Bushes rustled as two men pulled them apart to bring Lord Crestfall's grand house into view. The house was two stories with guards not only posted at every corner, but also patrolling the perimeter. There were only two entrances in to the house: the main entrance in the front and the back entrance; both with at least two guards stationed for protection. Although the guards were a comfort to the Lord residing inside, there were reasons for worry to the two men on the outside.

"So, how are we getting in?" Hernon asked.

"I have a couple sleeping potions, but with the patrol constantly moving, that would do nothing but raise the alarm," Darion said, crouched down next to Hernon.

Both men observed the Crestfall residence, visually scouring the scene for at least one opening they could take advantage of. Other than facing the guards head-on, there weren't many options for the two.

"If we can't go through them, we have to go around them," Hernon said, backing away from the bush. "And the best way to go around them, is to lead them away, making the path around them nothing more than a straight line."

"Hernon, why would we intentionally raise the alarm? We only have one shot at this, we can't waste it." Darion had joined Hernon from inside the bush, the two barely able to see each other in the low light.

The moon looked down upon them and stars filled every inch of the sky, glimmering. Darion would've much rather been somewhere in an open field, enjoying the sight, but he was here on a mission and he couldn't let anything distract him.

"I know we can't waste it. That's why I'm suggesting we draw the guards away and be in and out as fast as possible instead of trying to take them all down before we even get inside."

Darion went through all of their options, imagining the plethora of possible scenarios. He came to the conclusion that Hernon was right; leading them away was probably their only hope.

"Any suggestions for a distraction?" Darion asked.

"Do any of those potions around your waist explode?"

Darion smiled, taking out the only offensive potion he brought along with him; the potion which, when ignited, erupts in an explosion just as powerful as a whole barrel of black powder. Hernon tied the vial to the tip of the arrow, positioned to ensure it broke upon impact. He left some extra rope hanging down to act as a fuse.

"Are you ready?" Darion asked.

Hernon nodded although his heart pumped at a rate ten times faster than normal. So many things could go wrong; the fuse could burn too fast, the guards could spot them before the explosion went off, Lord Crestfall could be enjoying a night in the castle for all they knew. He cleared his mind of worries and lifted the bow, the arrow pointing to the moon. The rope hung down a few inches, seemingly waiting to be lit. Darion snapped his fingers, a flame curling to life. The flame and rope reached out to each other until they finally embraced.

"Now!"

Hernon released the arrow, watching its powerful arch through the night sky. The arrow slipped out of view behind another gathering of trees, yet no fire followed. Hernon cursed.

"What happened?" he asked. "Did you not activate the potion or whatever?"

KRAKOOM!

Hernon instinctually ducked, covering his head as the trees behind the house were engulfed in flames. Shouts rose from the guards as they abandoned their stations, searching for the source of the noise.

Hernon straightened again, looking on at the damage from the potion. "You made that in my kitchen!"

"Doesn't matter!" Darion said, dashing from the bush and towards the house. Hernon disagreed, but he followed close behind.

The guards had taken the bait exactly as planned. Most of the guards were running off into the trees while the rest guarded the back of the house, leaving the front door utterly exposed. Darion tried the door, but unsurprisingly it was locked. A quick fireball solved their problem.

"Hey, what happened to not raising the alarm?"

"They're going to come back regardless, so might as well make this as quick as possible."

They made their way inside, taking a second to look through the darkness for any sign of light. At the end of a long hall, light seeped out from beneath a door. Hernon and Darion took off down the hall, knowing they hadn't much time left to get everything on their agenda done. They pushed through the door with ease and were deposited into a large room with nothing but a single golden throne with jewels of all sorts piled around it.

Lord Crestfall sat on the throne, smiling at the two men joining him. "It took you two long enough. I was afraid I was going to have to wait until tomorrow night to kill you."

The two men strode towards Crestfall without hesitation. Darion soon realized his mistake: he'd forgotten about one person.

Darion felt her before she even stepped from behind the throne. His natural instinct to create a shield of fire was the only reason he and Hernon weren't a smoldering pile of ash. The force from the two walls of fire colliding flung the intruders across the room.

Hernon pushed himself to his feet, not surprised in the slightest to find the woman they'd encountered on the scaffolding standing next to the throne, flames flying around her hands.

"Could you give me your name; I would like to know who I'm killing," Hernon said.

"I doubt provoking them is the best method here," Darion grumbled, pushing himself to his feet.

"My name's Ala, though I doubt you'll ever get another chance to use it," she said. Hernon nocked an arrow and Darion drew Aslander. Both men stopped when Ala rose her hands as if she were calling for a ceasefire. This obviously wasn't what Lord Crestfall expected for he too looked surprised. "Before we get to killing each other, there's one thing I need to do."

Lord Crestfall jumped to his feet, almost outraged. "What could you possibly--" The hand was at his throat in an instant. Crestfall desperately gasped for air as Ala slammed him back into the throne.

