The doors to K'Sano's private chamber flew open as if struck by a giant's fist. The Warlord stormed out into the hallway, his blood-red cape billowing in his wake. Though he had the body of only a boy, the Warlord K'Sano moved with the force and authority of a god. His young face still bore the scars of a recent battle, a battle that had added much to his already considerable power.

"What madness is THIS!" he bellowed.

The walls of the fortress shook... but not with the Warlord's anger. Something was happening.

K'Sano headed for the upper courtyard where his priests were already waiting. The sky above them grumbled. A huge black cloud had blossomed above the courtyard, and as they watched it grew larger and more menacing. The darkness descended... but the enchantments on the fortress rebuffed it violently. The fortress shook, and the cloud retreated. A few seconds later, the cloud descended again... and the cycle continued.

"What is this!" shouted K'Sano. He pointed up at the sky.

Abram, one of his high priests bowed before him.

"It is from the Infernal Realms! Something there is trying to breach the fortress..."

"With THIS petty display!?" spat K'Sano.

"I do not believe it is an attack, my lord... it appears to be from the realm of KraHeil. He is trying to open a portal-"

"Into MY fortress! For that, I shall tear off his OTHER arm and eat it for dinner!"

The fortress shook again.

"Perhaps he is trying to get your attention, my lord?"

"Well he HAS it!"

K'Sano raised his fist to the sky, and the fortress's magic responded. A single bolt of yellow lightning marked the lowering of the defenses. The cloud sank down towards them. Abram quivered visibly, but K'Sano stared up at it... his eyes glowing bright yellow.

The cloud began to take shape. The edges drew in... forming eyes... a mouth... and soon there was a hideous dark face in the sky.

"KraHeil!" shouted K'Sano. "How DARE you summon yourself into MY domain!" The Warlord's eyes pulsed wickedly as he prepared to blast the image of the demon out of the sky.

"sssSSSsss.... Help Ussss! We are Attacked! You Mussst Help Usss!"

"And what concern of mine is THAT!"

"sssSSsss... PLEASSSEEE!!! Invadersss! Many Die! ssSSSsss! Help your humble Sservantsss, I BEG of you!!! sssSSSss..."

K'Sano's frown deepened. He opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly the face of KraHeil began to twist and distort. Lightning arced out randomly as the face collapsed in on itself... in seconds it was gone, with nothing remaining but distant echoes of thunder.

"The message appears to have been cut off from the other end, my lord."

"Perhaps," said K'Sano.

"What shall you do, my lord?"

"Either another demon lord has moved against KraHeil, who is known to be under my protection... or KraHeil has decided that he is more powerful than I and has set a trap for me. Either development requires my presence in the Infernal Realms. Prepare my WarChariot."

"But my lord, if it is a trap..."

"PrePARE my CHARIOT!"

Abram bowed and scurried away like a frightened insect. K'Sano continued to look into the sky, eyes glaring with yellow flames.

---

Less than an hour later, K'Sano descended into the heart of the fortress. This far down, the castle's black walls were several feet thick and reeked of smoke and brimstone. The air had a peculiar feel... like the charged sensation just before lightning struck. The Departure room was another huge courtyard, wide enough for two full armies to fight a battle and with a ceiling so high it could not be seen from the floor. It was from here that K'Sano launched his assaults onto lands both near and far. The Infernal Realms... Iffrean... even the Immortal Planes of the gods. He could assemble two full legions of his Horde, or his demon-troops, and march them into whatever hell awaited them. This day, however, the room was empty save for K'Sano himself, a few attendants... and the WarChariot.

The thing was a horror to behold.

