Oh! He knew now the errors of his ways. His foolishness! He saw it all flash before his eyes, in what he knew were the last few moments of his life. His soul would never go on to join Tiernon in Tierhallenon! It would be fodder to a Greater Demon’s lust. Verigas screamed for his lost soul. He screamed for the ignoble infamy of his loss. He screamed a scream of infinite sorrow at the loss of his Immortal Soul and the Extinguishment of His Flame! Through tear streaked eyes, from a face pointed towards the sky, Verigas saw the Demon step through the hole, into the room. It was smiling a twisted grin of Supreme Evil, sure now of its Evil Victory over the Forces of Good.
Verigas fell to the floor, weeping bitter tears of defeat and sorrow. His chanting ceased, he knew he could not succeed. He was doomed! Vaguely, in a state of near hysterical weeping, Verigas watched the demon step over the Wards of Containment without a pause. Verigas thought he was at his endurance’s limit, he thought he’d seen the worst possible fate, but what he saw next made him throw up from fear and lose his bowels simultaneously. It wasn’t just one demon! A second one emerged behind the first. Smaller, but incredibly bizarre. It had four arms and four legs and was flying on humming bird wings. Further, Verigas could see more beings through the hole preparing to come through! It wasn’t just a Greater Demon! It was an entire horde of demons! Verigas had unleashed an Army of Darkness upon the unsuspecting city of Gizzor Del!
“Tiernon, Tiernon, for thy love of man! Have mercy on thy people! Why must they pay for my sins!” Verigas mumbled bitterly and incoherently. The entire city would be destroyed, the souls of entire families would be consumed by demons! All because of him! Next through the hole, Verigas noted in his now completely hysterical state, were two humans, a young man and a teenage girl. Both were ragged and dirty. Obviously they’d been held prisoner and tortured in the Abyss! Now the demons were bringing them back. But why? Verigas wondered. And then he knew. Once again, he sank to an even deeper level of despair. Human sacrifices! That was it. They would sacrifice the humans to make a bigger gateway for all the demons from the Abyss to come through! He’d heard of such things, he was sure.
Then, then the final confirmation. The confirmation Verigas couldn’t bear. Through the hole next came a young child. A child. Nightmare of nightmares! Legends ran deep, but Verigas knew! A Demon Prince could only be summoned by a virgin sacrifice. However, it had never been done before, no Demon Prince had ever entered Astlan before, it required too much power, too many sacrifices. This was it. Not only a Greater Demon, not only an Army of Demons, not only a Huge Army of the Damned, but an Army of Ultimate Evil led by a Demon Prince. Truly it was time for the Last Battle, Ragnarok, the Apocalypse, Armegeddon, the End. While Verigas’ religion didn’t endorse any such belief, he knew of many that did, and this was surely confirmation. It was the End of All and it was all Verigas’ fault. He couldn’t handle anymore. Verigas fell over and passed out.
As oblivion was claiming him, deliriously, he almost thought he heard the Greater Demon exclaim, “What the hell? What is it with you people and fainting? Does everybody on the damn planet do it?”
Chapter 44
It was late, the second hour past the middle of the night, when Exador finally teleported into the room his servants had reserved for him in Freehold. He almost felt tired. While normally he didn’t need much, if any, sleep, the long heated battle planning session with Ramses and Bess had gone on for a long time. Too long, he was sure. The price of dealing with fools, Exador decided.
He’d just decided he would sleep, and was undressing for bed when he felt a tingle in the medallion around his neck. Now why, Exador wondered, would his people be contacting him at this hour of the night? The medallion was Object Linked to medallions worn by all his wizards. While it did allow him to locate them at any time, which was technically unnecessary since he’d bound them all to him personally, the primary purpose of the medallions was to allow them to contact him whenever needed. Fortunately, after a few graphic examples, they’d learned not to contact him frivolously.
He grasped the medallion in his hand and opened his mind. In his head formed an image of the wizard Treledor. Treledor was the senior-most wizard with the army. The mental image of the wizard seemed to be sweating. How strange, thought Exador, preparing for bad news.
Lord, the mental voice of the wizard began, we’ve had a bit of a problem here.
Problem? Exador inquired, maintaining his calm.
Well, m’Lord, as you instructed, we sent demons to fetch the rest of the caravan that the wizard Gastropé found.
Yes, Exador stated.
The fourth order demon was still with the caravan, or what was left of it, only a girl and a small child. They were able to capture the girl and bring her back. The child was too close to the fourth order to be kidnapped.
Fine. Exador’s patience was beginning to wear thin, but Treledor was getting even more nervous.
Well, Major Zachs questioned her, took her possessions, and placed her in the prisoner tent to await your return. Exador said nothing; he waited for the wizard to continue.
Sometime later, a few hours ago, the sentries found a small boy wandering around the perimeter, crying and looking for his sister. Exador’s eyes narrowed.
The wizard continued, fearing a trap, the major sent men to check for the possibility of more people around the perimeter. The child seemed harmless, so he was tied up and placed in the prisoner tent.
Get on with it. Exador instructed, impatiently.
Well... well, very shortly after that, the prisoner tent caught on fire. Treledor reported hesitantly.
Fire? Exador stated, beginning to get angry.
Well, it seems that, well... when guards ran into investigate, the girl was free and so was the boy. One of them, presumably the girl, must have been Jehenna in disguise, she summoned the fourth order demon! Exador was gritting his teeth. He was not going to get angry, he told himself, he would keep control.
Uhm, well, the demon took out the guards and then opened a gateway for Jehenna, the boy, and Gastropé’ to escape. Uhm.
Gastropé? Exador decided then and there the young wizard was worse than dead the next time he saw him. Amazing really, how well he was handling this, Exador congratulated himself. He was incredibly angry at the moment, but he was sure it barely showed. His people were all incompetent. Did it ever occur to anyone to see if the young boy was the same one with the caravan originally? Did it ever occur to anyone there that he might be used as a locator for the FOURTH ORDER DEMON? Exador asked, increasing his mental tone as he went on.
Uhm, no, but, well, I wasn’t informed of this until too late, the major... Treledor was cut off by Exador.