"Put your back into it!" Omar yelled viciously.
Russel grunted as he walked through the ruined city, a large log on his right shoulder, threatening to crush. He could feel the vein in his forehead pulse like mad and gave him a searing pain, and his arms buckled as though they were about to break.
"That's enough you're at the end. Drop the log." Omar ordered.
Russel happily dropped the log before falling to the ground and leaning his back against the log. He looked down at his arms which continued to shake as sweat continued rolling down his body, having already soaked the black shirt he was wearing.
It had been two weeks since Russel had arrived in Dublios, and Omar turned out to be a ruthless teacher. He had to complete ridiculous tasks on the daily that most men would simply put off as impossible. Grueling physical tasks like carrying multiple hundred pound logs from one end of the ruins to the other became a daily occurrence for Russel. The worst part was that Omar hadn't even begun to teach him how to control his powers. Constantly saying that he first needed to be a worthy vessel for the power that he had received.
'Bullshit… I'm starting to think that he just likes to see me suffer…' Russel thought, exhausted from the workout he just finished.
"Break time is over. It's time to get back to your swordsmanship." Omar commanded.
Russel groaned in frustration and anger. While he didn't know exactly what he had signed up for, there was one thing he knew for sure. It wasn't this. He didn't see the point of working himself into the ground aimlessly when he could be actually learning to control his power. He begrudgingly grabbed his sword from the nearby rack Omar had set up and approached the enchanted training dummy that was also set up by Omar.
"Activate it." Omar ordered.
Russel slashed at the dummy with his sword. It whirred to life and produced its own wooden sword. Russel got into his battle stance and watched intensely as the dummy moved towards him.
"Remember, read your enemy's movements to determine whether to attack first, and how you should attack or counter." Omar reminded him.
Russel looked at the dummy and watched as it lined up a swing. The dummy swung faster than Russel would be able to follow. But after weeks of training with it, Russel had learned the timing. He performed a backflip to dodge before jumping forward and landing a strike against the enemy's chest. He unleashed a flurry of strikes before retreating. The dummy quickly moved forward and attacked Russel. He deftly deflected the blows before performing a riposte that struck at the dummy's chest. He spun to the back of the dummy and stabbed straight through, ending the mock battle.
"Well done. We can move you on to the tenth level now. It's the final level before we get into actually controlling your power." Omar told him.
"Finally. Let's get this over with." Russel smiled.
Omar walked over to the dummy and started adjusting something on the back of its head before stepping away. He returned to his previous spot of observation.
"Activate it." He ordered once more.
Russel struck at the dummy before retreating instantly, unsure of what this final level held for him. The dummy roared to life and produced two swords this time. Russel looked at it nervously, last time he had been against a dual wielding opponent he had support from Oliver.
The dummy rushed forward at the fastest speed yet and started to swing its swords individually, and sometimes in tandem at Russel. He grunted as he tried to deflect the onslaught of blows, being grazed many times in the process. Eventually it became too much and Russel was hit square in the chest by two blows simultaneously, knocking him to the ground.
"And you're dead." Omar spoke, bringing the battle to a close.
Russel pulled himself off the ground and leaned on his sword, still recovering from the pain of the attacks. He pushed himself to his feet after and put his sword back on the rack.
"That was way more than a one level jump…" Russel complained.
"Indeed. It is faster than before, has another weapon and is unpredictable. It does not have set movements like the previous levels of difficulty. That is why it is the final one." Omar told him. "Now run two laps of the ruins before returning to the house. Lunch will then be ready."
Russel nodded and began to run. He ripped off his sweat drenched shirt and tucked it into his pocket. He looked down at his chest and arms that had become very well defined with muscle after the weeks of non stop training. He was at a point where his muscles were apparent, but wouldn't be defined as overkill. He returned to focusing on running and found himself almost out of breath halfway through the first lap. He focused on the continuous taps of his necklace against his sternum to distract him from his lack of breath. His lungs continued to burn as he pushed off, until he finally finished and fell to the ground in exhaustion once more.He took some time to regain his breath before returning to the house.
When he reached the house he found Omar in a frenzy, grabbing all kinds of tools and such and rushing over to Oliver who was tossing and turning on the floor. Russel heard him groan loudly in pain and rushed over. Russel crouched down next to him and looked at him with concern.
It was the first time that Oliver had woken up since they had arrived in Diablos. His condition had improved in the time he had been training, but Omar didn't think Russel would wake up until he was healed.
"Where am I?" Oliver wheezed.
"That's not important right now. Save your strength." Russel soothed him. "Omar what in oblivion are we supposed to do?"
"The wound seems to have been infected since I last changed the bandage… We just need to try and stop the pain for now." Omar replied. "Here. Grind up these herbs."
Omar thrust a small mortar and pestle into Russel's hands. He looked down and saw some strange yellow and orange leaves in the bottom of the bowl. He started to grind away furiously at the leaves to crush them into a nearly powdery substance.
"Is this enough?" Russel asked after a moment, presenting his results to Omar.
"That should be fine. Rub it into his wound." Omar ordered, stepping aside.
