Diablo II

Terror's End

Brigit woke up slowly, groaning from the pain that suffused every joint and muscle of her body.

"Drink this," urged Deckard Cain, slowly pouring the contents of a vial into Brigit's mouth.

Brigit swallowed the thick liquid.  Warmth and strength spread throughout the amazon, she was able to sit up with ease and lean against her bed's headboard.

"Better?" inquired the elderly sage.

"Aye," smiled Brigit.  "Where's Tyrael?"

"I am here," said the angel, emerging from a dark corner of the bedroom, wings folded against his back.

"Is Mephisto truly slain?"

"I'm afraid not," frowned Tyrael, reaching into his long, white robes and withdrawing a palm-sized, oval stone that pulsed softly with scarlet light.

"Mephisto's Soulstone," murmured Brigit, eyeing the object warily.

"I recovered it from the ruins of Travincal when the poison within you was neutralized," said Tyrael gravely.  "As long as this Soulstone exists, Mephisto still lives."

"How can we destroy it?" asked Brigit.

"You must journey into the depths of Hell itself.  The Hellforge is the only artifact that can destroy the Soulstones."

"Journey to Hell?" whispered Brigit, shocked disbelief upon her face.

"When I asked you earlier why you couldn't descend to Hell and slay Diablo, you said it was forbidden, why is it forbidden?" demanded Cain.

"After the Great Conflict, a truce of sorts was established between the Angels and Demons.  We both agreed never to invade each other's realms again, we would confine our struggles to Sanctuary."

"So you can take Brigit to Hell, but you can't fight anyone there."

"Correct, sage."

"I don't like this," said Cain, gazing at Brigit with fatherly concern.

"It must be done, my friend," smiled Brigit wanly.  She looked up at Tyrael.  "Give me time to wash and change, then I will be ready to finish my quest."

Tyrael nodded, saying nothing more.

"What about your weapons, Brigit?  You lost the Lance of Yaggai and Khalim's Will in Travincal," pointed out Cain.

"I have a weapon for her," replied Tyrael, removing the belt from his waist and handing it to Brigit.

The angel's belt was attached to a white leather sheath.  Brigit grasped the pearl hilt of a sword and drew it from the white scabbard.  The sword was beautiful, forged of perfect white-blue steel that gleamed like molten metal in the candlelight. Azure runes were chiseled into the mirror-like blade, they radiated a warm, silver light.

"Behold Azurewrath, forged at the height of the Great Conflict.  The weapon was so feared by the demons that Diablo forged Shadowfang to counter it," declared Tyrael proudly.

"This sword is..magnificent!" breathed Brigit in awe, holding the nearly weightless blade up before her.

After testing the holy sword's balance and feel within her grip, Brigit sheathed the blade carefully.  "I cannot repay you for such a gift."

"You will need it to slay Diablo.  When the Lord of Terror is no more, your debt will be repaid in full," swore the stern angel.

"Let us leave Brigit alone to wash and put on clean clothing," prompted Cain, rising from his bedside chair and nodding respectfully to the amazon before departing.

"So this is my last task," murmured Brigit, staring down at the ivory sheath.

"You can do it, Brigit.  You must," said Tyrael, fading away within a veil of glittering gold stars.

***

The dry air of Aranoch was like the soothing kiss of the Twin Seas compared to the heat that greeted Brigit when Tyrael teleported her to the Plains of Despair.  The sky was gray with ash and smoke from the volcanoes that ringed the Plains. The ground was barren and cracked, smoke and tongues of scarlet flame gushed free without warning. 

"It's horrible!" grimaced Brigit, shielding her face from the soot and smoke with the back of her left hand.

Brigit wore a suit of Angelic golden armor.  A winged helmet protected her head, gleaming, golden, chain gloves warded her hands.  Tyrael's ivory belt was secure around the amazon woman's thin waist, supporting Azurewrath's sheath and pouches holding potions of healing.

