Diablo II

Lut Gholein

Descent Into Darkness

"Hurry back from the well, it's getting dark!" admonished Sahara's mother from the kitchen.

"Yes, Mama!" called back the young girl as she hurried out of the house with an empty water bucket clutched within her small hands.

The street was nearly empty while Sahara made her way to the nearest water well.  The sky was shifting from aqua blue to black velvet, a few bright stars could already be seen gleaming in the heavens.  The sea breeze was getting colder, Sahara shivered in her thin brown shift and quickened her pace, her tiny bare feet slapping upon the cool cobblestones.  The girl reached the well, set down her bucket, and dropped the roped well bucket into the deep reservoir.  Glancing nervously around the deserted square, Sahara pulled up the heavy bucket as swiftly as she could and set it on the edge of the sandstone well.  She filled her own bucket, then let the well bucket plunge back into the depths.  Hefting her now full bucket with both hands, Sahara stumbled across the courtyard and back down the street, her small breasts pumping with strain and fear.

Sahara heard a soft hiss from the mouth of an alleyway to her right.  Before she could drop the bucket or scream, sticky bandages slapped around the girl's face.  More bandages wrapped around Sahara's slim, brown legs, yanking her off her feet.  Sahara fell heavily onto the cobbles, the water bucket crashed to the street and spilled everywhere.  Damp bandages snapped around the young girl's chest, pinning her arms to her sides.  Sahara screamed into the bandage covering her mouth, she struggled vainly as she was dragged into the devouring shadows of the alley.

The girl was sat up and a shriveled, decayed face leaned close to Sahara's.  Dank, foul breath washed over Sahara, the creature bared rotting, yellow teeth in a gruesome parody of a smile.

"Sssso warm, ssso sweet," purred the undead creature, raising a skeletal hand and stroking Sahara's smooth left cheek.

Sahara screamed into her bandage gag, tears glittered beneath her wide, terrified eyes.

The undead thing picked up Sahara and tucked her under his right arm like a sack of grain.  He slithered out of the alley, staying within the deep shadows that now filled the night-time streets.  The mummy scuttled across the cobblestones, making not a whisper of sound as he approached a square, heavy grate built into an intersection of the street.  Reaching out with his free left hand, the mummy raised the heavy iron grate without a sign of strain, hopping down into the reeking darkness.  There was a loud splash of water when the mummy landed within a stream of raw sewage.  The undead creature lowered the grate with great care, then proceeded down a pitch-black tunnel, the walls glistening with moisture, the tunnel echoing with the sounds of the running sewage stream.

Sahara couldn't keep track of the many turns the mummy took, after a dozen different intersections the girl realized she would never be able to find her way out, even if she could get away from the undead thing.  A hopeless lethargy suffused Sahara, she grimly accepted that she would become another victim of the feared Radament.

As the mummy and his prize traveled deeper into the sewer's labyrinth, Sahara noticed more undead creatures dwelling within the sewer's tunnels and niches.  Skeletons shambled through the darkness, the clack of their moving bones reverberating through the round tunnels.  Light appeared within the sewer.  Sahara almost wept with gratitude, but her joy turned to ash when she realized that the light came from another group of skeletons, skeletons that burned like hellish torches.

The Radament passed the Burning Dead and entered the heart of his sewer realm.  Nothing moved within the dank tunnels, everything was silent except for the splash of the Radament's bandaged feet and the muffled breathing of the bound girl. Sahara's breathing quickened when the Radament emerged into his enormous lair, a circular hub within the sewers that had tunnels branching off like the spokes of a huge wheel.  The Radament gently set Sahara down against one damp wall, then shambled away to the center of the chamber.  A crude stone table had been built in the middle of the room, chains were fastened to each of the table's four corners, the surface of the table was black with dried blood.  A corpse was manacled to the table, the flesh completely gone, most of the muscle gnawed free from the bone.  The Radament unlocked the thick manacles and pushed the devoured body off the table, it splashed loudly when it fell into the pool of sewage that covered the floor, adding yet another corpse to the piles of rotting bodies adorning the room like a nightmarish carpet.

