Elijah Gray

In the year 1096 a large six foot tall broad shouldered forty year old man with a long scar across his right eye, long dark black hair that went down to his shoulders and a clean shaven face wearing a leather hood over a chainmail coif, a torn and tattered black tunic with the symbol of a red cross hanging by only a few threads over chainmail armor, mail chausses to cover his legs and a pair of leather long boots sat in a wooden horse drawn wagon on his way back to the lord's city, the pope's city. Elijah Gray was returning from a two year crusade; he was the only survivor of his army of templars. The only things Elijah Gray had in his possession were a longsword in a sheath on his belt, a dagger in his boot and a crossbow hung on his back, all nothing more than tools of war. Elijah could still hear the screams, screams of unbelievers, screams of his fellow templar knights, his own screams all echoing through his own mind. Elijah took the cloth of the tunic in his hand, tore it off of the chainmail armor and dropped it onto the cold wooden floor of the wagon. the pope's words rang through his mind over and over again.

“You will be favored by God, my children.” the pope had said two years ago. They had all believed what the pope had spouted to them and even through all of the anger he felt Elijah continued to want to believe that god favored him even with all of the evidence that pointed towards a different answer he continued to believe that god loved the templars. Elijah suddenly became teary eyed as he thought of his best friend Jack Query who had been shot in the back of the skull with an arrow right in front of him Jack had survived for half an hour and he begged Elijah to remember him through it all.

“I need to be remembered. please Ell I need you to promise.” Jack had begged as he cried, the color in his right eye, the one that didn't have an arrow through it, faded each second.

“I remember you.” Elijah said as a tear fell down his cheek.

“We've arrived.” the stagecoach driver yelled back to Elijah. Elijah wiped the tears from his face, cleared the screams from his minds then exited the wagon. The driver directed the horses to turn around then whipped them. The horses quickly ran in the direction opposite of the city. Elijah turned and looked towards the city gates, his eyes quickly became wide with surprise and terror.

“what has happened here?” Elijah whispered as he saw hundreds of templar bodies on large wooden crosses impaled by massive wooden stakes and hung from the massive city gates. Elijah walked forward beads of sweat on his forehead, his hands shook uncontrollably as he glanced at his fallen comrades. Elijah said a small prayer of no more than three words for each of his fallen brothers. Elijah made it to the massive fifty foot tall city gates and stopped. He heard loud grunts and saw a blazing fire. suddenly he heard the sound of a rope snapping above him he looked up then dove to the left the body of a templar knight landed next to him with a sickening thud sound. Elijah slowly stood to his feet breathing heavily and then walked through the massive gates as he dusted himself off. As soon as he entered the city he was greeted by a storm of ashes from the sky. Everything in sight was ablaze except for the large church, the tall clock tower, the city treasury, the court building and the massive castle-like cathedral at the top farest side of the city. Suddenly Elijah heard an unearthly howl and the charging footsteps of an army. Elijah turned towards the sound confused, angry and slightly frightened. Suddenly he felt only fear as he saw hundreds of disgusting misshapen humanoid figures with broken bones, huge sharp teeth, large oozing boils and flesh that seemed ready to explode at any moment came charging at him.

“What in the name of our lord God are you hideous creatures?” Elijah screamed angrily. the creatures answered by screaming loudly all at once as they picked up speed. Elijah ran to the church and pushed on the doors. The doors wouldn't budge even with his full weight on top of it.

“Are you untouched by the demon curse?” a voice from behind the door asked.

“Yes.” Elijah said, obviously attempting to sound calm even though the creatures were only one hundred feet behind him and running at an ever increasing speed. There was a sound of large objects moving, clattering on the bars of the doors, then the doors were thrown open and Elijah was pulled into the church. The woman who pulled him into the church and quickly tied a rope around the door handles and pushed two bookcases up against the door books fell as it hit the doors.

“Follow me, Templar knight.” the woman said as she walked into the main church. Elijah followed her and smiled as he saw fifteen more people sat in the rows of pews, ten more laid on the floor and five more praying at an altar. The woman quickly walked to a row of pews and sat down as Elijah followed and sat beside her.

