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| - The room was full of dusty books. Cara and Riley were researching in the Varrock library. Alex was too, or, he was supposed to be. Alex knew what they were looking for, he had known for hours, and now was the time for the big reveal. "It's Delrith!" he yelled. The librarian glared at him, shushing. "Sorry!" he whispered. "The demon they're summoning is Delrith. They'll summon it tonight, in the Lumbridge catacombs!" "Tonight?" Riley asked, dismayed. "We'll never make it" Alex shook his head. "Of course we can, we'll just have to do it magically!" Cara nodded. "Teleportation" "How fast can you get the supplies?" Riley asked. Alex smiled broadly. "There are no supplies, we can go right now" "Then lets" said Cara. "I've heard of Delrith. I'm not sure we can beat it if it's summoned. We have to stop them" Three chalk circles surrounded Cara, Alex and Riley. There was a sword by Riley's side, a knife by Cara's, and Alex had a heavy back pack full of runes and ranged weaponry. In Riley's hands, was the spellbook. "Now" Alex began. "It's essential you toss the book to me once you've read the last word, or you'll keep the book and Cara and I will be stuck here. So go on. Say the words" Riley stared down at the book, and began to recite words he didn't understand, powerful words that called forth ancient entities beyond mortal understanding. As he said the last word, Riley's circle began to glow, and he tossed the book to Cara. From the outside of the circle, it looked like Riley had been squeezed into an impossibly thin beam of light, which rose high into the sky. From inside the circle, it just looked like the world went blurry, out of focus, and when it came back in the scenery had shifted to someplace else. Cara began to recite the words. Alex took a Law Rune, and an Air Rune from his pocket, and clenched them tightly in his hand. This Law Rune had been ridiculously expensive, but at least now it was going towards a good cause. He released the magic in his hand. Before Cara could recite the last word, the book zoomed from her hands and into Alex's. She raised her eyebrows at him. "What are-" Alex smiled, evilly. "We can't have you in Lumbridge, saving Riley! You'd ruin everything" Cara rose to her feet. Alex took out ten Fire Runes, seven Air Runes, a Blood Rune and a Body Rune. Cara ran at him, but Alex clenched his fist and released the magic. A powerful surge of fire flew from Alex's hands, it swarmed over Cara, knocking her back. She screamed in pain, unbearable heat overwhelmed here. "You know, a Godslayer's natural immunity to magic cost me. Only the most powerful spells even affect you. And they are always quite expensive" Cara flipped to her feet. The fire extinguished, instantly. She ran at Alex. He released the power of yet more runes, a ball of flame lighted up his hand. He held the book just centimeters away from the flame. "Come any closer, no one gets the book, your stuck here, and Riley faces my trap alone" She froze, thoughts whirring inside her head. Alex set the book alight, and tossed it to the air. Cara snatched the flaming book, slammed it on the ground and tried to beat out the flames with her fists. She shot a sideways glance at Alex, making sure he didn't try to run; he was stuck here with out the book too. He was still sitting inside the circle, mouth moving lightning fast, words inciting ancient power. The circle began to glow. "I learned those words off by heart. Maybe you should read more often" Alex threw back his head and laughed as he was compressed into a tiny beam of light, and shot up to the air. Cara threw the book away, and slumped to the ground. She was too late, it was ash. As Lumbridge came to Alex's eyes, he stood up. Riley was waiting for him, arms crossed and eyes glaring. "What took you so long!" he complained. Alex gasped, as if exhausted. Which wasn't hard. The magical backlash was catching up with him. "Cara had a vision. She needed to save them. We can do this by ourselves" Riley was unhappy. "We should go back, help her, then bring her here. She's been a valuable asset to the team. Our success rate's shot up since she joined" "I know, but the spell has a time limit. You can only use it once a day, and we don't have time to wait. So come on, let's go" Riley shrugged. "K. Where to?" "Follow me" Cara ran back into the thick of Varrock. There was a magical supplies shop here somewhere, if only she could remember where. She turned a corner, looked around, but realised she didn't even know what she was looking for. She ran to a man, and with a powerful shove, turned him around. "Magic supplies shop" He spent a moment recovering from the spin, then answered. He gave her the directions, and, without thanking him, Cara ran off. Alex turned into the graveyard, and knelt beside an ancient grave, it's headstone, little more then a decrepid wooden sign, read 'Dragith Nurn'. "Salom, lomas, molas, somal" he whispered, to the dead. There was a great rumbling from the bowels of the earth, and pyramid rose from the dirt