"I can accompany you no farther, Brigit," said Tyrael.  He pointed before them.  "Cross the Plains of Despair, then enter the City of the Damned.  A winding stairwell will take you to the River of Flame.  After you cross the River, you will find the Hellforge."

"What do I use to destroy Mephisto's Soulstone?  Azurewrath?"

"No, you must use the Hellforge Hammer.  The Hammer is wielded by Hephasto, the guardian of the Hellforge.  Your friend Kasha slew his brother, the Smith."

Brigit nodded her understanding.  She made as if to say something more, perhaps farewell, but stopped herself and simply smiled.

Tyrael watched the amazon begin her trek across the Plains of Despair.  He called out for her to stop.

"One last thing.  You may encounter Izual upon the Plains, be wary of him."

"Who's Izual?"

"A..fallen brother.  He was my second in command, I gave him Azurewrath when it was still hot from its forging.  Izual descended into Hell and led an assault upon the Hellforge when Diablo was creating Shadowfang.  The Demons overwhelmed his command, slaying everyone but him.  Diablo spared his life and left him a broken shell, Izual has been wandering the Plains of Despair ever since."

"I will be careful," nodded Brigit.

Brigit resumed her long march.  Tyrael remained and watched even after Brigit disappeared over the horizon.

***

No one attacked Brigit during her journey across the Plains of Despair.  The hot wind howled sadly, echoing with the cries of the damned.  The amazon clutched the hilt of Azurewrath until the pearl handle was slick with her palm sweat, Brigit jumped from every hiss of steam or crackle of flame.

"How wonderful it must be to feel fear," groaned a rough voice to Brigit's left.

Brigit drew Azurewrath and assumed a fighting stance.  What Brigit had assumed was a rock turned out to be a man garbed in filthy, tattered robes.

"Stay back, demon!" warned Brigit tersely.

"Demon, heh!" snorted the man, rising to his full height.  Dirty, lank blonde hair covered the man's wide shoulders, his once perfect face was creased and covered with dark stubble.  Golden eyes were now tarnished and dim, filled with sorrow and the sharp pain of regret.

"Izual!" realized Brigit.

"Aye, the Lion of Heaven!  The wielder of the holy blade Azurewrath!  The paladin who would cleanse Hell and rid the universe of the Demon scourge for all time!" exclaimed the scruffy man, raising his slim arms high.

Brigit took a step back, keeping Azurewrath between herself and the fallen angel.

"Ah, so that's where my sword went, I wondered what had become of it," sighed Izual, hunching back within the coarse folds of his once-rich robes.

"I am on a quest, do not interfere!" warned Brigit as she cautiously backed away from Izual.

"A quest!" spat Izual.  "You think you can succeed where I did not!  I commanded an entire host of Heaven!  Look what happened to me!"

"I must try, nevertheless.  Sanctuary is threatened."

"Let it fall, let the Demons butcher every last one of those simpering, weak humans," mumbled Izual, closing his dim, bronze eyes.

Izual fell to the ground and began sobbing uncontrollably.  Brigit frowned, then sheathed her sword and turned her back on the weeping angel.  Izual's sobbing lingered in Brigit's mind long after she had passed by him.

***

The City of the Damned was inhabited by ghosts who wept and cried out in hate and despair.  The streets of the City were empty and cloaked in ash, the buildings were as dull and gray as the sky, windows stared like the empty sockets of skulls, the hot winds of Hell rushed through them, creating long, depressing howls that made Brigit grind her teeth together.  The only illumination came from the heart of the City, an angry, red glow that did nothing to cheer the traveling amazon.  

Brigit walked until she reached the stairwell mentioned by Tyrael.  She looked down into a massive pit, an abyss that ended with a river of flowing fire.  An iron bridge arched over the River of Flame, leading to an island resting in the middle of the flesh-searing fire stream.  No one guarded the bridge or the island, the pit seemed as abandoned as the rest of the City.

Eyes searching everywhere for signs of ambush, Brigit descended the stairs, Azurewrath drawn and ready in her right hand. She climbed down the stairs quickly, reaching the staircase's foot and advancing towards the roaring River of Flame.

