Impurity

Daria made her way down the winding cave passage way, her long robes dragging lightly across the ground as she used her long, wooden staff as a walking stick. She was getting too old to make these kinds of journeys, but if she wished for her kingdom to remain as prosperous as it currently was, she knew this trip would have to be made a number of times more. It wasn't the trip down that was so bad - it was coming back up, after draining herself of nearly all the energy she had to complete the task that had been left to her. She was in desperate need of an assistant and a successor, but she had yet to come across anyone who was powerful enough to serve as such. They needed magic beyond the capabilities of the average mage, or even of the higher ranked sages. She needed another archsage. But those were difficult to come across.

The passageways lead into a massive cavern, with magic fueled torches placed all around that burned unendingly. The floor gave way in the center to a hole that went deeper than the light could reach, though it little mattered whether one could see to the bottom of it. It was more important that one could see the enormous beast that was trapped within the hole. Its body stretched up from the depths, twisting and contorting, covered in dirt and moss from decades of imprisonment. Where its torso should have been was a face with a gaping mouth, dull flames burning within. Arms stretched out on either side, though they had long since been frozen in place, reaching out to grip the walls for support. Its head was but a mass, covered in vines and stones, though one lump of the mass in the center looked almost as though it could have been an eyeball.

Daria approached the ledge before the hole and looked up at the massive monster in disgust. It was not the first time she had seen it, nor would it likely be the last, and yet every time she approached it she could not help but reel away from its hideous form. Once, many centuries prior, it had been a king of her fair kingdom, who had searched too heavily for power and wealth. He had sold himself to demons, who had given him everything he wanted - for the price of the lives of his people. His lust for power was so great that he accepted these turns. It was only thanks to the court wizard at the time that the people were saved. He captured the raging, hateful king in this very cave, preventing him from consuming his own subjects.

Daria had been tasked with making sure that the seals went unbroken and unweakened. Once a year she traveled into the depths for this task. Once a year she came face to face with the demon who had once been a man. And once a year she strained every ounce of magic in her body to make sure that he would never complete the task he had been given, and never grow to his full power. For as large and powerful and terrifying as he was now, it was only a fraction of what he was supposed to become.

She was getting too old for this.