A/N: Hey everyone, normally I leave author's notes for the end of chapters but this time I'm putting it at the start because I don't want to break your immersion. I started working on this chapter immediately after posting chapter 9. So for the past 11 days, I've been writing nonstop. I had fun but I'm exhausted now so I'm going to need to take a little break. This chapter concludes the first arc of the story, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Also, I'm going to be adopting a new approach to my writing. Before I was posting chapters as they were completed but I want to be at a point where I can update regularly. So I'm going to write several chapters ahead before posting anything. This way I can give myself a buffer if I have to stop writing due to school or work and I can take more time to edit and avoid any inconsistencies in my writing. Of course what this means for you is that you'll have to wait a little while until the next chapter, but when I am posting again you'll see releases coming out more regularly. I want to thank everybody who has supported me thus far. Aragon365 and WhiteWolfWhispers you two especially, you guys have been my rocks throughout this process. I hope we continue having a great time together and that this little fanfic that started with a handful of vague ideas ends up becoming something really great. Anyway, I've talked your ear off enough, please read and enjoy and as always leave a review telling me what you think I love to hear from you all.
The Day of Dousing
The cheers from all sides of the of the throne room threatened to deafen Mello's finely tuned musician ears.
"I can't see anything can you?!" He tried to scream at Byorston.
"WHAT?!" Byorston screamed.
"I SAID CAN YOU SEE ANYTHING?!"
Byorston with his towering figure saw well above the crowd. "SHE'S WALKING DOWN THE AISLE. I THINK SHE'S GONNA PASS THROUGH THE PORTAL."
"I CAN'T SEE A DAMN THING. I'M MOVING FORWARD!"
"MELLO WAIT!" Sherry yelled as she grabbed his arm. "THEY TOLD US NOT BREAK RANKS."
"NO ONE WILL NOTICE, EVERYONE IS FOCUSED ON THE EMPRESS."
Mello attempted to push his way through the crowd but he was sharply pushed back by the people in front of him. "Irvid aes schwen!" a Nilfgaardian man yelled before pushing him back into a window.
The force of the nudge caused Mello to lose his footing and fall through. He fell into the open air outside the palace walls. Just as panic began to consume him he felt something tug on his ankles. He looked up at the window from where he fell to see Byorston and Sherry had grabbed both of his legs.
"I thought I was a goner," he yelled.
"You still might be, help us pull you up," Byorston said.
"Damn you, Mello, I told you not to break the ranks," Sherry cried, "why don't you ever listen to me?"
"Hey, Sherry if I wanted a woman to nag me I'd go see my mother," Mello bit back.
"You know we can still drop you," Sherry responded.
"You're not gonna do that, you don't have the nerve."
"Hmf," she let go of Mello's leg.
He felt himself slip from Byorston's grip. "Ok, ok, ok, I'm sorry, I'll listen to you, please don't let me die!" Mello squealed as Byorston grabbed his other leg.
"You know Mello, it's a good thing you're not a singer, otherwise that mouth of yours would get you in trouble on stage like it does off."
"Hilarious Byorston, you should quit the drum and go into comedy."
Mello slipped a little in Byorston's grip. "OK, OK, OK, IM SORRY JUST PULL ME UP ALREADY!" Mello screamed.
"By the gods," Byorston said in awe.
"What?" Meril yelled.
"Look," Byorston said.
Hanging upside down Meril looked over Nilfgaard city hovering high up in the air was a gray transparent image of the Empress walking down the aisle upside down.
"That's really amazing and all but can we be in awe AFTER you pull me up!?"
Byorston pulled Mello back in and the three minstrels continued to stare at the grayscaled image hovering over the sky. Now properly upright Mello could see that the image was not in fact upside down but a perfectly right-side-up image of the Empress walking through the portal into Novigrad.
"It's showing what's happening right now!" Byorston said excitedly as he looked over the crowd to confirm.
"Amazing, how did they do this?" Sherry asked excitedly.
