A.N. Last chapter. Epilogue – likely tomorrow.
Will
„I need your help. Minsc, Imoen, Jaheira, Valygar, Anomen, Gooseberry, …Xan."
This place was her domain, an empty kingdom of Bhaal. She knew why she was here now – her torn spirit shared between her and Irenicus became a link that forced her to die when Irenicus died, and him to go where she would after death. It was a terrible fate – not to be dead nor alive, but it was not to last. This was to be their last battlefield and the victor would gain the only life she and the mad mage now shared.
Daria was here because of a link of soul, but there were other bounds she had and could use to call others. If she were to fight here she wouldn't do it among demons.
The fiends that gathered around her were now gone, banished by her will. The place was empty. And now she called.
Jaheira came to her side first, always the over-protective one, tending to her as to a child making its first steps in the world. The druidess smelled with a thousand or more herbs and Daria wasn't sure if any of them originated from the world they were born in.
"I saw Khalid" Jaheira greeted her with a slightly sad smile that quickly became her usual determined expression. "If you need me, child, I'm here for you."
Imoen appeared just like that, as if she'd been there all the time, inseparable like her sister's shadow. She looked completely the same as always, the good ol' Imoen, until her shilouhette flared with magical energies as she began preparing for the incoming battle.
"Let's give him what he deserves, sis" the mage girl said, her hair like a pink wildfire.
Minsc and Anomen came next, the two protectors, taking their places on her sides. The berserker looked refreshed, even though he must have came a long way from the place where warriors rest after their battles, Boo squeaking on his shoulder. Anomen's armor wasn't simply polished. It was shining as if reflecting the very light that that lit the Watchful God's realm.
"Let's kick some butts!" Minsc shouted unsheathing the squealing gleefully Lilarcor.
Valygar came alone, as befit a man who resented all magic, including the holy one. But there was no dark shadow dragging him down and no unspoken resentment as he approached. Despite hating magic he never disregarded the existence of gods and had his place after death. He stopped by Imoen's side.
"Helping you is not what I want to do after death as well in life, but since I'm here… I mean we're friends" the ranger quickly corrected himself when the pinkhead took a break from casting to step on his foot. "Friends help each other out."
She didn't notice when exactly Xan appeared in her father's domain, but he was there when already when everybody came. He waited patiently until everybody spoke their part before approaching her cautiously.
"I told you I won't leave you" the elf confessed quietly for once looking at her. She saw so much pain in his gaze it almost make her heart stop once more. A familiar presence stirred on the verge of her thoughts.
'Mistress' she heard Gooseberry calling her, the rat in himself appearing on her shoulder in a flash of magic a second later. 'Let me carry some of your tiredness…' At once she felt the heat feeling a little more bearable, her body relaxing.
"Listen, Irenicus is behind this gate…" Daria started explaining before realizing she didn't need to. Those people came to the depths of Abyss for her. No words were needed.
"Open the gate, child" Jaheira gently urged her. "Whatever's behind, we're with you."
The sun elf raised the Tears of Bhaal. Each began to glow, warm in her hands before suddenly splitting into two bright sparks. One of the spark from every tear melted into her skin making her feel as if deep roots began to grow into her flesh and bones, whether making her stronger or weaker she couldn't tell. The other five sparks rushed to the five eyes surrounding the final gate. The eyes closed surrendering the portal .
The mad mage himself stepped from the darkness, his demons behind him. Now he looked even more terrifying than the cold monster he was, her spirit tainted by murder influencing him like her blood changed her. As if half-way changed into the Slayer, most of his skin was covered in red scales, his limbs painfully twisted, but not yet overgrown with black spikes. What was left of his lips was frozen in a smirk since the moment he saw the group accompanying her, not as impressive as demons and devils surrounding him. Daria was not worried. She had her friends with her and even if he'd emptied the hells and Abyss from fiends to build his army, Irenicus was alone.
"We meet once again, Child of Bhaal" Irenicus somehow spoke, his voice unchanged despite his appearance, but not as empty as cold as in the dungeon where she heard it for the first time anymore. "This is the last time, no matter which one of us triumphs, there are no holes left to hide, no places to run."
"You will give back what you have stolen!" Imoen called angrily.
"I will have my revenge!" Jaheira joined her.
"Though I'm getting hoarse from battle-cries fighting this mage: it's time for the righteous butt-kicking!" Boo squeaked to add his part to Minsc's war cry.
"This is the end!" At the madman's command the infernal beasts rushed at them. Only their attack never came. With fury far surpassing one they approached the group of adventurers, demons and devils leaped at each other's throats razing each other's scales and drawing blood.
Daria cast a quick glance at Xan. Enchanter's brow was pearling with sweat from the first second of a battle.
"They're natively hostile… towards each other" he whispered with difficulty, his eyes set on the battlefield. "All they need is a push in the right place."
