Chapter 3
Ah yes, finally finished. Maybe this chapter`s not as good as the others, but working in telemarketing sucks all your imagination out. Maybe Ill do 4...
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" So it has finally happened", the deep voice said, " no matter how good they are in their hearts, it always catches up to them. Such is the way of my children, my brood. No matter how much they fight me, my will, MY essence, they cannot escape what they are. You cannot escape, my offspring, you are me and I, you."
Darkness
Seth tried to force his eyes open, but a blinding light assaulted him. He felt himself floating in nothingness, he was neither hot or cold, light or dark. He was completly balanced, neutral. " You have drifted a long way from me, Sethanial, yet now I draw you back", said a beautiful voice in his head, " I saw the power build in you, ready to be sculpted. I thought that turning you to my magic would divert you from this path, but I underestimated your father." An unseen hand caressed his cheek, " their is pain in you, murder in you if you look for it. But do you the have will to look away and say no more, enought."
" Mystra," he screamed,"do not abandon me."
Yet he was alone, lying on a cold stone floor. He opened his eyes once more, and no light assaulted him. In fact there was nothing bright that he could see. Everything was a shade of grey, the stone walls surrounding him, the cot, the bucket. Even his robes, once red and blue, were now a dull grey.
" By the gods, what has happened", he muttered. He tried to stand, to cry out, but a wave of dizziness hit him and his knees gave out. His hands went out in front of him, stopping him from smashing his face, but then he saw the claws before him. " What have I become", he screamed rushing to the waste bucket. His reflection in the murky water was a horrible mockery of his face, his teeth replaced with two row of fangs, his eyes a pupiless blank. And always everything was gray.
" Mystra, how dare you do this; to reveal yourself as my benefactor and then leave me as this...monster." He crumpled against the wall and wept. And slept, the dream coming back once more.
Their was a scale, and he knew it was him. Two weights, one black and one white, were on the two scales. Bhall, Mystra. To let the scale dip into darkness was to lose himself, to give in to his Fathers will and become a murderous beast. To let the scale dip into the light was to lose himself, to deny who he was, to become a blank slate. For most of his life, he had let light hold strong against dark. But then dark grows in power and waits for a sign of weakness to lash out. This was not the way. He had to retain balance. His soul depended on it.
And on that third day, he woke. He had yet completly recovered, but he managed to crawl to the bars of his cells. He found, to his dismay , that he had not changed, that he was still this creature. He crawled over to his food bowl, eating the grayish meat ( he did not want to think about what kind of meat it was ).
"So you decided to wake up", a voice said down the hall, " we feared you were to be in eternal sleep."
" I wish I was, paladin", he muttered.
Minsc, whose cell was next to his, tried to see Seth. " You gave Boo a scare when you became that beasty, Seth. Boos too proud to admit it, but the wet spots in my pouch prove me right."
Someone pushed him out of the way, " hush up, will you. Give him a moment of peace. Are you all right, Seth ?", Jaheira asked, " you had a moment of weakness is all, perfectly understandable given the circumstances..."
" It was a moment of weakness", Seth yelled, " I did not slip my guard."
He stood and paced his cell, his anger dispelling any dizziness he had left, " Do you not understand. I cannot deny who I am anymore, I will not hide from my father anymore."
" Surely you will not embrace the evil that is within you, Seth. You must fight it, not give in, " Keldorn said.
" This is not a disease I am fighting, this is part of who I am, to deny it is to deny myself. I know that your code of honour is against this way of thinking, Keldorn, but this is the only way to save myself."
" Or destroy you", Jaheira said, anger in her voice, " do you think this is only about you, mage. We were the ones fighting for our lives against the monster you became, it was we who had to subdue you. This thing within you does not only alter you, Seth, but also the ones who care for you, who... love you."
" You are right," Seth said after a long pause, " many people have suffered because of who I am, and I have hurt all of you. Imoen, my sister, because of me, Irenicus has stolen your soul, Keldorn, because I have seperated you from your family far too long. Minsc, because of me your witch, Dynaheir is gone, and Jaheira...Khalid." He felt tears form in his eyes.
"I...I have been shelfish," he said, clearing his throat," I am not alone in this struggle. I am not the only one who has payed a price." Even as he said this he looked at his misformed claws and he knew it was the price he paid for trying to conquer this on his own, for keeping his pain inside.
He did not know how long he was on his knees looking down at his altered hands ; his companions had gone of to bed, and all around him the prisoners of the Illithids settled down to rest, all but one. A lithe hand reached from the cell beside him and held his claw, caressing it. Seth tried to pull away, not wanting anyone to see how monstrous he was, but the Jaheiras hand held strong. " Gorion once told me that no man is a mountain", Jaheira whispered, " will you spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself, because of your appearance."