It sat in the center of the yard, looking very much like a monster pulling itself up out of the stone floor. It was composed completely of bone... some were human, but the vast majority were not. They were too large and twisted to be anything remotely human. Two huge backbones formed a cross that was the base, and several sets of ribcages jutted out from them. Some formed a network of sharp spikes beneath the chariot where the wheels should have been. The rest rose up to enclose the driver in a cage of bone. A huge demonic skull formed the shield... behind which the mighty Warlord would stand as he rode into battle. Emerging from the top of the skull were the bones of a giant arm... the skeletal hand grasped a single yellow gem. Other bones had been distorted and twisted into various functions... including a huge three-horse harness that lay empty on the stone floor.

The Warlord K'Sano strode out to the chariot, and his attendants scattered as he approached.

"FLYERS!" he grunted as he hauled himself up behind the giant skull.

Three creatures descended from the shadows near the ceiling. They had once been men, but K'Sano had had them skinned, and their skins folded and attached to their arms as wings. Reanimated by the Warlord's magic, the Skinflyers were his loyal messengers. The three things circled above the bone chariot like bats.

K'Sano waited while his high priest approached.

"The Horde?" K'Sano asked.

"One legion is assembling now, my lord. You have but to send word..."

K'Sano nodded and waved Abram away. The Warlord shouted a series of words, and power flew from the chariot in thick, stifling waves. The Skinflyers flapped frantically to achieve a higher altitude...

More words... and the power began to concentrate on the area before the chariot. The harness shifted on the floor, and then it rose into the air as if on the backs of invisible steeds.

K'Sano's eyes flashed bright yellow... And three stallions appeared within the harness.

The first stallion was made of orange fire, with eyes and teeth of searing white flames. With each movement it threw showers of embers into the air around it. Behind it were two others... the horse on the right was composed of thick black smoke, and on the left was a stallion made of hot, gray ash. K'Sano grabbed the yellow gem at the front of the carriage. At his touch, a beam of light shot forward and blasted a hole in the fabric of space. The portal, a gaping maw in the substance of the world, widened before them.

"YAAAAA!!!" K'Sano shook his fist and the three horses began to gallop. They rose into the air, and the WarChariot followed them. Leaving a thick trail of embers, smoke and ash in their wake, the horses circled room once... and then dove into the heart of the portal. The skinflyers were right behind them...

kzzZZZZ-BOOOOM!

There was an explosive flash of power... the portal slammed shut, and Warlord K'Sano was gone...

---

...sszzZZZ-BOOM!

The portal opened in the sky above the blasted plains of KraHeil's realm. The WarChariot thundered through the shimmering ring... the three stallions galloping through the air as if it were solid ground. Behind them, three horrid Skinflyers followed the chariot, taking care not to fly through the smoke, embers

and ash that the stallions trailed across the sky.

"WHOOA!"

Responding to the verbal command, the three horses slowed and then halted. The WarChariot paused in the sky, and K'Sano looked down at the world below him.

The Realm of the Pit, was truly a small speck in the Grand Design of Hell. The entire plane was the size of one planet on the Mortal Realms, yet it held more power than even some immortals could conceive of. The land was a blasted landscape of hot, reddish-brown rock that surrounded a huge, infinite Pit. The Pit belched fire... and power... out into the plane at regular intervals, thus providing light and energy for the inhabitants. K'Sano had long-since tapped that power, leaving only enough for the inhabitants to survive as his servants. The Pit-Wraiths were mostly smoke and shadow, but they had more than enough substance to feel pain, which they often did when they crossed K'Sano.

K'Sano eyed what lay below him... and it wasn't even recognizable. KraHeil had spoken the truth; the Realm of the Pit was being invaded. The land was covered with writhing pale-gray forms as far as his eyes could see. Thousands of them. No... millions... many millions. Each hairless creature was slightly smaller than a man, with s round toothless mouth and thin, almost vestigial limbs. They looked like leeches that had sprouted legs. The creatures were completely alien to K'Sano... He had never seen anything like them on any of the planes he had visited... Immortal, Infernal, or otherwise. Individually they did not look dangerous, but it was no wonder that KraHeil's forces had fallen before them. The land was carpeted with the creatures from horizon to horizon in every direction. They moved like a single wave of gray flesh... carrying them ever forward no matter what lay in their path. Despite their apparent weakness, their sheer numbers could overwhelm almost any power... even the full force of the Pit.