“What is happening here?” Elijah asked, obviously worried about the state of the city.

“The pope was taken by the devil. The great evil began by transforming his mind and he sent a new order to all of the people he wanted, all templar knights killed and hung where god could see them. Once the great evil saw that the templar knights were gone he transformed the pope's physical body into a hideous red demon and once the devil had its fill of blood, death and destruction he transformed the dead into hell walkers. the hell walkers infected everyone except us.” the woman paused, leaned closer to Elijah then whispered, “there are only thirty one of us left templar knight.”

“the pope, God's most trusted vessel, was taken by evil?” Elijah asked loudly, almost unwilling to accept these accusations.

“Yes, now please quiet down templar knight. You may upset the others speaking of this topic.” the woman said quietly.

“I apologize, please forgive me and please call me Elijah.” he said bowing his head in apology.

“It is alright and you may call me Mary.” she said sitting up but keeping her voice low. Elijah sat up straight and fixed his chainmail armor to be more comfortable.

“Anything I can do to help this city, Mary, tell me and I shall do it.” Elijah said his voice filled with righteous anger and holy conviction.

“The pope is in the cathedral but there is a witch being held in the top of the clock tower. She will be of assistance and may be able to kill the hell walkers while you face the pope if you truly believe you can kill the devil.” Mary said doubtful of his strength.

“I am capable of killing the devil but I will not save a disgusting witch.” Elijah said coldly.

“While the templar knights were out massacring the innocent, the disgusting witches as you call them attempted to fight back against the devil and helped cure what they could.” Mary said defiantly.

“We did what God told us to do.” he said, defending himself even though he knew he was wrong.

“You are not a good liar Elijah.” Mary said annoyed at the templar for his blatant denial of the truth.

“You are correct.” he said, chuckling lightly before he stood and said, “I will save the witch if she can help me bring peace back to this city.”

“Thank you Elijah, please allow me to walk you out.” Mary said as she stood and walked to the door of the church. Elijah followed closely behind Mary until they stood at the door.

“Good luck templar knight elijah.” Mary said as she opened the doors to the church. Elijah jumped out of the doors and looked around the area for any hell walkers. The doors were quickly slammed shut and there were sounds of the quick movements made to lock the doors. Elijah looked around the city and quickly spotted the clock tower through the rain of ashes and past the smoke and the glare of the flames. Elijah hugged the walls of the church as he slowly walked into the smoke. Elijah threw his hands over his eyes and coughed wildly once he stepped into the massive flood of smoke and ashes. He wanted to call out for survivors but he knew that it would only serve to alert hell walkers to his presence in the area. Suddenly screams came from a small home that was partially burned down and two hell walkers slowly walked into the fiery home.

“Dear God, please someone save me!” the voice from the flame filled home screamed madly as they coughed up smoke. Elijah tried to simply move on to his objective but he couldn't; he had to protect this defenseless citizen of his city.

“damn you beasts of hell.” Elijah screamed as he ran towards the fiery burning home drawing his longsword and preparing to strike as he did so. The hell walkers stopped in their tracks and slowly turned towards the sound and movement. There were two hell walkers. The first stood on the right side and was only four feet tall and had disgusting pale stretched and sagging skin that hung low. Its eyelids hung freakishly low, its arm of which it only had the left was eight feet long drug across the ground like a whip and ended in one long sword-like claw. Its right arm was simply a stump that waved wildly as if it had a mind of its own. The other hell walker stood on the left side and closer to the burning home by about ten feet. It stood at least six and a half feet tall. It had a large hunched over back, massive boils all over its body and small hairy warts on its face. Its face was just flesh with no eye holes or mouth but where a mouth would be on a normal human face it had four large sharp teeth that ripped through its flesh the torn flesh bled profusely. It had two arms, both hands fused together making it unusable for grabbing objects. Elijah was shocked at the sight of the horrid creatures but did not stop rushing towards them. Elijah attacked with his sword, slashing the hell walker that stood on the right, thick red sludge spewed from the wound left by the blade. The hellwalker simply flung its long whiplike arm in an ark and into the ground. Elijah stepped to the right narrowly avoiding the sword-like claw then brought his sword down upon the arm severing its tie to its owner. the arm fell to the ground and thrashed wildly before it stopped moving completely and became limp on the ground. The second hell walker ran forward arm in air ready to attack but it quickly lost its footing and fell to the ground at Elijah's feet. Elijah took his blade and shoved it into the creature's skull with slow but forceful precision. The creature made a high pitched whining sound and attempted to stand. Elijah simply kicked it back down, pulled the sword from its skull, lifted the blade above his head and then brought it down severing the creature's head. Elijah sheathed his sword once more. The hell walker which had no arms left simply stood there rocking back and forth like a tree dancing in the wind.

