A Young Apprentice

Clouds began to hide the sun as night came closest. Nearby stood a brilliantly dark temple known as the Tempes. It was where all the followers of the most evil and cruel ways gathered to train, gain power and slowly kill of humanity.
A man was thrown through a nearby glass window. The noise peirced the sky like birds in the morning sun. Slowly, a huge group of cloaked figures left the temple and crowded around the man.
"You will die for your use of forbidden magic against a comrade, Demonicus Veregeth!" One of them spoke up as he drew a long, curved dagger.
The man rose from his injuries, his body cut in almost every place. His black hair matted with blood. The hooded figures all gasped as if it was impossible that he could even stand.
"I may not have my armor or weapons but I will not die without taking any of you down! Rrrrraaaaaa!" Demonicus roared as if his absolute rage was the key to defeating these men.

Unnatural shadows rippled along the ground and then began circling each other near the group; faster and faster they went until a dust rose up and a red speck of light formed in the middle and rose up. It grew in length until it touched the floor again and began to widen.

Every normal citizen in the vicinity paled with fear, they knew this red light from legends told over many generations; it was a portal from the realm of eternal night. Beyond the portal a world of charred lands with dark purple and red skies could be seen.

A female dark unicorn stepped out of the portal, nostrils flared and hooves padding the ground uncertainly as if new to the normal world. The portal closed behind her; every time she moved a ripple went through the air like she was not existing in it, just merely ripping through it.

"Several men against one? How disgusting." She sneered in a voice that had strange whispered undertones.

"You will return to where you came from, demon!" one of the hooded men said, his voice slightly shaky.

He raised his silver sword her; the dark unicorn bared her teeth, showing that they where extraordinarily sharp; she lunged at the hooded man before he could react and bit his arm off. She listened to him scream in pain for a while then gored him through the belly with her horn and flung him away with a jerk of her head.

The men were overtaken by fear and did not notice the dark mist forming around their foe. One fo thenm turned to see Demonicus grinning madly as if his power was rising by the amount of anger he was showing.

Demonicus roared as a huge black, electrified barrier shot from him and expanded. The men were torn apart as the barrier grew. Screams were the last thing any of them could say before the enerergy ripped at their flesh.

Finally, the energy dissapated and Demonicus looked at the unicorn that stood before him. His red eyes glowed with slight compassion and thankfulness.

"I thank you." He finally said, jumping in through the temple's borken window and snatching his weapons and his black armor before returning to the unicorn's side.

"You are most welcome, it is nice to see that simple manners aren't completely dead." The unicorn said smoothly. "That was quite an impressive move, ideal for clearing crowded marketplaces."

She absently sniffed a hoof that had been slightly singed by the electric barrier before looking at Demonicus again.

"I bet you are wondering why I helped you; well, the Dark Mistress has been watching your progress for a long time, she has sent me to assist you in your travels." the unicorn explained simply

"Oh I forgot to introduce myself, I am Ka'Aiirah but most know me as Soulthief."

Demonicus slipped his huge black armor onto his fairly large frame and slung his huge black sword over his back before answering.

"I am Demonicus Veregeth, Shadow Knight of the Former Temple of Tempes. It is a pleasure to meet such a magnificent creature that is willing to aid me in this time in need." He said, suddenly falling on one knee from the energy he used killiing those men.

Regaining his strength after a few moments and growled as people began screaming as they saw the black armored knight step down from the hill and into the town.

Chaos soon came as many peasants drew arms against the murdering Demonicus.

Ka'Aiirah followed Demonicus down the hill; more screams were heard from the people as they set eyes on the dark unicorn. The peasants seemed to falter in their approach with whatever weapons they had.

"Where are the holy knights on their snow-white unicorns and dragons when we need them?" One woman screamed.

Ka'Aiirah snickered and her horn began to glow threateningly, her hooves left burn marks everywhere she stepped.

"I find fear to be the most powerful weapon." she commented idly to Demonicus.

"I must agree." Demonicus agreed, his demon blood boiling as the humans ran from him and Ka'Aiirah. His eyes following some peasants as they ran.

"Hold it." A vocie came from up ahead as the town guard began to appear from nearby. Their swords were immediately drawn as they came closer to the enemy.

"You are under arrest for ther murder of the temple's monks, Demonicus and-." His voice suddenly stopped as he looked upon the black unicorn.

"And Ka'Aiirah." Ka'Aiirah corrected the guard smoothly, snickering. "Can't exactly arrest an animal, can you? And you won't be arresting Demonicus either."

She reared up and kicked the guard in the face with a burning hoof where he had foolishly left the visor open on his helmet. The guard cried out and clutched his eyes, both of which had partially melted from the heat.

"The monks would have murdered him." Ka'Aiirah spat.

The guards began to back away, seeing their extremely injured comrade was far too much for them to handle. Sheathing their swords, the remaining guards that hadnot fled snatched up their fallen comrade and dashed away.

"We'll be sending out your arrest warrant soon enough!" One of them yelled back.

Demonicus simply laughed at this indle threat. He knew that with the help of this unicorn and his own strength, nothing could stop them.

"I would like to see them try." He chuckled, looking at his comrade with a smile.

"As would I." Ka'Aiirah's red eyes sparkled with amusment.

