- is punctuation

, is apostrophe when not a comma 

Prologue to the prologue: 

This story isn,t about me, Silent Sword/Steadfast Shield.  It,s about Illyriad, and an imp that gets sent to the wrong set of dimensions, and the Havoc/-K-T-/=EOQ= war.  And yes, this is fiction.

Prologue

They say that hell is other people. 

They are wrong.  Hell is me, or at least I,m hell.  A tiny, insignificant part of hell condensed into a six inch red body with overly large ears and a bad suit.  They call me Imp. It,s not really a name, more of a job description, although it,s used quite a lot by my demon superiors.  -Imp!  Get these files down to the department of worldly sins!  Imp!  Go infect this mortal,s brain with evil!-  You should hear them shout.  Of course, hell used to be a lot more fun.  No one ever noticed you, and since most of the demons were busy pushing mortal souls into lakes of boiling blood, there were no files, or departments, and you could basically do what ever you wanted.  Then the Devil heard about corporations, and decided that giving people a cubicle full of a never-ending pile of trash was a lot worse form of eternal punishment.  And we changed from Evil Spawn of the Netherworld to Devil, Beelzebub, Death, and associates.  Presumably I,m an associate. 

Anyway, I,m what you would call a -grunt-.  Actually, that,s what you would call my superiors.  I,m definitely at the bottom of the pecking order.  And now I,m being sent to the overworld to watch over this mortal kid, I think his name,s Johnny.  Or something.  I,m supposed to make sure he doesn,t become a hero, or something.  Shouldn,t be hard, given that humans are easy to manipulate.  Well, I hope that Underdaemon Qualthar, the portalmaster, doesn,t send me to a gristly death for fun. I heard he did that once.  

(There will be more)

Imp felt the world spin around him, and blacked out.  When he regained consciousness, he was lying on what seemed to be a gigantic heart surrounded by barren land tangled with weeds.  That,s odd, he thought, I,m supposed to be in the suburbs of New York.  Blearily, he got up and surveyed his surroundings.  There seemed to be a definite absence of buildings, cars, and various other signs that were normally associated with humanity.  Upon closer inspection, there appeared to be no food about the place, either.  While Imp technically couldn,t die, his body could, and if that happened he,d be up for a couple thousand years back in hell trying to grow a new one.  And, knowing the new management strategy, he,d be taking a rehab course entitled -how not to lose your body-. 

Maybe Qualthar sent me here as a joke. Imp, thinking about Qualthar,s sense of humor, and disregarded this idea.  No, he thought, Qualthar wouldn,t want to see me starve.  He,d want to see me chopped into little bits by some monster.  Scrambling through the weeds and tangled vines, Imp reflected on how he had gotten here.  Qualthar had murmured something about multiple realities.  Then he had murmured something about Imp being -just an imp.-  Then the portal had opened, and he was sucked through.  Imp was beginning to get nervous.  What if Qualthar had made a mistake? 

Just then, a commotion caused imp to leap behind a boulder.  A party of green men carrying a flag with an ornate -K- and numerous sharp spears were heading toward the heart, with a murderous expression stamped on their cruel faces.  Imp was glad he had hidden, there seemed to be many of them, as well as a huge being made out of what appeared to be water.  Catching sight of the heart in the center of the land, the leader of the group gave hushed orders, and the green men crouched behind the boulders.  Imp only saw one head straight toward his hiding place after it was too late to run away.  

