There is a whisper calling to me from outside the darkness. So faint I can barely hear it, but I know it's there. "Tate." Where I am? Everything is black, why can't I see? "Tate." There it is again. I open my mouth to call out, but no sound follows. I try to yell, but again their is only silence. "Tate...your time is fading." Says the whisper. What's going on? Nothing is making any sense, last thing I remember was...oh no! I got hit, the wyverns tail. "You're dying Tate." Says the whisper this time. Again I try calling out, but the end result is still the same. Maybe I can move from this all encompassing darkness. I begin taking the subconscious steps I take a million times a day for my body to move, however again nothing happens. I think I realize what's happening, I have no physical form, I'm paralyzed. My mind is active inside my dying body, this is bad! "You have to fight." Says the whisper. "I can help you Tate, but you need to accept it willingly and you need to accept it quickly." HOW? I think to myself, how can I accept help when I'm paralyzed? Suddenly I'm overwhelmed with emotions, panic, fear, sorrow, they all hit me at once. I fall to my knees, or at least I imagine myself falling to my knees. I don't know what to do. "You leave me no choice." Says the whisper. I leave them no choice? What does that mean? Who are you? Something happens catching my attention. At first it's faint, it starts with what my mind associates with a gentle touch. Then a beam of light appears breaking through the darkness and I think it's the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, but its beauty quickly turns to horror as its blinding radiance begins burning me, the pain is excruciating! I've never felt anything like this, no one should have to endure this kind of torment. Again I try shouting; STOP, I quit, please make it end, the pain is to much, I can't take it! I watch the light devour and conquer the darkness, It destroys what it touches completely and then as fast as it appeared it then disappears. The darkness then wastes no time seizing the opportunity and begins refilling the area the light had momentarily claimed. Unfortunately, even though the light is now gone, the pain I associate with it remains. I imagine this is how a burn victim must feel, constant and agonizing pain. I don't want to exist like this, I'm ready to die. "Haha hahaha." Comes laughter from the darkness, no longer a whisper. "Who's there?" I shout forgetting I have no voice, but to my surprise the words manifest. "Do you really not know?" Asks the voice in the darkness. My mind begins racing, what is this? What am I missing? "What's happening to me?" I ask through my pain and suffering." "That should be obvious." Says the voice. "You're dying." "I don't understand, what was that light? Why did it burn me?" I ask. "The light was simply that, it was light." Says the voice. "When I lifted your eye lid to gaze upon your soul, some light must have gotten in. As for the burning...the light had nothing to do with that." "Then what burned me?" I ask. "That was an unfortunate side effect of the soul gaze, as I burned through your minds natural defenses you were experiencing the penetration here on this end." Explains the voice. "Mortal minds have always been so resistant to possession." I choke on my next words. "Possession?" "That's right." Says the voice with amusement. "You're no longer alone within your mind and at any point I can take control." "The Dark Child." I whisper, hoping, praying I'm wrong. I hear clapping in the darkness. "Very good, very good, though it took you longer than I expected. I thought I made a more memorable impression last time we met." Says the demon. "Show yourself!" I demand. "As you wish my host." Says the demon. I watch as a pair of yellow eyes appear in the distance and begin moving slowly towards me. My heart begins racing, this demon was evil incarnate and now he has taken possession of me. When he's with in five feet of me the area becomes lit allowing me to see him, something about him has changed, he's different. "You've aged." I tell him. "No longer fascinated by ten year old boys?" The Dark Child smiles and it's all teeth. "Now, now. No need to be uncivil." He says. "I thought for this situation a few extra years would be more comforting for you." "Nothing about you is comforting demon." I tell him as spit flys from my enraged mouth. Again he smiles. "We shall see." Is all he says in return. "Just kill me!" I shout. "I would rather die than be possessed by you." The dark child looks around over dramatically with a disgusted look on his face. "At least on that point we can agree." He says with a wrinkled nose. I swallow hard. "Get on with it then." I tell him. "You misunderstand." Says the demon. "Though I do not wish to possesses your mind or body, that doesn't mean that I wish to kill you either." "I want no part of your games." I tell him. "I HURT, I JUST WANT IT TO END!" "I feel your pain my host, after all I am apart of you now and as such I can make the torment stop. I can heal your body, I can return your mind, I can make you whole again. You would feel better than