"For many years, I've walked among you. Through the vaults of Time and Space. Kingdoms fall, leaders die as I see fit. I devour, souls of those that pose a threat. I walk the earth, another day, the wicked one, that comes this way. Savior to my own, Devil to some, Mankind falls, something wicked comes!" -Set Abominae-Something Wicked, Iced Earth

A strange shadow made its hurried flight across Sailoon. It passed like a thief in the night over sleepy villages on its path from the North, and as it did so villagers stopped in their daily toils and looked about for their loved ones, or searched the sky for the first few cold drops of rain. The shadow passed over Sentinel, drawing a sentries' attention as it passed him by in the cold, early morning. It flickered briefly across a pair of sleeping lovers, causing one to blink blearily from her slumber and push bright red curls still damp from the all too frequent nightmares that she'd been having ever since she touched those awful memories... memories of being the Demon Dragon King. (made all the more horrifying considering the apparel she had been wearing in them... baggy overcoats? What was Gaav thinking?) Tess looked about dazedly for the disturbance that had awakened her before going back to bed. The shadow passed the glass black crater where once the Black Hills Fortress stood, further still into the unknown country beyond, until it finally entered upon the Blasted Lands.

The Blasted Lands... a ring of scorched and barren desert that encompassed the whole of the Inner Lands (as Sailoonian cartographers called them now that the Magical Barrier was no longer in place. The day the barrier disappeared also marked an extreme increase in the number of suicides among Sailoonian mapmakers, as they now had to actually work for a living) marked in it's dead center by a thin ring of blasted black glass that to this day still causes instant and very painful death to any unfortunate foolish enough to touch it with their bare skin. No Sailoonian had ever seen this ring of poisoned earth. The Blasted Lands are a harsh and unforgiving place, and it breeds harsh and unforgiving people. Any curious Sailoonian explorer who might have traveled to the Blasted Lands never returned to tell the tale.

Especially since the people who made the place home still harbored a thousand year old grudge against them.

***

The Messenger Arashi folded his black feathered wings across his back and hobbled his way into the temple. Those individuals in his path immediately got out of the way and bowed down low... the red triple clawmark tattoo on his cheek marked him as belonging to the warrior caste and therefore someone to be respected - and feared. He paid them no mind as he made his hurried way into the depths of the desert temple.

He had more important things on his mind. Namely, One that HE respected and feared.

The rough carved walls on either side depicted the history of the People. A tapestry of pain and sorrow, all starting a thousand years ago, and all because of the Inlanders. An archeologist would have been utterly enraptured (if he hadn't first been ritually disemboweled for having profaned the People's most sacred place) to see such an accurate record of times turned to dust. A thousand years ago the People had been a fair and beautiful race, migrating seasonally across the lush plains of their homeland in the same ancestoral path taken by their forebearers since time immemorial, following the game that they hunted to survive.

All of that was lost forever. No longer were the People a race of superb beauty. An event which none of them could have forseen or prevented had stolen their beauty from them, turning them into little more than beasts, twisting their bodies into a myriad of terrible and chaotic shapes. They had been forced from their homes and from their homeland and driven forever from the lush and beautiful place that had been the hunting grounds of their ancestors. Forced into one of the most dangerous and deadly places on the face of the planet, where a single mistake or moment of laxity and one very quickly found one's self a victim of the twisted monstrousities that made this place home (monsters, not the villagers), or scathed to white polished bone in a matter of minutes in the howling demonic sandstorms that swept the Blasted Lands unceasingly. In this vision of hell they waited...

Waited and burned...

Arashi stopped in the great hall where his God resided. Stopping before his diety, he prostrated himself (no easy task, since his body did not bend well at the knees. While this very well could have been due to his pride as a warrior, it was more likely because his legs were shaped like a bird's. This along with his numerous other avian traits made him uniquely suited to his appointed task) and gazed fearfully at the floor.

Messengers had been killed before while presenting news. The God of the People was as fickle and brutal as the Blasted Lands. It helped that the news he had to deliver happened to be something the God had been waiting for, though Arashi had no way of knowing this.

"Speak." the God's tone was benevolent, almost kind. Arashi licked his lips. Perhaps he would survive this day after all. Though again, with his God it was sometimes hard to tell... he could kill in the blink of an eye and never lose his smile.

"My Lord, the Axbearer has engaged the Soul of Fury. They clash even now in the heart of the world." He dared to look up, though not up as far as the God's eyes.

