World of Warcraft®

As a Warlock grows in power so to do they tread an ever thinning line. Fall from that blades' edge in one direct and you fall prey to the corruption, becoming that which sought to command. Fall the other way and the Abyss claims you, mind and soul. Such is a warlocks existence, both a powerful right earned and a powerful curse embraced. Once committed...

“… there is no turning back.” She uttered into the book. That was exactly what she had been trying to do, to go back to the way things were before. She had sealed her dark pact to seek out greater power, and when the price for that power came in the form of an innocent boy's life, Lilith rebelled. She dug her heels in to stop all progress and wished she didn't know what she now knew. She was only fooling herself. There was no going back. There was only going forward.

As everything began to mentally sink in movement on the page broke her gaze. Lilith watched as new words scrawled across both pages. The lettering was long with angry strokes, appearing as if inked in dark thick blood.

Power always has a price.

The memory of Grim's voice echoed the words as she read. It was one of the first lessons he would ever teach Lilith, even before accepting her as his pupil. It was quite possibly the most important lesson of all, as well as the most basic. Power, any power, always comes at a price.

The power which Lilith sought in the beginning required a price. Everything she had done until now was beginning to connect. It all led to that moment in Darkshire when she was directed to pay the required price in blood. Refusing to pay that price as she had was to tamper with her own existence, she knew that now. In the end, one way or another, the price is always paid in full.

In ways she could hardly fathom she had become a liability to her master. Taking her as his own was a deep personal investment hinging on her success. As she gains power, he gains as well. Resisting as she had didn't simply stop her own progress as she had hoped, instead it slowly turned her from an asset to a threat. Once a threat He would have no choice but to cut her loose. To end her.

She had failed him, but even so she was not yet beyond redemption. Her life would be spared. However she would need to pay a hard price and in that be taught a hard lesson.

That long moment that let this all sink in had passed. Her time to put an end to her foolishness had come.

Grim stood at the ready, as he always was.

A portion of the price for her foolishness had already been collected, that of her own flesh in the beating and torment she had suffered. The final portion fell to her imp.

The ritual that had been revealed to her outlined the details perfectly. Chomat, a symbol of Lilith's first major achievement as a Warlock, would be erased from existence. His soul extracted and everything that made him unique and special to her pulled apart and reclaimed by the twisting nether. Grim held just such a power. Their unique bond would be severed causing her to suffer excruciating agony from the severing. When it was finished, all she would be left with an internal void to torment her.

It was a steep price to pay, but a just one. Lilith understood and could see the beauty in its precision. Not more, no less. Only exactly what was due.

Lilith glanced up at Chomat. The demon still held the imp firmly in its monstrous grip. She opened that mental pathway, the special bond they both shared, wanting so bad to apologize. She knew what must be done and as their minds touched she sensed he knew as well. Fair or not, this was the price to be paid. As she gazed upon him she was then met with an unexpected confession.

Chomat remained utterly still dangling by the neck. A mask of sorrow washed over his features. The voice in her head came in his natural demonic tongue, but she understood him perfectly.

“<All I ever wanted, all any of the others will want, is to remain here in this realm. If that means being bound then so be it, but if we can be here untamed, free to burn and torment and cause chaos as we may then all the better. You were slipping so fast little gnomie that if He hadn't attacked us with his demon...>” Chomat's expressionless gaze turned into a hideous sneer, the mask of sorrow slipping.

“<I would have gladly walked over your corpse to get my freedom.>”

She should have been shocked. Had he confessed days earlier she might have been. She may have even been horrified. Perhaps she was finally learning, but still she felt some pity. For her failure another creature, regardless how twisted, would suffer. She felt pity for the imp that it'd never, perhaps could never, feel for another what she felt for it. Perhaps it was all a hoax, but for a brief time this tiny demon was the closest thing she'd had to a friend. Most of all she felt pity for herself, that this was what she'd been reduced too. Her thoughts had already been shared. Chomat knew what she was going to say, but she said it aloud anyway.

“I know.” She said coldly. This time however the cold wasn't faked. It wasn't bluster to make her seem like something she wasn't. This cold came from deep within and it was genuine.

The grim darkness raised its arm toward the imp. An almost proud expression passed over its face. Then it was gone. Chomat's eyes rolled back into its head. The fel green glow behind them faded. The rest of the imps body fell slack. Unceremoniously the demon opened its hand and let the empty shell fall to a heap on the shoreline.

In that same moment the pain of their forced separation, the shattering of their bond, struck deep within Lilith's head threatening to fracture her mind like a thousand tiny claws pulling her consciousness in all directions. The world spun and she lost herself to oblivion. The gnome fell backward as limp as the lifeless shell of her once companion. Unlike the imp however, Lilith's eyes would eventually reopen.

... but only this time, things would be very different.