A Fiend's Game

///INTRO///

He ran down the hallway, fueled by a mix of fear and adrenaline. For half an hour he was chased by a demonic monstrosity that looked like a giant bipedal four-armed spike-covered alligator. The fact that the spikes it had all over its body were covered with intestines of his former squad-mates didn’t help either.

Half an-hour ago he found a room, covered in blood and guts from floor to ceiling, corpses of the people he knew hanging from the walls, disfigured and dismembered, and a huge demon in the center of the room. The monster was decorating itself with what left of his commander, and that image would haunt his nightmares for quite a long time.

At the time, all he cared about was getting as far away from this demon as possible. Thanks to the demon’s poor sense of smell, he was able to get one floor below it unnoticed..

Calming down his breath, young man tried to concentrate and think the situation through.

“That damned thing definitely had high resistance to magic. My fireball and a lightning spark spells proved that. Exceptional strength, capable of smashing through walls with ease. Great speed. Lack of smell and hearing below average. Looks like it relies on some demonic-exclusive senses to track its prey. And that’s why it is unable to find me,” he muttered to himself, calming his nerves. He had demonic powers that let him hide from his enemy, or in this case powers of a certain demon.

[Hound]

And the Hound came to him, from within of his consciousness. He hesitated using its power, seeing it as the last resort. Should his will shake, should he show any weakness to his unwilling partner, he would have to fight for control over his mind and body. He couldn't afford for that to happen right now. A faint blue glow enveloped his hand. He waved his fingers, getting used to five-inch phantasmal claws growing out of them now - The Hound’s natural weapon. 'Looks like I'll have to use the indirect approach', the young man thought.

He shifted a phantasmal ear, concentrating on the sounds of his foe’s steps above, and carefully started to follow them. His adversary stopped. “Did it sense me?”. He had no time left, and decided to act now. Leaping straight up, he plunged his new weapon through concrete towards where demon’s feet should have been, and he was rewarded with a loud roar. “Time to try some earth magic.” He lifted himself, concentrating energy in his feet, stomping them straight up. Several spikes made of metal and concrete have shot at the demon from below, impaling its head onto the ceiling. Another two spikes penetrated its feet, incapacitating it.

Valianir cast a fireball, blasting through the floor right behind the demon. Looking at helpless being, he smirked. “Now who’s the boss?”. The demon growled, trying to get the spikes out, but unable to do so … . Then something totally unexpected came. The Monster pulled its head, disregarding the spikes and ripping half of its skull off in the process. Its feet, heavily torn, already started to regenerate. Even heavily wounded, it moved lightning fast, smashing young man into a wall.

As a ringing in his ears grew stronger he thought 'But that was not how it happened'... .

-===( x x )==)--o

Val awoke to the sight of a familiar ceiling. The ringing intensified. With an effort he lifted himself off the floor. Half-awoke he stumbled towards his alarm clock, which was ringing furiously, reminding its owner that he overslept.

"11 in the morning. Why in hell did I set it up this early ... ." With an annoyed grunt he looked over the room. It was his lab, not his bedroom, and the floor was covered in symbols and occult figures. Written in blood. His own blood. [Nightmares. Practicing blood magic does this to you]. "No kidding."

As the young man stumbled across his living quarters, a memory began pouring back into his brain, as hot coffee into a cup. He has remembered why he woke up in the first place.

"Erica!" Yesterday she told him that she finally got permission to organize a small rift exploration team, and of course, he was invited. Since the first time they met on the battlefield, and the young priestess managed to literally pull Val back from the grave, they never again ventured into alien worlds without each other.