Sahara sobbed when the Radament turned to get her.  She squirmed within the tight bandages that held her, the damp fabric was stronger than iron, it would not tear no matter how violently she wriggled and fought.  The lean mummy slithered forward and snatched the weeping girl.  He carried her tenderly to the gruesome table, set her down upon it, then stretched her out.  A slender, serrated knife appeared in the Radament's right claw.  He used the razor-sharp implement to free Sahara from her bandages.  He snatched Sahara's wrists before she could escape and snapped manacles around them. Sahara screamed at the top of her lungs, begging for help, from anyone.  The Radament was unmoved, he secured the remaining manacles around Sahara's ankles, then lowered his clawed hands and ripped open the young girl's shift.  The mummy licked his cracked, black lips with a bloated, worm-like tongue as he admired the naked girl's clenched belly and small, creamy breasts.  He slid the tip of his knife lightly between Sahara's heaving breasts, dragging the tip down her stomach to her pink, smooth sex.

"Please..no," sobbed Sahara, staring at the horrible, silent, undead creature with terrified desperation. 

Drool poured down the Radament's rotting chin as he raised the knife to butcher Sahara.  When the knife began its deadly plunge, a glowing, golden spearhead burst from the mummy's ribcage.

The Radament hissed shrilly, stumbling away from the table as Brigit yanked the Lance of Yaggai free.

"Be still, you'll be free soon," soothed Brigit before she charged after the Radament, raising her Lance to strike him again.

The Radament crouched in the darkness, his eyes burned with green fire.

The piles of bodies began to move and shift.  The Radament's victims rose to his defense, staggering to their feet and grasping at Brigit with skeletal, clawed hands.  Brigit lashed out with the Lance, the glowing weapon smashing skeletons apart.  The Radament coated his claws with his own, slimy drool, then he lunged at the amazon, slashing the air with his sharp nails.

Brigit brought up her left boot and kicked the Radament away.  While the mummy staggered back, Brigit thrust out with the Lance, the golden tip punching into the undead's chest.  The Radament hissed, his tongue writhing like a frenzied serpent as Brigit stabbed her Lance deeper into him.  Brigit closed her eyes and offered a prayer to the goddess Zerae.  With a loud crack and a burst of blue radiance, lightning blossomed down the length of the Lance, pouring into the struggling Radament.  The Radament shuddered when the lightning arced through him, bandages smoldered and crisped before bursting into angry flame.  The mummy howled, then his corpse-thin body exploded, bits of burning bandage rained down upon Brigit and Sahara.

With their master destroyed, the bodies of Radament's victims collapsed back into the muck.  Brigit took a moment to catch her breath before she went to the table to unshackle Sahara.  The naked girl clung to Brigit, crying harshly.  Brigit picked up the weeping girl and began to carry her out of the reeking cesspit.  As she started walking through the tunnel mouth she had entered from, Brigit noticed that one of the corpses wore rich, rune-inscribed robes.

"This will just take a moment," whispered Brigit, kissing Sahara's head before she lowered the girl onto a dry section of stone.

The amazon knelt next to the body, the runes were familiar, they were Horadrim markings.  She regarded the corpse itself, it was merely a decayed skeleton now with a few wisps of silver hair clinging to the cracked, yellowed skull.  Brigit frowned when she noticed the scroll case attached to the dead man's belt.  She pulled the case free and unfastened the top, there was a scroll inside, still intact after all these years.  Brigit re-sealed the case and looped it onto her own belt.  She briefly prayed for the man's soul, stood up, and retrieved the shivering Sahara.  As she carried the girl out of the sewer, the amazon wondered what secret the Horadrim had carried to his death.

***

"This is the Horadric Scroll!" breathed Deckard Cain reverently from his seat at the table that he shared with Brigit in The Oasis's common room.

