The Final Battle

“The thought of revenge is too sweet to ignore.” Thought the figure, “It is time to make a stand!” As he stalked through the tunnels towards Torm his robes fell to the ground revealing the armored scales and serrated claws that marked him as a demon of the lower planes. Terrified dark dwarves leapt to either side as he passed by, cowering in fear from him. Shortly, he arrived at the huge cavern outside of Torm and without breaking stride shouted, “Move!” to the mass of dark dwarves blocking his way. Two seconds passed and the demon’s eternal patience ran out, “Then die!” he yelled sending a fiery, yellow-orange inferno from his hands into the dark dwarves main body of fighters. It seamed to leap from dark dwarf to dark dwarf cackling with glee as it consumed the hoard. An instant later a smoking pathway of charred bodies lay in front of him, some still weakly twitching, unable to scream, vocal cords burned away.

From across the cavern Korg saw a disturbance among the dark dwarves as if they were all trying to scramble away from something. Then, all in an instant, a raging inferno leapt into being behind the dark dwarves and burned away at least a quarter of them. “Yes!” he cheered along with the rest of the dwarves thinking the humans or allied elves had sent a spell caster to aid them. He squinted, trying to make out the form that was still partially obscured by billowing smoke. A sudden gust of wind blew aside the smoke and he gasped, leaping back in horror. A demon stood in the smoldering pathway through the dark dwarves, hands still glowing red hot with flames, mouth twisted into a wolfish like grin.

“Finally, after those eternities of banishment. All because of you!” the demon spat out, those last words directed at an old dwarf standing in the front lines. The dwarf had a long, flowing, beard and bore the crest of Lundem, a dwarven god. The dwarf spoke up, “Lundem stood against you before and shall again, for his light can reach even the dark depths of this earth.” The demons mouth opened and a hideous noise somewhat akin to laughter sprang forth, “You think your god will save you but I have waited an eternity for this chance. I will not be denied!” With that the demon raised its arms and the ground in front of him burst open with a loud explosion spewing molten rock every were. From out of the newly formed fissure three hundred skeletal warriors clambered up, each one clutching wicked bone weapons and huge rib shields. Then with a thundering reverberation the fissure cracked and widened to emit a creature sprung straight from the darkest depths of Korgs nightmares.

It was serpentine in appearance but instead of lying horizontally on its belly it floated five feet off the ground seemingly without support. Its entire body was oozing some sort of acid that made hissing noises when it came into contact with the ground but the true horror of the creature was its twisted mockery of a human face. The eyes were lopsided and misshapen, both dripping blood and it’s rotting mouth was skirted to one side of its face leaving just enough room for an extra set of hands on either side of the mouth. It was a grisly, misshapen thing but the worst part was the aura of pain and suffering it emitted. Looking at it, Korg almost felt sorry for it until it leaned forward, effortlessly extending its body to surround a company of five dwarves. Its acidic drippings then multiplied by a tenfold to eat through metal and flesh till there was nothing left of the dwarves but a pile of goo which it hungrily sucked up.

At the demons command the skeletal warriors charged forward into the left flank of the dwarven fighters, leaping over trenches and pikes and landing on shields in a remarkable display of agility. In a matter of seconds the hastily constructed barricades were overrun and the dwarves were being slaughtered, axes bouncing off bones and skeletal swords reaping souls every second. The ancient dwarf looked immeasurably sad viewing the scene of slaughter. He slowly took off his helm and placed it on the ground beside him. His armor, too he took off and set aside. All around him was chaos yet he was untouched by it all. He spoke softly but Korag could hear him across the cavern. “I have lived a long, good life. I have seen many wonders and had many victories on the field of battle. Now, my time has come.” Then, without any hesitation he leapt across the entire length of the cavern to land directly in front of the demon. The demon snarled and grabbed the dwarf by his shoulders ripping his stomach open with its claws. Then blindingly fast, it weaved around the dwarf and stabbed him three times in his back. Before the ancient dwarf hit the ground he was sliced open in twenty more places. However, the last expression on his face was one of happiness, not the expected pain or shock. He seemed to fall the slowly, till he hit the ground. It rose up, of its own accord to envelop him, and take him down to his final resting place.

The demon looked uncertain now, it slowly began backing away from the spot where the dwarf disappeared. Then, there was a blinding flash and a solid white sphere blossomed out of the ground. It rapidly began to expand and the demon screamed. The sound filled the entire cavern making seasoned dwarf fighters clutch their bleeding ears and fall to the ground. Then, abruptly the scream was cut off as the light touched the demon and it began to dissolve. In a couple seconds its entire left side was dust and its right side was quick to follow. However, the light didn’t stop there. It continued to grow and when it came into contact with a group of skeletons they shattered into pieces spraying bone fragments everywere. The dark dwarves turned to flee yet the light cut them down were they stood. Korg and the other dwarves braced themselves but when the light passed through them hacked off limbs grew back and cuts were healed. Within a short period of time the dwarves were completely healed and filled with energy. A booming voice filled the cavern and spoke, “My gift to you, for his sacrifice.” Every dwarf in the cavern recognized the vioce of Lundem, their god and was moved to tears by the gruff tone. Finally, after a short bloody battle, the siege of Torm was over!