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The Hunter and the Templar	By : BurneHazard Category: +A through F > Diablo III Views: 6471 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Diablo III (3) and all content therein is the property of Blizzard Entertainment. This story is for entertainment purposes only and I make no money from writing it.

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            The heat continued to rise as they made their way down yet another set of stairs amidst the innumerable ones they had already taken. There was one very noticeable difference when they reached the foot of these stairs compared to the rest. The heat struck them like a giant mace. It was powerful enough to bring the already heat-exhausted warrior crashing to his knees gasping for air amidst the thick cloud of sulfur and molten rock fumes. The hunter immediately turned at the heavy clatter of metal
            "Kormac!"
            Cool hands slid around his throat as a shadow blocked eyes seared by the pits of slag all around them. Instinctively, he relaxed into the relief of the cool touch, letting his head fall forward to rest against something solid. Of course it could only be one thing. And Killashandra doubted he would care if he was hiding his face against her armored stomach or not. She was actually very concerned about the way in which he just...fell like that.
            Sweat had immediately formed beneath her own armor, making the cloth and leather both stick uncomfortably to her skin but aside from making her head pound at the force of the temperature, she had not been toppled by it. As she waited for him to try and catch his breath, she thought over their actions of moments before. She should have had him heal himself fully and rest before pressing onward.
            "...how...can you...breathe...in this?" he finally managed to gasp.
            Bowing her own head to study his fallen form, she frowned. It was true. Her lungs felt dry, seared beyond belief. When she paid attention to the sensation it became a sudden urge to cough and choke on the stench alone. Eyes narrowing, she turned her focus back to him.
            "I do not care about the heat," she finally answered simply.
            "...is...that so-something...you tried...to tell...before?" he continued gasping.
            "Something like that. The talk about evil fearing the daylight, right?"
            He nodded heavily.
            "Try it, templar. Focus on the task ahead. Forget what you're breathing. Make yourself care only about destroying Azmodan. That is all that matters. Everything else is just a distraction."
            She listened to his harsh, desperate breaths for a few more minutes. When there was no change however, she chose to give in and try something else. Cradling the back of his neck with one of her hands, she freed the other to reach into one of the smaller pouches resting on the back of her belt. The jeweler, Covetous Shen, had given her a few things to help her on her way. Given how jewels were the only things on the man's mind besides food, she had merely accepted and forgotten about them.
            The gems were small but far from tiny. Glancing at them, she shifted three in her palm before sinking down to one knee before the templar. With care, she lifted his helm from his head to wedge one of the beautifully carved gems into the padded lining. Settling his helmet back in place, she let another gem drop down his chest then his back, minding their crude patch job. But the leather padding beneath the broken mail would serve.
            Almost instantly, there was a reaction as Kormac finally took a sharp breath, then another. He shuddered almost violently before lifting his head at last. The visible skin was violent red as if he had been too near the smithy's forges--but that was to be expected. Red-seared eyes were already clearing though and she found mild surprise that for once the mysterious old man had not been teasing about the gems.
            "What...is that?" Kormac asked, puzzled. One of his hands moved to his chest, a little above his stomach as if feeling what had slid beneath his armor.
            "Shen gave me some of his diamonds. He claimed that like his fire opals, they would cool me if needed in the heart of hell. I'm glad to see whatever enchantments he plied on them are working."
            Confusion touched Kormac's features as she saw both dark brows furrow behind the eye slit. But, clearly, he chose not to ask. Already that angry red flush was fading as his breathing calmed and evened out. It was still fast and harsh but no longer so labored. And as he recovered swiftly, he finally took note of how they faced one another. His eyes widened a little as she watched but he did not try to pull away.
            "Your discipline...must be far superior to that of mine, hunter," he finally mumbled.
            "That, or perhaps it is simply a nephalem thing."
            Grunting, he said nothing else as he rose. He was still unsteady so she did grab his arm when he almost overbalanced to help him to his feet. For a few moments he leaned on her before steeling himself once more. A cough or two came but he was clearly working on focusing as she had instructed. A smile touched her lips before she turned to pull away and continue onward.
