Long Road Home

The chilled wind brushed against Caerus' face as he took his first step out of the cave, the moon sat high in the sky providing plentiful light on the war-torn scene that stood before him. The party of adventurers that had set up beforehand was stripped down, bloodied. No trace of life around. Arthas and the others had come through like a violent storm and taken whatever they wanted from the poor group. Wrong place, wrong time.

"This is awful, they didn't seem the type," Ember said.

"It doesn't matter, they betrayed me. They betrayed us. Once I am stronger we will get our revenge," Caerus stated.

"It's going to be a long walk home, and dangerous. We should wait till sunrise to head out," Ember advised.

Caerus's eyes surveyed the tree line that surrounded them, looking for any signs of life, or a horse that may have escaped. No luck.

"No, if we wait someone who is still expecting this dungeon to be open will arrive. I don't want to be around when that happens. This should help us."

Caerus placed the briefcase down on the ground. The brass locks turned and clicked at his touch, the lid popped open to reveal its demonic contents. Inside was a plain journal and ring set into purple velvet.

'Hello, my dear avatar. This book is your guide to how to use your newfound gifts, along with a Diregem ring. With this, you will be able to contact my minions with relative ease, when you are strong enough that is. Now the first step of being an Invoker is..'

"What is this Caerus?" Ember flew down in front of the book.

"A gift for the price I paid to return. Keep a lookout, I will have to read and walk."

The dirt path beneath his feet was filled with tiny rocks that hid beneath its bumpy surface, but Caerus did not break his concentration. Every so often Ember would hit him on the head as he veered off the road, and Red would bark if he was about to walk into another tree. Each page absorbed thanks to his improved intelligence, and each page brought a bit more excitement.

"Caerus, wait up ahead!" Ember warned.

The moonlight filtered through the leaves, barely outlining the figures that had stepped out from behind the trees. Four men, each with some sort of blade in hand and ragged clothes approached.

"Give us your money, or give us your life," the foremost one demanded, blade pointed towards Caerus.

"Perfect, I was getting excited to try this out." Caerus grinned.

"Try what out? They have blades, and we have a dog. We are in trouble here we should run!" Ember pleaded.

"Let's do this Red. Invoke"

At his word, Red morphed into a floating red ball of light. Caerus' fingers wrapped around and guided it towards his chest. A fire erupted from within, a surge of energy pulsed from his chest throughout his body in waves. His muscles began to tighten and tense, red patches of fur sprouted from various parts of his skin around his jaw and cheeks. His hair turned red and grew out more. He could feel it, the fire within, the strength he had obtained. It was a rush like no other and made him chuckle and let out a roar from within.

"You four will be practice."

"What in the Hel is that-"

The bandit's scream was cut off by the clawed grip around his throat.

"How did he..? He was over there a second ago, nobody is that fast!" Another exclaimed.

Caerus could not hold back, his grip tightened, the bandits face became flush and his eyes filled with red trying to get a sliver of air into his lungs. The thrashing ceased, his arms fell and his feet no longer supported the dead weight that Caerus now held.

The body collapsed onto the floor and Caerus turned towards his next target. Any reservations about using a power granted by a demon were quickly forgotten after his clawed fingers pierced through the breast of his next victim. The warmth of the man's blood on his hand as it dripped down onto the dirt beneath them.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught one rushing towards him. Both hands clasped on the short blade held beneath him. Caerus let the air fill his lungs, the fire within let out in one breath. The blue blaze wrapped around the bandit in a fatal embrace, punctuated by his airless gasps and blood filled scream.

"A. A...A demon, it's a red-eyed demon." The last bandit dropped to his knees fingers interlocked.

"There is no God who will save you now. Curse your own bad timing."

Caerus gripped tight around the thinning strands of hair the bandit had left, throat stretched and waiting for his claws. The deep red ran down like a waterfall, bubbles formed at the edge of the mans mouth, and his last wallows of sounds became a wet mumble.

All the strength within Caerus faded in an instant and his legs gave way to the onslaught of fatigue and muscle ache.

"What was that Caerus? That was...Awesome!" Ember's eyes lit up. "First you were like roar! Then whoosh and slice. 'Curse your own luck,'" Ember animated and imitated.

Red lay flat on the dirt, tongue out, and Caerus felt the same way. The rush and exhilaration had been replaced by exhaustion, pain, and a voice in the back of his head wondering if that was really him who did that. While he was in the moment he felt liberated from all his fears, closed to unhinged with the joy he felt in the ensuing battle. It was a new side to him, but he wondered if it was him at all and not just Agdrazuth taking some sort of hold on him.

The bushes to the side rustled and a horse wandered out into the bloody scene.

"Maybe our luck is on the up Ember?"

"Nope, it is still zero. I checked."

"Shut up, let's get going."

The sun began to peek out from the mountains that sat east of Rainspring. The city now in full view, Caerus had finally made it back. His stomach groaned at him at the thought of a freshly cooked meal, it had been a long ride back but he was able to read the journal and understood a bit more of his newfound power. The book felt unfinished though and led to more questions than answers.

The Arcana Tower was a welcome sight, Zilkum for once, sat at the desk talking to a new outlander. His large eyes shifted away from the newcomer to Caerus' ragged visage.

"Caerus! What happened? You are covered in dried blood, come on let's get you sorted." Zilkum rushed over.

Caerus felt his body go, and the weight became too much to bear in his exhausted state.

"I'm back. Is it breakfast time yet?" Caerus collapsed into the soft grasp of Zilkum's arms.