bandwagons!

gonna add character pics as i add them to the tale

The Boss (Sherlok)


Maribo


Gunter


Alice




Prologue-

The boy had heard of the dreaded kazan syndrom, filling men with rage and madness, driving them to commit unspeakable acts. The laws of his village said that if anyone was diagnosed with the the disease, there would be two options. The first, was amputation of the infected limb, in order to stop it from spreading any further. The second option, in case the infection had spread too far, was to put the infected to death.

So when the boy noticed the tell-tale red blotch on his lower wrist, he did what any child would do in such a circumstance; he hid it. For weeks the boy kept his arm hidden, wrapped in bandages and feigning an injury he had gotten while playing out in the woods. He tried not to think about it, and prayed that nobody would notice the bandaged area of his arm growing larger and larger. At night he begged the gods to cure him, to save him from this nightmare, but as the sun came up he did his best to continue living a normal life with his friends and family.

It was a sunny day in mid summer when the boy would bid farewell to his village. However, it was not a happy farewell. The boy had been playing near a river with a group of other village children. He had been infected for about a month, and his bandages had spread from fingertip to shoulder, and was becoming increasingly difficult to hide. He ran through the woods, playing tag with the other children, ignoring the pain throbbing in his arm. He had more or less gotten used to it. It was a dull throbbing, almost like his arm had a heartbeat of its own, and every beat sent a ripple of pain through his arm.

"you'll never catch me, everyone knows you're the slowest in the village" one of the boys teased while dashing away. The boy ran after him, catching up rather quickly. They ran neck and neck and the boy reached out with his bandaged arm to tag him, when suddenly a sharp searing pain shot through his arm, and then, as if with life of its own, the arm snatched out and clawed the other boys back, raking across and tearing both shirt and flesh. The boy screamed and toppled forward, his own momentum carrying him into an odd sort of summersault, eventually landing on his knees, trying to clutch the wound on his back.

"What the hell is wrong with you asshole!?" The boy cried out in pain and frustration.

"I.., I don't know. I didnt mean to! It was an accident!"

The boy had risen off his knees and charged at him, knocking him back onto the ground. The boy started punching angrily, and instinctively the boy raised his arms to defend his face. When the other boy went to knock his hands away, he accidentally tore some of the bandages off, and fell back in horror.

"You're infected!" he shouted. By now the other children had started to gather, and all stood back looking. "He's infected! He tried to kill me!" the boy yelled to the other children.

The pain in the boys arm had not subsided, but instead grown sharper and more intense. The bruises he had on his face where the other boy had been punching were nothing compaired to the searing pain shooting through his entire right arm. He clutched his wrist with his left hand, breathing heavily.

"He's gonna attack us! He's gonna kill us" the boy with the wound shouted in a panic, and began searching around frantically. He found a large stick lying nearby and grabbed it. He ran forward and started pummeling his one time friend. "Help me!" he shouted to the other children. "If we dont stop him he'll kill us all!"

The other children looked confused and afraid, but seeing the boy kneeling down, clutching a red clawed hand, and seeing the bleeding wound on the other boys back, they followed suit, grabbing stones and sticks and pummeling the boy, trying to end his life.

The feeling of sticks and rocks hitting his body were like flies landing on him in comparison to the pain in his arm. His head was hazy, and through the pain he could hear a voice whispering to him. "You aren't the monster. You are a victim. They're attacking you, they are the monsters. You must defend yourself. Hate them, detest them, kill them. Kill them all." The boys head grew even more clouded, and as he rose to his feet, slowly, with purpose, his mind faded into unconsiousness.

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When he awoke, the pain in his arm had subsided, but he could now feel the pain all over the rest of his body, where he had been hit with sticks and rocks repeatedly. He somehow found himself laying back against a tree, and rose slowly, every part of his body screaming in pain. Wondering how he got away from the other children, he began to make his way back toward the village. Once he got back near the river where the event had occured, he slowed, hiding behind a tree and checking to make sure the coast was clear, but what he saw was worse than any nightmare he could have imagined.

There, by the river, was blood. Too much blood. It was everywhere, coating the trees, the grass, even the once brown dirt was now a dull red. Worse yet were the other children. They were torn apart, wounds to unspeakable to even blame on the forest goblins or taus. Limbs torn off, faces smashed in. The boy fell to his knees, unable to scream or speak, just staring in numb terror. He looked down, and for the first time since waking saw his hands. His bandage had been torn off completely, and his right arm was completely changed. Clawed, red, the hand of a demon, completely covered in blood. The same blood that was covering the area in front of him. His head once again grew light. The boy colapsed forward onto his hands, vomited, then fell unconsious.

When he came to once again, he had been moved from the river. His surroundings were unclear, and as his vision cleared, he noticed they were shifting. He was being dragged by the back of his shirt collar. He assumed someone from the village had found him, and thinking of the mess back at the river, welcomed the inevitable death. Tears ran down his face and he sniffled, crying quietly.

"Don't cry" the man said, in almost a monotone voice. The boy looked up to examin him.

The man was old, very old. Bald head, large white beard, slightly overweight, his gut hung down around his belt. Then he noticed the bandages across the mans eyes. Two of them, forming a cross, and on his back, swords. Many swords, of all shapes and sizes.

The boy stifled his tears. "I've never seen you before. Are you from town?"

"Hendon Myre" the man responded bluntly. The boy paused, then asked the one question that he already knew the answer to. "Am i going to die now?"

The man stopped, picked up the boy, and slammed him back against a tree, holding him by the throat. It was at this point the boy noticed the mans arm. It was the same as his, red, clawed, the arm of a demon. "Do you want to die, boy?" The boy shivered as he felt waves of murderous intent eminating from the man.

"You carried me here. You saw what i did...i shou-" The man tightened his grip on the boy, pressing him hard up against the tree "You did what any man would do when his life is being threatened, you defended yourself. That damned arm of yours made sure you went completely berserk, but I know the curse you carry. I've dealt with this damned arm for longer than you've been alive, and I know how to tame it. So you have two options, you can wallow in self pity, and i can put you out of your misery right here and now" As the man said this, he drew a short, curved blade from his back and pointed it at the boys throat. "Or-" He lowered the sword, and as he did the murderous intent the boy had once felt subsided, and he spoke softly, loosening his grip on the boy. "I can help you control it. I can help you master the demon inside you, as I have helped others."

The boy thought for a moment, then nodded at the strange man. "Good" he said, dropping the boy, who slumped down against the tree. "Get up, i was getting tired of dragging you anyways. You can walk from this point on"

The boy staggered to his feet and began to follow the man through the forest, winding through trees. "So.." the boy said meakly, sniffling "what do i call you?"

"These days im simply refered to as GSD" the man said.

"Are you blind?" the boy asked.

"I see more than you could imagine, but these" the man pointed at his eyes "these are useless. Fodder used to satiate the demon parasite. It's better that way though. I look in your eyes and i can see everything about you. It's said that the eyes are windows to the soul, and i prefer my past remain a mystery. So what is it i should call you boy? Surely you have a name?"

The boy stopped and thought for a moment. "My nickname in the village was always Sherlok, i guess I'll go by that"

"Good, Sherlok it is then" said the man. "Now that we're aquainted, lets hurry, we have much to do"

chapter 1

Years had passed since the incident back at the village. Eight years to be exact. Training had been long and difficult, but now GSD had a final test for him. Sherlok knelt in front of him. His red hair tied back, his skin burnt from training under the hot sun. He had learned to calm the demon, and had studied the sword for hours each day, learning the ins and outs of the weapon, until it had become a part of his body, an extension of his arm. His weapon of choice had always been the katana, prefering the sleek, fast weapon to the heavy broadswords or clubs sold by the local blacksmiths. He wore a chained shackle across his bicept, a magical device crafted by GSD to contain the demon, and keep it from spreading further.

"The time has come" GSD said calmly "for you to choose your path. You've learned to calm the demon, and have learned the basics of the sword, and now you must choose. There are four known paths of the demon knight, but none are easy. The first, is to follow the path i did. To strike a deal with the demon, and sacrifice your eyes in exchange for power. The second, is to further shackle the demon, and focus on mastering swordplay. The third option, is to use the demons raw, unshackled power, becoming a berserk demon on the battlefield. The final option, is to tame not only the demon in your arm, but others as well, drawn straight from the pits of hell."

Sherlok thought for a moment. He thought of the day back at the river, of mess he had caused, the horror, but also of the power he felt that day. He drew a deep breath, and knew the answer at once.

"I'll choose the third option. I will remove the shackles and master the power of this curse"

GSD let out a long sigh. "You realize, if you fail this test, i will be forced to kill you. Once the shackle is removed, the demon will attempt to seize control. You must overcome it, and remain in power. Kazan hungers for blood, you must use this to your advantage. Blood will become your element, blood will become your power."

"How do i control the demon? I remember the feeling the last time it possessed me. So much hate, i wanted to crush everything. How do i keep myself from hurting anyone? How do i calm the demon?"

Again, GSD sighed. "You don't. This process does not involve calming the demon. What you must do is direct the hatred. Every man has darkness in him. Jealousy, spite, anger, these feelings are natural, and Kazan feeds off them. You must give him something more. You must hate your enemies so much that nothing else matters exept their deaths. Then, and only then, will you learn to direct the rage the demon has, and wield it. Come, the blacksmith Gabriel has a request posted for someone to clear the nearby forest of goblins that have been attacking and looting. That will be where you take your test"

They made their way through town, stopping by the market to pick up a few provisions. One of the shop owners, a young girl named Canna, ran up to them, holding a bag of bread.

"Hiya guys! Sale today! Four loaves for the price of fiv- er...three! Get em while their cheap!"

Sherlok sighed and dug into his pocket, grabbing a handful of gold he had earned from completing various missions and requests around town.

"Here's 12 gold coins. Give me 4 loaves of bread and a bottle of elven wine."

"14 coins and you got a deal!" she replied, grinning widely. "I got a dozen brothers and sisters to feed, i can't just give this stuff away."

Sherlok reached back into his pocket and produced two more coins, knowing full well he was overpaying. The girl ran back over to her stall and came back with the items tucked neatly into a sack. He handed the sack over to GSD who tied it to his back, and they made their way to the forest.

Since the devolution had a occured, the forest had grown dark, and quiet. The once noisy birds flying through town had grown silent, and all that could be heard were the cackling laughter of goblins or the roars of the vicious tau that roamed about. Sherlok drew his sword and walked in.

They hadnt been walking long when they came across the group of goblins they were looking for. There were 6 of them carrying weapons much too large for them, obviously stolen, and sat near a fire, cackling and swinging them around wildly. Sherlok had fought goblins before, and they weren't much of a challenge, but some had recently learned to use magic, and rumors of goblins slinging bolts of fire or ice were too numerous to ignore.

