The Demon In Death

Chapter 2

        I awoke to the sound of something breaking downstairs. Next to me Leah sat up swiftly, "What was that?" As a response, I got up and put my armor on as fast as I could. Being a demon hunter I could sense dark magicks, and this was definitely something bad. I rushed downstairs with Leah just behind me. When we got to the ground floor I saw something that almost made me run back up. But I had Leah with me, so I was able to focus on her and keep my fear at bay.

All around me were the demonic zombies that I had faced so often just a little bit ago. But I had defeated the lords of hell now. With this though came an inexplicable wave of emotion that brought to my knees. A feeling of fear, fear that somehow my mission, and all the people lost during it had been for nothing. "Why," was all I could say. Then a voice above me spoke, and my fear was justified, as well as increased.

"Puny nephalem, you thought you could defeat the lords of hell. They have been freed, by me, and even now are plotting for your death, something I will really enjoy." I knew there were tears falling down my cheeks, but I couldn’t feel them, I was completely numb from my fear. For that’s what this was, it was fear, my fear. For this was my weakness, the thing haunting my darkest dreams ever since I had defeated Diablo.

I was so used to not showing any emotion that would assist the demons power, but I discovered then that if you ignore emotion, it will come back to you worse then before. I looked up and saw Leah fighting the zombies. The guardsmen were with her to, but she was staying by me, to keep them from hurting me. I saw her shouting, but her words were not the ones I heard. "Please you don’t have to do this..." 

It was my mother’s voice I heard, and soon I was taken back to the world from which these words came. We had been staying in an inn at the time, my mother had wanted to continue my training as a hunter, but she said I wasn’t ready. "You must learn to master yourself, before you can master the power of the enemy," she had said. "But mom, i'm ready. I can control myself, why won’t you see that."

The scene changed then to an abandoned farmhouse, surrounded by demons. I see myself, yelling to my mother over my shoulder, "Ill prove to you my strength. When I come out of here, you will see that I am worthy to be your son." It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, but now I could see that I had blown it way out of proportion. But it didn’t matter, what’s done is done... right. I had always said that, to justify what happened, and I never questioned it because if I had I would have lost my reason to live.

But now all my hidden doubts came back and I started to wonder, weather it was my fault. Before I could finish the thought my mother opened her mouth, but the words were not hers. The vision faded away but she was still there, the words echoing around me, "That’s right son, my death was your fault. You had to go and prove yourself didn’t you?" I should have been devastated, but for some reason I wasn’t, these words proved to me that this wasn’t my mother.

"Who are you?" I asked. She smiled, no not she, I could see the true form now. What I saw surprised me, for this thing was not a demon, as I thought it was. It was an angel, I could tell, the wings, the faceless hood, it was all the same. His answer to my question surprised me even more. "I am death, and this is my gift to you." He then vanished, and with him the visions I had been absorbed in.

At first I looked around and wondered what he meant by a gift, but when I found Leah I knew exactly what he meant. While I had been incapacitated she had gotten surrounded trying to protect me. Suddenly my instincts kicked in, I grabbed the small hand crossbows of my legs and started shooting down these abominations. I ran towards Leah as fast as I could, I could her yelling for my help. But the faster I ran the more space seemed to be between us. 

"My, my, you are stubborn." I knew it was his doing, so I stopped running then, stopped shooting (for even my bolts couldn’t get to her). I fell to my knees once again, wishing this was a vision, but I knew it wasn't. I knew that this was real it was right in front of me. As much as I hated it I guess I did as he asked, I sat crying and watched the love of my life die in front of me because I was unable to do anything. As she screamed for the final time, my name echoing through the ears of even the abominations, I broke down. 

But because of my connection to dark magic I didn’t start crying as normal humans did, instead I fully accepted the demons evil. Its power echoed around me, I could feel her death and with my anger used the power it gave off to defeat the demons around me. I couldn’t see anything but the red of my anger, but I could feel. I felt each of them die, felt the power they gave off, and to my surprise I actually smiled. But I also felt something else after that, the power had overwhelmed me. 

I could now feel the buildings around me crumble. First the inn, then the buildings around it, like a wave spreading out from me. I could feel the people inside them get crushed or suffocate, I felt the city gates close and the ground shake. The world started fading to black then, the anger draining me, and I knew that when I woke up, new tristram, and the people in it. Would be no more.