of the grave. It rose higher, showing itself to be not a pyramid, but the roof of a stone passage. It stopped rising, and Alex stepped inside. "Come in" he said. Riley stepped from the outside world, and into the stairs. The two descended in silence, and in darkness, until Alex lit up a fire rune. The flame hovered inches from his skin, and he used it to light the way. The stairs ended into an open passage. The smell of dust hung in the air, and the room was too wide and too high for the light to reach the ends. "They'll awaken Delrith through there" Alex said, pointing to a small passage. "To stop them, destroy the body that they're channeling Delrith into. "Lets get to it" "Not quite. Even if you destroy the catalyst, the rift between hell and earth will still be open. I'll go down the passage" he shone the light the over it. "There, kill the weaker ones that live down in the dark. I'll get the runes, and I'll meet you back up. We'll both need to seal it, my blood isn't strong enough for the whole thing, we'll need some of yours too" "Sounds like a plan" "All the best" "Good look to you, too" Alex turned his back on his friend, and descended even further into the bowels of the earth. There were no runes, nor dark wizards down here. But there would be an attempt to raise Delrith, if he had anything to say about it. The wizard stuttered, terrified. His glasses lay on the floor, broken, like the shelf, the door, and his nose. Cara slammed him against the wall. "You're not saying what I need to hear!" "Lumbridge Teleport!" he cried. His voice was distinctly nasal. "I'll get you the book right now! "Good" Cara smiled, and let him go. The old man hobbled to a bookcase. He grabbed some runes, clenched them in his hand and released the magic. A small fire ball soared at Cara. She deflected it with a fist. "Slayer" she said, annoyed. "Immune to magic. But you aren't immune to my fists" Cara walked to him, hands clenched. He threw a book at her. "There! There! Page two-one-nine! Please don't kill me!" Cara took the book, and sat down. "Chalk" she demanded. The elderly wizard hobbled to a press, took out a ceremonial dagger and flung it at her head. Cara caught it and sent it flying through an expensive cabinet. "Boring. Now, the chalk?" He tossed it to her, utterly defeated. She drew her circle, and began to recite the words. Alex descended silently down the stone steps, into a brightly lit hall. He moved as quietly as he could, knowing the three cultists would be there when he descended. Reese, Caitlin and Kayle were three Zamorakian cultists. They planned to harness Dragith Nurn's body, to raise the undead and swarm Lumbridge, by slaughtering the innocent girl, Ilona. Reese marched in front, the girl bound an in his arms. Caitlin followed, her staff buzzing with evil energy. Kayle brought up the rear, nervous and afraid. He was the weak link. Alex knew this, because he had planted the idea in Reese's mind. But now, that plan was no longer necessary. He had a better one, a more direct one. He drew out his mini crossbows, and fired. Kayle heard the soft twang and turned around, the two bolts embedded themselves in his skull. He fell, dead. Caitlin spun as well, and unleashed an air strike with her staff. Alex leaned to the side, where the gust of wind brushed harmlessly past him. His bolt caught her in the neck, she clutched her throat and fell to the floor. Reese snarled, and charged. "You cultists are dropping like flies!" Alex laughed, and he dropped the bows. The boy drew his blade, and swung it. Alex ducked expertly under it, placed both hands on the boy's shoulder and kneed him in the stomach. Reese crumpled. Alex drew his black hilted knife, and stabbed it down through the back of Reese's neck. The cultist fell like a tree. "The blood of the sinner" Alex whispered. The girl, Ilona, squirmed to him. "Thank you!" she cried. "I don't know what I would have done without you, if you hadn't come-" Alex knelt to her, and grabbed the back of her head. "What are you-?" Alex held a finger to his lips, and, in smooth motion, slit her throat. "The blood of the innocent". Riley walked in complete darkness, and complete silence. He felt his way along the passage, and his brow was creased with worry. Where were the dark wizards, summoning Delrith? Didn't you need to see to summon a dimension destroying, all terrible, deitic demon? Did Alex get the facts wrong? No, he couldn't have. He was a genious. Riley trusted him completely. Alex ducked under the Corpse archer's arrow and fired his own bolts, which have no affect at all. He came up close, ducking under the volley of arrows, and drove his knee against it's chin. He tossed a mini crossbow into the air, grabbed an arrow and stuck it through the archer's head, catching the crossbow before it hit the ground. He fired against the warped bat, which sank like a stone. He was now in the final room, and a trail of corpses littered the rooms behind him. A corpse mage hurled a glob of magic at him, which he swerved under. He fired his crossbows, the continuous bolts forcing