One avoided looking at the God's eyes if one could possibly do so.

To stare too long into them was to court madness.

The God smiled. "You have done well. This puts the last pieces in place." The God stood and drew up the hood of his desert cloak, smiling coldly as he did so.

"Summon the warriors to the Speaking Place. Go quickly. The Time of Vengeance draws nigh."

Arashi knelt frozen in shock, hardly able to believe the words he had heard. The God frowned slightly and he prostrated himself again, then ran from the room shouting joyously at the top of his lungs.

Several hours later the God of the People met a countless sea of eyes, some human, others... not. Tossing back his arms, he pitched his voice outward like a thunderstorm, riveting all attention on him.

Not that any present would have looked away. This was the moment they had waited a thousand years for.

"My people! The Time of Vengeance draws nigh! For too long the Inlanders have profaned what is ours by right of birth, blood and sorrow. Today is the day of retribution! We shall descend upon the soft underbelly of their pathetic, hypocritical "Kingdom of Light!"

He paused and lowered his head, his hair falling over his eyes, obscuring them. Only his mouth could be seen, grinning as he spoke. He seemed to whisper to each of them alone...

"For one thousand years, we have toiled and bled in these poisoned and desolate lands. Forsaken. Forgotten. Abused, we have languished and drunk our fill of the bitter waters of sorrow.

"The time of torment is at an end! Through our trial we have passed, forged and honed to purity of a razor's edge in the sands of this dying land. Now we shall drink our fill of THEIR sorrow!!! THE TIME OF VENGEANCE- NO, THE TIME OF THE TALON... HAS BEGUN!!!"

He raised one gloved fist before his face and threw his head back, black fire erupting from the void of his eyes. A sound somewhere between a scream of rage and a hideous laugh emerged from his throat. As one the Tribe of the Talon rose to it's collective feet and howled their elation along with him, clashing their weapons and armor against one another in an explosion of emotion. In the din, he lowered his hand and smiled... a cold, calculating expression that none of the Talon tribesmen had the presence of mind to notice.

-Pets are SO cute when they do as they are trained.- Talon thought to himself, chuckling. He ceased his chuckling and looked to the sky.

-Well, MOTHER... soon the heavens will part with the thunder of war... and blood will fall like rain. Are you proud of your son?-

The cold, merciless skies revealed nothing.

***

"Huh?" Red blinked up at the angry blue face that scowled coldly down at him. The events of the past five minutes still raged somewhat chaotically in his mind (along with the pain of losing a loved one... where would he ever find a new coat his size?) and he had a little bit of trouble reconciling the reality of the Chimera's angry words.

Calmly drawing his sword, Zelgadis gently shoo'ed a very confused little pixie off of his shoulder. Holding his sword before him, he concentrated on the blade.

"ASTRAL VINE!" he thundered, empowering the blade with his shamanic magic. It flared a crimson that competed quite well with the pit of molten lava for brilliance.

As well as menace.

He smiled grimly, brandishing his glowing longsword before the bandit's startled gaze. "I trust you'll understand if I don't wait for you to climb all the way up. I am after all, at something of a disadvantage."

Red blinked again. "Huh?"

"What the hell are you DOING Mr. Zelgadis!!" Mina shrilled disbelievingly... for all of his calm demeanor she could tell he was extremely pissed off. Perhaps the fact that the small woman-bug who had been sitting on his shoulder had been trying furiously to get his attention ever since he'd warded her off and he hadn't seemed to notice yet gave her a clue.

Zelgadis spared a quick, confused glance in her direction. "Mr. Zelgadis? What the hell are you talking about Li-" he stopped, then gave her a second take.

He stared rather pointedly at her chest, causing her to blush, and Pix to glare murder at him.

"You're not Lina Inverse..." he seemed to realize he was staring and coughed politely into his hand, averting his eyes. "At least... not unless she's found that spell she's been looking for."

"Spell?" Mina blinked. "What spell?"

"Er... Nevermind. Right now what we need to do get out of here." He looked anxiously back at the lip of the pit. "I'll try to hold him off while you escape. You have to-"

Mina pushed past him irritably and reached a hand down over the edge of the cliff. As Zelgadis goggled in surprise, Red took her hand and pulled himself up tiredly, crouching on the edge of the inferno once his labor had been completed and brushing off the dust that comes from being used as an impromptu wrecking ball.