Where did they come from? thought K'Sano. And where is KraHeil? Why have the Pit-Wraiths not welcomed me?

K'Sano motioned toward the far horizon, and the stallions took him there. KraHeil's palace stood atop a high mountain overlooking the Pit. There had been a thriving city at the mountain's base... but now the Palace was all that remained. Everything else was buried beneath a layer of moving, writhing gray bodies. Only the very peak of the mountain was visible above the tide of alien flesh, and even that was now in danger of falling to the advancing horde.

KraHeil had erected a barrier of hellflame around the Palace. The crackling flames reached fifty or sixty feet high and burned with the full heat of the Pit. Outside this barrier, the invaders pressed steadily forward. K'Sano watched as thousands of them immolated themselves with each second that passed. Their screams were high and pitiful... but they kept coming. Just beyond the Palace, the Pit yawned like a fiery red mouth. The invaders circled around it, breaking like water around a stone... but yet there was still a steady stream of gray bodies falling into its broiling-hot maw.

And still they came.

Suddenly the barrier protecting the Palace flared higher and then weakened to a fraction of its former strength. A particularly forcefully onrush was threatening to extinguish the flames. A few charred but still living bodies were now making it through...

There... on the western edge... a gap was beginning to form. The invaders rushed towards it, using their own bodies to extinguish it even more... widening the gap...

The Palace was about to fall.

"BACK!!"

K'Sano extended his hand. His eyes blazed yellow, and power poured forth from his fingertips. He created a ring of energy around the Palace, inside the failing circle of hellflame. Unlike the fire, which merely burned the invaders, K'Sano's crackling barrier disintegrated them... painfully... at the merest touch. Perhaps they could eventually overwhelm that as well... but it would not be soon.

K'Sano turned to one of the Skinflyers.

"Go to KraHeil and inform him of my arrival Tell him that my help comes at a price... our previous bargain has now changed. We will negotiate when this is done."

The skinless head nodded and then the creature circled down toward the Palace. K'Sano turned is attention back to the invaders. There were throwing themselves into his barrier with an equal... if not greater zeal than they had been before. Why? What force was behind this?

K'Sano brought the WarChariot into a steep dive. He flew over the invaders, looking down at them as he passed. He saw something in their round mouths and bulbous eyes... something familiar, despite the alien nature of their faces...

Terror.

The invaders were afraid... and they were not afraid of him. They were not seeking to overrun KraHeil and his Pit-Wraiths. They were not seeking to challenge K'Sano's power or claim the power of the Pit. They were panic-stricken... running from something that terrified them... and the Realm of he Pit just happened to be in their path.

K'Sano directed the stallions back up to a safe height, where the chariot paused once more.

"I know not what manner of creatures you are or what has driven you here..." said K'Sano. He spoke in a language that was common this area of the Infernal Realms, and his voice was amplified a thousand times by his own power. "But you trespass upon a realm claimed by WARLORD K'SANO! You will CEASE and WITHDRAW at once!"

There was no reaction whatsoever. K'Sano would have been surprised if there had been. The words were more for the benefit of KraHeil and his cronies cowering in the Palace... letting them know that their realm was no longer merely under his protection... but it now officially BELONGED to him as well.

As the tide of hairless gray bodies surged forward on the ground beneath him, K'Sano raised his hand to the red sky above. He shot a single blast of energy skyward while shouting a stream of words. The blast exploded above the invaders.

