[ferretchucker]

Opening credits role. Fade to a shot of the blacksmiths. The windows are pitch black. Suddenly, flames appear and then, the windows are clear again. Fade to an inside shot. V and Gorephobia are in there. Gorephobia is holding the sword.

V: Do you mind telling me what the hell that was?

Gorephobia: You just said it. Hell.

V: I don't need this. I really don't. This shit is unreal. I'm used to fighting thieves and stuff like that. Now I've got Dragons, an insane king and a no eyes blacksmith taking me to hell and back!

Gorephobia: Calm down-

V: Stop telling me to calm down!

Gorephobia: For Gods sake just sit down and let me explain!

V hesitates, then sits. Gorephobia goes out of the room for a moment, then comes back holding two small bowls.

Gorephobia: Lentil soup. Made it myself. Put it on before you came in.

Most of it is spilled due to Gore's sight problem but V takes it an begins drinking.

V: This is good!

Gorephobia: Thanks. I love making soup. It relaxes me.

V: Damn decent.

Gorephobia: I always wanted to be a cook.

V: Why didn't you?

Gorephobia: My dad. He...This shop has been in my family for five generations. My dad didn't want that to stop so I could do "Womens Work".

V: Well, now he's gone, you-

Gorephobia: Gone? Where's he gone?

V: Oh. He isn't? I assumed he was...you know.

Gorephobia: No. He's pretty old though. Turned 63 last month. Oldest any body's ever got in this town.

V: Where is he?

Gorephobia: He lives upstairs. He mainly just stares at the ceiling in his bed...

The two are silent for a moment.

Gorephobia: Oh yes, the sword!

V: Yeh. And the hell.

Gorephobia: It all starts with the first king. King Geddy.

V: So that's what it means...

Gorephobia: Yeh. The story goes that he was out in the woods one day when he saw a lonely woman. She was sitting on a log. He walked over to her and when she looked up at him, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but she was crying. He asked her why and she spoke in a foreign tongue.

V: Is that...bad?

Gorephobia: No. Not to normal folk anyway. But he was a great Xenophobic. He drew his sword and sliced her three times. She died immediately. Barely an hour later his body was found on the floor by some huntsman in the mark of the fiend.

V: Excuse me?

Gorephobia: The Devil. He was tied to a tree where two branches went off in different directions. He was upside down.

V: An upside down cross...

Gorephobia: He hadn't been a king back then. He was a Duke. Naturally, for his crimes he went to hell.

V: The ninth circle.

Gorephobia: Where it is coldest. But he was so evil, the even the devil himself couldn't take him anymore, so he was spat back out. But not without a souvenir. He grabbed a woman. That woman. The one he had killed. For in hell he found out what she was. She was the Daughter of Satan.

V: Satan had a Daughter?

Gorephobia: This is just the story. She was speaking French. Nobody quite knows why or how. She doesn't have a name. But she has been called many. Manly Papillon. Papillon Noir.

V: That's french?

Gorephobia: Yes. The Black Butterfly. When the two were spat out they took a bit of hell with them. A Mountain of rock, which the two of them changed.

V: The castle.

Gorephobia: Exactly. But afted that, there was so much spare rock. Most of it was dumped in the sea, but Geddy kept one bit.

V: Your bit.

Gorephobia: Yes. He broke it in half. One half he kept and somehow, made it into a key into hell.

V: Your piece.

Gorephobia: Yes. As for the second piece. Well. He and Papillon Noir had children. Many children. Each of them became the creatures.

V: The creatures?

Gorephobia: Yes. Each of them were strange. She had many. Dragons, trolls, ogres, demons, elves, leprechauns. They all work as slaves for Geddy. They each had their own "powers", which the walls of the castle strengthened. Geddy used the other half of the rock to make the sword. The handle is part of hell itself. He crafted it so that if they ever became too powerful, he could use it to banish them back to hell. Nobody knows how he got the sword to work like that.

V: So how did he end up?

Gorephobia: After Papillon Noir had her final child, her most powerful, Geddy got scared. Worried his place on the throne would be in danger. He banished all of his children to the Volcano. He opened up a hole in the side of it, known as the mouth. They were trapped in there by a charm he put on it. Geddy wasn't a practicing warlock, but he knew his stuff. This charm was so powerful that even Papillon couldn't break it. Only one child was left, and he destroyed it the only way he could be sure it would never come back. He threw it into the Volcano.

V: The most powerful one?

Gorephobia: Correct. Poor thing was only a baby. Papillon took her revenge on him. She tore his soul from his body and bound it to the castle walls and cursed the island with famine, plague and storms every night. He was doomed to watch his kingdom suffer and crumble for eternity.

V: And what of the butterfly?

Gorephobia: She descended into hell once more. A new king was elected and he tried his best, but things only got worse and he ended up commiting suicide. Since then there hasn't been much structure. Generally when one king dies another is chosen.

V: People chose The Return?

Gorephobia: No. It was all quite strange. Our last king died shortly after The Return was appointed as his advisor. After he died, The Return announced that the king chose him as his successor. Nobody really argued.

V: Okay, that explains a lot. But how come there are still dragons at the castle if they were banished?

Gorephobia: Ah yes, of course. After Geddy was bound to the walls of the castle, it was discovered he missed a child. An egg. It hatched and served the king as long as he was in control of the castle. It senses it's father, mother and of course, Grandfather-

V: The devil.

Gorephobia: Yes. It sensed them in the walls. Dragons are strange creatures. They do not need intercourse, or even another creature to have childen. Regardless of sex they just lay eggs with babies inside. But each dragon can only lay one egg in it's life.

V: Interesting.

Gorephobia: So now you understand. Only this sword is powerful enough to kill him. This sword has the power of hell behind it and though he is not a child of Geddy, it will still destroy him.

V: So now what? I just go and kill him?

Gorephobia: What? Oh. Erm. I don't know. I only know what you've told me. I suggest you speak to the priest about that. But first, why not settle in. You may be here for a while. I'll behappy to put you up as longas you pay your keep. Meet some of the locals. It's a nice little town.

V: I think I might. But I can't stay here. Not with your father. I'd be in the way. I'll stay at the local inn.

Gorephobia: Okay, it's your choice. It's just down the road.

V: You know what, I've just realized. I have no idea what this town is called.

Gorephobia: Oh. It's an odd name. The Island is called Horror.

V: How nice.

Gorephobia: This town has an even weirder name. It came about after the destruction of Geddy when the town was at it's worst because of Papillons curse. It's called, Hope Death Comes. But most folk round here only use the first letters.

V: Okay. Well, I'm off to explore Hope Death Comes.

Gorephobia: HDC.