the decaying body back. A corpse soldier swung his blade down on Alex, who received a nasty cut to the shoulder. He grunted in pain, and elbowed the soldier so hard it's head came off. That wasn't enough to stop it though, and it swung again. Alex grabbed the arm and snapped it, taking the blade. He saw, just in time, the corpse mage preparing a glob of magic. Alex tossed the blade, it sliced the arm off. The limb dropped, but the magic still fired; it blew the corpse mage's legs out. Alex ducked a punch from the soldier and slipped around it, wrapping an arm round it's neck. The corpse mage hurled magic with it's good arm, and Alex shielded himself with the soldier. The corpse exploded violently, covering Alex in metallic smelling blood. The corpse mage readied another shot. "Come one! You have one limb! Left!" Alex cast a fire bolt at the mage, incinerating it. Finally. Alex walked to the last door, and kicked it in. The corpse inside spun and charged at him. It was dressed in red robes that had all but rotted away, and wore a ritual mask. "Hey, Draggy!" Alex called. Dragith Nurn didn't slow his step. "Oh, come on, Draggy, you remember Silius?" The corpse stopped, cocked it's head, as if remembering. Alex shouted out in magic tongues, incantations that Dragith himself created. The ceiling slid open. "Riley!" Alex called, feigning terror. He slashed his own arm with the black-handled knife, and slumped to the floor. "Now, Draggy, you kill the big boy" Riley dropped down the new hole, and saw what Alex wanted him to see: A zombie, towering over a wounded Alex. Riley ran at Dragith, and aimed a kick at it's head. Dragith's head snapped, back, but little else happened. The dead man swung it's clawed arm at Riley, who blocked with his forearm. He wrapped the arm around Dragith's own, and snapped it by the elbow. Dragith tried to head butt Riley, but his recently snapped neck just lolled forward. Riley kneed it's stomach, lifting it off the air and slamming it down again. He grabbed it's arm, braced his leg against the torso and ripped off the limb. Dragith kicked Riley's leg out, but the living combatant regained his balance. Riley drew his blade, and Decapitated the dead man. "You okay?" he asked Alex. The supposedly injured Alex nodded, seeing Dragith rise. Riley walked to him, slowly, as the headless dead man slashed at him. Riley parried with his blade and stabbed the zombie's heart. "Wow!" Alex gasped. "Not even a scratch on you! This makes things awkward..." From his back, Alex drew his huge crossbow. He aimed it at Riley and fired, once, twice, thrice. He went down like a stone, the poisons in the bolts already taking affect. Alex spoke rapidly, in magic tongues. As he did so, he took, twelve body runes, twelve law runes, and human hair. These items disappeared in a flash. And in their place, was a girl, who couldn't have been more then twelve. She wore a little red dress, and had long, smooth, dark hair. Riley's little sister. The girl looked around, confused. She had been lounging around Riley's house with friends just a second ago, now she was-wherever the hell she was. Her eyes rested on Riley, three heavy bolts through him, lying on the ground. She ran to him, but Alex grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "No, Abigale! He could explode at any second" "Alex, what's going on? I don't understand!" Riley tried to speak, but the toxins in him only let strange gargles escape. "You see, Abigale" Alex said, smiling evilly. "There's this very important spell, I need to do. It's got three ingredients. The blood of the sinner, the blood of the innocent, and the blood of the hero" "That's a lot of blood for good magic" "Yes. Lots of blood. So, you see, we don't have the blood of the hero yet. Do you know who we should use?" "My brother? But-but just a little cut" "No, no Abigale. We need to use you. You are your brother's half sister, so his blood is in you" "But, why don't you just get it from him?" "That's just not evil enough" He slashed her throat with the black-handled knife. Alex knelt by Dragith Nurn, and began to incantate. For the forth time this day, he incited ancient powers beyond mortal control. But he was no mere mortal. The three different bloods on the knife mingled as he spoke, and he raised then knife over the corpse of his former lackey. Cara kicked his back so hard he sllammed into the nearby wall. He rolled to his feet and swung his knife at Cara. She ducked under the swing and twisted the arm, forcing Alex to his knees. With inhuman strength that Alex shouldn't have possessed, he shouldered her into the air. She got up quickly, the two adopted fighting stances. Cara came in with a straight punch, but Alex ducked and grabbed the arm, bracing one hand against her back he threw her into the wall. She absorbed the shock with her feet and leaped from the stone, aiming a flying kick that Alex rolled to avoid. She aimed a right punch but Alex swept the arm aside with his left palm, he moved in with a punch that she blocked and a kick she ducked. She grabbed the