“I pray there is no human soul left in your body.” Elijah said as he took his crossbow, loaded an arrow into it, aimed it at the hellwalker and fired. The hell walker fell to its knees then onto its stomach forcing the arrow through the back of its head. Elijah stood there covered in the blood of the hell walkers catching his breath before he put the crossbow back where it belonged and walked to where the voice was crying for help. Elijah entered the flames and saw a child underneath burning rubble.

“I'll get you to safety.” Elijah promised as he coughed on the thick smoke and reached to move the beam. Elijah held back screams as his left arm caught fire. He quickly lifted the burning support beam which held the young boy down, pulled him out from under it and then dropped it. He carried the boy out of the fire and ran to the clock tower catching a quick glance of a massive hound that was at least nine feet tall at the shoulders and looked to weigh at least three hundred pounds; luckily the hound did not seem to see him. Elijah kicked the doors to the tower open, laid the child down and slammed the door shut.

“Are you alright boy?” Elijah asked as he inspected the child's wounds. The child did not answer but was groaning and crying loudly. The child's flesh was dark red with patches of black, charred, peeling off skin. There was no blood but Elijah knew the boy would not survive. Elijah was getting ready to tell the boy everything would be alright but then he remembered his skills as a liar were horrible. Elijah looked down at his left arm; it was black charred and the pattern of the chainmail was melted into it from his hand to his shoulder and hurt as much as Elijah assumed the flames of hell would.

“Help.” The child managed to mutter. Elijah turned to see a long thick strand of silk attached to the boy.

“What is that?” Elijah asked suspiciously as he took a step closer to the boy to inspect the silk. Suddenly the boy was dragged up the tower by the thread. The boy screamed madly as he was jerked above the ground and flew up the tower.

“What has mommy caught for dinner today?” said the voice of a woman from the top of the tower. The voice echoed down the large staircase and sent shivers down Elijah's spine.

“You will not harm that boy!” Elijah screamed as he ran up the staircase with all of his speed sword drawn in his right hand as his left arm hung low, completely limp. Suddenly the boy's screams went silent.

“I won't, templar knight?” the woman asked mockingly as she laughed. The voice echoed down to Elijah; it no longer frightened him but filled him with rage and hatred the kind he’d only felt once before and that was the hatred he felt towards the man who had murdered Jack Query. It took Elijah two minutes to make it to the top of the tower. His face was a bright red, he was breathing heavily and his left arm shook uncontrollably. The room he stood in was massive. A large bell was suspended above everything and on the far left side was a cage with a woman and the burned child inside of it. On the far wall directly in front of Elijah was the clock. The hands on the clock didn't move and the gears didn't turn. Elijah could see the fire through the glass; it was the only thing that illuminated the room. Elijah sighed relieved as he heard the boy's loud labored breaths. Suddenly he saw a figure emerge from behind the bell walking on the sides of it. The creature had the upper body of a breathtakingly beautiful woman with light blue skin, bright red lips, no hair, long pointed ears, perfectly manicured fingernails, and three pairs of breasts each with dark blue nipples. The lower half of the creature was a massive spider's thorax with eight dangerously sharp spider legs, four on each side, small hairs all over it and the back of the thorax where the webs would normally be fired was a large human anus.

“the only lonely templar, the last of the knights, the most godless of us all.” the creature sang as it cackled maniacally.

