The Black dragon.

Darkness devours every shining day.
Darkness demands and always has its way.
Darkness listens, watches, waits.
Darkness claims the day and celebrates.
Sometimes in silence darkness comes.
Sometimes with a gleeful banging of drums
-The book of counted sorrows


12:34pm 13th of November 2003

Jazm lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling and smiling. It was one of the very few times in his life that he had really felt genuinely happy. His cheeks cracked as the skin stretched under the strain of his smile, something his face was not used to. Clare was asleep next to him, dressed in his birthday present compromising of a tiny two piece lingerie outfit. Her deep breathing signalled that she was still deep in the land of nod. Jazm snuggled back underneath the covers of his sheets as the sounds of chaos began outside.

A loud crash was heard from the front of the house, followed by the splintering of the wood on its hinges. Jazm awoke with a sudden, jumping up out of bed to try and discover what was going on. Dragging on his jeans and loose fitting shirt he ran out of the room to investigate. The sounds of furniture being upturned and the kitchen being destroyed filled Jazm\'s ears as he bounded into the lounge room, his body filled with adrenaline and fear. What he saw when he entered the lounge room caused him to look twice. Two large pig like animals turned around to face him, from their jaw tusks protruded upwards, they stopped what they were doing and looked at him silently. They were dressed in what to Jazm looked like armour and each held a d lod long and wickedly sharp ingth.gth. Jazm swore that they were communicating to each as their small dark beady eyes squinted under the light of the living room, only their mouths did not move.

The two sentient beings separated from each other as they warily circled Jazm, their swords drawn and held upright, their dark blades glistening in the light. As the gap between them grew larger Jazm lunged forwards between the growing gap. The sounds of their blades whirring down towards shs shoulder filling his ears as pain lanced up his spine where the blade made contact with his shoulder, causing him to scream as he rolled, breaking the impact of his fall. He got up smoothly and half ran to the kitchen, the only place in the house where sharp objects could be found as he clutched his shoulder, the pain pulsating and burning as blood seeped down, saturating his shirt. His shoulder felt like it was on fire as he cradled it gently, still halnninnning towards the kitchen. He couldn\'t let them get to Clare. A loud crash was heard from the bedroom, closely followed by the sound of Clare screaming. Abandoning his original plan to go to the kitchen, Jazm ran to the bedroom, \'I\'ll just have to rip the fucker\'s throats out with my bare hands\' he thought to himself.

Running into the bedroom, Jazm was confronted with another three of the sentient beings surrounding the top of the bed. Jazm ran in, pulling Clare off the bed to his side. sen sentient beings looked at him, their beady black eyes sparkling with malice as they slowly advanced towards him. The sounds of footsteps were heard from behind him, whirling around, Jazm was confronted with the other two beings from the lounge room. They were surrounded and alone. Pulling Clare close to him Jazm began to silently call for help from the guardians that had found residence within his head. At least he could find false hope in his own insanity. A voice returned his , th, the sound of its voice like the eternal whisper of death encroaching on the edge of his mind.

\'I am here Jazm, it is I Astaroth. I can save you, free your mind and submit your body to me so that I can manifest myself fully. Do not worry, they shall all feel the might of Astaroth, prince of darkness.\'

Clutching a whimpering Clare by her side, Jazm whispered soothingly to her.

\'Close your eyes. It will be ok, I am here.\'

The whimpering Clare closed her eyes as the sentients approached. Jazm closed his eyes too, relaxing his mind and freeing his spirit. From the edges of his mind he felt a great power flowing through his veins, its strength pulsating through his muscles as it bulged, filling the loose shirt he was wearing. It was like he was watching himself from a third person perspective as the abomination that was his body grew larger with each beat of his heart. Scales erupting from his once pale skin black and hardened like iron chain mail. From behind him a giant pair of wings erupted from his back, the embers from the edges spraying out in a fountain of sparks, causing the sentients to temporarily flinch and take a step back. A giant mace materialised in his right hand, its metal spiked ball at the end of the chain gleaming dully in the bright light. From his mouth Astaroth bellowed a battle roar.

The five sentients had formed a rough circle around Astaroth. Each of them was within striking distance of Astaroth yet none of them wanted to make the first move. Astaroth began to swing the mace above his head, the room silent except for the sound of the ball whistling through the air, singing its song of death. All of a sudden the sentient directly behind Astaroth struck out, its metal blade glancing of his hardened scales as Astaroth pivoted on the heel of his foot, his mace swinging out to crash into the sentients head, the sound of metal rending flesh and bones shatng fng filling the air astrastrangled gurgle escaped the sentients mouth as it crashed to the floor, dead before it even hit the floor. Instantly Astaroth was surrounded by flashing blades, seeking his death. Slapping aside one blade, Astaroth lunged forward, shouldering the sentient, causing it to fly backwards into another Sentient in its path. The two crashed to the ground as Astaroths mace swung round, finding its home in one of the remaining Sentients, its heavily spiked ball almost disembowelling its lightly armoured chest. Thick black blood bubbled from its mouth as it drowned in its own blood, dropping to the floor. The remaining standing Sentient tried to charge Astaroth, its blade swinging in a deadly arc towards Astaroths head. Rolling underneath the wild swing, Astaroth swung his mace, its spiked ball wrapping around the blade. Pulling on his mace, Astaroth freed the blade from the Sentient, pulling the surprised foe towards him as Astaroth\'s thickly scaled hand grabbed its neck, lifting it up. The two Sentients that had fallen earlier got up and charged Astaroth, their blades clanging off his thick skin harmlessly. The sentient that Astaroth had a hold of, feebly tried to break his hold, despite Astaroth\'s heavily scaled hand easily wrapping around its whole neck. Lifting it up high, Astaroth grabbed a hold of its lower torso, ripping it from the head that he was holding as black blood splattered the room, the lifeless torso dropping onto the floor.

Astaroth turned to face the remaining two Sentients but they had already fled, after observing the demise of their colleagues. Astaroth threw the head towards the pile of lifeless corpse\'s. Smiling, he sat down next to the weeping Clare, stroking her hair with his heavily scaled hand as he freed his mind. Allowing Jazm back as his muscles shrunk and atrophied, the scales shrinking back underneath the skin. The mace disappeared in a wisp of smoke and the wings at his back folded back into themselves to encapsulate within his back. With each beat of his heart, Jazm slowly took back control of his own body.