you have EVER felt in your entire life." Says the demon. I sneer. "At what price?" "Does it matter?" Asks the demon calmly. "Of course it matters!" I shout in frustration. The Dark Child shakes his head in disappointment. "You're dying Tate, the only thing keeping you alive at this point is me. When I leave you will cease to exist, that's it, the end." He tells me in a slow, but serious tone hoping his words sink in. "Then I die." I tell him. "At least I will go out with a clear conscious." "Maybe, but what about Hayden?" Asks the demon. I laugh and pain courses through me. "Hayden will be fine." I say confidently. The demon begins laughing and it sends an eerie chill down my spine. "Will she?You're leaving her with three brothers you know nothing about, three immensely dangerous men with violent histories." He tells me. "Their histories are unknown, irrelevant, they can start new, it doesn't matter who they were." I say. "Their histories are not unknown to me my host, I was around for their reigns of terror. You see one of them was the greatest warlord this world has EVER seen, he conquered all and what he could not conquer he decimated. Another brother was an assassin of unmatched skill and reputation, while the last was simply a monster, a madman who used his power to destroy life around him. A favorite of his was the young and pretty, tasty little treats like your Hayden." Says the demon with an evil smile. "You're lying." I say. "Am I?" Replies the demon. "We are one and the same now, you can sense whether I'm lying if you choose to." I suddenly feel sick to my stomach, as far as I can tell the Dark Child is telling the truth. "But let's make this even more interesting." Says the demon. "If saving her from the brothers isn't enough to motivate you, what about saving her from yourself?" I glance up at him in confusion, not understanding what he's saying. "Let me clarify." Says the demon. "If you chose to die, I want you to know that I will temporarily retain the use of your pathetic shell. I will find Hayden and I will make her feel loved and secure just like she dreams about at night. Then slowly over time I will begin twisting that love, I will hurt her both physically and mentally until she breaks and there is nothing left. As she dies alone beaten and broken she will be left wondering why YOU did this to her, how could the man she loved and trusted so much become such a monster? Is that really what you want for her? "You're the MONSTER!" I shout in disgust. The Dark Child smiles, taking the insult as a compliment. "Let's make a deal Tate. Save the woman you love and live to fight another day. What I ask for in return is very little in comparison." Says the demon. Through gritted teeth I ask. "What do you want?" "In return for healing your body and mind and for leaving your precious Hayden alone...I desire the Ethereal Axe of Draznor Kaa." "What? Where? How am I suppose to find that?" I ask skeptically. The Dark Child sighs. "You really are rather slow on the uptake." It takes me just a second, I can't believe I didn't remember sooner. Crete has a highly magical and wicked looking axe, that must be it! "You want Crete's axe!" I declare. "Oh good, your catching up." Says the Dark Child sarcastically. "Why not just take it from him yourself?" I ask. The demons eyes narrow. "You don't get to be as old as I am by being reckless." He tells me. "Your scared of Crete?" I ask in surprise. "Hardly." He replies. "I'm just smart enough to distance myself from that which he carries." "The axe can hurt you, your from the ethereal." I say as all the pieces begin coming together. The demons eyes narrow even more. "Don't get any ideas and yes, that axe is one of the few items capable of giving me a bad day. "So tell me Tate, do we have a deal? This conversation is beginning to bore me." Says the demon. "What are the terms?" I ask. "It's simple." Replies the demon. "You deliver to me the Ethereal Axe of Draznor Kaa and In return I will heal your body and your mind. However be warned, should you fail or try to cross me you then in turn forfeit your mortal soul. I weigh my options. The thought of losing my soul terrifies me, but getting Crete to give up the axe should be doable, it won't be easy, but it should be possible. The deal seems sound, almost to good to be true. I know it's a bad idea to deal with demons, but I can't let him hurt Hayden, I WON'T let him hurt Hayden. "I accept." I tell him. The Dark Child smiles as he disappears back into the darkness. I begin to fear I've just made a horrible mistake, because nothing seems to be happening, I'm still trapped within the darkness of my mind. As I'm about to start shouting again in frustration I feel a tingling sensation that changes to a shocking jolt. Then, before I have time to react I'm struck by what I can only describe as lightning, the sensation is to much, it overloads my brain shutting me down completely. My last thought is realizing that this is what death must feel like. ... (Time passes)... Tate's body pulls in a massive breath. "Gasp!" Within a few minutes his breathing becomes steady, his heart rate stabilizes and his eyes open!