foot, lifted him off the ground and slammed him into the wall. He muttered an incantation, his black handled knife became a black hilted blade. Cara found Riley's blade by his side. Cara chopped down with the blade, Alex parried and slipped his blade under hers, slicing her arm. He came in to press the advantage but Cara swung her blade violently, sweeping his aside. Cara's blade was now inside his guard, and she moved in for a slash, but Alex rolled back, then ran forward, coming in with a thrust that Cara sidestepped. She lashed at his head, but he parried expertly, so she ducked his swipe and slashed at his leg. He jumped, and rolled over her back expertly. Riley grabbed his throat and slammed him against the wall. "Oh, you'r up" Alex laughed. Riley ignored him. "What have you done to Alex" "I am Alex" Riley shook his head. "Wrong answer!" he pulled Alex back and slammed him into the wall. "I am in Alex" "Start making sense right now or I swear" "Remember that well-dressed, handsom devil that bet the crap out of you a week ago? Well, that was me?" "Alex killed him" "And Alex brought me back" "What?" "I'm in the dust. You have to consecrate it to kill me for good" "So, what? You possessed Alex" "Nope. I couldn't have, not for a week. That blue stuff was lethal. No, Alex summoned me. Usually my high priests would do it for me, give me a strong young man. No one has ever done it to themselves" "Why?" "Well, I take them over, completely, they're powerl-" "No, no, why did he do it?" "Power. He saw you had it, and he envied it. He wanted to do what you could. So he gave himself the power. And lost his will" "How do I get you out of him?" "Oh, don't you worry. The plan was to summon Delrith into Dragith's body. That's pretty shot now, the blood's dry. So, I'll get out myself. It's boring in here" Alex opened his mouth, and the dust spilled out. Riley and Cara ducked, covering their mouthes, but they shouldn't have worried. The dust ignored them and flew straight to the headless Dragith Nurn. With no head, it had to enter by rather unconventional means. Dragith Nurn rose, silently. His body racked, as if he were howling, which doesn't work without a head. Cara ran at it, but it Swiped along her stomach. Tears formed in her eyes as deep cuts were sliced through her skin, the force of the blow took her off the ground. Riley went in to attack, but Dragith kicked him to the floor. Before anyone could react, a huge ball of flame was tossed through the air, it hit the dead man and incinerating it. Alex rose, and walked to Riley. "Oh God Riley, I'm so-" "What! Sorry? Save it" Riley brushed past him, hard. "Rile-" "She's dead. She's dead and you killed her" Cara was confused, until she spotted Abigale. She had met her just once, and hadn't taken to her much. But now, as she saw the little girl, lying, immobile on the ground, her blood on Alex's hand, hate stirred inside her too. "It wasn't me" Alex begged. Tears were in his eyes. "You have to understand" "I do. You didn't kill her with your own hands, but it's your fault. You wanted power so much, you didn't care what happened after" "I did. I drew protection symbols, they just didn't work. Look, I'm not important. The best I can do, is help. I wanted to be like you, to be the hero of the show, just sometimes. I wanted to help people the way you do" "Yeah, cause you helped a lot of people with this, didn't you?" Riley turned around and punched Alex in the face. He dropped like a stone. "If I ever see you again, I will kill you in an instant" Outside, in the open air, things felt a little better. A little. Riley dug the grave, in silence. It wasn't neat, or perfect, but it was the best he could do. And it was damn good. They bought a coffin in the church, and they laid her to rest. Riley cried, a little, when he said goodbye. And then they left. They'd sit by the river until night fell, and they could cast the spell again. Then they could go home. "I'm sorry, Riley" The river was glistening in the sunset, the way it only does in story books. The river bank was dry, perfect for sitting on. "I know" Dark shadows of people crossing the bridge, stretched bizarrely by the angle of the stun, momentarily casting the two in darkness. "Riley" "I know. I see them too" Men in cloaks were trying their best to sneak up on them. Dark wizards, black magi. Riley and Cara stood up. "Come on!" Riley shouted. He wanted someone to vent his anger on, these were perfect. "Come on and fight!" A dark jet of energy slammed into Cara, sending her sprawling into the river. She fought to keep her head above the water, but dark magyks shook and frothed the water, dragging her down. She saw and heard only flashes of what was going on. Riley, on the floor. "Harder! Harder" Riley, in chains. Dozens of men, dotted around him. "Come on, we don't have all day!" A dark portal. "The demon must rise soon" "Delrith will smite you for your ignorance!" Riley, gone. "To the circle, the time is at hand!" And then the waters shook no more, and Cara was alone.
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