"Now" whispered GSD from their hiding place "it's time for your final test. If you pass, you will leave this place to go and find your own path, but..." he paused for a short moment "if you fail, and the demon takes over, i will have no choice but to end your life"

Sherlok nodded, and GSD reached across, and loosened the shackles binding the demon

A familiar pain shot through his arm, but this time he was ready for it. He forced the pain back, but listened to the whispers closely.

"These goblins steal and kill the innocent, they deserve no mercy. Crush them...CRUSH THEM!"

GSD watch from his position as Sherloks eyes lit bright red, filled with a demonic bloodlust. He watched him grin insanely, and begin walking forward. The goblins took notice of him and grabbed their clubs and charged.

They ran at him, clubs raised, ready to kill. Dodging their clumsy swings, he kicked one back, then lept high into the air and came down, hard, swinging his katana down and cleaving one of them in two. The other goblins saw this, and two rushed in at the same time. Sherlok looked down at the puddle of blood left by the dead goblin, and, using the demons power, drew it up in front of him. The blood followed the tip of his blade, and he swung up and across, shaping a bloody cross in mid-air that he then slashed forward, slicing the goblin into several pieces. He rushed forward and grabbed another with his demonic arm, digging his claws into its chest, and felt a wave of demonic energy pulse forward as the demons chest exploded out, spraying the goblins behind with blood. Every bit of blood spilled seem to drive him into more of a frenzy, as his katana became lighter and each swing became faster and more deadly.

The remaining three goblins looked terrified, and tried to flee, dropping their clubs and retreating into the forest. But his rage wasnt satiated yet. He had targeted six goblins, and there was only the blood of three at his feet. He charged after them into the forest. He was faster than he remembered, and laughed as he caught up to the first and grabbed it by the back of the head. He picked it up like a ragdoll, and smashed the flailing goblins face into a nearby tree repeatedly, hammering it over and over until until he was slamming his empty palm agains the tree, and a limp, headless body fell to the floor. He turned and ran after the other two, chasing deeper into the forest.

When he came to a clearing he was breathing hard, and looked around frantically, trying to find them, when a loud roar came from the trees. By the time he saw the two goblins run back out into the clearing, he had lost interest. He was now more interested in the beast that followed.

Standing about ten feet tall, covered from head to toe in black fur, a wild red mane running down his neck, stood the Tau King. He was easy to recognize from the stories and rumors. He was drapped in ceremoneal bone jewelry, and breathed hard, holding a large, stone axe. The beast was supposed to have the strength of twenty men, and any man who has tried to confront him in combat had died. But fear was not what Sherlok was feeling. He felt two things. Rage, rage at the beast who had sent his minions to terrorize the townsfolk, and excitment.

The beast was clearly unimpressed by the tiny human, and raised his axe and slammed it down as if to show dominance, or instill fear. A wide, insane smile spread across Sherloks face, and he charged forward at the beast.

The Tau King swung his axe across horizontaly and Sherlok ducked beneath it and slashed across the beasts abdomen, slicing deep into the beasts belly. The monster roared and swung his axe down at him, but was surprised when he found the tiny human able not only to catch his weapon and stop it with his bare hands, but rip it from his hands and fling the giant axe away. He began smashing the ground with his fists, trying to crush the human, but he dodged back and forth, almost as if playing a game. The beast reached up and clenched his two fists together and brought them down with enough force to shake the earth, but hit only dirt and air.

Sherlok dodged the obvious swing and jumped, again cleaving his sword down and slicing off one of the monsters arms. The beast roared again, and turned to flee from the demonic human. Sherlok ran after, again leaping into the air, and landing on it's back. He raised his sword high and plunged it down through the neck, then twisted untill the monsters head popped off and hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Still driven by the bloodlust he began stabbing the body over and over, gasping for air between bouts of insane laughter. After about two minutes of carving the body he staggered back, and fell to his knees.

"Not yet!" the one time whisper was now a scream. "Not enough blood! There isnt enough! You must kill! You must kill everyone!"

His mind screamed at him, but he knew he couldnt let it possess him. He thought back of the village children, of the incident by the river, and he forced the demon back down into his arm, and held it there. The shackle that surpressed the demon had fallen off, and now it was his will alone that held the demon in place.

Standing up, he looked around for GSD, knowing he would be nearby.

"Shit" he gasped, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his hand. He dropped his sword and noticed he had, in his rage, crushed the handle of his blade, and shards of wood were now imbedded in his hand. He picked the slivers of wood out and licked the blood off his hand. He then pulled the broken handle off his blade, revealing a bent and mishappen tang.

"Really did a number on that sword of yours." said GSD, stepping from behind a tree. "But you did well, you were able to surpress the demon. Can't say much for method..." he nodded his head toward the mutilated tau body, "but you got the job done. Come, you can sell that thing for scrap, i'll give you a new blade, a present for passing your test. Grab the head, the villagers will be pleased"

GSD had left to move on ahead, agreeing to meet up with Sherlok near Suisha's bar. He walked through the woods dragging the large head behind him, leaving a trail of blood on the flattened grass. He thought back on how he had manipulated the blood durring his attack, and began thinking of new ways to utilize this power. As he wandered along thinking to himself, he was caught off guard as a bolt of fire flew out from the treeline, pelting him in the shoulder.

The bolt knocked him back a half step, and singed him a bit, but it was a weak attempt at magic. He surveyed the treeline and picked out three goblins standing in the shade, their bodies were red, instead of the usual grey or green. They grinned arrogantly, as if the ability to sling balls of fire had made them invincible. Still, Sherlok wondered where they had gained such and ability. Contemplating the enigma to himself, he sidestepped the next flurry of fire, ignoring the goblins.

"Wierd skill you guys picked up, especially for dumb shitbags like yourselves. Eithor there's been an improvement in your education system, or somethings up" He mocked, trying his best to anger the assailants.

His plan worked, and the goblins, no longer drunk off their newfound power, charged at him, hands raised holding spinning pires of flame. Sherlok smiled, and again felt the familiar power surge from his right arm and into the rest of his body. He charged back at them, this time without drawing his weapon.

As one began to lower his arm to shoot the magic fire at him point blank, Sherlok grabbed it by the wrist and twisted. The goblins wrist crunched and bent at an unnatural angle, and the bolt of fire in his hand flew forward, landing neatly in the other goblins face. Without loosening his grip he swung hard, flinging the goblins entire body with tremendous force into the burned one, still gripping his face in pain. He took satisfaction in the loud snap the burned goblins neck made on impact, and swung the flailing, screaming goblin back like a baseball bat, then swung forward hard, throwing the creature through the ball of fire the final goblin had thrown and into him hard. The two toppled over eachother, then retreated back into the woods, one of them still clutching his forearm, which had been broken in several places.

Sherlok again forced the demonic energy back into his arm, now familiar with utilizing the power. He was about to grab the Tau Kings head and continue onward when he heard loud laughter from where the goblins had emerged. It was clearly a womans voice, but something was off. The laughter reminded him of his own while posessed by his arm. Loud, cackling, insane, It was the laughter of someone posessed by a demon.

From behind the trees emerged, that is to say, floated a young woman. Long dark hair, with flame decorations adorning her hair. She was scantily clad, wearing a tight fitting, revealing red dress, and holding a large golden staff. Her eyes were aglow a bright yellow, appearing to be themselves burning.

Sherlok couldnt help but smile. After weeks of killing the hideous looking tau and goblins of the forest, this was a welcome change of pace. The woman smiled back, looking just as smug as he. He waited a moment before speaking, and as he had hoped, she spoke first.

"You don't belong here boy. This forest is mine. Go back now, tell the people of Hendom Myre they arent welcome here."

"Are you the one teaching these goblins how to toss fire around? Thats dangerous you know. Fire and trees don't really mix, and these goblins are, er, a few cards short of a full deck if you catch my drift."

"These pathetic creatures can hardly be taught anything," she mused "but they crave power, and i can offer it. Although it does get messy. Magic is a bit of a trial and error process, and well, fire has a habit of going boom"

As she said this she snapped her fingers and a dozen goblins appeared behind her. Although once again the usual green and grey in color, they looked insane, even for goblins, drooling and staring blankly ahead, almost as if possessed. She pointed forward at Sherlok and the goblins charged.

Letting the power surge into his body again, he rushed forward, but this time was caught off guard. One of the goblins rushed up in front of him, and as he went to grab for it, it suddenly turned bright red and began to swell.

"Shi-"

His sentence was cut off as the goblin exploded into a huge ball of fire, sending him flying back a good ten feet or so. He toppled back over himself and caught himself on his feet, drawing his broken blade. Tearing a strip of cloth off his shirt, he tied his hand to the bare tang of the blade to stabelize his grip, and stared ahead at the witch.

"Well thats a new trick" he called out to her.

"Sometimes even a failed experiment can come in handy. Although it can be a bit messy. You should see the humans i tried this one on. That is, if you could find all the pieces" She smiled

Sherlok's eyes burned with rage. His arm throbbed, and he charged forward into the crowd of goblins.

As he rushed at the crowd of kamikaze goblins he grabbed one by the head. Just as he expected it began to swell, and as soon as it did he threw it into the crowd. He held his sword across himself to guard but was still knocked off his feet as the goblin exploded, causing a chain reaction. As the entire crowd exploded it sent a shockwave of fire, burning the grass and trees and creating a large clearing of singed earth. He picked himself up and smiled at the witch, who was less than pleased.

"Not bad, human" she spit at him "You seem to have some talent, so I'll make sure your death is swift."

"Yes yes, im sure. But lets get to business here, you got a name sweetheart?"

"Oh? Do you intend to court me? My name is Binoche." She smiled again

"Don't misunderstand, there's bound to be a bounty for you back in town, and a guy's gotta eat. Can't collect if i dont know who I killed"

Her smile turned to a scowl as she raised her staff over her head, and flung it down. As she did this a huge ball of fire formed in the air and came down fast at him. He dove forward, dodging the giant incendiary, but was still caught in the explosion, tossing him back a few feet. He quickly picked himself up and charged the witch, feeling a familiar insanity fill him. He charged at her full force, ramming his shoulder into her abdomen and carrying her a few feet before slamming her back against a tree bordering the scorched area. She coughed as the air was knocked from her lungs, and without sparing a second, he drove his sword forward through her chest, pinning her to the tree.

She let out an ear piercing, inhuman wail, screaming loud enough for the people back in town to hear. Sherlok turned his head away from the woman and attempted to cover his ears. When the screaming finally ceased, it turned instead to a soft sob. He turned back to the woman. Her eyes had dimmed to a dull blue, and were filled with tears that began to stream down her face, as blood trickled out the side of her mouth. She looked up at him, and her eyes pleaded with him, no longer filled with the insanity of demonic possession.

