Armani Phantomblade: Old Gods

3. Trap!

Armani, Pethamenos and Daruma-San wandered through the grasslands towards the Demon encampment, ready to plot the next course of action, they moved over the grassy verge to see smoke and flames permeating the air. The encampment had been compromised, demon and human bodies littered the ground. They broke into a massive run towards the camp, checking for survivors or any hints as to where they had relocated to. As they searched the area they noticed that most of the demons that had been killed all had the same distinct markings, the same blade cuts and bullet style wounds, deep gashes that ran pools and rivers of blood down the corpse, and small but powerful holes from, what Armani assumed, was from silver bullets, all but one who had these markings, the only one that didn't have these markings was instead butchered beyond belief, they couldn't tell who they were only that they had met a brutal end. The human remains all had the exact same marks as the demons, almost as though there had been a traitor from either the demons or humans. 

"Armani, over here!" Daruma-San called out, standing before the ruins of the Dark Lords tent.

"What did you find?" Armani called back, examining the body of another demon.

"A clue, they mention somewhere called Ravensthorpe, it could be where they relocated to as a back up location." Daruma-San exclaimed, almost excitedly.

"It could be a human trap set in place to catch us, cat." Pethamenos hissed insultingly.

"I doubt it, the humans have just about forgetton about Ravensthorpe, especially after the battle we held near there." Armani explained, his hands now covered in blood.

"Either way, I think it would be a good place to start." Daruma-san explained.

They opened a portal, heading through it towards Ravensthorpe, once they arrived they noticed a small patch of smoke nearby, signalling a camp, they followed the smoke deep through the woods to find the burning town of Ravensthorpe, seemingly bombed from above, the question was who had bombed the town? Was it the humans, or demons? The trio moved through the burning wreckage, sticking to the shadows to avoid being caught, they couldn't waste anymore time, Reaper had been captured and could be exposed to anything by now, for all they know he could be corrupted and lost by now, and hunting them down in turn.

"I never asked, what is Andresso's corruption? Is it a curse? Or worse?" Armani asked, inquisitively.

"It's both. Andresso approached the court of the living gods, her skin tainted by this new colouration, she looked like her skin had been charred black, and magma was attempting to pour from the seams, her eyes had become flames, cracking worse then they should have, she was no longer the person she was before, with her new appearance came power, unlike anything we had seen before, she told us 'this newfound power was a gift from the old gods, it granted them the strength to rule both realms, and we shall own that power too.' I think she knew that it was a curse, because everyone knew that the old gods had eliminated each other in a bid for power, they destroyed themselves and we now know why, this power takes a toll on your mentality, your psyche, you lose yourself and with it, everyone and everything you hold dear to you." Pethamenos explained.

His face dropped from the usual stern and serious stare, to more of a grimace at the thought that Andresso had tricked them, trapped them into her bid for power, the same one that had eliminated the gods before them. Armani could tell that Pethamenos wasn't lying or attempting any type of deceit, why would he, after all he knew the curse of the promise of power. Daruma-San stared at his hands, he froze in horror as he saw his hands turn the same charred black that Pethamenos described. Had one of those guardians caught him, and if so, could the curse be spread by the blade? He dropped to his knees, as he did, Armani and Pethamenos raced over to him, trying to find what was wrong. They watched in horror as Daruma-San began turning charred black, the cracks appearing in his skin, then before their eyes he vanished, almost like a ghost walking through a wall.