A scratching sound alerted Brigit of someone behind her.  The amazon spun, and tensed when she saw a huge, heavily-muscled man emerge from underneath the staircase wielding a wickedly spiked iron hammer.  As the man stomped closer, Brigit noticed that his skin was scaled and scarlet, his eyes were black with the exception of glowing, blood-red, vertical slits in each.  The demon smiled, exposing sharp, drool-covered fangs.

Wearing nothing but a soiled loincloth and heavy, iron boots, Hephasto raised the Hellforge Hammer and charged Brigit, roaring with hatred.  Brigit side-stepped the on-rushing demon and lashed out with Azurewrath.  The blue, flaming blade bit deep into Hephasto's thick left arm, black blood sizzled from the wound and splashed onto the gray stone.

"Whore!  I will flay your sweet flesh from your bones!  promised Hephasto, hefting his Hammer and rushing Brigit again.  The amazon dodged Hephasto's heavy blow, stabbing with her sword, sinking the blade into the demon's fat belly.  Hephasto shifted his grip and swung up with his weapon, it smashed into Brigit's left arm, cracking the bone.

Brigit screamed, releasing her grip upon Azurewrath.  Hephasto chuckled and swung the Hellforge Hammer again.  The weapon crashed into Brigit's breastplate, crumpling the divinely wrought metal like wet paper.  Brigit was knocked off her feet, she smashed to the ground, moaning in pain.

As Hephasto slowly advanced to deliver the killing blow, Brigit struggled to rise, but the pain of her wounds was too much, blackness engulfed her in a soothing embrace.

***

Cold water splashed over Brigit.  She groaned and blinked heavy eyelids, consciousness returning.  The amazon woman tried to rise, but she was tied wrist and ankle to an immense anvil made of black iron.  The metal was chill upon Brigit's bare stomach and breasts, she had been stripped of weapons and armor.

Hephasto lowered the empty bucket to the ground and picked up a nine-tailed leather whip.  The fat demon licked thick lips with a black tongue, smacking the whip's long handle against his open palm.

"I anoint my forge with the blood of sweet things like you," growled Hephasto.  He raised the whip and slashed it down, the leather straps slapped against Brigit's flesh, sending bolts of agony through her body.

"Cry out!  Weep your pain!" roared Hephasto, lashing Brigit again and again, covering her skin with glowing red welts.

Brigit bit her lower lip until it bled to keep from crying out.  Hephasto was patient, he whipped the bound woman without pause, never stopping to rest or taunt his victim.  Brigit's back was soon bleeding, strips of flesh fell away onto the blood-soaked stone.  Agony raged through Brigit's body, it was the only reality within the Hell surrounding her.  The pain was so overwhelming Brigit tried to faint, she sought the release of oblivion, but it would not come, instead the blood-soaked whip would hiss down again and caress her, the hot leather would rake across her exposed muscles until she finally screamed from aching jaws.

"Such beautiful music!" sighed Hephasto, shifting his whip's kiss from Brigit's blood-soaked back to her rounded buttocks. Brigit wept openly now, moaning every time the many-pronged whip slashed across her ass, cris-crossing her flesh with burning lines of pain.

Brigit tasted her own, salty tears when the whipping stopped.  She heard violent struggling behind her, Hephasto grunted and cursed with strain.  The fat demon rolled across the floor past Brigit's head.  She looked up and watched him grasp the stone with his black-nailed claws before he fell into the ravenous fire surrounding the Hellforge.  The ropes binding Brigit's limbs loosened.  Coarse, gentle hands aided the amazon up from the Hellforge.

Brigit looked up at Izual in astonishment, he smiled as he pressed Azurewrath into her hands.

"I hope you are more worthy of this blade than I was.  Tell my brother Tyrael that I miss him."

