The Pale Man

“Diana, wait for me.” The boy was chasing a young woman through a side street. “Maybe you should run faster, or grow some. You do have some short legs.” The woman gives a light chuckle. “That’s not funny and I’m still growing.” He says pouting as he slowly catches up with her. She turns to look back at him, “That’s the spirit, you know you’d go faster if you stopped talking Al-” SMACK as she collides with something solid, like a brick wall, and falls back, “Ow, the hell?” She looked up and she saw a pale-looking man in a strange black outfit, he had a beautiful face and white hair, his eyes glowed with a soft light. He spoke with a soothing yet terrifying voice, “Sorry child, I should have looked where I was going.” He reached a hand down to help her up, she was left stunned for a moment before taking his hand, “Who are you, sir? And what are you doing in the slums dressed like that?” He looked confused for a moment as the boy ran up, “Get your filthy hands off of Diana.” The man let go as he continued staring at Diana with a wondering look while she looked at the boy with a confused glance.

“I’m sorry, I’m just a poor vagrant, a nobody. I’m not sure what you’re talking about but I assure you these clothes are very much ragged. Excuse me, lad, forgive me.” He gave a bow, glancing at Diana with curious eyes. The boy puffs his chest out, “That’s right, get lost you old creep.” Diana shakes herself out of her stupor, “ALEX, why are you being so rude? Sorry for his attitude sir but you’re clearly not some beggar, you look like an angel.” That seemed to get his attention as his face changed to one of shock. Then everything went dark and Diana saw Alex hanging, standing next to his body was the pale man, it went dark again. Next, she saw the face of the noble as she slit his throat and the bodies of his family, again, the pale man stood watching her. Finally, she saw the crowd upon her execution and the pale man stood in front of her. She heard the snap of the rope but she continued to see, she watched as the crowd began leaving, many of which came and spit on her hanging body.

Eventually, the only one left standing there was the pale man with an intense look. She then saw the guards remove her body from the gallows and carry it to a pyre, the pale man followed her. They threw her body on the pyre and lit it. Still completely conscious, she could feel the fire begin to consume her body, the pain was nearly unbearable. The pale man approached the fire and stepped into it. He knelt in front of her as the roaring of the fire became almost deafening and the heat too much to bear. Yet, his mere presence relieved the pain, then he spoke, “Child… Diana… Hecate. You have few allies and none are with you, I will find you soon, until then, be strong. Now awaken and accept this boon, ‘goddess’, you are needed.” He pressed his hand on her burning chest, and the burning stopped. As darkness enveloped her senses, she awoke.

“Hecate! Thank goodness you’re okay… I mean, I would have been a terrible guardian angel if I had let you die already…” Ariel was standing over her as she lay on the cold stone. As she sat up, she looked around. She was exactly where she had fallen but there was no evidence of the fight that had just happened, “What… happened?” The four people who had entered were nowhere to be seen. “Well, after you collapsed, that elf came over to check on you. He looked like he tried some magic but eventually, he was interrupted by some scary-looking demons that rushed in here. They dragged off all four of those people, one of them remained here to watch over your body for a while until I came out. Then he just told me to care for you and that they had imprisoned the intruders for you to deal with when you woke up. Anyway, that was about a week ago and the fire in your body just randomly went out no thanks to me of course. I had been healing your body as much as I could the entire time. It kind of helped that your body was fighting the fire so much.” He puffed his chest out looking proud of his ‘saving’, which only further reminded Hecate of Alexander.

She stood up, and looked down, now realizing she had what was essentially a giant blanket around her body. She yanked it off as Ariel let out a sigh. She could feel the fire still inside her, but instead of burning her, she felt like it was a part of her somehow. Is this the gift? She thought, thinking back to her vision while she was ****. She headed for the door and opened it, seeing an open courtyard with a magnificent fountain in the center, and smooth stone pathways going through and around patches of green grass. Next to the fountain, stood a figure about half Hecate’s size.

“My Lord, we are glad you are awake, we have done much to prepare for your return.” The creature spoke with a monstrous voice that would send shivers up the spine of any ordinary man. Hecate cocked her head inspecting the creature. “What are you?” The creature knelt and bowed his head, holding out his weapon. “I am a Barbazu, or as mortals call my kind, bearded devils. Beyond you, I am the greatest devil in this fortress which made me in charge while you were gone. The only other devils here are Imps and Gerasa. Imps being only useful as assistants and servants and Gerasa as simple-minded foot soldiers. My kind, however, is incapable of leadership and are purely warriors so I am glad you have returned to take control. Now, I assume you wish to see the prisoners? I have made sure to keep them alive but secured.” Hecate motions for him to rise, “Yes, I would like that very much.”

As the Barbazu leads Hecate out of the courtyard and into the actual castle, Ariel follows closely behind Hecate as many Gerasa simply stand in silent guard, watching. “I have a strange request.” The Barbazu says, with an almost hesitant voice unfitting for his voice, “Speak.” Hecate responds, “May I request a chance to fight with you sometime? I simply wish for a fight to sate my bloodthirst without killing any of your other servants.” Hecate looks at him with a smirk, “Why not, I would like a good test of my power proper.” “Thank you for the chance.” He says, his voice betraying excitement.

He led them both to a flight of stairs that wound down quite a ways. He stopped about halfway down where the stairs met a floor before continuing into the dimly lit depths. They walked through a large wooden door and came out onto the side of a tower-like structure underground. It had walkways going around the middle of the tower and bridge-like structures on each side that reached the walls of the unnatural cave which had cells throughout. "This is the upper level of the dungeons where we can keep lesser beings such as humans and other non-magical entities." He led them across one of the bridges as he spoke as several imps were moving about the area, cowering down from Hecate as they passed.

"If that was the upper level, then what is further below?" Hecate asked. He looked back, "The lower level? That would be for entities such as us. Monsters and creatures of magic. As well as people of monstrous power I suppose. Though we don't have anything down there at the moment." They arrived on the other side which had pathways carved into the stone that went all the way around the area as well as up and down the walls. The Barbazu led the two to a clean and empty cell where the white-haired elf was sitting in a meditative state. He looks up from his meditation with a smile. “I see that you’ve recovered, Lord of Fortress Nardin.”