" Perhaps you are right, it is not like me to wallow in self-pity."
" You are still the youthful boy I met in the friendly arm inn, no matter how much you have changed."
" What of you, Jaheira," Seth said," you have suffered as much, if not more, than me. Are you still the strong proud woman I met back then."
" I try to be, I have to be. I believe, as all Druids do, that life is a cycle of birth and death, of rejuvination. I did not allow myself to die with Khalid, I went on, to be reborn. To maintain balance, I had to leave Khalid behind. I know that this sounds harsh..."
" Perhaps to a younger Seth would think so, but with experience comes wisdom, and I see now you are right. I seek to find inner balance within myself, to find a medium between the darkness which is Bhaal and the light, which I believe is myself, Sethanial, born of Maya Shajis, a man born of woman."
" You see the scale...", Jaheira whispered, and she felt his hand tighten on hers.
" I know that when this is over, when we escape and I find Irenicus, when all threats my heritage poses to the ones close to me is delt with, that I will cease this life of battles and conflict, because I will never find balance, and happiness, if all I see is death and suffering. I want to settle down somewhere quiet, live a life of reflection and thought." He took her hand in both his claws, " And I want you to be there with me, because I now realize that I cannot live without you, that the feelings I have for you cannot be repressed, even if that means that I put you in danger. I want to take you somewhere where all is right, everything is how it should be, and I want to spend my life there, however long it may be."
There was quiet then, and Seth feared that he had scared her off with his outburst of emotion. But he did not feel her hand slip away from his grasp.
" There is a grove I tended as an apprentice druid", she said, excitment in her voice, " far away from Orcs and demons. I had never seen more peace and balance, nothing was out of the ordinary. I would spend hours sitting naked under a waterfall in quiet meditation, I would watch as the cougar stalked an elk. I never felt so complete, Seth, so fufilled. It was the happiest days of my life, and I longed to go back, even when my duties pulled me far away. I want to show you this grove, the giant willow tree, the seaside cliffs, the raging river, I want to take you by my side and nurse you until you are whole again."
" And I want to erase all the pain you received because of me, all the sorrow I caused. How I wish to be beside you right now, to feel warmth, to stare into your almond eyes, thought they would be nothing more than a dull grey."
He pulled his claws away and retreated into his cell, " Someones coming",
he whispered. Heavy footfall echoed down the hall and prisoners retreated into their cells. It was one of the Illithids slave owners, flanked by two ogres. They stopped in front of his cell, and with an unspoken command, one ogre opened the cell door. Seth growled and flexed his claws, ready to tear the things throat out. But suddenly he felt a soothing hand touch his cheek, thought he was alone. " Mystra", he whispered. The ogre charged at him, ready to knock the weakling unconscious. Seth was the quicker and he rolled aside and opened a portal behind him. Seth knew that the Illithid cell was surrounded by magical glyphs that stopped him from teleporting out of the cell. But this portal was not ment for him. Seth rolled behind the ogre and tripped him with his staff. The ogre fell forward into the portal, which closed after it. The Illithid floated calmly into the cell and began to blast Seth with psionic blasts. Seth was knocked back by the blast, but still had enought force to finish his spell. A portal opened over the Illithid and the ogre came falling out. The Illithid had just enought time to react before all four hundred pounds of stinking Ogre fell on it. Blood sprayed everywhere as the ogre fell on, then throught the Mind-Flayer. The Illithid was unhurt, if a bit bloody, standing in a neat circle cut into the Ogres chest, just big enought for the Illithids scrawny frame. Seth was running out of the cell, but the second ogre drove a fist into Seth chest. It was but an ounce of the creatures strength, but it was enought to drive Seth into the wall. A water pail came whistling from anothere cell, catching the ogre in its grinning face. The thing was further disoriented when a swarm of small insects began to bite at him. " Run, Seth", Jaheira screamed.
" Not without all of you", he said as he got back up. He threw himself at the reeling Ogre, his claws crackling with electric energy. He grabbed the ogre and discharged the spell, which sent the beast toppling back. Anothere blast hit him from behind, and he spun to face his attacker. A soft wimper drew his attention. Jaheira was frozen, floating a few feet off the ground, her scimitar pressed against her throat. " No", he said, holding his hands out, facing the Illithid. He kneeled down, his staff before him. A blow hit him in the back of the head. And then their was darkness.
Love holds no place in the underdark. Those who care for any others than himself usually end up dead as well.
