//CLOSED Here the voices echo

Fate.

This had brought them together, and now had torn them apart. The feel of lost souls tortured and left within the graveyard as the two men moved towards the gate. The sound of chirping birds, greeting the warm rising sun like songs from fiddles and flutes. With every breath , echoes of voices could be heard surrounding the Cemetery , surrounding those who chose to turn away. Only those with connections to death himself, would find this plea of bargaining and hold fast to the words that children spoke. Simple touches of grace could not save the dastardly deeds that have found themselves sinking claws into souls and hearts alike. And yet, Merisa sat there, smiling as she watched Riley drag Sarthas away. *‘’Tour La Veir Ani Ma. Tour La Teir shi no fai…’’ Then the words would stop, and like before when they stood so close, the hum of the lullaby, from a darkness unknown to Merisa, but comforting in the soul within. She sung gently to Sarthas as he was forced away from her, inch by inch along the dirty ground.

‘’Never, shall I trust you again Riley Simmons….’’ Her heart sank as she sat in the dirt, her white dress now torn, riddled with dirt, and splashed with blood that belonged to the Dark Shadow. Her hands, covered in his blood as she sat there, twiddling in her fingers a thread. A piece of time that she held dearly to her own soul. As death’s embrace overtook the Cemetery once again, tearing the souls that had been there and disturbed its almighty everlasting rest. Merisa found herself, staring at the beast that Riley and Sarthas had struck down, in almost an instant it seemed like the Guardian was dying. It’s body lingered with the foul stench of already rotting corpse. In the instant the fading form of Merisa hounded the body, lunging beside it and kneeling in it’s pools of blood. ‘’Gravekeeper…Come back to us… Be our gentle leader…’’ She knew, that would never happen and this Cemetery would have to fend for it’s self now, or she would have to stay and protect it from the evils that should not step foot.

Fingers twiddled in it’s fur, as she pet along it’s dying body. A smile had crept its way across her face, as she knew there was something out there. Something not right in the walls of life, something had taken a turn for the worst. Something old, something new, something cruel. From this, in a quick motion, Merisa had ripped a claw from the Gravekeepers paw and with this powerful pull, forced her to fall back against the ground. Her head tilting up as the shadows of Riley and Sarthas disappeared in the rising sun. With this motion, the small torn body stood quickly and in her fingers, swung the thread she held so tight. ‘’With this…Time will turn, and the past will be remembered…But only in the darkness of our minds…’’ She spoke now to no one in her sight, but in her heart spoke to Sarthas.

Turning quickly, the woman took the ring from her finger, wiping it off on the cleanest part of her dress. Tinkering with the necklace, it was removed with some trouble and she sat back in the dirt, tying the thread into the chains spots. Tying it, so no matter the cause, it would never come loose. Afterwards she replaced the ring back onto the necklace, rubbing it between her finger and thumb before looking behind her, where the two had disappeared. ‘’Good luck, knights.’’ Gentle sounds of scuffling could be heard if one was close, as the body would fade from the already faded sight of the young woman. Moving through the tombstones like a ghost on the clouds, quickly as she had appeared, she had disappeared through the tombstones and crypts. Finding herself searching everyone for the grave she knew the most, that meant the most to her heart.

With years of darkness filling her mind, the deaths of many people over-filling the emotional cup and spilling over as the body was strewn to the ground, forcing the body to curl into a monetary position to continue searching the cold stones for the name.

Then the echo was heard. ‘’Hey, Merisa…. Time to get up for school.’’ The voice was so familiar, yet she could not put her finger on it. The tug against her dress was not enough to make her shift and awake from her gentle slumber in these graves. ‘’Merisa! We’re gonna be late! Comon!’’ Then the touch of a cold small hand forced the woman to jump to her senses, eyes baring wide as they stared at this little girl. In a dress so familiar , a smile so deviating. And a body torn from kicking and violent protests. ‘’Leave me be, child of death… Let me suffer in this insanity…’’ Her voice was weak, cracky to the tune and over all torturous on her own strength. ‘’Merisa…Comon… We have to go back and get Sar.’’ The young girl, tugged and pulled on the dress, then Merisa’s arm , forcing the woman to move and attempt a feat at raising to her feet. Her heart would weaken from the sound of the child, as right as she was, she was completely wrong in the same sense. ‘’No…Little girl… You don’t understand… He’s safe… That wicked man may have torn him through, but he is safe.’’ With that, she patted on the ring that hung so tightly around her neck.

