various beasts and monsters, crawling, sprinting, and flying through the woods. They had avoided the nearby villages, and made their way through the forest, slaughtering beasts and travelers alike. They had made their way to a deep grove in the center of the massive forest, it was surrounded on all sides by trees that seemed to go on forever.

Once he and his small army reached the center he commanded them into rows, ten long and thirteen deep. He had one hundred and thirty creatures with a high affinity of one sort or another, ready to be groomed into an elite fighting force. He sat down on a protruding rock in the middle of the clearing, and stared off into the deep expanse of the forest.

He sat there, waiting for his two subordinates. He waited nearly four hours before he noticed something, in the underbrush nearby the bushes shook slightly. He stood up, calling on the power of flame and earth to summon a ball of magma that coursed through the air menacingly. “Show yourself.” he called out.

From the bushes came the youngest mage, his robe was tattered and he had a wild look in his eyes. “Where is the other?” he called out.

The mage took a moment to catch his breath, his hand on his knees before calling back in a halting voice, “Dead, the paladins got him.”

The old mage scowled deeply, “No matter. We have the summons. They presumably don’t know about that. Do they?” he asked the last part menacingly, the ball of magma above his head morphed and elongated into a spear shape.

The other mage paled, “No, we moved the summons out before they came. They shouldn’t know.”

“Shouldn’t? Shouldn’t is for amateurs and men who deal in half measures!” he stomped his foot angrily, and the air heated up several degrees, “Do they know, or do they not? It’s a simple question.”

The mage gulped, “They can’t know. They were probably only there because of the reports of missing persons in the nearby villages.”

“Good. I assume you are not so incompetent as to have left the demon alive.” he said dismissing the magma spear and looking back towards his troops.

There was no response. The one eyed mage turned around again and looked back towards his subordinate, “You did kill him before you left. Right?”

Again the blue eyed mage didn’t respond, he did instead walk closer to his leader and fall to his knees, his eyes pleading with the mage. He clasped his hands together, tears streaking his face, “I had to run! They would have killed me just like they did Jelsin!” his eyes were filled with desperation, “I didn’t have time to kill the demon! Plea-”

Blood burst forward from the mages throat, a pillar of earth had shot out from behind him and cleaved him through the neck. The older mage wiped his robe disinterestedly and sighed, “Gross incompetence and negligence. The king will not be glad.” He turned back around for a final time, not sparing a glance from the rictus form of his once companion.

In front of his army was a series of pillars, seven in number. They were arranged in a circular fashion and each had a single huge rune carved into the side. They each pulsed a different color, from green on the far left to red on the far right. The one eyed mage flicked several flecks of blood from the dead mage onto each pillar as he walked by them, they blazed brilliantly for several seconds before calming down. He had used the mage's blood as magical creatures, mages included, had a high concentration of mana in their blood, which allowed for the activation.

Once each pillar had been activated, he stepped back to the front of his silent army, he spread his arms wide and barked out a command. The air rushed forward from the pillars, carrying with it a sense of emptiness, energy in the air seemed to fizzle out and be sucked towards the pillars. Several of the weaker creatures near the front fell to the ground, their bodies shriveling and becoming corpses.

The older mage weathered the vacuum of power, though even he stumbled slightly at the aggressiveness of the pull. The seven pillars blazed brighter than before, their colors intermingling in the center to create a disc of multi hued brilliance. The disc burst apart, sending javelins of light back towards the pillars. The javelins seemed to be connected by small cords and when they pulled taught, they created a vast interwoven tapestry.

The tapestry flattened out and stretched before it rotated until it was facing straight up. Once again the colors flashed brilliantly, but this time, once the blinding light dispersed, in place of the rainbow of magic was a hole in space. Through the hole was a wide hallway made from cobbled stone with torches lining the wall. The hallway had multiple oaken doors leading off of it, and at the far end was a wide double door with gold inlaid on the border in winding vine like patterns.

The mage smiled. The portal was complete, and it led to the dungeon under Ultirn, a long abandoned series of ruins located far to the west of the portal. It had been repurposed as the country’s base for the Summoned Arms Division. The mage took a step forward, towards the portal, and his host of monsters and creatures followed, silently as always.