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Kage walked through the halls deep within the dungeon of the castle. Passing by torture chambers, storage rooms and prison cells. As he came to the end of the hall one of the warriors that had traveled with him this past battle waited for him with crossed arms. The man was large and muscular. Standing a few inches taller then Kage and just as thick and bulky. He had a long full beard that was the same brown as his long thick hair. A scar ran over top of his right eye. It looked like a deep slash wound. The injury had made his eye permanently white. He looked like a Viking wearing heavy armor on his chest and legs and leaving his arms bare showing battle scars, runic tattoos and bulging muscles. "I heard your little warm up out there...Get a feel for her?" The man said in a deep voice looking at Kage. "...She's just as strong as we are afraid...Is everything ready?" Kage responded in a low tone. The man uncrossed his arms and opened the door behind him. "We are ready when you are." He led the way into the room. The two walked amongst a small group of eight fellow warriors. Each with a different style of armor unique to them as well as there own style of weapons. They were all moving around checking their gear, sharping weapons and stocking arrows. Kage looked around at each one as he held his skull shaped helmet at his waist, his black armor glistening in the torch light.

"...Everything is set...She is our only foe...We're all in this as one...and we die as one." Kage spoke aloud to the group causing each one to stop what they were doing and look towards him. He was their leader, their commanding officer and their friend. "Tonight we will overthrow Alexandra. Her misguided ways will come to an end." The viking man said firmly looking around at the men. "Remember...once Marcus and I directly engage her fall back and provide support." Kage said referring to his bearded friend. "Yes sir. We'll guard your back." One of them said as he stood looking at Kage. Kage and Marcus nodded at the men and they all gathered their final pieces of equipment and made their way out through the two exits at each end of the room.

Marcus turned to Kage after then other warriors left. "We probably wont survive this fight." He said with a grin. Kage huffed as he looked back at him. "At this point...I'm not sure I care...As long as she burns." His eyes were filled with determination and anger as a dark smile formed on his face. Marcus chuckled and said. "You've got the best chance at it." With that the two exited the room through the opposite way they had entered.

Outside in the dead flower garden behind the castle Alexandra stood on an empty pedestal that at one time held a large statue. She was facing away from the castle watching the skies in the distance. The sunset was a deep red as the sun began to disappear behind the horizon. Kage and Marcus approached the edge of the garden and stopped for a moment to watch the sorceress. Marcus stayed there as Kage walked up to the pedestal. "What is it Kage?...Have you come to spend time with me?" She said jokingly to the man that stood behind her. She turned to face him looking down from her perch. "In a manor of speaking..." Kage said coldly as a ring of torches lit in a circle around the two. It was all of the warriors that fought under his leadership. From in between a pair of them Marcus walked through the ring and approached the pedestal. "So...all of you would challenge me?..." She said curiously. Kage stood ready as the eight men surrounding them dropped their torches in unison in front of them. The dead grass beneath some of them lit instantly when the torches hit. The flames burned bright as Kage spun his scythe from his back. "Tonight Mother...we claim whats ours." She slowly began to laugh as Kage put on his helmet with one hand and glaring at the sorceress.

As he laugh peaked he and Marcus charged at her. Marcus wielding his great double bladed axe came at her with an overhead swing while Kage swung his scythe around the side. Alexandra spun and pulled a pair of bladed fans from the sleeves of her dress. Keeping them closed she held them in defensive positions to deflect the attacks. The two weapons clashed against the casing of fans, Marcus' axe skipped off one fan and stuck into the stone pedestal while Kage's scythe blade stopped against the fan. The sorceress kicked Kage in the center of his breastplate and he immediately grabbed her ankle with one hand. Marcus ripped his axe from the stone and drew it to strike as she used her other foot to jump and kick off of Kage's face guard and flip away from the two. Her eyes glowed in the air as she flipped to the ground. The eight warriors turned away and drew their weapons as skeleton soldiers burst from the ground all around them. In some places holes had opened pouring out fire as demon warriors and skeletons climbed from them. The sorceress was summoning an army to kill them all. The eight charged at the newly summoned creatures and began attacking them. They cut many down with ease but there was no limit to their numbers. The summoned creatures lashed out with various weapons and attacks. They were still as skilled and accurate as if they were living soldiers.

The sorceress spun and thrust an open palm at Marcus who was in the air rushing down at her with the butt end of his axe. A light flashed from her palm and Marcus was sent back over the pedestal through the air. When he hit the ground he rolled to his feet and charged back at Alexandra. Kage had ran from the pedestal around beside her in the blink of an eye he was swinging his scythe at her at a diagonal angle. She spun at him as he passed and wrapped her arm around his head. Holding it tightly she pulled him from his running path and ripped the helmet from his head as he spun his back into the stone they had just stood on. She dropped her fans and rushed at him with her right hand. He held his scythe sideways to block her but her hand went over it and grasped his forehead. Her palm began to glow as she grasped his scythe with her other hand and chant something in an ancient tongue. Kage's eyes widened as she casted her spell.

Marcus came around with his axe in the air to strike and the sorceress looked at him with glowing purple eyes. Chains came from all around him in the stone and from the ground grabbing him by the wrists, waist, legs, ankles and neck and pulled him to a kneeling position before her holding his axe to the ground. She looked back to Kage with her glowing eyes as she continued. He was paralyzed and couldn't free himself from her grasp. His eyes had began to glow red and the more she chanted the more the red grew brighter and the glow began to look like fire. "You attack me because of your emotions...You were hurt that I could've lied to you in such a way." She said coldly. "You are mine...I lead you. Not your emotions...You pathetic mortals." She continued glaring at him. The eight had become overwhelmed and were now in a similar state as Marcus. "If this is what you want then I curse you...Your life is endless, never will you have the sweet release of death. your soul now holds a demon and his strength is yours. You cannot age nor die...The price?" She said with a pause. "Your humanity." As the words left her mouth electricity flashed from the hand she had clinched around his forehead. Kage let out a deep yell from the pain as she stripped him of his emotions, his feelings and leaving him as a walking shell.

In those brief moments as the spell came to an end she released his head and let him fall to his knees. He stared lifelessly at the ground beneath him as he rested forward placing his hands on the ground still holding his scythe. "Now those emotions of yours will consume you. The demon will take hold and you will lost control. His powers are greater then yours...and you are now its host."

"...You gave me this power...at the price of feelings?..."

"And your friends." she said coldly. The eight warriors were being held down by the undead soldiers with swords at the ready to end their lives. All at once one of the Skeletal Soldiers that held a sword to the backs of the men thrust it through their bodies. Each of them flinched in pain, some droping their heads and others leaning them back looking wide eyed at the sky. The blood that flow from the blades dripped from them and crawled to a single point on the stone walkway behind Alexandra. The blood glowed and formed a small sphere the size of a golf ball. Each of the eight warriors eyes slowly turned white. Their bodies all turned to stone as the Skeletons ripped their swords back out of the men. The gem floated up into the air and into the open hand she had waiting on her shoulder. She smiled and tossed the gem onto the ground before Kage. "They want to serve you and now they shall...for ever in that soul stone." The chains that held Marcus broke from the ground and form belts and bands around his body where they held him. "And you...My chains make you my puppet. Betray me again and they will be your end." She looked at the two and turned to walk away. "Never forget who you serve."