With this, the Ghostly girl had found a spot by Merisa’s head, a small shakey hand moved out and ran through the brown locks covered in dirt and blood. ‘’ ’Tour La Veir Ani Ma. Tour La Teir shi no fai’’ And with that said, the young girl had turned to her humming. These sounds that Merisa sung, now this ghostly figure that kept the empty woman to her senses. ‘’Sarah-Lee… Thank you…’’ Was all that Merisa could say, in her fading form she could not speak anymore and only wanted to sleep. This was taking so much strength from her, but it was the only way she could protect herself from hands unknown, weapons that would kill her in her sleep. Her eyes fluttered, and stared at the young girl, in the rising sun for as long as she could before the song of death and darkening sleep finally touched it’s tune. Slumbering sweetly amongst the dead and gone.





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[Tour La Veir Ani Ma, Tour La Teir Shi No Fai –Romanian – In The Dark Night You Shall See, There Will Be No Light, Only Your Heart To See]

[I'm sorry, but's dead.]

As the tool of death watched the sun rise, its rays at last found his torn and battered body. The light was warm, soothing and almost welcome. How long had it been since he he had watched the dawn of a new day? Certainly it had been nothing like this. He could no longer feel the grip of Riley's hands as he had dragged him toward his master's call. The darkness closed in around his vision swallowing it slowly, until only the tiniest hint of light remained in the vast expanse of emptiness. His final breath was drawn inward, held a moment as if savoring that last bit of life before death consumed him completely. At last he let the breath escape, his cold pale lips curving into that familiar smile as they formed words so quiet one would have to listen intently to hear them.

“I will be the last.” He echoed a promise he had spoken to a creature in the darkness. A promise he meant to keep even with his final dieing breath. The last of the light faded and the spark of life that had been given to him by the hands of selfless child flickered and went out.

Sarthas found himself standing a few feet from his dead body once again, this world seemed comfortable. It seemed almost as if he belonged here, in the world between worlds. But belong or not, the man had made up his mind now. His path was laid out before him and that path lead him towards the darkness that would consume his soul for all of eternity. A darkness that called to him from the storm of his mind, like a silent thunder that echoed in the vast confines of his consciousness. He wasted no time, walking to the entrance of that crypt without even a glance back at the life he had once had. At what he had once valued, at what his existence had been. None of it mattered now, the face of his spiritual body set in resolve.

The feeling of small fingers pulling on his pants was expected. He knew she would come, he knew she would try to stop him....yet he could not. What would come next would define him for all of what remained of his existence, however long that might be. Turning slowly, he looked down upon the child with the eyes of a monster. For in this moment, he let it take control. He let the evil creep up and devour him whole in its oily grip. Sarthas was gone and all that remained was the rage, the hate, the bitterness and most of all...the burning desire to succeed. His lips curled into that awful smile and he spat out words seething in hate.

“You just don't get it do you?”

Stepping forward and reaching down he backhanded the child hard enough to send her to the earth. She blinked in surprise and pain as she struck the ground. Rolling to her back, her head swimming, she struggled to rise again but he was there upon her before she could get far. He planted his foot firmly on her chest, holding her in place. She struggled weakly, trying to releave the pressure of the heavy force of his leg but it was a useless effort. The dark man tilted his head to the side slightly and that evil smile twisted its way back onto his lips. “You should not have come back.” He let his voice trail off a moment as he put all of his weight on the leg balancing on her chest, lifting his free foot from the earth and hovering it threateningly over her right knee. His next words were so filled with terrible amusement they seemed to drip with vile as they left his dead lips. “How unfortunate for you.” He brought his foot down hard with true inhuman strength on her knee. The sound of snapping bone and cracking cartilage as the knee gave way was like a melody to which he could dance to. The tiny girl screamed in silence, her mouth opening to voice her agony but no sound would come.

