Diablo 2: Fallen

Diablo 2: Fallen
by Lady Jasmine (ladyofjasmine@gmail.com)

Chapter 6: Revealing

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Lanai simply folded her arms primly across her chest and observed the paladin, kneeling next to the pathetic excuse of a demoness that was writhing on the floor, pinned by her own abilities that the paladin was using against her.

"Foolish little run," she thought to herself, very pleased. "I will kill this human first, I will wait till he's tired, till he's weak, then I will tear him limb from limb..." she grinned ear-to-ear.

The expression on Lanai's face unnerved Valerius, but not for the reasons she thought it would.

He was angry. He had just realized Diemma has no ability to control Lanai to hit anyone. Lanai had played the victim and even led him to believe that she was just a formidable woman against all odds who still believed in standing strong. All the time, she had probably been laughing in shadows, plotting what havoc she could start.

"That's not technically true," Diemma's voice countered in his mind. "I can make people physically do what I want, by moving their body like a doll, but I can't make them say what I wish them to."

"Regardless," he replied silently to Diemma. "I should have realized it then when Lanai spoke to me pretending to be controlled... that should have been more obvious... I've been blinded--"

--by me. I've been distracting you," the fragile demoness said quietly.

It made him so angry. Lanai, the one who played the innocent victim, was the true demon orchestrating the entire tragedy. But, another realization had sunk in and the more he thought about it, the more it frightened him.

Lanai was only able to control Diemma because she was a stronger demon, thus that gave her right. Diemma had no abillities to control someone to say anything. So then... when Diemma was initiated sex with him in his room... she had no control of his voice.. most of what he had said was of his own will. The air left his chest with that realization. He wondered however if Diemma knew as well and it further explained her tender actions towards him.

"I knew... " she simply replied.

He nearly laughed at himself. He had started to realize his feelings for Diemma when he was forced to speak his fantasies. And now he had learned he wasn't forced to at all. But he put that aside for now as he took a defensive fighting stance as he watched Lanai snapping her fingers, a strange crackling sound filling the air, resonating from her, "Do you know what Lanai's abilities are?"

"I don't, I'm sorry," Diemma's voice echoed in his head as Lanai produced a fulminating potion from her belt and lobbed it at him.

He darted away from her, keeping light on his feet as he twisted and turned his body to her attacks. On one close call, he could feel the wisps of his hair being singed and tasted the awful smell in the air.

Lanai laughed, clapping with delight, toying with the delicate chasis of the exploding attack device.

"You said you can control people physically.... tell me how, I wish to use that," Valerius simply.

"Concentrate, hard..." Diemma started.

Valerius focused on Lanai, following Diemma's guidance of probing their mind, finding their weaknesses, seeing their fear. The visions of terror and havoc Lanai had created in her lifetime filled him, threatening his sanity.

"Hang on," Diemma encouraged him. He could almost feel her arms wrapped around him, even though Diemma's body was still pinned to the floor, screaming in fury.

Lanai laughed and tightened her grip on a fulminating potion. "I suppose you're wondering why I'm using a human weapon instead of my own devices?"

"A little," he replied smoothly, still holding his concentration.

"Why should I tire myself when it's so much easier to throw something that goes BOOM at you until you die?" she said with a laugh, not realizing her hand was tightening unusually on the potion. "Only then..." she whispered, raising her left hand which crackled with intensity as brilliantly hot yellow and white sparks shone in the thick fog. "Can I truly enjoy strangling what life remains of you if at all. When I'm done with you, there won't be enough ash to fill a goblet."

When the potion exploded in her hand, she ceased laughing. She flew backwards, slamming into the wall of a nearby rustic home. She slid against the wall, her eyes glaring at the paladin, brimming with animalistic hatred. "You will not be able to do that again..." she promised him, now producing a jewel-decked dagger.

He tried again, probing her being, but he found no cracks available.

"That's it!" Diemma cried out in his head. "That's one of her abilities."

"What?" he called back to her, blocking her attack and pushing the crazed Lanai back.

