The fiends, as I heard they prefer to be called, actually bound my wounds. They were quite friendly with me. The Chefs of course gave me real food, the creature that looks like a boar. They called the meat Fhorge. It was really good. They promoted me to the squad captain, taking the place of Grazlen. I tried to be militant. I would run them, but I would make sure none of them fall behind to be cooked by the fireballs. After Grazlen, not many would fall back anyway. We would have weapons practice, I would easily disarm my opponents, but with practice they got better and better. I don't know how I got so good with my silver sword, but my blade killed Grazlen, and now I deftly wield this sword, like a master.. The various humans and tieflings, which are what those unusual types of humans are, had a variety of weapons, swords, tridents, bows, etc. I gained a crack shot with a crossbow. The fiends made special chain mail armor for me, it's called Green Steel Chain Mail, and it's only forged in Baator, it's significantly stronger than regular metal. The mail is crafted, and looks really good too. I was surprised that it didn't look like demon armor.

Most of the troops feared me. the lesser fiends were petrified of me, even up to Red Abashai. Apparently the fiends are like one huge military organization, but when the Baatezu get promoted, they physically change the being. My promotion is unique. Mortals are considered below Lemure in status, except Lemures have no intelligence, that, and the fact that the Tanar'ri use mortals in combat too. Which is the reason we will be fighting other mortals. My lieutenant was a Tiefling named Rodan, he was a Baatezu breed, Tieflings had a bloodline where they may have one or more fiends in the past who have mated with a mortal. Rodan wanted desperately to be as powerful as his fiendish grand-father. Rodan had Red Skin, black eyes like coal, with burning embers in the center. He was tough and mean, and personally I didn't like him that much, but he liked me for some reason, even before I promoted him. He was one of the best fighters, but he liked eating and drinking human flesh and blood, and that was rather sick. Our sparring sessions would get fierce, our strengths were matched, but I was quicker, and more skilled with my sword. I could wield that sword one handed or two handed, I could use it like it was an extension of my body. His favored weapon is a long sword, and he is very deft with it. None of the weapons the others had were meant to fight fiends, they were just regular steel. Most fiends can't be harmed by that, silver, however, can kill them, I know that as a fact.

The fiends gave us some magic users and a cleric to help us out. None of the magi were loyal to the fiends, were being forced to fight. Apparently the leader was a mage that summoned a fiend, and tricked them into signing up. The cleric was a Priest of Iyachtu Xvim, a deity from another plane called Toril. That name sounds so familiar, maybe that is where I am from? Iyachtu Xvim was the son of Bane the God of Strife, but the god, Bane died, I knew this without them telling me. Nothing else came flooding out. The Magi were unruly, but Rodan forced them into submission, physically and with threats. It was a good guy-bad guy sort of thing. I was the good guy, they could tell that I wasn't a fiend or had fiendish blood. I talked to them, they told me about Sigil, a wondrous city in the center of the Outlands, away from the lair of the evil fiends. If it were so, I'd like to go there, but I didn't say it, because the Baatezu have ways of finding things out and I really wouldn't want to find out what they would do. I did keep it in mind for the future.

I made friends with a young mage named Nedril, he was an apprentice mage, and was stolen from Automata, which is one of the gate cities. It's called a gate city because it borders the Outlands and one of the outer planes. Baator is one of them, so there was a Gateway from Baator to the Outlands, the Gate City is called Ribcage, and my chances of getting there is nil. I didn't mind the lifestyle, the military lifestyle, but living with a group of cannibals was unsettling. Of course the Baatezu didn't give them a choice. Fighting for fiends so foul was sickening as well. Nedril and the other magi would not eat the flesh, neither would the priest. Food was provided for the Priest, and I provided food for the magi. I was getting Fhorges, and some type of cooked bird. One time they tried to fool me, they shaped a human in the form of a Fhorge, but I smelled something foul. I remembered the first time they slopped the human stew on my plate, and I did throw up this time. I beheaded the fiend, that tried to feed me the human flesh. I would never have been so vile to behead a human, but these are fiends. The chefs never tried to feed me mortal flesh again, but just being here was seriously offending my sensibilities. I have to get out.

Our troops marched down the river Styx, the river wasn't the river of blood I fell into, if I had fell in there, I would have forgotten my life. Wait? Is that what happened to me? I will worry about it later. My troop was the shock troops, the grunts, the marines who will fight the other mortal army, and if possible, engage the Tanar'ri troops. I don't know who these Tanar'ri are, but they couldn't be worse than the Baatezu. We went to a gate, an area where you have to have a certain object to open it. In this case, it was a skull of a mortal. When we went though the gate, it felt like going from a furnace into a cold world. I instantly knew where we were, there was no doubt, because I had been here before. I have returned, back to the Gray Waste. I don't know how long I was in the terrible place, but I remember fighting those Spinagons. Now I am fighting on Spinagon's side. Something is seriously wrong with that.

