Skorne sat upon the field, gazing over the area. It seemed incredible to think that long ago, a great battle was fought here. A battle like no other, one that could have decided the fate fo the land. The demons of the underdark fought against the angels of celestia. It was a fitting place for his fight with Sargoth. He had challanged the God to a fight, knowing the odds were stacked against him. This fight would be almost a representation of the fight that had occured those years ago. Sargoth representing the angels, and Skorne representing the demons.

Skorne looked across the field, watching for signs of the God's arrival. The field was covered with plants, that had grown out of the blood of the angels and demons that had fought here. The ground had been saturated in their blood, turning the green field red.

Skorne waited impatiently, pacing back and forth. He wasn't to worried, if things weren't going his way, he always had his back up plan. He glanced down at his scimitar, yes, it would prove extremely useful in the fight to come. It was an overcast day, hiding the suns rays from sight. Skorne wasn't really expecting that to help him much, but every little bit helped.

The clouds above began to darken and swirl menacingly as they reacted to something approaching. They almost seemed for forsee another violent event upon the holy fields of Izimet, and they showed their scowl upon the ground. It would be a gloomy day. Faintly audible in the distance, like a whisp's echo to a dreaming man, intricate and deep chanting moved in on a gust of wind. It did not come from any particular direction, but rather from all around and above. The curious event was marked with mystery only for a moment before the truth was revealed, regardless of its unbelievable qualities.

The black clouds overhead burst apart after being slammed into from above. Escaping from the hole to fly clearly visible beneath was an impossible creature. It's body flickered with yellow light, glimmering in synchronized beauty with the sunlight that drained through to the hole to the ground. It was a sun phoenix, unique to the world of Imythess and Sargoth's Istari Familiar. This was the first occasion where the phoenix had left the confines of the temple ever since his first appearance in a world of mixed life and death. Sargoth's own white form sat tall on the bird's back, directing the flight path as he began to circle around Skorne's head.



The God of Day was beside himself in anger that an egotistical mortal would dare challenge him in such a rude manner. Regardless of his rank and position, any disrespect shown to that extent while Sargoth was still a simple guardian would result in a similar duel. Not only was this creature, this pest by the name of Skorne, so sure of abilities he did not possess, but he was also a follower of the shadow. He had dealt with other shadows of his sort in the same way: by shining the light of day onto them.

The time for talk was over and the time for action was at hand. In a flash, a quickened haste spell fell over Sargoth's body, making him appear slightly blurred as the sun phoenix travelled at a normal, but still quick, pace. With an ear shattering screech from the phoenix's sharp beak, time slowed to nothing. Sargoth sat atop his stilled familiar and peered down at the frozen Skorne. There was now more time than he could fill with action. It would be over in the blink of the offender's eye. His hands and mouth began to move as he worked at a quick pace; there was just enough time to act but not enough to waste.

He held his hand out in a fist and opened his palm downward to the ground. He had tapped into the power of the sun, a task requiring less and less work the longer he remained in contact with the light element, and the first part of his plan came into being. Three concentrated beams of light, entities formed from the nearly unstoppable Solar Burst ability, rained down in a triangle, each one surrounding Skorne into a cage only inches away from his body. Almost any movement and he would be burned beyond recognition. The beams were so hot that he would most likely still be rendered unconcious from sheer exposure. If he fell, that would definately result in his demise. The next steps were more familiar to him, being typical magics that he had gained a lot of experience with.

Within moments of the timeless time, the ground began to tremble at Skorne's feet and the first red glow of magma began to become visible, even from the high altitude. A magma quake was a fatal foe, especially if movement was not an option. Sargoth knew flesh could melt more quickly than stone, so he had little doubt that the magma would do it's job as it spewed up from the ground when time returned to normal. He was moving at such high speeds that he noticed the particles of time were still trying to fight the strong magic of the time stop. He had another moment before the fruits of his labor would be revealed. Digging into the knowledge of arcane spells one more time, a huge section of land around Skorne lit on fire as a dangerous firestorm caught the vegetation and burned it quickly. The flames remained tiny as the magic of the fire died and it became normal burning death, but they would undoubtedly flare up as soon as it was possible.

Finalizing his moments under the time stop spell, he regained his grip on his sun phoenix and began to chant once more. The bright light of building lightning bolts appeared as dots in the clouds. Over half a dozen seperate points in the sky above were prepared to release strong bolts of energy into the long figure below.

The screeching sound began to make comprehensible noises again as time clicked back to its normal state.

Skorne felt the sudden heat all around him, it had appeared with the arrival of Sargoth. The trickery of the gods Skorne thought quickly. He hadn't counted on Sargoth's wide array of spells, and it would prove to be his undoing. He doubted that he would survive this fight. The magma suddenly exploded from beneath, burning into his body. He wracked with pain from all around, the lave, fire, and lighning struck at him, blasting any hopes that he would survive from his mind. He suddenly felt a light sensation envelop him, covering his whole body until it blocked out the pain.

Skorne looked around unsure of what was going on, he had never experienced something like this before. He doubted it was Sargoth, why would he go to so much trouble to kill him, just to save him at the last instant. He felt a sudden pulling at his core, as if he was being sucked into a very small space. He watched as he started to vanish, a look of horror on his face. What was going on?!? He shouldn't be just dissappearing, his body should have been burned to a crisp, but by some twist of fate he was alive.

Skorne suddenly was sucked through a portal, he saw the burning fields vansih before his eyes, and all was dark. Suddenly, he appeared in an unknown area. He looked around in amazement, wondering at the new terrain that he had been taken to. The ground was solid rock, broken in several places, not a single place was unscathed in some way. He looked to his right, and saw a group of small demons fighting. It was then that he realized where he was, he was in the Abyss! The realization struck him like a thunderbolt, somehow, he had been transported here.

He thought about all that he had learned about this place, what he had read in his journeys. He knew it was the place where banished Gods and demons resided, but why was he here. He then remembered something that he had read. Occasionally, portals to the other realm opened whenever a demon was summoned. He would have to find one of those portals, and escape.