The Hidden Power of The Hellstone *HF*
By SlashR
Los Angeles
His name is Diablo, or at least that’s what he’s known as. He’s the White Pawn, but many only know him as god of hell. They fear him for that same reason. He’s not only powerful, but very unpredictable too. Right now, two more humans will find this out.
“Drop. Those. Bags.NOW”
Two bank robbers sprinted out of the bank with bags full of money in their hands. One of them was carrying a rifle while the other one had a simple gun. Both men didn’t know what was going to hit them.
“Move out of the way or I’ll shoot your brains out!”
“Suit it yourself, I’ve warned you. Now die!!!” Diablo unleashed a powerful fire-blast which instantly turned the man into ash leaving only his gun behind. “Drats..I think I wasn’t supposed to kill….Hehe”
The other man opened his mouth in amazement and aimed his rifle at Diablo. “You’ve…you’ve killed him! Heroes aren’t supposed to kill!”
“Yes..I’ve killed him. Just like I’m going to kill you” With that Diablo grabbed a car and threw it at the man, squashing him. “Heh, whatever gave you the idea that I’m a hero?”
“Diablo!”
“No.”
“Diablo!”
“WHAT DO YOU WANT?”
“Diablo, you know I’ve ordered you not to kill”
“Yes, I shouldn’t have blasted at them..”
“Good..atleast we’re agreeing on that..”
“I should have ripped out all their internal organs one by one.”
“DIABLO!!!! Computer, end program.”
SuperGrover stepped out of the control booth and walked up to Diablo. “Now listen, I know it must be hard for you after not being yourself for such a long time, but we don’t kill.”
“Heh. Yes you do, you just don’t say it out loud. Most of your precious Inner Circle has killed.”
“Perhaps Diablo, but I doubt they’ve killed in the same manor as you. You do not kill when you have alternatives.”
“Listen human, I kill whenever I want to kill. I am the god of hell.. You do not…”
SuperGrover looked behind him. “Diablo? What’s wrong?”
“I sense something here..an intruder…” Diablo looked up. “Something..up..there…” His bat wings grew out of his back and he blasted off through the ceiling.
SuperGrover looked up and frowned “Damn.. I wish he’d stop doing that.”
Meanwhile, outside
“So, I see you’ve spotted me Diablo…” A very thin, greyish figure smiled at him waving a sword.
“Apracox, I see you haven’t changed…What do you want?”
“I’m here to kill you Diablo.”
“You are here to kill me? Don’t make me laugh.. ”
“I’ve changed Diablo, I’ve killed a lot of mortals and absorbed all their souls. Their power belongs to me now!” Apracox jumped up and unleashed a shadow blast at Diablo. “See this? I’ve absorbed it from the one called Shadow!” (* See Cosmic Conflict, Chapter three)
Diablo countered the blast by creating a bright light. “So I see, but even if you absorb all the mortals on this planet, it won’t be enough to stop me!” He snapped his fingers and a stream of lava jumped out of the earth straight to Apracox.
Apracox dodged. “Maybe, but there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” He jumped through a shadow and dissapeared.
“You insolent fool. You shall die for threatening me!” Diablo snarled and headed back to the mansion.
That night..
Diablo’s room was empty for a while now. Sleeping wasn’t something Diablo wanted to try, instead he would be roaming through the city all night exploring. If Diablo was in his room however..he could have..no..he would have prevented this from happening. A figure wearing dark clothes opened Diablo’s window. Slowly browsing through the room searching for one thing..Suddenly his eyes stopped moving when he focused on one thing: The Hellstone laying on Diablo’s desk. He grabbed the stone and sighed. “This is for you Essex..”
End Chapter one
Chapter two
Diablo entered the White Court mansion without a sound. He softly floated above the ground through the halls, heading for his room. He smiled. Once again reading people’s minds when they were dreaming was satisfying. Humans seemed to have a lot of imagination, imagination which can be used for a greater purpose. SuperGrover would not approve of this ofcourse. Heh, if it wasn’t for the Ascended One…
Diablo arrived at his door. His name was burned on the door and the name-plate was scratched unreadable. Yeah, he never liked the pawn title. A pawn? It’s nothing for a being based on proudness and strength. He raised his hand and the door opened. His room was disorganized as ever. He smiled. Soon the Ascended One would be his and then.. Diablo glared at his desk. The Hellstone.. it’s..missing?????
“MUFASA!!!!!!!!!!”
Diablo rushed out of his room, through the corridor, leaving a blazing fire behind. He smashed Mufasa’s door open.
“Diablo, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I am here to kill you, TRAITOR!”
Meanwhile in Amsterdam
“Okay, so they seem to be organized in two groups here. Both groups meet at point A and continue to point B.” SlashR pressed the little voice recorder’s stop button and looked up at the docks. The men were still unloading the weapons from the ship. His finger moved to the record button and SlashR continued his speech in a soft voice. “In a few minutes I’m going in. There seem to be fourteen of them, enough to be a thread to the police. I think I can handle them though. I’ll…” One of the docks imploded and a man floated out.
The criminals raised their guns at aimed for the man. The man simply smiled.