"Please..." she whispered "please...find my sister. Tell my sist-" she coughed hard, spitting up blood. "Tell Kuraha im sorry"

She coughed again, spitting up more blood, then slumped forward. Sherlok pulled his sword out of the tree, unpinning her, and cought the woman in his arms. He laid her gently against the tree.

"Fucking demons..." he mumbled to himself

After about twenty minutes of work he had formed a makeshift effigy, and carried the woman over to it and layed her down. He grabbed a still burning tree branch off the ground and tossed to the pile, lighting it ablaze. He knelt for a moment and said a prayer for the woman, then continued back to town. His sword was a mess; the blade was bent, the tip dulled, the tang further crushed into a twisted mass of steel. In fact, at this point, he could probably do more damage with the handle than the blade. He walked back towards the village, dragging the beasts head, and now had the womans golden staff tied to his back.

The rest of his trip was uneventful, stopping only once to eat one of the pieces of bread and drink some of the wine. The bread was stale, and the wine tasted like it had been watered down, but he had learned that going back and complaining didnt result in much, other than Canna throwing a temper tantrum, so he sighed and choked it down.

When he finally arived at the gates of town he decided it was best to cover the head, so he pulled the remaining bread out of the sack and stuffed it in his pockets, and crammed the head inside. The blood on it had more or less dried, but the bottom of the bag still became soaked in blood. He glanced around at the gate, not wanting to alarm the villagers, but found it futile. The town was as busy as ever, people walking everywhere. He sighed and walked inside.

As he walked through the streets he noticed that people who glanced at him all gasped or jumped when their eyes met his. He didnt think much of it, people were never really all to fond of demon knights, but something was different. He continued walking until he got to a fountain in the town square and stopped a moment to rest. He turned to splash some of the water on his face, assuming he still had some blood on him, when he saw his eyes.

They had become bright red. No pupil could be seen, both of his eyes seemed to glow with demonic energy. Atop his head, from his red hair, two large, curved horns had grown. He reached up and ran his hand along them. They felt like bone, and seemed to come straight from his skull. He tugged a bit, but they seemed to be there to stay. He sighed and stood up, and made his way to the bounty office.

The lengendary arena fighter, Pungjin stood outside, doing some sort of excersize. He had a calmness to him that seemed to put people at ease. Sherlok walked up to him dragging the bloody bag behind him. He stopped at the front and waved Pungjin over.

"How can i help you, my young friend?" he asked calmly, not even taking note of Sherloks eyes or horns.

"Few bounties to collect on. Maybe we should go inside?" Sherlok asked, glancing around at the people staring at him.

"Nonsense. These people have seen blood before, mostly of friends and family. The death of a dreaded enemy is sure to be a welcome change."

"Um...that wasn't quite what i was...nevermind."

He lifted the bags bottom and dumped the head at Pungjin's feet. Pungjin's eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across his face. He walked past Sherlok, almost ignoring him. He raised his hands high and called out to the people on the streets.

"Friends!" he shouted. "The Tau King has fallen! This young warrior has slain the beast that has been sending plagues of beasts and goblins to attack our village! The Tau King is dead! The Tau King is dead!"

Sherlok fumbled for a minute, unaware of what to do. He tried to shush Pungjin, but to no avail. Then, to his surprise, a loud cheer went up from the people. They rushed to him and men started patting his shoulder and asking questions about the fight. Sherlok brushed them off, turned and nodded a bit, then hurried into the office to collect his pay, trying his best to hide a wide smile from a grinning arena fighter.

He collected one thousand gold coins for the death of the Tau King, a hefty sum. Since GSD had already promised him a new sword, he would be able to use the money for clothes and provisions. The people at the bounty office didn't recognize the staff or the name Binoche, but told him to go see Sharan, the dark elf leader of the Mages Guild.

He decided to first go see GSD at the tavern, and wasn't surprised to see him slouched out in front, looking like a homeless drifter. To anyone who didn't know the man, he would appear to be sleeping, but as long as Sherlok had known him, he had never been caught off guard. He wondered if, in fact, the man slept at all. He nodded towards his tutor and walked inside.

He was greeted by a familiar face. The tall elf woman Suisha, who owned the bar, rushed from a table over to him, a worried look on her face. She was tall, blonde hair tied up above her head, bright red lips, tan skin, and her usual long, red dress, cut about as low as possible. She always laughed and said it drew in more customers. By appearance alone you would think her to be in her mid to late twenties, but it was always hard to tell with elves. She could very well be a few hundred years old for all he knew.

"Oh, sweetie" she said, looking him up and down "you look terrible. I told you to take better care of yourself. So many burns! Come on in, take a seat. What can i get for you?"

Sherlok took note that she had ignored his eyes and horns and followed her to his usual table towards the back.

"Thanks Su, been a long day. Let me a get a pitcher of beer and a plate of that octopus bread you make."

"Comin' right up" she smiled and winked before spinning around and walking back towards the kitchen.

About a moment later GSD wandered in and took a seat across from him. He was carrying a long package wrapped in cloth, and laid it out across the table. Sherlok smiled and nodded towards it.

"That for me?" he grinned.

"Yes. You have done well. The blades name is White Heat. It's a magical blade imbued with fire. It should serve you well. I had the handle adjusted to suit your, erm, technique. It's been strengthened and enchanted, so you should be able to wield it without coming across the same problems you had with that little number" He nodded towards the twisted mass of steel tied to Sherloks waist. "Also, there are these." He pulled three matching blades of varying length from his back. "These are for emergency use. They arent as strong or sharp as that blade, but if you come across any problems, it's always good to carry a spare."

Sherlok thanked his mentor and stood and tied the weapons to his waist. He grabbed the wrapped katana and laid it across his lap. When Suisha returned she smiled at Sherlok and laid the food and drink out on the table, then turned and, with a straight face, looking annoyed, nodded at GSD. He smiled back, and as she turned to leave, he leaned out, his cheeks turning a bright red as he stared at her walking away.

Sherlok ignored him and filled his glass, and began to eat. GSD soon did the same, spilling beer down his beard as he chugged it a little too fast. After they had eaten and drank they got up to leave. Sherlok left a little bigger tip then usual on the table and waved goodbye to the elf girl as they left. He bid farewell to his mentor and headed toward the mages guild.

chapter 2

He stopped along the way and picked up some new clothes, since his had become torn and burnt. He decided on a blue vest with bone adornments, and a matching pair of blue pants. Finally completing the look with a blue fur muffler, he continued on to the mages guild.

He heard it before he ever saw it. Somebody was out front arguing. Sharan was easy to spot, even if he had never seen her before. She was tall, wearing a blue gown, with long silver hair adorned with a large blue rose. What made her so easy to spot however, was her dark skin, almost violet in color, due to her dark elf heritage.

The girl arguing with her looked no bigger than a human child, but had the long pointed ears of an elf coming out past her white hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. She wore a black collared shirt with green trim, and a black skirt that came down right past her thighs. The outfit was completed with a pair of black boots with the same green trim, thigh high white stockings, and a belt lined with beakers and flasks filled with various liquids. Sherlok made his way towards the engagement, hoping to slip past them and into the guild when the girl spotted him.

"You, you're that guy who killed the tau thing!"

Sherlok stopped and turned towards her

"Tau King" he corrected flatly, "and yea, that was m-"

"Whatever," the girl interrupted "you had to be strong to pull of something like that. You're coming with me."

She grabbed his arm and attempted to drag him along, but her tiny frame could barely budge him. He stood looking down at her attempting to pull him along.

"Uh...I've got a few things to do, i don't really have time to play today. Why don't you go ask your mom or da-"

He was interrupted again, this time by a swift kick to the shin, which made him flinch and step back.

"First of all, I'm fifteen, so don't treat me like I'm a child. Second of all, Sharan won't give me the artifact i need to get into sky tower if I don't find somebody to come along. She says it's too dangerous, so you're gonna help."

Sherlok stared at the girl blankly, not sure how to respond. He rubbed his shin with his foot, and finally turned to Sharan, ignoring the girl.

"Recognize this staff?" he asked, pulling the weapon from his back where it had been tied. "The woman carrying it was possessed. I killed her. She said her name was Binoche."

Sharan glimpsed at the weapon, then nodded her head.

"Yes, that's the second weapon of a pair, and the second to come here today. Her sister carried the other."

"Oh, good, is she here? I have a message from Binoche for her."

"I'm afraid she was slain earlier today by another adventurer. She was possessed by the same demon that took her sister. She attempted to enhance her and her sisters power through forbidden magic, and were possessed. A sad end to a sad tale. Thank you for helping to bring it to a close. You can collect the bounty inside."

The girl beside him was stomping her foot impatiently.

"Good, good, go get your money and lets get going. We've got places to be." she demanded, still stomping her foot.

"Uh, I haven't agreed to go anywhere. I don't even know what a sky tower is, so why don't we sit down and you can explain a few things."

"Ugh" she sighed "fine, whatever, just hurry up. See Sharan, i got someone to help, can you go get the artifacts ready? I wanna leave as soon as this guy's ready."

Sharan nodded politely and stepped into the guild, and Sherlok and the girl followed inside. After collecting his money from the front desk he took a seat across from the girl at a table.

"Ok" she started, "so here's the situation. This sky tower is supposed to be a gateway that seals Empyrean. The lost heavenly city. I wanna be the one to find it, and for some reason the doors have opened, and Sharan has developed an artifact that will allow people to pass through. The only thing is, it's filled with monsters and stuff, so i need someone to help me clear a path."

"So you're an explorer?" he asked.

She smiled "I'm an adventurer. A witch to be exact, a magical trickster. And these are my familiars"

She snapped her fingers and four creatures flashed into existance. One looked like a sort of worm with antenae, and glowed softly. The other, a Jack'o'lantern with a big pink bow, which burned in a ball of orange flame. Then there was a black cat with small, bat-like wings and a large pointed hat, and finally a what appeared to be a snowman's head, wearing a tophat.

Sherlok stared at them blankly, not sure what to make of them. When the girl noticed how unimpressed he was, she snapped again and they vanished.

"Well, if you weren't such a simpleton you would realize how amazing they are, but a barbarian like you can hardly appreciate the subtle beaties of magic."

Sherlok smiled as when she said the word barbarian, and replied back flatly, ignoring the insults.

"So we split the credit for finding the lost city? Doesnt sound like a bad deal, and if I get to crush some monsters along the way, then all the better. You got a name?"

The girl looked up revealing a smug smile "My name is Maribo, and don't get too excited about the monsters, I doubt any of them will be left alive long enough for you to have any fun"

They agreed to meet some time later near the forest by Grand Flores. Sherlok arived early, and unwrapped his new katana. The entire blade seemed to be forged from one piece of steel, including the handle. It was dyed bright red and had no gaurd, and the blade felt warm to the touch. He slid the blade into its sheathe and leaned back against a tree to wait for the witch to arive.

