Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

After taking a quick break at the hidden camp, and allowing the others to check in with the members of the caravan, Luna and Leah brought everyone back to the teleportation device as they warped into the heart of the Desolate Sands once more, as their next target was very close by. Kulle lead the way once more, since he knew where the Archives were located, or at least the main entrance, though once more Luna and the others tore through the Lacuni and all of the other enemies that were in the Desolate Sands. It made sense as to why Kulle would make his base in this area, since all of the enemies were like a line of defense and it no doubt gave him some peace and quiet, at least until the Horadrim used this place to seal his body away, but the spirit was okay with this discovery. Other than that there wasn't much for them to worry about, since they were used to the enemies that were hanging out around the Desolate Sands, so Luna focused on following Kulle to the northeastern tip of the area.

In no time they found what they were looking for, a bridge that was connected to a large circular area, the latter having one of the circular portals like the ruin they found while looking for Kulle's blood, and all of it was designed in the style of the Archives, meaning they were in the right place.

As you can see, this is the entrance to my Archives. Let me reactivate the portal. Kulle commented, where he used a bit of his magic to ignite the magic inside the portal device, causing it to light up with the swirling magic that Luna had seen on the one they used to find one of Kulle's blood vials.

Such a thing was followed by them stepping through the portal and entered what appeared a fully pristine version of what they had seen after passing through the last two portals, only this time the shelves were pristine and there were statues of what appeared to be large guardian constructs.

Good, you're making progress. a voice said, which turned out to be the magical projection of the Emperor, something that caused Kulle to raise one of his spectral eyebrows, a fact that told Luna that this place was protected against intrusion like this, meaning the boy ruler had to be Belial, a final nail in the coffin for them, I wanted to inform you all that I have confirmed the identity of Belial's disguise and will be able to lead you to him once you have the Black Soulstone.

"You have our thanks." Luna replied, letting the magic of the projection fade away before she turned to the others, where it was easy to see that all of them were very disappointed in this particular Lord of Hell, it was clear that Belial likely didn't even know that he had revealed his disguise to them with his choice of words, "Belial's stupid, that's all I can say. He doesn't even realize that we're onto him... I hope Azmodan offers more of a challenge, because so far I'm disappointed in his brother."

Normally I would chastise you for looking down on a Lord of Hell, but I am inclined to agree with you. Kulle remarked, as he found that he liked Luna, she was a breath of fresh air and he suspected that they could do great work together once he was back in the world of the living, before he brought them down to an area that looked like it had two working portals, what appeared to be an inactive third, and a hidden portal to Kulle's inner sanctum, Now, these two portals will lead you to two relics that were powered by my blood, which will open the way to where my body was imprisoned. From there Leah can use her power to bring me back to life, then I can bring you to where the Black Soulstone is held... it is also where that armor is resting, Luna.

Luna nodded as she, Leah, and the others headed into the portal that was on their left, teleporting themselves deeper into the Archives as they found that it was also dark, no doubt because Kulle hadn't been here for a long time and things were trying to slip through the cracks. Kulle did follow after them, telling Luna that the angels were no better than demons since the Angiris Council, which was the ruling body comprised of five Archangels, voted to wipe out humanity and only one vote saved them from Tyrael, because he was Justice itself and there was no justice in murder. Luna immediately got the feeling that Kulle was trying to say something without actually saying it, as he had a gotten a good look at their group and this told her that he didn't trust someone, most like Adria since Kulle trusted them, reluctantly trusted their allies and crafters, and knew Tyrael could be trusted. With that in mind it stood to reason that the one who stood as the odd one out was the only one who knew about the Black Soulstone, as Leah had to dig through Deckard's tome to find even a small entry on it, which was why the spectral mage was offering a sort of warning to them.