Without another word Izual left the stunned Brigit and charged the rising Hephasto.  The demon's black eyes grew large, he screamed when he realized what Izual meant to do.  The fallen angel crashed into Hephasto.  Angel and Demon hurled through the air, and fell into the churning fires of the River of Flame.  Brigit staggered to the forge's edge.  Hephasto howled in agony before the flames dragged him down, but Izual wore a smile of contentment as he sank into the roaring inferno.

"Izual, thank you," wept Brigit, clutching Azurewrath between her breasts.

***

Brigit's healing potions took care of her awful wounds.  Most of the golden armor was useless, but Brigit found enough pieces to protect her arms and legs.  She rolled the winged helmet within her hands, then finally discarded it, allowing her damp, golden hair to flow freely.  She belted on Azurewrath's sheath, drove the weapon home, and approached the blood-soaked Hellforge.  The amazon woman retrieved Mephisto's Soulstone from a belt pouch and set the oval object upon the forge.  Grunting with effort, Brigit raised the Hellforge Hammer and brought it down upon the glowing stone.  The Soulstone shattered into dust, a faint, shrill scream whispered in Brigit's ears.

Brigit let the heavy iron hammer drop to the floor.  She struggled for breath, wiping at the sheen of sweat that covered her face.  The amazon spun her head and looked up at the lip of the pit, a leather-garbed woman gazed down at her, wild, free hair fluttered in the hot breeze.  The woman walked away from the pit's edge, disappearing from sight.  Brigit grasped Azurewrath's hilt and ran after the woman, fatigue forgotten.

***

Diablo waited for Brigit in the center of a rune-inscribed dais.  A pentagram was the central glyph upon the stone, each point a standing place for one of Diablo's guards.  Thunder reverberated across the infernal plain, forks of blue lightning danced across the gray, shifting clouds.

Diablo's guards rushed Brigit, howling like banshees, swinging vicious, serrated blades.  Brigit drew Azurewrath and met their charge, slashing smoothly with the burning blade, hacking off limbs and severing necks.  When another peel of thunder rumbled and faded away, all five guards were dead, reduced to steaming piles of dead flesh.

The demon lord laughed, pressing a hand to Zara's flat belly.  Diablo's Soulstone flashed brightly, he guided Zara's hand to the hilt of Shadowfang.

Face dripping with demon blood, Brigit climbed the short flight of steps to the top of the dais.  Diablo drew Shadowfang, the runes along its blade glowed blood-red.

"So at last we meet, woman," smiled Diablo, Zara's lovely face twisting into something dark and terrifying.  "You have journeyed far simply to die."

"I've wasted enough words with your foul kind," retorted Brigit, circling Diablo, looking for the best angle of attack.

"We don't have to fight, you know.  The last bearer of that sword made the wise decision, he surrendered to me, even as his comrades bled from their wounds."

"Izual redeemed himself, he gave his life to save me from your evil smith."

"You used the Hellforge, you destroyed my brother's Soulstone," hissed Diablo.

"And I will use it again to destroy yours!" shouted Brigit.

"Fool!" spat Diablo, hacking at the amazon with Shadowfang.

Angelic and Demonic blades crashed together.  The weapons screamed like living things, spitting a rain of bright white sparks as Brigit and Diablo scraped their weapons against each other.  Brigit spun around, slashing down at the possessed woman's legs.  Diablo parried the blow, lashing out with Zara's left foot, her boot ripping apart for a razor-sharp claw. Diablo raked the claw down Brigit's right leg, the woman winced from the numbing pain.  Black obsidian and glowing azure blades smashed and sang over and over, neither weapon gaining an advantage.  Brigit stepped back, her lungs on fire, her legs quaking with weakness while blood dripped down her right calf.  Diablo breathed easily, twirling Shadowfang in Zara's right hand, a cruel smile upon the rogue's sensual lips.

"I won't even have to transform to finish you off, bitch," chuckled Diablo, halting his blade twirl and swinging at the laboring amazon.

Brigit brought up Azurewrath, knowing she could not block the approaching blade in time.

Inexplicably, Shadowfang fell out of limp fingers.

