A darkness without

[Iria]

"Who was this sinister demon, what does she want from Iria, what are her plots for Narfell and why choose such a fate for her? These are all questions Iria cannot stop from running through her mind. Something must be done, but excatly what she is not sure. " -quote A darkness within (earlier post)

With this the path that fate had set for Iria was laid before her, unsure and scared she entered the world. Norwick seems a good place to start, and the locals provided her with experiences and adventures one could only imagine. This story begins where the mysterious demon occurance has more than just torn at Iria's mind, it is beginning to influence and affect her daily life. From a tormented youth to a helpless adolecence the young Iria began to see an evil in people she couldn't understand, how could they be so blind she thought. The signs began to reveal themselves to her, slowly day by day the demon infested her thoughts, tore at her mind and grasped at her soul, but Iria fought hard.

Many days she spent explaining to the people of Norwick the approach of sinister forces, the rapidly increasing occurances of demon and other strange things. Iria battled internally with the demon daily, she found glee and joy in killing the demons servants, from goblins to hobgoblins Iria killed. She killed with a fury and each new kill made her stronger, helped her fight the demon inside her. As long as she stayed active she could fight the thing, but it was in those moments of rest it did it's dirty work. It used her memories to perform the beginnings of simply workings that would result in the death of Iria. If not for those seeking to aid her tortured sole she would never have returned from hell.

Iria returned to conciousness, she was alive again, she could see through here own eyes as if looking from a distance, then she came to the horrible conclusion she was not in control anymore. The demon now had stolen enough of Iria's memories it had now learned to pretend to be Iria. It walked the land freely through her and she was helpless to control it, or stop it's motives. It was set on one goal and one goal only to free it's master from a deep hidden cell, and release it unto the world. Iria fought and fought to regain control, every ounce of her being and all of her faith directed at taking back her body. She failed.

But circumstances as they are, are never competely without hope, even if hope is a murderous thought. Iria watched as the demon seduced her friends, forced them to question their beliefs and she could do nothing, watched it tear the world apart in mad panic without hope. Then at a simple fire a man named Ronan spoke of her ill heart and her dark past, it didn't take much to rouse the memory of her fathers murder, and Iria snapped and ripped at her mind with a fury unlike anything she had experienced before. The demon was not prepared, and countered by causing Iria to fall unconcious. Koyko and Caric guided Iria to a secluded spot and cared for her in her troubled sleep.

In her dreams Iria battled the demon, she fought as well as she could, words of love and grace from her friends guided her every heartbeat. By now Iria understood the demon, she began to learn how to hold it at bay, to force her hatred and hunger to kill upon it.

Her body wracked with pain, her skin grew intensely hot and her fever almost killed her. Quickly Kyoko and Caric brought water and cold towels, they whispered words of encouragement and prayed for Iria's recovery, they had no idea what had truely ravaged Iria's mind, they just knew that whatever it was, it had forced her into a troubled sleep…and with this Caric began to sing, his song of love and hope echoed throughout the camp, the pure emotion and friendship it portrayed weakened the demon, forced it back into submission.

Iria awoke with a terrible cry, she curled into Kyoko's arms as her temperature broke. The look of fear nearly burnt into her eyes, she had glimpsed the demon's masters design and knew she was helpless to stop it.

How could she have known Norwicks dark past, she was new to the region and the locals do not speak of it, how could she know what lay buried beneath the earth. She couldn't, there was no way, but something told her something was wrong. She now knew the demon was trying to return, looking for something underneath the city to release it. "First there would be rats" she remembered as hordes of rats began to pour into the city.....

Several locals gathered together around Iria as she entered the city, the assault of rats had rallied the adventurous to action. They proceeded to find a clue as to the rats. Iria new it was a ploy of the demon, but no-one would listen...she felt the demon urging her to keep them moving her fears of staying alive kept her following them. They searched the crypts to no avail, and returned to town. The rats kept coming, pouring out of new holes in a panicked attack to flee the ground... Iria took this as a sign, she knew that whatever the demon was trying to release was close to fruition. She warned every adventurer who entered Norwick that night, before in turn seeing the object of her fear sitting by the firelight. The demon sat robed like a begger woman with deep glowing red eyes. Iria fled deep into the allies of Norwick, she hid, scared and alone.

