A hell it was indeed. First, that strange woman casually taking off her Source collar, then a blast, fire, smoke, blood and Voidwoken.
The witch's Source spell turned all present magisters into piles of gore and, as they grimly predicted before, lured Void monsters to the vessel. Sounds of crushed wood were heard above, suggesting something really bad had emerged from the sea waters.
Elane somehow accepted the bad turn of events as a given, not the first time she felt particularly targeted by all woe present in the world. Going down with the ship didn't seem like a bad prospect. Ironically, the bottom of the sea seemed like a far better place than this 'Fort Joy' they were heading to. But she was not alone on the ship...was she? Elane leapt over the flames and through the door to the shared chamber and saw that Sourcerers were spared. Well, almost all of them. The elven scholar was gone but no puddle of gore marked the chair he sat on. The elf scurried to wake the rest but no amount of shaking or screaming could rally them up. As they remained unresponsive, Elane decided to look for the missing elf and secure an escape route for the others.
However unexpected that was, she succeeded at both tasks. Highlighting, of course, that the elf she was looking for wasn't an actual elf but rather an undead wearing a face of her kin. All in all, after a brief chat she ascertained that this Fane is in no immediate danger. People below began waking up shortly after and, despite the undead's proposition to do otherwise, Elane returned to the now-flooded hold and helped anyone who was unable to walk out on their own. Everything was relatively under control until the last escapee boarded the lifeboat. Then, a rumble, a crash and a terrible roar of the sea monster and the ship was split in two with Elane trapped among the wreckage. A bitter feeling of déjà vu enveloped her as she was falling into the dark, furious sea.
It is just like the last time. Falling into the abyss, embracing death only to be pushed away. Indeed, there was a time when I yearned for death, I still do, yet now I know it is an unattainable dream. I am cursed. I was always told elven lifespan exceeded those of any other race yet I knew that blades, storms and fire could cut those lives short. I mourned my parents' death, but it was not sudden or dramatic. They were growing older, weaker, as humans do. Some said they lived a good life and so did I. They left everything for me, they prepared me for this. I grew so much from the time I was but a forest-dwelling urchin. Still, I was not ready. The realization of loneliness, of their absence, crushed me, as they were my everything. They were family. I could not picture myself without them. For who was I? What was I? These thoughts have driven me to a sea cliff. Far above the raging sea. Life was pointless, the world was pointless, there was no one I could turn to. And so I fell, down at the sharp rocks and roaring waves. And I awoke. Laying at the shore with clothes torn and wet, but I was alive. Cold and soaked, of course, a few seaweeds stuck in hair, but I was fine. No injury, no blood. I cried to the heavens. What were I? That shouldn't be possible! Why can't I just die…
And so she was laying on a shore again, looking to the sky above, unharmed.
Eventually, the extent of her curse became apparent. It was circulating in her blood. There was no wound she could not recover from. As long as she bled she couldn't die. Limbs and organs could be torn from her and still, they would turn into blood and regrow. Having no idea why, she assumed it was just her birthright. She suspected, at first, that it was the Source within her, but her abilities didn't disappear when the collar muted her. She was destined to a life of everlasting pain, for pain she felt as the limbs were torn or cut or crushed and regrown. She'd give just about everything to be a 'mortal' that strange elf called her.
Finally standing up she carefully scouted the horizon.
"Am I the only one who…" Her voice trailed off with a feeling of guilt.
Searching her memory for the blurry recollection of what happened right before the ship snapped in two, she was quite certain at least one of the pinnaces managed to safely lower themselves into the waves. Then, she felt into the roaring ocean and swirling masses of debris-
In a sudden jolt of panic, she moved her hand across her hair. The ornaments were still there, a sigh of relief escaped her dry lips at the miracle of them remaining intact. Those were the only things that anchored her to mental stability.
So, her mind snapped back to the glimpses of lightless, roaring water, there…was a voice. A voice she had never heard before. Her brows creased as she tried to remember the words, or even tell if the sound was a call of some unseen, lurking monstrosity.
She stood in the water ankle-deep as she pondered, mindlessly ogling the sea's surface rippling in the distance. It took her a while to pinpoint and recognize a strange blurred shape floating by as a person. She gasped and hurriedly dragged the body to the shore. It was Vermil.
He began coughing and spitting seawater as soon as he felt the air on his face. After a while, his breath steadied and his pale face regained color.
"Good to see you alive," the elf said while wringing her tunic.
"And vice versa. Where are we?" He asked, looking around. "Joy?"
"That is my bet, Braccus Rex's statue looms in the distance," she noticed, tilting her head in the direction of the mentioned statue.
"I thought the Divine Order would get rid of any of the traces of the Source King," he replied, surprised.
Elane just shrugged in answer. There were many things the Divine Order could do better. She took off, wandering further into the sunny isle. Vermil, soon up on his feet, followed.
The island itself was quite charming. The lazure sea grazed the shore gently. The sand was soft and warm and the greenery complemented the view. The only things clashing in this scenery were the wreckages of countless ships...and Voidwoken. Pale, insectoid-looking things must have followed them here. As the two emerged from behind a large rock and into a sandy headland they noticed these cursed creatures as they chewed on a dead magister's corpse.
Without a second thought, the elf leaped into action. Armed with a broken sword she had found while making her way out of the sinking ship, she pushed the blade, hilt deep, into the monster's trunk making it trash around in spasms. She heard an incantation, all too familiar, behind her and suddenly the other Voidwoken was enveloped in a swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. Soon the fight was over.
"I thought these bloody collars were supposed to keep these things at bay!" She exclaimed in frustration.
"Easy there," he hushed. "We should focus on finding others."
"You think anyone survived? Have you seen someone get to safety?"
"No, a wave turned the boat over, we all fell into the sea."