"It was such a pain in the ass having to work with you all this time, but it'll soon all be worth it," Ala said, pressing her other hand against his head. Lord Crestfall jerked as his eyes grew wide. Hernon shuddered, recalling his own experience with Ala's attack on his mind.

"What do we do?" Hernon asked.

Darion's face was composed of nothing but confusion. "I don't know."

Ala finally released her hold and stepped back. Crestfall slumped out of the throne and onto the floor, twitching. He wasn't dead--at least not yet; he still breathed, although there was a rattle with every breathe. Hernon could feel his supper rising in the back of his throat, but he forced himself to swallow it.

Ala continued to speak. "It was so difficult, priming your mind without you noticing. The process was painstakingly slow and all throughout it, I had to act as your little pet, doing whatever you asked me." Her words were filled with venom as she spat them out, circling the man on the ground. Darkness began swirling around her hand. The living shadows soon formed a jagged knife with a blood-red handle. "None of that matters now. All that matters is that your role in this sacrifice shall finally be fulfilled."

Ala lodged the knife into Crestfall's back, sending him into a fit of screams. The screams only grew in volume as the knife began to glow as if being heated from within. Hernon and Darion could only watch in horror as the hilt began to melt, the now-liquid handle seeping into his skin. Then suddenly:

Silence.

Darion frowned; the notion that something wasn't right creeping into the back of his mind. An inhumane noise escaped Crestfall's mouth, breaking the silence. Hernon involuntarily took a step back, cursing for the second time that night.

"Darion, what's going on?"

Darion finally had an answer. "It's dark magic. That's no longer Lord Crestfall."

Ala grinned at the correct presumption. "No, Crestfall is gone. This here, is a son of the Devil."

The demon in Crestfall's body emitted a noise unlike anything either had heard before. The building shuddered at the noise, just as scared as the two mortals standing in the same room as it. The demon rose to his feet, not using his arms or legs, simply rising. Crestfall's face was almost unrecognizable, the eyes a glassy blackness and the face covered in dark pulsing veins. His mouth opened to emit another ear-splitting sound, a thick black substance pouring out of his mouth and onto the ground.

Ala walked into the demon's line of sight, its eyes flicking towards her. "Lord Raum, I give these two mortals as an offering to you." Raum's head turned from her to Darion and Hernon standing side-by-side.

"And what a good offering they are." Raum's voice was deeper than anything either man could imagine; it could be felt all throughout their bodies. Before Raum could even lift his arm, Darion was tackling Hernon to the ground. Black tendrils shot through the air, meeting empty space where his targets once stood. The tendrils instead struck the wall, knocking out a giant hole with ease.

There was only one thing Darion knew could fight darkness: light. He rolled to his feet, a flame escaping his hand in the fraction of a second. The demon shrieked when the flame connected with its body. Darion coaxed the magic flowing through him to burn as hot and bright as it could. He released a stream of flames, completely dousing Raum.

Ala decided to join the battle, stomping her feet on the ground. As expected, the movement was powered by magic and caused the ground to shake, sending the magic-wielder to his back. Ala marched forward, ready to make a kill, when a black tendril cut her off. Her face was a mask of rage until the arrow that would've pierced her heart fell to the ground. Hernon--on one knee-- cursed, quickly reaching for another arrow.

He was too slow.

The tendril hit him square in the chest, flinging him straight into the wall behind him.

"No!" Darion screamed. A ball of fire distracted the demon long enough for Darion to get to Hernon's limp body, casting the only spell that came to mind. A tendril reached for them, but instead of impaling one of the men, it instead dissolved in a flash of light. Raum reeled back, his shrieks once more making the building shudder.

"A protection spell," Ala muttered, clearly disappointed with the lack of death. "And quite a strong one. It's no use, Lord Raum, you can't get through; though I doubt they'll be a problem for quite some time."

Darion could already feel the effects of the spell overtaking him. His vision blurred and it was as if he were hearing Ala's voice from underwater. Shouting came from outside as Crestfall's guards came running to protect the Lord, not knowing they were far too late.

Darion could only whisper a warning before tendrils flew and screams filled the air. With every death, the buzz of dark magic grew stronger; and with every passing second, Darion's vision grew weaker.

"You may have been able to protect you and your friend here, but there are other things you won't be able to," Ala said, her back to the ensuing massacre. "You'll pay for being a pain in the ass."

Darion couldn't even fully register what Ala had been saying to him. There was no more screams-- not that he'd be able to hear them anyway. Raum looked stronger than he did before, the veins covering his body pulsing darker and faster. Darkness leaked from his body like smoke drifting from ashes.

With a sickening sound, Raum began to expand; his shoulder blades fleeing from each other as dark feathers pushed their way through his skin, each covered in a thick slime that dripped to the floor. Raum completed his transformation with a caw; now a crow as long as two horses and as dark as a midnight ocean.

Darion slipped into unconsciousness.