Imp
After Grall jumped into the portal, Imp quickly shut it as to not allow anything else to come through. He then turned to leave, ignoring the gaping jaws and questions the dasari and Pyroniams threw at him.
He quickly made his way to Whitewater where he found Grodak sitting in his room wide eyed. The sorrow the orc emitted made it hard to breath and Impartis found himself bitting back tears. Shaking his head, trying to clear it of all thoughts save one, Imp approached Grodak.
"I was wrong." Imp felt mildly disgusted hearing those words spoken with his own voice. "Marik was never The Reaper, its Grall."
"I know." Grodaks spoke with great sorrow, his voice seemed to crack as he fought off tears.
"Hes gone mad, Grodak." Imp spoke with the kind of kindness you find from a good friend. "He came to me demanding to be sent to hell, for what reason, I do not know."
Grodak looked into Imps eyes, the tears that he had been fighting back for so long now seemed to pour out uncontrollably. "How long ago?"
"A few minutes."
"Then we must get ready to battle him-" Grodak stopped as he saw that Imp had more to say.
"He released something into the air, Grodak. I do not know what it is and dare not try to investigate it. It seems to absorb magic and kill all those who it touches." Imps voice seemed more urgent then he meant it to, but he did not care. "We need to evacuate everyone into a pocket dimension until its over."
Grodak now appeared to be angered by Imp, the very thought of hiding away until the danger passed was ludicrous. "I will not hide away as the world comes to an end, Impartis."
Imp flinched at the way Grodak spoke his name. Since their meeting, Imp had never heard his full name spoken by the orc.
"I am not suggesting you run," Imp said as anger clouded his eyes, "I am only suggesting we evacuate those who do not wish to fight and those who do not have the means. Do you want the women and children, the elderly and sickly to fight against The Reaper, your brother? If so," Imp stood up creating a portal to his own kingdom, "then I will not stick around to watch."
Grodak grabbed Imp as he tried to step through the portal and threw him against a wall. "How dare you threaten me." Grodak shouted, his anger now overtook his sorrow. "Do you not think I can deal with Grall myself? I am stronger then even the Gods. I am the last living perfect being and I will not coward in front of anything, even The Reaper himself."
Imp stood up, blood dripping from his forehead. "Then do it." Imp said as he ignored the blood that dripped into his eyes. "Do it but do not involve your people. If they stay then they will fall pray to Gralls powers."
Grodak stared at Imp for a moment in silence. He had known what he must do but didn't want to admit that Imp was correct.
"Fine." Grodak gave a show of giving in. "Do whatever you want. I need to prepare for the battle that lays ahead."
"We do not-" Imp stopped short of what he was about to say as a strange and unfamiliar feeling came over him. He had been experimenting with the structures of hell and, at one point, even made a connection with hell. When there is a change with the structure of hell, Imp would feel it.
"My Gods." Imp spoke so low, Grodak hadn't even noticed. "Grodak, Grall just killed a demon lord."
Jaxale
Jaxale and Dronde were soaring through the air when they saw Adrian rushing towards them. "I wonder what that's about?" Jaxale mused, he hadnt bothered to raise his voice for he knew Dronde would hear him. "Humans usually don't move that fast unless there is a fire or something on sale. Wait. Is there something on sale? Dronde, bring us close so that the human may lead us to the sale."
Dronde did as asked and brought Jaxale close to the human. He looked disheveled, his white hair thrown about, his clothes in tatters, and dark circles lingered under his blue eyes.
"Wheres the sale?" Jaxale shouted to Adrian.
Adrian looked at Jaxale for a moment without recognition, then slowly spoke. "The dead have began to rise. Souls now walk the world. The viel is torn. All is lost. The Reaper comes tonight."
It seemed like Adrian was under some strange spell and as he finished his sentence he was released. Adrian slumpt over, his grip on the saddle loosened and he fell towards the ground.
"Dronde." Jaxale had no need to say anymore as Dronde swooped low and caught Adrian. He was out cold, the dragon he had ridden hovered next to them staring at Adrian in concern.