Russel moved to where the wound was and saw that the edges of it had started to gain a green tinge. He frowned and grabbed some of the crushed leaves and started to rubbing them into the wound. Oliver howled in pain and started to thrash about.
"Hold still child. Are you trying to kill yourself!?" Omar shouted, grabbing Oliver's arms and legs. "Keep going Russel. Use it all."
Russel continued to apply the substance, regardless of Oliver's continued howling.
"Sorry buddy…" Russel grimaced as he listened to the howls.
A few moments later Russel ran out of the substance to rub into the wound. He stepped back and watched as Oliver continued to suffer and shreik.
"Wasn't this supposed to help with the pain?" Russel questioned.
"After it works its way in it will grant him a painless death." Omar replied.
"What!?" Russel snapped, leaping forward and grabbing the old mans collar. "The idea was to save him you stupid old geezer. Not to kill him."
The man moved his arm slightly and sent Russel flying into the nearby wall. He groaned at the impact before standing once more. Eyeing Omar down.
"His body is not like ours, humans are quite weak creatures. There is nothing we can do for him as a human." Omar explained.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Russel asked.
"It means that we can't help him as a human… But helping him as a half demon is possible." Omar answered.
"A half demon?" Russel inquired.
"A half demon occurs when a demon resurrects a member of the mundane races under the light of a full moon on a special altar, within three days of their death. Lucky for us there is a full moon tonight and an alter nearby, so we are almost guaranteed to succeed." Omar told him.
"And if we don't?" Russel asked.
"Then he is gone for good." Omar answered.
"You senile old man…" Russel growled.
The howls of pain from Oliver died down and Russel returned to his side, thoroughly giving Omar a dirty look on his way over.
"Russel… Am I dying?" Oliver asked weakly.
"Yeah… You are… But you won't be dead for long is things go according to plan…" Russel whispered to him.
"You say the dumbest shit sometimes…" Oliver chuckled weakly.
"That doesn't mean much coming from you." Russel joked.
Oliver smiled weakly as he closed his eyes. The color started to drain from his face and Russel could tell that he had died.
"If this doesn't work I'll kill you old man." Russel growled.
He looked over to see Omar rummaging through a closet, grabbing a variety of things. After a moment he stopped and faced Russel.
"We need to prepare the body." Omar spoke.
"How so?" Russel asked.
"We need to implant these three seals across his body." Omar explained, gesturing to three small objects he held in his hands.
He walked over and set them down in front of Russel. They were three small, and red pieces of metal that depicted a fireball. They seemed to be around the size of a single mark coin, which meant that swallowing one could be easily fatal.
"We need to implant these in his body? Your joking right?" Russel asked.
"I'm dead serious. We need to place them in his brain, stomach and heart in order for energy to course through the seals and turn his body into that of a demon. Also, you should know that his soul shall become bound to your own, and that it shall siphon some energy from your continuously until he dies. It won't be enough to greatly impede you, but it will make it so that you cannot use your abilities for as long." Omar cautioned.
"Well I can't just let him die here. So let's do it." Russel nodded.
"Your quick decision making will get you killed one day…" Omar sighed, pulling out a dagger and handing it to Russel. "Be careful as to not damage the flesh too greatly, or else the process could fail, or even kill you in the process as it tries to repair itself."
Russel gulped nervously as he took hold of the knife. He adjusted his grip to be steady, yet comfortable and lined up the blade of the knife above Oliver's head. After a moments hesitation, he plunged the knife into the skull, cracking through it. Russel grimaced at the sound of the skull cracking and removed the knife. Blood started to pour from the wound and upon looking in Russel found that he had cut into the brain as well.
"Good. Now carefully insert the seal." Omar instructed.
Russel lifted one of the seals from next to him and felt the cool metal on his skin. He carefully lined up the coin like object and insterted it into the wound that he had left.
"Now stop the bleeding." He was ordered once more.
Russel grabbed a cloth that Omar had brought and pressed down on the wound to absorb the crimson liquid and stop the flow from the wound.
"Now again, but on the heart this time." Omar prompted.
Russel repeated the process on the left side of the corpses chest and was met with a gush of blood that shot up into his face. Russel coughed and wiped the blood off his face before quickly inserting a seal and stopping the bleeding. He then turned his attention to the stomach and repeated the process once more. When the final cut had stopped bleeding Russel leaned back and sighed in relief and slight disgust at the job he had just performed.
"Now all thats left is to wrap this around him." Omar told him, grabbing an intricate blanket from next to him that seemed to depict a battle between angels and demons.
Russel looked at the captivating design and was amazed at the craftsmanship that would have to go into a blanket like this. Omar followed his gaze that rested upon the demon that seemed to be taking on multiple adversaries on its own.
"That is supposed to be Satan, who as you know created the demons. But to be honest… This doesn't do justice to how overwhelmingly powerful he was. He could have wiped out all of Sylizen in a knight if he chose to. Yet he was still defeated. Let that be a lesson Russel, in no way is anything invincible, no matter how powerful it is." Omar said whimsically.
Russel nodded as he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around Olivers body. With that, preparation was complete and Omar stood up, Russel following his example.
"Be ready to go as soon as the sun comes out. The rain should let up soon and allow us to proceed."