"Wh.. what are you doing!?" Zelgadis sputtered, his calm demeanor gone.

Mina continued to ignore the confused Chimera as she looked Red over. He blinked and looked up at her. "What?" He growled somewhat irritably.

She threw her arms around him and squeezed tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. For a long moment he froze; momentarily shocked at the unexpected reaction to his attitude, then he returned her embrace with sincere dignity, though the expression on his face betrayed his embarrassment.

Zelgadis' jaw dropped and his eyes goggled. "Yo- You can't hug Dark Lords!"

"I thought you were dead." Mina whispered.

He winced and cricked his neck making an audible pop. "I was, but I got better."

Mina blinked, then shook off the impossibility of that statement; this was RED she was talking about after all.

"What in the Hell is going on here?!" Zel pointed accusingly at Mina, then at Gaav, then Mina again. He couldn't seem to make up his mind which was more preposterous... A Dark Lord coming back to life (apparently more than once), or an Inverse apparently caring if he was alright or not.

Red sighed. "I thought you said this guy was quiet and mysterious. I'm getting kind of a more panicked, confused vibe off of him."

Mina turned around and put her hands on her hips. "Mr. Zelgadis... don't you remember me? It's Mina... Lina's daughter."

Zelgadis frowned. He vaguely remembered a time when he used to visit the Gabriev family after they'd settled down. He remembered a little girl... precocious... cute... and judging from her attitude definitely following after her mother.

"Oh. Well that explains the.. er.. Nevermind."

He stopped looking so confused and brought himself back into composure. Composure was very important to Zelgadis. It helped him deal with the inevitable humiliating insanity that life threw at him, as though he were a character in an extremely sadistic comedy. (could there possibly be some truth to this? *the author looks innocent.*)"That still doesn't explain why you were hugging a Dark Lord."

Red blinked. "What the heck is a Dark Lord?"

Both Mina and Zelgadis stared at him in obvious surprise. He looked irritable. "What?"

Zelgadis happened to notice at this point that he still had a glowing longsword in his fist. Looking somewhat irritated, he sheathed it and looked at the pixie that was still attempting to get his attention.

"Master, please tell me what's going on?! Is that Gaav? Lina has a daughter! I don't understand."

He frowned. "Neither do I..." he shrugged. "You packed a lunch, right?"

She grinned. This was ground she understood. "Of course Master Zelgadis! It's in your pack."

He looked at the two battered and scorched adventurers standing before him. Well... counting Gaav as an adventurer of course.

"I think the two of you have some explaining to do." he looked dubiously up at the startled Demon Dragon King.

Mina and Red looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Good thing you brought lunch." Red sighed "This is gonna take a while."

It was Zel's turn to sigh. "It usually does... with an Inverse."

***

Lunch with a Dark Lord was an odd event for Zelgadis. A few surprises arose. For instance, contrary to what Zelgadis had originally thought, Gaav apparently either needed to eat, or was an extremely good actor. The mazoku lord ingested food like it was going out of style. Further deepening the levels of bizarreness in the whole situation, he also had impeccable table manners (more so than Mina anyway, but that was to be expected when one brought into consideration who she learned them from). Still, the tension around the spread that Pix had some how managed to set up (despite it being several times bigger than her) was almost palpable.

Particularly when one found one's self at odds with the Dark Lord over the last chicken leg.

Zelgadis found himself puzzling over this riddle as Mina (between mouthfuls) related the strange tale of the their journey for "enlightenment". Zelgadis was no fool. The "man" before him was definitely Gaav, though he showed no recognition at the name. While he had been enemies with the Dark Lord before, this stemmed mostly because Gaav had been intent on killing him at the time and not so much because he was a source of evil. Zel was a pragmatic soul, and one did not get into duels with Mazoku, let alone Mazoku Lords, if one could possibly help it. Still upon seeing what he had at the time believed to be his friend, though she was later revealed to be his friend's daughter (how he could have missed her... generous... attributes was entirely beyond him) in danger, he couldn't very well have left her to deal with Gaav on her own. Still, as powerful as he was, he hadn't really had any hope of winning, so when it occurred to him that he had an opportunity to avoid fighting the Demon Dragon King after all, he immediately took it.