Taking his weight off of her ruined leg a moment he leaned down cupping his hand to his ear as if he were listening carefully. “What was that? I didn't catch it.” His words dripping in sarcasm. The little girl tried desperately in-between sobs and gasps to speak but it was useless. Sarthas straightened and again put his full weight on her chest, hovering his foot over her other knee. The child struggled as hard as she could, shaking her head as her eyes begged him to stop. The monster only continued to smile, he had of course drawn it out, letting her know exactly what he was going to do to her. Making her contemplate the pain and despair of what he was about to take from her, before he once more slammed his boot down hard. He was rewarded with yet another popping and snapping musical score. Lifting his foot from what remained of her leg, he stepped off of her and slowly deliberately walked down the first few steps into the crypts empty darkness. Pausing, he turned to look at her, that same horrible smile on his face.

The child was trying to pull her useless legs along, desperately trying to reach her tormentor. She held her upper body up with one shaky arm while her other reached for Sarthas. The evil man knelt down, bringing his face just barely out of reach of her fingertips before he spoke his next words. The words that would destroy the little child from within just as he had destroyed her body without. “You didn't think I would forget...did you Celest?” The little girls eyes widened as the tears continued to flow freely down her bruised cheeks. “After all, it was you...who helped make me.” Standing once more, the dead man towered over the child. As she shook her head over and over again, unable to accept the horrifying truth of his last words. “Why don't you give god a message for me...my dear little angel. Tell him, I am coming....”

Celest screamed in agony at the top of her lungs. Her entire body shaking with the force of the soul ripping pain both within and without. The sound at last finding freedom from her small lips to saturate the heavy air with its sorrow filled cry. She somehow managed to articulate a single word spat up from the depths of her impossible despair. A weak tiny little voice. “Why?” The dark man had utterly destroyed her in ways no one other than the two of them could possibly understand. The monster only continued to smile for a long moment, reveling in her pain. “Because we all have to grow up sometime.” And with that he turned and continued walking into the depths of the unknown darkness. Its silky grasp consuming him and devouring him slowly until he at last vanished from view. Celest screamed his name one final time in desperation as if she could change it all with a single word...


...but he was gone.

Time was gone even through haste to much time had passed in order to seal his fate. The deed was now done death was the toll watching from afar at the drifting soul. The other’s had seemed to stand there and then scatter he wasn’t close enough to her to even matter. Fingertips reached up and slowly touched the clasp of chocker around her neck; perhaps her next plan of destruction wouldn’t go as such a wreck. Puckering her lips softy as breath squeezed through the tiny space, the breeze would take the whistle tone casting it all over the place. There were many things to learn about the heiress standing there in the mist, she was someone you didn’t want to mess with and most certainly get on her list.

The resting heart she knew well, it had already told its story for this tale but it knew little of the old ways. Knowledge was key when you had been around for as long as she, the man had been a sacrifice as best. With one fluid motion she pulled at the key against her chest, the ribbon of the choker fell to the ground as she looked once more at the young boy appearing suddenly at his side without a sound. Kneeling beside the fallen the touch of ice against the lukewarm neck, lifeless or not there still may be a trick.
Snapping her head in the direction of riley like cracking a whip she spoke with a split tongue.

“Death awaits at his door, it has taken him but there is only one thing more I could try..”

Porcelain hands carefully wrapped their way around the body; slowly causing it to raise the body was bigger than she. Lifting him off the ground she stared at the young boy and with one last time a whistle sound pressed through her lips this time in a three tone type of bliss. Beside her came a creature of night just as the one before the flaming eyes of the hound stood to her right. Holding the body with both hands she nods in the direction of the lantern light.

“Leave from here…

Disappearing was easy to do when you were not bound to the earth as the mortals, but little they knew the secrets of The Hallows. Three items you must have. Once light was now dark holding the lantern against her arm. Leaving from site she would disappear with the night. Only one would follow her if they dared. A faithful servant was all she would need and it came to her bounding at her lead. To the hill they would retreat coming to the unmarked graves of the Crete, they were not blessed they were for those of the damned.

Leaning over dropping the body in the newly dug tomb, one thing was for sure this body was doomed. Quickly reaching in and taking the key using the sharpened edges to cut into her skin a small line of blood would began to trickle once again. Holding it tightly in the palm of her hand at her heel the hound stood with fire flame eyes, it already knew its purpose it was going to die. Leaning over she would gently place her lips on the beast’s head just moments before reaching out with her hilt knife and striking it dead.