            "We have fought our way to the depths of the crater. Azmodan cannot be far,"(1) Kormac said.
            Turning her head, Killa looked at him. Although he was breathing easier and walking almost normally, there was something about his posture that indicated something was on his mind. Perhaps the tilt of his head given he was studying the ground before him rather than looking around--even though with the molten rock lining the path, it would have been hard for him to see much anyhow.
            "Indeed, and the end of our task is nearly in our grasp," she finally said.
            "They say that Azmodan is the greatest battle commander in all the Burning Hells."(2)
            The hunter regarded him for a moment before a faint smile touched her lips. "He will fall as his brethren did before him.(3) Or, so I'm led to believe should I have listened to the rest of what they say concerning me."
            He lifted his head to look toward her in mild surprise. Those troubled green eyes lightened slightly as he understood. It was strange that nothing came to meet them as they continued. Then again, perhaps Azmodan had counted on the chamber itself to thwart them. The air was more poisonous gas than it was breathable. The heat was deadly in its own right since the molten stone of the crater's core was everywhere around them. Only the strange leathery ground separated them from the clinging liquid death.

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            "Nephalem fool!" the fat slob of a demon before them spat. His spider-like legs looked more like thick insectoid blades supporting a misshapen table as great stitches marked his bulging gut and heavy hoops of metal pierced heavily sagging and flopping pectorals. "When the soulstone is embedded in my flesh, the Seven shall be as one within me! I will be the sum of all Hells--the Prime Evil!"(4)
            Nose wrinkling with mild disgust for the grotesque vision before her, she again found herself wondering at the Lords of Hell. So far they hardly lived up to the horrible and feared reputation they carried. In fact, as she glared at Azmodan's eyes in the flesh rather than through vision, she found part of an answer as to why they seemed to be so much less. She saw the fear sparked within.
            "You should have accepted Cydaea's offer. Now, you will die!" he roared.
            Killa only bowed her head forward to darken the shadows falling across her eyes. In the darkness the orange began to bleed into crimson. Her lips twitched then began to move as a smile began to spread upon her face. Azmodan feared her. That was enough to seal his fate. Whatever the last Lord of Hell saw in her eyes and her visage, it made him bellow as clawed bars shot upward through the stone floor of the chamber. Burning black chains stretched between the posts to form an inescapable circle around them.
            "Arrogant nephalem, my servants will feast on your pride as they devour your flesh!"(5)
            An unearthly howl echoed through the cavern that Azmodan had made his personal chamber. From the blackened chains, shadow formed, peeling molten metal away to take the shape of a racing wolf. Its eyes burned with the same bloody fire as the hunter as it leapt toward the demon from the side. Killa moved quickly around to the other side as Kormac charged into the opening left in the middle.
            Light flashed and burned at the cursed flesh with every attack the templar made, striking great blows with the sword that cleaved fat and flesh away from the demon's body. Metal rang loudly every time he blocked a blow from a flailing fist or sweeping leg. Each blow was powerful enough to drive the templar to one knee but always he used that position to drive his weight back into the fight and strike another blow.
            The wolf and hunter kept Azmodan busy as bolt after bolt drove into his obese body and began to eat away his flesh. The beast she had conjured used claws more like blades on its four feet to dig and kick at the hulking mass as those powerful jaws snapped and crunched and tore at the legs supporting it. Azmodan roared in pain and rage as he turned his attention toward the hunter.
            "Enough!"(6) he bellowed. From outside the chain barrier, darkness rose and flowed inward as if her arrows had struck the floor rather than his body. Founts of cursed blood were unleashed, oozing their corruption inward as demonic power smoldered against the black like trapped embers. It was the same coloring as her arrows. "The dark power of Hell will consume you!"(7)
            Nimbly leaping away from the sluggish spread of the pool that had erupted nearest her, Killa flipped through the air, twisting her body to bring her legs down and land lightly on her feet to strafe left. The templar had also either seen or sensed the encroaching ooze because he began to give ground, backing away from the stuff spreading beneath Azmodan and causing the demon to follow since he still could not get past the powerful blows.