Scared and alone, something that seems to come to Iria on a regular basis. Not to long before Iria's friend Silmiel told her she should face her fears, and they cannot truely harm her. Iria, although disagreed with this idea entirely but proceeded to follow the demon woman out towards the city of Jyidd, it was just past this town that the demon woman summoned the darkness of hell upon the region and vanished. Iria seen a beast dart forth from the shadows and run towards Norwick. Skilled in the art of hunting she made a fast pace to follow the beast, but it was just to fast. Had she been faster maybe should could have questioned the thing, but by the time she arrived within Norwick the beast was slain by the local adventurers. Iria tried to explain what she knew to the guard but they would not listen, they seemed to have been corrupted by the demon. Iria ran for her life, and to no avail was stopped by the mighty archmage Aramuil (hope I spelt it right) in a viscious display of power, jail is all that awaited Iria....

This was not the first time Iria had been imprisoned, and she knew there would be little hope for her, but she pressed on. Then the darkness came, it promised to swallow her, then the silence came and threatened to drive her mad, and when Iria was ready to give up he spoke to her. He told her she was to late, and he would enjoy her futile attempts to survive. Guards came, bringing with them a lighted that forced back the darkness. "You are to be released, there is nothing we can charge you with, behave and get out of here before we change our minds" she didn't need to be told twice. Iria collected her bow and armor, leaving the rest behind and ran off towards the lake, she knew the clue would be somewhere in the area, and she was going to find it.

She escaped through Norwick with the help of several friends and fled to Oscura in hopes to find a cure for her condition. While there she warned of her condition but treatment was long coming, a reply was longer. She knew that without papers she was surely at the mercy of the locals and left towards Peltrach, at least there she was a hero. Upon her journey she came across a band of hobgoblins, they were arguing over the contents of a letter written in common. It didn't take long for her ears to pick up the words "Norwick" and "food" before she was off. Casting a quick incantation she speed the terrain, the feeling in her stomach growing worse by the moment. She was too late.

Disturbances were reported to the south, and Kyoko was dispatched by the legion to check on the lake. Iria agreed to follow and the two set out towards the Rawlinswood. They didn't get far....

The ground began to rumble and shake, clawed hands pierced the ground and pulled forth horridly rotten coprses. One by one they rose, and just as quickly the two young women layed them back down. The magic of their weapons quickly cutting them down. They did not see behind them, where a dark pentagram appeared and a beam of the purest evil washed over them. Pain wracked their bodies, the leeched at their souls. Kyoko was drawn into the pentagram and Iria shortly followed. The two could do nothing to fight the hatred building inside them. From the darkness a tear appeared under the ground where the two stood and a portal formed.
Iria had been tricked, she had stepped where she shouldn't and the gate opened. First one foot, then the next, the great horns and huge wings protruded from the gate. Iria and Kyoko stood helpless before the demon overlord.

"I am He who has Suffered, and you shall be my messangers, go now and tell the mortals they will be consumed, and shall suffer as I have suffered"

Iria and Koyko ran, they ran for their lives, they went to get help, they needed stronger people, older people, people not them to take care of the problem. They entered the city as fast as they can, and were immediately stopped by the guards. Unfortunately for the two of them, they guards would have nothing to do with hearing their story, Iria was a criminal and going to jail and that was the end of it. Iria tried to run and was cut down by the guard. Kyoko tried to defend her and she too was cut down. Jail!

Who now will warn the people, who now will explain what doom awaits the village. Will Aramuil get the name of "He who suffers" before it's too late to save the world? Fate has set it's desgin into motion, and all sides have their cards, the game has begun and Iria lays yet again, broken and beaten on the cold floor of a cell, forgotten......

Forgotten....