The painful cry was a very hurtful sound but for the cause she knew it was worth returning it back to the ground. Pushing now the beast into the tomb the hell’s gate protector would hopefully reach him in time. Tossing in the key to seal the deal, the hounds’ blood mixed with her own should be enough at least she hopped. Dawn was radiating to much heat, her body started to slowly disappearing first her feet and then the rest, her only hope was that it would work. The tales of old using the magic of the hallows...

The man, falling silent in his arms, he knew that Sarthas had drawn his last breath. The cries of failure would call upon deep within, echoing and resonating with curious cries of hatred and discord, but they were quelled by the voice of truth and sincerity. For she knew of a plan that would bring the man back to life. A life worth living. But at a cost, he would not know. It was not his concern, only that his goal would be met. A purpose that needed to be fulfilled. A promise that was meant to be kept. Unyielding and ever lasting, at least as long as her blood flowed through his veins, he would nod to her wishes. Even though her voice was sharp and quick, it did not stutter the man carrying the lifeless sack of flesh in his hands.

"Yes ma'am."

Calmly placing Sarthas on the ground, he would step away to let the woman work her magic. Watching her lift the boy helplessly off the ground, he would walk over to one of the broken tombstones and took a seat. For what a grand entrance it would be to see his mistress at work. Even though he saw the creature of death walking among them, the whispers of her reminders brought a sense of peace across his body. Instead of being skeptical of the fire hound, he just accepted the creature as if it were apart of the scenery. It was there because it was supposed be there, but he knew that it held a purpose... which was fulfilled within the few seconds a slash of a blade was brought upon the poor creature.

He waited. Patient. Curious. He was still under her spell, and without any further orders he was allowed to just stare and watch. Nevertheless, he did not forget the female that waited there patiently in the darkness. The reason they were all in this place to begin with. The person responsible for his curiosity. Motioning Merisa forth, he casually pointed to the ground nearby. There was no reason for her to be so far away from a spectacle that would unfold. He doubted, at this current time, that she would intervene to save a body that was currently not inhabited by a soul. "Merisa, if you are part of the dead... this would be something interesting to see." He, personally, had no idea what kind of 'being' Merisa was... but with the bond he shared with the woman of death came a library of knowledge that poured into his mind. He could at least sense, from his mistress, that she was something not of this earth. But even she didn't know of her true existence.... or she did not allow the outsider to purge deeper into her mind. Limitations. Always limitations.

He understood that natures laws would never be broken, and Sarthas would not return as a normal human being. But these laws could be bent, ever so slightly, to fraction that of what would seem 'dead' or 'alive'.

Hot tears streamed down the child's cheeks. She couldn't stop crying, it was as if someone had broken the gates of a damn that had been collecting the waters of sorrow for a lifetime. It hurt so much, more than she ever knew anything could hurt. The pain of her body was a pale shadow to the pain inside, the true pain that the brother she had loved had forced upon her. “No” The single word resounded in the air in denial, her voice shaky. She couldn't accept this, she couldn't let it go. He was wrong....Sarthas was wrong. Closing her eyes she let the light flow through her, the light that she had found upon her death long years ago. The light that promised hope and soothed away the pain.

A single ray of white radiance burst through the dreary cloud cover high overhead to settle upon the fallen child, revealing beautiful full white feathered wings upon her back. Slowly, her ruined legs began to mend themselves. Bones reattaching, muscle connecting and even the bruises faded until all that remained was her perfect doll-like completion. Only the tears were there to hint at the terrible thing had taken place only moments ago. Rising to her feet she stared down into the darkness, a darkness she was forbidden to enter. Her uncontrolled sobs had earned her the hiccups. Small squeaks repeating again and again as she tried to control the tears that would not stop.

He had made a promise, Sar had promised and he wouldn't lie. Sar never lied, even when he was bad, Sar wouldn't lie. This line of thinking slowly calmed the little girl until at last the tears began to slow. Her new friend had made a promise as well, she had promised that Sar would be ok. No matter what happened that he was safe. An image of the young woman flashed into Celest's mind and the strand tied around her neck. There at the end of that strand was her favorite thing. A gift from a mother she had never met. It was a pretty ring and she hated giving it away, but Sar had been so sad. And now, it looked pretty on Risa, so she could hold on to it. Besides, Sar never liked pretty things. He wasn't suppose to like them, or he would get in trouble. These small childish thoughts calmed the little girl and she at last halted the tears for a moment.