For a moment nothing happened, but then the sky began to change. An angry red cloud began to form, and as it grew larger, streaks of yellow lightning illuminated its horrid, roiling interior. It grew with supernatural speed, and in seconds, the single cloud was the size of a huge thunderstorm. Then the rain began. The cloud poured its fury down upon the invaders... but it was not water. Huge drops of boiling hot acid burned completely through their soft, pale bodies. Their cries of pain rose up to K'Sano's ears. The Warlord smiled. The storm intensified. It rained harder... and harder... and then the acidic rain was joined by hail. Not ice... but red-hot rocks that exploded on impact.

The sound was like Armageddon itself. The sizzling of the acid. The thunderous boom of the explosions. And the high, wailing cries of the invaders. Hundreds died each second. But still they came.

K'Sano motioned with his hand, and his stallions carried him away from the carnage. The storm continued without him, and even intensified further once he was away. But it was not enough. A few miles away he created another one. And after that, he created another. The area for miles around the Palace was soon a sea of fresh craters and dissolving bodies, but the invaders still rushed in.

K'Sano watched them come... rushing to their deaths like mindless rodents. Something was behind this. Some force... some THING had frightened them to the point that their own safety no longer mattered.

He had to know what it was.

K'Sano followed the flow of invaders across the landscape. Every few miles he created another acid storm to slow them down. It was always the same. No matter how far he went or how many he killed, there seemed to be just as many frightened invaders blotting out the landscape. The creatures themselves didn't change either... at least not until the Warlord had flown several dozen miles to the east.

There was a light beyond the horizon, and since the Realm of the Pit had no sun, K'Sano immediately pointed the fire-stallion's nose toward it and doubled their speed. Then shapes appeared in the sky. At first they were just dots... were they another enemy? Or some of KraHeil's forces? As he drew closer the dots took form. They were invades, identical to the swarming horde below him with one addition: wings. Thirty of this new variety was headed straight for him. It appeared they were protecting whatever the light was over the horizon.

K'Sano let them come.

The first flew straight past the WarChariot and collided with one of the Skinflyers that was hovering to K'Sano's right. The two began fighting in mid-air... skin, blood and strips of pale gray flesh began falling away from the dueling horrors. With a wave of his hand, K'Sano blasted both creatures out of the sky. A second creature halted a few yards away from the Chariot and raised one clawed hand. It's eyes glowed, and several projectiles of green energy shot towards K'Sano.

"Bah!"

K'Sano fired a blast of his own that not only obliterated the creature's projectiles but disintegrated the creature itself. It was immediately replaced by seven more... they were attempting to surround him.

This time, K'Sano did not respond. The lead stallion turned its fiery head and belched forth a stream of white-hot fire that incinerated the winged invaders. The horse swept the flame in an arc in front of the chariot, creating an white-hot barrier that kept the flying creatures back.

Then the remaining flyers did something unexpected.

The broke off their attack and dove straight down into the flood of creatures below. K'Sano could have stopped them, but he wanted to see what this new enemy would do. The flyers vanished into the crowd of their brethren... and then the flow of invaders began to change. Instead of continuing along at their frantic pace, the alien creatures started gathering in one spot... the same spot where the flyers had vanished. A small hill soon formed... a hill composed of squirming gray bodies. The hill grew taller and wider as more and more creatures poured into it. K'Sano peered down at the thing as it swelled... like a giant gray lesion on the landscape. How many creatures were inside it? K'Sano couldn't even begin to count them. He watched as the peak of the mountain reached towards him... and drew back in shock as a huge, circular mouth opened just beneath him!

The 'mountain' was no mere collection of creatures! Somehow the invaders had merged their flesh... joining together to form a single gigantic creature that now rose from the ground. The thing was like a huge slug with arms. The head and features were identical to the non-winged aliens, only hundreds of thousands of times larger! And it's speed was incredible!

As the Warlord watched in awe, the creature swung one huge hand through the air. K'Sano ordered the stallions to take him higher, but they were too slow! The hand swatted the WarChariot out of the air like an insect. The horses struggled to right the vehicle as is plummeted toward the still-swarming invaders. They barely succeeded... but the creature was already reaching for them.