About fifteen minutes later Maribo arived. Sherlok stared in dismay at the broomstick she carried with her.

"What the hell is that? Are you planning to tidy up while we're there?"

"Cram it. Here, put this on."

She handed him a small green bracelet that glowed softly. He slipped it over his wrist and they headed into the forest.

Sherlok spotted the tower while they were still about a mile away from it, and wondered how he hadn't seen it before. The monolith towered up past the clouds and out of view, reaching farther than should be structurally possible without falling in on itself. Sherlok shaded his eyes from the sun and tried his best to find the peak.

"Don't bother" she chimed in "that tower is supposed to reach all the way to the heavenly city. You wont be able to see the top."

Sherlok lowered his hand and continued on. When they arrived at the tower, it seemed even bigger. The doors had indeed opened, and inside was nothing but an empty room, except for a twisting staircase in the center.

"Stay quiet," she ordered "I'd like to know where any enemies are before they find us. I don't like surprises."

Sherlok nodded and they made their way up the staircase to the second floor. Once they got to the top, they found a horde of small dragonlike creatures buzzing all around. The room was a long hallway, with another staircase at the opposite end, and twisting pillars spread throughout. They crept behind one of the pillars, and Sherlok began to draw his blade, only to have the small witch stop him and lift her finger to her lips. She reached into a pouch tied to her belt and pulled out a tiny clown-like doll. She touched it top of it and suddenly it popped and grew in size. It swelled untill it was about as big as her head. She then took a step back and hurled it into the room of creatures. Once it hit the floor it burst to life.

"Hey!" it screamed, waiving its arms "Mornin ya ugly lizards! How's it goin?"

Immediately the room of creatures swarmed the doll. Sherlok turned to the witch, wondering what the next part of her plan was. She smiled, and just as the they closed in on the little doll she snapped her fingers and it burst into a huge ball of fire, enveloping the creatures and burning them to ashes. She looked up at Sherlok, beaming.

"Yes, yes, not bad." He sighed "next floor is mine though"

"Deal" she said, still beaming.

They climed the next staircase and found the next floor guarded by eight tall, half-dragon half-man looking creatures. They stood about nine feet tall and held large spears about as tall as they were. Sherlok drew his blade and let the power from his arm surge into the rest of his body. The witch dropped her broomstick which turned and floated in midair, took a seat across it and began to examin her nails.

Sherlok stepped into the creatures line of sight and they roared and charged at him. He leapt into the air and came down on one of them, swinging his sword down hard. Hard enough to slice right down the middle of the creature and smash a crater into the floor, sending the other creatures sprawling. He took delight as the blade sliced through the creature, singing and leaving a trail of fire along the cut. He spun and stared at the other creatures, and decided to try a new idea he had been wanting to test since his fight with the exploding goblins.

He held his demonic arm forward and lifted his palm up, and the blood from the fallen dragonoid drew towards him and began to swirl around him. The creatures hesitated for a moment, then rushed at him, spears pointed out. He waited till they were close enough, then lifted his hand high into the air. As he did, the blood raised and exploded out, and as it did it hardened into needle like shrapnel, shredding the other creatures to pieces. Sherlok looked around admiring his work, but was interrupted by the witch sitting behind him.

"Are you freakin kidding me!?"

He turned and could do nothing to surpress a large smile. Maribo stood, holding her arms out in disgust, covered from head to toe in splattered blood.

"That is the grossest thing I've ever seen! What the hell is wrong with you!? Really!? You just spray blood everywhere!? What the hell is that!?"

"Got the job done" Sherlok jeered

He held his arm out and manipulated the blood to fall off her and to the floor.

"Well...that's a little better. Still freaking gross though."

They turned and made their way further up the tower.

They cleared the next few floors without much hassle, slaying the dragon creatures one after they other. The tower seemed to stretch straight up for miles, and as they neared the top the enemies suddenly became more and more scarce. Finally they ascended to a large empty room, lined with matching suits of armor. They walked along quietly, keeping an eye out for any enemies, but the room stayed lifeless.

"Lets take a break here"

Maribo plopped to the ground. She reached into her bag pulled out a flask of wine and began to chug it. Sherlok watched in amazment as the small girl downed nearly half the bottle before swinging her head back forward. Her cheeks flushed bright red almost immediately. She threw the bottle up to him. Sherlok, not to be outdone, chugged the other half, then pulled a few slices of meat and bread from his own bag and divided it between the two of them.

"So what's with the eyes?" She asked, stuffing a slice of bread into her mouth "unf thosh hornsh? Shomfin to do with that *gulp* arm? I've heard of the kazan syndrom, but never seen it do that to someone."

"Well, I kinda invited him to take over at one point, and this is how i ended up. I still use his power now and again, so i could end up looking even worse, but for now i just got these" He pointed up at his horns.

"Sounds kinda dangerous" she mumbled, reaching for another slice of meat.

Sherlok shrugged and grabbed another slice as well. After eating they sat back for a moment and rested. He leaned back on his hands and glanced across at the witch, who seemed to be having a bit of trouble holding the alchohol she had just downed. She was fumbling through one of her pouches when she noticed him looking. She was about to make a comment when he suddenly lunged forward at her.

"Hey! What the hell are yo-"

She was cut off when he grabbed her by the collar and yanked her forward. Her cheeks flushed bright red, and she swung her arm back to swing at him when she heard a loud clank behind her. She spun and saw one of the suits of armor standing over her, holding a sword embedded into the ground where she had just been sitting. She grabbed her broom and jumped to her feet, but as she did she felt the world spin around her and fell back down to the ground. Sherlok stood up and drew his blade quickly, and guarded another attack from the suit aimed at Maribo. He swung his arms up, knocking the armors sword high into the air and stabbed through its face plate. Unfazed, the suit swung its arm and backhand Sherlok in the jaw hard, knocking him back a few feet, pulling the sword out with him.

Maribo fumbled back and started grabbing at the vials around her belt, but her head was hazy from the alchohol and she had trouble finding the correct combination. She looked up in time to see Sherlok come at the suit with his arm out and lariat the top half of it off and knock it to the floor. He looked up and noticed all the other suits of armor had also sprung to life and marched towards them.

"This would be a lot easier if these damned things bled" he called to the Maribo

"I got it, just keep them off me for a sec, i have to get the right ingredients or we're gonna be screwed"

Sherlok again let the demon flow into him, and charged at the horde of suits. He lunged up into the air and came down, slicing about halfway through one of the suits of steel before his blade became embedded in the thick steel. Without skipping a beat he kicked his foot into its chest and pulled his blade out, knocking it back into several other suits which tumbled to the ground. He spun and jumped up, dropkicking the top half of one of the suits clean off the legs, which wandered around aimlessly. He rose and turned as one of the suits swung down at him with a large polearm and caught the weapon in his hand, which dug deep into it, spilling blood down the length of his arm. Laughing hysterically, he yanked back on the weapon, pulling the suit forward with it, then reached back and punched the helmet off the suit, then reached down its back and grabbed it and flung the entire suit into another group, sending them sprawling.

Maribo finally grabbed two vials off her belt and held them between her fingers in one hand. She then snapped her fingers and the snowman familiar appeared in front of her. She poured the contents into its mouth and motioned towards the horde of suits. The snowman then zipped up into the air above the crowed and began to swell untill it finally burst into a huge raincloud. Green rain began to pour out of the cloud, which fell harmlessly off Sherlok's shoulders. The suits however, immediately began to steam and rust, slowing their attacks and movement. The armor began to corrode away little by little, when suddenly the cloud boomed and a huge bolt of lightning fell and exploded into a crowed of armor, blowing the rusty suits to pieces. Bolt after bolt fell all around Sherlok, vaporizing group after group untill the room was cleared, at which point the cloud disipated into the air.

Sherlok took a deep breath and calmed his demonic frenzy, then held his cut up to his mouth and licked the blood up off his arm.

"Thats gross" Maribo nagged "Here." She grabbed his hand and pulled a strip of cloth from her pouch and wrapped the wound.

"Thanks. Nice trick by the way."

She smiled and continued wrapping the wound silently. Once she finished they grabbed their things and continued up the tower.

After climbing a few more floors littered with the same ghostly armors they finally made it to the top floor. It was a large room, a few suits of *momentarily* still armor, which Sherlok proceded to smash to pieces, just to be safe, and a huge doorway with various hieroglyphics written across it, and a large dragon carved in the center. Maribo rushed over to it and began to study the strange writing. After all the suits were torn apart Sherlok walked over to the doorway and stood behind her.

"So, how do we get this open?"

"Shh, don't interrupt. This is hard enough as is." She complained.

Sherlok sighed and started to wander around the room. In the center were four large pillars, and as he walked towards them, he noticed a large golden suit of armor in between them. The armor seemed to float on its own, and consisted of a chestpiece, boots, and a headgaurd. He wandered closer, admiring the design. He reached out to touch the chest when suddenly the suit burst into a flash of white light, sending Sherlok sprawling back. The suit seemed to fill with electricity untill a white siluette of a man filled it. It stepped forward, crackeling with energy.

"Shit, Mari, problem!" He yelled.

Maribo spun around in time to see the suit of armor spread its arms and release a shockwave that sent Sherlok flying back, smashing through one of the pillars and into the wall, leaving a huge dent. The impact shook him hard and he coughed up a large amount of blood. Maribo grabbed her broom and straddled over it, then zipped up into the air. She raised her hand and the small cat familiar appeared above her hand. She pointed at the suit and the cat spread into a wide blanket that wrapped around the Golden armor, squeezing tight. It held him only for a moment before he burst free, raising a pointed finger towards Maribo. As he did a bolt of lighting fell from the ceiling, knocking her from her broomstick and sending her tumbling to the floor. She landed hard on her shoulder, and her broomstick landed clumbsily near her with a thud.

"My name is Seighart, and by order of the Great Dragon Lord Bakal, none shall pass."

He raised his hand and pointed his palm at the witch. It crackled with energy and before she could reacted burst forth with a huge beam of white light. Sherlok grabbed his blade and lept in front of the blast, doing his best to guard with his sword, but the blast slammed into him with tremendous force. He flew backwards, again slamming into the wall. He looked up in time to see Maribo zip passed him, riding her broomstick with her arm cranked back. She flung it forward, this time flinging a glowing red bottle at him. It hit the floor and exploded into a huge pile of burning lava, but as soon as it did Seighart floated up into the air and held his arms out. Bolt after bolt of electricity rained down, blasting the poor witch repeatedly. She was stuck about 4 times when she fell back and hit the floor with a thud, her body smoking and unmoving.