"What does it say?" inquired Brigit, catching some of the Horadrim sage's enthusiasm.

"It says that when the Horadrim sealed away Baal and Tal Rasha, they locked the demon's prison from the mortal world.  They constructed Horadric Staves to act as keys to Baal's prison, but when one was nearly stolen by a rogue sorcerer, they divided each of the staves into two parts, the haft and its head-piece."

"We need a Horadric Staff to get into Baal's prison?"

"Aye," nodded Cain gravely.

"Does the scroll say where we can find the two pieces?"

"There are clues.  You must also recover a Horadric Cube, you need its magic to re-join the pieces of the Staff."

"There is much to do, it seems.  I hope we can assemble the Staff and find Tal Rasha's tomb before Diablo does," frowned Brigit darkly.

***

Zara waited in the deep shadow of the Palace, a heavy, black velvet cloak hanging from her slender shoulders.  She wore the hood up to conceal the soft glow of the Soulstone resting upon her forehead.  The rogue leaned against the smooth, sandstone wall that warded the Palace grounds, she closed her eyes, recalling the last few days spent in Fara's company, enduring the woman's lewd caresses and depraved appetites.  She had been forced to stay in Fara's home while the woman secured passage to the Palace.  Fara was one of Jerhyn's concubines, his favorite according to the vain former paladin.  With no other place able to offer the security and secrecy that he required, Diablo agreed to stay with Fara, and used Zara's body to placate the decadent woman.

Zara licked her moist, red lips.  She could still taste Fara's musky sex, could still remember how they had entwined their naked bodies together, slick with sweat and perfumed oils.  A part of Zara that she didn't want to acknowledge enjoyed the time with Fara, the rogue realized that the longer she remained in Diablo's thrall, the more she would become like him, until she was as lustful and blood-thirsty as the demon lord.  Zara tried to clear her mind, she let the cool ocean breeze caress her face, its refreshing touch brushing across her warm forehead, her full lips.

*She's coming,* warned the deep voice of Diablo within Zara's mind.

Zara reached into her cloak and wrapped her slender fingers around the cold hilt of Shadowfang.  The weapon was awake now, it warmed from the rogue woman's touch, ravenous for blood and flesh.

The nearby gate unlocked and opened inward.  Fara peeked through, motioning for Zara to come in.  Zara slipped through the doorway and waited while Fara closed and re-latched the heavy iron door.

"Jerhyn is having a state dinner with several important merchant princes, the way to the Cellar should be clear."

"Proceed," bade Diablo through Zara's lips.

The dark-haired concubine guided Zara into the Palace and through its many long, maze-like halls.  The Palace's interior was just as impressive as its outer facade, the passages were wide with tall, arched ceilings.  The floors were constructed of smooth, veined marble, the ceilings were adorned with thousands of colored marble tiles that were arranged into portraits of battles between angels and demons during the Great Conflict.

*A good likeness,* remarked Diablo with amusement, tilting Zara's head up to admire the detailed battle scene between himself and the angel Tyrael.

Progressing deeper into the dark heart of the Palace, Fara and Zara entered the Harem chambers, where Jerhyn's concubines awaited his pleasure.  Most of the girls were between eighteen and twenty, dressed in tiny pieces of transparent white silk that did nothing to hide their feminine attributes.  Those who did not sleep ate daintily from silver trays of figs and fruit, or relaxed languidly upon piles of soft pillows, smoking from water pipes that filled the silk-draped chambers with clouds of disorienting, drugged vapors.

"Beautiful," smiled Diablo through Zara.  The demon lord used Zara's eyes to admire the concubines' brown, sleek limbs and pert, luscious breasts.

"We must hurry," urged Fara, leading Zara past the Harem rooms and into a large, dark chamber used for storage.  Fara opened a trap door and climbed down a sturdy ladder into a wine cellar.  When Zara joined her, Fara walked across the room, shifted a barrel of wine, and opened yet another trap door that plunged into darkness.

"The Arcane Sanctuary lies below," said Fara, holding the trap door open for Zara.