            Another sense of darkness caught her attention however as the ground beneath her feet shifted. Not pausing to stand and puzzle, she danced backward just as something thrust itself up from the stone where she had been. The vicious-looking shape rose into the air, hovering with fire in its heart as a demon emerged from the portal exposed beneath it.
            "Kormac! Shield your back!" she called as she diverted her attention to the new threat.
            "Show them no mercy, for they shall grant us none!"(8) he shouted in response.
            Losing an arrow into the maw of whatever demon was climbing from the portal, she jerked her bow up. Another arrow was found and fired into the portal guardian. Diving to the side, she tumbled away as a great explosion rocked the chamber and sent shards of the guardian flying everywhere. The ground was still quaking as the corrupted blackness spread and she saw the signs of more portals being formed.
            "I've survived worse than this. Just a little longer!"(9) she called back.
            Running forward to each point of emergence, she dropped her caltrops in a hasty formation. The emerging demons howled in rage as they were caught stuck half in and half out of the portals. It enabled her to bring down the guardians hovering over their heads. But every time one was shattered and the portal closed, another would rise. It would be futile to take them all out.
            It was time to end it. Rising to her feet, she placed two arrows and altered her grip on the bow to lay it horizontal in a style she rarely used. Setting the bolts, she leveled the bow up as her eyes locked onto Azmodan's own. Firing from a point near her chest, she whipped the bow back up vertical only to notch another arrow and send it flying after the first two. They barely struck heavy jowls before the third hit the point of the inverted V-shape of the scar on the demon's belly.
            Azmodan howled in pain as black fire spread from the twin arrows--only for them to explode rather than devour. Great holes were blown into his flesh, exposing the spine beneath the flesh. The third spread ice so rapidly across the bulging stomach it crackled almost deafeningly. Kormac took that moment to throw himself forward in a charge as Light shone from the crystal upon his shield and raced along the blade of his sword. He struck that frozen spot with his full weight and shattered the ice and flesh it had locked within it.
            Killa drew one last arrow from the special slot in her quiver as her wolf sprang up to clamp its jaws into the sagging flesh around the exposed bones, falling to hang and force Azmodan's entire body to twist with the weight, further exposing his injuries from the other side. One last--oddly thick--arrow flew and struck that small point of bone. Kormac leapt away on some instinct and charged to the hunter's side as black fire raced over the muscle and bone.
            He brought his shield up to cover them both as the bolt exploded, taking Azmodan's head with it. Bone, gore, and fire struck the shield harmlessly as it splattered over the stone floor and across the oozing pools of corrupted darkness. The pools shuddered then flowed as fast as fresh blood toward the fallen demon lord. His corpse was sucked into them, thrashing and struggling even amidst his death throes.
            Crouched behind the shield, they watched by peeking over the top as the final Lord of Hell was consumed in an explosion of corrupted magic, taking all else with him. Even Killa felt the pull of the force but Kormac's free arm was around her waist, holding her steady. In fact, as the need for a kill dissipated, she realized just how tightly he held her pressed against his side. It was...wonderful.
            Then...it was over. And again came that odd feeling of dissatisfaction. Although the fight had indeed been more challenging than simply burning down lesser demons, she had expected far more from the lords of hell. Both that she had killed had been so...lacking. It left her concerned about her own feelings and relieved they were not the horrors everyone had been led to believe.
            "I expected more,"(10) Kormac murmured with disappointment she understood.
            Suddenly, the air near them changed. It was cooler and almost crackled with magic. Kormac stepped away and she briefly mourned the loss of his arm and the tight embrace. But it did not prevent her from immediately dropping one more caltrop and notching another arrow. At her side, he was also ready. It seemed, however, their alert was unnecessary as the portal that opened was not demonic in nature.
            Adria stepped through it first, with Leah and Tyrael following. Killa's eyes narrowed instantly at the convenience of the three's arrival. Unbidden, Kulle's words returned to her thoughts. But it hardly mattered if they were using her or not. She lived to kill demons. This was her purpose. If her goals aligned with those of others--and her thoughts turned to Kormac--then it was simply how things happened.