His tone was a grim whisper that suddenly changed into a hopeful, even cheerful one.
"But some of them could make it. The chances may be low but never zero. Now, better stick together for a while, watch each other's backs and so on."
"Seems sensible," the elf nodded and the two moved forward.
The ancient sandstone walls of Fort Joy finally came into view. Few magisters were pacing on top. The two escapees watched them from behind a thick bush, hidden, wondering what to do next.
"I think we should risk it and take a look inside the fort. We really have no other choice," Vermil pondered.
Elane tightened her lips into a thin line. She did not like the feeling of the place.
"You go. I will look around for a bit more."
"Not a fan of the crowds, are you?" he inquired.
"Precisely."
"Fine," he said as he stood up. "Just don't get yourself into trouble."
Elane waved him goodbye and wandered off in the opposite direction. She found herself tired and uncertain about what to do next, fighting clashing emotions. There was the feeling of overwhelming defeat that bid her sit in place and wait for whatever came next indifferently, and there was the tingle of excitement she hadn't felt in ages
She walked barefoot on the warm earth, felt the wind on her face and the warmth of the sun on her skin. She was, in fact, living, despite her strong belief that her heart stopped beating the moment her parents died. All her life she tried to be safe, and avoid pain and suffering as much as possible. However, adventure was calling. Being out in the wild already, she could use this chance to try and find answers about herself and the condition she was suffering from.
Following an unfamiliar path, she saw a shadow of a small creature run past her and into a curtain made from colorful vines hanging over a stone wall. They swayed faintly, disturbed by whatever ran through them, indicating a hidden passageway. Intrigued, she approached the vines and parted them with both hands. They obscured an opening in the rock; a small arch bathed in an eerie blue light emanating from fluorescent plants that found their shady home here. A few steps through this natural tunnel led the elf to an opening, a charming glade in the center of which she spotted someone.
Hunched over a corpse was a figure covered in cloth from head to toe. She creeped closer, wary and careful as to not o make a sound.
Meanwhile, the crouching creature was so occupied with pulling at the corpse's face they did not even notice the elf approaching.
"Bugger," a familiar voice breathed after another failed attempt of tearing the face free. "I wonder, does the beard act as some form of anchor..."
She leaned over him, her head being inches above the creature's cowl.
"Your wondrous mask is still gone?"
"Gah! No! Stay back! Don't-"
The ungodly scholar jolted away with his hands raised protectively, falling onto his back in the process. Elane only tilted her head in response.
"Oh," he said as he began to gather his composure and what was left of his pride. "I must admit, I'm surprised. Perhaps you're more buoyant than I suspected."
"Oh, I am full of surprises," the elf smirked, extending a hand to help the skeleton up.
Hesitantly, he accepted it.
"Undoubtedly. Most mortals I have encountered before greeted me with torches and pitchforks. You were civilized enough to not lunge at me the very moment you saw my skull. A remarkable indication of intelligence, really."
"What brought you to this damned island anyway? I thought you could 'walk to Reaper's Coast'?"
The skeleton sighed, heavily.
"I could indeed, but that endeavor would be rather short-lived, or so you say. It seems the human that stole my mask was rather more resourceful than I gave her credit for. I chased her here, but she rather seems to have 'given me the slip'."
He returned back to the body, prodding at its face.
"-and the idea of being chased across Rivellon by every idiot with a torch does not appeal."
"Why, it sounds like you need a body...um, a boneguard? You know, someone to keep those simpletons at bay," her own remark left the woman quite surprised, it's been a long time since she had the strength to joke out loud.
If Fane had eyes, he would have glared at her with the utmost contempt, but after a few minutes of thought, he nodded, finding logic in the proposition.
"Indeed, it might be...advantageous. I cannot simply sit about waiting for the rest of you to die so I may continue my business in peace. No, I might be an Eternal, but my patience has its limits."
Elane crouched nearby, her ears twitching at the sound of the word 'Eternal'.
"In fact, I may be the only Eternal. My people seem rather...absent. At least from this realm."
"An 'Eternal'? What do you mean by that?" Her gaze was fixated on his strange, angular skull.
He turned to face her, empty sockets weighing the risks of oversharing information with the strange woman. Still, he felt it would be quite difficult to deny her curiosity.
"We were a race that existed before the idea of 'race' was needed. I could ask you to imagine an Eternal as a creature of incredible intelligence and skill, but I fear the limits of your imagination would not do us justice. We studied the mysteries of the universe. We created works of great art. We-"
His tone broke mid sentence only to return with a pain that stirred a certain kind of understanding in Elane's heart.
"...we disappeared."
There was a longer pause, but when he spoke again the sound of a stern resolve rang in his voice.
"But I will find them. Wherever they are, I will find them."
"How come that you are still here if your people have vanished?"
The skeleton waved his bandage-wrapped hand impatiently.
"Well that hardly seems relevant but if you must know, I was...inconvenienced for a time. Several centuries, in fact. Or perhaps millenia...one tends to lose track. I was sealed in a tomb-"
The elf crooked her head, daring to interrupt. "That must have been quite a terrible death, no?"
The Eternal fell silent for only a moment, 'eyeing' her intensely.
"Do you really consider me one of your own?" He scoffed. "Your people are prone to death, mine are not."
"But you are rather…" She began, unsure how to bring up the issue of his lack of everything.
"Oh, don't start. How would you look after aeons in some ghastly crypt?"
"This is a surprisingly good question..." she murmured, then hastily added. "It is settled then, you can count on me from now on."
"Splendid, you seem more...at ease in this world than I. A guide would certainly be useful. Before we depart, do you happen to have a name or referring to you as a 'mortal' is enough?"
One brow raised, she got up slowly. "Elane."
Fane clasped his hands together.
"Very well, let's be off!"