Mazrim Taim's Story

As the young man approached the manner house belonging to the duke who had hired the guild, He noticed there was a lot of guard activity especially for a building in the middle of a city. He approached the two guards standing watch at the entrance, they stared at him with curiosity but didn’t block his path. The doors were open and he went inside to be greeted by a small weasel faced man, “Mazrim Taim I presume the Duke has been expecting you, follow me please” the man spun and marched off. He followed without question.

The weasel faced man came to a halt in front of a large double door with two more guards situated on either side. He turned around and with a strange gesture said “the duke awaits”, Mazrim opened the doors and stepped inside to a great dining hall. The only occupied seat was at the far end of the room. This must be the duke Mazrim thought to himself. As he approached the table a guard blocked his path and pushed him backwards. “Touch me again and you will lose that arm”, the guard reached for his weapon but the man behind the table shouted “Enough Victor! Cant you see this man is a guest in my home” . The guard stepped aside and let Mazrim approach the table.

There was two more guards stationed behind the Duke and a women standing at his left hand side, Mazrim thought she must be a servant. The Duke looked up and asked “you have fulfilled your contract?” Mazrim nodded before he asked another question “How did my dear friend pass?” Mazrim replied “I poisoned his wine and escaped before anyone even noticed I had been there”. “good good” said the duke “now about your payment I am afraid you wont be getting any”, Mazrim reached for his sword but couldn’t move his body. He was stunned how could I be so stupid he thought. He glanced over at the women on the dukes left, she was smiling at him. She was obviously a mage of some sort and then bang the world was getting dark, he was falling forward. He could feel wetness trickling down the back of his head, he hit the floor with a thud and lost consciousness

When he awoke he was dizzy and confused, what happened he thought to himself. Then it all came flooding back to him. The guard had obviously hit him on the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. He cursed himself for being so stupid. He felt the back of his head to see if he was still bleeding, nothing but dry blood, how long was I out he wondered. He heard a shuffle to his right and looked around there in the cell next to him was a little child staring through the bars at him, her eyes were bright red.

The girl watched him while he scanned his cell for anything useful. He found nothing but a few stones and a rusty nail. He looked over at the poor girl and wondered how she could have ended up here in this cell. He wanted to rip the dukes throat out for being such a traitorous bastard.

He was startled when the little girl spoke "I.... I am not used to talking with people. I don't know what the guards told you about me, if any. But I won't hurt you" he was slightly puzzled maybe she has lost her mind. How could this poor child hurt anyone he thought to himself. "I...My name's Nalla." she said as she stretched out her tiny hand to shake his. The first thing he noticed was the bruising on her arm and a fresh wave of hatred for the duke flooded through him. Then he noticed her fingers her nails were sharp and reminded him of claws. “Ello Nalla nice to meet you, my name is Mazrim” he said softly. She looked a bit nervous before saying "Why are you here?"

Mazrim took his time in answering he didn’t want to frighten the girl “well Nalla the duke doesn't want to pay the money he owes my friends and I. So he has had me locked up in here with you” he tried to smile at the last part so as not to hurt the poor girls feelings. “How did you get here Nalla and what did you mean you wont hurt me?” he asked gently

Mazrim was stunned for a second or two, how could this tiny little girl be a demon, he thought to himself. He had heard stories in the orphanage about the big monstrous demons that came in the night and ate little kids who didn’t go to bed. Maybe she wasn't telling the truth but what reason would she have to lie he thought, she must be telling the truth

Mazrim knew he should be frightened of this demon but he wasn’t. All he could see was a scared little girl who had been mistreated by the same man who had betrayed him. He looked up at her and seen she looked more scared than him and had tears streaming down her cheeks, so he tried to reassure her with a smile and said “I wouldn’t care if you were a two headed Behemoth, we are friends now you and me and we will escape this place together.”

Mazrim stood up put the rusty nail in his pocket and walked to the gate of his cell. He turned with a smile and said “Now what kinda magic does a demon like yourself know?”

Nalla smiled up at him, wiping away her tears before saying “thank you”. She took a while to compose herself before saying "I've actually had a plan to escape for awhile now. The reason why these hallways are so well lit is to keep me inside these cells." Mazrim looked on curiously as she picked up a small rock at the entrance of her cell. "This is not Demon Magic, but a little bit of earth magic I've picked up." he watched on as she morphed the stone and threw it, it hit the perfect spot and the light was extinguished. "Now, Demon magic” she said before walking into the shadow and vanishing, Mazrim looked around wondering what had happened and then out of the shadows in the hallway she appeared but she looked exhausted and started coughing against the wall. He looked down the hallway towards the room at the end, hoping no guards would hear her and come running to investigate.

She regained control of herself before saying "Demon Magic takes a lot of power to use. I'll get the key, just stay here." He watched her as she walked towards the guard room at the end of the hallway, wishing he could help her in some way. Mazrim could hear nothing from the guard room and just hoped Nalla was ok. A few minutes past before she emerged from the room covered in blood and holding his sword. She looked revitalised and steadier on her feet. She unlocked his ell door before saying "Sorry I look like this...I I... didn't have much of a choice." She handed him the sword "I think this is yours. And Mazrim, try not to get bogged down in a fight, I... I'll watch your back. I am not defenceless." He slung the sword into place before watching Nalla's hands change to black claws. They looked at each other and knew what had to be done. The duke was going to pay for holding us prisoner's he thought to himself. Nalla quickly said "I'll follow you" before Mazrim ran to the entrance of the dungeon.