After that they found more of the construct pillars that were sounding out the spider and thin constructs, joined by groups of skeletal warriors, not that any of them were surprised by this since these enemies were common in the portions of the Archives they had passed through before this point. The group also found that some of the stone statues were alive, just left in some sort of deep sleep until someone came and bothered them, where Kulle informed them that these ones were stone constructs, tougher and much more sturdy than most of the other constructs that guarded the Archives. Luna grinned as she challenged it to a fight, metal and enchanted stone clashing as the rest of the group watched, while at the same time Kulle observed as the two clashed, the stone construct shook the walkway, and Luna gracefully moved around the attacks as she struck it in turn. Kulle came to realize something by watching her fight on her own, without the others getting involved, as he now fully understood that Luna really was in a league all her own, in fact he was sure that the only ones that might give her a challenge would be the three Greater Evils or any of the Archangels.

Eventually Luna cut down the stone construct with a smile on her face, showing that she had enjoyed fighting a new strong foe, before they continued to move through the portion of the Archives they were in, discovering more of the same enemies that she left to everyone else to make up for her taking the stronger foe.

It took some time for them to track down the relic device that Kulle wanted them to access, a magical engine based on what Luna was seeing since it had metallic rings, a central core made of magic and metal, and a place for the blood to go into, so the moment the blood was in place the device became active. Fortunately for them they didn't have to backtrack to the area that held the portal they entered through, as there was a side area that had a return device that brought them back to the main portion of the Archives, allowing the group to head through the portal on the right. The second area was a basically just a mirror of what Luna and the others found in the left wing, save for the addition of what appeared to be frozen foes that had apparently broken out of their containment cells, as Kulle admitted that he had been using the native dangers as most of his test subjects. Instead of going after people he went after the monsters and dangers, while at the same time making sure not to eliminate the defenses of his Archives, thus allowing him to do his research and create his masterpiece, the very soulstone they were seeking.

"You know, it's interesting: the stories paint you as a monster, but the reality is that you were misjudged." Luna commented, something that caused her to really realize that she and Kulle were kindred souls, they had been misunderstood by those that were around them and were unfairly treated, both of them even served punishments for what they had done, "Really reminds me of myself."

In what way? Kulle inquired, because he was dying to learn more about Luna, she was a unique person in a world that he had thought he had learned everything about, but with her he was learning more and more, especially when she told the tale about how her current weapon came to be in her possession.

"Oh, I was Nightmare Moon, once. I went from a barely recognized princess, often overlooked by my own sister, and turned into... well, a being of darkness." Luna replied, where Leah sighed as she loosed some flaming arrows into the enemies that were ahead of them, leaving the others to just stand there and stare at her for a moment, causing her to shrug before she focused on the path once more, "I was sentenced to a thousand years on the moon... and let me tell you, that was boring as all hell... but it did allow me to realize that my dark emotions had given birth to my 'dark side'. Funny thing, Nightmare and I are no longer one, but she's not on Sanctuary... I have to wonder what happened to her."

Kulle realized that his viewpoints on Luna were no longer valid, not when she was a thousand year old princess who had the power of the moon, great magical spells, and skills that would put the greatest warriors of Sanctuary to shame, and that was before he thought about her own dark side, a being of equal and devastating power no doubt. It made him wonder if it was even right to call her a 'princess', as she seemed more like a Queen that wielded the power of the moon, even though Leah called Luna an 'alicorn', a being who possessed the strengths of the three clans of her home world and none of their various weaknesses. This told him that there were two of Luna's kind at first, her and her sister, so now there were three, due to the fact that this 'Nightmare Moon' existed, before he learned from Luna that there were three more back home, one called Twilight Sparkle, another called Cadance, and Flurry Heart, Cadance's daughter. It was a shock to his spectral body, that he was discovering the existence of so many powerful beings that could very likely give the greatest forces of this world a run for their gold, causing him to wonder what other wonders this 'Equus' had to offer.

Other than that there was nothing stopping them from reaching the second engine and using the second vial of Kulle's blood to power it, just like they did with the first one, and once that was done they returned to the main entrance, where he used a bit of his magic to activate the portal between the portals to the two Wings.