Ah yes, finally finished. Maybe this chapter`s not as good as the others, but working in telemarketing sucks all your imagination out. Maybe Ill do 4...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
" So it has finally happened", the deep voice said, " no matter how good they are in their hearts, it always catches up to them. Such is the way of my children, my brood. No matter how much they fight me, my will, MY essence, they cannot escape what they are. You cannot escape, my offspring, you are me and I, you."
Darkness
Seth tried to force his eyes open, but a blinding light assaulted him. He felt himself floating in nothingness, he was neither hot or cold, light or dark. He was completly balanced, neutral. " You have drifted a long way from me, Sethanial, yet now I draw you back", said a beautiful voice in his head, " I saw the power build in you, ready to be sculpted. I thought that turning you to my magic would divert you from this path, but I underestimated your father." An unseen hand caressed his cheek, " their is pain in you, murder in you if you look for it. But do you the have will to look away and say no more, enought."
" Mystra," he screamed,"do not abandon me."
Yet he was alone, lying on a cold stone floor. He opened his eyes once more, and no light assaulted him. In fact there was nothing bright that he could see. Everything was a shade of grey, the stone walls surrounding him, the cot, the bucket. Even his robes, once red and blue, were now a dull grey.
" By the gods, what has happened", he muttered. He tried to stand, to cry out, but a wave of dizziness hit him and his knees gave out. His hands went out in front of him, stopping him from smashing his face, but then he saw the claws before him. " What have I become", he screamed rushing to the waste bucket. His reflection in the murky water was a horrible mockery of his face, his teeth replaced with two row of fangs, his eyes a pupiless blank. And always everything was gray.
" Mystra, how dare you do this; to reveal yourself as my benefactor and then leave me as this...monster." He crumpled against the wall and wept. And slept, the dream coming back once more.
Their was a scale, and he knew it was him. Two weights, one black and one white, were on the two scales. Bhall, Mystra. To let the scale dip into darkness was to lose himself, to give in to his Fathers will and become a murderous beast. To let the scale dip into the light was to lose himself, to deny who he was, to become a blank slate. For most of his life, he had let light hold strong against dark. But then dark grows in power and waits for a sign of weakness to lash out. This was not the way. He had to retain balance. His soul depended on it.
And on that third day, he woke. He had yet completly recovered, but he managed to crawl to the bars of his cells. He found, to his dismay , that he had not changed, that he was still this creature. He crawled over to his food bowl, eating the grayish meat ( he did not want to think about what kind of meat it was ).
"So you decided to wake up", a voice said down the hall, " we feared you were to be in eternal sleep."
" I wish I was, paladin", he muttered.
Minsc, whose cell was next to his, tried to see Seth. " You gave Boo a scare when you became that beasty, Seth. Boos too proud to admit it, but the wet spots in my pouch prove me right."
Someone pushed him out of the way, " hush up, will you. Give him a moment of peace. Are you all right, Seth ?", Jaheira asked, " you had a moment of weakness is all, perfectly understandable given the circumstances..."
" It was a moment of weakness", Seth yelled, " I did not slip my guard."
He stood and paced his cell, his anger dispelling any dizziness he had left, " Do you not understand. I cannot deny who I am anymore, I will not hide from my father anymore."
" Surely you will not embrace the evil that is within you, Seth. You must fight it, not give in, " Keldorn said.
" This is not a disease I am fighting, this is part of who I am, to deny it is to deny myself. I know that your code of honour is against this way of thinking, Keldorn, but this is the only way to save myself."
" Or destroy you", Jaheira said, anger in her voice, " do you think this is only about you, mage. We were the ones fighting for our lives against the monster you became, it was we who had to subdue you. This thing within you does not only alter you, Seth, but also the ones who care for you, who... love you."
" You are right," Seth said after a long pause, " many people have suffered because of who I am, and I have hurt all of you. Imoen, my sister, because of me, Irenicus has stolen your soul, Keldorn, because I have seperated you from your family far too long. Minsc, because of me your witch, Dynaheir is gone, and Jaheira...Khalid." He felt tears form in his eyes.
"I...I have been shelfish," he said, clearing his throat," I am not alone in this struggle. I am not the only one who has payed a price." Even as he said this he looked at his misformed claws and he knew it was the price he paid for trying to conquer this on his own, for keeping his pain inside.
He did not know how long he was on his knees looking down at his altered hands ; his companions had gone of to bed, and all around him the prisoners of the Illithids settled down to rest, all but one. A lithe hand reached from the cell beside him and held his claw, caressing it. Seth tried to pull away, not wanting anyone to see how monstrous he was, but the Jaheiras hand held strong. " Gorion once told me that no man is a mountain", Jaheira whispered, " will you spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself, because of your appearance."