“I came here to rescue the witch because I was told she may help me in my objective but now by taking an innocent child you have made this all personal devil woman.” Elijah said, pointing his sword upwards at the devil. The devil laughed for a moment then lunged at Elijah from the bell. The huge bell rang twice because of the force of the leap. The devil was mere feet from him, two legs sharp enough to rip through metal aimed at him. Elijah pointed his blade forward and held his ground bracing for the inevitable force. The front of the devil's body hit him with enough force to send him flying but he stopped himself by grinding his feet on the wooden floor boards forcing the friction to stop his movement he was only a foot away from the devil. He breathed heavily but smiled because the legs just barely grazed his stomach. The laceration was large but it was only a flesh wound. He bled but he wouldn't die. The devil on the other hand had a sword stuck through its stomach. The devil pulled the blade from its stomach and laughed as it dropped it to the floor.

“that was the first time you've ever entered a woman wasn't it templar?” the devil asked as it moaned loudly. The devil lunged with its front leg extended to strike Elijah once she finished mocking him. Elijah rolled to the left, pulled his crossbow off of his back, loaded it and fired the arrow. The arrow planted itself into the devils chest drawing a small bit of bright green blood. Elijah stood to his feet as he loaded another arrow into the crossbow.

“Human weapons always get me so hot, templar knight. take me right here.” the devil said as it grabbed one of its breasts with its left hand and pulled the arrow out with the other.

“Why do you try to tempt me, devil?” Elijah asked, disgusted by its attempts to lead him into sin.

“Because I can sense the lust any creature feels and you templar knight feel none whatsoever. You already have one that you love. I wish to break you and to make you my lust filled pet before I murder you.” the devil answered, obviously flustered. The devil had beads of sweat on its body as it suddenly slipped its finger into the wound that had been made by the arrow, moaning loudly and shaking uncontrollably as it did. The devil was obviously more worried about vanquishing its hot lustful needs than Elijah. Elijah quickly took the opportunity and ran towards the devil, slid under its body, grabbed his sword from the floor and stood to his feet.

“You think you can defeat me with a human weapon templar knight? the only thing your big sharp blade will do is excite me. Perhaps you would serve well as my man whore.” the devil said as it moaned, moving its finger deeper into the open wound.

“catch me and you can have me for your disgusting games.” Elijah said as he took four large steps backwards. The devil removed its finger from the wound, licked its lips then lunged at him. Elijah smiled, aimed his crossbow upwards and fired. The rope holding the bell in the air snapped. Before the devil knew what Elijah had done the giant bell fell and landed onto its large thorax ripping it apart and dragging it down to the bottom of the tower.

“Templar knight!” the devil screamed angrily as it fell. the entire clock tower shook once the bell hit the ground. Elijah chuckled as he looked down the huge hole that led straight to the bottom of the tower and saw that the devil was nothing but a splatter of blood and guts on the floor. Elijah walked to the cage and opened it then sat beside the burned child as he caught his breath.

“The door was unlocked.” Elijah said breathlessly in disbelief.

“the demon would have killed me, templar.” the witch said coldly.

“Elijah Gray.” he said as he finally caught his breath.

“Marilyn Montry.” she said in the same cold tone as she crawled towards the burnt child.

“What are you doing?” Elijah asked as he moved his hand to his sheathed sword.

“I can heal the boy.” Marilyn said as she reached for a satchel around her shoulder and reached into it. Her arm went into the small satchel and came out with a cup of water and a bowl with crushed herbs inside of it. She mixed the herbs into the water, placed the bowl back into the satchel then brought out a light brown cloth and handed it all to Elijah.

“What do I do?” Elijah questioned.

“Dip the cloth into the water then squeeze it into the boy's mouth. It will cure the burns but the scars will remain.” Marilyn said, smiling at Elijah, obviously wanting him to believe her.

“How can I trust you?” Elijah asked suspiciously.

“Not all witches are evil and apparently all templar knights are not heartless heathens.” Marylin answered seemingly meaning it to be a compliment.

