the first 6 "chapters" of my story...

**introduction**


Storm clouds ravage the sky, pouring acid rain down on the ground below. in the distance a rumble can be heard coming closer by the second. the city walls stand firm, our archers ready and willing to fire at any moment. inside the walls the women and children are running for safety inside the caves hiding inside the rock face the castle was built on. our leader paces in front of us, paitently waiting to get a glimpse of his opponent, eager to satisfy his urges to kill and feed on his fallen foes. the rain falls in our faces making it hard to see a few feet in front of our faces.

"is everyone ready for battle, cause if you're not you're no use to me and might as well go and hide with the women and children now" our leader screams over a blot of lightening and the crash soon to follow after it. "I have no use for cowards and snivelling children in the armor of men. today is the day we test out mettle. do you have what it takes to kill a man before he kills you?" no one answers his questions. he knows we're ready for this. the training was hard and gruesome, almost to the point of death, but that was the point wasn't it... to make us feel dead so when we had to kill, it would be easy.

over the horizon the first flag of our enemy can be seen, swaying back and forth as the carrier stumbles on the hard rocks of the cliff they are climbing. this will be a slaughter. i look to my leader and see a cruel smile form just around the edges of his mouth, i can see his mind turning over the idea that he will have a full feast of angel blood and wings on his table tonight. he looks around at us, readying his sword in his hands. "tonight is the very night that you have been waiting for, tonight we rid this stupid world of those that call themselves "angels", those that would oppose us in the re-taking of the earth. Tonight my brethren in hell we will be welcomed in open arms. tonight we finish this."

the gates to the castle walls open and we flood out, no one stopping for a second to think of what would happen. arrows fly through the sky, catching fire only seconds before hitting thier targets. the battle has begun...


**1**
**the forest walk**

I wake, it's four in the morning, the sun hasn't risen yet but i can see the sky outside getting lighter by the minute. After a shower in the waterfall next to my home i walk inside and eat breakfast. looking at the sun coming out of the east i wonder if i will make it through to the city of demons this time without angel interference. i open my chest and take my armor out and slowly put it on. each piece fusing to my body as it is placed on my skin. my sword, sharp enough to cut through bone and angel steel, still in it's scabbard fuses to my side and i walk out the door. heading west i walk through the haunted wood toward the demon city.


the woods, haunted by those that chose not to join a side in the war between demon and angel, goes as far as the eye can see, ending just before the mountain of demonicus, home of the demon city. thieves and other random despites live in the woods, preying on those they think are weak. a demon knight is not thier likly target but everynow and then they get the courage to try and take one. attacking in groups to make it more to thier advantage, stealing anything they can to survive the harshness of living on a land not prepared for them. i walk a trail i always walk on, focusing my mind on the impending battle, when i hear a rustle in the branches above me.

"come out thieves, i can sense you moving around me." i demand "i do not have time to fool with you but if you insist on following me anymore i swear i'll take your souls with me to hell"

"hell, HA" the sounds of laughter ring out all around me " we are already in hell, demon knight, or did you not notice that"

"even you can die again my friends" i reply

"you speak tough enough demon, but you are out numbered, i know you can sense us and i know you know that we outnumber you ten to your one" the voice says above my head

"i have faced worse then that, show yourselves and i will show you the true wrath of a demon templar knight"

the leaves rustle and out steps ten men, clothed in shambles of cloth and leather, brandishing stick and home made axes. "you see, you are dead, knight, you may kill some of us and send us to the extiction plane but you will fall in the process"

"that is what you think" i say with a slight laugh escaping me. "you know nothing of my abilities and you will fall" steeling myself i pull my blade from it's scabbard, the blade itself glows red with hate and blood. i look around me, measuring my opponents. i fling my sword into the air and attack the leader, slitting his throat with my knife blade tucked neatly into my bracers, he falls gasping for breath. racing back i grab my sword before it hits the ground and thrust it into another of my attackers before he could react. two down eight more to go. i stand ready to defend myself, my attackers circling around me, looking for an opportuinty to attack. movement behind me takes my attention and i fling my blade into my new attackers forehead. pulling free in time to thrust it into anothers stomach. two more down.