"For Khalid! For Dynaheir!" Daria waited no longer. Shouting their own battle cries her group fell upon the fighting fiends.
Irenicus' Fear was hovering low on its black leathery wings, its side bleeding from Anger's talons. It's face was familiar, closely resembling the woman Daria saw in her vision touching the Tree of Life. Yet this face was dead, like that of a statue, expressing nothing but contempt.
A vine sprung from the dirt twisting like a whip around one of the creature's ankles, bringing it to crash down on the ground surprisingly earth-like around it, touched by druidic magic. More vines sprouted from the mud and began to grow rapidly dragging the devil down, underground. The beast wailed with last ounce of strength coming from the panic, from what it was – Fear of one person that meant more than any other, a person that could hurt deeper than any weapon. Jaheira kneeled on the ground chanting, last screams of Fear dying out, buried.
Dragon-like Greed circled over the raging battlefield, swiftly dodging Imoen's magic missiles, coming volley after volley. It waited for a chance to strike patiently, as befitted someone with the ambition to attain godhood, to become everything it was destined to be. Sooner or later there would be a chance, a moment when the elves would let down their guard for a long enough moment, when the Bhaalspawn would forget caution for just one night in the wilds, when the drow would get desperate enough to ally themselves with what was once a surface elf. A chance to attack arose when Anger, wounded by Pride, began to trash around wildly, wreaking more destruction in already chaotic battle. It was stopped in its tracks when a berserker stepped in its way, throwing away his sword and catching the fiends giant horns barehanded, but the pink-head was forced to flee, losing Greed from her sight for a second. The foolish girl showed her back to the Greed – a mistake she wouldn't live to regret.
Taking care not to alarm its prey the fiend folded its wings and fell from the sky. A split second before landing behind the unsuspecting mage Greed thrust its paw through girl's back. She didn't even have a chance to yelp, claws of the other paw finding her throat instantly. The rush of a fulfilled hunt was overwhelming… until the victim vanished into thin air.
"Beware illusions" Imoen warned with a smile, a second too late, sinking her shortsword into its back.
Minsc clashed furiously with Anger, his hands closed on each of two giant horns on the demon's head, neither fighter willing to take even one step back. The impasse couldn't last long, but berserker's temper was even quicker to wane.
"Go for the eyes, Boo!" the massive man in full plate armor screamed, entering his berserk rage, head-butting the fiend. The horns of Balduran's enchanted helmet sent sparks in protest clashing with very real demon's horns, hard demon scull remaining undamaged. His armor shrieked in protest when Anger's claws tried to penetrate its magic defense, trying to find a weak spot. He wasn't going to be defeated that easily - it was a powerful emotion, a strong anger, born from one moment. The moment a beloved woman just left, without a goodbye, without anything. It was all his fault, but for there not to be even a single word told, no gesture. All the devotion and caring lost in an instant as if it never existed. No, this anger would not just go away.
"I know, Boo…!" Minsc answered, veins showing on his forehead, unable to overpower the larger beast. "We failed then, but we will not fail again…!"
The fiend climbed tried to use the advantage of height to gain some ground. It towered over the Rashemi feeling his resistance weakening, its maw coming closer and closer to the stubborn enemy who refused to step down. It almost felt it – the victory tasting like blood on its tongue. It opened its maw, unable to wait any more. Anger demanded blood to be shed.
Something sprung from berserker's pack just as it was about to sate this burning demand. Something small and unimportant, that shouldn't have been able to hurt the mighty Anger and yet it did. The demon roared terribly feeling sharp teeth biting into its red eye.
It wanted to shake it off, but the hold of his enemy suddenly wasn't so weak anymore.
"BOO!" the man shouted, the strength of his voice returning, no, doubling. Suddenly the berserker didn't feel that tired, he still had some reserves of strength, he should be ashamed! Boo with his little body was doing better than him! If this continued he would leave to find himself a better ranger!
"NO!" Minsc shouted, his muscled tensing like cords. The demons neck began to twist. "Minsc is with Boo and Boo is with Minsc! There shall be no other way!" The neck snapped, the giant body of a fiend falling limp. The ranger immediately came to pick up his animal companion.
"Oh, Boo, for a moment there Minsc was scared you don't need him to fight with demons." The struggle left its mark however and suddenly Minsc felt the ground nearing.
For a moment Valygar couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Bodhi wreaking havoc among the other fiends. The vampiress was dead, he saw her turning to mist, he knew she was staked and that meant she wouldn't return. And he was right, he realized when the undead beast came closer, evaluating him as a possible victim. While the demon closely resembled madman's sister it wasn't her. Eyes of Selfishness were green and very much alive.
But if it was looking and moving like a vampire then there was good chance that the way it attacked just the same. They all hated vampire's attacks. Being drained by a bloodsucker even a bit left one tired and no amount of rest ever brought respite. Only a priest's blessing could revive this lost strength. Fighting a vampire alone was foolish. He needed to wait for support.