He mused over the couple (and it was obvious they were a couple, even to him) silently, the thoughts turning in his head like well oiled gears. Gaav didn't appear to be quite the bastard that he once was... certainly not the palpably evil giant that he'd been before. Granted he had been a lesser evil (though no less powerful evil) than the Hellmaster, but he'd still been undoubtedly evil. Now he was... just somewhat gruff and arrogant. It was apparent that amnesia and Mina had had a good influence on him. Zelgadis remembered that Gaav had been sealed in a human soul... perhaps he wasn't completely incorrigible....

That was the crux of the matter as well, because sitting before him was perhaps the only being left who could possibly lead him to what he sought.

Red finished his chicken leg (yes, they'd been at odds over it, but one quickly learned not to get between a Dark Lord and his meat) and gazed at Zelgadis musingly. He was momentarily distracted when Pix began to clean up after him (why in the hell is she cleaning up here? It's a hole in the ground! Literally!) he continued to fix his unsettling gaze upon the silently brooding Chimera. Then he spoke.

"So let me get this straight. I'm a Dark Lord?"

Zelgadis glanced up quietly. In that impeccably confident and calm manner of his, he answered. "Yes. From the story the two of you have told me, it sounds as though by design or accident you were reborn without your memory. There is no mistaking Gaav however. There's no one in the world as big as he is."

Mina frowned. "I wouldn't say that. Just before you showed up, (good timing by the way,) Red dispatched a... well a something that was actually a little bigger than he was."

Zelgadis frowned. "Yes... most interesting. I would assume that the Dragon Slave that went off was yours, was it not?"

Mina blushed. "Well... yeah. It didn't do much good though. I don't know why but everyone seems to be able to walk right through my dragon slaves... well... except for bandits that is."

Zelgadis snapped his fingers. "That proves it then. Gaav.... excuse me, Red, can walk through them because he's a Dark Lord. You can't destroy a Dark Lord with another Dark Lord's power, unless the Dark Lord you call upon is several times stronger than the target. You MUST be Gaav." He frowned. "That doesn't explain how the other individual survived your Dragon Slave though..."

Red scratched his chin. "He called himself Dnarc the Bloody Eyed Darkness or something like that... that certainly sounds like a Dark Lord's name... even though it is a bit corny. Does it ring a bell?"

Mina nodded. "Dnarc doesn't, but Xoana has a legend about a Bloody Eyed Darkness... supposedly he's a bedtime story, but even if he was real, what's he doing all the way out here?"

Red snorted. "Well, he mentioned something about me being too weak to be the Demon Dragon King. He seemed to think that he'd make a better one."

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "Interesting. It seems we have another huge guy who's impervious to black magic, and who knows you're the Demon Dragon King, even though you've been dead for almost twenty years. How old is that legend, Mina?"

The light dawned in Mina's eyes. "I'd say pretty recent... maybe twenty years or so?"

All three of them nodded grimly. Finally Zelgadis closed his eyes. "So twenty years ago Gaav dies, then another individual appears somewhere else who has monstrous attributes, and who wants to be the Demon Dragon King. I don't know enough about Mazoku to explain exactly what's going on, but its obvious that this Dnarc character was part of the reason why you don't remember who you were."

Mina looked plaintively at Red. She couldn't believe he could be the Chaos Dragon. Mazoku were evil; they couldn't be anything else. Red wasn't evil... ok so maybe he was a little evil, but he wasn't a Dark Lord. He just couldn't be.

"Does the name Gaav ring any bells, Red?" she asked, more or less hoping it didn't.

Red closed his eyes and concentrated hard on the name. "No. Not a one. In fact, its the only thing about this whole mess that HASN'T triggered something." he looked at Zelgadis. "Are you SURE I'm this Gaav character?"

Zelgadis stood up and dusted himself off. "Well.. there's one surefire way to find out." he said matter-of-factly.

Red shrugged. "Shoot."

Zelgadis smiled grimly. "I'll remember you said that."

He spread his hands wide and a wind blew around him, forcing Pix to grip a pitcher handle or be blown away. Red blinked in shock, his hand going involuntarily to the hilt of his sword. Mina gaped.

Zelgadis pressed his hands forward as though he were tossing a ball to Red. Then he shouted words of power.

"RAAAA TILT!!"

The imaginary ball he'd been tossing suddenly sparked into a globe of what looked like strobing blue ball lightning. It flew from his hands and tore across the ground like a fastball aimed at some unfortunate's groin on America's Funniest Home Videos. Tossing up the blanket they'd been eating on as well as a few small plates, it struck the surprised Bandit before he could react. It engulfed him in blue flame...

