To Hell and Back
To Hell and Back
Iirima Rauko: To Hell and Back
Current mood: creative
Iirima wandered through the Forest of Shadows. Nalfein had disappeared recently and there was talk among the others of treason. She cared little about it, so she wanted everyone to believe. She took off her cloak and tossed it into the trees for a moment of privacy. She sat on the rain soaked floor and sobbed, the voice of the Commander could be heard over the cloak, screaming at the new recruits. Her mind rolled it over time and time again. He was building a house and they were getting closer, hadn't they been? How could he just leave. He had abandoned her, deserted her like everyone else had in her youth. She stood, anger contorting her face. She ripped her cloak from the branches of the dead tree and threw it over her shoulders.
" So be it, he was not but a fool to play games with me."
She stormed of into the night to rid herself of her frustration. Sladds' blood would flow tonight
Iirima stared into the enterance of the dark cavern. She could here the snorts, pants and growls of her quarry from within. Gargoyles littered the path in her wake. She slammed her helet on her head and entered the cave. She carged at the first group of Sladds she came upon. Her hammer rained down on them, spilling their ebony blood across the cave's rocky floor. She grabbed a Grey Sladd and shoved him back. She tripped him and he fell, his own weight impaling him on a stalagmite. She charged through every room , killing one after another until finally she reached the pathway to the lower level. Nothing alive lay behind her, even the cave rats were spared no mercy. She entered the steep, narrow pathway that lead to the lower floor. Once at the bottom she burst into the room, hammer raised, ready to attack the Elements. There was nothing there. She lifted her helm and tucked it under her arm. Perhaps someone else was own here, but who. The castle had been full when she left. Whoever it was wasn't a friend. Her nostrils stung, and her lungs burned fiercely. She couldn't place the unusual smell at first. Smoke? No this smell was to acrid to be smoke. It was sulfur! She looked around wearily. Something was very wrong here.
She ventured farther, walking stealthily as she could. All the rooms seemed to be in order. Aside from the lack of life and the sulfur smell it all seemed normal. She heard a noise coming from the next room and distant screams rang out. Iirima peered around the corner and saw a half naked woman draped in dirty rags. Iirima jumped out into the open and in front of the woman. The woman screamed and coward in fear.
"Who are you and what are you doing in OUR lands!"
Iirima's eyes drifted to a large sac in the womans hands. It was full of glittering gems and gold.
"You DARED to steal from us!"
She lunged and struck the woman down. She raised her hammer over her head and as she swung it down she was sure she saw a look of thanks and serenity on the womans face. She turned away from the bloodied corpse in disgust, and stock there in shock as she looked straight into a torch lit tunnel.
"This is new....."
She stared into its depths, unsure what to do.
"Well, I certainly wont go home a coward."
With one last weary thought she began her descent into the humid, acrid air of the tunnel.
Iirima stopped, it was getting harder to breath down here. The air was thick and full of sulfur and other poisonous gasses. She had traveled for an hour, perhaps a bit longer. She had seen no one and aside from the distant screams, heard nothing. Up ahead something glowed fiercely on the ground. She ran to the object and knelt. She reached into a puddle of sludge and pulled out a rapier. Fear struck her for the first time in the years since she had welcomed her darker side.
"Nalfein....."
Nalfein would never leave his weapon behind, not willingly anyways. She looked deeper into the tunnel but saw nothing. She quickly tucked the rapier in her bag and rose. She raced down the path, a new burst of anger rising. She sped through the turns and accidentally slipped in a puddle. She went tumbling down the path. She cried out in surprise and then rose to her feet. She cursed in anger and turned to continue her hunt. She took five steps and ran right into another.Fire raged behind her eyes and she shoved fiercely at the obstacle.
"Whoa..."
Iirima looked up, that familiar voice calmed her anger momentarily.
"Nalfein?"
She looked up at him and he smirked. Her anger returned full force at the look on his face.
"You...you idiot, you absolute stupid farg!"
She shoved him hard but he barley moved.
"Come on."
He turned and began jogging back down the path. Iirima called out after him but he didn't answer or slow down. She cursed under her breath and chased after him. It didn't take long before the once distant screams were suddenly almost ear shattering. She rounded the next corner and all of the sudden light flooded her vision. She growled and shielded her eyes with her arm. When they adjusted to the light she lowered her arm and Nalfein was in front of her.
"Welcome to your new home White One."
Nalfein sneered down at her and she looked at him quizzically. Apparently he had lost his wits.
"Oh no, we cant stay here. We have to go back. If you stay here you know what will happen. They will hunt you down. I wont tell them you are here but I wont lie for you either...."
She was taking a breath to continue when his hand struck her hard across the face. Her shock quickly faded into utter fury and she lunged at him. He grabbed her and flung her across the room with ease. She looked up and he seemed to loom over her. He raised his hand and brought it down towards her head. Just before it struck she turned her head into her cloak.
"Help"
His hand struck her on her left temple. Blackness erased the world around her.
