Baldur's Gate Heroes #001
The young woman with shoulder length red hair had been given the name 'Imoen'. She did not know her true family name, for she had grown up an orphan. You would think it natural for her to want to know who her true parents had been and why it was they had abandoned her to be raised by strangers. In fact, never in her twenty years had she felt any such desire. She'd accepted her life the way it was and taken the surname of her adopted parents - Winthrop. It was a silly name and she didn't like to use it much.
But this place? It was a place unfamiliar to her. It seemed to be a factory of some kind, but manufacturing what? This machinery was unlike anything she had ever seen. At least she'd eluded the creatures pursuing her, for now.
She found herself in a room at the center of which was some kind of hexagonal console containing many buttons and displays, the meanings of which were way beyond her but were the only source of light she had at the moment. Across the floor, stretching from each side of the console, were thick cables attached to some kind of glass tubes filled with liquid.
Imoen couldn't see clearly inside them, but, could it be that those creatures… the ones that had come out of the shadows and chased her, those things that had the shape of a human, but the teeth, claws and savage instincts of beasts… could it be they were what was being manufactured here?
In the dark, she ran her hands across the cases for any clue and found what she believed were three initials – E L F?
Before she had time to consider if that might be significant in some way, she was startled by the lights. Someone had turned them on. Her grey eyes widened to far beyond mere surprise when she saw who that someone was. The woman standing at the door seemed like a taller, more muscular and fully figured version of the slender Imoen.
"Diana?" The smaller red head finally managed to say.
"Yes, little sister," the one called Diana graced Imoen with a gentle smile. There was much similarity in each of their outward appearances, but they had no idea if they were truly sisters. But, since growing up in the orphanage together they had always treated each other as such. "What trouble have you gotten yourself into now? What's the matter, aren't you pleased to see me?"
"Of course I am, sis. It's just that…" Imoen frowned. Something was very wrong here. She felt a block in her memory. "I can't remember how I got here… and there's something else about this that makes no sense… it's just… I can't say what, exactly."
"And so, as usual, it's up to me to put all the pieces together and get us out of this mess. Seems I spent all my life looking after you…"
Imoen remembered that. The orphanage could be a rough place and she was never exactly the physical type.
"Heh, you always were the smart one too," she said. "And strong, and brave… a real Wonder Woman. If you weren't my sister, I'd hate your guts."
"Truly? You feel that threatened by me?"
"Huh? Nah… I know you can't help being perfect."
"But you should feel threatened, little sister ," Diana said with a sneer.
"W-what?" Imoen still felt the block on her memory and continued to push against it. And now the sudden change in her sister's tone… true, they'd treated each other as sisters all their lives, even to the point of experiencing some sibling rivalry. Not that there was ever really any contest, Diana trounced Imoen at absolutely everything.
"You should have stayed at home," Imoen's perfect sister now seemed to be speaking through lips laced with venom, "you should never have tried to follow me… I've had to constantly watch you, protect you from enemies too great for a weakling like you to handle. All you've ever been is a nuisance!"
" No! " Imoen cried and sunk into the corner, shutting her eyes and clamping her hands over her eyes… as if she thought if she couldn't see or hear then it wasn't really happening. "You can't be saying these things… I-I helped you… I helped you find Sarevok…" Saying that name, the name of a man who had killed Diana's foster parent and for some reason wanted Diana dead as well, somehow it seemed it caused the block in Imoen's mind to start to crumble.
"Help me? All you ever did was hold me back and get in the way… it was because of you I'm…"
"You can't be saying these things," Imoen sobbed, the memories now returning. "You… you're…"
" Dead?" When Imoen opened her eyes, her sister was gone. In her place stood a decaying, grey skinned, fetid corpse. A very animated corpse, but a corpse nonetheless.
"And do you remember the others who fell that day?" The corpse that was once Diana said, her voice like a breeze. "Khalid… Dynaheir… all of us dead, because of you…"
"No… I… I tried to help… I really did…"
Imoen saw it now, that final battle. Sarevok, a true giant of a man even without blackened power armor. He was almost a god… bullets just bounced off him as he advanced. Imoen however had found his weakness. His armor was impenetrable, but only while it continued to draw energy from the city. All she had to do was sever the link and he would be made vulnerable… but she hadn't been fast enough. By the time she'd returned two of her friends had already fallen, and she was just in time to watch helplessly as her sister drove her sword into Sarevok's heart… but not before suffering fatal wounds of her own.