Red's world became a blanket of blue agony. He didn't know what the damnable statue had thrown at him but it hurt more than anything he'd ever experienced before... even the avalanche. He could feel an indefinable something, perhaps his soul, being forcably stripped from him. Standing quickly, his hair flowing straight up in the astral energy, he snarled and clenched both his hands hard into fists. Reflexes he didn't know he had clicked into place, and he forced the agony off of him, shattering the flames around him with a surprised exhalation of force. The red light that had flared in his eyes flickered and died out.

Mina stared speechless. Zelgadis crossed his arms and looked smugly pleased.

"I think that about proves it." Zelgadis nodded to himself.

"What the hell was that?!" Mina blinked, looking at the confident Chimera.

He looked at her in faint surprise. "You don't know the Ra Tilt?" he frowned. "I think perhaps your mother has neglected your education somewhat. The Ra Tilt is the most powerful shamanistic spell in existence. It attacks a Mazoku's astral body, but it doesn't harm anything that has no astral body, like human beings. It's extremely powerful... only high level mazoku can survive it. Since he reacted to it, it was obviously a threat, and since it was a threat he had to have an astral body. Since only Mazoku have astral bodies...." he shrugged, the logic of his statement obvious.

Red growled. Mina glanced uneasily at him... so he was a mazoku... and he didn't look very happy.

"If I had been a lower level Mazoku it would have destroyed me, huh?" Red growled. "So basically you could have just killed me."

Zelgadis shrugged. "I knew you were Gaav, and there is no way Gaav would have succumbed to a Ra Tilt. The last time I cast one on you, you likened it to a kitten's scratch." he grinned somewhat nastily. It wasn't every day you got a chance to get back at a Dark Lord.

Red suddenly grinned. Mina recognized that grin, but by then it was too late to do anything other than start to stand up. "Right." he lashed out suddenly with a vicious right hook that rocked Zelgadis' head back.

Pix shrieked in fury and flew into Red's face, grabbing one of his eyebrows in both hands and tugging with all her might.

"Ow! Hey! Quit it! OW!" he batted at her but the little thing was like an angry wasp.

It didn't help that she had a deathgrip on his right eyebrow, closing his eye and throwing his depth perception off.

Zelgadis slowly turned his head back to face the Demon Dragon King. He hadn't fallen down, though a very slight trickle of blood made its way down the corner of his lip. He grinned and wiped it off.

"I guess we're even now?"

Red scowled and batted at Pix, who had now grabbed both of his eyebrows (much to Mina's silent amusement) and was currently attempting to drag them together and make him cross-eyed. "Yeah... sure... if you call off this little... girl... bug... thing. Ow."

Zelgadis frowned slightly. "Pix. Come over here." She (reluctantly) complied, fussing over his very minor wound like a mother hen. He put up with her ministrations with studious grace (again, much to Mina's silent amusement) and looked at Mina with those unreadable and very human eyes set in a well chiseled (Har har) face. "If you will excuse me... I need to consider something."

Red rubbed his eyebrows and grunted. Mina nodded quietly, still amused. Zelgadis walked a short distance away from them and frowned, deep in thought.

"What is it, Master Zelgadis?" Pix looked worriedly at him. He started, then guiltily acknowledged her presence. She was so small sometimes he forgot she was there. She deserved better than that.

"Oh... I'm just torn about this whole situation, Pix." he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"How so?" she chirped, sitting on his shoulder.

His gaze became distant, lost in thought. "On the one hand, he's a Mazoku Lord. He shouldn't be allowed to regain his original powers. Since that's obviously linked to his memories... the world is safer if he stays the way he is."

Pix frowned. "So... what does that have to do with you, Master?"

He sighed. "When Lina Inverse visited the Claire Bible, a golden dragon named Milgazia led her to through the astral labyrinth that guarded it. That dragon is gone... I haven't seen him since I got here... in fact, I haven't seen ANY dragons at all." he frowned.

Pix mirrored his frown, pushing one of her antennae out of her face. "I still don't see what he has to do with this."

"Gaav attacked Lina after she got the information she needed out of the Claire Bible; attacked her right in the astral labyrinth. He MUST know how to get to it... but he doesn't remember that he's Gaav. If I help him regain his memories, he'll be able to lead me to the Claire Bible... but helping a Mazoku..." he sighed.