"Magic," Mello said, "I always knew magic was powerful but to think it could do something like this."
"How many people do you think are seeing this?" Byorston asked.
"Everyone in the entire city at least, that thing is huge," Mello said.
"Hey look over, in the countryside. I think I see another one," Sherry pointed out.
"You're right."
"Is this happening all over the empire?"
"I don't know."
"Wait, look, she's about to say something."
Through the sky-borne image, the newly crowned Empress raised her hand in a gesture of silence. The throne room went quiet as she prepared to speak.
"I'm not a great orator," she said with a magically magnified voice.
"Still if you would lend me your ears I would like to say a few words," she paused again, making sure she had the crowds full attention. At this moment the entire world was hanging on the edge of her words.
"I did not have to take this crown. I did not have to come to Nilfgaard and become a Princess. And I most certainly did not have to come and stand here today addressing the entire world. In truth, I would have been much happier living the life of a vagabond etching out whatever living I could as I wandered from one small forgotten village to the next. Though it may be hard to fathom, a life like that is more preferable to me than a crown and scepter. Despite that, I still made the choice to be here. I still made the choice to bear this crown and stand in front of you today. I did not do this for myself, I did this for you, for all of you. I have seen more than my fair share of cruelty in this world. I've seen children forced to subsist on dog meat because their parents were killed senselessly in war. Nonhumans burned at the stake to satisfy the prejudices of the ignorant and the fanatical. The corrupt and powerful, growing fat off the misery and exploitation of the weak." She paused, giving her words a moment to marinate.
"I am no fool, I know a great deal of the misery I describe was caused as a result of a war that Nilfgaard started. I'm as much a victim of it as anyone else in the north. My own homeland of Cintra was raised to the ground in the first war. But the simple truth of the matter is that all of that is in the past now. The era of the sword and axe is over. The time of contempt has passed. A baptism of fire has spread across these realms and now it is up to us to rebuild from the ashes. The third northern war ended five years ago but its countless scars still litter the land like pockmarks after a plague. We must do better, we must become better. It's true, a great deal of suffering happened as a result of Nilfgaards wars, but as a result, we've reached a stage where such tragedies can never unfold again. As of today, both the Northern and Southern realms stand united under a single banner. Gone are the days when Kings would needlessly sacrifice their citizenry over petty squabbles. Gone are the days of trade wars and tariffs that always cripple the most vulnerable in society. I know we cannot simply forget the series of tragic events that brought us to this point. But the truth is, we genuinely have so much to look forward to now. At this very moment, this ceremony is being transmitted and projected via megascope across every major city on the continent. All the way from the capital in the South to Kovir and Poviss in the North. I know many of you, especially those of you who are followers of the Eternal Fire bristle at such brazen use of magic but open your minds to the possibilities for a moment. Imagine if everyone, not just mages were able to communicate using megascopes. No longer would anyone have to send letters over risky long distances in order to stay in touch with loved ones. Today, I crossed the twenty-thousand-mile span between Nilfgaard and Novigrad in the blink of an eye using giant portals which will be made available to everyone. Just imagine the implications for trade between these two portals alone. Imagine what can be done with an entire network of them. Earlier last year, a cure for the Catriona plague was developed by a Sorceress and now millions of lives will be saved. Miracles, true miracles are on the way now. And these are not miracles brought on by gods or some mystical flames. These have been brought on by people, men and women of all races and nationalities working hard for a better tomorrow. And you can all be a part of it. I believe that every person regardless of race or nationality has something good to offer others. If we could all learn to look past our biases and give each other a chance then we can build a better world for everyone. I can provide you with the means, but do you have the will?" She paused again. The entirety of both the throne room and the Temple were dead quiet. An intangible heaviness filled the air as the Empress took a deep breath and said the final words.
"I would like to believe that you do. And it is because I believe so that I am going to take a bold step forward." With an elegant flourish of her hand, the portal connecting the Imperial throne room to the Temple of Eternal Fire retreated backward, revealing for all to see the artifact for which the temple was named.
