Diablo 3: Hell's Eclipse

With Belial sealed inside the Black Soulstone, and they confirmed that Caldeum was safe at last, Tyrael and the majority of the others stayed in the camp while talking with the officials of the city, no doubt to arrange for supplies for when it was time to leave. Of course that was when they discovered where Azmodan was hiding, but for now they focused on helping the rest of the people while trying to stabilize the government, since the Lord of Lies had been possessing Emperor Hakan II's body, as Luna found that the boy's body was in his room, unconscious. He was in a coma from being used like a suit by the foul demon they had destroyed and sealed, so it would be some time before he regained himself, but that was something for the others to worry about, in addition to everything else. Luna and Leah, on the other hand, joined Kulle inside his Archives, as he had something that he required their help with, so they could even the odds against Azmodan in the future, which was the Loom he had mentioned previously.

As they gathered inside the Archives, which was now safe thanks to Kulle strengthening his wards and control once more, Kulle weaved his magic into another portal frame, one that was contained inside a wall and seemed to be more powerful than all of the others.

"This will take us to the Gatehall, where I worked with Ayuzhan on the Vaults, our constructs, and the Loom." Kulle said, to which he stepped through it and the pair followed after him, warping through space as they appeared in what appeared to be an old ruin that was similar to Kulle's Archives, only more smooth and light than the Archives, "A word of warning, there is a demon by the name of..."

Malphas. a voice said, where they found an older man standing in the middle of the chamber they teleported into, but his eyes seemed to be possessed by the powers of Hell, which meant that the one Kulle was going to warn them about was in control of the man, Kulle... you have returned, to the engine you abandoned... and you brought bodies for me to take over.

"Oh wonderful, a parasitic demon." Luna remarked, as this reminded her of Nightmare Moon, due to the fact that some of the ponies had gotten it into their heads that her dark side was actually a parasite she had been infected with while she was fighting the dangers of the night, which was the furthest from the truth, "Well, if that's all you're after, then come and get me."

Kulle wondered what Luna was doing and found that Malphas twisted Ayuzhan's face into a twisted smile, like he was going to take great pleasure by doing this, which was followed by a red mist surging out of his friend's body before rushing right for where Luna was standing. This confirmed one thing for Kulle, that Malphas didn't have the power to fully use the Loom's might against those who entered the Gatehall, otherwise he would have made constructs to fight them, or at least stun one or more of them so the demon could possess them. In the following moment Leah made her move, rushing in front of Luna as the mist slammed into her chest, though while Kulle was initially worried, since the girl was the only one who could use the Black Soulstone now that it had so many Lords of Hell sealed inside it, he found that his worry wasn't needed. Leah got up like nothing was wrong and it didn't seem like there was anything different about her, rather she seemed happy about something while he found that Ayuzhan seemed to fully regain himself over the next couple of seconds.

He wasn't totally sure what had happened, but it did look like Malphas had been beaten by something that Luna and Leah had prepared ahead of time, though when Leah turned to face him and Luna he found that she had a necklace, with a shard of a soulstone inside the setting, a red one that the demon had been trapped in.

"Well now, that is an interesting surprise. You had a shard of a soulstone." Kulle commented, though at the same time Luna did what she did best, she laid another of her seals on the crystal, forever binding Malphas to the shard, where he could see that the darkness that was the demon's taint was starting to fade away, banished with their master's downfall, "Ayuzhan, how are you feeling?"

"Groggy... or maybe like a puppet that's had it's strings severed." the older man said, who was also dressed like a mage, or at least some other magical force, before he glanced at the pair and focused on Luna for a moment, where Kulle chuckled as he found that Ayuzhan had the same glint in his eyes as when he first saw the alicorn upon his revival as a spirit, "Kulle, who is she and what's going on?"

"That, my friend, is Luna, an alicorn... there is a lot more than that, and there is too much going on for me to explain it all in a single setting." Kulle replied, that was the truth, he was learning as much as he could about Luna and yet there was always more to learn about her and her kind, both alicorns and the ponies of her home world, causing him to wonder if he would be able to learn everything about Equus and it's races, before he glanced around the area for a moment, "Looks like Malphas was using you to restore this place. Tell me, is the Loom operational, or do we need to repair it?"

Ayuzhan stood there for a moment, surprised that Kulle, the one who ran away when the demon infested this place in the first place, was actually talking about restoring and repairing the Loom, where he nodded and activated the portal frame that was nearby, allowing them to warp into the depths of the Gatehall. It was there that Kulle understood that he didn't ruin or even destroy the Loom when he left, the large orb with alchemical runes in the rings that floated around it was pristine, now free of the demonic corruption that had been attached to it. The Loom itself was floating over a large pit of lava, safely out of danger, and yet he could feel everything from here, his first masterpiece was operational, but there were things that they needed to fix, causing him to nod to Ayuzhan as they stood on the left and right portions of the edge. Such a thing allowed them to channel their magical energies into the orb, where only they, and they alone, fully understood how to use the orb and it's vast power, and yet he also nodded to Luna for a moment, who weaved a layer of her magic into the mix.