Iirima woke with a start. She scrambled to her feet. Chains bound her feet to the floor and her hands were shackled in front of her. She shivered terribly. There was no warmth here. Her belongings were all gone. She stood clothed with threadbare rags in the dim lighted cell. Her eyes widened, her cloak. How would they find her. She collapsed to the floor exhausted. Iirima opened her eyes, blinking she wondered how long she had been out. She pushed herself into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. A figure loomed in the shadow. The figure slowly moved towards her. Slowly light chased away the shadows and the beast was visible. She looks up slowly. Hoofed feet, towering legs, tail, immense chest, bulging arms, clawed hands, red leathery wings, and horns. Before her towered a demon, not some half-breed like her but a full blooded demon.
"I've been watching you for some time now White One. You have drawn much interest from those in command here."
He nods slightly as he looks her over.
"I can see why, you will be perfect for the program once it is running properly. These danmed Mages cant get anyhting right..."
He turns his attention back to her, almost as if for a moment he had forgotten her all together.
"Regardless, untill we can get it to work right on the cattle," he motions vaugly to a cell adjacent hers, stuffed full of half starved women of all races. " We won't be trying anything on you. So, untill then you just get to sit here and survive untill then, not that we would let you die, your to valuable to us alive and healthy."
With that he exited her cell, slamming the door behind him. His laughter echoed off the walls as he left to some unknown buisness. All those years she had been on the other side of the cell but now she was the victom of some mystery council. She had no idea what program thye had created or why she was needed for it. So long as she could fight she would, but she knew well the minds of Prison Keepers and she was sure they had plans for how to keep her from fighting.
Day in and day out she sat in that cell. They fed her once a day, not that you could call it food. Discusting sludge, foul and it had an untolerable texture but she had learned quickly to eat it. The Siren would not go out of this world from starvation, not if she could help it. The cell across the hall cattle were constantly being shuffled out by disfigured, horrendous creatures that resembled mutated pigs who had learnd to walk upright. Those who were carried out never returned but almost as soon as they were gone, new faces were added. It had been a few months already, perhaps more. Here in constand darkness keeping time was an impossible feat. She had noticed latley that there wasnt as much varriety in the women as there had been at first. Now most were in their prime, 25-35 if she had to guesse and many had fetures of her own kind, sired by demon and mothered by elven. No one came to visit her here, aside from the horrible pigs that fed her.
Another handfull of months past, she had been here a year now but she thought it was longer than that. She had long since given up on trying to keep track of the days. One thing she had managed to keep tabs on was the happenings of the other women. Now it was unmistakable that all the women were the same heritage as she, both demon and elven ran in their blood. The other note she had made was that now, some of the women that were removed from the cell returned still alive. She knew that ment the worst for her. Whatever program that the demon had told her of was now working, to some extent. She was disrupted suddenly from her thoughts as yells could be heard comming down the sairway.
"I don't care what you say, how can you know that it won't be a success? She is ready, the Mages have the formula down. The Council insists that we carry on!"
The demon she had been enprisoned by emerged from the enterance. He roughly shoved aside a protesting Pig. The vile thing hit the wall with tremendos force and collapsed in a heap. Iirima raised her eyes again once the beast reached her cell. He threw open the door so violently that she cowared backwards. He reached out and grabbed her roughly and ripped the chains from the wall.
"Your time has come White One, they have called for you."
As he began to drag her by the chains that bound her she lurched and twisted, shreiking in protest. The Demon shouted to the Pigs waiting in the coridor.
"Well, what are you waiting for. If you don't give her the potion the chains will break!"
The Pigs rushed into action at once, pinning her and forcing a funnel down her throat. A strong, bitter liquid invaded her mouth. She gaged and coughed but had to swollow to breath. Almost instantly she realized they had drugged her. Her muscles contorted and spasmed ans she lost controll over them. The pain was unbearable. At last darkness enveloped her, and she fell limp.
Something pulled hard, streaching her arms behind her, threatening to dislodge them completly. She awoke with a banshee wail. Pain seared through her. She opened her eyes. She was in a pit of some sort. Light from above shone down so bright she could scarcley stand to keep her eyes open. As they adjusted she came to realize the horror that was above her. Hundreds of seats rose above her, crammed with distorted, hulking demons. Her eyes widenned in fear and she pulled at her restraints. Her shoulder dislodged with a pop. She screamed again. Pain ripped through the arm, she had pulled it from its socket. A robed figure stood in the crowd. Seated all around him were men of various decent, but all were robed. In the center was the Demon himself.
"Quiet her will you!"
A hand reached from behind, forcing a gag into her mouth. Her screams were not silenced, but they were stiffled greatly.
"It is time you knew why you are here. We have come to an agrement with our host that for a heafty sum he would find the means to create a program for us, as I am sure you have figured out already. With our guidence he picked you as the main subject in the program, but not the only subject."For the first time Iirima became aware that she was not the only woman restrained in the pit. A semi circle of women were at either side of her. All were half demon but each had a different second set of genes, her's elvish. The others seemed to have everything from dwarven blood to drow blood. All were srung up, hands tied behind them, and all were gaged. Iirima turned back to the man as he began to speak once more.