Sherlok felt himself fill with rage. His arm throbbed with intense pain, but he could barely feel it. His eyes glowed brighter and brighter untill they seemed almost on fire themselves. He held his bandaged arm up to his teeth and ripped the cloth off, revealing the large gash on his hand. He held his katana tight in his left hand, and in his right blood flowed straight out, pouring from the wound. He breathed heavily staring at the suit, which decended back down to the floor beneath. The blood spun and slithered, floating in the air in front of his palm. He suddenly tightened his demonic arm into a fist, and as he did the blood compressed and shapped itself into a huge sword. The sword was a huge, square blade, razor sharp, and extremely heavy, but in his demonic arm it felt almost weightless. He swung his two blades back, and let out a loud demonic roar.

The suit lifted its palm again and released another blast of white light. Sherlok charged forward, dodging to the side at the last second until he was nearly on top of the suit. In a flash he was a flurry of swings, slicing huge gashes into the armor and through the body of energy. The suit whipped one of its hands down and, in a similar manner, produced a glowing blade of energy. He swung it down, but caught only air. Sherlok spun behind the suit and stabbed the bloody sword through the chest of the suit, then ripped it up through the top, tearing through the armor like paper. He spun with his back to the suit, flinging his left hand around and impaling the front of the armor with his katana, then ripping it back out. Seighart swung back and forth with his glowing blade but remained unable to hit the berserker. Sherlok held both of his blades together and swung down hard, cleaving the entire suit in half, which fell to the ground with a loud clang.

Sherlok rushed over to the witch who still remained motionless on the floor. He turned her over and shook her a bit, at which point she coughed hard and looked up.

"Damn that hurt a lot" she smiled. Sherlok laughed and helped her to her feet. She picked up her broom and she began to speak.

"It's no good, the seal is to powe-"

She was cut off as the chunks of armor on the floor crackled loudly, and the naked siluette reappeared, buzzing and clapping with tremendous energy.

"My name is Seighart!" it screamed furiously "and by order of the Great Dragon Lord Bakal, NONE SHALL PASS!"

As it said this its body erupted into a flash of light, sending a powerfull shockwave out in all directions, blasting Sherlok and Maribo through the wall and outside the tower. They decended through the air at breakneck speeds, falling with chunks of rubble and pieces of armor. Maribo held tight to her broom and mounted it, shooting down faster trying to catch up to Sherlok. They fell fast, and Maribo reached out and grabbed Sherlok's arm seconds before hitting the ground. She screamed in pain as she grabbed him with the same arm that had most likely been broken from the battle moments before. She floated softly to the ground, and dropped him, rubbing her injured shoulder.

"Fuck!" Sherlok yelled "Are you telling me we have to climb that whole damned thing again?"

"No..." Maribo said solemnly "the doorway at the top is sealed, and the magic is too powerful. I doubt even Sharan could do anything to break it. That way is locked."

She rubbed her shoulder, and stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry, I almost got us killed for nothing. This whole thing was a waste of time.." She sniffled, staring at her feet.

Sherlok sighed and patted her head.

"Well," he answered "You did save my life just now, and i never mind crushing a few monsters, so how about you buy some dinner and we call it even?"

Maribo wiped a tear away and smiled up at him. They wrapped their wounds and headed back out of the forest and towards town for a hard earned meal.

chapter 3

Before heading to the tavern they stopped at the mages guild to fill in Sharan of their exploits at the tower, and had their wounds healed by some of the mages there. They then headed back towards Suisha's and had a seat at one of the booths in the back. The tavern was busy, filled with the usual brawls and havoc, but Sherlok was quick to notice the tall dark elf woman waiting tables. She had long white hair that fell around her shoulders, and had a detached collar and bow tie around her neck. She wore a white sleeveless blouse with red trim, and a black corset wrapped around, tied up the front, and a short black skirt, with the same red trim, covered up the front by a white apron. Red heels and long stockings that ended at her thighs with red lace completed the outfit. Sherlok waved the woman over to take his order. He had never seen her in there before, and she seemed to be looking for something as she went from table to table, eyeing the customers up and down before scribbling down the various orders.

She walked over to their booth quite gracefully, stepping over a pair of men strangling eachother on the floor and around another man being shoved into her path and through one of the wooden tables, crashing though spilling plates and glasses everywhere. She took a seat on the edge of the table and crossed her legs, then, almost ignoring the little witch sitting across from him, eyed Sherlok up and down. As she did, Sherlok felt a cold chill pass over him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but it was something dark, like death itself was nearby.

"Well, well, well," she remarked "not too bad. I think you might do hun. I've got a little proposition for you, if you're interested."

Sherlok smirked, "Well, I'm flattered, but it's been a long day, and I'd like to eat first if you don't mind."

She smiled back, and leaned forward towards him, resting her chin on her hand so they were at eye level.

"You see," she said, ignoring his comment, "A friend of mine has built a ship, but this is a special kind of ship. This ship can fly, but I need a crew. Things work out right and we'll be able to see if this 'heavenly city' actually exists."

Maribo's eyes lit up, and she jumped forward to speak, but was interrupted from a man sitting at a table across from them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you wouldn't happen to mean Empyrean, would you?"

The man leaned back in his chair, with his feet kicked up on the table. He had shaggy brown hair, covered by a brown western style hat, and wore a white tshirt covered by a denim jacket, brown slacks and brown boots with spurs coming out the back of them, which, Sherlok noted, were sharpened beyond necessary for horseback riding. Wireframed glasses covered his eyes, and a cigarette sat burning in his lips, even as he spoke.

The woman sat up and shot her gaze in his direction, eyeing him up and down as she had Sherlok. She stood from the table.

"Maybe, depends who's asking"

The man turned and stood up. He was tall, taller than even the elf girl. Standing a good seven feet, he tipped his hat and smiled.

"Name's Gunter, little lady, and if you've found a way to get me back to Empyrean then you can count me in on this little expedition of yours."

"Back?"

"Yes ma'am. I aint from here, fell right through the middle ocean and came out here. Lucky enough to hit water, otherwise i'd look more like gumbo than the fine 'gent you see before you."

Maribo jumped from her seat. "Hold on, if you found how to get there then count me in too!"

The woman eyed the tiny witch strangely, then started to protest but was interupted by Sherlok who coughed loudly, then shook his head at her. He motioned her over and whispered to her.

"She's plenty strong, saved my life a few times. She doesn't take kindly to being treated like a kid, so fair warning."

The woman nodded. "And you?"

"Well, i just spent the day climbing a never ending tower filled to the brim with creatures of every sort trying to kill me, only to find a dead end and get tossed back out, literally, because i was trying to find this damned city. So if this guy says it exists and you know the way, I'm in."

She smiled "well then, looks like we have our crew. My name is Alice, and I'll be your captain."

"Fantastic." Sherlok clapped his hands "maybe you can take our order now?"

After eating they agreed to meet at the docks of Coastal Junction in the morning, and headed home. Sherlok made his way back to his apartment, tossed is gear into the corner, fell back onto his bed and immediately fell asleep.

He woke that morning to the smell of breakfast wafting from his kitchen. He jumped awake and grabbed his sword and turned the corner to find the dark elf woman cooking over the fire pit. He smiled and set his sword down and wandered in. His face straightened, however, when he found the shaggy haired man sitting at the table with his feet kicked up.

"I thought we were supposed to meet by the docks?" Sherlok asked, stretching his arms and yawning.

"Well," smiled Alice "I thought we could use a good meal before we set out."

Sherlok glanced over towards the man, who had made himself a large cup of coffee and read a paper without glancing up. His cigarette was burned down to a nub, indicating he had been there for a bit. He pulled it from his mouth and put it out on the table, then reached into his jacket and produced another, placing it in his lips. He then patted his pockets searching for something.

"Oi," he said, turning to Sherlok "you got a light man?"

Sherlok picked up his sword and before the man could react he drew it and swung the blade down over the tip of the cigarette, lighting it with the fire imbued weapon."

The man pulled the cigarette from his mouth and stared at it for a second.

"Cool sword." he said, smiling. He flipped the paper back up and continued reading.

"Where's Maribo?" Sherlok asked, pouring himself a cup of black coffee. He walked over to the table and sat across from the man.

Alice shrugged. "She said she wanted to test a few experiments before we set out."

She walked over to the table and set down a plate of bacon and diced potatoes. Sherlok thanked her and they at quickly, then headed towards the docks.

Maribo was waiting when they got there, her broomstick floating behind her and her foot stomping impatiently.

"You're all late!" She complained, her face pursed into a pout.

"I told you you should come eat." Smiled Alice.

"Whatever, where's this flying ship? I don't see anything but boats here."

Alice pointed towards one of the smaller boats. It had no sails, but a large fin rising from the middle. As she pointed, a woman waved from the craft. Her hair was tied up, and she wore a pair of orange goggles over the top of her head.

"Kiri!" Gunter shouted, waving. "That's Lady Kiri! She's from Empyrean, like me! She's famous, supposed to be the fastest gun around!" He informed the group excitedly.

"Well," said Alice "She's our ticket there. This ship is hers. She's paying us to test it for her and see if it makes it."

"Can that think actually fly?" asked Maribo, eyeing the craft and looking a bit disappointed.

"We'll see, but Kiri has yet to let me down."

They wandered over and boarded the vessel.

"Welcome aboard guys. Looks like you got a good crew Alice, not bad. So here's how this is gonna work, this thing is on autopilot, so it should take you straight there. Once you get there, find Marlene Kitzka. This ship is her design, so she should be able to provide you with one to get back. If this works out we may be able to find a way to connect Arad with Empyrean once more" Kiri said with a wide grin.

The crew nodded, dumped their gear and took their places around the ship. Kiri stepped off the ship and waved, then reached into her pocket and pulled out a strange metalic device. She punched a few buttons and a pair of wide wings stretched from the sides of the ship, and a loud whir could be heard from below deck. The ship lifted from the water and floated in the air for a moment.

"Good luck guys! And if it explodes, I'll make sure we find your bodies and give you a decent funeral!" She grinned and pressed another button, and the ship began to rise further into the air, flying higher and higher.

As the ship soared higher and higher, Sherlok found a seat against the mast and worked on sharpening his blades. Maribo leaned over the edge of the rail, looking out at the ocean slowly becoming smaller and smaller, while Alice checked over some maps. Gunter, however, leaned over the opposite edge, his face green and his hand clapped over his mouth.

"How ya doin over there?" Sherlok asked sarcastically.

Gunter turned to answer, but before he could speak his cheeks swelled up and he turned and heaved over the side. Sherlok laughed and went back to work on his sword. Alice came over and sat beside him and closed her eyes.

"Don't tease." Alice laughed.

"Holy cow!" Mari yelled, pointing "what is that thing!?"

They got up and rushed to see what she was pointing at. A whale, big enough to be its own continent, soared above them. As they lifted higher and higher it seemed to grow to unbelievable size. They stared at the creature in amazement, speechless. Its huge tail waved up and down and its fins slowly lifted and fell, giving it the appearance of swimming.