"What did he mean by 'The Reaper comes tonight'?" Jaxale asked Starlight, but Starlight seemed just as confused as Jaxale.
"I guess," Jaxale spoke with a sigh, "we just need to ask Imp. He should know, after all he is the smartest person on Xeno-Movia."
Grodak
As Imp left, Grodak fell back onto the bed. The anger he had felt dissipated and was replaced with sorrow and exhaustion. He thought back to the book Imp had read from.
Talengar, the God of war, his God, had been defeated by The Reaper and even grew to fear him. Could he, a mere mortal actually do what he said he would. He did not know if he could, but he knew he would try.
Grodak stood up and began to dress for the coming battle, as he did so Xierma ran in. "Grodak," she appeared to be tired, she has probably been running through the castle preparing it to hunt Grall down. "We are ready to begin the hunt. The Reaper will not escape us, no matter where he flees to."
Grodak took Xierma into his arms, quieting her, and brushed her long hair with his hand. "There will be no hunt, my love." Xierma opened her mouth to protest but Grodak would not allow her. "Take everyone in the kingdom and follow Impartis orders. I will be the one who will deal with my brother."
Xierma would normally try to argue about the danger, but as she looked into Grodaks eyes she saw that he needed her encouragement more then anything. So Xierma just lay her head against Grodaks chest and listened to his heart beat which always calmed her down and kept her steady.
Cassandra
Cassandra had no clue what she should do. Grall is The Reaper and she could feel the powers of The Reaper burning through the world. All the books in the Altain library, books the Gods themselves had either saved from the last cycle or recreated in this one, they all said the same thing.
Once The Reapers powers have been activated, there is no stopping it. Some of the books, however, had theorized that as long as you kill The Reaper on the material plane then his powers would be cut off. With that, Cassandra could only think of one thing. She must get to Tyril and they must fight Grall to the death.
Cassandra landed outside the inn Tyril was staying in. She had no need to go inside, she knew her brother had sensed her approach and would welcome her. So she waited.
When no one appeared to greet her, Cassandra flung the door open shouting and demanding for Tyril to appear before her. That's when his voice appeared behind her.
"I apologize, sister." Cassandra turned to find Tyril looking worse for ware. "I had been in a meeting with lady Xierma."
"Cut the crap, Tyril." Cassandra shouted, she was angry, not at Tyril, but herself. She felt that she should have known Grall was The Reaper. She could not believe how foolish she was to over look the damn orc just because he had saved her and given her what she had always longed for.
"What are you here for, Cassandra?" Tyril spoke her name more as a curse then an actual name.
"Grall," Cassandra said in annoyance, "he's The Reaper and-"
"So you figured it out?" Tyril asked as he walked into the inn and took a seat. "Xierma had already informed me. The meeting was to decide how we would approach the situation."
"According to Impartis," Tyril continued ignoring Cassandra's displeasure at losing to the elf in the game of information, "Grall is currently in hell, killing the demon lords."
Cassandra's eyes widened in shock. "What?" She shouted, it would have taken Marik and an army of Altains to take down a single demon lord, but Grall was now so powerful that he was killing them by himself. "How many has he killed so far?"
Tyril looked into Cassandra's eyes, seeing the worry in them. He knew she did not worry for the demon lords theirselves, but for what it would do to the world. With each demon lord Grall kills, their powers would be released onto the world causing disasters to befall them all.
"I do not know." Tyril lay his head in his hands, everything had taken a tole on him but he knew he could not rest. Not yet. "He has killed at least five of the nine demon lords and he is moving at a frightening pace. I had originally hoped he would be killed by them so that we could avoid such a situation, but he is to powerful."
Cassandra stared at her brother in disgust as she realized he was cowarding at the thought of this orc. "Listen to me." Cassandra grabbed Tyril by his shoulders and shook him gently. "If the two of us fight him together, it will be the same as when we fought Marik."