-Ere, Chief, I,ve found me a red gnome in a suit!-  Imp shut his eyes, waiting for the green man to stick his spear into his gut.  Oddly enough, this never happened.  He opened one eye, and was confronted with a terrible sight.  Several ugly green faces were leering down at him.  Imp said the only thing that came to his mind.  -Gah!-  The green men laughed at him, and one said -Wot,r you?  ,N why are you this close to the Heart of Corruption?-  Imp glanced at the heart that he had landed on. -Erm… is that what it is?  I thought it was just a big heart.-  The flag bearer snickered.  -That, my friend, is the greatest threat to all living beings in Illyriad.-

Imp felt a jolt of disappointment.  This was obviously not the world he was supposed to be in.  He wondered what Illyriad was and why that heart was such a threat.  And most of all he wondered how he was going to complete his mission.  Squinting up at the flag bearer, Imp decided it was best to pretend he knew what Illyriad was.  -Ah.  Yes.  Illyriad.  You say that that heart is a threat?  Then how come it hasn,t killed us?-  Imp immediately regretted the last question.  He was afraid he didn,t want to know the answer. 

-That heart will poison anyone that comes near it with a deadly venom.  The only reason we,re alive right now is ,cause of that.-  The flag bearer gestured to the water monster.  -It,s pure water elemental, which is the only thing powerful enough to hurt the heart.  It could squash you like a fly.- Imp gulped.  He was definitely between a rock and a hard place now.  His only hope was to gain the trust of these green men.  Extending his hand nearly vertically, he said, -I,m an imp.  My name,s Imp- The green men chuckled at this, but the flag bearer shook Imp,s hand.  -Yer mother must,a been pretty unimaginative.  I,m Kurfist.  An orc, an, leader of this band.-

Imp sighed with relief.  He was now in less danger of dying, and he knew more about the green men.  -Orcs- they called themselves, what an odd name.  Oh well, he,d just have to stick with them.  In the background, he heard Kurfist giving orders.  It seemed that he was satisfied, and that his band was leaving.  -Wait up!- he shouted.  No one heard, except the water elemental.  It scooped him up with one hand, effortlessly, and placed him on its shoulder.  The feeling was pleasantly squishy, like sitting on a waterbed, but Imp could sense the immense power that dwelt beneath.

As they traveled through the countryside, the squad of Orcs chatted amicably, with the exception of the water elemental.  Imp had yet to hear it speak.  He found that he had no control over where it went, and so he wasn,t able to question Kurfist about where they were going.  Kurfist seemed slightly worried, and was in a deep discussion with one of his men.  Imp strained to hear what they were saying.  -Can,t be that harmful, only half a foot tall.-  The other orc was saying. With a chill, Imp realized they were talking about him.  -You can,t judge something by its size.- Kurfist whispered back. -It,s a good thing we got the elemental with us to look after it.  Vile will be happy we found it.-  Imp wondered who Vile was.  Was he another orc?

Imp,s thoughts were interrupted by commotion ahead.  When he looked over the elemental,s shoulder, he saw a gruesome sight.  The tangled vines that littered the region were growing, and one of the members of the party was frantically trying to hack off some that had grown onto his leg.  Slashing the remainder of the vines off the unfortunate orc,s leg, Kurfist threw back his head and yelled, -Run!-  The other orcs didn,t need any other order, and tore through the vines as fast as they could, hacking and slashing as they went.  The water elemental sprang forward with huge strides, scattering vines as it went.  Imp was jostled and had to cling as tight as he could to it to avoid being thrown off.  Even so, he felt his grip loosen, and the next thing he knew, he was sprawling in the dirt, surrounded by vines, and with little hope of escape.

Imp frantically tried to bite through one of the vines.  He immediately regretted it.  They tasted like rotting, dead things, and had the texture of bone.  Slowly, the vines drew closer, and Imp knew that the closer they got, the closer his life would come to ending.  He tried every trick he knew, including vanishing into a puff of smoke, which merely made a depressing popping sound, and offering pretty girl vines to them, which seemed to make them move toward him faster.  Nothing worked.  He,d have to see if the underworld actually did have a corrective course entitled -how not to die-.   

As he lay back, giving up hope, he heard a sound that sounded oddly like a trumpet blowing.  He wondered if it was heralding death.  Then he heard it again, accompanied by many footsteps.  He watched in amazement as a company of orcs mounted on huge bears charged through the vines, tearing them to shreds.  At their head was kurfist, with the water elemental close behind.  They had come back for him!  Then he realized that he was wrong.  None of the orcs were looking in his direction.  Instead, they charged over him, and soon were a distant sound of snapping vines.  Odd, thought Imp.  Seizing the opportunity, he ran through the path of vines cleared by the orcs, into sunlight. 

