AU Novelisation of Baldur's Gate. Part 2 of 3. Reunited, the two siblings find themselves somewhere else, lost but not alone. The second part of Left Behind, written back in September 2011.
The darkness… the dream… a city; how did I get here? Imoen… not here right now. Must look for… something. What was it? Don't remember. A thief in the night? Yes. Caged. Must find the key. He has it, the masked one. He won't give it up, never give it up. Another way… yes, pick the lock… a thief. Many thieves in a city. Masked ones, shadows… where to find? Ships. Imoen said so. Where? Docks… ships at the docks… thieves? The key. Yes. There… an apple thief. Follow him…
Where am I? Alleyways… darkness. Night. The hunters… they feed… on thieves? Why? Men… no, a mask; monsters veiled in flesh. Life stealers… like the dark one. His eyes are worse. Pale, pitiless… hers are death, black. Death. He is death; does he know it? He lacks awareness… dead inside. Drawn to death; gathers it around him; she watches, waits… more alive, desperate… clinging. He feels nothing, empty inside. He does not know he is dead. Mockeries of life. Masks…
Thieves… like rats. Flee the darkness; fight the tide in the alleys, their homes. Prowl the night… losing bit by bit. Driven back… hunted. They cannot beat this foe… their darkness is lesser; darkness cannot defeat dark. Night… is less black than these… Monsters… drinkers… live for blood…
Blood.
The skull. Mocking. Silent. Always here… watching. Is it mine? I am its? Part of me. I am death…? Born of death. Darker than the hunters… It draws him, my darkness. Power. He seeks power. Death… is power. Power greater than his own. Power to fill the emptiness… his sister, the dark one, craves power, craves life. He… does not.
Floating. Unfocused. Dreams…
The thieves search for this place. For the hunter's nest. They cannot bear the light. The sun. No, more than that. They cannot stand what they once were. Living. They hate the living. Light… is life. Am I light? Do I… live? The darkness waiting within… blacker than all the hunters. They hate the light. They rule the night… do I rule the night? No. I am… something else. Something… darker. Above… this. He… he thinks himself above this. He… is wrong. He is… mortal. Less than mortal, more… but not like me. Like… us. Imoen. …Is she night? No… her life… holds darkness within, the skull, like mine. We… caged. He caged us. He wants our might.
Murder.
We are born of Murder.
He seeks to take it from us. To murder us.
Clarity; vision clears… power is… light? Life? Death… Murder. No. That is what the skull thinks. What the skull wants us to believe. Life… is strength. Murder… is theft. Life stealer. Without life… there is no strength, no light. Thieves… lose because they have forgotten the light. The hunters… have lost the light. He… has no light. I… we, are worse.
The skull watches.
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