That caused a surge of energy to resonate throughout the Gatehall, along with the Vaults and connections that linked their entire system, Luna was ensuring that the entire system was protected from further corruption, adding a silvery color to the Loom itself, and in no time their work was done.

"You were right, Kulle: alone, it would have taken decades of hard work to repair the Loom... but together we were able to do it in mere minutes." Ayuzhan said, as he could feel that the Loom was restored, the magic and power that was in here was just like it had been when he and Kulle first succeeded in creating the orb, before he realized something, to confirm that the Loom was back at full power they had to make something, "We need to test it. What should we make?"

"Allow me." Kulle replied, where he held a hand out to Leah for a moment and she slipped the shard into his hand, causing him to channel the energy of the Loom into the center of the chamber, where Luna and Leah stepped to the side as they watched what happened next.

The power of the Loom was brought to life before their eyes, metal and components weaving together before their eyes to make what appeared to be a frame of a construct, one that looked like the Lacuni they had fought throughout Caldeum, but it also had bone armor. Luna could see that, even though it wasn't like what the clan in the deserts wore, rather it almost looked like the bones were part of the body and were coming out of certain parts like the arms and legs, though at the same time she knew Kulle was altering things to match his desires. Even Ayuzhan was surprised by this turn of events, no doubt due to the fact that they had likely made more peaceful constructs before Kulle created his guardians, and the mage added a pair of bone horns with some bone plating on the back. It was like he was making a demon, the claws on it's hands and feet were definitely made for combat, and while she could tell his creation was definitely a construct, she had witnessed it being made after all, part of it seemed almost natural, similar to a living person.

It was like a demonic Lacuni, maybe 'empowered' or even an 'ascended', and there seemed to be a slot inside the chest area, where Kulle slipped the shard into it before it disappeared into the core of the construct, where they watched as his creation came to life before their eyes.

"Malphas, can you hear me?" Kulle asked, because this was part of something that had come to him while he was watching Luna and Leah with their skills and listening to them talk, he wanted to see if there were demons that might turn against the forces of Hell, like the Mother of Sanctuary, Lilith, and this demon was a good first step.

"...Yes... I can." the demon construct replied, where they watched as the figure flexed it's hands and arms, shifted it's legs and claws, and even moved the tail that was attached to it, just like the species that it was based on, even though it was very clear that Malphas was surprised by this turn of events, "Kulle... what do you want?"

"We're gearing up for a war with Azmodan, the last Lord of Hell, and since you were expelled from Hell I was thinking of us coming to an arrangement." Kulle stated, where Luna smiled for a moment as she understood what Kulle was doing, he was gathering more allies and knew that a demon of Malphas' ability, to invade the Loom like he had done, would be a worthy ally in the days to come, especially since he might have information for them to use against Azmodan, "We have need of the information you possess, and when the time comes you can go to war with our army, fighting against the demons of Hell... and maybe the angels of Heaven, if Imperius ever decides to come at us... not only do you get revenge, but you get a body of your own, and maybe even a force of constructs to lead against the forces of Hell."

"So, I become a turncoat, a traitor to Hell, and get to take down some of Azmodan's forces? Sounds like fun." Malphas said, as the demon had stopped checking out it's body, or rather 'his' body, and it looked like he was ready to get to work, which was a testament to Kulle's skills in turning potential enemies into allies, especially since the demon had been cast out by the rest of his kind.

"You know, now I'm really glad I went to find uncle Deckard's locket... finding that soulstone shard really came in handy, even if it was in a way I wasn't expecting." Leah commented, though at the same time Luna nodded her head in agreement, that one shard had been what allowed them to take down a demon before it could really do anything, and Kulle turned that into an advantage by giving the demon that had been possessing his friend his own body.

"And with the Loom in our possession Kulle is going to start making an army of constructs." Luna said, watching the pair of mages interact with the reborn demon, who seemed pleased with this turn of events since Kulle had guessed what Malphas wanted and was giving him the means to have his revenge, "Azmodan is going to be surprised when we use this against him and his forces."

Leah nodded as they walked out of the core of the Gatehall with Kulle and their new allies, no doubt so they could begin to plan out what else needed to be done to find the last Lord of Hell, though Leah was eager for her training with Luna while she wondered what the coming days held in store for them and their allies.