Raenir - I thought I was prepared, forging out into the wilds with my handful of friends. I thought we were stronger. I had learned much from our previous adventures. Yet we had never dealt with overwhelming numbers. We had always chosen our battles carefully. Fleeing when required and pursuing when appropriate.
I had planted my feet next to Danin as a show of solidarity, but that show of solidarity turned to foolishness as he fell under the first round of heavy blows. I was shaken, seeing him hit the earth so quickly. Though, I managed to stand under the strength of these Orcs, I was shaken and failed to wield my sword with any effectiveness. The rapier was so unfamiliar in my hands after using a much heavier longsword.
I anxiously looked toward the wagon as it continued to move along the road. I couldn’t leave Danin, but also knew that I wouldn’t be standing for much longer. As it was, the next rain of blows laid me low, sending me to darkness escaping the pain.
A final blow brought me back to blinding consciousness as a dark shape stood over me and then moved off. It punched through my armor and tore a hole in my gut. Memories flooded my head amidst the pain, while my heart slowed, beating heavily, emptying its contents on the surrounding earth.
I exhaled.
I inhaled.
My open eyes, though blurred by death, saw beauty. Platinum hair and a coiled body: E'sVa'tou. Angelic could be a word for it, but the glimmer in her eyes bespoke a sinister quality that I had failed to see earlier. It wasn’t my tendency to equate that beautiful things can also be deadly.
“Do you wish to live?”
I babbled, disconnected, even if thinking clearly.
“Yes.”
There were so many things left unfinished.
“I can bring you back. However, you will owe me a favor. Is that acceptable?”
I tried to move, tearing at the thoughts and urging them to move faster. I knew there was a choice to make, but I knew I had to speak carefully. If I could?
“Would this,” I paused, unable to call forth any moisture to wet my lips, ”favor disgrace me?”
“Oh no.” Though blurry, she gave me a hurt look, with an exceptionally charming half smile, “Why would I do that?"
I was confused. Memory wasn’t coming from this body. The sparks of intelligence weren’t firing through this dead mass. Everything was coming from something channelled from very far away. Each thought took time to pull together.
“I accept.” It was a deal with the devil, but a devil that had recognized my potential. Either face extortion by Sig, or choose a different path. I still had to face the consequences either way.
“It will be done. You will lose the ability to breathe soon, but only for a while.”
Perhaps this would put me in a place to learn more, since the rest of the party seemed unwilling to investigate the world like I wanted to. E’sVa’tou, I could tell, was hungry for knowledge, and, for now, our goals were aligned. Who knows… maybe there was a chance to change her ways, make things better for everyone?
It was a foolish thought … no one ever changes. Allying myself with an outsider like her seemed characteristic for the bad decisions I had made in the past. Accepting one’s fate can make bad decisions easier to swallow. You go with what you know, after all. The thought was darkly humorous, to the point that my face twitched into a smile at the thought. A smiling corpse? It seemed very appropriate for a bonded dead man.
There were others in the room hemming and hawing as the deal finalized. I wondered who knew of this deal, but then ceased to care. The conversation moved away from me and above my head again. I took the final breaths feeling the magicks wane and my eyesight fade to pin pricks before the suffocating darkness engulfed me again.