“I understand what you mean.” he said as he laid the cup on the floor and dipped the rag using his right hand, unable to use his left because of the burns. As soon as the drops of herb infused water hit the boy's lips his eyes opened.

“Thirsty.” the boy muttered. Elijah dipped the rag once more and gave him more to drink; the boy's open wounds slowly healed. Elijah gave him a few more drops of water and the boy's body was completely healed except for the weblike scars left behind by the burns.

“here.” Marilyn said as she pulled out a second satchel, an exact copy of the original except for the fact that it was a light red color and handed it to Elijah.

“What is this for?” Elijah asked, happy because the child was healed.

“It is a satchel that can store anything, any number of things and it never gains weight. Put your crossbow into it so that you may simply pull it out at any time.” Marilyn said in a teacher-like voice. Elijah placed the crossbow into the satchel, amazed that it actually fit, then placed his small quiver of arrows into the satchel as well.

“Magic?” Elijah asked, mesmerized by its power.

“Yes.” Marilyn said proudly.

“Thank you Marilyn, for everything.” Elijah said truly thankful for her help.

“You are welcome. My brother may be of service to you as well; he is a powerful warlock. The devils captured him. They have him in the court building. Rescue him from the devils and he will help you.” Marilyn said, sounding desperate.

“I will save your brother, you and the child go to the church. You will be safe there.” Elijah said as he stood, put the small satchel around his shoulders and began running to the door of the clock tower. He ran down the stairs and stood in front of the door. The bell laid right next to the door the devil's guts painted the bell and the walls. Elijah opened the door to see the huge hound standing in front of the door. It glared at him then took two steps back allowing Elijah to walk out of the tower. It then followed Elijah seemingly escorting him to the court building growling at any hell walkers that came anywhere near the both of them. Once they were at the doors to the court building the hound sat as if it were saying it would be there once he returned.

“You aren't like the other devils.” Elijah said as patted the hound on the head and then entered the court building. Elijah walked down a long hallway then saw the doors to the main courtroom. He attempted to open the doors but they wouldn't budge. Suddenly he heard two booming voices in the middle of an argument.

The first voice that was so loud it seemed to shake the building as it spoke said "the prisoner will be given a fair trial as if he were one of our own."

"Then his fate is already sealed." Said the second more subdued voice as it laughed, its laugh was little more than a hiss sound.

"True my friend." The first voice said in the same booming manner as before as it laughed loudly. Elijah looked to the left then to the right and saw no entrance into the room other than the large main doors then he looked above himself and saw a balcony that overlooked the courtroom. The balcony was built into the wall at twenty feet right above the large doors. Elijah ran to the large windows and pulled the two curtains down, tied them together and then tied them to his own sword. Elijah dragged the long line of curtains behind himself then stood directly beneath the balcony.

"Then we agree on the most reasonable punishment for this human sympathizer." Said the two voices in complete agreement. Elijah threw his sword upwards into the balcony then pulled the curtains slowly until it was suddenly caught on the tight opening of the balcony. Elijah pulled on the curtains with a good amount of force three times then once he saw that it was strong enough to hold him he began to climb up the curtains. Elijah had to use his right arm only because of the burns that covered his left arm. He wrapped his right hand in a bundle of curtain then ran up the wall then continued the process five times before he was at the balcony. Then suddenly there were huge footsteps which had enough force to shake the entire building. Elijah screamed as he fell down five feet and caught himself with the curtain. Elijah grabbed the curtains with his left hand screaming as he did so. Then he quickly let go of the curtains with his left hand. He then took two deep breaths and tugged on the curtains quickly with his right hand leaping up and into the balcony.

“Punish the accused, kill the guilty and butcher the innocent as if they are cattle.” said a creature with a deep gravelly booming voice. Elijah walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down. Elijah saw a man chained to the floor, a human sized two headed devil beside the back exit and a massive humanoid figure standing directly in front of the man with its head only ten feet below the balcony. The humanoid figure had the head of a massive boar with tusks the size of ten grown men laid one next to the other. Its body was that of a giant obese man with sagging flesh, disgusting uncut nails and a large penis the size of an elephant's trunk and split in two in the middle. Elijah grabbed his sword and stepped on the very edge of the balcony. the devils snout twitched slightly.