" Murderer! " The spectre before her in the present suddenly shrieked. Imoen felt boney fingers pressing against her throat and struggled desperately to escape. She succeeded in breaking the grip… she also found Diana's holster and rolled away with her sisters revolver in her hands. She arrived on her feet with the weapon pointed at the ghost.
"You're not her!" Imoen screeched. "Diana wouldn't do this!"
"Now, that's a big gun for such a little girl," the spectre said as it slowly advanced. "Better put it down before you hurt yourself with it…"
"No!" Imoen shut her eyes and pulled the trigger. She yelped as her own wrist was broken by the force of the bullet being expelled.
"Now that's going to leave a scar," the spectre put her finger through the wide open hole in her stomach.
"I'm sorry…" Imoen sobbed. Then, before her eyes, the scene changed. Her sister, the console and the tanks all vanished and she found herself in a cage. And outside there was a man… a bald man who was unfamiliar yet she knew she had seen him before. She knew he had a name.
"I-Irenicus?" She said weakly. Suddenly she felt overcome by pain throughout every part of body. Each breath she took ached more than the last.
"Pity, about your sister," he said, although if he felt any sadness it didn't show. He betrayed no trace of any emotion. "Her untimely death has meant I have had to revise my plans somewhat."
"W-what do you want with me?"
"Only that you find me, little goddess. Find me, or the nightmares will never stop."
"N-nightmares… goddess… I-I don't… understand…"
"You truly do not know, do you? You have no idea of the power you possess… perhaps your 'sister' was not so perfect as you imagined. She kept you in the dark about a great many things. But, if it answers you seek, then come. Find me, if you can. But now… it is time for more experiments…"
"No… n-no more… plea iiieee !" Imoen screamed as, with a single gesture from her captor the agony she was in reached new heights.
Then she awoke, her blankets drenched in her own sweat. But was Imoen really awake? She decided that she was, since she wasn't much of a philosopher and didn't often question the nature of reality. She just knew she was awake, this was her room, that was her pop music collection scattered over the floor and it was her exercise bike in the corner, which only ever found use as a coat rack.
Imoen lay back on her bed, but didn't dare fall asleep again. It had only been one year… but it felt like a whole lifetime ago now, since the battle with Sarevok. The others who had been with her at the time had gone their own ways.
Jaheira had been an old friend of Gorion's, Diana's foster father. She had made a promise to look after Diana and didn't hang around much after her death. Khalid had also been her husband. Imoen suspected there had been more to their purpose than met the eye… but the man from her dream was right, Diana kept her in the dark about much of what had really been going on.
Minsc was still in the city, as far as Imoen knew. He'd sworn to protect Dynaheir… now he hung around in seedy clubs fighting for money.
They'd all lost someone very important… but, well, you're supposed to just move on right?
A year ago, Imoen had been a hero and adventurer. That hadn't worked out, but she'd picked up what she had left and set out to make the best living someone with her skills and qualifications could.
And so, several hours later:
"Would you like fries with that?" She asked. Of course, the subtle trick all fast food restaurant employees learnt was how to ask a question that wasn't really a question. The customer was being told he will have fries. He had absolutely no choice when it came to fries. If you didn't have fries you would never fit in with the rest of society.
This customer, Imoen could see, was going to resist. He was going to try and go against the flow. She almost hoped for him to succeed, but, like all the others, he would be too weak to resist the brightly colored posters that had assaulted his vision ever since stepping in to Jansen Burger.
"Well… I, um…" He still fought? Imoen was impressed, but he wouldn't last.
"Yes?" She smiled brightly, utilizing a more subtle form of subliminal advertising.
"Yes… I guess…"
"You made the right choice," indeed, there was no point in trying to fight it. There was nowhere left on Earth where you could hide from the Really Big Corporation of America. "Have a nice day," she said through her smile as the customer left. A smile that quickly faded once he'd done so.
"I never used to have to fake being happy you know," she put her elbows on the counter. "Used to be a time when life was carefree and fun and I wouldn't let anything bother me."
"We all gotta grow up eventually," her co-worker, a man in his early twenties, commented.
"That's what being a grown up is? Just spending your whole life worrying about bills and rent and being forced to… to work ," Imoen spat out the word as if it was the most unnatural thing ever conceived by man.
"If you're not happy, you could always turn to crime."