Tyril threw Cassandra's hands to the side angrily. "This is not the same." He shouted staring into Cassandra's eyes. "He is much more powerful then Marik could have ever hoped to be."
Cassandra slapped Tyril across the face, sobering the wraith. "If you are so scared to face him, then run. Run far away and never call yourself the son of Marik ever again. I do not want a brother that is as weak as you."
Tryil gave Cassandra a look of shock. She knew he was not weak, what he had sacrificed to protect others, what he would give to keep everyone safe.
"I am not weak, Cassandra." His voiced turned from shock to anger as he stood to stare into his sisters hazel eyes. "I am not the one who was killed by a third rate assassin and had to be revived by their lover. I am not the one who attacked their lover because I could not control my emotions."
The last part hit Cassandra hard, she knew it was true and hated to admit it. After she was killed, she found herself waking up in a patch of grass. She had not even opened her eyes fully before she sensed God powers in the world. That was when her altain heritage took control.
"You're right, brother." Tyril flinched at the word brother. Cassandra once called him as such until the day he became a wraith. From then on she had always called him by name.
"I'm sorry, Cassandra." Tyril said trying to amend what he had broken. "I didn't-"
"Its fine, Tyril." Cassandra turned, her wings folding close to her body. "You only spoke the truth were I spoke falsely to hurt you. If you do not wish to fight this battle then you do not have to."
Tyril sighed, he was exhausted from always saving everyone, from always putting himself last, and most of all, he was exhausted from always caring about everyone. Now though. Now was the time to push exhaustion away. Now was the time to dig deep and be the king his father could never be. Now was the time to surpass his father.
"Hold, Cassandra." Tyril stood up and swung his arm out, grabbing his sword from his room. "I will fight along side you, my sister."
Imp
Imp was hurrying the citizens of his kingdom and the citizens of Whitewater into the pocket dimensions when he sensed the eighth demons lords life being snuffed out. Many of the demon lords had been killed and the most their deaths did was send a sense of dread through Imp. This one, however, sent such a great shock through Imp that he fell to the ground, vomiting.
It had been little more then an hour since Imp had sent Grall to hell. He had, much like the others, hoped he would be killed there, but now, he hoped Grall would just stay there.
As Imp picked himself up, he found Cassandra, Tyril, Jaxale, Dronde, and an unconscious Adrian standing before him. "Are you alright, Impartis?" Tyril asked, concern etched in his voice.
"I am fine." Imp said as he looked over the group. "I can't say the same for the demon lords however."
"How many has he killed?" Cassandra asked, she took an unconscious step towards Imp before stopping herself.
"Eight." Imp wiped the bile off of his lips and spat the taste out of his mouth. "Eight have been killed by that bastard."
Jaxale looked between the three of them for a moment before speaking up. "Um..." All eyes turned to Jaxale causing him to pause before continuing. "Adrian here, if this is Adrian, I don't really know because all humans look alike to me, no offense." He looked at Tyril who only smiled. "He said something odd, and was acting almost like he was possessed."
"What did he say?" Imp asked impatiently, not really paying much attention to Jaxales ramblings.
"The dead have began to rise. Souls now walk the world. The viel is torn. All is lost. The Reaper comes tonight." Jaxale quoted, he was surprised he had remembered his exact words. "What do you think he means?"
The group stared at Jaxale in disbelief. Imp was the first to speak up. "He means what he said. Grall is The Reaper, I sent him to hell, but not before he tore the viel. Now souls are making their way through the viel and are inhabiting the world."
"That sounds cool and scary at the same time." Jaxale said as he began to look around. "I wonder how he knew though."
"The source." Tyril was the one who spoke up this time. "He has a habit of taking control of people when the world is in danger."
Jaxale looked as though he was about to ask something but stopped as the ground beneath them began to rise. A few dozen feet from the group, the ground exploded and a demon came flying out, almost as if he had been thrown. Imp, realizing this was the last demon lord, quickly created a portal above the demon, sending it home, and closed the tear that it came through.
Imp was slow, however, as he looked at where the tear had been, Grall now stood.