She stretched her wings with an air of smugness.

"That lot were completely gutless, even my sister -who is too nice for her own good- would have smirked a little." she remarked.

People had given up screaming and were now just watching helplessly, their cursiousity mingling with their fear, making them unable to look away from the two comrades.

Demonicus slid his helm over his face, its black color and demonic shape sent chills up the spines of most of the people. As he walked he kept one hand on his black sword slung over his back.

As he and Ka' Aiirah left through the mian gates, Demonicus's thoughts came back to the people he had killed and mainly where they were going to next.

Finally, he had a idea as he stopped a few metres from the town gates.

"We shall go to the mountains. I have a certain shrine I must visit." He said, grinning underneath his helm.

"Very well." Ka'Aiirah replied.

The gates swung open with a push of telekineses from her; once out of the town she stretched her neck, enjoying the freedom of being away from clusters of buildings.

After a few hours of talking and walking, they make it to the entrance to the mountains. It seemed to be barred off by a small renegade group of bandits.

Demonicus slid up to one of them guarding the small gate and wall that seemed to keep intruders out.

"Ya? What you want?!" The bandit growled as a few begin to close in on the shadow knight.

"I would like to enter the mountains, is that not clear to you?" He cocked back at the guard.

"Oh ya? Well y'ain't gettin' through this 'ere gate." Another bandit piped up.

"Oh really? Says who?" Ka'Aiirah retorted.

A crack formed in the ground beneath some of the bandits' feet; thorned vines snaked up around their ankles and dragged them down into the now-wide crack, which closed after them with a snap.

"Says who?" Ka'Aiirah repeated maliciously.

A large smirk crossed Demonicus's face. He had seen some humourous things since he left the temple but this was just too funny... At least for him.

The rest of the bandits turned and fled, they weren't about to challenge such powerful foes.

"Now to take of this annoying gate...Isilas Urengath!" He spoke in the language of his people as a black sphere formed in between his two gaunlets.

Slowly, the sphere grew as if every breath he took was feeding it. Finally, he launched it at the gate. The impact tore the gate and the surrounding wall to pieces as a large explsion erupted. Birds flew from all directions frightened by the blast.

"Subtle." Ka'Aiirah joked dryly, shielding herself from the blast with a wing.

The cold mountain wind whipped the unicorn's mane around as they climbed up the steep trail in the general direction of the shrine. Her ebony fur gleamed in the sun despite how unkempt it was; she sniffed the air curiously, unused to the snow surroundings.

"Strange...It's like the opposite of ash...." she mused.

Demonicus shook his head at the nearby area. It had been visited many times before by the bandit king that ruled the area and had tried multiple times to enter the sacred shrine of the Shadow Guardian but without success.

"That is snow, I am sure you are not used to seeing it." Demonicus answered.

"Be careful, we could be walking into an ambush at anytime." He growled as he drew his black sword for protection.

"Living in a realm full of either night or fire, snow is a sight you never see." Ka'Aiirah explained "I think I remeber playing in the snow as a young foal though..." she trailed off.

She sniffed the air again, this time for bandits.

"If there is an ambush, the badits must be well adapted to their surroundings, I can't smell them; although the wind isn't exactly blowing in the best direction for me."

"They aren't. But you are right the wind is not in our favor at all." Demonicus commented.

After walking for what seemed hours they reach the outskirts of the shrine. It was guarded by a giant of a man, holding a huge mace at his side. His armor plating was poorly made but enough to protect his vitals. His face told a story as if each scar had been from a great battle.

"Well look 'ere, boys. We've got a scrawny knight and his disgusting steed." He piped up.

All the bandits chuckled at the joke as they came up near their lord.

"We could kill the knight and eat the horse." One of them commented as he drew his sword.

"I would like to see how far you would all get." Demonicus chuckled, pointing his giantic sword at the enemy.

"A digusting steed?" Ka'Aiirah growled dangerously "You kiss your mother with that mouth, bandit?" She smirked "After I rip off your face, your mother need not worry about where that foul mouth has been." she added with definite violent undertones.

She opened her mouth and a jet of black energy speared through the two bandits closest to the lord.

"That's for calling me a horse."

The lord of the bandits chuckled at the show of power that the unicorn had displayed. But merely with a wave of his hand all of the bandits in the area charged at the two.

Demonicus growled, he was tired of all the weak ones going first. His eyes began to glow as his demon blod was beginning to awaken.

"Death is your answer." Demonicus growled, his voice now deep and spine-chilling.

Suddenly, a void began to open, screams of terror could be heard as it grew and began to suck all the bandits into it. As more and more humans were sucked into it the void disspeared.

The bandit king smiled at the use of strength as a black aura circled Demonicus. His elite guards still stood next to their master. It seemed that the void could only kill a few before it collasped on itself.

"Heh, nice use of energy, Knight and powerful beam, Unicorn but do you two honestly think you can beat a God?" The Lord said, his eyes glaring at them both.

"A God?" Ka'Aiirah repeated disbelievingly "Who are you? Loki?"

She scuffed the ground with a hoof, snorting.

"I'll tell you what; you get out of our way and we leave you in peace." she said, narrowing her eyes. "If you're lucky."

She was silently hoping that this wasn't a God that they were dealing with, but she wasn't about to say that out loud.