Rift scavenging, - traveling through different dead worlds and claiming whatever technology, artifacts, or knowledge was left behind by its inhabitants - was a passion, life calling and main source of income for Val Zimmer. For a priestess like Erica though, it was a rather strange hobby. Priests and demons don't mix well, and it were demons that took over most of the known worlds, wiping out everything in their wake, effectively killing the worlds. Of course, thousands of years had passed since then, and demonic forces now were disorganized, most of the monsters returned back to their wild state, losing their sapience without the influence of the Demonlords. Nonetheless, exploring unknown worlds that lied beyond the rifts was extremely dangerous, as even small pack of wild demons could easily wipe out an entire army. A regular army that is. Specially trained, alchemically enhanced soldiers, combat wizards and battlemages were more than capable to stand against anything alien worlds could offer.

Val was a fiendmaster, one that forces demons and fiends into submission, forcing them to lend him their powers in a struggle against their own kind. Erica was a priestess, a being of pure soul, connected to Divinity itself, incapable of hatred or jealousy, unable to lie or harm a living being, which allowed her to manifest miracles of healing and protection. Her affinity to magic, however was certainly unusual for a priestess - she had an uncanny intuition regarding relics, artifacts and their use. She felt flows of a lifeforce like no wizard ever could.

Having a bright and logical mindset, Erica applied the scientific methods to her empirical experiences, as well as wizardry. With Val's aid, dangerous adventures and ancient tomes of magic-long-forgotten, Erica made a real breakthrough in thaumaturgy, proving that it is possible for a being without magical talents to manipulate magic energies through special rituals. With a doctorate in Advanced Thaumaturgy, The Bureau Of Outworld Exploration and Exploitation gave her the right to request grants and assemble her own expeditions.

And yesterday she had received a grant to assemble her own little field research team. It was suggested that she would join forces with a group already working in the fields, but something told Val that Erica had a different plan in mind. They'd been on enough expeditions as independent contractors and gained quite a fame for it already.

In the bathroom Val sighed, realizing a horrible thing. His pristine silver hair were covered in bloodstains and it would take forever to clean it all out. Silver hair was unusual for his kind. Deep-red skin and yellow eyes with cat-like slit pupils, that Val also possessed, were. 'Silver head' was not. Val Zimmer belonged to a race of Vireny, and they were generally unable to perform anything magical. Only one in a forty thousands had a 'Silver head' - a special hair, that gave an ability to gather magical energy, and their performance depended directly on their state.

For his three feet long hair, a little flask of special and very expensive shampoo would last only for two or three times. The case at hand would take a whole flask, if not more. Washing his hair, Val stared at his reflection with a sigh. His reflection stared back.

[So, what are you going to do now?] The reflection asked.

"About what?".

[You and her! She is cute, she is smart and she likes you. Ask her out!].

"She does not like me in that way, and she is a priestess, above all else. It would never work out."

[Well, you can't bone her now, but you can wait until she get tired of being a priestess. Since your species are both long-living, it wouldn't be much of a problem. Also you can try and convince her that priesthood isn't worth it].

"You know that I won't do such thing. You're just trying to drive me insane by bugging me about my crush on her, aren't you?"

[Yep.]

"Shut up then. You aren't going to succeed."

A Fiendmaster can not allow one of his demons to affect his actions. Doing so is the first step towards being possessed, and then (very quickly) dead. Ral was the most powerful of his demons. And the most helpful, though his help was not in his abilities but in his knowledge and wisdom, however rarely he decided to manifest them.

With that, and his hair clean and ready to absorb magical energy, Val dressed up and headed to his weapons rack. Erica told him that there is nothing to worry about, but she didn't go into details, so Val decided that it would be better to be prepared.

"Lets see, there is no need to encumber myself, so I guess a shotgun and pistol should be enough" Val said to himself. He looked over his personal collection. The simpler weapons were bought from Bureau-certified manufacturers. Those used some of the reverse engineered technologies Bureau managed to gather. They used standardized types of ammunition and were reliable, but they often lacked in firepower that was needed against tougher demons, like The Torturer. Val shrugged, remembering how he found that out on his own experience. He has settled on a GRD-19 - a short double-barreled shotgun, enchanted by a mechanist to accelerate regular pellets to high velocity. As a side effect to this enhancement it could now be fired without ammo, producing devastating kinetic blasts.