"God damn....." Sherlok stared in amazement.

After they lifted past the creature they looked down to see forests, and what appeared to be the ruins of an ancient city on its back. Alice checked her notes frantically, trying to find some note of the creature somewhere, but to no avail. Suddenly, as if prompted by the creature, the ship shuddered, and began to sputter loudly. Alice jumped, and ran below deck.

"That sure as hell doesn't sound good." Sherlok yelled.

She reappeared a moment later, a half smile spread over her face.

"Well," she said "at least we have somewhere to land that isnt a couple thousand feet below us."

"What the hell do you mean a place to land!?" demanded Maribo, "you dont actually think it's a good idea to park on that thing do you?"

"Good idea or not, we're going do-"

The ship heaved once more, cutting Alice off mid sentence, then started to slowly decend. Alice ran and grabbed the wheel and steered towards the creature. She guided it as it glided down towards a mass of water and landed with a huge splash, spraying everyone on board. Gunter once again turned over the side and heaved as everyone else struggled to stay on their feet. After the ship settled, they turned towards Alice, all with expressions that could only be read as "what now?"

"The engine needs to charge, does anyone happen to have some....uh....electricity?" She said, keeping the same half smile.

All eyes turned to Maribo, and she sighed as loudly as she could, then snapped her fingers and the little glowing wormlike familiar appeared. She reached into her bag and pulled out some strange looking powder, feeding it to the creature. As soon as it had taken a bite it began to morph into a huge wheel with a tall electrode on top. Alice went below deck again and came back with a pair of wires, which Maribo hooked up to the strange looking device. She then climbed inside the wheel and began to run, and the machine sprung to life, sending waves of electricity down the wires underneath the deck to the engine.

"This might take a while" she panted "i can't do this all day, and I'll need a break now and again. We should be ready to go in the morning, so why don't you all make yourselves usefull and go check this place out."

The three nodded and grabbed their gear. Gunter was the first off, jumping down and kissing the ground repeatedly.

"After we get back im never flying again." He said matter of factly.

As they turned and headed towards the ruins, Sherlok kept his hand over his blade. Something about this place made him uneasy, and he didn't want to be caught off guard. Alice walked over and bumped into him and smiled, then turned and wandered ahead into the strange city.

They hadn't been wandering very long when suddenly they heard a loud scream, and all three turned in the direction. Sherlok was the first to draw his blade and bolt in the direction of the scream, leaping over rubble and tree growth, flying through the ruins. Suddenly he saw a girl wearing a long purple robe running, with four others wearing similar robes chasing her, similar except they wore large stone masks over their faces, and had long curved daggers drawn.

Sherlok leapt out and grabbed one of them by the arm and flung them into the others, sending them tumbling over each other. The sprawled to their feet, and greeted him with a loud hiss. The girl hid behind him, peaking over his shoulder at them.

"Snap out of it guys!" she yelled to them, but the only response that came was another loud hiss, then one of them jumped forward. Sherlok went to swing his sword but was cut off by a loud bang, and the creature fell back dead. He turned to see Gunter blow the smoke off the barrel of a revolver, then slide it into a holster at his side. Sherlok turned back towards the creatures, which has started to shift back, then bolted forward at the two of them. Suddenly there was another loud crash, and a huge clawed ghostly hand burst from beneath them and lifted the robed men into the air, then clenched down. Blood sprayed out the sides of the hand and between the knuckles, and then as quickly as it came, it vanished, dropping the wet mass of robes and knives to the floor with a sickening plop. Alice appeared from behind Sherlok, and as she did he noted a gigantic ghostly knight vanish from behind her. He didnt get a good look, but it towered over the top of her, and he felt a familiar cold chill come from it.

The girl had slouched down and said a prayer as tears streamed down her face.

"Thank you" she said through sniffles, wiping her eyes.

"What the hell were those? How did you get here?"

Alice walked over to the dead creature that hadn't been mashed into paste.

"Nicolas" she said to nobody, then suddenly from almost nowhere a man appeared. He wore a purple tuxedo had short brown hair, and floated a few inches off the ground. He stood like a servant, with his arm folded over.

"Yes madame?"

"Check it"

He reached down and pulled the mask off the fallen figure. It looked almost human, but had been mutated by something. A hole smoldered in its forehead, and its skin had turned a sick orange color, while the mouth had become disfigured and round, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth.

Once the girl saw this her eyes grew wide and she fell to her hands and vomited. Sherlok knelt down and rubbed her back a bit untill she stood again, her expression changed from mourning to anger.

"Lotus..." she sobbed "I'll kill you for this."

"Lotus?" Alice asked. "You can't be referring to the apostle? That's impossible."

"He's here." the girl answered angrily "and this is what he's been doing to my friends and family. Twisting their minds, then their bodies to more resemble his own."

Gunter whistled. "Must be a pretty homely lookin fellow"

The girl glared over at him, at which point he turned and pretended to do something with his gun.

"How did you get here?" Sherlok repeated.

"I was born here. My name is Ophelia, Ophelia Bagrans. I'm part of a research group known as the Grand Blue Lore, or GBL for short. My ancestors came here long ago, to find the libraries and information located in the lost cities of Behemoth."

"Behomoth? Is that what this giant whale is called?"

"The Behemoth is ancient, older than Arad. The cities here had technology more advanced than anyone had ever seen, and libraries full of information. Even now, after hundreds of years of research, we continue to learn." She paused "Or we did, until Lotus showed up."

"Ok, so you just need us to kill this Lotus guy, right?"

"Don't be stupid!" she snapped, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "Sorry. It's just...Lotus is extremely powerful. He attacks your mind first, you can't even approach him or else you'll become like them" she said, pointing at the corpse.

Sherlok shivered at the thought. "Alright, but there has to be some way to stop him."

"There is, but we'd need to reach the ancient library, and to get in you need the four tombs of the GBL, which are guarded by high ranking officers. Once inside there is information on how to craft an item that can block his attacks."

"Well I'm sure they can see this qualifies as a bit of an emergency." Remarked Gunter.

"They can't see anything, they were among the first to be affected by Lotus' mind attacks."

"Ok, so we go and get these four books, get inside this library, make a few of these things, then we can take him out? Doesn't sound too hard." Sherlok smiled.

The girls eyes welled up again, and she jumped forward and hugged him.

"Thank you," she sniffled "he has to be stopped..."

The girl led them deeper into the ruins untill they came to a large building covered in moss. She walked to the door and placed her hand on it, at which point it glowed briefly then swung open.

"This is the council room, they should be in here." She informed the group, then stepped inside.

Inside were rows and rows of books. It seemed as though every wall was lined with tomes and documents, with a few ladders spread throughout the room. She continued on, walking cautiously. Sherlok kept his hand over his blade, ready to draw it at a moments notice, and glanced over to see Gunter doing the same, his hand floating over his revolver. Alice, on the other hand, seemed to stroll along without a care. The ghost butler that had appeared earlier seemed to have vanished once again, and there was still no trace of the giant knight Sherlok had seen earlier. He eyed her strangley, and when she noticed she simply smiled over at him.

Ophelia opened another door then jumped back as a blade swung down at her, slicing her arm. Sherlok drew his blade first and cut the arm off in a flash. His eyes lit with demonic force and he rushed into the room. Inside was a crowd of the mutated robed men, and when he rushed in they all turned towards him and hissed. He ran his blade along his hand, slicing into it, and again formed a great bloody sword in his demonic hand. He swung both blades at the creatures in a frenzy, slicing arms, heads, legs, ripping the creatures to shreds. Wave upon wave of them seemed to fall on him. Again he used the tip of his blade to draw the fallen blood up, and used it to slice bloody crosses into the creatures, sending them flying back in pieces.

Suddenly he heard shots ring out, and turned to see two creatures drop dead from the ceiling, and Gunter pointing two revolvers into the air. He looked up and saw the ceiling lined with red and blue octopus looking creatures, all with one eye in the center focused on him or Gunter. They began to drop one after the other towards them. Gunter crossed his arms and let loose a barrage of bullets, nailing each of them before they hit the ground, as Sherlok continued to tear through the robed men on the ground. More of the men poured in from the door ahead of them, and once all the creatures in the ceiling had been taken care of Gunter leapt forward, jumped off the shoulders of one of the robed men and flipped upside down, spinning in the air spraying bullets into the foreheads of the robed creatures.

The men continued to pour in, and around the corners of the door more of the octopus creatures crawled out and along the wall, then suddenly, everything froze in place. Sherlok and Gunter both turned towards the ghost butler, who had once again appeard from seemingly nowhere. Around his feet was what appeared to be a black spider web, that had spread throughout the room. All the men and creatures standing in it had it grown up around them, pinning them into place. From the shadows they could see a giants spider crawling around, jumping onto the men and sinking huge fangs into them, at which point they shriveled into dry husks.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Asked Gunter while reloading his guns.

"My pet" answered the butler "His name is Aracloso"

"Well thats just fucki-"

He was cut off as a giant blue serrated blade swung across the room, passing through Sherlok and Gunter, but slicing everything else in half. Sherlok turned around and saw Alice, hand out as if she were holding a blade, and standing over her the giant knight. He stood at least thirteen feet tall, covered from head to toe in black armor, holding the giant blade, standing in the same pose as Alice. His hair stood up and waved through the air, seemingly alive with dark energy, and he had a black cape that billowed off his own dark force.

"Holy shit..." mumbled Sherlok, staring.

Alice stood and as she did the knight followed her movements like a puppet, then once again vanished.

"His name is Ballacre, the Butcher. That," she said, pointing at the butler "Is Nicolas, the Prince of Spiders. They are my servants." She hesitated a moment. "I'm a necromancer."

As she said this her usual cheerful demeaner seemed to fade, and she stared straight faced, seemingly ready for ridicule. Gunter and Sherlok looked over at one another, then back at her. Gunter was the first to speak.

"Well that would be some of the coolest shit I've ever seen in mah life. I been wonderin' how a pretty little thing like you was gonna take care of herself out here, and lookit' you go."

She seemed to be taken back by the response, then glanced over at Sherlok. He was splattered with blood, and slid his sword back into it's sheath. He looked up and noticed her looking in his direction., and simply lifted his demonic arm up.

"What? You think I'm gonna be prejudice?" He asked, then laughed.

She smiled again and walked over to the corner of the room where Ophelia had curled up with her hands over her head, shaking. She placed her hand on her shoulder softly, at which point Ophelia screamed and jumped to her feet, then looked around. She stared in amazement at the room full of dead creatures, then back at the three of them standing in the center.

"You....you guys aren't dead?"

"Hah! Take a lot more than that to take care a' me" answered Gunter.

"Come on," Sherlok ordered "we still dont have the books we need."