K'Sano fired a blast of energy that disintegrated a large hole completely through the thing's giant palm. The thing drew back, but the Warlord already saw the hole closing... more invaders were merging with the creature at its tail end... which was firmly buried under a blanket of rushing aliens.

"Aaaahhh...." said K'Sano. "A FIGHT!"

With a loud warcry, K'Sano hauled himself over the edge of the chariot and leapt straight down.

His battle armor was already appearing around him... thick bands of nigh-impenetrable metal surrounded his chest, arms, and legs. A horned helmet appeared on his head, and the face-plate slid down of its own accord. And then... still falling... K'Sano's tiny form began to grow. With the sound of a thousand swords being drawn, the armor expanded. Limbs lengthened. Huge metal-clad muscles bulged. K'Sano became a giant... Twice... three times... ten... a hundred times his normal size... and STILL growing.

By the time his mighty feet thundered to the ground, K'Sano was the equal of the mountainous alien beast. The creature threw itself at him, but Warlord grabbed it by its thick neck and tossed it back. It hit the ground, crushing thousands of invaders beneath it. K'Sano waded through the tiny creatures towards it. Without warning the thing rolled over and launched itself towards him. The creature's circular mouth clamped onto K'Sano's chest...

"AARRRRRRGG!"

The thing could not penetrate his armor, but that was not its intention. Immediately, K'Sano felt his energy seeping away... pouring out of him like water from a cask. The thing had more in common with a leach than mere appearance... It was draining him!

"UNGH!" K'Sano grabbed it and tried to push it away, but it's mouth was fixed tight. It was as if it had become a PART of his armor, and it was siphoning more and more of his power away with each second. K'Sano was growing dangerously weak... and weaker by the moment. His limbs were already beginning to quiver... fatigue was setting in. Soon he would be too weak to sustain this giant form. He would shrink and be at the mercy of the billions of leach-creatures swarming around his feet.

"You want the power of the Warlord," said K'Sano. "Then HAVE IT!"

K'Sano grabbed the thing's head with both hands and released a blast of power from each palm. The blasts were pale shadows of what he intended, but they were enough to do the job...

FOOOSH!

The thing's soft, fleshy head vanished in a flash of yellow light... disintegrated from the neck up. The Warlord and the thing's headless body both staggered away from each other.

K'Sano reached out with his mind and began drawing power from his numerous sources, replenishing what the creature had taken. But it had taken much. In just a few seconds K'Sano was weaker than he had been in decades. It would take time to reach full power again... and the battle was not yet over.

Drawing more flesh from the tiny invaders that swarmed beneath it, the giant creature was already sprouting an new head. A new round, sucking mouth yawned and began moving towards the Warlord.

K'Sano backed away, but the thing bore down on him with greater and greater speed. It had tasted his power... and it wanted more. The Warlord fired another blast that obliterated the thing's chest... then he watched as the smoking hole filled in as it absorbed more and more flesh from the others. It kept coming, even faster than before.

Suddenly the creature halted. It drew back...

ssSSS-THOOO!

...and spat a huge glob of mucous at the Warlord. The slime struck K'Sano in the chest and splattered over his arms and legs. Then it thickened, binding his limbs in a rubbery substance that impeded his every move.

"DAMN YOU!"

K'Sano pulled at the goo that trapped him, but it only stuck to his fingers and made escape even more difficult. The creature leapt for him, the energy-siphoning mouth coming for his chest once again.

K'Sano shouted... and the WarChariot swooped down into the path of the creature. The fire-stallion spat a stream of white-hot flame directly into the thing's face, then it began circling the creature's head, searing it from all sides. As it moved, the horses of ash and smoke lay down a thick fog that confused the thing... The creature waved its arms, but it could not see the tiny chariot through the haze.

Meanwhile, K'Sano set about freeing himself from the thing's slime. He drew upon the power of the Pit, and sent the unholy heat into the metal of his armor. The slimy goo sizzled and burned, giving off a sickening, fetid odor. Finally it yielded to the heat and became brittle enough to break.