After he had a moment to regain his senses, Imp looked around.  He was on the edge of a lake, no, a sea.  Behind him, the tangle of vines stretched in either direction.  To the sides, the beach he was standing on continued on a slight curve around the water.  He saw the many footprints of the bears and their riders scattered across the sand, and decided to follow them.  Vaguely, he wondered what Kurfist was doing, and how he had arrived with all of those bear riders.  Maybe the group of spearmen had just been an advance party.  Whatever they were, I,m on my own now.  He though.  And with that, he plunged into the forest. 

It has been remarked by many famous travelers and explorers that the best way to travel through unfamiliar terrain is to do so very quickly, or better yet not at all.  Imp, being a demon (admittedly a very lesser one) was no stranger to danger, and so he proceeded through the forest as fast as he could.  Presently, he came out of the jungle, and into the fresh air.  A vast expanse of plains lay before him, ringed by distant mountains and tall forests.  Imp sighed and massaged his aching legs.  He knew that he had a very long way to go. 

Sighing, he set out.  The sun beat down upon him, and every time he looked up the mountains and forests seemed further away.  He had absolutely no clue where he was going, and had know way to know that he was heading toward Keshalia, where he would find the mysterious "Johnny."

This is almost worse than the jungle, he thought.  At least there was some cover from the sun there... Imp turned around.  The jungle was about 50 feet away.  Imp rubbed his eyes, thinking that the heat was playing tricks on him, but the jungle remained in the same place.  He turned around and continued walking, confident that if he only kept walking the odd sight behind him would disappear.  

An hour later, he stopped for a break.  Sweat was pouring off him in little waterfalls and falling down his chin.   And still the sun beat down on him, showering him in heat and making his skin even redder than usual.  He glanced back at the jungle, but all he could see was its faint outline on the horizon.  Apparently the landscape had caught up with his brain.  Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he caught a faint green flicker.  It looked as though a thick canopy of trees had momentarily appeared where the horizon was, but Imp knew that was impossible.  The horizon was obviously there; the jungle couldn,t have replaced it!

Maybe it was the fact that he was confused, lost, and was in a foreign land, because demons are not naturally curious, but something made Imp decide to explore the odd landscape.  He turned around and started walking toward where he had seen the flicker of jungle.  About 50 feet onward, he collided with nothing, which felt oddly like a tree trunk.  He extended his hand and found what felt like a leaf, which he pulled until it came off in his hand.  There was definitely something odd going on, he decided, and so he decided to investigate.  He turned around and walked a few steps.  When he turned around and walked the same distance he had come, he collided with nothing.  He kept walking.  After about 50 feet, he found the invisible tree trunk.  Putting two and two together, Imp reached a chilling conclusion.  He was trapped in an area of endlessly repeating terrain!

Imp was stymied.  When his superiors had created his body, the mental design was simple: lots of malignity, cruelty and hate had been used, but there was a definite absence of creativity.  Thus, Imp did what he was best at; he curled into a ball and waited to be rescued.  And on a branch in the invisible jungle, green eyes flickered as they watched him. 

The magic known as possessing is a very tricky thing to master, but the mage had perfected his skill at it a long time ago.  Currently, he was staring into a mirror and out of a jaguar,s narrow eyes at the prone figure of Imp.  Turning his head, he surveyed the jungle, looking for the enemy magicians in the undergrowth.  Satisfied, he crept closer, his tail twitching.  His coat rippled and flickered in the dim light, making him practically invisible.  It wasn,t necessary, he knew, as the imp creature couldn,t see through the illusion guarding the repeating terrain, but you had to have style. 