[Ideal for dealing with things close and personal, now get something long-ranged and let's go. I cant wait to hear what that girl has in mind.] Ral couldn't hold his anticipation.

"Calm down. She said that there won't be anything dangerous. I'm getting armed just because I feel naked without a weapon." Val confessed, while browsing his options.

"Huh ... . Haven't taken you out for a while," he said, picking a bulky long barreled pistol. That was one of the first artifact guns he found together with Erica, and it certainly brought back some memories. It could hold several spells and replicate them at the pull of a trigger. It also allowed to fine-tune a spells power with a special switch. Unfortunately, it used a built in energy source that could manage only some basic spells. As Val's skill in magic progressed, he found this gun to be less and less useful, and eventually it ended up collecting dust on the bottom of his weapon rack. He had nearly forgotten of its unusual property that made it more useful at great distances - it casts a spell directly on a target, without any material medium or visible projectile. Even if it wasn't really strong, it had an effective range of several miles and was impossible to dodge.

Val reached the gun with his magical senses - he had long since forgotten which spells he put in there last time.

[Fireblast, Deepfreeze and... Paralysation? What were you going to paralyze back then, Val?].

"I don't remember, okay?". Val was confused as well - paralyzation is ineffective against demons, so he had used it only a few times. "Maybe I was going to hunt something. It was so long ago." He didn't had the time to extract the spell and put in a new one. Besides, Fireblast should have been enough for upcoming little adventure.

Val reached inside his mind, bringing out a familiar sense of protection, concentrating it around his left wrist. With a quiet buzz a wrist-guard formed out of thin air, an indicator on its inner side showing almost full charge. It meant that his armor was in a top-notch state and ready to defend him against any harm any cruel and unusual worlds might want to inflict on him. Everything was as it should have been.

"Well, off we go then!", Val said to the empty room. Following this custom command, all electronics and magical devices in his apartment turned themselves off to conserve energy. With that, Val following an almost reflectory action, summoned a set of sheath for his weapons. Going through a corridor, he grabbed his favorite sword and put it on his back. The pistol found its place on his left hip and the shotgun on his right. Had he used a regular holsters and sheath, his weapons would become unavailable, covered by magical armor. Val had learned this the hard way, and the timing for that lesson was less than appropriate.

o--(==========-

One bus-ride and a short walk later Val arrived at the “Round Table” - Erica's favorite cafe. Very quickly he spotted quite an unusual company – even in modern civilized times it was rare for elves, orcs, and gnomes to share the meal. An orcesse in a leather jacket was quite well-toned and somewhat cute, as far as an orcish female with tusks and all could be. She was grinning, enjoying her own jokes, looking at a confused elven gentleman, who tried hard to keep his face straight. A gnomish girl observed the two with a raised eyebrow. She had a red hair, done in a traditional gnomish braid, with beautiful green eyes and adorable freckles. Her face was very d and expressive – Val could endlessly observe her. How her eyes were lit by inner fire when she had a new idea. How she smiled, looking out of the window, enjoying the rain. How she —

[Stop daydreaming already! Or ask her on a date. Even if she declines, I'll still enjoy the pain of your broken heart].

That girl was Erica.

Noticing him, she smiled, making Val's heart skip a bit, and waved at him to come and join them. The other two were obviously going to be a members of their little expedition.

“So, let me guess. Since we already have a priestess, a mechanist — then you must be either a thaumaturgist or a demonslayer.”

“A demonslayer. My name is Valianir Zimmer, and you are... ?”

“Oh, I'm really sorry for my ill manners. Being around her, ” he pointed at the grinning orcesse “makes me forget about them sometimes.”

“Oh, you flatter me”, the orcesse interrupted him, but the elf remained unfazed

“My name is Rirandiriel, and I am a bachelor arcanist”.

