Xon's Entry 8

Friends.

Yes, I’m sure everybody who reads this knows the term. I wonder.

I certainly didn’t know what it meant.

Friends are people who will help you, just because they’re friends.

Friends are people who will risk their necks to save your own.

Oh, excuse me for stating what you consider to be the obvious. I’ll explain what I mean.

Up to this point I had been traveling with my erstwhile companions because… Well, because they captured me.

Yes, I could have run away at almost any time, but remember I had been accused of murdering a high priest. I quite honestly figured that if a few bounty hunters came after me, I could use the rest of my party as, well… Shields. Or at least a diversion before I got away.

Cold hearted? Perhaps. Again, they captured me because they thought I was the killer in the first place.

In any case, we finally reached the paths of the dead-

I’m getting to it-

Very well. I won’t go into a lot of detail on the paths of the dead itself. Suffice it to say that we encountered quite literally hosts of undead creatures. Including a rather large wave of skeletons.

Heh.

On the fourth day-

No, I won’t go into more detail on the wave of skeletons. You didn’t want to hear it. Besides, I don’t think words can quite do it justice.

On the fourth day we reached the monestary. My goal. The place where I was told I could rid myself of the curse upon me.

Unfortunately, I could not get in at first. Anuu and Molistead had to go on ahead to vouch for me. They returned saying I could go in.

I didn’t know what they had to swear to allow me entrance until later.

In any case, I spoke with the monks. They knew of my… Condition and did know how to repair the damage.

Basically, they gave me two choices.

The first was for me to go into some magical field that would draw the devil out. I would then have to kill it. Or it would kill me.

Assuming I made it, another devil would arrive in the monestary within a couple of days and try to kill everyone there.

They also informed me that they had preformed the ritual three times. The first time, the devil killed the host. The other two times, the devil that arrived later killed the former host and a good fraction of the people in the monestary.

Eh?

The second choice? Oh, that. My other option was they would kill me on the spot.

Needless to say, I picked the first choice.

That was where I began to understand what friendship is.

My companions GAVE me the more valuable items they had to help defeat the monster growing inside of me. Knowing there was a chance the items would be destroyed and they wouldn’t see them again.

The spellcasters in the party also prepared me as best they could by casting a multitude of spells on me to help in the fight. Heck, Molistead even cast a spell on me that would “increase the power of my personality, looks, and presence.” I absolutely fell in love with that spell. I wound up having him cast it on me almost every time we hit town. You wouldn’t BELIEVE the amount of ass I got with that spell. Heck, shortly after the battle I-

Oh, right.

So I was placed in a large chamber. After a few moments, I blue hemisphere sprang up, enclosing me. I was alone. But not for long.

With an incredible amount of pain, the devil sprang from my back. It was…

Excuse me while I refill my glass.

It was bat-like. It had a wingspan of almost five feet. It was bone-white and skeletal.

And very, very angry.

I defeated it.

But I know that I wouldn’t have if it weren’t for my friends.

Friends.