"People who worship this fire, this so-called 'Eternal Fire' believe that it protects from evil but that is a lie, a complete and utter lie. This fire does not have the power to protect anyone from anything. If it could then it would have warded off the Katakan that was attacking people in the city a few years ago. Additionally, corpse eaters regularly plague the city's sewers, and just this morning there was an incident where a young man was attacked by a host of specters. And yet, people still continue to worship this flame and as a result fanatics and corrupt tyrants are able to abuse that faith in order to persecute the innocent. All for what? For the sake of a bowl of burning oil and a centuries-old myth. I say this ends now. I aim to bring for an era of peace and prosperity. The age of enlightenment that I strive for cannot be born until the age of superstition dies. As such, I hereby announce and execute my first official decree as Imperator of the Nilfgaardian Empire. By the absolute power vested in me by Nilfgaardian law, I do hereby declare this occult artifact known as the Eternal Fire to be retired."
She pointed her right index finger upwards, and with one circular flick, a portal opened above the flames. An intense rush of air swept through the temple as the portal sucked the flames in. First, the flames raged, then they spiraled, and began to grow thin as the portal consumed it. In another moment the flames were reduced to mere flickers. From flickers, it went to sparks. From sparks to embers, until finally the Eternal Fire, the legendary sacred relic that had protected the great city of Novigrad since its founding, was no more.
The projected image in the sky faded away. Mello and his band stopped looking out the window and returned their attention back to the actual events unfolding in front of them.
"What now?" Byorstan asked.
"I suppose that's it then, we probably move on to the banquet now," Sherry answered.
The crowd was already beginning to murmur amongst themselves. It seemed that the ceremony was complete and that the feasting was soon to follow.
"No," came a loud cry that cut through the building din of the crowd.
"No," the cry repeated. It came from a man's voice on the Temple side of the portal. Mello immediately began fighting his way through the crowd, he recognized the voice that the cry belonged too. The Nilfgaardian nobility that he aggressively pushed aside cursed at him in their foreign tongue but he didn't care, he had to see this.
"No, no, no, NO! THIS WAS NOT THE DEAL! THIS WAS NOT WHAT WE AGREED!"
Mello managed to break through the front lines of the crowd just in time to see Hierarch Hammelfart charging at the newly crowned Empress.
From his narrow view Mello could make out the guards readying their weapons but the Empress raised her hand ordering them to stay their blades. The Hierarch lunged at the Empress who deftly sidestepped his assault with the grace of a dancer.
"YOU LIED TO US! YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD LEAVE THE CHURCH IN PEACE!" the hysterical Hierarch bellowed.
"What I promised you was that none of your followers would be harmed and that the church could still continue to operate. Both of which are promises that still stand."
"Still stand? How can we be the Church of the Eternal Fire without the Eternal Fire?" the Hierarch angrily croaked.
"That's for you to puzzle out," she said coldly.
"Witch! You bloody horrid, half-bred witch. I should never have allowed this. I should have had you killed the moment you set foot in Novigrad. I should have had you captured and burnt at the stake like all your degenerate nonhuman friends."
"You know it's because you put those friends of mine to the stake that I decided to do this today. You really have no one to blame but yourself," she said nonchalantly.
"There will be war for this!"
"And who will fight it? You? Redania's armies have been subdued and assimilated into the Empire's ranks, your Temple Guard consists of at most a few hundred men, and the Witch Hunters serve me now. Face it, your Holiness, your cult is done."
"AHH!" the Hierarch tossed a fist at the Empress. His effort was spirited but futile as she caught his punch by the wrist and twisted his arm around, followed by a swift blow to his crotch from her free hand. "That was for the puffins," she said before following up with a hard knock to the Hierarch's jaw.
"That was for Chappelle."
While her left arm kept the Hierarch's arm twisted into submission her right hand began to pool with energy. "And this is for all the other innocent people you've killed."