“You can call him Ri-ri, I'm sure he wouldn't mind! Oh and I'm Chiffery Tohrak! Nice to meet ya!” The orcesse stood up to shake hands with Val. Her grip was strong, but controlled giving her off as a seasoned fighter. Being around orcs for quite a while, Val learned to estimate their abilities.

[Chiffe... A curious snow fox... Quite fitting name, don't you think?]

“Ri-ri?!” That pet-name was the last drop in elf's cup of self-control. “Would you mind if I call you Chi-chi then?”

[Oh look, they are going to fight, that's cute.]

Elves and orcs do not mix well together. Thats a universal law, and it would seem that green-skinned girl had been poking at it for quite a while.

“Not at all”.

Her answer obviously surprised the elf, that was waiting for her to continue their riposte. He opened his mouth and closed it again, trying to digest it.

“What's the matter with you and pet names?”

“Just trying to bring something cute in the gray “serious” world of yours. You know, for contrast. And 'Ri-ri' sounds cute!”

Elf sighed. “Expeditions to unexplored rifts are serious business.”

“And being way too serious is bad for your health, mental at least. And your face color”. Chiffery replied.

Val couldn't hold his smile. He got the general idea of what was really going on, so he decided to pour some fuel in the fire. “Look at you, bickering like a married couple”.

The elf's face flushed red. “Hey we are not married yet!”

“Yet? Then when are you going to marry then?”. Erica joined the fray, quite unusually cruel of her.

Elf began mimicking a fish, trying to find words, but the traditional wisdom of his race eluded him.

“When the thought that age difference doesn't matter much will manage to drill its way through a thick skull of his!” Stated orcesse, and it was clear at this point that she and elf know each other for quite some time. And since they didn't killed each other yet, Val assumed that such exchanges were usual for the couple.

“Well, screw you!” Unable to find words, Rirandiriel gave up.

“Only after marriage, my dear. I'm sorry, but my family is fairly strict about that.”

Rirandiriel's face turned redder than a tomato.

After about twenty minutes of friendly banter, new friends agreed to call him just "Ri". Exhausted by debate, elf sighed, finally admitting his defeat. With a happy scream,the orcish girl jumped at him with a hug. "Don't mind her. She is always like that" He said with indifferent face, obviously used to his friends antics.

"You can call me just "Val" then. All my friends do" The young man said. He completely trusted Erica's judgment regarding people, and she seemed to enjoy herself in their presence. Being around them just felt... Right.

"Good. Now we just have to wait for our thaumaturgist." Said Ri, looking at his watch.

"We don't have to - she is already here. Erica has a doctorate in advanced thaumaturgy." Val pointed out.

"Hey, you have a doctorate too!"

"I've got it alongside you. Not that I didn't help you get it, but you still know much more than me. I'm more of a practitioner myself." Said Val, facing his new friends. "Never had a knack for reading lots of dusty tomes".

"Well, you didn't seem to hesitate to grab that grimoire from Aquarius, as your share of loot." Erica shrugged with a smile.

"Wait a moment!", Chi' slammed her hands at the table, standing up. "How could I not understand it earlier! You, are Erica Steelgrip, princess of Ironhold! Your thaumaturgic inventions turned our clan's life upside down! I thought you'd be older ... ."

"Don't worry, I get that a lot. Were the changes for the better, or worse?"

"For the better of course!" Chi's face beamed with admiration. "And you," she turned to Val. "Must be her companion, Silverknight Zimmer! A legendary fiendmaster!"

"Fiendmaster?!" Rirandiriel nearly fell of his chair, suddenly trying to make a distance between him and the Vireny.

"Silverknight Zimmer? Since when did I change my name?" Val was curious. He disregarded Ri's reaction at the moment.

"Well, you know, people like giving fitting nicknames ... . Can I examine your armor?" Chi held her hands in a pleading manner, trying to make puppy eyes as hard as she could.

"A fiendmaster?" Ri stood up, planting his hands at the table in attempt to get everyones attention. "Why don't we bring a timed nuclear bomb with us instead?! At least we would know when its going to explode! Nobody can tell when his demons take over and … ."