"RAAAAA-"

K'Sano roared as he broke free. The WarChariot shot back up into the sky, but the creature was still lost in the fog of ash and smoke. Taking advantage of the moment, K'Sano sent twin blasts of into the heart of the haze. He heard the creature scream as it fell, but he knew it would rise again.

K'Sano would be ready. He was back to full power now, and it was time to end this game.

"Perhaps the power of the Sky God can tame you!" he bellowed.

K'Sano held his right arm straight out to the side, his hand clenched in a fist. He called forth his power and fashioned it into a giant thunderbolt that stretched from the ground to the sky. He held the bolt of sizzling yellow energy in his fist and raised it high.

The creature came for him, emerging from the haze like a crazed elephant. It's mouth open wide, eager for another taste of the Warlord.

"SKREEEEEEEE!!!"

K'Sano hurled the thunderbolt at the thing...

KKKKRRRRAAA-BOOOOOM!!!

The bolt exploded with a sound like a thousand claps of thunder. The power blasted the creature apart... sending huge chunks of flesh flying in every direction. Immediately, K'Sano raised his fist skyward and created another acid-storm... this one hundreds of times more powerful than the others. The red cloud grew large... and larger... and then began to rotate...

On the ground, the larger chunks of the creature were beginning to regenerate. K'Sano couldn't tell if they intended to merge back into one creature or if each would become monster on its own.

It didn't matter either way.

The wind began to swirl violently around him. It picked up some of the smaller creatures and carried them away into the distance. K'Sano signaled for the chariot, which swooped down towards him. With a simple spell, K'Sano shot up into the air to meet it. He shrank back to normal size, and his armor vanished. He mounted the chariot and sped away just at the Acidic Hurricane broke loose across the landscape.

The wind roared like an army of angry dragons. Concentrated acid poured down on the creatures both large and small. The growing mountains of flesh quickly began to shrink as the flesh dissolved.

K'Sano looked back for only the slightest moment, then he pointed to the horizon. The stallions doubled their speed, and the Warlord was gone. He flew towards the light he had seen earlier, and as he went, the Warlord reflected on the creatures. He had never seen anything like them... weak and vulnerable even in the larger form, and yet powerful enough to threaten him. Their strength was clearly in their numbers, and there were more of them here than he could ever hope to count.

So what brought them here? What were they afraid of?

As the Warlord continued onward, several groups of the flying invaders flew to intercept him. At first the chariot was simply moving too fast from them to react to his approach. But soon, more and more rose up before him. K'Sano created and energy-barrier around the chariot similar to the one that now protected KraHeil's Palace. The chariot plowed through dozens of them at a time... leaving their pale winged bodies disintegrating in its wake.

Finally he saw the source of the light in the distance. K'Sano approached and brought the chariot to a halt. He looked on in awe.

A portal. A portal larger than any he had ever seen. Though it was less than eighty yards high, the glimmering white construct must have stretched for miles to the east and west. The pale invaders poured though it like a flood. Groups of flying invaders hovered over it, apparently directing the lesser ones out of aperture to make room for those that followed. It appeared to be a mass evacuation of some kind. Something on the other side had created it, and now these creatures were using it to flee.

Flee what?

And what power had opened this portal?

Though he was loathe to admit it, not even he could create one this size. He wouldn't even know how to begin.

Where did the portal go? Where were these creatures coming from? And if they had the power to create something like this, what could possibly threaten them? Whatever it was must surely possess power equal to his own. Or greater.

He must have that power.

If it could cause this chaos, then he must either possess it or destroy it.

Ignoring the flyers that moved to intercept him, K'Sano approached the portal.... but suddenly the entire thing began to collapse. Lighting arced to the sky and ground as the white plane of energy shook violently. It looked as if the power sustaining it was faltering. Was this a response to his approach? Did something on the other side know he was here? The portal buckled... entire sections of it collapsed, cutting off the refugees in mid-stream. The flying invaders scattered.