He opened the door slightly to have a look into the hallway. He didn’t want to raise alarm and have the whole guard come down on them. The hallway was empty. As they stepped out into the hallway two guards came round the distant corner and without thinking he flashed leaving a mirror image of himself beside Nalla. Zooming towards them he spun in-between them striking out left and right with his sword and landing in a crouch with his sword sheathed. The guards were dead before they hit the ground. Standing up he waited for Nalla to catch up and they continued on.

When they came to the entrance of the great hall, there was two more guards, who fell to Mazrim and Nalla's attack before they could raise alarm. Before they entered the great hall Mazrim whispered to Nalla “Be careful of the women, she is a mage. I will kill her first.”

As they strode into the great hall Mazrim noticed at least four guards stationed behind the duke, who was still sitting at the table at the end of the room and he seemed to be in deep conversation with the mage women standing beside him. Mazrim used his flash skill to cover most of the ground between him and the mage and then leapt over the table, he crashed knees first into the mage and punched palm first straight into her nose. As the pair of them hit the ground he rolled forward onto his feet and unsheathed his sword. The guards were armed with short spears and moved fast but Mazrim moved as if in a dance. Striding amongst them, every time his sword struck out a guard fell. The fight had lasted only a few seconds but all the guards and the mage were dead.

He turned and watched Nalla approach the horrified duke.

Mazrim was an interesting man. He wasn't revolted by her being covered in blood, though it was still a bit of a shock probably. The two shared a moment of silence before Mazrim gave her a small nod and sped off down the hallways with Nalla not far behind them. For awhile the hallways were empty and Nalla was just beginning to think that perhaps they might escape without having to shed any more blood, until they turned a corner and noticed two drowsy guards approaching from the next hallway up. Nalla quickly gathered herself for a fight and tried to put on a little more speed but then something she hadn't expected happened. It was small, not noticeable to the unwary eye, but Mazrim seemed to, well flicker seemed to fit it best, almost like a candle would in the wind. She blinked and could see Mazrim still running beside her but she didn't feel him, where his footsteps should have been, there was silence. Nalla quickly snapped her head back to the guards just in time to see the real Mazrim not only at the guards, but his sword was unsheathed and both guards had been felled.

The young man who had through fate or circumstance found himself companion to this demon child was patiently waiting for the girl to catch up to him before continuing their escape. The confrontation was fascinating to Nalla, just who was this Mazrim who had found his way into the duke's dungeon? That type of speed and agility was not found in a mere common swordsmen and under better circumstances would have brought a small smile from Nalla, it would appear after all that both of them were keeping secrets from the other.

It was not long after this brief fight that the pair of escaping prisoners found themselves at the entrence to the Duke's great hall. Two soldiers were guarding the entrance but they hardly had time to react before Nalla and Mazrim were upon them. These guards, much like the last two, were obviously not prepared to deal with the onslaught and Nalla's target quickly crumpled after Nalla jumped up onto a small table and launched herself at the guard, quickly puncturing his neck with her right claw and slamming the man to the ground before slowly picking herself up and returning to Mazrim's side. The older male cracked the door open and peeked inside. “Be careful of the women," he whispered down to her, "she is a mage. I will kill her first.” Nalla nodded just before Mazrim threw open the doors with a loud bang and seemed to stride into the room as if he owned the place. That did bring a little smile to her face, she was beginning to like this man more and more by the minute. Nalla quickly glanced around the room to see at least four guards in the room, the duke, and the mage women sitting next to him. There were possibly two more guards posted behind the other side entrance to the castles Great Hall though. All in all, a mage, six to eight guards, and an old man whom she really, really wanted to kill. Wouldn't be bad odds if she was her normal self, but Nalla was unsure how much longer her endurrence could last in her current condition.

Now was not the time to worry about that though as Mazrim very quickly took advantage of everyone's shock to use that flicker ability of his to quickly put himself not only at the Mage but he full out crashed into her chest, then bringing his fist up smashed the first guard right in the side of the face. Two of the guards were jolted back to their senses by that and quickly responded with carrying on the attack against Mazrim. However, after seeing his ability firsthand, Nalla was at least somewhat certain that the man could carry himself just fine against a few guards. Nalla quickly scanned the room looking for Duke. He was not getting away with the torture he had put on her and the countless others who had been locked up in that dungeon before her. No, Nalla had swore that she would kill the man and she intended to do so. The duke and the final guard were trying to make a quick retreat for the back door but Nalla wasn't about to let them. Nalla charged at them, putting the last little bit of energy and adrenaline that she had left into catching the pair, the duke was not going to get away. The guard noticed her first and quickly stepped in front of his master but Nalla was already on top of them. The guard took a quick stab at Nalla with his spear, Nalla slipped to the side of the weapon, bringing her left claw dawn to slash the weapon in half and then launched herself at the guard. The man panicked and reached for his dagger but his hand never reached it. Nalla had sliced it off before slipping around his arm and bringing a second strike home into his armpit, severing the nerve and leaving the man screaming in pain. Nalla turned on the Duke, his face was pale he was trying to say something but no words came out. The duke quickly turned his back and took off but Nalla was quicker, she beat the man out and slammed her body into his side, knocking him off balance and sending him falling against the wall. Nalla crouched over the slumped figure, Nalla quickly pierced his heart with her claw and ended his life as quickly as she could. "I am not your pet." she said softly as she pulled her claw out, taking with it a small blueish orb. Nalla promptly plopped the orb into her mouth and ate it. Nalla turned back to the rest of the room to see that Mazrim had finished off the guards and was looking at her. Nalla said nothing, she hadn't wanted Mazrim to see that but now was not the time for explanations.