"Ri." Orcesse gripped his hand firmly.

"What?"

"This is Silverknight, Ri. Do you know an average Fiendmaster's life span? Seven years. Seven years until demons take over, and the fiendmaster is sent into a red zone. Silverknight Zimmer is a legend. He has been in business for thirty years now, and I don't think he will reach his limit anytime soon."

The combination of her voice and hand contact made Rirandiriel calm down little by little.

"Besides, he is Erica's companion, and if she trusts him with her life, so should we."

"Alright." Val put his hand in the air. "You seem to know a lot about us, but I don't know anything about you. So would you mind telling something about yourself."

"Well … ." Chi took initiative. "I’m Chiffery from Clan Tohrak, I'm a bachelor mechanist specializing in xenotechnology, offensive constructs and direct material alchemy. I can drive anything that has wheels, tracks or whatever, produce ammunition of all known calibers, if provided with materials of course. By the way … ." She looked at Val intently. "I have seen you on the job. You took down several hecatonheirs during last demonic outbreak four years ago. You saved our lives."

"Wait! Now I remember you!" Ri was clearly surprised at his own realization. "You had decapitated a giant demon back then, exploding its head and drowning my apartment in demonic blood!" The elf's face was slightly green. Even thinking about such amount of gore made him want to vomit. " Oh, I'm sorry. You saved my life too, after all. Well, I am Rirandiriel of the Great House of Aevencass. An arcanist, with a degrees in elements, artifaction, and manipulation. If there is an energy flow or enchantment - I can analyze it and tell you what it does. Never had a chance to work on xenoartifacts though - they are rare and quickly claimed by higher ranked wizards." He frowned, clearly irritated by such injustice.

"I guess I should tell you two about myself too." Erica suggested. "I am Erica Steelgrip, and yes - I'm a princess, but please don't call me that - I'm a fifth daughter, a priestess and therefore not in line for the throne." She raised her hands, showing her simple tailored white dress to emphasize her point. "Besides regular priest abilities - like healing, protection and blessings, I also have a doctorate in Advanced Thaumaturgy, meaning given enough time for preparation and proper ingredients I can cast any spell there is. Problem is "enough time" can be as much as several weeks, and some ingredients like "petals of a fireflower, basked in moonlight" are rather hard to get. I can also banish lesser demons back to chaos, where they belong. I don't know what did I do to get that ability, or how it work, but I can do it."

Erica looked at Val, expecting him to do his share too. "What?" The young man never liked to talk about himself. Erica raised a brow. Val heaved a sigh, before introducing himself to the others. "Okay. I'm Valianir Zimmer. You can call me Zimmer or Val - if you like. I'm a fiendmaster, but that does not hinder me. I know a bit of advance thaumaturgy, practice elemental magic, as well as some darker arts like bonemancy, runerend and bloodmagic. I can do just fine as a demonslayer even without my mastery. I'm also quite proficient with a sword, martial arts and have some powerful artifacts at my possession - both xenotech and of our own making. And while I'm at it ... ." He looked at the orcesse. Her eyes began to shine as soon as he spoke of the artifacts. He smiled and unsheathed his sword, putting it on the table. "What can you tell me about this one?"

Chi didn't hesitate to place her hand on it. She knew this was a test and she was not going to fail it. As she concentrated releasing her power, a white blade of the sword started to envelop in a net of tiny streams of magical energy. She was analyzing its structure and composition. Her eyes widened. "A ceramic blade? But why would someone use ceramic?"

"Look further and deeper." Val advised with a smile.

Orcesse frowned a bit, concentrating harder. "It's ... . Wow... It is like three-dimensional mageweaving! I can not identify the material, but is a high-density composite metal. Nobody can forge that in, it had to be done after making of the blade, but how did it blend with ceramic so perfectly without falling apart?"