It was strange, she seemed to waver between the mind of a child and that of a woman much older than she appeared. A moment before she had fully understood what Sarthas was doing to her and the meaning of his final words, but now...she was nothing more than a child. Almost as if she were two separate entities living in the body of a single small little girl. Lifting her hand, she reached forward but the moment her fingers broke the line of the first step descending into the crypt she snapped her hand back in pain. The tips of her fingers were slightly blackened and smoldering. Rubbing her hand gently her childish features hardened and a look of resolute defiance washed over her face.

“You will not be rid of me so easily.” Her words seemed cold and bitter, shocking coming from the body of such a small child. Clenching her fingers together in tiny fists at her side, a very familiar twisted smile graced her lips and she stepped forward. Screaming pain erupted throughout her small body and it seemed as if every single nerve in her body suddenly caught fire. Tears threatened her eyes once more, but she held them in check through shear force of will. A will hardened by the trials she had endured in her short life. Her skin began to blacken as the sanctity of her body was violated by the unholy earth, yet she pressed forward. There was resilience in those eyes that could not be described in words. This was no small child, this was a woman who had suffered beyond imagination in the fires of adversity and come out tempered steel.

She took another step, the pain near overwhelming now as a single tear escaped the ocean of her brilliant blue eye to trail its way down her burned and blackened cheek. She moved to take yet another step but found herself caught on something. Turning to look over her shoulder she found that her wings had come into contact with the invisible barrier as if it were a wall of stone. Grinding down on her teeth hard, she turned forward and struggled to continue as the soft blond of her hair began to melt away on her skull. Her features changed suddenly, to that of fear and she found herself calling out the name of a brother that had abandoned her. “Sar....please!” She screamed as if simply voicing his name would stop the pain she was suffering. It always had in the past, he had always made the bad men stop but now...she was alone and he was gone.

She began to panic and thrash about wildly to free herself but her weak struggles appeared useless. It seemed she would be doomed to suffer an eternity of pain, caught between heaven and hell. She felt despair grip her heart with its icy fingers once more and the gray empty world around her began to spin. “Sar, make it stop.” She pleaded with her childish voice, tears once again pouring down the charred flesh of her cheeks. Suddenly a dark figure appeared before her, holding out its hand. Celest's mind was reeling in agony and she couldn't make out the details in the darkness through the tears. But in her mind, this was Sarthas. Only he would be there to protect her, only he would have answered her call. She reached out, grasping the hand just as she had done so many times in the past. She felt the warmth from the grip even through the pain of the ruined nerves in her hand. “Help me.” She begged in a voice filled with pain.

The figure did not answer at first. It only stood there, the blackness of the crypt oozing from its form. Though she could not make out its face, in that moment she thought she caught the hint of a smile and then it happened. It pulled hard, harder than anything should have been capable of as it dislocated her shoulder. White light erupted inside her head as the new pain blindsided the small angel. She lay there for long moments sobbing, the pain slowly fading to leave a dull emptiness in its place. At long last, she found the strength to lift her head from the dusty stone stairs. The figure was gone and she was alone once again.

Somehow, she managed to raise the upper half of her body with her single good arm. She felt a sharp prickling sensation in her back, as if she were being stabbed by a thousand tiny needles. Glancing behind her, back up the stairs something white flashed in the dreary lighting. Celest froze, her breath catching in her throat. There upon the steps, splattered with crimson were her once beautiful wings. The full weight of what she had done came crashing down upon her. She had torn her own wings from her back, to enter a place of evil that she was forbidden. She closed her eyes, searching in desperation for the light that had been there to comfort her in death. It was gone. She had been desperate to reach a brother and friend that had forsaken her...and she was damned for it.
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Sarthas had felt the pull the moment he had entered the darkness. Something was pulling him back the way he had come, back to the land of the living but something else was pulling him forward. It was near maddening, but then again no one had ever claimed Sarthas was sane to begin with. On he moved, without a seconds hesitation through the empty lands of the dead. It was as if he had been here before, as if he already knew the direction he must take. Every now and then a whisper of a sound found its way too him, but it was dull. As if even the sound had the life drained from it in this forsaken place.

