Tears of the Forsaken

Prologue

As I sat there, I admired its features: a long slender pommel wrapped in black iron, a black polished hand guard with an intricate design of what looked like a goat-dragon hybrid on each side, and the blade. A long slender black blade that shined like a black river pebble and was as big as our house is tall. As I sat there eyeing it for an hour, my father finally noticed and stopped forging the blade he was working on, "would ya like ta hold it, son?" I snapped out of my trance. "What? Wait, ya really mean it, da? Ya think I can wield it?"

"Marcus, you're nearly twenty lad, I think ya are responsible enough." He got up and picked it off its mount over his workbench. His facial expression changed as if he was in a terrible amount of pain, "Da, are ya alright?" I asked jumping up to help him. "I'm alright. It's just heavier than I remember. Now lad, with this sword you'll need to be careful, it's heavier than it seems. It is so heavy it has driven men mad." He warned me, placing the sword in my hand. The old man has lost it! This thing is lighter than a feather! Then, I heard whispers. At first, they were outside... I looked out the window, not one soul outside this late. Then I listened closer, it sounded like they were in my head. It hit me! I looked down at the gem in the pommel, it's dark beady interior seemed to go on forever. I then saw something in it, a face... A face like the ones etched into the hand guard. It looked right at me, through me. Release me, mortal!!! It commanded me in a demonic tone. I dropped the sword, shocked.

My da spoke again, "The sword's name is Grom, sword of the seven shadows. What you just saw was Azmodan, one of the seven lords of hell. He is the lord of sin. All seven, among other souls, are trapped inside Grom. Any entity slain by Grom is trapped inside it to fuel its exponential power. Its wielder, now you, has control of all that power and will be fueled by it until the end of time. You will not age, as long as you wield him. All this power comes at a great price. You will be influenced by every entity inside Grom. Right now, that includes all of the greatest evils known to man. I found that my time wielding him was over when your mother and I had you. I now pass this on to you, with a message: The darker the forces trapped inside the sword are, the harder it will be to stay good." He dropped to his knees like a weight had been lifted from his soul and he turned to dust. I cried knowing that the man who taught me everything was gone. I was alone... So alone.

All that I could focus on was this tapping. I looked down to see my mother, banging on the gem. Marcus, let me out! If you don't let me out, your father died for nothing! "No! That's not true! My mother would never say that!" The image wavered and I saw my mother become Belial, lord of lies. I knew from that moment on that this was going was going to be the longest battle of my life...