"That's advanced xenotech for you." Val chuckled. "It is a combination of magic, alchemy and technology we have yet to comprehend. While we can analyze and study it, we are unable to replicate it. Well, doc, what's your verdict?" He turned towards the elf, whose eyes were steaming with tiny trails of blue shining smoke. Rirandiriel was looking at this blade with his magesight.

"This doesn't make any sense. This enchantment activates the spell formed by a mageweave made of whatever that is. And that spell uses energy of the impact to negate energy of the impact. Doesn't this makes the blade useless? Any force applied to the hit would be simply absorbed by the blade. And I don't understand this little swirls going around the tip - they just seem to circulate energy into a loop until it fades off. What does that supposed to achieve?"

"And if we assume that blade itself is not supposed to cut anything?" Val locked his hands on his chest with a smile.

"Sorry, I'm not weapon expert, it does not look like spell is released on strike, slash or whatever. It is supposed to just sit there, doing... something."

"Fair enough. Only a few wizards back in Bureau were able to crack it. It is a combination of "indestructibility" and "splitting". Blade absorbs energy of its own blow, negating damage to itself, and then sends this energy to the "swirls", making them split anything near the blade with conductive energy current. One downside - it doesn't work in non-magical environment, and it can not break some magical defenses, that would be easy to a regular physical weapon." Val concluded.

"So..." Chi looked a bit nervous. "Did we pass?"

Val couldn't hold a smile. "Of course you did, and I guess you can have a bit of reward."

With a buzzing sound his entire figure began to envelop itself in a layer of metal, forming a monolithic full-plate armor, making him look like a feature-less sculpture. He held his left hand against his face, and a metal spread from his neck to his head covering everything but a thick tail of his hair with a futuristic helmet.

"Wow... What is this made off? It's not like any metal I've ever seen! And its method of deployment... Fascinating! Is it your brace that does it?" Chi couldn't hold herself. "The brace is just another part of it. It is made by nano-machines on-the-go. Nobody knows the material. I received it when I injected myself with what I thought was a combat stimulator. Now it is a part of me, I guess." Val's voice was muffled by armor's speaker system. "It is much more complex than just a layer of steel though. It has internal weaponry, strength amplification and even some sort of tactical computer. Those features waste its energy damn fast, so I usually switch off everything non-essential."

"Alright people!" Erica jumped off a chair. "Let's move if we want to make a trip today. Chi kindly provided us with a vehicle of her own, but our budget is still extremely limited. We better move now if we want to travel in optimal conditions. The world we are going to visit is devoid of any signs of demonic influence, but organic life is limited to grass and some small plants. The thing that caught my attention was a weak uneven magical signature. It was not a regular background magical field. The Bureau labeled this world as "unperspective", but I've got a feeling that there may be something. And I want to investigate it. Let's go!"

[“Optimal conditions”? Why do I have a strange feeling that there is a catch she didn't told us about?]

o--(==========-

Six hours later.

[I knew there was a catch! I told you so!]

"Yeah, yeah. But it's not helping me right now". Val was sitting in an off-road van, his tongue limping from the side of his open mouth. Outside temperature 49 degrees Celsius. They were traversing the great desert of Khanrakesh - homeworld of the Orcs. And it was rather cool right now - by this world's merits. Eri and Chi were in the main cabin, Chi driving her van and Eri giving directions. The men were traveling in the back with the equipment and some large machine that Chi referred to as her "ultimate masterpiece".

The rift to the world they were going to was located somewhere in the desert. Apparently Chiffery and Erica knew each other for quite some time, and even developed a new innovation together. Fusing together mechanistics and thaumaturgy they managed to make a drone that was able to measure fluctuations in space and energy fields, allowing them to find rifts by indirect means. Due to the nature of these measurements, the rate of false positives was ridiculously high. This rift was the third they have found by this method in half a year. The other two led to completely dead worlds.

Having nothing to do, Rirandiriel found escape from heat in meditation. Following his example, Val tried to meditate, but his ability to concentrate failed him, so he decided to go the easy route.