"I did once. I've always had a knack for sneaking and getting around locks and security systems… it's probably the one thing I've ever been good at. But, I gave it up on conscientious grounds."
"What grounds were they?"
"Well, on the grounds that police carry guns."
"I wouldn't have thought you'd be afraid of a little danger… not after all the adventures you had."
"Me? Always been a coward. If there was ever any element of danger involved I stayed well away from it… I mean, I did what I could to help, but from a distance. Else I'd hide myself somewhere and wait for a chance to stab the bad guys in the back… not exactly noble is it?"
"Well, not everyone's got superpowers. Still, maybe you could still use your skills to fight crime?"
"Ha! Yeah, I can see it now… 'Halt villains! Or feel the wrath of the one they call… not very often…" At least Imoen still had her sense of humor. "Nah, that's all over… I'm nothing on my own. Besides, there's no money in it. Anything you find that's worth anything y'gotta turn in as evidence."
"I get it… you don't want to spend the rest of your life living under Diana's shadow?"
Imoen pulled her cap down, trying to hide the expression of guilt underneath. Was it wrong to feel this way? She'd loved Diana… but she could never be half the 'Hero' she'd been. And what made matters worse; Diana had died saving the world from a powerful villain. She'd died a martyr, taken from all of them at the height of their love, and now her heroism would be an eternal memory for all the inhabitants of Baldur's Gate. And because of that, there would always be expectations of Imoen… expectations she couldn't possibly meet.
Hell… Imoen had only been doing this job one week, having walked out or been fired from the previous eight. But if Diana had started working here, she'd be area manager by now. No, that was silly… she'd be head of the entire company and using its resources to fight evil. What a bitch.
"Hajimemashite," someone said… not her co-worker though. Imoen lifted her cap and stared over the counter. The man there stared through sharp eyes. He had long jet-black hair, goatee and moustache… he looked like the villain from some samurai movie.
"Er… sure," Imoen pulled herself straight. "May I take your order sir? Today's special is turnip surprise."
"I see," the Asian man rubbed his little beard thoughtfully. "And what is the surprise?"
"There's nothing in it, except turnip."
"I think not… I am not here to order anything. My name is Yoshimo," the man bowed. "Perhaps, you have heard of me?"
Imoen looked at her co-worker, who merely shook his head and shrugged. "Sorry," she said.
"Ah… well, if you had, perhaps my skills would not be in so high a demand. My… employer sent me to find you, with an offer of gainful employment."
"What kind of employment?" Imoen was naturally curious.
"A little re-location of assets, that is all."
"Sorry pal… I don't do any of that stuff. Got gainful employment right here."
"Indeed… selling turnips?" Yoshimo said, but the way his eyebrow moved said 'yeah, right'.
"What? It's an honest living… it is!" Imoen sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than the eyebrow. "And, it's not just turnips we sell. It's burgers as well… and we do a vegetarian burger too… which is made from turnip but is very good!" Actually it wasn't that good, and she'd never understood vegetarians who ate all this revolting mock-meat. Clearly, they were just suppressing a desire for the real thing.
"I have no wish to hold up your other customers," Yoshimo said, and pulled a card from his jacket handing it to her. "If you do become interested, you may contact my employer. Good day to you," he bowed once more and left.
"Sayonara," Imoen said. She meant to just throw the card away, but she took a glance and three initials immediately caught her eye. What the hell was this? Her nightmares were haunting her now, while she was awake?!
' Project ELF ,' she read.
"What's that? Some kind of environmental group?"
"Hey!" Imoen snapped the card away so her co-worker couldn't read it over her shoulder. "And no… I really don't think it is."
"Imoen," the two workers turned their heads at the sound of their supervisor. She was a middle-aged woman quite noticeably overweight. She was almost out of breath by the time she'd lumbered across the restaurant floor. Standing opposite her underlings, she thrust out what could only be assumed to be her hip, making sure everyone saw the bunch of keys dangling from her belt; the keys that symbolized her authority and great responsibility.
' Oh god ,' thought Imoen. ' Could I be looking at my own future? '
"Some kid threw up in the ladies room," she said through a sour, wrinkled face. "Need you to clean it up."
Imoen was out of that fast-food place faster than a super-model. She'd had no idea an honest living could be so… dirty. Astonishing, she spotted the man called Yoshimo still outside, but he was just getting into his car.
"Wait up you!" She yelled at the top of her tiny lungs. "Wait up!"