"As you can see all of you have one common trait, half demon blood. Because of each and every one of you and what you will contribute to the project we have determined the it will be successfull. The worlds first army consisted soley of those with demon blood. The strength and stamina of this army will be comparible to none. Of course you will not contribute to the army yourselves, no, thats were this comes in."
The man held a small vial up for all to see, pivoting to face all sides of the arena. Cheering erupted from the crowd. The man revelled in the glory for a oment before silencing all with the slightest hand guesture.
"In this vial is the power of life! The power to create as the gods create. One vial is all it takes for the creation. Each of you has injested this formula while the sleeping potion still held you in its powerfull grips. As we speek you are all carrying a life inside your womb, a new era of warriors!"Again the crowd erupted in cheer. Iirima once again thrashed her body, unbeleiving of what she was being told. There was no such magic in this world, not that she had ever been aware of.
"It has taken a very long time to perfect the program so that it would have success. You all have been here two years, give or take a month or so. I'm sure it has felt much longer."
The man turned his attention now to the grandstands around him."So here it is men, Project Brimstone is a sucess! To our victory!"
The arena was enveloped in thunderous cheers, chants, and applause. Suddenly she fell to the floor, the rope holding her in air released. Before she could even cathc her breath she was restrained and once again a funnell was forced between her clenched jaws and the sleep potion flowed down her throat.
Two more years passed by. Iirima herself had brought two children into the world, a third lay wait inside of her, still a month or so away from arrival. Even though she despised the men that kept her captive here she was unussually proud of the offspring she produced. She had see the two only on a few fleeting occasions. The eldest, a male, was already the size of a normal 10 year old human. The younger was a girl. She had only seen it momentarily after the delivery, before she was rushed away, and back to her cell. Both looked like her, there was no doubt, the skin, the hair, the tiny buds protuding from their backs. They were the only good side to her captivity but she knew that soon enough they would be training to become mindless warriors to an army with an adjenda unknown to her. With each pregnancy a cerimony was held in the arena. It was the only time she ever saw the other women or the robed men who claimed Project Brimsotne as their own. Between the group of them an unimaginable army was begining to form. Already the eldest group of offspring were in training. She knew this because while she and the others were strung up the offspring were led in and let loose upon one another. Iirima watched, torn between pride and horror as her eldest broke the neck of the Half Demon/Drow offspring. The mock battle was quickly ended, since death had not been planned and even the loss of one soldier was more than the robed men were willing to allow. That was months ago now, the pregnancies the cerimony had been in announcment of were now almost full term.
The door to her cell squeaked open and she looked up, annoyed slightly at the interuption. One of the Pigs stood there, eyes jittering nervously.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was quiet and lacked the venom that used to lace her every word. Without a sound he threw keys at her feet and dumped a bag nearby. She looked at the keys and then back to him. He said nothing and ran out, leaving the door open behind him. Hope rose inside her, the fire flared behind her eyes once more. She scrambled for the keys grabbing them she nearly shouted with glee. She struggled with the locks for minutes that dragged on for centuries. She was free, she stood and fell back down. Hear body was weak and heavy with child. She stood again, determined to make it. She clung to the wall as she rummaged through the sac at her feet. Some rags, a potion, a dull sword, and a rusty shield. She pulled the tattered rags over her head and drank the potion. She cried with joy when invisibility cloaked her body. She followed the walls out of her cell and past the rows and rows of other cells full of the other Half Demons, she had no I dea they had been there all along. She reached the stairs at the end of the corridor. She cared nothing for the other women, they could all suffer and die here. She only cared to save herself. She clambered to the top of the stairs and followed the wall into a big room. All around her demons of every variety loomed. Some were practicing combat while others forged weapons. Another appeared to be gnawing on a human leg. Iirima shuttered and continued to follow the wall, desperate to find a door before the potion wore off. She searched the walls with her hands and her fingers found a seem. She traced the seem. It was a hidden door. She stood beside it, eventually someone had to come in or go out. It didn't take long before the door opened and an immense figure walked through. All the demons stopped what they were doing and looked. It was Him. She cowered away in fear but he walked right by and headed towards the stairs she had just come up. She turned and ran through the door. Behind her the alert rang out. They knew. She ran as fast as she could out the tunnel.
She burst into the open air. They had changed the tunnel while she was captive. Now it came out by the sea. She couldn't linger long, voices in the distance hollering as they hunted for her. She ran to the stairs, climbing them on all fours. She was headed for the woods, she knew if she got there she could hide. She made it to the woods and to the hidden garden. She hid there for two days. Finally she had the strength and courage to move on to the castle. She reached the towering gates and fell. She stood back up and called out.
"By Blood and Pain"Her voice was hardly a squeak and no one heard her.
"By Blood and Pain."
She yelled with all her might and fell to the ground.