"give up, i have killed four of you already, if you wish for your families to eat then i would quit and run now... but i can't promise that i will let you go, i am after all a demon and your souls feed my swords hatred"

"w...w...we should run, she's too much for us" one of them stammers. i can smell the foul smell of piss running down his leg. i let out a laugh so evil that he turns to run away. three steps into his run he falls dead, one of my blades sticking through his heart.

"i am Debraxi, high templar knight of the demons, only female in the army. YOUR souls will be mine" i scream, attacking the rest of them as violently as i can. i rip one of thier throats out with my bare hands, throwing whats left of it into anothers face, i impale him with my sword, ripping up, spilling his guts everywhere. the rest try to run, but do so without thier heads. blood stains my armor and swords blade, soaking in and feeding it with hatred. i look about at the damage done, re-sheath my sword and return to my walk. i'm late.


**2**
**Debraxi: The Drak'Thurin**

i was human once. Part of the human alliances army. a Drak'thurin, or dragon rider. i was a leader, answering only to the king of our lands himself. but i was betrayed. asked to force my family into the afterlife plain. i was brandished a murderer and unfit to lead an army. they tortured me to no end, reviving me when i died to do it all over again. my body scarred from whips and burning rods of metal. The king himself did most of my punishment, siting that it was unproper for a Drak'Thurin to kill those of thier own kind, especially thier family. i did it cause he asked... i did it with great patience.... i did it with regret. after what seemed like years in a dark tower surrouneded by those that i myself persecuted, they set me free. not in the way most would be, i was killed... raped then killed by those that were my friends. i can still remember thier sweat covered bodies as they thrust into me, one after the other. calling me names and smacking me... beating me until there was no breath left in my lungs. i passed into the afterlife plain, ready for my sweet, sweet revenge on those that did this to me... and i will get it.


Of all the pain that could befallen me, after all i did for the king of men, i was so easily cast aside and thrown from the loving, holding arms i was accoustomed to. My body was desicrated after i passed. scarred beyond recognition. my face beaten to a pulp. my breasts cut off and hung in the kinds bedchamber. my arms and legs were tore from my body and place at the four corner stones of the castle. i served as their messenger even in death. the king showed those that would betray him what would happen. i became thier martyr, serving one last purpose to the will of a derrange king of men.

as i passed over, i saw my life. my birth, teen years... my family. i saw my blade cut through my sons hair, splitting his skull in two. his eyes wide with shock and horror as he stared at me. my husband, running in from the field where he was helping the slave workers. i could see him look at me then our son... blood... pooling on the ground around his lifeless body. the look of sheer horror on his face as he looked at the blood on my sword. with one quick move i ended his suffering. one sharp stab in the chest. he was gone in seconds, passing over onto the afterlife plain. it wasn't long before the castle guards came and arrested me, knowing full well that i had done as order. told that my husband was helping the dark ones. my trial, short and sweet, my emprisonment and my rape... then finally my death.

But death isn't what one would think. i learned this the hard way, in passing into the afterlife plain there are many "lands" to go through before you find where you belong. these lands, placed by the gods of Heaven and Hell, are designed to test you. if you fall into vengful thinking you end up in hell, rightious deaths go to heaven. the first land in the series is as was described before, it is called "The lands of Limbo", where you see what you had done in the glorious life you lived. where the gods test if you can make it through the rest, placing bets on who goes where. it's a cruel game, but we all must play at one point in time. the second, as i find out, is "the Forgotten Lands"...


**3**
**The Forgotten Lands**

the "walk" i was on through the times in my life lead to the Lands of the Forgotten. Forsaken by all the dead that cross over to Heaven or Hell. the lands, covered in decaying trees and swamps full of bodies, spans many miles in the passing lands. as i passed into this new realm of the afterlife plain i found another, lying, crying on the ground. shaken by her death i walked over and asked her name. she said it was Destynie of the Hark'kurim tribe of humans. an outcast of her tribe she sought to become a Drak'thurin, but died in the trials. I introduced myself and told her to get up and be strong. She noticed the name and started to cry again.