"No, what are you doing? Keep your foul sorcery away from me."
Ciri ignored him as she inched her glowing hand to his face. "I can't conjure flames the way a normal sorceress could, which is a pity because I'd love to see you burn the way my friends did. However, if I concentrate my power intensely enough it generates heat, not much heat, but enough to leave a rather nasty burn."
"No, no, NOOOOO!" the Hierarch screamed as his flesh seared.
The people in the crowd turned away in disgust as the Hierarch screamed in pain.
"Doesn't feel so good to be on the receiving end does it, your holiness?" She said as she tossed him down.
"You'll pay for this! The Eternal Fire will punish you for this!" The disgraced Hierarch cried as he clutched his burned cheek in agony.
"Look at the bowl old man. The Eternal Fire is gone, dead, and look what's happened. Absolutely nothing. No darkness has descended upon us, no great evil is stepping forward to blight us all. Do you want to know why? It's because there was never anything special about that fire other than how old it was. It had no magical or supernatural properties of any kind. It was nothing but an ordinary fire that had been burning for far too long."
"Spare me your lies witch. You know nothing," he screamed.
"YES I DO!" she screamed back, "we performed all manner of tests on that relic, there was nothing special about it."
"Lies!"
"Grab him," she ordered.
The guards moved in immediately to seize the disgraced Hierarch, pulling him up by his arms and exposing his burned face for the world to see. The Empress walked over to the bowl that contained the fire and motioned for the guards to drag the Hierarch along.
"Have a look for yourself old man, there is nothing here, nothing but hot oil and charred up bones. Wait a minute…why is there a skeleton in here? Did you toss someone into the bowl!"
"No never," the Hierarch protested, "we would never desecrate the sacred flame in such a manner."
"Then what is this?" The Empress reached into the bowl and pulled up a black object and raised it up high for all to see. The objected was covered in char and ash but it was undoubtedly the top half of a skull.
"Who was this?" the Empress asked, half questioning half demanding. She lowered her hand and turned her attention back to the Hierarch not noticing when her hand began to spark with magic.
"Your Imperial Majesty, ze skull," one of the guards pointed.
"Hmm," she raised the skull up again and examined it thoroughly. Suddenly, a great flash erupted from where the Empress stood.
"Ahh, what the hell was that?" Meril yelled as he rubbed the blindness out of his eyes. When he looked at the scene before him all hell had broken loose. People in the courtyard ran away in a screaming panic. In the center of the temple, he saw Ciri suspended in mid-air in a column of sorcerous energy. The energy spiraled upwards and flew straight into the black skull now hovering high above the bowl from where it was found.
"AHHHH" she screamed.
"Ze Empress is in danger, we must move," Morvran commanded, "Viscount Bernadotte coordinate with the guard to secure an escape route for ze Empress and take Lady LaVellete with you. Cynthia, you're with me, we must retrieve the Empress immediately."
"I'm coming with you," the red-haired women spoke up.
"This is a matter of Imperial security Merigold, there is no need for Kovir to get involved."
"To hell with Kovir, my little sister needs my help."
"Suit yourself but do not interfere," the General said before ordering the two guards in the corners. "You two, see to it that our guests leave safely. Come now sorceresses we must go."
With no time to waste the General made his exit leaving Meril behind.
"What should I do?" Meril thought.
"This is clearly a problem that's magical in nature. This is supposed to be the very thing I'm trained to handle. Should I act? But nobody asked me too, and I have no idea what's going on. Witcher's should never raise their swords unless there's coin involved, that's what Otto always said."
"Zis way everybody, we will escort you out safely, you too vatgern," the Nilfgaardian soldier said as he began directing everyone out of the box.
"That's right she has armies and mages at her disposal she'll be fine without me there's no reason I should get involved."
"AHHHHH!" more screams erupted from the crowds. Hooded wraiths with long rusty swords exploded into the courtyard. Before he could blink the ghost decapitated a woman in front of her screaming children.