"Mental barriers," Diemma explained, "My sister had that, it made her almost impervious to magicks, but she was incredibly vulnerable to physical attacks. She had a low tolerance of pain..." Diemma trailed on and Valerius tuned her out for awhile since she was straying from the point.

Finding an open moment, Valerius slashed at Lanai only to feel his sword deflected one foot away from her head with a high pitched crackling sound reaching his ears.

"What the hell?" he backed away, unable to believe what just happened.

"Physical barriers..." Diemma explained sadly. "Shoot... this is not going to be easy."

"How do you break a barrier?" he asked her in his mind as he dodged Lanai, sidestepping her and raising his foot to kick her in the back.

He flew back before his strike could land and the crackling sound filled the air as Lanai's laughter accompanied it.

"You wear her down.... Valerius, don't pin me down anymore."

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me." And so he did.

Diemma's body kept screaming behind them, out of Lanai's sight. She slowly stood up, creeping up behind Lanai and Valerius as they continued to battle. Her hands burst into flames and she reared back to strike Lanai.

Lanai screamed as the fire caught to her hair. Her beautiful fiery-coloured hair was now on fire. Valerius rotated his sword, pulling the hilt back to the right side of his torso, using the full momentum of his body to stab forward.

Lanai acted quickly. She grabbed Diemma by the throat and pulled her close, positioning the demoness between herself and Valerius as a shield as the crackling sparks of lightning encircled her left hand and Diemma's throat.

Screaming in pain, Diemma's eyes widened as another vision hit her, but not in time to warn Valerius that she was going to end up--

Valerius' blade slid neatly into Diemma's stomach. Her eyes widened as her lips trembled. "Valerius..." she sputtered even as he cried out, withdrawing his blade from her belly.

Lanai smirked and released Diemma's neck, pushing her forward into the paladin's open arms. She then quickly patted her head, extinguising the slowly dying flames.

Valerius had let go of his sword and quickly caught Diemma in his arms. He knelt down and held her close, ignoring Lanai even though she was picking up his blade, laughing. "Diemma," he shook her shoulder. "You saw this! You didn't warn me!"

"Too late..." she whispered in a raspy voice, pursing her lips tightly after. There was a bright red welt in the shape of Lanai's grip around her neck. The skin threatened to bubble and burst as it was already blistering from the severity of the lightning choke. "I'll be fine, get up and fight... Paragon."

He glanced up at Lanai, raising the sword. He quickly pushed Diemma's body behind him, spreading his arms out in a defensive stance to shield Diemma from any harm.

"No human or demon can ever sneak up on me and live to have another breath!" She hissed angrily. "Now you die!"

Silence enveloped the entire townsquare for moments afterwards.

And then Lanai said, "Ahh..." her eyes fixed on the tip of a sword protruding from her stomach briefly before it withdrew from her body. Stunned, she slowly turned, blood forming a huge stain in her clothes as she faced her attacker, a young man.

Evrett smirked as he punched her dead on in the face. "And so that's why I am here," he said, his voice booming throughout the townsquare, sending a chill down Diemma's spine as she pressed her hands to the wound in her stomach which was slowly healing. Even the angry blisters and burn marks around her throat were gradually vanishing.

Valerius stared as his comrade in shock as he walked stiffly towards Lanai. The demon was clawing the ground as she backed away from him, sliding through the dirt. "A human???!" she screeched angrily.

Evrett stood over her, his lips thinning into a deathly serious expression. "Look closer."

She narrowed her eyes again, her spirit seeking his out, testing who it was, testing what she felt through what now felt like a human disguise. She screamed, pain radiating into her body seeking out every vulnerable and strong defense she had. It was an excrutiating sound that made both Valerius and Diemma shudder.

"How can it be??" Lanai shrieked, struggling to get up as her body rocked with spasms from the pain. "Damn you, Tyreal!"

Diemma's face paled as Valerius held Diemma closer to his chest. "This is not good," he whispered to Diemma. "Not good at all."