“Punish the accused, kill the guilty and butcher the innocent as if they are cattle.” said the devil as it looked up directly at elijah. Elijah leaped down holding his blade straight forward as he fell the curtains following the blade as he did so. After falling for ten feet Elijah came to a stop as his blade slid into the devil's eye.

“Punish the accused, kill the guilty and butcher the innocent as if they are cattle.” screamed the devil as Elijah hung onto the blade tightly with his right hand. Suddenly a geyser of blood erupted from the eye that the blade was dug into causing Elijah to plummet down to the floor. The devil dropped to its knees and put its hand to its eye as Elijah grunted in pain, his whole body aching from being launched ten feet to the floor.

“Punish the accused, kill the guilty and butcher the innocent as if they are cattle.” the devil screamed as tears and blood flowed from its eyes. Elijah stood shakily and stumbled to the man chained to the floor.

“Break the chains, I can help.” said the chained down man. Elijah didn't bother responding and simply struck the metal chains with his sword breaking the chains in half. The man stood, reached into his coat, pulled out a glass container full of a dark red liquid and threw it at the bent over devil.

“Hellfire!” the man screamed. As soon as the man spoke, the liquid caught fire. The devil thrashed around for two minutes straight. The flames had engulfed its entire body within one minute then it stopped moving completely. After one more minute the devils dead body was nothing more than a huge skeleton then the fires suddenly disappeared. The two headed devil ran through the back exit afraid of what would be done to it if it were to stay.

“I was told that you could help me in my quest to save this city.” Elijah said as he untied the blood soaked curtains and sheathed his sword.

“the dreams told me you would arrive here and that you would need this.” the man said as he opened a leather bag pulled a large leatherbound book from it and handed it to elijah. Elijah took it and looked at it.

“What is it?” Elijah asked, confused.

“A book of spells that I have already mastered. The dreams told me you will need it and that you may need the page I have marked. The dreams also say that once this is all over you will have more time than ever to study the spells and incantations.” the man explained quickly before running through the back exit obviously hunting the two headed devil. Elijah looked at the marked page of the book and chuckled lightly. Elijah unlocked the doors to the main hallway and walked back to the front doors and stepped outside. The hound sat in the same position it had been and turned towards Elijah. Elijah thought of what he was about to do and was amazed at how much he had grown over just a few hours.

he took the dagger from his boot, sliced his left hand, spit on the blood, then said “will you be my familiar devil hound?” The hound stood and licked the blood off of his hand. Elijah's head stung for a moment then he heard a voice

“a templar knight who kills demons mingles with witches and uses magic to make an eternal bond with a hound of hell? That is why I chose you, Elijah gray.” said a bland monotone voice that was in Elijah's own mind.

“I've changed a lot in these short hours.” Elijah said. Suddenly the hound shrunk and became a large doberman hound.

“My body will change back once or if it is needed.” said the same monotone voice in Elijah's head.

”How did I already know that?” Elijah asked, confused.

“In heart, mind and soul we are linked.” it said within Elijah's mind. Suddenly Elijah heard screams from the city's treasury. Elijah and the hound ran to the doors of the treasury then stopped.

“Powerful devil inside.” the monotone voice in Elijah's head said simply as the hound sniffed the ground in front of the door to the treasury.

“We have to save the survivors.” Elijah said as he slowly opened the door. The hound leaped back in fright as a river of blood flowed from the door. The blood gave off a beautiful almost glowing light but smelled of wet rusty metal. The blood, other than the small amount that had already escaped, stayed within the building as if the door were still there. Elijah stepped into the Treasury, his boots sunk six inches into the red liquid before they finally hit the floor. Elijah slowly trodden through the thick pool of blood that filled the entire building.

"What happened here?" Asked the hounds voice in Elijah's mind.

