"You pathetic little fool, thinking you could have my head as your bounty. I will make you feel pain in ways that you didn't know existed. All of the stories, they're all true and I'm about to show them to you first hand...one by one....BWAHAHAHAHAH!" screamed Gorath.

He lifted his mighty Halberd to the sky and smashed it down into the ground, the blade moving so fast that Raven swore he saw flames flickering off of the back end of the blade. It came down hard and cracked the earth. Gorath came running full charge at Raven. Before Gorath could hit him, he quickly dodged his movement, cutting Gorath with his spikes in the process. Gorath laughed wildly and swung for Raven's neck with blinding speeds. He ducked quickly and jumped back. Raven quickly analyzed his opponents attributes.

Gorath was clearly mad in this state of mind, fighting with brute force, yet blinded by his own fury. If Raven was to stand a chance, it would be to wear Gorath down and go in for the kill, yet this beast showed incredible stamina and was showing no signs of exhaustion. Quicker than Raven could finish his thought, Gorath was back at him again, lunging down at him from a jump.

Raven quickly rolled out of the way as Gorath came rocketing down, cracking the earth's surface once again. Raven knew that one slip up, one tiny little mistake and it would be all over. Gorath had far too much strength and was breathing down Raven's neck in terms of speed. Raven quickly made a run back for the forest, Raziel following.

Gorath let out a laugh that seemed to echo throughout the abyss of this black forest. Running through the forest, off of the trail, Raven came to a stop by a small pond and waited for Gorath to come after him, but there was only silence. Once the silence set in, a chill ran down Raven's spine and he blindly threw one of his daggers to his right. A mighty hand caught the dagger in mid air and threw it into a tree right next to Raven. He quickly looked over and was in terror at what he saw next.

It all hit him at once. What was standing to the right of him was not only a member of the Brotherhood, but the ruler...it was the horrifying ToroMor! Standing over a foot taller than Raven and dressed in frightening armor, the demon spoke to him in a deep, blood freezing voice.

"You've come for Gorath, have you not?" said ToroMor.

Without showing any signs of fear (though he was feeling it inside) Raven replied, "Yeah, we were supposed to be fighting, but I guess he had other plans".

ToroMor laughed...the sound of it would have killed any living creature in a normal forrest, but this forrest was far from anything normal.

"The Dark Prince Gorath will not be coming to this place. But enough of this...idle talk...".

ToroMor quickly grabbed Raven by the shirt and threw him into the pond face down. He then placed his foot on Raven's back, holding him under water. Under the water, Raven tried to push himself up, but could not budge ToroMor's foot. There was no use in struggling. ToroMor had far more strength than Raven could go against. He knew that his life was in ToroMor's hands at that moment and there was nothing he could do. There was no dodging his attacks or landing any hits on him.

ToroMor then raised his foot off of Raven's back and threw him out of the water effortlessly. Raven gasped for air and coughed on land as ToroMor slowly made his way through the water to where Raven was. Raven touched his face and realized that his face paint had been washed off. He slowly got back onto his feet, still coughing, ready for ToroMor's next attack. ToroMor had ahold of him before he could run or move.

The leader of the Brotherhood then picked up Raven by the shirt and held him above ground by at least 4 foot. "I know you....I believe you've been so kind as to buy me a drink once or twice, have you not?" questioned ToroMor. The amazing thing about his attacks is he wasn't even angry! Raven could only imagine what he was capable of when angry.

"Yes", Raven choked out. "I've met you before...a couple of times....bought drinks...".

Toromor dropped Raven, leaving him on the ground, gasping for air again.

"You know (cough) I won't kill you without (cough) that face paint...so don't worry (coughs several times)".

ToroMor laughed that horrible laugh. "Trust me, I'm not worried".

There was a minute of silence as Raven sat on the ground with ToroMor towering over him.

"We shall talk later. Your hunt is over".

With this being said, Raven looked up at ToroMor to question with a "What?" response, only to be hit in the head with a fist that seemed to be just a bit smaller than his head. Darkness once again overcame Raven as he was knocked out.

When he awoke, he was sitting in a huge dining room at an enormous table. There was an uncountable amount of delicious looking food placed about the table, which stirred Raven's interest as he had not eaten in days. At the end of the table sat ToroMor, only, he was no longer wearing his helm and he was eating.

"How nice of you to join me." ToroMor chuckled.

"Where am I?" questioned Raven.

"You are in my castle...to be specific, the dining room. The rest of the Brotherhood are taking care of your little "employers"..." said ToroMor. "Feel free to eat as much as you like, I'm sure your travels have been tiring." he said.

Raven began to load his plate with various foods and began to eat. Raziel was eating next to ToroMor.

"I have to ask...why are you being so nice to me...I was sent to kill one of your Princes..." questioned Raven.

ToroMor chuckled. "As I have said before, your hunt is over. You will not be seeing a reward from your employer. Your employer will not be seeing the light of tomorrow, I can assure you that as well. To answer your other questions: Gorath has had numerous bounties out for him, though none ever make it to my castle. I'm suprised that you made it this far. Now, what I'm about to propose to you will put you in good terms with Gorath. I see potential in you. You're a killer and you can obviously endure quite a bit...some might say that you're flat out evil."

TorMor stopped and chuckled

"I've heard stories of your previous jobs, Raven. I know what you can do. That's why I'm asking you to join us." said TorMor.

Raven stopped eating for a moment and stared at ToroMor.