He had expected a bit more of a lively reception. Legions of demons intent on ripping his soul apart again and again. Some fire and brimstone, maybe endless halls of torture chambers. That is what Hell was suppose to be like right? Or maybe it was simply the absence of everything and he would be doomed to wander these empty wastes for all of eternity. “Wouldn't that be dull.” The words caressed his mind with a soft silky tone. The sudden appearance of the voice made the man freeze in his tracks, snapping his head around looking for the source. There only a few short feet away seated upon a large gray and rather unimaginative rock, sat a woman. Or what looked like a woman anyway, she certainly had the figure.

But there was more too it than that. She had small obsidian horns that curved their way from her forehead back over the top of her long jet black hair. That silky softness hung half way down her back, swaying gently in a non existent breeze. Her eyes were a strange metallic silvery hew and they seemed to burrow into his soul as she watched him with a playful smile on her pale lips. Her skin, had a reddish hew too it, deep enough to be noticeable yet not harsh enough to be overbearing. She was naked, completely naked in fact and the only thing preventing him from seeing every single curve that god (or the devil) had seen to grace her with was the fact that she had her legs crossed as she sat. Sarthas got the feeling however that it wasn't modesty that had drawn her to this pose but something far sinister. All in all, even he had to admit she was impressively alluring.

“Coming from you, that's quite the praise.” Her voice twisted into his mind like the coil of a silken snake through his thoughts. It seemed as if the words never actually traveled through the air, they were simply....there in his mind from one instant to the next. “You don't think that is air you are breathing do you?” The creature of a man turned to face her, his eyes locked in a battle with her own. “Considering I'm dead....I imagine not.” He flashed her a rather sadistic looking smile in return. The feeling of the pull towards life grew stronger, more insistent but the second force keeping him here matched its strength.

The woman vanished before him and Sarthas frowned slightly as she reappeared beside him, leaning on his left shoulder with her arm. “Oh don't worry, I promise there will be pain in the near future.” The man shot his own arm out to brush her off of him but instead struck something impossibly solid. Turning his head his frown deepened as he noted she had stopped his entire arm with her single index finger. “But first lets have a little fun.”

Somehow, the tone in her voice alone sent shivers through his soul. Slipping from his side, she lifted the same finger that had halted his earlier assault and tapped on thin air. The emptiness in front of her shimmered and rippled as if she had touched the surface of a pond, blurring for a moment before clearing once again. Only this time, it did not show the dull gray landscape, this time it showed something else, something that made Sarthas turn to a block of stone. There before him was an image of a burned and blackened little body laying face down on dry cracked gray earth. Small tuffs of hair dotted her head here and there and her body was covered in bits and pieces of blue and white fabric, what remained of dress. But what drew his eyes the most, were the two terrible gashes that covered her back. “You fool.” He hissed through clenched teeth before he could stop himself. Even as disfigured as she had become he knew her, for he could never forget her no matter how much he wished it so.

“Yes, it is rather amusing isn't it.” The demonic woman had appeared at his opposite side now, with her hands clasped behind her back. She leaned in so close, her lips nearly pressed against his ear, mirroring what he had done himself so many times in the past. “An angel ripped off her own wings and crawled here after her older brother who had abandoned her.” She chuckled in a very disturbing laugh. “But then it doesn't matter to you right.” Sarthas's mind was reeling. This wasn't the way it was suppose to be, she wasn't suppose to be here. Everything depended on the fact that Celest was not here. That is why he had done what he had done, no sane person would have followed him after that. “Of course not...” He fought to keep his voice level, to force down the panic that was rising inside. “She is nothing but a fool that does not belong here. You might as well send her back before someone upstairs gets upset with you.” His words didn't have the effect he hoped they would, she only laughed again.