The Gray waste is cold. Groaning spirits can be heard from everywhere. These spirits can be found on Baator as well, called Petitioners. This proved to me for certain that I am still alive, if I wasn't, I'd be like those poor sods. Petitioners are mortals who died and went to the plane of choice, of what sort of life you lived. Baator was for people who were mortals who lived an evil life, but order and a sense of honor was a part of it. That is what is so strange about the Baatezu. They have a sense of honor, but the Baatezu find loopholes to betray the poor berk. Most Baatezu are back stabbing, foul creatures, and they are evolved versions of petitioners. On the Gray Waste, the petitioners are the lost ones, one who didn't follow a particular deity, or a certain belief. So they are doomed to stay on this drab gray plane. There were however other petitioners so foul that they find endless torment for the lost ones. I believe the petitioners from here taught the Baatezu how to torment the petitioners in Baator. There were no hills and valleys, in fact this plane was so flat, so barren, that we saw the Tanar'ri troops come out from a gate far across the plane. My troops pulled out their weapons and shields. I kept my bastard sword and shield at my sides. It would still be a half hour, to an hour before we would engage the enemy. Nedril and the magi were to my left and behind me, because they didn't want to be next to Rodan and Xrist, the Priest of Iyachtu Xvim. Xrist seemed to like me, mostly because I was named after the father of his deity. Actually I don't know where I got the name. Apparently Bane was dead, and Xrist wanted to convert me to following his religion. I didn't see the point, after being stuck on these evil planes, I didn't see the point in anything.

As we the looming army got larger and larger in the distance, our morale seemed to decline, all the petitioners sorrow welled into me. Nedril was affected as well. I tried to bring up his spirits. "Nedril? tell me more about Sigil?" Nedril looked at me. He was a smart cutter, but he was young with sandy brown hair and blue eyes. The mage had a naive look, but had a very serious view. "Well the other magi and I were going to escape to the Outlands. During the chaos of the battle we will whisk away" He said in a hushed whisper. "You are a good man, and great fighter, come with us."

It didn't take me long to agree. What would happen is we suspected we would win the battle, but after we won, the Baatezu and the Tanar'ri would still be fighting, and that is when we could get away. After talking with Nedril, getting the plans, we were close enough to engage. Their army was similar to ours, it was made up of humans, tieflings, and there were some human-like demons.. I mean Tanar'ri. One seemed to be the leader. A black skinned villainous fiend. He was decked out in plate mail and held a large wavy bastard sword. The sword was incredibly well made. It didn't look like steel, or silver. He would be the warrior I would face. The dark warrior looked at me across the battlefield, with his burning red eyes. The fiend looked extremely strong. After the weeks of hard training, my stomach was tighter, and I was much stronger, still, this fiend looked powerful. Nedril whispered to me "That's a Marquis Cambion, a pairing of a mortal and a true Tanar'ri. You'll never defeat him. Maybe we should escape before you engage the Cambion." I scowled. "No, I will fight and win."

Before he could give me a reply, our front ranks crashed together. Numbers of humans and tieflings fell, from both sides. Such a waste of life, spilling blood over this war. The Tanar'ri seem just as foul as the Baatezu, maybe more so. Suddenly a female warrior with bat-like wings swooped in at me. A beautiful red haired woman with green eyes. She had a figure, a perfect hourglass, but I was too busy blocking her attack with my shield to gape in awe at her glorious figure. I counter and slashed, her long sword blocked it. She was a great fighter, extremely quick with her sword. I whacked her with the side of my blade, and struck her head. I purposely didn't hit her hard, because she was so stunningly beautiful. She countered by slashing my shoulder. I guess she didn't feel the same way for me. My shoulder was bleeding, she pierced the green steel, the blade was strong. I backhand swung my blade and struck her in the neck, blood welled out of her neck, spraying forth. What a waste, I slapped the blade from her hands and she fell to the ground. I wanted to help her even though she hurt me, but more humans attacked. I was out numbered three to one. Two of the 'Humans' were actually tieflings, all of them had swords. I blocked two weapons, the third struck my armor and fell away. I knocked the first weapon away and plunged my sword into the human. God the blood is sickening, I was soaked in blood. I smashed my second opponent while blocking the third. it was different. killing an evil fiend was one thing, but a human.. This distraction got me clipped in the side of the head. My hot blood ran down my face. I kick the fallen opponent and scattered him on the ground, then disarmed my final opponent. and finished him. This had to be the grossest experience that I have ever experienced.