"You have done well," purred Diablo, wrapping Zara's left arm around the concubine's slim waist and kissing the woman hungrily with Zara's soft lips.  Zara mentally recoiled while Diablo inserted her tongue into Fara's mouth, slowly caressing the woman's teeth and inner jaws.  Fara squeezed Zara's left buttock through her tight leathers, the rogue felt like flinching, but Diablo pressed her buttock against Fara's warm palm.

Diablo reluctantly parted from Fara's lustful embrace and began the descent towards the Arcane Sanctuary.  When Zara was halfway down the ladder, Fara closed the trapdoor above her, plunging the rogue into total darkness.

***

With Diablo's demon sight, the light-less tunnel was as bright as day.  The tunnel they traveled through was roughly hewn from the rock, it was circular, as if some gigantic worm had wriggled its way through the stone.  Diablo had drawn Shadowfang from its sheath of human skin and held it lightly with Zara's right hand, the rogue could sense the demon lord's wariness, whatever they sought held dangers even for one of the Prime Evils.

After following twisting tunnels for hours, Zara halted at the mouth of a new passageway.  Something waited within the tunnel, something that was tall, lanky, and armed with four burning blades.

*An Invader,* murmured Diablo in Zara's mind even as he used the woman's hands to raise Shadowfang.

"Let me pass," demanded Diablo.  "I wish an audience with your master, Horazon."

Fire Eye remained still, gazing at Zara with tiny, blackened pits for eyes.  After a time Fire Eye lowered his four smoldering blades and backed out of the tunnel, making way for the sword-wielding rogue.

Diablo never loosened his grasp upon Shadowfang, he cautiously walked Zara through the tunnel and into a small cave foyer.  Two enormous iron doors rumbled open, revealing another long tunnel beyond.

Fire Eye stood to Zara's left, near one of the cave walls.  He stared at Zara, not moving, making an excellent imitation of a sword-bearing statue.

Probing forward with Shadowfang, Diablo entered the new tunnel and traversed it to its end.  A stone stairway led up, Diablo climbed it and reached a wide shelf of rock that looked out upon a black, soul-sucking abyss.

"Diablo, welcome to my home," greeted Horazon, a tall, thin man with a long, gray beard and rich, black velvet robes.

Horazon wielded no weapon, no implement of magic, yet Diablo became even more wary within the wizard's presence, he tightened Zara's grip upon Shadowfang until the woman's hands were white with the strain.

"Attempt none of your tricks, wizard," warned Diablo, always facing Zara's body towards the man, sword tilted towards the dark-eyed sorcerer.

"I know why you're here, demon lord," smiled Horazon coldly.  "My spies informed me that one of Jerhyn's whores gave you one of the Horadric Staves."

"Do not get in my way, wizard, open the portal for me," demanded Diablo.

"I will, Lord of Terror, but not because you wish it.  Do you know why I will help you free your brother, Baal?"

"Why, mage?" snarled Diablo.

"When all Three Evils are freed, you will destroy the barrier separating Sanctuary and Hell.  Demons will pour into this world, and I will be prepared to enslave them.  My magic will grant me dominion over your kind, and I will rule over all," smiled Horazon, the light of madness illuminating his cold eyes.

"We shall see, wizard," sneered Diablo.  "Will you open the portal now?"

"Of course," agreed Horazon with a courtly bow, launching into the gestures and chanting the incantation that summoned an oval, burning portal of magic.  Tendrils of blue flame snapped and crackled around the edges of the gateway, a frigid wind blasted forth and chilled Zara's skin.

"Good luck, Lord of Terror," bade Horazon wryly.

"There will be a reckoning, foolish human," warned Diablo before he hurled Zara into the crackling portal.  Fingers of magic wrapped around Zara's slim body and drew her into the portal's depths, the oval gateway collapsed upon itself, and then there was nothing but darkness and the laughter of a mad wizard.

