Plans of destruction

"Well done brother." Spoke up Daniel, impressed with the young warlock's aim.

                        He thanked his fellow warlock and the four of them headed out to check the rest of the forest. After a good two hour scan, it seemed that all was fine with the land, once it got to be moon-rise, they all headed to Daniels to unwind from a long day. They  walked the half mile to his place. Once inside they began discussing different battle tactics as well as ways to patrol better. The four of them kept on until it had gotten late. Then when Jim noticed the late hour he and the other two warlocks headed home for a night of rest.

Stergis had risen rather late the next morning. The first thing on his mind was which of the underworld creatures he would need to help eradicate the warlock problem. He thought maybe sending out lower level demons to test their strength? He needed to know exactly how strong these warlocks had become. The dark sorcerer would bide his time with delicate planning. Stergis had already sent out underworld spies to keep track of them, but the demonic spies had failed. He spent the later part of his day going over magical enchantments, spells and rituals until he could perform in his sleep. 

The dark warlock was tapping into the core of his dark essence. He focused only on the destructing of the brethren, even if it killed him. As dusk grew closer that autumn night Stergis began to prepare his next plan of action. He started by with his altar and lighting a circle of black candles. Holding onto his deep purple amulet he began to channel the dark forces. He started the spell by chanting in an ancient language. 

He was asking the dark ones to send a revenge demon to go after the brethren. When he had completed the ritual and closed the dark circle a thick cloud of black smoke appeared before him. Then within seconds it dissipated right in front of him. It was the demon he had asked for, so the dark sorcerer waited for the warlocks to meet their doom. Stergis went over to his cauldron and began to watch the wicked plan unfold.

Deep in the forest the warlocks were on patrol, just double checking everything. They only had a short time left before they were done for the day. It was  another gorgeous day in the forest.

"I hear something over there." Richard spoke up, pointing behind brother Yorku.

"Yeah, right." He replied.

"Seriously I do. A few feet closer to the darker side of the forest, listen." Richard explained to the others.

The other three of them stopped for a moment, all were quiet to listen. They wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. As they stood there in complete silence, the rest of them heard it too. A faint rustling sound in the woods. It could be a small animal or a troll of some kind. They crept closer to where they heard the sound coming from. The four of them peered through the tree branches until they got a clear view of the creature. Once they saw the thing, they couldn't believe it. They hadn't dealt with one of these in years. It bore red glowing eyes and horrific sharp fangs. It's body was like a shadow creature black as onyx stone.

"What is that thing, Jim?" Whispered the youngest of the brethren.

"That is a lower level demon." Jim whispered back to him.

Yorku responded with a nervous look toward Jim and the other members of the warlock clan. Just then Richard leaned over to whisper to the rest of them.

"I can take this thing out myself."

The rest of them could tell that he needed to do this on his own. Richard had a thirst for battle and taking down this demon would quench it. The others helped him load up his weapons and then spy on the demon until the right moment to strike. Richard was armed and ready to take on this underworld creature of darkness and pain. Once it was time, he lunged at the demonic beast with full force.

 His timing was just a little off and the demon saw him in enough time to properly defend itself. The creature countered the warlocks attack by hitting him with a fireball. It grazed his shoulder just slightly but it burned like a torch. It was enough of a distraction that the demon slipped back into the dark border of the forest. The other three warlocks ran to his side to make sure the injury wasn't too bad.

"It got away!" Richard shouted in anger and frustration.

"Are you okay? That thing grazed you a good one." Daniel asked, always the concerned one.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Richard replied, his pride hurt more than the burn.

He stood up and the four of them walked back in silence, they had failed a mission for the first time in their lives. Richard was aggravated, Jim couldn't figure out how they had screwed this one up. Stergis watched, peering over the mystic cauldron.

"I see those blithering idiots are not as invincible as they wish everyone to believe." He walked over to the shelf to grab his new found book of underworld secrets.

 Once again he found something with a little more kick to throw at the brethren and their precious forest. This demon had to be called upon under the full moon, but if it took them out it would be worth the wait. The dark warlock spent the next three day channeling his anger, pain and rage. He would spend hours meditating on the ultimate revenge. He would chant hexes into the darkness for hours on end.

 Then he would check on his enemies with his mystic all seeing cauldron. Stergis stood over the cauldron, waiting for the darkened mist to clear. As it faded the images became clear. He could see the four warlocks sitting around together. They looked stumped, like they had no clue who was doing  it. For the dark sorcerer that was great news. That night he slept soundly with dreams of vengeance without mercy.

The next morning the four warlocks were huddled together at Daniels cottage. They were going through every spell book on dark creatures they could get a hold of. They spent hours going over everything. Jim shook his head in frustration.

"I can't seem to find that little beast in any of these books." He complained to the others.

"How are we to defend ourselves if we don't know how to kill or even what it is?" Asked Yorku in a nervous tone.

"Relax we'll find it, we can figure it out." Daniel soothed the young warlock.

The warlock brethren spent most of the day doing research and deep meditation. As the day progressed to night fall the four of them prepared themselves with spells, enchantments and new battle tactics, just in case they were caught off guard. The four of them headed out to the darkest part of the forest, as they did something dark was out there waiting for them, hidden behind a large rock pile. It loved the hunt. 

The thrill, the smell the chase and eventually the kill. The best part was the look of fear in their eyes. Then came the slow torture followed by their screams. It was exillarating, he loved every second of it. Then the creature could hear his prey getting closer. The dark creature got into position, hunched down like a bob cat, ready to pounce. At the perfect moment it leaped into the air after the brethren. The warlocks turned in just enough time to attack and kill it, but not without a few attacks from the demonic creature.

Once it was all over with Yorku had a few gashes on his arm. Daniel tended to them quickly with an herbal mixture of his own. The four of them were confused by these demonic attacks on their land. They went back to their village and discussed what should be done.

"We need to talk to madame Zeta." Spoke up Jim.

"Who is she?" Asked the other warlocks.

"Madam Zeta is a very powerful witch and she knows a lot about dark creatures. She knows their fighting styles, battle tactics and how to defend against them." Jim answered them.

"Jim, could you take us to see her, to ask her to help defend against these demonic things?"

"Yes, I'll do it. We will leave at dawn, so go home and get some rest you will need it." Jim instructed the other three. Their village, their way of life was crumbling before their very eyes. There was a smell of darkness in the air. The four of them went home to sleep. They just hoped this witch had the answers they were looking for.

Stergis began ranting and raving in his dark and empty lair. He began stomping and kicking furniture.

"Damn warlocks! Why won't those little piss ants just die already?" He stopped himself, took a long deep breath and began going through the underworld spell book once more. 

He needed to find something more powerful for the warlocks. He started to flip through the dark book of spells. He found a goblin, but that wasn't enough. He needed something a little stronger. He read on until he found a chapter that looked promising. He read the incantation until he knew it from memory. He checked to see what was needed to complete the ritual. He needed to head out to the village to get the right herbs. He didn't care to travel outside of his lair. He didn't like most people as a general rule.

 The dark sorcerer became this way when his powers developed, at lightning bolt speed. Some of the townspeople would say that he was fueled by the loss of his loving older sister. They were right and he hated them for it. He spent his childhood and most of his adult life hidden away, studying every kind of magic he could.

 Stergis mastered everything that he touched, from candle magic, chaos magic even dark magic came easily to him. When it came to magic he was a prodigy. After spending a few hours studying the book, he had a new plan. He wouldn't attack them right away. When he did, Stergis was going to take those little nature freaks out for good.