"Debraxi, where are we?" She asked tears falling slowly down her cheeks, a quiver in her voice.

"The Forgotten Lands" I answered "a place for those murder or forgotten. we must be careful, these woods are crowded with vengful spirits, or so my father told me once." I try to sound brave, not knowing fully that we would be safe walking through these woods. "we need to go through them, it's another test from the gods."

"I.. I'm not stepping inside those damned decaying trees. i think i'm going to stay here... you're not going to leave me are you?" she was starting to cry again.

"stop that, you'll be fine, get up... let's go, you're coming with me"

we started down the hillside and into the forest. walking what i thought could be east. once inside the woods the sun seemed to dissappear, shadows seemed to move all around us. quivering behind me Destynie quietly sobbed as i led her deeper into the woods. about three miles into the forest we stopped. ahead of us was a clearing with what looked like decaying corpses walking around. i told destynie to wait here in the bushes and slowly crept forward to get a better look. what i saw was exactly as i thought, corpses, decaying slowly with time, walking around looking for something. i crept a little closer and pulled a rock out of the ground, throwing it far to the west of the clearing. the corpses looked up from the ground, hearing the sounds of my rock crashing throught the dead branches of the far tree bank. slowly they made thier way to where my rock laid to rest. i quickly crept back to destynie and told her it was time to move. watching the corpses as i lead her into the clearing and through it.

"those... were.. dead.. people weren't they" she asked me never looking away from them herself.

"forgotten by the gods. they lay here, restless, decaying through time, never finding thier true place" i told her, still creeping through the clearing.

"thats... horrid" she said, her voice cold as steel. "i feel i need to give you some information about myself... i wasn't always this scared you know..."

"i think you should wait until we're safely back into the woods" i interrupted her "our decaying friends don't seem interested in my rock anymore"

**4**
**Destynie: The Terrin'kul"

we made it to the other side of the clearing, hardly noticed by the wandering corpses. once at a safe distance from the clearing we sat down, i told destynie to contiue with whatever it was she was going to say.

"I was a Terrin'kul, a huntress for my tribe. daughter of the chieften, but and outcast. i had the unique ability to speak to the animals. my fellow tribesman didn't understand, so they drove me out. i ran... and i ran... finally getting lost. no animals in the forest outside your beloved castle would talk to me, show me the way. I... I.. lied to you before, or maybe the fates did, when i told you i was going to your caslte to become a Drak'thurin. i was looking for the king, to ask that he take me into his army. to show him a village that opposes him, but i was killed instead." she said, memories clearly hurting her inside. tears slowly flowing down her cheeks once again.

"you saw the king... and he betrayed you didn't he" i asked her.

"yes... and no... i saw his adivisors, never did i see the king himself. they took the information i had, then tossed me to the wolves. i thought i would be of use..." she stopped only pausing to let loose a shudder. "i was, i guess you could say. they sold me to the highest bidder, i lost my virginity to an eighty year old man and his "boy", they bought me to be thier whore." her tears stopped and her voice changed once again from the stutter, shell shocked tone i was so used to, now i could hear her anger, her hatred for what they had done to her. "so i stole away, found a bow, fashioned some arrows and waited. when they came out in the morning... they didn't see what was coming, i shot them, one at a time from a tree about three hundred yards from the house. they ran of course, but i am a huntress. i got my revenge that day... so why am i being cursed by coming here?"

"cause you died" i answered her as solmely as i could muster.

