You Are Forgiven

The party, still triumphant after the well fought battle without injuries, was pulled to the pocket plane. Cespenar, for once not noticing Sarevok appearing, was fussing around Peri. Peri's face was very pale and streaked with tear stains. She was shaking and staring at Sarevok.

- "Peri! What happened?" Imoen rushed to her.

- "I met the solar... don't worry..." Peri answered, her eyes never leaving Sarevok.

- "Sister. Has the creature harmed you somehow?" Sarevok asked. He did know that the solar was one of the most powerful beings in existence next to the gods themselves, but still the mere idea made his blood boil, his hand unconsciously reaching for the hilt of his blade.

- "No... we need to talk... but the challenge! We must fight another challenge," Peri said, her eyes wild.

- "Are you fit to fight?" Anomen asked with concern. "Perhaps we should rest a bit..."

- "I am fit to fight as I ever was," Peri said, gripping the arms of Imoen and Sarevok. "We will talk later," she said to them and led her group for the new cave-like opening, forgetting to give them her usual instructions. They followed, a bit concerned.

The scene facing them made all the veterans of the Sword Coast gasp. Sarevok, wearing his spiky armor and wielding the blade. Only the height and the hue of the eyes from behind the visor revealed that it wasn't Sarevok, but Peri. The mage Semaj whom Imoen, shivering, personally remembered slaying stood there, as did the corrupt mercenary Angelo, and Tazok.

And Tamoko. Her astonishing beauty and grace, her exotic gear. The thin, curved blade of her ancestral katana. She looked dangerous and elegant at the same time, as breathtaking as she had been the first time Sarevok saw her, and was instantly smitten. He stared at her with his eyes wide.

- "Look at me! See yourself as you would have been, had Gorion taken Sarevok instead of you!" snarled the Peri in the spiky armor. "Look at me and know that I despise you and resent the ease in which you lived. I would have given much for a home and a father such as Gorion."

At this point Peri heard Sarevok's involuntary sob.

- "I shall not allow you to exist. Stop me...if you can," growled the Peri in Sarevok's armor, her voice flat with hatred, menacing. And then all of them attacked. There was not much to do but to fight back, and hard.

Tamoko flashed her blade at Sarevok, who did not try to defend himself. He dodged the blow halfheartedly so that it cut him and drew blood. The pain from the wound made the pain crushing his chest a bit easier to endure. So suffocating... Tamoko was deadly, agile and fast, and Sarevok only retreated, crying, parrying inefficiently and getting more cuts.

- "Sarevok! Why don't you fight!" shouted Imoen who had noticed what was going on.

- "I... Tamoko... just kill me," he whispered, dropping his blade and dropping on his knees. She advanced, but Imoen's spell trigger knocked her back, holding her momentarily. Imoen wasted no time but cast Otiluke's resilient sphere on Sarevok. For the rest of the battle the large man just hugged his knees inside the sphere, apparently catatonic.

Then the battle was over, the phantoms dead. The sphere protecting Sarevok was worn off, but he made no move.

- "Bro, dumb... it wasn't really Tamoko. You should know that this place is full of mind games," Imoen said gently. Sarevok noticed it was the first time she had called him brother without venom.

- "It... it looked just like her... I couldn't hurt her... any more..." he whispered, bleeding from the cuts, not noticing.

- "Yes, they know how to play those games well," Peri said. "And I must say, the armor still looked ridiculous." But Sarevok was still too deep in his anguish to answer with a grin or mock-indignation.

The dizzy group returned to the central area of the pocket plane, and this time both the solar and Gorion were greeting them. Gorion looked like he had in his life, but was glowing. He was smiling gently.

- "Gorion!" Imoen shouted, then glanced at the solar. That was enough to convince her it was the real Gorion this time.

- "This is a family matter. You will have some privacy," the solar said, and all the three siblings were teleported into a tiny space, a glittering cave of sorts, with Gorion.

The girls hugged the old sage deeply. He squeezed back fiercely. Sarevok stood cautiously, looking at them, bleeding and crying.

- "Where I am now, I am as happy as a soul can be, save having to see my children suffer," Gorion spoke. "You have both been so brave, fought so hard, not only survived, but resisted the taint of your sire."

- "And that is who he is," Peri nodded. "You are the father, always were."

Gorion nodded, then glanced at Sarevok.

- "Someone else had a different kind of father," he spoke in a very pained voice. "Watch..."

And then he let the vision flow before the eyes of both the girls. The flight from the priestesses, the cold and horror of the streets. Little Sarevok, always so afraid, always so angry, his divine sire giving him the false succor and promises. They saw Reiltar, felt Sarevok's very fear of death by his hand, the horrible pain and anger caused by the beatings. They felt how Sarevok shattered inside when he found his mother murdered, the gripping, shredding horror of it so much like the one they had felt when Gorion was slain. And how Bhaal had leapt into that void. How the madness burned in Sarevok's veins, how he was slain.

Imoen ran to Sarevok and threw her arms around him.

- "Why didn't you tell me?" she sobbed, her face pressed against the broad chest. "I would have treated you much better..."

Sarevok held her shoulders.

- "I murdered your father. What else is there?" he said, barely daring to take a look at Gorion.

- "I never forgot the little boy I left dying," Gorion said. "I always worried what became of him... and at the moment your sword split me, I realized. You would have deserved a better life."

Sarevok walked to Gorion. Normally the humble gesture would have been next to impossible for him, but now that he did it of his own free will it felt appropriate. He knelt and bowed his head.

- "I beg your forgiveness, Gorion," he simply said, realizing that the sage already knew everything there was to know about the circumstances.

Gorion put his hand on his head.

- "You are forgiven. Aid my daughters, especially the dark one, be aided by them. There is a good man inside of you who you can grow to be."

The girls put their hands also on Sarevok's head.

- "Now is the time for healing," Gorion said. "You all will need each other against the hostile powers seeking your destruction." He started to fade away.

- "Will we see you again?" Peri asked, crying, gripping his beloved hand.

- "I don't see why not," the old sage smiled, leaving the drained siblings and retreating to the dimension he called home now.