Dye tried to remember where to find the rest of his clan. He needed to get to Priest in time to help save Jacob. He could feel Jake’s feeble soul trying to stir within the body in his arms. “Just a little more time, hang on Jake.” Dye muttered, half to himself. A crunch of gravel and stone behind him. Dye spun around. There stood a man in guardian armor, a ShadowStorm insignia half peeled on one shoulder. Dye’s heart sank to his boots. He didn’t have the strength left to fight. One hand shifted to bear all of Jake’s weight, while the other one went behind his back to his scimitar. The guardian put out his hands, open, empty.
“Hey dude, don’t worry. I’m feeling generous today, I’ll show you a little mercy here.” Dye sighed in relief.
“I thought you were going to kill me. I thought you were part of the ShadowStorm.”
“Me? Fight for the ShadowStorm? No merci! I fight for the Guardians of Doom now! Now where do you need to go?”
-----
The sun sank low in the sky, bloodred, its rays fighting through the settling dust of battle to reach Priest and the rest of the Requiem camp. Everything was silent, not even birds chirped. Earlier that afternoon, they had heard a loud roar echo through the forest, inhuman and chilling, followed by a low rumble similar to that of a large rockslide. Nobody knew what was going on. Some thought that the ShadowStorm were summoning monsters to come and wreak their revenge upon them. They had sat, huddle together, facing outwards, afraid that something might come crashing through the forest towards them. Now, all was quiet again.
Suddenly, something came crashing through the forest towards them. Everyone got up; the sound was coming from the direction of the ShadowStorm base. Through the dense foliage, a figure in red and black could barely be seen, a huge sword handle sticking from his back. It was something evil, and well-armed. He was carrying something in his arms. Everyone drew their weapon. Yet as they glance into each other’s eyes, the knew that they were not ready for another fight.
Dye walked into the clearing, looked up, saw ten weapons pointed at his face. He was in a rush. Blood was beginning to seep into his hands. Jacob’s blood. He could feel Jake’s heart struggling to beat, fighting against the terrible sword wound right through it. Dye took a step forward. Every weapon was put down.
“Where’s Priest?”
“Right here. Where were…”
“No time! Can you heal him?” Dye laid Jake down in front of Priest. Immediately Priest got to work with the preliminary examinations. His face turned from slightly concerned to dreadfully worried.
“His heart’s stopped beating. And there’s a huge hole through him. What do you think you’re doing?”
“No time to ask, just heal him!” Dye was desperate. He didn’t want to lose Jake, not his companion from ages before.
Priest sighed. He couldn’t bear to look into Jake’s glazed, half-open eyes. “Dye, I’m sorry to say, but…”
“DON’T tell me he’s dead, because I know it’s not true. I saw him stand up after he was stabbed, and he changed into this black monster with red eyes and two huge axes and…”
“WHAT!?!?!?”
“JUST HEAL HIM!!!” Priest was confused, but he bent over anyways, staff in hand. He didn’t think it was going to work, but he began to pour light magic into the wound. Immediately Jake convulsed, grabbed the staff as if it were a snake, and flung it away. Priest resisted, and tried to heal Jake. But the more he struggled, the more Jake tried to get away from the staff. Priest looked up into Jake’s face. Instead of the lifeless, dead face of earlier, it was now contorted with anger, eyes turning red, the skin beginning it’s transformation back to…Priest pulled his staff away. Jake sank back to the ground, dead once more.
“What’s with him? It’s like he’s possessed by a demon or something. He won’t accept my healing magic.”
“Need help?” Everyone turned around. A man in Guardian armor approached the group, many scars all over his face. He had an enormous black claymore on his back. A hole through his chest where his heart should have been. A red aura around him.
“Oh, Priest, meet Merci, a former member of the ShadowStorm Elites and now a member of the Guardians of Doom.” The man bowed.
“I have a limited healing ability with magic, but it is dark magic. I want to see if it will work in healing this boy.” He approached Jake’s body, taking out a small amulet with a black opal set into its middle. He placed it over Jake’s wound, muttered a short incantation. Jake immediately began to transform again, blackness spreading across his skin, his fingernails growing into claws, his teeth turning black and pointy. Merci swiftly removed the amulet. “I’ve seen this somewhere before. This boy is indeed possessed by a demon. I’ll need your magic for this, Priest.”
“What, you want me to exorcise him?”
“In a way. We need to help the boy himself regain control of the body, before it completely rots away. Right now the Demon is using the boy’s life force in order to fuel his anger.” Together, they approached Jake’s body. The demon began to convulse, eyes bulging and red. Merci began to mutter a different incantation this time, longer and more complex, while Priest sent a blast of healing magic into Jake. The demon opened its mouth to roar, black teeth gleaming, face stretched by rage and insanity. Dye’s eyes went wide, his fingers to his ears, didn’t have time to warn the others. Then, it collapsed.