"i got killed... sold... betrayed... shouldn't death be a release?" she sat down on the ground beside me "i mean.. this isn't right, why are you here?"

i had hope this question would not come up. think of it as a standard, i'm not used to being questioned. " i was, myself was betrayed by the king of men. I was Drak'Thurin, a leader of an army. I was called to the kings chambers and asked to do a deed for him. this deed i did, with honor to my king, but betrayal to myself. I slew my family, thinking they were working with an unknown enemy. my son, my husband... i was then seized by the kings guard, tortured and killed many times, raped... then thrown into a river, soon to be forgotten. I too will have my revenge on the king of men."

A common bond among strangers, forged in vengful death. we set off towards the east again, heading deeper into the Forgotten woods. Destynie walking tall now, she found a sister in death and was ready to die again for her. I too felt the same.

**5**
**The Ruins Of The Forgotten**

we walked for what seemed like hours. the sun never able to break through the dead tree tops, as we walked i found the trees getting closer and closer together. Suddenly as we passed through the trees the sun shone bright apon our white, dead skin. Another clearing, we ducked down hoping we weren't seen by anyone that may have been standing in the grass. after a few minutes i peek my head up and took a quick look around. seeing nothing i stood up. motioned for destynie to do the same and took a better look at our surroundings.

The sun shone on tall green grass, shaped by the trees in a perfect circle. dead in the middle, where the sun seemed to be shining brighter was an old entrance to what seemed like an underground barracks for some dead army. carefully we walked toward the entrance.

"do you know what this is Debraxi?" destynie whispered into my ear

"no" i answered "but i intend to find out... the easy way or the hard way."

"what the hell is that supposed to mean" her whispers getting more excited

"shhhh, if there is anything in here i wanna surprise them, not them surprise us, so keep it down.... got it?"

"yes" she said hanging her head and whispering again.

the entrance was carved out of the face of the slight hill. like a hobits hole but built downwards, going deep into the ground. we could see what would have been door hinges, ripped off long ago by something big and strong enough to move a heavy door right out of a rock's face. runes adored the door frame, carved into the rock and pale, like some sort of magic spell was there but barely had enough power to sustain itself.

"it says 'enter at own risk, dark evil lurks inside'" destynie whispered. i could hear her breath cought in her throat.

"how do you know that?" i asked, not bothering to hold my surprise.

"i don't.... know" she said " i just can... theres more...'only those of venful hate can survive, enter if you dare'"

"the doors been gone for... longer then i can think of at the moment"

"do you think there is anyone still down there?" she asked " maybe using it for shelter from this dreaded sun"

"maybe..." i said "possible... we should check"

"if you insist"

we entered, slowly, creeping down the stairs, hugging the side walls. after we went down fifty stairs, the air got stale and the light was stolen away. i looked back toward the door, what once was ripped away was now replaced. the door was back, runes glowing giddily on the door itself, i turned destynie around and asked her to read what they said.

"you have come to the Ruins of the Forgotten, if vengful of heart and death, seek out the devil king of hades hand" she read aloud. "who do you think that is?"

"i don't know, but this name "ruins of the forgotten..."

"yes?" destynies questioned as i drifted off into memories, trying despratly to dig into my past life and remeber the name.

"my.. my father, he told me about the afterlife, claiming he met someone that was here and went back, someone at a bar somewhere... anyway, this is for those destined for Hell's high army" i told her as the memory flooded back into my mind. " We were murdered, betrayed, raped... we are both vengful of heart and death. we are destined to be in Hell's army Destynie"

"oh.."

**6**
**Pools of Despair**

We encountered little to no trouble in walking through what must have been the first half of the ruins. moving deeper into them, we walked for what seemed like hours, the only light coming from a torch we stole from a camp of dead elves. most likly victims not fit for the ruins. passing through empty chamber after empty chamber, some had skeltons of dead humans, orcs or elves lieing around, some barred in chains. as we walked, silently in case of any other explorers, we came to a chamber, fully cirular with a pool of blue green liquid. looking into it i saw tortured souls swimming deep in the water, wailing to no one in particular, but no sounds escaped the waters. destynie came to my side and looked in, seeing what i saw she retreated to the walls to read the ruins carved in the stone.