Now for the tricky, uh, trickIER part.  A bubble of crystal surrounded him, creating a closed loop of time for him to operate in.  The surrounding jungle went absolutely still as time stopped for it.  A vein throbbed on the mage,s head, and the jaguar stepped into the endless terrain, moving closer to Imp. 

Two feet away from him, the jaguar stopped, as the bubble enveloped Imp. A new spell was woven around him, one that bound his arms and legs tightly in place.  He cried out, but could not resist, the bonds were tied too tightly.  The Mage was sweating furiously, but he kept at his task.  Imp was levitated a foot off the ground, and him and the jaguar moved back towards the jungle. 

Imp felt his body stop bobbing.  He had screwed his eyes tightly shut for the duration of his captivity, and wasn,t going to stop until he was safe.  Then he heard the rush of water, and shouts.  He opened an eye, against his better judgment.  Kurfist and his army of orcs, slightly blurred behind their own time bubble, were rapidly approaching in a ship sailing on a moving puddle, which Imp suspected was the water elemental.  He felt a surge of relief.  He was being rescued!  Unfortunately, his captor had other ideas.  The jaguar blurred as it raced toward the jungle, which appeared to have decided to show itself.  Imp bobbed behind it, but he could see that Kurfist and his men were gaining.  Just as he was sure he was safe, and the ship was a few feet away, he felt leaves whip his face.  He was back in the jungle, which lurched as everything went black.

The first thing Imp noticed when he woke up was the size of the room he was in.  Its vaulted ceiling was at least 400 feet above the floor, and arched stained glass windows occupied walls about 300 feet away from each other.  But the dimension that really took Imp,s breath away was the depth, the room stretched on and on until the walls, ceiling, and carpeted floor merged into a speck on the horizon.  Seeing no other option, he started to walk. 

As he strode through the long hall, Imp got the feeling that the designer hadn,t really wanted the place to be habitable.  They hadn,t put in anywhere to sit, for one thing.  Also, there appeared to be no exit.  Imp figured he was just going to have to keep walking to find either of those things.

Imp had been surprised many times in his adventures.  He had been surprised when he had landed on the huge heart of corruption at the beginning of his adventure, and even astonished when the vines had wrapped along his legs a little further on.  He had even been stunned to discover that the terrain he had been traveling was endlessly repeating.  But nothing compared to the shock of finding out that his enemy was sitting in front of him, laughing at his stupidity. 

-Were you the... uh, big cat?-  Imp managed to stammer. 

-Yes, I possessed that jaguar to bring you here.  The magic involved would have killed a lesser man, but for me it was merely slightly difficult.  I am one of the greatest mages in Illyriad, do not attempt to escape.-

Imp sighed.  He noticed he was doing a lot of that these days, but for good reason.  He knew he was just a pawn in the great scheme of things, and that people like the Devil and Johnny were the players, making things work to their advantage, but why did they always have to BRAG about it?  Something clicked in Imp’s brain.  Johnny had said, -Do not try to escape.-  That meant that he didn,t know that Imp had been sent to him!  Imp felt a tender flame arise in the confusion of his mind.  He could turn this to his advantage!

-A very sophisticated piece of thinking for one not equipped for it, I must say.-  Remarked Johnny.  -Thank you for alerting me of your intent.  You may have succeeded in your plan, except for the fact that I can read minds.-  He sat back in his chair.  -And now I shall fetch Vile.  He will be most pleased.  Goodbye.-  Johnny started to hum, and a ball of light enveloped him and his chair.  -Oh, and one other thing.  You may remember the name ‘Vile.’  The last person who said they were taking you to him was Kurfist.  I,m sorry Imp, but there is no narrow escape this time.-

 Imp sat down on the floor of the huge room, and put his head in his hands.  How could Johnny and Kurfist be on the same side?  After all, Kurfist had tried to save him.  A thought came to him.  -Support troops,- he murmured.  -There must be something that Kurfist was protecting Johnny from.-  But what could it be? Imp stared at an oddly shaped piece of carpet on the ground, and wondered.