Demon Born

Soul Forge

He sat there, chained to the floor, unable to move the slightest inch. The chains stretched away into darkness, to limit the possibility of bending them to his will so they would break. It wouldn't have made any difference, as his powers were extremely diminished, with only enough left to light a small fire, for a short time. To add insult, the chains were forged from the bones of the Arch-angels, his most hated enemies, in order to add strength to the shackles. He looked at them in disgust, hating them, hating the Angels, hating God..

Hating himself.

Demon Born

The Soul Forge

Riordan opened his eyes to a flood of sunlight. He looked groggily to the clock which read as 10 am. He looked back at the ceiling and wondered why Kraal hadn't woken him for the daily work. He got up and rubbed his sleep-filled eyes, stretching as far as his frame allowed, and a drawn-out yawn escaped his lips. He looked again at the clock, then got up and went to his door.

He heard snoring from Kraal's door. He realized, with a chuckle, that Kraal hadn't woken him because he wasn't awake himself. He went to the kitchen, and started preparing his breakfast. He stopped immediately, when he noticed a slight footfall from outside the apartment. He winced when he felt a presence, a human presence, and knew that there were many more. He knew, too, that these were not just any humans.

They were Janissaries.

Riordan walked quietly to Kraal's room, not wanting to alert the humans that he knew they were there. He went into Kraal's room to rouse him, but to his surprise Kraal was already awake.

"Well, what do we do?" Kraal asked Riordan.

"We can't skip town, so we'll just take up a new residence." Riordan replied, strapping on his bandolier, "We'll have to cut our connections around here."

"Wouldn't that mean cutting out your girlfriend, too?"

Riordan winced again and scowled at Kraal. He noticed then that Kraal's expression was serious, not mocking. He looked to the floor, sullen. Of course he had to, Riordan thought, it was standard procedure. If any guardians were found, they were to immediately cut all forms of communication to anyone they knew and leave the area. He sighed, realizing that he could do nothing about it.

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The Janissaries broke through the door, led by McReary himself. Arnold McReary, lead detective of the Janissaries, has been working on this case for months. He's been relentlessly tracking down these two elusive criminals, determined to trap them and haul them off to jail. His surprise was complete, indeed, when he entered the apartment to find it completely empty.

He was surprised to find an empty, charred husk.

Demon Born

The Soul Forge

He was looking over the garden he had planted, with it's rows of vegetables, his main source of food, and the variety of colorful flowers he added. He looked at the garden and muttered that it will be a good one this year, then went to the edge of the stone wall he'd built around his cottage and looked over the valley. It was spring, a time of new growth, new hopes, and new dreams of what was to come. He smiled as he considered his life. He was 6 feet and 3 inches tall, he had a tanned muscular build from all the hard work, he had brown hair, and dark blue eyes. Certainly he was not lonely, far from it. He preferred living in solitude rather than the pain of life intruding on him daily. As he looked down to the valley, though, he considered a woman he had met the previous day, her long flowing golden hair and her almond-shaped green eyes. The way she smiled and tilted her head, and how she seemed to see past his indifference made him feel strange. It made him feel almost giddy. He frowned as he considered the feeling he suddenly felt in his gut. It was a strange feeling, a feeling that he shouldn't be thinking about things like that. A feeling that those thoughts equated to... Weakness?

Demon Born

The Soul Forge

"I need his soul placed on the Forge, Hephaestus. The Soul Forge is the only thing that can free me from this prison." a grating and wheezing voice said.

"As you wish, brother," another, less grating voice replied, "It will be done."