"the Pools of Despair" she read "Three in total if i'm getting this right, this is for the tortured souls. destined to swim in thier sorrows, thats a horrid way to spend your afterlife"

"it's sad.." i responded, not able to look away from the souls swimming and screaming thier pain, not knowing that no one looking in can hear them.

"we should move on... this place is scaring me... the wall says the other two pools are further in, about two hundred yards, i guess we need to see them as well before we get to the other side of these ruins"

i moved away, taking one last glance at the pool in front of me, then headed toward the door on the other side of the chamber. Destynie followed me and we headed toward the other two pools. again passing through empty chambers, we came to one where light and think voices could be heard. crouching and hugging the wall closest to the voices i crept forward and peeked into the room. three decaying corpses were trying to feed on a withering blood elf, he in turn was trying to fight them off. i returned to Destynie and told her about the situation.

"there are three corpses attacking a withering blood elf, he's trying to fight them off but without our help he'll expire again and go further into the forgotten lands." i said, my voice like steel "are you ready to fight?"

"i think so" she told me, looking around for a weapon. " i need a bow... wait... Thurum.. Tachim.. Creptim"

"what was that? i asked bewildered by the sudden change in her tempo and words.

" i don't know..." she trailed off as a sound came from behind us, like bones being pulled back together and reanimated. suddenly out of the darkness came three skeletons... three of the dead ones we just passed, brandishing swords and sheilds. they stopped just short of a foot from us and stood ready to fight. two of them offering me two swords and destynie one for herself. with this we were ready to fight. we rounded the corner and struck the corpses with all we had. Destynie pulled the blood elf to the safety while the skeletons attacked and killed the corpses with me.

After the battle was finished the skeletons again fell apart, thier bones shattering as the hit the ground in a pile of dust. we watched and looked around to see if any more dangers were lurking about, then walked to the withering blood elf.

"what is your name?" i asked him as we helped him to stand "and what are you doing in these ruins?"

"i.. i am Malinik Dreafix... Blood Elf warlord" he said struggling through the pain " and i.. i'm here.. trying to find my place in the afterl..life"

"well this is the ruins of the forgotten... it's apparently for those meant for Hell's high army" destynie said "if we are getting these runes right after all"

"can you stand on your own?" i asked "for that matter can you walk? you're of no use to us if you can't fight with us"

"cold debraxi, that was just cold" destynie said, a scolding tone in her voice.

"it's all right love, i have heard worse from humans" Malinik said "and to answer your questions.. debraxi, right? yes i can.. and give me a moment and a sword and i can fight with you, maybe save your life in the process"

"i doubt that" i said and started walking away

the three of us walked for an hour through narrow halls. Destynie reading the runes as we walked, hopefully pointing us in the right direction. soon we came to the second pool, destynie went over to the runes on the wall and read them out loud for Malinik and I could hear.

"The Pool of the weary, for those who suffered deaths by loved ones or ones own hand, destined to remain until thier pain be resolved" she read with confidence in her voice " i'm getting good at this"

i walked over to the pools edge and look inside, seeing souls swimming againg in a reddish purle ooze. as i looked in two souls swam closer to the surface and as they looked up and i looked in i recognized thier faces. i fell away from the edge, bawled up into the fetal position and began to weep, seeing what i had done to my son and husband crushing all that i had to steel myself. thier eyes, even though i could no longer see them, still burned holes through my chest. Destynie and Malinik ran, quickly, to my side, both concered with my well being. i pushed them away and got up. steel myself again and looked into the pool. as i stared again into the murky ooze, my family floated to the surface and stared through my chest. i looked at them and wept, i wept so they could see the pain i held inside my heart and soul for what i had done to them. i wept so they could see the pain i went through for so many years after finding out that i had been betrayed after my betrayal. still they stared holes through my chest, causeing my heart more pain than i thought it could bare. i grew cold and hated the fact that my dead family was judging me from thier pool of slime and ooze, so i threw my fists into the ooze, smashing the barrier between myself and my family, freeing my soul from the torment.