“I am Apracox, gentlemen. And you, you are dead!” Apracox unleashed a shadow blast, frying the flesh from their bones. “Now, souls..come to me..”
SlashR glared. “Uhm.. Make that.. uhm.. They seem to have been killed in one shot. I might be in a shitload of trouble.” SlashR pressed the stop button and put the voice recorder between some of the crates. He jumped out from his hiding place with three knives ready in each hand. “So buddy, what’s going on there?”
Apracox turned his head, his eyes still glowing from the souls he just collected. “You! I was looking for you.”
“It’s nice to be loved like that!” SlashR threw two of his knives at Apracox, while Apracox simply blasted them out of the air.
“You seem to have more energy than the humans I just collected. It does not matter though, your light shall be extinguished.” Apracox unleashed a few powerful blasts at SlashR.
SlashR had more and more trouble dodging the blasts. His luck was the only thing from getting hit right now. “So, I can assume we’re not friends?”
Apracox began to fire faster and faster, clearly showing a smile on his face. He was enjoying this a lot.
SlashR was making leaps into the air now to avoid the many blasts. This was not enough unfortunatly. SlashR felt darkness grabbing the side of his leg and pulling him down. He lost his momentum and fell down, hard. He tried to get up but Apracox was faster.
Apracox was already next to SlashR laughing. “You’ve proven your strength. You have stayed alive longer than any other mutant has. Too bad it’s not enough.” Apracox held his hand above SlashR and started to absorb his lifeforce.
SlashR grinted his teeth to surpress a scream. The pain seemed to become worse and worse every second. Then, to Apracox’ surprise, SlashR smiled. With a quick reflex he grabbed one of his knives and stabbed Apracox in the chest.
Apracox stepped back in shock and gasped.
“Yeah, that’s what I hate about you villians, you always seem to understimate me.” SlashR jumped up, ignoring the pain in his body, and kicked down Apracox. Within seconds SlashR was out of Apracox’ site.
Apracox pulled the knive out of his chest and coughed. He walked up to SlashR’s voice-recorder and smiled. “I will find you SlashR, sooner than you think.”
End of Chapter two
Chapter three
“DIABLO! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!” Mufasa stood ready with a photon blade in each hand. Both men were looking and growling at eachother. “Hellgod or not, I’m going to kick your sorry ass if you don’t get out now!”
“Admit it Rook. You’ve stolen my stone. You’re the only one with keys to my room!”
“What makes you think I’d even want to be in the vicinity of your room? If there’s one place that smells like shit in this mansion, it’s your room.”
“I WILL RIP OUT YOUR GUTS FOR THAT HUMAN!”
The two men stood ready to jump at eachother when SuperGrover ran in. “HEY! What’s going on here?”
“Diablo came barging in here accusing me of things I..”
“You inferiour mortal! You’ve stolen one of my precious artefacts! Don’t pretend to be innocent!”
“Diablo! Do you have ANY proof?”
“I… he is the only one who has access to my room besides me. This is sufficient. I say we kill him now to be sure.”
“No. I’ll arrange an Inner Circle meeting in an hour. We’ll discuss things then. Until that time, both of you shall remain in your rooms.”
The hour passed slowly. Diablo created an image of Byron and passed the time by looking at her. He really missed her. How could mortals ever understand that? How could mortals understand a love which never dies? A love that never fades away. They die and with them, their love. So why is he cursed with this immortality? Besides, he needed her now more than ever. It was a long time since he had a clear head, and she never noticed a thing. He clutched his hand into a fist and slammed it into the wall. “BYRON!W-why..? Why did you leave me…?”
Then.. his selfpitty was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Diablo, the meeting’s going to start.”
The meeting didn’t go to well either. They weren’t listening. None of them..
“Tell us Diablo, what was stolen this time?” Ozymandias snickered. “Is it another one of your demon teeth again? Heh.. Precious artefacts.”
Cyclops softly poked Ozymandias with his elbow. “What he’s trying to say is, you can’t overreact about everything. It simply doesn’t work like that Diablo. You can’t..”
“But..You don’t understand! It..”
“No Diablo, it’s you, you don’t understand. You can’t run into people’s rooms accusing them of things they didn’t do.”
“How dare you! I..”
Nebula shook her head. “Diablo, please don’t yell again. It won’t solve your problem.”
SuperGrover nodded. “I agree, we should resolve this calmly.”
“THERE IS NO TIME TO BE CALM FOOLS! You don’t understand the true power of this hellstone. It does not only focus my powers, but it has great potential for the one who holds it. There’s someone out there with that stone and I don’t know how you’re planning on stopping that person if he unleashes that power. Don’t you understand? This person holds your life in his hands.”
Meanwhile..
He whiped some sweat from his face. The shadowteleporting was getting very exhausting, and still. .there was a long way to go. He still needed some time to get used to his new powers. Afterall, losing your magic ability and gaining new powers isn’t an experience that happens to everyone. It did happen to Rune however.. He grabbed the stone from out of his jacket and frowned. “Do I wish to do all of this just to…No..do I have a choice?” Then, he carefully put the Hellstone back in his pocket and resumed his course.