They came to a huge door with various engravings in it and again Ophelia pressed her hand to it, at which point it glowed and swung open. The room was faintly lit, and inside was a huge stone table surrounded by chairs, and on the center of the table was another of the octopus creatures, except this one was completely black with red spotting on it. Its huge eye turned towards them and immediately one of its tentacles shot out at them.

Sherlok drew his sword and sliced it, which recoiled and seemed to heal back instantly. Gunter ran from behind him into the room and began to spray bullets into the creature. It hissed and swung at him, knocking him back into a wall hard. Sherlok ran towards the creatures body but was assaulted from all sides by the creatures arms, he swung back and forth slicing limb after limb, but was grabbed by the ankle and flipped up into the air. Another tentacle grabbed him and slammed him into the ground. He landed hard, but jumped back to his feet and again rushed at the creature. Another wave of arms shot at him, but this time they were all slashed at once by a familiar blue blade. Alice controlled the giant black knight and grabbed a handful of tentacles and swung hard, lifting the huge creature off the table and flinging it across the room into a wall. That was when Sherlok noticed underneath where the creature had been sitting, huge fleshy sacks, that resembled eggs pulsed and squirmed.

"Gunter, take care of those things." Sherlok yelled.

Gunter took out his two revolvers and sprayed the sacks untill they burst open and collapsed into a pile of green ooze. He continued to spray, but a few of them burst open on their own and more of the red and blue octopus creatures crawled out, scurrying away under the table or up the walls. Alice went to slam the giant sword into the huge octopus' eye, but was tackled by a green robed mutant that lunged from the shadows. The creature leaned up and went to plunge its knife down into her, but was tackled itself by the huge spider Aracloso, which immediately sunk its fangs into it. The robed creature flailed its arms and legs for a moment, then fell still.

"He should have one of the books!" Ophelia shouted from the doorway.

The butler floated over and reached into the robe and produced a large green tome. He vanished, then reappeared near Ophelia and handed her the book, then rejoined the battle.

Sherlok continued to hack and slash at wave after wave of tentacles, and spun around to find the smaller octopuses coming from behind. Suddenly Gunter flipped over one of the chairs and kicked away a man in a white robe as he went to swing down on Sherlok's blind spot. Before he could hit the floor he raised his gun and let a bullet fly, which nailed him right in the forehead. He ran up to the corpes and produced a similar tome, except white. He tossed it through the air to the butler, who once again brought it to Ophelia.

"Two down" Sherlok yelled, then jumped high into the air, bringing his blade down hard on the large creature, slicing down the front of it, just missing the eye. The creature hissed and screamed and began to flail its tentacles wildly. Sherlok focused his energy and drew as much of the blood he could towards him. He touched his blade to the ground, then leapt into the air again. He brought his sword down point first and pierced the huge eye. The blood followed the tip of his sword, and poured throught the creatures eye into the ground below, widening the wound as the creature screamed and thrashed. He drove the blood deep into the earth, then, still holding his blade pierced in the creatures eye, he drew it back up. Huge bursts of blood erupted from beneath, piercing through the creature and slicing it to ribbons while carrying huge chunks of rubble from beneath. The entire room quaked as geysers of blood erupted, shredding the octopus creatures nearby as well.

Alice and Gunter continued to fight the waves of octopus creatures and robed men. Gunter seemed to place each bullet into a forehead, picking off the creatures one by one. Alice held out her hand and her dark energy focused into a small glass orb. She threw it into a crowd of creatures and when it hit the foor and shattered. Suddenly a mass of ghosts swarmed around it, shredding anything caught in their path. They flew around the broken glass like locusts, then after a moment they vanished.

After picking off the last few creatures in the room Ophelia entered slowly. She looked around at the bodies everywhere.

"The two others who carry the books should be here somewhere..."

Everyone eyed the room. It was littered with bodies, with blood and various limbs laying all around. Sherlok noted Ophelia turn a little green as she looked around at everything, especially the huge creature, which lie in several pieces, its huge eye now with a large hole in the center oozing green puss.

Gunter and Sherlok both turned and stared at Alice. She glared back at them, then went to work using the huge knight to flip bodies over, searching for the two remaining books.

After spending some time flipping through the piles of bodies they finally came across two more books, one black, and one a bright orange. Again Ophelia said a prayer for the dead, and they turned to leave. After leaving the large stone building they hadn't walked far when they heard a loud roar echo through the ruins. Sherlok looked in the direction of the sound and tried to see where it was coming from when suddenly Gunter drew his guns and began firing rapidly behind him. Sherlok and Alice both turned to see a red blur run from piles of rubble to rubble, dodging the bullets. Suddenly it lunged forward at Alice, but was instead knocked back by the huge spider Aracloso, which knocked it out of the air onto it's back. The creature was large and brown, with a red mane of hair running down its back. It had huge teeth and horns coming from its head, and roared ferociously before knocking the spider off it and running after Sherlok.

Sherlok drew his blade with lightening speed and sliced a bloody cross into the creature, and, before it could react, ran up and dug his demonic claws deep into its chest. The creature roared as his claws sunk into it's sternum and lifted it off the ground. He felt his arm pulse with energy and shot the blood inside the creatures body out the back of it, blasting a large hole right through the middle of it and dropping it to the floor.

"It's a hunter..." said Ophelia from a stone structure she had taken cover behind. "They're supposed to be guardians of this place. They've always been peaceful."

"Not anymore" answered Sherlok as he eyed several more of them approaching.

Suddenly there was another loud roar, the same they had heard recently. Alice was the first to see it. A huge black hunter came running at them, knocking the other hunters away with such force they slammed into trees and rubble with a yelp then ran off. Gunter drew his revolvers and started blasting, but the creature moved with the same speed as the others, darting back and forth between trees and rubble dodging the bullets. Alice ran at the creature with the huge black knight at her back and went to swing at it, but before she could bring the blade down the creature swung its arm back and hit her in the stomach with its forearm. She sprawled backwards and was caught by Nicolas. She coughed hard, and looked down to see several deep cuts in her stomach. Sherlok ran at the creature, blocking another swing with his blade. The creature leaned back and puffed its chest out, then slung its head forward and spit a blotch of purple ooze which Sherlok lept aside to dodge. It hit rock, which immediately began to steam and sizzle.

It leaned back and it's chest puffed out again, but this time Gunter ran up and flipped over, spinning on his hands. As the creature went to spit it was met with Gunter's heel, kicking it in the jaw. The razor sharp spurs on his boots sliced into the creatures face, slicing deep and knocking its head to the side where it spit harmlessly. It went to swing at Gunter, but he dropped backwards onto his hands and sprung his feet forward, kicking it hard in the chin. The creature flew up into the air and Gunter followed, leaping up after it. He drew his revolvers and sprayed the creature in mid-air, riddling its body with bullets. The creature started to roar but it ended with a choking gurgle as Gunter placed two bullets into it's throat, then forehead. The creature was dead before it hit the ground.

They immediately rushed over to Alice, who was leaned up agains a stone pillar. Her stomach was bleeding badly, and the wound had begun to become discolored.

"The black hunter has poison in his spines, " said Ophelia, looking at the wound. "I can make an antidote, but i dont have the ingredients."

"Maribo will," Sherlok answered "Come on.." he said, lifting Alice up into his arms. "Lets get back to the ship fast."

"Sorry guys" whispered Alice, clutching her stomach. She coughed hard and winced in pain. Sherlok ignored the apology and began running back towards the ship.

They made it back to the ship and Sherlok lifted Alice up onto the deck. Maribo was sitting back resting when they came running aboard. Sherlok rested her back against the mast and looked down at the wound, which had turned green around the outside of the cuts. Alice's tanned skin had begun to grow pale, and she breathed heavily.

"What the hell took you guys so long? This thing's been charged for a couple hours now, did you find anythi-"

"Mari," Sherlok snapped "Alice is hurt, some kind of poison"

Maribo paused for a moment then rushed over to Alice and began digging through her bag. Ophelia knelt down beside her. Maribo glanced over at her but continued working without saying anything. She reached down and began to undo Alice's corset and pull her shirt up when she noticed Sherlok and Gunter both standing over.

"Girls only!" She snapped, swinging her broom back and forth at them. They took a few steps back, then wandered to the other side of the ship and took a seat near the front. Neithor spoke for a few minutes, when finally Gunter pulled out a cigarette and lit it up, then reached in his pocket and produced another and handed it to Sherlok. He used his sword again to light them and they sit quietly, smoking in silence.

"She'll be fine" Gunter said, almost to himself, "She's a strong gal, she'll be just fine"

Sherlok said nothing and continued smoking, breathing in the hot smoke and holding it for a moment before exhaling each breath with a long sigh. He laid back after it finally burned out and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

"Hey" a familiar voice startled him awake. He jumped and looked up to see Alice leaning over him. "You know we still got stuff to do, can't be dozing off now" she grinned.

Maribo stood behind her with a triumphant look on her face. "What the hell happened?" She demanded, her face suddenly twisting into a scornful scowl. "I leave you idiots alone for a half a day and you come back torn apart."

Sherlok smiled and took a deep breath. "Glad you're ok" he said quietly to Alice, who smiled and winked back at him.

"So, now that that's all taken care of, who the hell is this?" Maribo asked, pointing over at Ophelia.

She bowed her head a little "Ophelia Bagrans of the Grand Blue Lore. Your friends are helping me to stop Lotus, who has been attacking my home and fami-"

"Lotus!?" interrupted Maribo "As in the apostle? As in one of the most powerfull beings to ever exist? He's here? And you think you're gonna stop him?"

Ophelia reached into her robe and produced the four tomes and handed them to Maribo. "These will tell us how to stop him."

Maribo plopped down where she stood and immediately began tearing through the books, reading faster than Sherlok would have thought possible. Her eyes skimmed each line at blazing speed, flipping through page after page. After a few minutes she had torn through the first book and set it down beside her and grabbed the next. It only took her about fifteen minutes for her to finished the other three, at which point she popped back up and snapped her fingers.

The pumpkin and light familiars appeared and immediately began to morph. The pumpkin flashed and turned into a huge cauldron and the tiny worm again transformed into the huge electrode. She got to work immediately, running back and forth between the two. Everyone watched in amazement as without a word she crafted four identical silver bracelets, then set them down to cool.

"According to these books," she said between heavy breathing "Lotus dwells in the water. That's where he's most powerful. On here his power will be weakened, and he'll have to rely on mental attacks. These artifacts block the frequency his mind attacks....attack. Without that, and his physical power weakened by his surrounding, we just might be able to stop him."

Ophelia's eyes lit up, then began to well with tears. "Thank you.." she sobbed.

Sherlok grabbed on of the still warm bracelets and slid it over his wrist, then leaped down off the ship.

"Let's go" he called up to the others "We got an apostle to kill."