"DAMMIT I CAN'T IGNORE THIS!" He reached into his satchel and in a flash, he pulled out his silver katana. With the fury of an animal possessed he launched himself from his seat and through the front window.
As he fell through the air he held his sword overhead and swung it down hard on a wraiths head as he landed with a roll. The impact of falling one story to the ground passed right through him thanks to his expertly timed roll, and without losing a single beat he was back on his feet. He ran straight for the wraith that had decapitated the woman and was now raising his sword against her terrified children.
In the blink of an eye, he intercepted the ghostly blade, and with an expert flourish cut straight across the specters neck. The creature vanished instantly. He looked behind him to check on the children, wide-eyed and paralyzed with fear. "RUN!" he barked.
Without checking to see if they were listening he ran to the next victims. One was a nobleman who had a rapier in hand as he attempted to fend off a wraiths erratic attacks. Meril quickly dispatched the specter while it was occupied with the nobleman.
"That won't do you any good," he said to the nobleman, "these things can only be killed with silver."
"Very well, in that case, I'll ahhhhh" the nobleman screamed as a specters sword emerged from his chest. A wraith had suddenly materialized behind him and stabbed him in the back.
"Dammit! Grahhhhh!" Meril cursed as he drove his own sword through the nobleman to get to the wraith behind him.
"You stabbed me," the nobleman croaked as the wraith dissipated.
"The wraith stabbed you first, I just made sure it didn't get away with it."
"Heartless muuutaant," as the nobleman's breath left his body Meril pulled his weapon out, now slick with the blood of a human.
"Focus Meril focus, you didn't kill him he was already as good as dead, now focus. I count one, two…more then ten wraiths in the courtyard, people scrambling, guards already trying to get a handle on it. Blood flying through the air. Wait, blood?"
Streams of blood flew through the air as if being sucked in through an invisible straw. Meril noticed one of those streams coming from his sword. The blood of the nobleman he had just run his blade through was lifting away and flowing towards the skull as it lit up in a column of magical energy. The blood spiraled around it as if in some sort of ritualistic dance. Other bones floated up from the bowl to join the skull. First, a lower mandible, followed by vertebrae, then a series of ribs.
"I don't know what that thing is but whatever it is, it's using blood magic to put itself together. I gotta get to it before it finishes."
Sword in hand he ran straight towards the rushing pillar of energy. "That power is coming from Ciri and going straight into the bones, it must be draining her, shit my medallion won't stop shaking, I've never seen this much power at once. Gotta cut it off."
Within moments he was upon the centrifuge of mixing forces. Air and blood rushed past him violently as he approached the rising plume of light. There floating in front of him hung the Empress. Her head was rolled backwards as her mouth hung open. Her screams filled his ears. Desperately he reached a hand out to her only to be promptly burned the moment he made contact with the energy surrounding her.
"Your Highness! Can you hear me?" he yelled.
"I CAN'T STOP!" she screamed.
"Give me your hand!" he yelled.
As if fighting invisible bonds she gritted her mouth closed and tried to reach out to him, he reached out again and again was rebuffed by the force surrounding her.
"Dammit, I can't get through. Hang on I'm gonna try something." He stabbed his katana into cracks between the Temple's floor tiles and then crossed his hands in the sign of Heliotrope.
"Normally heliotrope is only good for creating small barriers to deflect spells, but if I focus the energy and shrink the coverage to just my left hand it should create a barrier that's just dense enough too…got it."
His left hand glowed a bright blue as he thrust it forward into the green light. His hand felt like it was reaching into a furnace. The dracanid leather glove he was wearing disintegrated within seconds and his skin began to peel away. Still, he persisted until finally his hand met hers and with all the strength he could muster he pulled her out. The moment she was out the pillar blinked out of existence and she landed on top of him with a thud.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Tawny Owl," she whispered.
"What?"