"A devil I suppose." Elijah answered as he focused on getting to the screams. The hound had more trouble getting through the steadily flowing blood in its new form which was a doberman hound of only three feet at its shoulders and looked to weigh only one hundred pounds. Suddenly Elijah heard the screams again louder than before. He ran towards the sound leaving the hound behind.

"Elijah do not rush into battle without your ally." The hounds monotone voice said in a demanding voice.

"The one screaming for help has no time to waste." Elijah answered as he continued to run towards the screams. Suddenly Elijah saw the Treasury's vault. Inside of the massive vault was a naked old man suspended eight feet in the air held up by an invisible force. In front of the old man was a pudgy two foot tall goblin-like creature with light green skin levitating one foot above the floor, its eyes shut.

"Elijah Gray rescue me from this small bastard devil please." The old man groaned, unable to look towards Elijah because of his many injuries. The floor around the devil was completely dry; a circle of completely dry floor surrounded it for eight feet. Elijah had no time to wonder just how the old man knew his name. Elijah unsheathed his blade and held it in his right hand.

"Hello human." The devil said calmly in a shrill high pitched voice. Elijah said nothing as he charged towards the small devil. The devil lightly waved its hand to the right as if it were swatting at a flie and Elijah flew into the wall of the vault. The force of Elijah hitting the stone wall cracked it. chunks of rock flew from the wall stopped inches away from the floor levitated in place then rotated slowly. Elijah grunted as he attempted to move but some invisible force held him in place. The invisible force pushing on Elijah caused the gash on his stomach to bleed profusely, his left arm to feel as if it were back in the fire and all of his skin crawled.

"You assumed that you could defeat a devil? Dumb humans such as yourself are what gives us the opportunity to have such perfect fun." The devil said it's shrill voice breaking on each word. Elijah suddenly began to laugh even through the pain and discomfort. The devil turned towards the sound of massive footsteps and let out a yelp as the hound pounced onto it. The hound had reverted to its nine feet tall bear-like form and now held the small green devil under one paw. Elijah and the old man fell to the ground. Elijah stood, took the satchel, pulled his crossbow out of it, loaded an arrow into it and began walking to the devil trapped beneath the hound.

"No!" The devil screamed. The hound was suddenly thrown ten feet into the air by the unseen force then fell back down to the floor landing on its feet completely unharmed. The small green devil levitated ten feet into the air, arms stretched out, then it quickly plummeted to the ground with an arrow in its head. The hound bit the devil's head, ripped it straight off its shoulders, spit it to the floor, then changed back into its large doberman form. Elijah walked to the old man and gently took his hand.

"Don't help me, I don't have much time. I was told you would arrive here once hell came for me. I have one last gift for humanity." The old man said, struggling to breathe.

"What is it?" Elijah asked, kneeling down by the man's side still holding his hand.

"An early warning for humanity's only hope. Any devil or creature of the dark that is near you or even looks in your direction will cause you to have a great feeling of dread and their true name will be written upon your body. With my last breath I bestow this gift to humanity's only hope." The old man said as he fell silent, eyes barely open, body cold and limp. Elijah jerked his arm back as the word 'spartham' was carved into his right hand.

"Spartham?" Elijah asked aloud.

"Do not say my name." The hounds voice said within Elijah's mind as the hounds' flesh sizzled silently.

"I apologize." Elijah said genuinely sorry for causing his ally pain.

"You may simply call me 'Hound'." The hounds voice said within Elijah's mind answering Elijah's question before he was even able to ask it.

"We end this now Hound. We go to the cathedral and kill the pope." Elijah said as he rubbed the blood from the carving on his arm.

"I never thought I would hear a templar knight say that." Hound said obviously loving the sound of what he heard as it and Elijah ran out of the Treasury and into the streets of the city. Elijah was amazed once he saw every citizen of the city standing in the streets and every one of the hell walkers lying dead on the street. Marilyn and her brother stood in the front of the crowd.