"You were supposed to be aiding some stupid paladin and sorceress' quest to find Andariel! You should not be here! This cannot be!!" Lanai produced another fulminating potion from her belt. It exploded as her hand unintentionally tightenend on it too much.

Valerius looked at Diemma. She was grinning fiendishly. "I won't let her hurt anyone anymore," she explained to her amused lover.

The human disguise of Tyreal's shoulder's shook in silent laughter. He straigthened quickly. "You will die upon this day, demon. I have been watching over my fallen friend for some time--"

Diemma could help but feel warm on the inside from hearing Tyreal's declaration of protecting her from a distance.

"Isn't he your brother?" Valerius asked quickly in his mind.

"... our kind does not have mothers," she replied, amused. "But... I do feel to him what humans do to their brothers if that is what you mean."

"--and I do not appreciate what you've done to this town, what you've done to her, what you've done to a soldier of the Hand of the Zakarum, and your days end now," he said sternly, flipping his sword around and raising it menacingly over his shoulder

Lanai opened her mouth to scream but nothing could be said. Her lips instead touched the ground several times as her severed head rolled upon the floor, away from her fallen body and the spray of her demon blood that defiled the ground of the townsquare.

The sword still bloodied, Tyreal barely skipped a beat as he turned to Diemma, still being held possessively by Valerius. The white glow from his being shone through the fog, reaching them and illuminating Valerius' and Diemma's worried expressions.

"Diemma... it is your time."

Valerius, feeling his pulse throb to his head and reverberate from his skull to his soul, stood up with lightning speed, sword ready and defensive stance achieved. Once again that feeling came—the feeling of one's life not mattering anymore, the feeling that anything can be sacrificed so long as the life worth protecting remained intact: this time it was the life of a demoness.

"Holy warrior of the Hand of Zakarum," Tyreal said, still using the voice of his disguise, Evrett. "I have no wish to hurt you, but you have no right to interfere with what shall be Diemma's fate."

"The hell I don't!" he growled, oblivious to Diemma slowly getting to her feet. "She's mine! You can't have her! She's mine to protect, mine to have, mine to everything!"

Diemma felt a sad smile touch her lips at hearing Valerius' sweet yet very possessive arguments. Perhaps Valerius struggled with words of true tenderness in moments of fear or feeling threatened, but, she wouldn't have him any other way. Plus, the possessive side she had just bore witness to was very touching and stirred such emotions in her she almost wanted to cry at the thought of never feeling any of them once more.

Valerius' breath froze as Diemma reappeared with a Shhhffff sound briefly filling the air. "Diemma!" he barked hoarsely, horrified that she'd teleport in front of him and put herself in harm's way. Didn't the little fool understand what he was doing for her? "No! Get back!"

Diemma could only smack Valerius' hand away when he reached for her. "Valerius, no..." she said with a sigh. "I know what you're trying to do, but... you can't. I knew in the end... I'd still die. If it wasn't by you, it would be by someone else." She narrowed her gaze. "Valerius, I HAVE to die."

The breathe left him with the full force of a punch when Diemma outstretched her hand again to send him flying back. "No!" he yelled as he sailed through the air. His lungs burned as he shouted at the top of his lungs, crying out Diemma's name as Evrett approached Diemma.

The demoness never turned away from Valerius to face Evrett. She simply kept her gaze locked with Valerius' as her eyes filled with tears. "This has to be for the best... it has to be." A tear spilled down as her lips moved slowly, whispering more to herself than anyone else. "I'm so sorry if this hurts you Valerius... but I have no regrets about meeting you, about everything that happened."

Diemma felt Evrett's hand touch her shoulder. She closed her eyes and, in a low voice so only he could hear, said, "Don't let Valerius see this, please Tyreal."

The last thing she remembered was being enveloped in a bright white light before oblivion took her, and the last moment in Diemma's life that Valerius bore witness to was Tyreal holding her as they vanished in a pillar of light.

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Lady jasmine