"Strak, I command you to live!" The voice stung in his mind. It's dark presence filled the innermost core of Strak's being, it sung to him, as it had always sung to him.

"Alive, me?" He thought. "I just want some rest."

"Rest, Strak?" The voice echoed, as if his mind were an endless cavern. "There is no rest for you." The words seemed to fill the whole cavern with a dark melodious voice, sinister and beautiful.

"My dark lord, I pledged myself to you long ago.. but I want rest." Strak had tried to plead with him many times, each time to no avail.

"You sold yourself to me, mind, body, and SOUL." The voice became less melodic, less beautiful, more sinister, but still captivating.

Strak had been tricked by that tongue long ago. Long ago when he saw those around him die. Long ago he made a pact with the dark evil, that his life be spared in return for eternal service. Now he wished for death, he wished to join his brethren, rather than this prolonged death with which came no rest.

"Strak, there is one.. a boy... great magical power... I must have his soul." The voice was filled with lust, lust for power, lust for the souls of others. "He is the one, the one whom I have waited for, I have waited to have my revenge, Strak. I want him!"

Strak gulped, no it couldn't be.. not another poor soul. Strak hadn't known how long he had slept this time, but he knew how many others he had forced into slavery... and he hadn't liked it.

"Strak! You will do my bidding, or your body will reside in a fiery torment for all eternity. I will feed your body endlessly to my minions.. and there you will truly have no rest." And just like that the voice disappeared, as it always had. Leaving no trace of it in Strak, none.

Strak looked around, the same familiar cave, the cave which had been his resting place, his base of operations, the place where he plotted the destruction of mankind, and the return of Phaema to his dark lord.

"Khiem!" The name was known to him, it had always been known to him.. it was this boy he needed.

Strak got up and moved to the middle of the cave, a huge silvery lake lay in the middle, with beaming fire in the middle. The lake reflected the fire and engulfed the place with light. On first look the place seemed holy, but upon closer inspection the fiery light became sinister. The evil flame's burned brightly, but never released smoke, they were eternal flames, and they were not of this world.

Strak stepped into the lake and walked. The lake wasn't real either, well not real to this world, although real enough. He walked atop the water and stepped into the roaring flames. His eyes flinched, half-expecting to be engulfed in a fiery eternal death, but Strak felt nothing but power. This was where the supreme evil of Phaema lurked, this was where the plane was joined to another plane, this was where the dark lord's power was strongest, this was where the invasion would begin.

"FLAMES, I HAVE NEED TO OFFER ANOTHER TO YOU, TO FEED YOUR ETERNAL HUNGER, TO QUENCH YOUR ETERNAL THIRST. SHOW HIM TO ME, SHOW ME KHIEM." Strak screamed these words aloud, filling the cave so it seemed millions of others chanted these same words with him.

Before Strak the lake seemed to rise up, peeling itself from the very ground, and it spread out before him. The lake then swirled and changed forms, and revealed a little boy, no more than 1.

"OH POWER OF THE DARK LORD, GUIDE ME. THOSE AROUND HIM, LET THEM BE BLINDED BY HATE, HIS MOTHER DEAD, HIS FATHER FILLED WITH HATE, GIVE THE BOY A LIFE OF HARDSHIP, MAKE HIM SMALL, MAKE HIM WEAK, MAKE HIM WILLING." The watery mist swirled, and engulfed Strak. Strak winced in pain as the water filled him, took from him, and flew from him, flying to the little boy, flying to those around him.

Soon he will be his, and I will once more rest until my master wishes me.

With that Strak fell to the floor, dazed, engulfed by flame, and brought to rest.

*****************************************************************************

Strak got up, his vision was blinded by the searing light of the flames. Strak muttered a curse, and looked before him, the lake was there, its job must've been completed.

"SHOW ME THE BOY!" Strak screamed.

Once more the lake peeled itself from the ground, and arranged itself before Strak. But now it showed different forms. Apparently Khiem was of age, he was 7 and he was peering between grownups to spy on soldiers.

Strak smiled an insidious smile.

"THE BIGGEST THE ONE WITH THE MOST HATE... HAVE HIM TRY AND KILL KHIEM!" At once a large boy walked through and pushed Khiem away from the grownups he was huddled between.

As the procession left, the bigger boy's heart was filled with rage, anger and hate. He turned to Khiem, and began beating him. Khiem took much of the beating before his heart also was filled with hate. The latent magical power within him was released, and the bigger boy was dead.

*This is the boy we want.. this boy is powerful.* Strak thought, eagerly anticipating the catch of the day.

"OTHERS DO NOT KNOW HIS PLIGHT, BLIND WITH RAGE, LET THEM WISH TO FIGHT." City guards were at once alarmed to the boy, and chased after him. Tired from exhaustion, and on the virge of collapse, Strak called out, and used his power to enter the boy's mind, to guide him, to suggest a destination. Strak staggered to his pet and fell. Joining his consciousness to another had exhausted the last of his strength.

*He is almost here... he is almost mine*