K'Sano turned the chariot around and flew to a safe distance as well... there was no way he could get to the other side now. At least not through THAT portal. K'Sano scanned the rapidly-failing portal magically to find the point of origin. He had just located it when...

tzzzzzzZZZZZZ-BOOOOOM!

The remains of the portal collapsed, leaving a charred line in the ground that stretched for miles. The invaders continued to run, clearing away from the area as fast as they could. They would continue to assault KraHeil's Palace, but K'Sano's power would protect the cowardly demon for now. The acidic storms he had created would reduce their numbers considerably, but destroying them entirely would take much time. And the Warlord's interest now lay elsewhere.

K'Sano contemplated the origin of the portal. No wonder these creatures seemed so alien. He had known that Creation was supposedly infinite, but his own travels had taken him to only a tiny local area... several hundred adjacent planes, most of which were under his control now. But THESE creatures had come from an almost inconceivable distance away. They crossed hundreds of billions of planes to get here. His earlier assumption had been correct, it would take a power at least equal to his own in order to traverse that distance. And then to create a portal that large would take...

K'Sano frowned.


He must see this for himself.

The Warlord grasped the gem at the front of the chariot. He concentrated on the location and the gem shot a single beam of light into the sky before him. K'Sano added his own power to that stored in the jewel... and he waited. The magic took several minutes to reach the destination, and all the while K'Sano was putting more and more energy into the effort. When it arrived, the beam began to widen the microscopic aperture, creating a portal that he could travel through. The portal opened slowly, and by the time it became visible K'Sano's face was damp with sweat. His jaw clenched tight, and his muscles hardened with the strain. He dug deeper... called more power. The portal widened. He could hear it now... the energy sizzling and crackling around the edge. More power... more...

zzzmmmmMMM....

BOOM!

Finally the portal lay open before him... a circular tear in the fabric of the universe. It was barely wide enough for a man to enter, but it stretched from the Realm of the Pit to the furthest reaches of Creation. K'Sano wanted to take a second to recover, but he didn't have the time. The portal would soon collapse, and he did not wish to spend the energy to create another. The portal was too narrow for the chariot, so the Warlord levitated up and away from his vehicle. He paused before the glaring white aperture and created a bubble of protective energy around himself. Then he floated forward...

kzzzZAM!

---

Nothing.

K'Sano hovered in a field of perfect blackness. There were no stars above him, nor firmament below him. Nothing but black emptiness... a perfect void stretching as far as the Warlord's eyes could see

Behind him, K'Sano's portal shrank back to microscopic size. But it did not close entirely. The Warlord's crystal on the other end could sustain it indefinitely, although it would require more of his own power to widen it again.

K'Sano studied the blackness around him. There as no energy at all. No heat. No magic. He could detect no matter... not even the tiniest speck of dust touched his energy bubble.

What manner of place is this? he wondered. It was hard to determine the exact size of this plane. Was it larger than the Realm of the Pit? Perhaps it was as large as the Mortal Planes... but then, perhaps not. With no objects... no energy or matter besides himself... the size of the plane was completely indeterminate.

As K'Sano thought, a he felt something touch his bubble of energy. It was neither matter or energy... it was a wrinkle in the fabric of the plane itself. A travelling wave created by some disturbance. It was small... but the ones that followed it buffeted the Warlord around like a small boat in a hurricane.

How can THIS be!?! he thought as he tried to stabilize himself. The disturbances grew greater and greater, and yet there was no sign of anything causing them. No matter. No energy. This is impossible! Nothing can disturb the fabric of space in the absence of energy or magic. Unless...

K'Sano's eyes widened. His heartbeat quickened as the realization dawned on him. For the barest instant, raw, unadulterated panic sank its claws into him. The Warlord knew fear...