"Join the Brotherhood? This place is for monsters! All accross the land I've heard of horrible tales of the Brotherhood, surely, I would not fit in here as I have no tales. I'm a mere mortal living one day to the next, I've just landed the wrong kind of job. Never thought I'd be sitting and talking with the Lord of the Brotherhood." said Raven.

ToroMor chuckled once again.

"You amuse me, Raven. Little do you know that you do have tales, just like the rest of us. Think about it. Do you really believe that people would tell your stories right in front of you? I think not. I've heard the stories, yet I've never heard the stories about me that you speak of. Do you understand?" asked ToroMor.

"That does make sense when you put it in that manor." said Raven.

"However...for your previous actions, joining us won't be so easy for you and it will be time limited. I present you with two options. You will fight me and kill me....and be free to leave, or you will fight me and take the risk of me killing you to join us....what will it be, Raven?" questioned ToroMor in a serious tone.

Raven stopped eating and realized that either way, he would have to fight this impossible battle...a battle in which he would probably not be walking away from. Raziel flew over to Raven and rubbed up against his neck. Raven looked at Raziel, then back at ToroMor. He gave a quick smirk to the Dark Lord, then tossed his marble containers holding his face paint in the air and catching it.

"I'll be needing my face paint....."

After applying the dreaded skull paint, ToroMor stood up and began to walk down the hallways, Raven following. Usually at times like these, he would observe his surroundings, but this time, he was completely focused on the demon in front of him. His soon to be opponent.

After what seemed like 30 minutes of walking, they came to a massive arena, which was at the bottom of the castle. Raven could only imagine what this was normally used for. As they both entered the fighting ground, the two prepared for the battle on opposing sides of the ground. Raven, closing his eyes, began to spin his blades around on his fingers, trying to think of something positive and breathing deep.

On the other side, ToroMor was merely watching, arms folded, waiting for the battle to begin. Out of the blue, Raven stopped spinning the blades and caught them in his hands. He opened his eyes and gazed accross at ToroMor. At this moment, ToroMor raised his hands slightly. When he did this, fire erupted from the floor, blazing angrily. ToroMor began to walk slowly around the outer edge of the pit, through the flames, while Raven stood guard with his blades.

Raven thought he would take the first move and attack ToroMor as he was walking the outside, through the flames. He ran at ToroMor, full speed, with a lunge, blades pointing towards the Dark Lord. With no struggle, ToroMor grabbed Raven by the throat in mid air and held him high above the ground, choking him. After about a minute of choking, he threw him accross the pit, against the wall. Raven was stunned and out of air, but came back to his feet, only to notice ToroMor was still walking slowly, watching him.

Raven quickly dashed back in to stab ToroMor in the stomach with both of his daggers, but was backhanded to the ground. Before Raven could get back up, ToroMor grabbed him by the throat again, holding him high above the ground...once again. This time, the demon spoke....

"Your efforts of attacking me are worth noting and you show no fear. For this, I shall end this battle now, for there is no chance of you emerging victorious. For all of the pain you have endured and your lack of fear, I will bestow upon you a gift that will make you cold and heartless...never to fear again. It will make you powerful and feared. And your employer...I took care of him personally. He was an arch angel and he gasped out his name just as I was seperating his head from his body. I believe it was "Kristoff"....him and his kind should be the last alive, which is taken care of now." growled ToroMor, still holding Raven above ground. With his other free hand, he brought around the severed head of the familiar arch angel and dropped it to the ground.

The heat from the flames grew almost unbearable. Raven saw to his left a black spirit object flying in from above, stopping to hover behind him. Toromor's eyes were glowing a fearful red at this point. The black spirit then dived into Raven's body, possessing him. Raven froze up, his blood boiling, breaking into a cold sweat....and feeling like he was nearly about to pass out.

"From this day foward, you will serve me. You will become Prince of the East. You will be feared in places you knew not existed. When you awake, return to this place and redeem your throne as one of the four Princes. Serve us well, Raven." said ToroMor.

The last sound Raven heard was Raziel screetching and the crackling of the flames. Then, again, there was darkness.

When he awoke, he was back in the forest with a woman lying next to him. He figured this was ToroMor's doings, as she must have been a whore. He felt different then. Emotionless and without care, cold and desolate. He had a distinct feeling to move foward, back to the castle and vaguely remembered the night before.

Raven, Raziel, and the woman made their way back to the castle without exchanging so much as a sound. When Raven arrived, he made his first, non-contract kill in a way that he had never killed before. It was a custodian who claimed lies of his presence. And equally as cold, he killed the woman.

He later met with ToroMor on much different terms than their last meeting and requested the company of Gorath, to talk with him. After days of lurking about the castle, he finally found a room he was comfortable with and made it his temporary living space until he found otherwise. His experiences with the Brotherhood continue to this day in that dreaded castle. Back at his home in the North, it storms ever harder now....awaiting his return one day.

"Some say you can still hear Raziel's cries out at that old farmhouse" said the old man, in between drinking his ale in the smokey old tavern, which was located just South of Raven's home.

"As for his whereabouts now...people still believe that he is in that castle. Some convinced that he has not changed, though when you are near that old farmhouse, you can feel it in the rain as it grows colder. When Raven returns to that dreaded place, he will not be a man any longer, for he is now and will always be a member of that unspeakable Brotherhood.....forever roaming the night and killing in the name of the dreaded ToroMor." warned the old man.

Lightning strikes and we see Raven, Raziel perched on his shoulder, walking towards his sanctuary door as he looks back with that dreaded facepaint, he gives a slight smirk, enters the door, and pushes it closed. As the door shuts, thunder rumbles in the distance.