            "You've done it!" Adria announced. "Quickly now, Leah--trap Azmodan's essence within the soulstone!"(11)
            Leah stepped forward, breathing with difficulty in the heat and already glistening with sweat. She brought her hands up to focus and Killa saw the black soulstone rise from her hand to hover in the air near the glowing black stain where Azmodan had been. Suddenly the stain rose, pulled off the stone and gathered into a dark ball burning with cursed light. Clearly fighting, it was still pushed closer and closer to the waiting soulstone until it vanished with a flash of light.
            "It's done!"(12) Leah gasped, almost collapsing.
            "I never dared dream..."(13) Tyrael breathed as he drew closer to the redhead and her oddly un-phased mother. "All evil lies trapped within that stone! Once it is destroyed, the Eternal Conflict will finally end!"(14)
            Adria, the hunter noticed, appeared entirely unaffected by the heat that had stricken Kormac and Leah. Tyrael's lack of any reaction could be understood given his prior status as an angel. He could likely endure the fires of hell far better than any human. But the witch...Killa found that same sense of something wrong making her tense.
            "Destroying the stone is no simple matter. There are rituals to consider. We must return to the keep and make our final preparations,"(15) the witch said.
            Something about Adria was making the hunter's growing suspicions stronger. The woman was completely ignoring everyone and everything but for Tyrael, Leah, and the stone. Killa growled inside her head as she tried to make sense of this strange thing before her. Try as she might, it kept eluding her. Kormac sensed something from her as well since he moved closer and met her glare when she glanced at him. His eyes were still those of a warrior assessing a situation.
            Leah had retrieved the stone with her magic and they turned to the portal. Tyrael entered it first, followed by the red-head. As Killa turned her head back to regard Adria, she found the witch was staring at her for the first time ever. And then the hunter realized that it was also the first time she had made eye contact with Leah's mother. Because when she saw those eyes, she knew in that instant something was wrong. Adria smiled and turned to the portal.
            "Adria!" Killa started forward as the witch stepped through the glowing blue ring. Without hesitating or pausing to think of the possible consequences, the hunter raced the last few steps and followed her.
            "Killa!" Kormac shouted before she felt a rush of air, heard a pop, and crashed into snowy ground.
            The cold was a shock to her after so long inside such a hot place. But the force of what had apparently been a short fall sent her rolling through the cold white stuff. Coughing at the hard landing, she pushed herself up as she felt more than heard a solid impact nearby. Head snapping up, she looked just in time to see the portal hovering in the air about six feet above close. Kormac groaned as he struggled to right himself beside her.
            Brushing snow away from where it clung in melting cold against her face, she snapped it from her hood and looked around. Although the storm had broken, the Fields of Slaughter were still ice-locked and covered in snow. The wind was still blowing with its frigid ferocity. Even though they had mostly cleared the field, the sounds of distant skirmishes and the keep catapults remained.
            "What in the bloody Hells?" Kormac cursed, spitting melted snow from his mouth as his entire body immediately shook. The shock of temperature shift hit him as hard as the heat of the crater's chamber had. That and he had the diamonds under his armor.
            Making a decision, the hunter regained her feet and went over to grab one of his arms. "Come on, templar. We have to get to the keep quickly. But first, we have to get out of this wind."
            Teeth chattering beyond his control, Kormac just nodded as he managed to get to his feet. Rather than force him to walk on his own given the force of his shivering, Killa drew his arm across her shoulders and started to walk. Her sharp eyes scanned the field as she ignored her own shivers. A quickly etched rune summoned her bat to send it out searching from the air. It spotted what appeared to be a cave near them.
            Although she knew caves held their own troubles, it was shelter and it would do. Even through their armor, Kormac's shivering was getting worse. It distracted her enough that her own grew as well. Trying to ignore it, she made for the cave as the bat circled to watch for any lingering attack from demons or any other creatures that remained on the field. The chattering of her own teeth was lost in the rattle of the templar's armor as he stumbled and staggered his way beside her, more lurching than walking.
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The Hunter and the Templar