*YOU BITCH!* roared Diablo in Zara's mind.

Brigit raised Azurewrath and hacked off Zara's right hand.  Diablo screamed, staggering back, the Soulstone in Zara's forehead exploding with blinding light.  The light faded and Diablo stood in his true form, clutching his spurting wrist.  The demon lord opened his mouth and vomited green fire at Brigit.  The amazon held the glowing Azurewrath before her, parting the thundering flames.  Brigit advanced and sliced out, cutting deep into Diablo's right leg.  Diablo stumbled, raising a huge fist and crashing it down on Brigit.  The amazon spun away, stabbing at Diablo, inflicting wound after wound.  The demon lord was soon bleeding streams of black blood from a dozen angry cuts, he felt the unfamiliar grasp of dizziness upon his mind.  Seizing the moment, Zara took control of Diablo's legs, made them collapse beneath him.  Diablo grunted as he fell, then he looked up at Brigit as she readied Azurewrath for one last swing.  Seeing his death, Diablo smiled grimly.

Brigit slashed Diablo's head free of his neck.  The enormous body twitched, then fell onto the dais with a thunderous crash. As tendrils of flame emerged from Diablo's scaled flesh, Brigit fled the dais, grabbed the demon lord's head by one horn, and raced onto the plain.  A bonfire roared to life upon the dais, hissing green flames rising higher and higher into the air. An explosion rocked the ground for miles, yanking Brigit off her feet.

The amazon simply rested on the gray earth for a time, catching her breath, letting the fire of adrenalin cool from her blood. She sat up to remove the Soulstone from Diablo's head, and gasped in surprise when she saw the head of a woman.

"Free," murmured Zara before she closed her exhausted eyes for the last time.

The dead woman's head collapsed into a pile of ash.  Brigit tentatively removed the softly glowing Soulstone that rested on top of the quickly dispersing remains.

***

The Soulstone was crushed beneath the weight of the Hellforge Hammer.  Brigit raised the Hammer and watched in satisfaction as the hot wind blew the tiny fragments away.  Brigit set the Hammer upon the forge and left the unrelenting heat of the River of Flame.  

The amazon woman crossed the Plains of Despair, taking her time, mulling over all of her adventures in the quest to destroy the Three Evils.  Two of them, including the architect of Hell's evil strategies, were slain forever, only one remained upon Sanctuary, most likely in hiding.  Brigit would think about Baal later, at the moment she only yearned for a cool, peaceful place to rest.

Tyrael waited at the edge of the Plains.  Brigit collapsed against him, exhausted beyond description.  The grim angel held Brigit tightly, teleporting her away from the fire and pain.

***

The shores of Philios were bright and cool at dawn.  Brigit sat upon the warm sand with her long legs outstretched, the golden armor discarded, Azurewrath safely within Tyrael's possession once more.  The amazon woman wore a simple white tunic belted at the waist with a slender, gold silk rope.  Brigit dug her toes into the soft, wet sand, she leaned back on her arms and simply listened to the rumble of the surf.

"Brigit!  You made it!" called out Deckard Cain from the tree line.

Brigit smiled and waved at the elderly sage.  Cain stumbled across the beach and sat down next to Brigit.

"Tyrael brought me here, he said that you completed the quest!"

"Aye, Mephisto and Diablo are no more."

"Sanctuary will be a better place without Terror and Hatred," smiled Cain.

Brigit nodded in agreement.  The amazon and sage simply sat for the remainder of the morning, watching the tossing sea.

***

The bitter Highland air tore at Baal's thick fur cloak and caressed his cadaverous face with chill fingers.  The Soulstone within Tal Rasha's forehead burned angrily, matching the dark scowl frozen upon the man's thin face.

"Damn my brothers!  I'll make them suffer for sending me into this barren waste!" snarled the last demon lord.  "No wine! No women!  Nothing!"

Cursing vilely with every heavy footfall, Baal trudged into a howling snowstorm, a towering mountain rising on the distant horizon.

THE END.