"Tawny Owl," she groaned.
"Are you crazy? That's an extremely toxic substance, it's not safe for anyone besides Witchers and…sorcerers… right I forgot about that. Hang on."
He rolled her over onto her back. Her eyes were closed, she was passing out. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a vial with a purple liquid inside. "This is my last vial make it count."
He uncorked the bottle with his teeth then poured its contents down her throat. Her body convulsed rapidly as her eyes shot open. The veins in her face and neck bulged blue for a moment before returning to normal.
"Better?" he asked.
"Much," she answered as she pointed her hand to the now nearly fully assembled skeleton.
"Andal skamina," she chanted. Nothing happened.
"What in the blazes. Andal skamina!" she repeated the words to no avail.
"Hieren vich aes hen ichaer," still nothing.
"What's wrong?" Meril asked.
"I think that thing drained my powers," she said with panic rising in her voice.
"Dammit, alright I'll have to do this the Witcher way then," he said as he reached for his sword.
"Wait, your hand."
He examined his left hand, moving his fingers caused him incredible pain and parts of his skin were burned away revealing the exposed pink dermis beneath. "It's just a second-degree burn, it looks worse then it is."
"You can't fight with that."
"Of course I can," he said as he reached into his satchel. "I just need a little…swallow."
He promptly uncorked the bottle and poured half of its contents on his hand and drank the rest. The alcohol and the toxins burned but the wounds began to close and scabs quickly started to form over the exposed skin. "I'm going in," he declared as he grabbed his silver sword.
"Don't try to be a hero, just hold it off until reinforcements arrive."
"A thousand crowns," he said.
"What?"
"A thousand crowns that's my price for killing this thing."
"Are you serious? You're negotiating a contract now of all times?"
"Do we have a deal?"
"Fine, we have a deal now don't do anything…" he ran off before she could finish speaking, "stupid."
Sword in hand he ran straight towards his prey. The skeleton was now fully assembled and slick with all the blood that it had been collecting. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a small orb-like object flowing along the streams of blood.
"Is that an eyeball?"
His suspicion was proved correct when the object flowing on the bloodstream lodged itself in the left socket of the skull. The organ twisted around in the socket as if screwing itself into place before steadying and looking dead ahead straight at Meril. The witcher stopped short and took a defensive stance unsure what the skeletal creature was about to do next.
"I think I get it now, it's using the wraiths to kill all the people around so that it can steal their blood and organs to pull itself back together."
Flesh began to attach itself onto the skeleton in bloody patches. Muscles began to shape around its bony arms, a heart flew into its chest cavity and began beating with an iridescent green glow. It raised a half fleshed arm and with a single swipe summoned five wraiths that surrounded Meril on all sides. He took a fast swing at one of them, but it faded out before his blade could make contact, and then faded back in with an accompanying flurry of sword strikes that he struggled to parry. While he was thus occupied the other wraiths lunged at him.
"Come on, remember what Otto taught you. Deflect the attacks that are fatal, sponge the ones that aren't."
He danced like a whirlwind, trying to evade their attacks. Silver and steel clashed and clinked as he rushed to keep his guard up. Their blades poked holes in his jacket but didn't break through his layer of chainmail. The concussive force of the stabs made keeping his footing difficult as he narrowly managed to avoid a swipe to his head.
"I don't have time for this." He formed the sign of Yrden and tossed it down. The sign's glyph appeared beneath his feet and began shooting tendrils of electricity in the direction of his enemies.
"That should keep them occupied for a minute."
He cut his way out of the wraiths clutches and made a beeline straight for the source of all the chaos. He thrust his hand into his satchel and pulled out a dimeritium bomb.
"Only got one, better make it count," he tossed the bomb. The combustive arced perfectly towards its target and seemed ready to make a direct hit when suddenly it raised a semi-fleshed arm up and caught it as though it had simply been tossed a ball. It wrapped the bomb in layers of sinuous muscle tissue before crushing it. The resulting explosion was contained in a ball of ensorcelled muscle that frayed and turned gray before dropping off the skeletal hand. That same skeletal hand pointed its bony index finger at Meril and a small vortex of blood began to swirl around it, forming into a spear-like point that shot at Meril like an arrow.