***

The ambient warmth of the Canyon of the Magi was a shock to Zara after the cool tunnels of the Palace Cellars.  The portal created by Horazon was gone, the Canyon was silent as a tomb, appropriate since tomb entrances lined the walls of the Canyon, each entrance framed by its own unique set of inscriptions.

*Tal Rasha's tomb is at the far end of the Canyon.*

Zara wrapped herself within the folds of her cloak and began the trek through the dark Canyon.  The sky was draped in heavy clouds, not even starlight illuminated the rough rock walls and cracked Canyon floor.  Zara sheathed Shadowfang, but kept her hand upon the hilt, ready to draw it in a heartbeat.

The rogue reached the entrance to Tal Rasha's tomb.  While she examined the inscriptions which looked the same as all the others, an immense bulk separated itself from the deep shadows and approached.

"Lord," greeted the demon Duriel, bowing low, folding his huge scythe claws beneath his massive torso.

"Duriel," nodded Diablo in reply.

"Your host is..most pleasing," smiled the towering demon, extending a long, purple tongue from his enormous maw.

Diablo stretched out Zara's right arm.  The woman's hand exploded in a mist of blood and muscle, transforming into a massive red-scaled claw with black nails as sharp and long as sword blades.

"Do not forget who dwells within this host, and what I can do if you attempt to defy me," purred Diablo maliciously through Zara's lips.

"I will never forget, Lord," bowed Duriel again.

"We waste time," dismissed Diablo, entering the tomb doorway and walking down a short passage into a circular chamber carved from the Canyon rock.

Zara flexed her restored right hand.  Diablo had changed her, but never so drastically as the display before Duriel.  Zara realized how lost she truly was, Diablo did not simply possess her, he was her, she was the stranger, a dim ember of consciousness to Diablo's raging bonfire.

Dulled by the shock of her true nature, Zara paid no heed as Diablo removed the Horadric Staff from her backpack, assembled it, and secured it within the Horadric Orifice in the center of the chamber.

Once the Staff was in place, the chamber vibrated as the runes inscribed upon the rock floor flared with blue light.  The magic traveled from the floor to the far wall, illuminating more runes carved in the form of a great arch.  There was a sound of cracking rock, then a section of stone lowered from the wall, revealing an arched, dark tunnel.  Diablo frowned when he spied a soft, golden light at the end of the passageway.

"What is that?" demanded Diablo sharply.

"I do not know, Lord.  No one entered the tomb before us."

"It is him," snarled Diablo, violently drawing Shadowfang and marching into the tunnel's depths.

Zara advanced quietly, but Duriel thundered after her, his huge bulk barely fitting into the passage.  Rogue and demon emerged into the brightly lit tomb, and beheld the glory of an angel.

Duriel looked away from the waiting angel, his bestial face creased with pain.  Zara stared at the angel with a look of such hatred that the holy being took a step back.

"You bear the foul blade Shadowfang, and you stink of demon," observed the arch-angel Tyrael.

"I am Diablo, fool," spat the glaring woman.  "Move away from Tal Rasha!"

The ancient Horadrim wizard lay bound by a network of glowing gold chains to an enormous, orb-shaped stone.  The Soulstone embedded within the cadaverous-looking mage flared with angry scarlet light, Baal was roused, mad with the desire to be free after centuries of imprisonment.

"I cannot allow you to free your brother, Diablo," refused Tyrael, raising a sword of divine fire.  "If all Three Evils are allowed their freedom, the world of Sanctuary will be destroyed."

"You don't care about the humans or this world, you know that we will come for you and your cursed brethren, we will bring down the Crystal Arch itself and take our rightful places as rulers of Creation!" proclaimed Diablo, raising Shadowfang to match the angel.

"Lord?" asked Duriel.

"Remain where you are, I will fight Tyrael," smiled Diablo, lunging forward to slash at the glowing warrior.