“Come, come, now, she belongs here just as much as you do.” Appearing in front of him she rested a single hand on her left hip, leaning in slightly with what would have been a very sexually alluring pose. Had she not been promising to damn the only thing he had ever truly cared about. “One big happy family.” She added with that sadistic smile. Something inside Sarthas snapped, creating ripples that echoed throughout his soul. A feeling of boundless rage bubbled up from the deepest depths of his being. “You can't have her...” His words were dripping in venom. Sarthas had never felt so angry, so out of control. His life was control. Every facet of it was devoted to maintaining that control and yet now, now none of it mattered.

Suddenly, a third force jerked at his soul nearly ripping him from this plane of existence. If it hadn't been for what held him there combined with his own will he would have been whisked away. He began to fade in and out, the the edges of his soul blurring lightly. The smile vanished from the demon's lips and she shot out a hand, catching his arm, her touch was agony beyond belief as she burned her hand print into his very essence. “I didn't say you could leave.” Apparently he wasn't the only one that was angry. Both forces, pulling him back toward life twisted into one another becoming far stronger. It felt as if his soul was being ripped apart, but the only thing that he could focus on was the tortured body of the little girl in the shimmering image.

The demon redoubled her effort and for a moment it felt as if she would win against these mysterious other forces. Then the final piece entered the field. A demonic dog wreathed in flames materialized and suddenly attacked his captor. She easily swatted the creature aside but it came on again and again with mindless relentless fury. She could not destroy it, as she was so focused on holding his soul in place. With her attention divided she began to loose the battle over her new toy. "No.." He echoed a word spoken by his sister not so long ago. A word just as defiant, just as resilient and with an unshakable will that could not be broken. He would not fail, not after he was so close, not after all he had sacrificed. As her grip began to slip, Sarthas tore his eyes from the image and shot his free hand forward catching her arm. The pain of her touch was magnified ten fold now that he was in contact with her twice over. There was a moment of surprise on her face as he brushed the pain away as if it were only a slight irritation and added his own strength to the confrontation. Closer and closer he brought his body, his will iron and unyielding in the face of greater powers.

The hell hound continued to attack her and she continued to swat it away with her free hand like an insect that she could easily deal with under any normal circumstance but as it was, she was unfocused. Her attention was divided between both holding his soul in place and dealing with this new irritation. She could do nothing about Sarthas's sudden press, though she truly didn't see a reason to. After all the foolish man was only helping her seal his fate but something happened next that she did not expect, something that in the time that followed would shatter her carefully laid plans and send her orderly world into chaos. It would not only define Sarthas's fate but her own as well. With a sudden serge forward he at last managed to pull himself into her. His mind exploded in utter agony with the now full body contact. His face was less than an inch from her own as he stared into her eyes. Fire danced in the earthen brown tone of his orbs and he spoke his final words, seething in fury beyond compare. “Remember these eyes....for they will be the first and last thing you see when I return.” The tiniest flicker of something danced in the demon's silvery hews and she released her grip. The man's soul vanished from existence, pulled from her plane by forces she had not expected. The demonic hound disappeared as well, its task complete. She stood there, alone on the grey empty planes. Staring off into the blackness, her face a blank unreadable mask. Had that emotion truly been what she thought it was? The impossibility of such a thing made her shake her head in amusement. No human could have done that to the Queen of the Seventh Circle of Hell. And twisted or not....Sarthas was only human....wasn't he?
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Sarthas awoke, to find himself in his own grave. The body of the hell hound pressed down on him in a confining way, like the lid of a coffin. It was heavy but he easily pushed it aside. The vicious wound in his chest remained in testament to his death, yet he was here. He felt cold, empty. As if part of him was bound in another place. Several parts of him in fact. Both in this world and the next. Slowly, he climbed out of his tomb. The sun had long since set, an entire day had passed, or had it been several days? To him the battle of wills had lasted only minutes but here it was far longer. It was hard to tell just how much had passed as the river of time did not move at the same pace on all planes of existence. All that he was certain, was it was much later and he was alone, save for the rotting corpse of the mysterious hound that had preformed its task to the end. He had returned, but for what purpose? Why had he been torn from hell to wander this wrenched world once more? Why was he here, when she was not? Sarthas scowled as the burning anger would not die.