He barely managed to step out of the arrow's path in time. The projectile exploded on the stone tile and caused a large dent with cracks that spread several inches. As Meril took quick stock of the attack's impact he noticed a tear in the chainmail just above his left hip. "That attack only grazed me but it still managed to cut through steel chainmail. If I get hit with one of those I'm done."
He barely had another moment to think before his enemy prepared three more bloody arrows. "Shit," he cursed as he threw up the sign of quen.
The arrows blasted his shield reverberating the thin bubble he had cast around himself and threatening to shatter his guard with every blow, but he stood firm. The moment the barrage was done he dropped the shield and ran. With one deep breath, he took a massive leap and swung his sword overhead. The sword came down hard on the center of the fiendish creature's skull.
The world came into perfect focus. Time slowed down as felt the force of the impact flow through his arms. Just as the elation of landing a solid blow was beginning to fill him it was replaced with horror as right before his eyes a crack formed across the edge of his blade at the exact point where it made contact with his enemy's skull. The crack spread across the tang of his weapon and like a crushed twig it snapped. The top half of his sword flew backwards and lodged itself in his right shoulder. He landed on the ground face first, lodging the sword in his shoulder in even deeper.
"Ahh," he screamed as he struggled to get back to his feet. From behind him, the creature descended to the ground. Its skeletal form was now covered head to toe in stolen meat. It resembled a man that had been flayed after being starved for several months. More blood and organs continued to flow into it as wraiths continued to slaughter people in both the temple and palace.
Fighting through the pain, he gripped the half of the sword blade lodged in his shoulder and forced it out. The moment the blade was free, the blood from the wound immediately began flowing towards the creature, adding to the flesh that it had stolen.
The still sharp edge of the broken sword cut his exposed and injured left hand, while his right gripped tightly on the handle of the splintered bottom half. He stared his enemy down, the skinless man approached him slowly as long claws began to form on its hands. It had two eyes now, one brown, the other blue, both dead. Makeshift weapons in hand he charged. With all the fury he could muster he slashed, cut, stabbed and tore. Doing everything he could to strike his enemy down. The silver caused the monster's flesh to burn but every wound he inflicted healed immediately as the creature drew in more blood from the surrounding carnage as well as Meril's own wounds. In one last desperate rush, he thrust his weapons into its chest. Smoke rose from the burning meat but his blades did not pierce further.
"Dammit, why won't you die?" He let his weapons go and formed the sign of ixii with his right hand. His right hand sparked with electricity as he aimed one last desperate punch the skinless man's flayed face. The muscle fibers crackled beneath his fist as electricity coursed through it until finally it faded leaving little more than a burn on its exposed skinless cheek. As electricity faded so too did the last vestiges of Meril's strength.
"Dammit, that was my third time using ixii today. My body's done."
As he began to collapse to the ground he felt a hand on his throat. It squeezed hard on his windpipe as it hoisted him up above its head. He could feel the claws on its skinless hand digging into his neck, threatening to tear his throat open. In its other hand, the creature readied a spike formed of solid blood.
"What are you?" the young Witcher gasped.
Through gritted skeletal teeth the lich uttered three words as he drove his crimson spike through Meril's stomach. "I am…Deathless."
"And on the 5th of Birke in the year 1277, the newly crowned Imperator of Nilfgaard Cirilla Fiona Ellen Riannon, had in exercising her Imperial Authority elected to retire the occult artifact known as the Eternal Fire. In doing so she incited much sedition from forces both supernatural and mundane. This day, known by the common folk as 'The Day of Dousing' marked the beginning of the Black Winter War."
-Nilfgaardian Imperial Annals Volume XVII:
The Cirillian Era