Pix frowned. She looked at the couple sitting there. Mina had taken the news that her traveling companion was a Dark Lord rather well. Actually, she wasn't sure what to think about it, but he hadn't changed... hadn't just suddenly become evil, and her feelings for him hadn't diminished, though she wasn't entirely sure how her MOTHER (DEAR GODS ABOVE) was going to take this. Red frowned irritably and crossed his arms, sulking as Mina ruffled his bangs and laughed at him. They looked like any other couple in love...

Pix sighed. "So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. It's maddening Pix. Do you have any idea what its like to know exactly what you want in this world, want more than anything else, to see it right in front of you day after day... and not be able to touch it?" he pounded his fist into his other hand and looked away, not really expecting an answer.

Therefore, he missed her wistful little smile, and the momentary crack in her cheerful exterior.

"Yes... I do, Master."

Zelgadis looked up. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

She brightened up immediately. "No Master." she sighed. "Look at them, Master Zelgadis. Do you honestly think he's the same person anymore?"

He looked at the two of them silently. As he did so, Gaav (or Red as he now called himself) apparently tired of Mina's teasing and poked her in the stomach with one big finger. Mina, notoriously ticklish (as Red well knew) doubled over in laughter. Upon seeing the indignant look on her face, Red lost his irritated frown and grinned.

Zelgadis shook his head. "No Pix... he doesn't SEEM the same... its actually kind of... nauseating."

Pix elbowed his cheek and then winced and rubbed the appendage... that was going to leave a mark. "Master Zelgadis, behave yourself! I think it's cute."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

Then he became serious. "Alright. If this is the hand that fate has dealt me, the least I can do is play it out." he grinned confidently. "I've never been much for folding under pressure."

"Hard as a rock!" Pix chirped happily, then covered her mouth. "Sorry."

He rolled his eyes again and sighed.

***

"Why do you want to help us?" Red asked suspiciously. "We didn't exactly get off on the right foot."

Zelgadis sipped his tea calmly and shrugged. "I won't lie to you, I'm not doing this out of the goodness of my heart, even though Mina IS the daughter of a good friend of mine. I'm not entirely sure that the Demon Dragon King SHOULD be born again. Still, you aren't entirely evil, so I'm willing to take my chances. With the stipulation that if you go overboard, I'll have to take you down of course."

Red grinned sarcastically. "Oh of course."

Zelgadis either didn't notice or didn't care (probably the latter). "The truth is, the only source of information about the cure I seek is contained in the Claire Bible, an extremely well hidden relic that is kept here, in the Katatoe Mountains. You, or I should say, the former you, knew of it's location. I'm willing to help you regain your memory... in exchange for the information I need."

Mina frowned. She hadn't exactly pictured Zelgadis as being quite so... mercenary in his outlook. Then again, considering his choice of traveling companions maybe she shouldn't have been so surprised.

Red chuckled. "I see. Entirely motivated by self interest... a motive I can understand... and agree with. Very well. I'll help you find your little book, with the stipulation that if you get in my way... I'll have to get rid of you."

Zelgadis grinned coldly. "Fair enough. If we're agreed then?"

Red grinned arrogantly back. "Agreed."

The two of them shook hands, each trying to crush the other's hand without showing any sign of pain. Mina and Pix looked at each other wearily and sighed.

"There is entirely too much machismo in this group." Mina sighed.

"You said it sister." Pix replied.

***

Several hours after the small and exceedingly odd group had left the (recently created) cavern, a disturbance began at the edge of the lava pool. A bubble of lava grew and grew, expanding to the point of impossibility, inching its way up the pit wall as though it were some odd form of hellborn worm. As it began to run and thin at the top, a pair of faint red lights could be made out smoldering within...

The bubble burst and vomited forth its contents.. Dnarc dripped molten lava and bits of cooling rock, his armor and the ax (now slung on his back) white hot and impossibly undamaged. A low, feral sounding growl started in the base of his throat as he slowly made his way up the side of the pit, creating hand holds for himself by simply shoving his fists into the rock and dragging his body upwards. Reaching the edge of the pit, he pulled himself up, gazing around for his enemy. He had cooled down somewhat. Now his armor was only red hot.

It was considerably cooler than the anger that burned within him.

Unslinging his ax, he smashed a nearby stalagmite into dust and rock shards, howling in fury.

Pretty boy would not escape him.

He'd find him... he'd KILL him... he'd DEVOUR HIM...

Even if he had to drag himself out of the maw of hell to do it...

***

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