Shadows and Blood

They stood in the middle of the clearing, staring into one another's eyes, trying to for-stall the final act. Two decisions hung above them like an angry hive of bees. They had no reason to be fearful now - that emotion had taken a hold over their hearts days ago. Even now; surrounded by Shadow Priests, their lives seemed blessed. He took her hands in his, brushed the hair from her eyes and gave her a bitter-sweet smile.

"For you; I would burn a thousand times in the fires of Hell. The only thing worth living for are days spent with you. Though the sun may hide in the clouds just to punish me - I can always see you. For you are the light of my life and I will love you more than life itself and I will, for the rest of my life, until my heart stops beating."

"Love? You? Daemons cannot love, it is one of the precautions embedded in your DNA and in the DNA of all daemons that live and breathe in this god-forsaken world." Dimus said.

He was the most dangerous and lethal of all the Shadow Priests. Neither Daemon nor human, living nor dead, he was known all over the Daemon world as a force to be reckoned with and though no-one really knew what his talents were - it had been said that the supreme commander had given his own blood to imbue his flesh with indestructible armour.

Her breath caught in her chest - whether it was the icy cold voice of the undead priest, or the thought of spending eternity with nothing but the sound of silence and no memories of the man who had once saved her from her one of her own - the sudden realisation that after tonight her life would never be the same, came swift and settled on her heart like the fog settled on the mountain tops and refused to lift. But she refused to give in. Smiling, barely raising her voice above a whisper, she said:"What I do, I do for you my love. They have not realised their mistakes - and by the time they do it will already be too late to amend them." Taking a step backwards, she brought her arms up to her chest in the shape of an 'x' and closed her eyes, chanting as she did so. Her skin began emitting a bright light, blinding them all, daemon and priest alike. Not two minutes later; the light shield had filled the clearing and she was gone.

When he next looked up - she was gone and so was the clearing. A hooded figure stood to his right who, seemingly had appeared from nowhere. It extended a hand to him and helped him up. "Be not afraid, I cannot harm you; for I am merely light, power and knowledge. Let me show you the way."