"End this madness." Marilyn said to Elijah. Elijah nodded, then ran towards the massive castle-like cathedral Hound running by his side. Elijah and Hound stood at the cathedral gates. The gates slowly opened to reveal a massive room, blood splattered everywhere like a disturbing piece of art with a red carpet that led straight to a large throne sitting in the throne was a large devil. large metal crosses, books and torn apart bodies littered the floor of the cathedral. Elijah walked to the throne sword held in his right hand. Suddenly there was a pain on the palm of his right hand. He looked at his palm and saw etched into his flesh one name 'Ulthar Du Gahn'.

"Elijah Gray." Ulthar said as it stood. Ulthar was seven feet tall with a large strong fit body, long curly black hair and huge bull horns on its head. its skin was a dark gray and looked like it was made of stone. Its eyes were completely black and glowed radiantly. It had massive wings like that of a vulture on its back that stretched out to a wingspan of fourteen feet.

"Ulthar." Elijah said. Ulthar looked quite impressed when Elijah knew his name.

"The last of the Templar Knights, the pope's last pet." Ulthar said deviously, his voice deep and powerful.

"I am not a templar any longer. I belong to no man, no god and no creature such as yourself." Elijah said, readying his blade for battle.

"Not after your love was killed in battle, not after you killed more innocent people than you'll ever be able to forget, not after your entire army was butchered. Too bad for your love that you didn't choose to leave until he was killed." Ulthar said in a mocking tone.

"Do not speak of him." Elijah said as he gritted his teeth together.

"If it weren't for your vow of celibacy you would have taken him wouldn't you? Such a strong willed and honorable man you were while the others in your army broke their vow of celibacy with prisoners captives and literal barn animals you didn't even kiss the one you loved. Know what is truly funny Ell? The pope broke that oath too." Ulthar said, chuckling lightly as he spoke.

"Do not call me Ell, Devil." Elijah said his body shaking in rage, his right hand grasping the sword's hilt even tighter.

"Why? Because it is what he called you. What was his name? Jack Query?" Ulthar asked in a mocking tone.

"Don't say his name you disgusting devil swine!" Elijah screamed as he charged at Ulthar jumped into the air and brought his blade down on him. Ulthar stood there amazed that the sword stuck into his forearm just enough that it stayed in place. Ulthar grabbed Elijah by the throat and lifted him into the air. Hound suddenly came charging at Ulthar transformed into its bearlike form. Hound pounced at Ulthar but Ulthar's wings lashed out at Hound the force of the hit knocked Hound to the ground completely unconscious.

"I have existed since the very concept of destruction was thought up by the very first living creature. In all of that time no human has ever pierced my skin with any weapon, spell, or incantation. Powerful humans bonded to powerful demons have tried but you, a disillusioned templar knight, are the first to succeed in injuring me.” Ulthar said as it put its left hand on Elijah's face keeping its right around Elijah's throat. Elijah kicked and punched attempting to escape Ulthar’s grip but he couldn't overpower the large devil.

“You killed my generals, my army and wounded me a very slight cut but a cut nonetheless. I must return to hell, regroup and build a newer, better army then I will return. I want you, the one human worthy of battling on humanity's behalf, to be here when I return, so in my infinite kindness I grant you the mark of destruction. You will never age, never die and all physical wounds will heal instantaneously. study the spells and incantations of this plain of existence become stronger be ready for once I return I will come for you.” ulthar said as the ground split open revealing a dark cold set of stairs going straight down into the earth. Suddenly Elijah's face sizzled and burned. Ulthar dropped Elijah to the ground and walked down the staircase, the earth resealing as he disappeared down the staircase. Elijah thrashed on the ground until the pain subsided. The burns on Elijah's face, the cut on his stomach and the burns all the way up his left arm quickly healed, the flesh reconnecting and becoming perfectly new except for the scars and the names written on his right arm. Elijah now had light red scars up and down his left arm but there was no longer any charing or bleeding. There was now a symbol carved into Elijah's forehead; the symbol was a small ankh inside of the infinity symbol. Hound slowly stood and walked to Elijah.

“What do we do now?” Hounds voice asked from within Elijah's mind.

"We have more than enough time to prepare for Ulthar’s return. So we prepare, Hound, and we kill any evil creatures we find along the way." Elijah said determined to protect humanity as he looked at the burning city.