Ophelia led them to a tall building where Lotus had first appeared. She lifted a stone tied around her neck from beneath her robe and fit it into a slot in the huge stone door. The stone lit for a moment, then the huge doors split and slid apart. The group took a few step inside. Ophelia stopped and bowed her head.

"Good luck, and thank you. Please come back safe."

The group nodded at her and wandered inside. Maribo had only been able to craft four of the bracelets, so Ophelia was forced to wait outside for them. Sherlok walked in front with Alice a few steps behind, and Gunter strolled behind, hands in pockets while gazing around. Maribo floated on her broomstick overhead.

"These ruins are ancient" said Maribo while scribbling notes in a little booklet "more ancient than even sky tower. This is amazing"

Sherlok slid his blade from its sheathe and held it at his side. Suddenly the door at the opposite and of the room burst open and a crowd of robed creatures flooded inside. Sherlok went to charge forward but Alice placed a hand on his shoulder and stepped forward, holding her hand up to stop Maribo and Gunter from attacking.

"I got these guys..." She said. Gunter smiled and pulled out a cigarette and lit it and Maribo continued scribbling in her book. She pulled her arm back and the huge black knight appeared. Just as the crowd began to close in she swung her left arm forward, and the knights hand grew to gigantic proportions and slammed down over the entire crowed pinning them in placed. She then lifted her right arm back, and the knight lifted his huge serrated blade. It began to swirl with dark energy, drawing energy up from the shadows and into the blade. She charged it for a moment, keeping the enemies pinned in place, then raked the hand back and swung the blade down hard. It sliced through the enemies it came down on, and when it hit the ground it exploded, blasting the robed creatures throughout the room. They slammed into the corners of the room, smashing into the stone walls with enough force to crack or smash them. Alice glared at them for a moment, leaning forward and touching the place where her stomach had been scarred. She then stood up, and as she did the ghostly knight disappeared. She turned and gave a huge smile, and bowed as Gunter clapped for her.

At once everyone felt an intense rush of pain in their heads, and a voice echoed "This place is mine now! Leave mortals, before i crush your puny minds!"

Each of them fell to their knees and clutched their head. Maribo reached over and touched the gem on her bracelet, and it lit brightly. As she did this, the other bracelets glowed the same way, and the pain subsided. Sherlok stood fast and ran through the door into the room.

Inside was a huge stone structure, carved and formed to resemble a multi-eyed beast, and from behind bright red tentacles slithered, and five huge blue eyes gazed out.

"How are you standing mortal?" the creature hissed from between huge pointed teeth. "your brain should be mush, your body should be mine to command"

"Sorry," answered Sherlok, tapping the bracelet "I've got enough demons in my head"

Lotus swung a huge tentacle at Sherlok, who responded by grabbing it and ripping the whole creature through the stone structure and flinging it back towards the doorway. His eyes burned fiercely and he ran after it. Maribo zipped overhead and dropped from her broomstick, lifting her hands high over her head. A huge fly swatter appeared in her hands and she slammed it down on the still airborn Lotus, slamming him into the ground. He roared and flung a tentacle at her, knocking her from the air. She flew backwards, but was cought by Gunter, who flipped her to her feet, then produced his two revolvers and blasted away at the apostle. Lotus raised a wall of tentacles to protect him from the barrage, but a familiar ghostly hand gripped them and pulled them down, allowing the bullets to spray him in the body. He turned to whip more tentacles at them, but found them held in place by a black web emanating from the dark butler.

"Fools!" He roared "Do you know who i am? I am Lotus! The most powerful being to ever exist!"

As he said this he ripped all of his tentacles from webbing and ghostly grip, lifted them high into the air, and slammed them back down, sending everyone sprawling. They then spread out and found each member of the group and wrapped tightly around them, squeezing hard.

"I will crush you into nothing!" He roared.

The tentacles squeezed tighter and tighter around them. Sherlok gasped for air as his vision blurred and his head became faint. He looked around to see his friends being crushed all around him, when suddenly he heard a familiar voice burning in his brain. Kazan spoke to him in a demonic whisper.

"Is this it? Is this all you're capable of? You have access to all of my power and yet you still fear it? Pathetic."

His arm burned. "If this is all you are capable of then die, die like the weak pathetic worm you are. Continue to fear me right until you gasp your last breath."

Sherlok grit his teeth and began to breath heavily. The once crushing grip of the apostle seemed gentle and weak, and he spread his arms and escaped from its grip. With blinding speed he grabbed his katana and dashed through the room, slicing his friends free. They fell to the ground and coughed hard. Lotus turned and faced him.

He stared at the huge apostle, and lifted his demonic hand. Pieces of earth combined with spilled blood and formed a hilt of a sword which floated behind him. He then produced another bloody sword in his demonic hand, and at once him and Lotus attacked. Wave after wave of tentacles lashed at him, each to be sliced apart with blinding speed. As each tentacle was cut the blood flowed from the wound and joined the hilt of the blade floating behind him, slowly forming a large blade. He continued to attack until he got close enough to the body, and slashed down the center eye. Lotus screeched and flung a final tentacle at him, only to have it pinned in placed with his katana. Blood flowed from it and completed the tip of the blade. Sherlok reached behind him and swung the blade down forward, unleashing the full power of the demonic arm.

The blade extended and sliced the apostle down the center, and as it hit the ground it exploded into a huge rising pyre of hellfire and blood, lifting the huge creature while burning it to cinders. The creature roared for a moment before it was completely vaporized in the huge blast, which then burned way, leaving only a huge crater where the apostle had stood. The only remains left were a piece of it's tentacle pinned beneath his sword.

Sherlok fell forward and gasped for air as the demonic frenzy faded. He looked up to see the roof of the building had been blasted away, and chunks of rubble fell around the corners of the room. Gunter stood over him and held a hand out. He reached up and grabbed it, and was pulled to his feet. The two of them walked over to help the girls up, then headed back towards the entrance to tell Ophelia the good news.

Alice leaned on her butler familiar as they walked back towards the entrance. Aside from the wounds she had sustained earlier, she probably had a couple cracked ribs at minimum. Gunter kept moving his left wrist around and staring at it, Sherlok noted it had probably been broken, or at least sprained. Maribo coughed frequently, and rubbed her shoulders. She was bruised pretty badly, but seemed more or less ok. Sherlok walked in the front, holding the remaining tentacle he had pinned under his sword, and staring at the blood covering his other hand. He was the least wounded amongst the group. In fact, he didnt have a mark on him. Durring his frezy he had somehow absorbed some of the blood, healing his wounds. He continued staring at it untill they found their way back to the entrance.

Ophelia stood up from a kneeling position, and spun to face the group. Sherlok tossed the tentacle at her feet, and she stared at it for a moment, then knelt down and picked it up. Her eyes welled up, and after a moment she dropped to her knees and began to sob. Sherlok walked over to her and knelt beside her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it and squeezed, and continued to weep for a moment. The group stood in silence, and gave her a moment to collect herself.

"I can never repay you for this." She said, wiping the tears from her face "the gods truly blessed me to send you here. If there is ever anything i can do for you, please..."

Sherlok sighed. "Well for now, you can come with us. Our ship works, but we can't very well leave you here. Come back to Arad, we'll arrange rescue teams to come find survivors."

She nodded, and they spent the next several hours hauling books and supplies onto the ship. Alice and Maribo stayed aboard the ship, after some convincing. Gunter and Sherlok hauled the supplies back to the ship, and they took their places. Alice stood at the back and punched in a few commands and the ship sprang back to life, humming with full power. Maribo stood proud as it lifted with more energy than it had when they left, and Gunter immediately found a familiar spot at the side and turned green. They lifted off the back of the behemoth and began to descend back towards Arad.


CHAPTER FUCKING 3 END O:

After they landed the ship the group split to take care of various tasks, agreeing to meet later. Alice went back to Kiri to inform her how the trip went, while Maribo escorted Ophelia to the mages guild to talk to Sharan. Gunter immediately went to the bar for a drink, and Sherlok headed towards the back streets of Hendon Myre in search of his mentor. He hadn't walked far when he was approached by a young woman. She had long brown hair adorned with a silver hairpin, holding a black gem, and wore a long violet gown.

"So the Apostle Lotus has fallen at your hands. Indeed you are powerful." She said, staring straight into his eyes. "Your strength comes at great risk, yet you wield it quite skillfuly. Hone it, it will be needed for coming battles."

Sherlok let out a long sigh. He had begun to become accustomed to greetings such as this, but it still wore on him.

"Well, lovely to meet you too. I'd give my name, but you seem to already know all about me, so how about you tell me yours?"

"My name is Iris Fortunesinger, I come from a land called Pandemonium. Your companion, the mage, is from there as well. Our homeland is under siege from powerful forces, and you have already begun to help ease the situation."

"How so? I've never even heard of...Pandoranium"

"Pandemonium" Iris corrected "and it matters not, the forces that drive my homeland to despair are the apostles. Their very existance taints our land. By destroying Lotus you have begun to ease the burden on the region, and its citizens."

"Well then, you're quite welcome. All in a days work."

"You're strength brings about great responsibility, and your future holds many battles. Steel your hand, and focus your power while you can. Choose your allies wisely, their strength will be needed as well."

"Thanks for the warning. I'll keep all that in mind. If you'll excuse me i have a few things to do."

"Yes, very well. I do have something for you. A rare blade, a thank you for what you have accomplished. Please accept it."

She pulled a long wrap from her back and handed it to him. Sherlok took it and nodded at her, then slipped past and continued looking for his teacher. He found him slouched in a nearby ally, and as he approached he stood and faced him.

"Come, let's eat, we can talk at the pub."

Sherlok followed him back to Suishas tavern and were seated at their usual table near the back. Sherlok nodded at Gunter who was sitting at the bar, and Gunter tipped his hat towards him in response.

"So," GSD started "Iris tells me you've slain the Apostle Lotus."

"Wha-" Sherlok questioned, then stopped. "I literally just got off the ship a few hours ago. I haven't spoken to two people, how does everyone know that already?"

"Iris' predictions are quite accurate. She saw your deeds soon after you departed, but only a select few have been told, myself included. You have done well, I'm impressed by your strength."

"All thanks to your teachings, although i did improvise a bit. Some of the powers concern me, but I think I'm getting the hang of things."

"I have a task for you. I would have asked sooner, but i wasn't sure if you'd be strong enough to handle it, but you've proven how well you can control your power. To the east there is a mountain, known as Thunderime. Trade routes there have been blocked recently. The tribes there, known as the Bantu, have sealed off the mountain, and arent letting anyone they don't deam strong enough enter. I'd like to ask you to go, and find a solution to the problems there."

"I'll leave in the morning. I'll do my best."

"I'm sure that will be more than enough, but for now, let use drink, and celebrate your victory over the Apostle"