A cold wind whipped against the torn remains of his shirt, cutting into his dead skin like a knife through the heart. Gripping his now wild brown hair he screamed in rage. His voice echoing into the darkness. The image of the demonic woman flashed into his mind as she tortured a small child's soul. He screamed again in hatred, running his fingernails down the sides of his face, cutting into his skin. No blood came, there was none left to bleed. He was nothing more than another corpse to add to this graveyard. A heart that continued to beat in futility, its purpose now gone as his veins were only filled with dry crimson that had once been full of life. His body continued to respond as if it were alive, his organs refusing to give up their life long duty, yet he was as dead as all those around him in this forsaken graveyard of the damned. Preserved perhaps, his flesh unable to rot as if the laws of nature no longer held sway over this man, yet dead non the less. He was an evil bound to the earth for a purpose that he must fulfill. His life had been lived in service to the darkness in the hearts of others and now it seemed that even in death he would be chained to this fate. He turned his eyes towards the flickering of warm light in the distance, purpose filling the inferno of the blackness that now lived in those eyes. Fate's chains would not hold him long, for he had a new purpose. They would pay...all of them. Heaven for abandoning her, hell for condemning her. It mattered not that he was only a single damned soul he would find a way. He would pile the bodies of this world upon one another until the stench of it reached to heavens gates and choked the lot of them. He would scale the pits of hell and tear that demon's soul asunder as well as any who stood in his way. The taint of madness flashed in his eyes as he screamed again in soul-shattering rage.

At last silence took him as he listened to the echo of his voice and emotions for what seemed an endless passage of time. His breath came in ragged quick bursts, though his body no longer craved air his lungs remembered the need. Words bled from his pale lips to the emptiness of the cold night air. “I will be the last....” A promise to himself, yet one he could never keep as he vanished into the darkness, a darkness that seemed to define his existence.

(Exit Thread)

For some reason, him sitting there felt discomforting. With her disappearing into the night, he was alone. The night was eerie, and once again old feelings and habits slowly flowed within him. Without her nearby to control his actions, he was free to do as he pleased and able to think without her mind flooding into his own. But with her lingering images in his mind, she managed to 'knock' something loose. Something that should of been left alone. Something that needed to be kept in the dark for all eternity... While taking a step from his tombstone, he felt a lashing pain in his left arm. Searing around the tip of where his arm began brought a pain foreign... yet strangely familiar to him.

His mind drawing blank, but this time he started to fight back. His new personality refusing to allow it to take hold. Breathing heavily and groaning loudly, he reached forward to grasp a hold of the decaying piece of stone... latching onto it as if the world was falling apart. His grip tightened as sweat began to pour from his head, dripping onto the cold stone as his mind showed him an image.

A man... but not of this earth. His face, breath fumigating with human flesh. Rotten to the core. Dark, yellow eyes starting upon his soul. Then a call, a howl. A deep, throatily howl that granted him the pleasure of fear running down his spine. Then a snap, a sickening snap of bone that brought the pain in his left arm to full bloom. A scream. A young man's blood curling scream. It was the scream that brought Riley back into consciousness.

GASP

Coughing, sputtering, and collapsing next to the stone... his whole body shook from the amount of pressure that was exerted from his subconscious. It would seem that fighting back repressed memories only brought more pain and torment on his body. The agony of the mind splitting itself into two only brought more pain into his mind. Even with the soothing blood in his veins, it would not stop himself from shaking uncontrollably and showing his most vulnerable side. The small child that he had been. The young person that he tried to not be. A man who wanted to see it all, without any sort of facade or filter. But what kind of cost would it bring him if everything he did kept opening parts of his mind that he wanted closed. Kept closed. Places, friends, families, loves... he didn't want the old Riley. He wanted himself.

The thought of the old Riley coming back, he believed, would kill the current Riley completely. He didn't want that, but he may not have a choice.

As the coughing died down, he shook off the fear that was wrecking his soul. With sweaty arms, palms, and chest he pushed himself waverly to his feet. Slowly, he turned himself towards the graveyard to search for his gun. He needed to get out of here. Spotting a glint int the distance, he made his way over towards where he thought he left Merisa. Walking over to the ground, he picked up the old 22LR six shooter, pocketing it.

Regardless, he did not see Sarthas rise or cry out in anguish as he exited the graveyard. Burdened with his own problems and worries, he decided it was best to deal with his problems first.

(Exit Thread, thread closed)