Three weeks into Taverna's training of the deamons, Taverna realised that the ones he had chosen to follow him were near perfect warriors. After eliminating the weaker deamons from his group, and killing off all traitors, Taverna had finally recieved total control of the deamons following him. They acted upon hearing his voice, and they encountered death and laughed in its face. Many times the fifty one deamons had attacked wandering deamons who were alone or in groups of two or three. These were easy wins, and by doing this, Taverna's group of murderers became more known, and deamons began travelling in groups across large distances to avoid began raided and attacked. But this only spurred Taverna on, and it grew to the point where his crew began wiping out small villages.
Taverna looked at the fifty deamons assembled in front of him. Standing there, the deamons all aknowledged Taverna as their new leader. He had, after all, freed them from the ruins of Fortress Metawar where they had all been slaves. Each deamon was fully prepared to die for Taverna. In the revolution against Bellcast that Taverna had warned them was approaching, each deamon would follow Taverna to death.
"Today we do not fly. Nor will we fly tommorow or for a month to come. No. Today we begin our journey towards Craiyo Desert, to a place deamons refer to as the Sorceror's Shadow. The desert of Craiyo holds many secrets, but one of them was not uncovered until a month or so ago, when Bellcast the tyrant destroyed Craiyo and built his fortress within the sandy dunes. He calls his fortress the Palace of Panredden, for unknown reasons, but the fortress is known to be hidden in the shadows of the hills, and some deamons even claim that it is underground. Nevertheless, it is well guarded, and we will most likely die upon entry.
"Anything you encounter upon our march of suicide is to be killed. Today the genocide of the Attalna begins, and the regicide of Bellcast is to follow. Today, we are the lowest of deamons- merely murderers, with blood on our hands and in our bodies. But later we will be heroes. We will be remembered as the slayers of evil!"
Cheers from his army erupted during his speech, and by the end of it each deamon had it in his head that Taverna was the only being worth listening to. So they marched, from the southwestern end of Speed- the Bay of Forna- towards the Desert of Craiyo, in the middle of Speed.
***
Exaltoskull looked at the Attalna surrounding him. Once more, Bellcast was trying to delay his brother from arriving at the Palace of Panredden. But Bellcast must have known that Attalna could no longer contest with deamons who knew of their existance. It was for this reason that the Attalna had been upgraded. Not a major difference, only one percievable if you were looking for it. The Attalna were now able to move faster, slightly, and their bodies were covered in a transparent film of metal.
The Attalna launched themselves at Exaltoskull and hit him before the black hued deamon had time to realise what had happened. It was then that Exaltoskull realised that they had been upgraded. He had noticed that they moved in groups, but now that they allowed him to stand back up he realised that they were all in groups. The groups, when using the imagination also resembled deamonic bodies. Exaltoskull released a small wave of deamonic energy and the Attalna fell back before the wave made contact with them.
So, invisible host bodies. This should be interesting. The Attalna regrouped and surged forwards. But this time, Exaltoskull was ready. The Deamon Shadow within him released itself and lashed out at the invisible bodies, and immediately the area was shrouded in mist. The bodies became semi-visible, but that was all Exaltoskull needed. The Attalne fell group by group, until only one remained. From this group a dog like deamon came slowly into view, and from behind it another deamon entered, a female.
The dog rose onto it's hind legs and barked at Exaltoskull, but the black deamon only shrugged in responce. The female deamon spoke up.
"You probably remember me from before your banishment, and if you don't, that's alright, I know who you are." Ninmeko fell silent while looking at Exaltoskull's face. Deep down, there was a slight resemblance to Bellcast. But the skin tone and the attitude made them different enough that you'd have to know they were brothers to see the resemblance.
"I'm Ninmeko, princess of Panredden and soldier to Bellcast. Leave now, I have other business to attend to and you are not to be harmed, except by Bellcast himself." She didn't bother to mention that Anlatta and Geminist also had the power to attack Exaltoskull if necessary. No use giving Geminist anything else to be proud of.
"I'll leave, if you tell me what you're here for."
"Like that's... gonna happen..." replied Anlatta in a slow and slurred voice. The dog deamon's chain rattled and Anlatta growled at Ninmeko, who had taken hold of the leash.
"Shut up. You don't have permission to speak." She turned to face Exaltoskull."Nor do you have permission to know why I'm here." Ninmeko rushed towards Exaltoskull and as she neared him Anlatta passed her and took down Exaltoskull.
"You have no... permission... to attack..."
Exaltoskull began to step back up, but Anlatta's paw rested on his chest, the claws extended. Ninmeko released the chain and circled her hands around Anlatta's neck. A blast of light erupted from her palms and Exaltoskull was blinded. He heard Anlatta roar at Ninmeko, but the deamon princess only shushed him and took off. They must have opened a rift to escape, as their voices were gone long before they should have been. Exaltoskull rose to his feet and his vision slowly returned. Panredden was still quite a ways off, but the two deamons had not moved him away. Instead, they had brought along an army of soldiers dressed in shining black armour, swords raised and eyes all focused on Exaltoskull. When their mouths opened no sound came out. Instead, Exaltoskull's ears rang with pain as Bellcast's voice resounded within them.
Do not move any closer. These deamons are not what they seem. They have all been infected by the Attrezlets, the virus that infects you and I to this day. They can kill you, but really, it will be me killing you, and you killing yourself.
Bellcast laughed in delight as Exaltoskull stood still as the deamons in armour advanced upon him. He was neutralised and chained up in less than an hour. He had put up a fight, but only to delay the soldiers. He blacked out at the end, and when he was awakened, Bellcast's smiling face greeted him.