There IS no plane! By all that is unholy... something has DESTROYED THIS ENTIRE REALM OF EXISTENCE! All matter! All energy! EVERYTHING!

It was true... it had all been destroyed, leaving nothing behind but a void. A vacuum. And nature abhorred

a vacuum. The surrounding planes were now closing in to fill the space... expanding to fill in the emptiness that was once a full, inhabited plane.

K'Sano fought his way back to his portal and began pouring energy into it. It widened, but slowly... oh, so slowly.

NO! I cannot be CAUGHT HERE!

Desperation tapped reserves of power that the Warlord had long neglected. His mind raced... he had to get out FAST! He could open a quicker portal to one of the adjacent planes, but the chaos of the expansion would decimate whatever was around it... dozens, perhaps hundreds of planes in all directions would be affected. Some would be torn apart as they stretched to fill this space, others would be squeezed together with such force that they would merge... with catastrophic results. It would be a chain reaction... And without knowing the size of THIS plane there was no way to judge the radius of destruction. No.. he had to get FAR away! VERY far! And FAST!

MORE POWER!!

The turbulence increased... becoming faster and stronger at an exponential rate. It was coming soon. The collapse... the end... something had obliterated this plane and now he was going to be its final victim.

NO! K'SANO IS ETERNALLL!!!!

The portal yawned open before him and the threw himself through it. He didn't even look back to see the emptiness collapse into the space where once was...

---

kzzzzZAAAM!

K'Sano few to his chariot and immediately turned back towards the Palace. Beneath him, the invaders... refugees from a dead plane... scurried towards the farthest corners of K'Sano's newest realm. Millions of them had made it here, and by now the acid storms had destroyed half that number. How many had been trapped on the other side when...whatever it was... demolished their home? Whatever sent them here had been trapped there as well. Most likely it was now destroyed... but by what?

What could destroy an entire plane of existence so completely? There was on power that could do that... none that K'Sano knew. But yet it had been done.

The mere thought sent an almost imperceptible chill down K'Sano's spine.

K'Sano skirted the destructive winds of his own storms and approached the Palace from the far side. His barrier was still in place, but the gray creatures were no longer storming it. Now they streamed around it, avoiding it entirely. There were far fewer now, and K'Sano could even see patches of red stone where before there had only been a uniform carpet of gray flesh.

As he circled the Palace, a dark smoky shape emerged from the stone structure and rose to meet him. It was KraHeil. The demon saluted him with his one remaining arm, and then bowed as it hovered before near the chariot.

"The invaders' forces have been halved," said K'Sano. "Their portal destroyed at the source. There will not be another."

"ssSSSssss... but many sstill remain, my lord. Too many...."

"The storms shall continue until they have been halved yet again. I trust that will be sufficient for your forces to handle.

"ssSSsss... mossst graciousss, my lord."

"Now we discuss payment."

"sssSSSSsss.... asssk what you wish, my lord...."

"This realm belongs to me now, demon," said K'Sano. "It always did... but now it is official."

"ssSSSssss... what little remainss isss yoursss, my Lord."

"Much remains. The Pit remains The Palace and everything in it. All mine. And I have a task."

"ssSSSsss... Yesss?"

"Capture some of these creatures. The winged ones especially... as many as you can find. If they have a language, I will know what it is and how to speak it. Then deliver the prisoners to me."

"ssSSsss... my lord? Should not our enemiesss be desstroyed utterly?"

"They HAVE been destroyed... and that is why I require prisoners."

"ssssSSSss... I do not understand-"

"It is not you place to understand. Just do as I say. I must go and prepare..."

K'Sano touched the gem and opened a portal to his fortress on the Iffrean.

"ssSSSsss... my lord? What did you find on the other ssside of the invadersss portal?"

"The End," said K'Sano. "And that is what I must prepare for."

The stallions galloped into the portal. There was a bright flash, and the Warlord was gone.

[End]