The Mighty Belthazor

When he'd lost his grip on Phoebe and she'd disappeared, Bel tumbled backwards off the rocks. He lay stunned for a minute. Phoebe was gone. The Beast had taken her.

He was confused at first. Had he really seen Phoebe, or was it just some sort of hallucination so that he could finally let go and accept his death? But she had seemed so real to him.

A vanquished demon fell from the skies, leaving the glowing residue of its powers on the sands where it landed nearby. One of the Beast's tongues erupted from the earth and slithered toward it.

Bel stood up, just wanting it all over with now. "You don't want his powers, you want me!" he shouted. The Beast paused, torn between the two targets. "Here I am, come and get me! Come on, hurry up, end it!" Bel continued, challenging the Beast to devour him.

He moved forward, stepping into the swirl of energy on the ground. It swept upward into his body as the Beast's tongue lunged for him. Bel instinctively put up his hands, and energy shot from them, frying the appendage so that it writhed in pain and fled.

Bel blinked, staring at his hands. "This could be good," he said, looking up as another demon fell from the sky, creating another swirl of energy.

[ooc: NFB due to deadness.]

Bel groaned and opened his eyes. He pushed himself up and looked around in confusion, almost falling off the rocky cliff he found himself lying upon. The sky overhead was cloudy and red, and all around him were red rocks and sand. He remembered his friends showing up in the Underworld, how they fought him and trapped him, and how the Charmed Ones recited the spell that vanquished the Source. He'd been consumed by flames, and then there was . . . nothing. Until now. He had no idea how much time passed or where he was.

He heard a cry from somewhere far above. A rift appeared in the red clouds, and a form fell through it, transforming into a glowing cluster of energy as it hit the ground. Curious, and, well, having nothing better to do, Bel climbed down from the rocks to investigate. Before he could reach the cluster, the ground beneath it erupted and a long, pink, muscular appendage snaked from the earth, greedily sucking the energy into itself.

Bel then knew where he was. The Wastelands, where demons went when they died, their physical forms destroyed and their energies consumed by the Beast. So what the hell was he still doing walking around? He didn't have much time to ponder that particular question before the tongue-thing swiveled toward him. Bel instinctively tried to summon a fireball, but his hand remained empty. The Source was gone, and he had no powers again.

The tongue darted toward him and Bel scrambled backward, managing to climb back up on the rocks before it could latch on to him. Panting, he looked around. He might be able to run from rock to rock to keep away from the Beast, but ultimately there was nowhere he could go. He was trapped here. Forever. Phoebe, he thought despairingly.


[NFB due to, well, deadness.]