I saw the Cambion, we were almost into distance to engage. He too was bathed in blood. some were his, most was others. His eyes were battle worn, but was ready to engage me for the last battle, with me. From the swarming battle around us, it was close. The other side had magi too, fireballs and lightning bolts swarmed across. only Nedril and his master were the only ones left. Xrist was still hammering and casting the might of his deity. Half of my troops were dead, half of his troops were dead. Our fight would decide it, winning a battle has everything to do with morale. With this close of a fight, and I slay the leader, we would win, because the others would see the death of their leader and flee. We would have rushed at each other, but after a pitched battle, the energy wasn't there. Our blades met, he fought with his sword two handed, which gives an advantage of control, where my one handed stance gives better protection because I have a shield. His sword bounced off my shield. There was no mocking in his eyes, like I would think of with a fiend would. He had respect and fear in his eyes. I had no idea how I looked, but I glanced a shot off his shoulder plate and cut the side of his head. The fiend slashed furiously, and I took a defensive stance, blocking his hammering shots with my shield. The Cambion was extremely strong, much stronger than I was, in fact, I believe my shield was starting to split.

My blade came up and slashed, he blocked it. Blades clashed again. Then a flash of our blades and I saw the blade pierce my stomach. I let out a gurgle. I'm going to lose, going to die. He thought I was dead already, so he didn't expect it when I whipped my blade up and stabbed into his mid-section. His grip released from his sword as he clutched at the silver weapon sticking out just under his breast plate. Both of us would die, which may mean that both armies will kill each other, or both sides would flee. Xrist saw the blade in my chest and was trying to get over to me, I assume to heal me. Suddenly I hear a feminine voice Pull me out, my savior. I was dazed, the loss of blood was too much. Maybe I'm hearing something from beyond. I can't heal you if you don't pull me out of you! My glazed eyes didn't see anyone close, the cambion was on the ground dying. Somehow I was able to stay standing. I couldn't focus my eyes, but there wasn't anything else around, except for sounds of battle. I put my hands on the blade and I tried to pull, but I had little strength to pull and my eyes started to close, and my body started to topple. I felt the blade come out of me and I stumbled. "PUT ME IN HIS HANDS!" I could hear the voice say. "I CAN HEAL HIM!" The voice was a feminine voice, quite an annoyed voice, but a beautiful one. My body hit the ground, but I could feel something in my hand. I couldn't grip it, or even tell what it was. My eyes closed.

I could feel a wave of pleasure rush through my body, the pain started washing away. My hands started tickling with energy. It felt like the opening in my chest was closing, and all the stinging cold wounds went away. My eyes opened, and I saw Nedril over me looking concerned, surprise filled his face. "Welcome to the land of the living, my love." My eyes widened in shock, it was that female voice again. My hand clutched around the pommel. "I like how you touch me." Shocked again, hearing a voice issue from the sword. Nedril could see the confusion I had. "The sword healed you, it has a strong aura of magic around it." Before I could say anything a voice flies out "Well I should hope so! I was designed to kill fiends, and a fiend was using me. Which most of the time wasn't so bad because I was killing other fiends, but he killed some mortals, evil mortals granted, but still mortal. When I entered you. I could feel no evil, in fact you are very good." My face had to have flushed by the way she suggestively said very good. She giggled coyly. "I thought for sure I was going to kill you, but once you killed the fiend, I could help you."

The sword looked different in my hands. it was glowing, and the metal was made of a unique metal. All the blood was gone, the blade was clean. It was glittering there like a jewel. I blurted out "It's beautiful." Another flush of pleasure rushed through me. "Thank you, if you weren't so covered in blood, you'd be pretty appealing too." I put my other hand on the pommel, the blade cooed. "So what is a prime cutter like you doing in a place like this?"

Battle sounds raged around me, as I thought, we started winning, all that was left of the opposing army was on the run. Rodan was slaying a human, then started chasing down the remaining fleeing berks. There was six more of my group that was aiding him, cutting down the last few. Nedril is still here and Xrist was looking at me like I should aid them. We won, but that isn't good enough for them, they wanted to slaughter them all. "I know what you are thinking, your mage friend is the only one who isn't radiating evil. That priest over there is radiating a lot of evil." The mage spoke "All the other magi are dead, my master is dead, let's get out of here, we can find a gate to the Outlands or to Sigil." Xrist scowled. "Traitor!" The priest rushed at the mage with his mace. The mace turned into a glowing white ball of energy. I moved, Xrist struck the mage and he fell. Nedril's head exploded, his gray tissue splattered everywhere. His body fell to the ground. Xrist laughed like the evil cannibal fiends.

My body moved into action. I cleaved into Xrist's heavy plate mail. Blood was rushing out of his body. He turned to me and swung "How DARE you! You who has the name of the father! I will destroy you!" The mace was glowing bright. The blade blocked his overhead smash. I put both hands on my new sword, and swung. The blade sliced his side. "I kill you Bane!!" Xrist said, his face was filled with hate. Xrist was a good fighter, but with this sword, he was no challenge for me. The mace came at me, and my sword slashed his arm. The villainous mace dropped to the ground. I slammed the blade with flat of the blade. It struck his head and he fell unconscious. I moved to sheath her, the sword I mean, and she spoke "Why didn't you kill him? He was evil!"

I replied. "There's been enough killing for today."