This brought them into a shadowy wing of the Archives, what Kulle referred to as the 'Shadow Realm', where they found that the shadows moved and attacked them, like specters of some kind, that were definitely stronger than the constructs that had been guarding the Wings. Luna nodded to Leah, who lead the way forward as she loosed her magical arrows at those who dared to get in their way, allowing her and the others to start tearing their way through the Shadow Realm as Kulle just floated beside them the entire time. He was still surprised by how well Leah was doing, as he had pegged her as just a simple girl who had no idea what she was doing, save for bringing him back into this state, but traveling with her allowed him to see that she was a fine archer and a decent mage, even if she used elemental arrows. Then there was the fact that she had a tail, a demonic one at that, but he wasn't too worried about that since there were tales of people being born differently, often due to their demonic heritage being stronger than their angelic heritage.

Other than that there wasn't much for him to worry about as they tracked down the location of his body, where they found that the Horadrim left a large construct of their own to defend his body, but Luna slashed it in half before it could even move from it's spot, allowing them to return to the entrance of the Archives with everything they needed.

Now then, Leah, it is time to perform the ritual. Kulle said, where his body and head were rejoined in the sand that was the final portal of the Archives, allowing him to channel his own magic as Leah summoned her power, causing beams of red energy to lance about before he felt a tug, causing his spirit to vanish before his body, with his soul returned to it, rose from the sand, full and pristine as the day he died, "My blood... thunders within me! This fetid air... fills my ravaged lungs! I. AM. ALIVE! Come, join me in the chamber that holds the Black Soulstone!"

Sure enough Kulle empowered the portal that was below them and the group used it to reach what appeared to be the very heart of his Archives, a circular area that looked like it doubled as an engine of some kind, and floating in the center rested a fair sized black crystal with multiple points: the Black Soulstone.

"There it is. Is it ready to be used on Belial and Azmodan?" Leah asked, because if the stone was ready they could use it and seal away one of the remaining Lords of Hell, where Kulle floated over to the other end of the chamber and tapped into the stone, where it violently reacted as five strands of demonic energy coiled around the stone and entered it, "What did we just see?"

"The souls of the five slain Lords of Hell... are stored within the Black Soulstone." Kulle replied, as this wasn't something he had even considered a possibility when he created the stone, that it could contain and hold more than one Lord of Hell, and yet here he was, staring at five resting in the artifact, even though he was sure this was an impossibility, "Someone must have tagged the souls of Diablo, Baal, Mephisto, Andariel, and Duriel, as all five of them are stored inside the stone... if we use the stone to trap the other two, Belial and Azmodan, all seven would be in the same place for the first time in ages... it would be like Tathamet, the Prime, all over again."

"Sounds like someone is trying to play us. Kulle, can we add more seals to it? Prevent the Lords of Hell from reacting until we find a way to fully erase the stone and their souls?" Luna asked, because while this wasn't good in her eyes, that five of the Seven were inside the Black Soulstone, she knew that this was the only soulstone they were aware of, so it would have to be used on the remaining Evils, and she had some spells in mind to keep the artifact quiet.

Kulle thought about it for a moment as he watched as Luna formed what appeared to be a seven point seal, which looked as if it was designed to hold down seven points, or seven beings, that seemed to be made out of lunar magic, and together they were able to use it to bind the soulstone even greater than before. He was sure that it could hold the Lords of Hell for much longer than he originally expected, that was the sheer power of Luna's lunar magic, making him more willing to let them take it from him, especially since he trusted Luna more than Adria. After that he brought Luna to the container that was behind him, which held a very familiar suit of armor inside it, finely crafted silver armor that almost seemed like forged moon-light, fitted to Luna's old pony form no less, and yet Leah could see that it seemed like something a stalker of the shadows might use. Kulle undid the seal on the container and they watched as the armor floated over to Luna, where each piece changed form before their eyes and slipped into place on Luna's body, almost as if it was a second skin of some kind, and when the process was done Kulle thought Luna looked like one of the Archangels, without the plate look of their armor... in fact she looked like a warrior goddess.

Luna stepped to the side for a moment and Leah found that she swung Ashbringer around while testing her armor out, as in she wanted to be sure everything was in order before they fought Belial, and once she was done Luna smiled, it was perfect, causing Leah to smile as she collected the Black Soulstone, as it was time to bring down a Lord of Hell and see what the next couple of hours held in store for them.