" Perhaps you are right, it is not like me to wallow in self-pity."
" You are still the youthful boy I met in the friendly arm inn, no matter how much you have changed."
" What of you, Jaheira," Seth said," you have suffered as much, if not more, than me. Are you still the strong proud woman I met back then."
" I try to be, I have to be. I believe, as all Druids do, that life is a cycle of birth and death, of rejuvination. I did not allow myself to die with Khalid, I went on, to be reborn. To maintain balance, I had to leave Khalid behind. I know that this sounds harsh..."
" Perhaps to a younger Seth would think so, but with experience comes wisdom, and I see now you are right. I seek to find inner balance within myself, to find a medium between the darkness which is Bhaal and the light, which I believe is myself, Sethanial, born of Maya Shajis, a man born of woman."
" You see the scale...", Jaheira whispered, and she felt his hand tighten on hers.
" I know that when this is over, when we escape and I find Irenicus, when all threats my heritage poses to the ones close to me is delt with, that I will cease this life of battles and conflict, because I will never find balance, and happiness, if all I see is death and suffering. I want to settle down somewhere quiet, live a life of reflection and thought." He took her hand in both his claws, " And I want you to be there with me, because I now realize that I cannot live without you, that the feelings I have for you cannot be repressed, even if that means that I put you in danger. I want to take you somewhere where all is right, everything is how it should be, and I want to spend my life there, however long it may be."
There was quiet then, and Seth feared that he had scared her off with his outburst of emotion. But he did not feel her hand slip away from his grasp.
" There is a grove I tended as an apprentice druid", she said, excitment in her voice, " far away from Orcs and demons. I had never seen more peace and balance, nothing was out of the ordinary. I would spend hours sitting naked under a waterfall in quiet meditation, I would watch as the cougar stalked an elk. I never felt so complete, Seth, so fufilled. It was the happiest days of my life, and I longed to go back, even when my duties pulled me far away. I want to show you this grove, the giant willow tree, the seaside cliffs, the raging river, I want to take you by my side and nurse you until you are whole again."
" And I want to erase all the pain you received because of me, all the sorrow I caused. How I wish to be beside you right now, to feel warmth, to stare into your almond eyes, thought they would be nothing more than a dull grey."
He pulled his claws away and retreated into his cell, " Someones coming",
he whispered. Heavy footfall echoed down the hall and prisoners retreated into their cells. It was one of the Illithids slave owners, flanked by two ogres. They stopped in front of his cell, and with an unspoken command, one ogre opened the cell door. Seth growled and flexed his claws, ready to tear the things throat out. But suddenly he felt a soothing hand touch his cheek, thought he was alone. " Mystra", he whispered. The ogre charged at him, ready to knock the weakling unconscious. Seth was the quicker and he rolled aside and opened a portal behind him. Seth knew that the Illithid cell was surrounded by magical glyphs that stopped him from teleporting out of the cell. But this portal was not ment for him. Seth rolled behind the ogre and tripped him with his staff. The ogre fell forward into the portal, which closed after it. The Illithid floated calmly into the cell and began to blast Seth with psionic blasts. Seth was knocked back by the blast, but still had enought force to finish his spell. A portal opened over the Illithid and the ogre came falling out. The Illithid had just enought time to react before all four hundred pounds of stinking Ogre fell on it. Blood sprayed everywhere as the ogre fell on, then throught the Mind-Flayer. The Illithid was unhurt, if a bit bloody, standing in a neat circle cut into the Ogres chest, just big enought for the Illithids scrawny frame. Seth was running out of the cell, but the second ogre drove a fist into Seth chest. It was but an ounce of the creatures strength, but it was enought to drive Seth into the wall. A water pail came whistling from anothere cell, catching the ogre in its grinning face. The thing was further disoriented when a swarm of small insects began to bite at him. " Run, Seth", Jaheira screamed.
" Not without all of you", he said as he got back up. He threw himself at the reeling Ogre, his claws crackling with electric energy. He grabbed the ogre and discharged the spell, which sent the beast toppling back. Anothere blast hit him from behind, and he spun to face his attacker. A soft wimper drew his attention. Jaheira was frozen, floating a few feet off the ground, her scimitar pressed against her throat. " No", he said, holding his hands out, facing the Illithid. He kneeled down, his staff before him. A blow hit him in the back of the head. And then their was darkness.
Love holds no place in the underdark. Those who care for any others than himself usually end up dead as well.