He reached into his innerscape, invoking an image of a rainforest. He sensed the Hound, its desire to hunt, its wild joy of imaginary freedom and appreciation of its master. Its "alpha". The Hound was the first demon he subdued. It was not even a demon in the proper sense - just a very powerful supernatural beast, altered by demonic emanations. These emanations were enough to let it exist in immaterial form, but not enough to rid it of it's animal instincts. When they met, Val managed to defeat The Hound, to prove his will and fighting prowess. The Hound was last of its pack that Val dispatched of earlier. It witnessed demise of its fellow pack mates and the fall of her former "alpha". It has accepted his strength and welcomed him as its new leader. Initially it tried to resist his mental influence, but as they travelled and fought together, it became more loyal... and playful.

"Stop! Hound! Pffft ... ." Val wiped off Hound's saliva from his face. "Happy now?". The Hound stood against him, sticking out its tongue, wiggling its tail like a dog. A really big six-foot tall dog with dagger-like fangs and claws that could tear any armor to shreds. Over the years it had grown quite a bit, as well as benefits it bestowed on its master - keen senses, agility, phantasmal claws and fangs, not that Val ever used the latter, claws allowed him to rip enemies apart even in unarmed combat as well as climb walls and mountains.

"Woof!"

"Alright. Hound - check. Everything in place." Val examined the seal that separated this part of the innerscape from that of his own mind. He could traverse beyond seals, but while doing so he was extremely susceptible to demon's power. He never tried to step over any other seal but Hound's.

[The Torturer]

A grim cell, covered in blood and gore, and an angry four-armed demon sitting in the middle.

[Not enough bloodshed. Not enough action. Bored.] The demon shared his opinion.

Val stepped closer to examine the seal. The Torturer was much stronger than the Hound, much more aggressive than any other of his demons, and therefore required more care. In a moment, demonic fist hit the seal from other side, making Val stagger back.

[Want blood! Want pain! Give me yours!] The demon roared.

[Not in your lifetime, pal.] Val snickered. Giving strength to a power hungry demon was the last thing Val wanted. His dream was still bothering him. Back then he managed to force the incapacitated demon into immaterial form and absorb him, but that dream could meant that Torturer still haven't given up completely. His power was in his strength, thick hide and additional set of arms. Wielding four weapons instead of two is always a benefit.

[Folgora]

A peak of the mountain, a giant storm cloud circulating around it, lightning striking at the top every now and then. At the top of the mountain stood a throne with a pale-white demoness residing in it. Fingers of her two lower arms played with the skulls of humans, orcs and specimen of other races Val did not recognize. Sometimes she would lift one upper hand to catch a lightning, condensing it into a thunderbolt, then swallow it as if it was a delicious treat. Folgora was a demoness of the same kind as a Torturer, but she managed to disguise that quite well.

[Really well I'd say. Remember how you nearly lost the fight, staring at her boobs?]

[Ral, I'm a man. Any man would hesitate when amount of boobs is suddenly doubled.]

[Well come forth and claim what you desire] Demoness smiled seductively.

[Sorry, I swore off on letting myself into hands of a half-succubi.]

[You're no fun.] She pouted. [Then at least allow Ral to enter! You can't imagine how great demonic sex is. I might as well let you watch.] she licked her lips, making tiny lightnings dance on them, then follow outlines of her gorgeous body, making Val shrug.

[How the hell can she make electricity sexy?]

[Succubi can make anything sexy. Don't ask.]

[I know better than that, thank you.]

Lightning was Folgora's specialty, and being a higher demon, she was really good at it. Her seal was incredibly intricate and... feminine. Val didn't quite understood, how a spell could be "feminine", but if any spell could - then this seal was it one hundred twenty percent.

[Tothumikatum]

A vast plain coated with snow. The bones of giant dragons from ancient times, and a frozen form of an incredibly beautiful winged human woman in the middle of it all. Her chest was pierced with a sword. Even the old man that inhabited this magical prison did not knew who she was.