Mazrim watched as Nalla knocked over and killed the duke with her claw like hands. He was intrigued when he saw her eat some orb like substance from his body. She realised he had seen what she had done and looked slightly embarrassed.

He went to the dukes dead body and grabbed his coin purse before saying to Nalla “we need to leave before we raise any more attention to ourselves. We will head out the side to the stables and steal two horses. I am heading to the White Cross guild hall. You are more than welcome to come along with me. We will speak to a man called Izaak D'Zera who is the leader of the guild and then you will have a place to rest”.

Before leaving the manor Mazrim had to find some new cloths or a cloak for the girl and himself, who were both covered in blood. Whilst leaving the manor via the kitchens in the back they found two long dark cloaks that would cover them head to toe. He had to tear a good bit of the bottom of Nalla's cloak as she was so small it would of dragged behind her in the mud.

When they reached the stables Mazrim picked out a brown gelding for himself and a very docile looking white mare for Nalla, who didn’t seem very comfortable around the horses. Mazrim saddled both the horses up before helping Nalla mount up and then they both left the manor house for good.

As they cantered through the busy city no one give them a second glance. As they left the city gates Mazrim said to Nalla “We are heading for Torin” and then wondered how Izaak and Talon would take to this demon child.

To say that Nalla was relieved when Mazrim said nothing about the act she had just committed was an understatement. The binding or in this case destruction of a soul was worse than taboo on the surface of this planet and then breaking of that doctrine was a death sentence more sure then even murder. Though demons were created for that sole purpose, they were never supposed to break the confines of hell. Nalla did her best to only target people whose souls would wind up in hell, but that judgment was reserved for God alone and even if it was for her survival, she did not have the right to pass that judgment.

Mazrim walked passed her and cut off the Duke’s purse and explaining that they couldn’t drag any more attention to themselves. During the fight, Mazrim had worked out the rest of the details on how they would escape the city and though Nalla was hesitant to take a horse, it was the best way to leave the city. Mazrim also proved Nalla’s original guess that he was indeed a member of a guild known as White Cross. The name was a little disconcerting for Nalla as it clearly had ties of some sort to the church, but Mazrim promised that she would find rest there and for Nalla that’s all that really mattered. She needed time to recover and if she went out on her again then she would certainly be captured by someone else and then she might not be so lucky to find a prison mate like Mazrim again.

The two escapees hurried through the remaining hallways of the Duke’s manor but their pace was slower. The burst of energy and adrenaline that Nalla had received from finally filling her stomach after what must have been weeks was wearing off, and energy itself would not heal her wounds, she was no longer a pure demon, the black seal on her back made sure of that. On their way out, Mazrim searched through several cabinets until he found a new set of clothes for Nalla and himself to replace the ripped and blood stained clothes they had on. Nalla quickly shed what rags were left of her old clothing and slipped on the new clothing. It was much finer then the last ones she had, the wool was very well woven and though the outfit was a little large, Nalla found she could keep it on well enough with only one of her shoulders slipping through the collar every once in awhile. Once she was dressed, Mazrim also handed her a brown cloak which he had ripped the bottom off so that it would fit her. Throwing the cloak over her and tying it close to her, the pair escaped into the night and headed quickly towards a rather large stable that housed the Duke’s Horses.

Once at the stables, Mazrim picked out and saddled a large brown gelding for himself and a smaller white mare for herself. Nalla was a lot more afraid of the animal then it probably was of it. Mazrim very quickly had both animals ready to go and was on his horse waiting for her but Nalla still hesitated. She hated being off the ground, it made her feel defenseless but the young demon could see no other way. Nalla gripped the saddle with both of hands and clambered onto the horses back. As her feet left the ground though the girl shivered as she felt that support wire that had been her connection with the earth snap. Nalla's face paled and she quickly wrapped her hands around the reigns tighter and hugged herself fairly close to the horse, afraid she might fall off. The white mare seemed a little annoyed by the child's inexperience and flicked her ears but calmly followed the gelding and Mazrim out of the stable, through the city, and out the gates. As the horses cantered out the gates Mazrim turned to her and said that they were heading for Torin. Nalla merely nodded in response and ducked closer to her horses neck. She felt like she was going to be sick.