End Chapter three
Chapter four
They didn’t want to listen. Idiots. They wanted to talk, discuss a tactic. The stone is too important for that. It needs to be retrieved now. They wanted to go along. They wanted to work as a team. How can you count on mortals? How can you count on beings that don’t understand the danger of the Hellstone?
You can’t.
Diablo flew through the air, faster than any aircraft ever build by humans, He meanwhile looked around carefully to find the Hellstone. It radiates power, power that can be witnessed easily by someone who’s experienced with it.
The White Court Mansion
“That didn’t go too well.” Cyclops looked at SuperGrover. “Grover, what now?”
“I..I don’t know. I have the feeling I might be losing him entirely if we let him go his way now. I think we should go after him.”
Ozymandias sighed. “You can’t be serious. We all have enough other things to do as Inner Circle members. We have responsibilities Grover…you can’t..”
“Yes, you’ve got responsibilities, and right now it’s our responsibility to help him.”
“Can’t you just send the Outer Circle after him?”
“No. He doesn’t trust us already. If we want to win his trust, we’ll have to help him ourselves.” SuperGrover turned his back on the rest and looked down. “Unfortunately we don’t know where he went. He’s invisisble to our tracking equipment here.”
Ozymandias glared at SuperGrover “You’re not expecting us to go and look for him just like that, are you? I can’t even track him with my telepathic abilities.. How are we supposed to..”
“We’re going to split up. It’s the only way. I’m sure Gomurr knows a way for us to find Diablo when we’re in a shorter range of him.”
An hour later…
Essex coughed. He was weak. Very weak. His body was frail and every movement took a lot of effort to perform. “R..Rune ..are you there?”
“Is this what you want, father?” Rune threw the Hellstone on the ground infront of Essex.
“You’ve.. You’ve done it..?”
“Yeah, and don’t ask me why. I guess I couldn’t get it over my heart to let my own father die.”
Essex smiled. “You’ve done well son. Ever since Apracox attacked me, I’ve been feeling weaker and weaker. With this Hellstone I can gain my powers back and conquer the universe!”
Rune stepped back. “Hey hang on there, that was not part of our agreement!”
Essex grabbed the Hellstone and opened it. “You’re too late!”
On that exact moment Diablo flew in. “The Hellstone.. NO!!”
The Hellstone released a bright light and then a wave of pure power rushed through the room. Rune was the first to fall. Every bone in his body was transmitting huge levels of powers, which in turn made his heart stop beating. The power wave then headed for Diablo. Essex was still holding the stone with both hands while laughing maniacally. The stone was the only thing protecting Essex from the power wave, and Essex was loving every moment of it.
Diablo countered the wave by raising the floor as a shield. The shield didn’t even last a few seconds. “I was afraid..this..would..happen..” Diablo brought his hands together and unleashed a powerful blast in the hope of reversing the wave. Instead of that however, the wave simply absorbed the new power to its own.
The wave finally reached Diablo and surrounded him. Diablo felt his whole body burn and fell to the ground. He slowly started crawling towards the stone, against the flow of the wave. The power was getting more and more powerful with every bit Diablo managed to traverse. Then he heard and felt another person enter the room.
“Diablo, I finally found you!”
It was SuperGrover. The fool. He will die here due to his stupidity. If only he would have listened. Flesh was starting to gave way in Diablo’s body and bits of it were being torn off his bones… It did not bother Diablo however. He kept on going.
SuperGrover looked around the room and saw the wave coming towards him. He reacted instantanious. “Diablo, when the wave reaches me, try to absorb as much power as possible.” He then raised his hand and let the gauntlet do its work. Excalibur and the power wave connected and a small battle between the two mystical powers emerged.
Diablo turned his head to SuperGrover and saw the wave hit. He held his hand towards SuperGrover and started to absorb the power.
Essex noticed something going wrong and screamed in anger. He held the stone against himself, but it was too late. The winner was already emerging. The room was filled with a bright light and then.. the power was gone.
SuperGrover stumbled and barely managed to stay up. Diablo crawled up to SuperGrover and let himself fall. “You…You’ve …How did you know…??”
SuperGrover smiled. “I didn’t..I figured it was worth trying. Either that or we’d all be dead..”
“I..Nonsense human.. I can’t die.. I would have simply lost my physical body..I could have created a new one..but.. I thank you mortal. You’ve stopped the hellstone from releasing its power.” Diablo crawled up and looked down on himself disgusted. “You’ve succeeded where I failed.. I.. I respect you. The god of hell is under your command human.”
SuperGrover walked up to Rune’s body. “This battle didn’t go without a loss. Rune is gone.” SuperGrover then turned to the exit. “Diablo, I’m going to the others. I must inform them that they can stop looking.”
Diablo was alone in the room. Rune’s body was still burning while Essex was gone. “I wish I could believe you are dead Essex, but we both know that’s a lie. I will get you for this..and I have the perfect way to do so.” Diablo turned to Rune’s body and raised his hand. A bright red light surrounded Rune and then, within seconds, Rune opened his eyes.
“Rune, for stealing the Hellstone and aiding my greatest enemy, I welcome you to the world of the undead.”
I>The End…(and yet a new beginning)