The Daemos

Sentinel Island

One hundred and seventy five years ago

He clawed away again at the wards keeping him in place, struggling against the shackles.The circle of glyphs on the boards below and above him glowed red, sending spasms of pain through the body he was wearing.

For months now he had been shackled in the bowels of the vessel. He spat blood on the floor again using his tongue to prod away at his ruined lips. His awaking moments were filled with agony. He dreamt of ripping his captors like shrieking dolls, and dash their skulls, grinding them to fine ash.

Except for the woman. The one who had pulled him from the Dark Ether and bound him to this meat sack. He could hear the howling shrieks of the vessels' previous owner somewhere in the confines of his mind. Mad. Lost. Little more than an animal having gazed at the malevolence that now inhabited his body.

She had not come today. Yet. He had awaken to the loud screams and shouts of the Allosi crew, and the huge crash and splintering of wood somewhere from below. He could smell the rushing water and their desperate struggle against the incoming tide.

He pulled at the chains again, harder this time howling at the shock it sent through his soul. She was strong. Stronger than he recalled men being when he had stalked among the ruins of this land. Her sorcery was that of summoning and enslaving brings from the Ether namely, demons.

A Daemotic sorcerer who condemned themselves to eternal torment at the hands of their slaves when they died.
His eyes darted above to the ceiling. He could something. A power of many linking. Casting a powerful spell although he could not tell what it could be. He sensed her among them. He pulled at his chains again, fighting the wards, this time welcoming the pain and torment. Whatever they were doing above deck was weakening his prison...

And than almost as quickly as he had been enslaved, pulled into existence, he was free. The body he was wearing failed him and he dropped on the puddle of waste that had accumulated at his feet after all these months. The creature laughed, coughing and spitting dried blood. He felt her above him. Aware her slave was free. And that once he walked the decks, he would come bearing tokens of ancient doom and show them true terror...

~~~

Over the long years of her life, Yadita Bloodworth, had never felt so weak and vulnerable as she did now. The temporal spell cast by the others had used more of her power that she had anticipated. After sailing for months through the icy currents of the Sea of Storms, they had found land.

The last remnants of Allos. Survivors of the war against the Inquisition and the armies of their dread foe, Stoneshade. Children with no home.

Before they could reach the main continent, a freak squall had sent them crashing against the rocks of a nearby island. The spell was the first necessary to open a portal back to Helias that would one day allow them to strike back at their enemies and come to their people's aid.

She felt her wards below explode as the pain behind her eyes exploded from her exertions. The others felt it too. Their weapon was about to be unleash on themselves.

What she felt now was more the memory of a passion rather than the passion itself. The memory of fear.

Sorcery was nothing if not a gigantic maze, and for a thousand years the Allosi had charted it, plundering, always diving deeper, mining knowledge both dread and disastrous. And even though they had yet to discover all glorious permutations of the Ether, there were certain branches, certain forks, which they alone had mapped. Yadita was a master of these forbidden paths. A student of the Daemos.

A Daemotic sorceress and if this was to be the end she would meet it head on while her kindred salvaged what they could from the wreck.

Yadita Bloodworth, stumbled below to confront her demon.