Divine flame and unholy iron crashed together and exploded in a blossom of magical light.  Tyrael parried and cut at Diablo with lightning speed, desperate to keep the demon lord away from the bound wizard.  Diablo jumped back, then ducked to the left, swinging at the angel's leg, smiling with malicious glee when Shadowfang bit deep into the angel's flesh.

Tyrael staggered away, fear upon his radiant face as he felt Shadowfang's unholy magic burn into his blood, weakening him.

"You were right to fear the forging of Shadowfang, I will bring you down with it," cackled Diablo before he raised the blade and hacked down upon Tyrael.  

The angel blocked the descending sword.  Tyrael's eyes widened when Shadowfang shattered his flame sword and buried itself within his right shoulder.  

Diablo shivered with ecstasy, Zara's hands quaked as Shadowfang drank the angel's powerful blood, transferring strength and power into the rogue's body.  Zara relished the new power flowing within her as well, she watched while Tyrael's glow faded, his body sagged, and his golden skin drained to dull gray.

"Pathetic!" growled Diablo, kicking the powerless angel in the stomach, then smashing Zara's heel into Tyrael's face, breaking his nose.  Tyrael touched his face and gazed at the blood covering his palm, he had never seen his own blood before.

"Can I slay him, Lord?" inquired Duriel eagerly, raising his blade-shaped limbs.

"No, I have a better fate for him," smiled Diablo before he left the prone angel and approached the binding stone.

"Don't!" begged Tyrael, reaching out with a trembling right arm.

"Behold my victory, Tyrael," snarled Diablo as he severed the first of Baal's chains with Shadowfang.

Tyrael lowered his arm and let his head fall to his chest, he flinched every time one of Baal's chains snapped apart.

"Forgive me, Tal Rasha," murmured the angel.  "I have dishonored your noble sacrifice."

With a roar that made the tomb shake, Baal leapt free from the binding stone, flexing bone-thin arms and drawing air into his decayed lungs.  The demon lord launched into a fit of coughing, hunching over and grasping his exposed ribs.  Baal tried to transform into his true form, Tal Rasha's body flowed like hot wax, growing enormous claws and feet.  The demon lord could not hold his form, however, he quickly reverted back to the cadaverous form he had worn while bound to the holding stone.

"The binding spells are still upon you, brother," said Diablo.  "You must give yourself time to recover your strength."

"Time?  I've been locked in this disgusting tomb for centuries and you dare to talk to me about time!" screamed Baal through Tal Rasha's cracked, gray lips.

Diablo said nothing more, but Zara could feel his anger with his brother's ingratitude.

"You!" spat Baal, noticing Tyrael's presence on the floor.  "I'm going to rip your stinking heart out!"

"I have a better idea, brother, if you will allow me a chance to show you," offered Diablo.

"It better be painful!" growled Baal darkly.

"Oh, it will, brother!" laughed Diablo, motioning for Duriel to seize the helpless angel.  "Press Tyrael to the binding stone!"

"No!  Not that!" cried out Tyrael weakly as Duriel picked him up and carried him to the round, rune-inscribed stone.

Baal smiled with cruel pleasure, then broke out into wild laughter while Diablo draped the broken chains across Tyrael's limp body.

"I believe you know the spell, brother," said Diablo with a flourish of Zara's arm.

"I do, indeed, my brother," hissed Baal, shambling forward to face the horrified angel.

Baal recited the spell perfectly, filling it with hundreds of years of hate and suffering.  The chains flared bright silver, linking back together, binding Tyrael to the unforgiving stone.

"The first two hundred years are the worst," smiled Baal venomously before he shuffled out of the tomb.

Diablo began following his brother into the tunnel, but halted to regard Duriel.

"You will stand guard here."

"Why, Lord?" demanded Duriel angrily.

"I don't want Tyrael to interfere while Baal and I go to free Mephisto.  When all three of us are reunited, you can slay the angel and return to us."

"As you wish, Lord," bowed the demon reluctantly.

Relishing one last look at the struggling, imprisoned angel, Diablo turned and continued down the dark tunnel, laughing softly to himself.

*****