[Ah... Young man looking for some... c'old wisdom?] Old man turned around, revealing his face, or rather absence of it. A single giant eye. That was all. Val always wondered how Toth can speak without a mouth.

[Magic. I ain't gotta explain shit.] Toth laughed.

The fight at the Dragon's Graveyard, as Val called it was one of the toughest he ever had. He nearly became one of the frozen statues there. Tothumikatum was both Cryo- and Necromancer, and used both of his skills to their full extent. Reanimated warriors, ice golems and undead dragons. A court of self-proclaimed "King of Frozen Dead" was a force to be reckoned with and gave even the legendary demonslayer as Val was already at that time a full run for his money. He participated in the last outbreak, leading armies of undead. It took seventeen demonslayers, Val included, to deal with him. Only four survived.

His seal was a complex three-dimensional projection, resembling a crystal. Val did not remembered how long it took to make it. Battling with a powerful demon for his soul and making this seal at the same time put him into a state of a coma. Erica barely managed to pull him from the brink of death. He promised to never try to capture demon of that caliber again. Reward nearly didn't worth the trouble - Tothumikatum shared with him only what he wished to share. Beating it out of him was out of the question - the outcome of such confrontation would be unpredictable.

Last seal. It was unique in a sense that it was fused with his very soul, making it, and the demon behind it inseparable from him.

[Ral]

In a dimly lit room that looked like a cramped server room, if all computers had weird multicolored lights allover their surface resided a FiendLord. He sat at the wide couch, his back to the seal, staring at the wide TV that covered whole wall. The TV showed Rirandiriel, sitting in a meditation pose.

[So, my life is just a movie to you?]

[More like XBox, really.] Ral shifted his headset a bit, to bring microphone closer to his mouth.

[What is that?]

[Doesn't matter. Anyway its much more fun that what those losers got. At least I've gotta talk to you not only when you decide to pay a visit. Also right now this movie is kinda dull. I'm waiting 'till the action starts. Wake me up then.] Demon stood up, stretching his arms high in the air. Not that he needed it, since all of this was not real, but sensation of his muscles being stretched was pleasant. He stood over seven feet tall, with dark gray skin covered in scars. What could leave a scar on a demon that could regenerate torn-off limbs, and claimed that he once regenerated back from being turned to ash? He said he don't remember. Maybe he really didn't, maybe he just didn't want to - he would never admit it. He had two arms and a pair of bat-like wings. His head was bald, only a few bumps of white bone indicated a places where horns should be - he could grow them on a whim. He had four eyes - two on their right places - in the eye sockets and other two on his forehead. Every eye had a different color, and as Val knew, different power. Red eye for demonic sense - he could see any demon behind any obstacle at a long distance. Green eye for life flow vision - everything alive has an energy flowing through them. This eye allowed to see it and manipulate it. Blue eye for arcane plagiarism - to instantly decipher and replicate any spell thrown at him. White eye of true sight - to shoot sharp, see through lies, deception and illusions.

Sometimes Ral shared one of his eyes with his host. It was really weird experience to say the least.

Vans sudden stop broke his concentration.

"At last we can get out of this scorching hell!" Ri was out of his meditation and looking forward.

It looked like someone just cut out a piece of the photograph and placed another photo underneath. The Rift to the other world looked flat from the side, but everything inside it had as much depth as the regular world. Anything that would touch the Displacement Zone - the edge of the rift, would be instantly cut, no matter how hard or durable the material is. The gate of the rift was barely enough for the van to fit in.

"Alright lets remove everything from outside the van, or else we won't get through!" Chi exited the vehicle. The men jumped out, following her. There were several drones on the side of the van and some sort of satellite dish on the roof. They needed to get all of it inside the van. "Sorry guys, but you'll have to bear with cramped space for a bit."

And so after fifteen minutes of heavy lifting, they entered a new, unexplored world.

o---{>=L=O=A=D=I=N=G=-