Not far away Minsc snapped Anger's neck and sat on the ground to rest a second, checking if his pet hamster was alright. Valygar cursed seeing that the berserker became the target of the Selfishness, the creature that only did what benefited itself. Knowing that the only thing he could do now was strike without being covered didn't make him very happy.
He thrust his katana into the creature's back, trying at least to act stealthily. It didn't do him mach good, because the creature instantly whipped around and plunged its long teeth into his arm. Dropping the weapon from his weakening arm he drew an enchanted dagger from his belt into his left hand. The creature jumped back instantly, assessing the danger. It would not attack unless it had a high chance of victory. Seeing a bleeding ranger with such a meager weapon certainly qualified because it leapt at him again with predatory smile. Valygar simply lifted up his closed fist and whispered the activation word.
Power of the Ring of the Ram crushed the weakened fiend into the ground.
"Magic, huh?" the ranger glanced at a ring he wore, a gift he almost threw away the moment he received it. Daria certainly had guts to give him something as pricy without being afraid he'd get rid of it. But then again maybe it wasn't all that bad?
The only demon left was Pride, the fiend literally burning with red flames covering it leather wings and talons. So far no one was able to get any closer to it, even other infernals shunned the bright flame. Only Anomen didn't move from its path, the knight's eyes probably used to such bright light. He was praying as if oblivious to the large burning beast marching right at him. A gate opened and something brighter still stepped from it. Something, or someone – bright deva rushed at the stunned demon. The light of her sword quickly putting down the fires of Pride.
With growing fear Irenicus watched his demons falling one by one. For all their clashes and battles for the first time Daria saw on his face something other than determination and hate. He himself didn't fare any better against her. Every spell he summoned she dispelled even before it reached her. Every illusion faded into emptiness. It took less than a wave of hand to waste all his efforts of magic and she knew why. She felt it under her feet, the flow of this place – all the power was gathering around her. This was her domain and no matter how much he stole from her he was the intruder.
"Curse you!" words came between the incantations as he too began to realize what she felt all around her. He tried to summon a storm of meteors to burn everything around him since he couldn't harm her directly, but that also failed when on her call the air froze turning the powerful invocation into a harmless steam high above her head, joining the grey clouds that were the sky of this plane.
"No! You will not have victory! Not a filthy Bhaalspawn!" Having no more way to attack he threw himself at her, Slayer's talons gaining length the moment he gathered up the rage.
Her palms moved to the rhythm of a spell she never used before almost without the use of will. Daria didn't fear that Irenicus would get to her. Instantly before her appeared Anomen, lifting his shield and taking a defensive stance, Minsc running past them to thrust his sword through a deformed half-mortal half-avatar form. Anger flared in pale eyes of the mad mage, but suddenly his arms weren't listening to him paralyzed by a powerful enchantment. He looked with pure hate at a purple-clad mage reciting the verses that held him in place. A step away. The cursed Bhaalspawn was but a step away. It was a step he couldn't take, vines crawling up his scaled ankles, rooting him to the ground. Pink magic blinded him for a second and he felt another blade trying to pierce his back.
"You…" Irenicus choked. He looked at the one before him, the thorn in his side, the puppet he thought he could easily manipulate and hurt. He should have killed the moment he got hold of her in the dungeon…!
Those calm silver eyes. He stared into them knowing that the spell she just finished would end his life, but he had no strength left to curse her. Her friends stepped away from him. He didn't see the sky open above his head.
A Hellball, sphere consisting of every element she could evoke bound together in a silver cage if her will fell on the mage with the force that made this entire world shake in its base. The clouds dispersed at its passage, showing at last the jade green sky and the heat of this realm yielded, frost covering the ground from the epicenter, in a second the entire floor becoming covered with ice. For a moment nothing happened, but then a stream of light surrounded the sun elf, a heavenly light finding its way to this dark realm. Daria felt the wound in her chest closing, the warmth returning – something she didn't feel for so long she almost forgot how it was to be whole. The trembles of the word stopped and peace settled under the green firmament. It was a victory.
Her friends were gone now, hopefully waking up somewhere safe in the living word, but she felt something yet unfinished here, in this twisted realm.
The white feather she found when entering Bhaal's domain was now glowing gently in her backpack, it's light sinking through the material. The moment she took it into her hand Daria felt a warm overwhelming presence – closeness of its owner.
An angel dressed in color of a setting sun landed gently before the elf, her magnificent wings glowing with the light of last moments of a day, her skin dark blue as the dusk. It was her face Daria caught a glimpse of during her trials. She had one more judge.
"Why did you come to the Abyss, angel?" Daria addressed her directly. She was worn out, just too tired for any more tests or games. She couldn't take even one more riddle.
"I am here because of you." Angel's voice carried a distance to it, even though it was spoken so close. Daria knew what it meant. Before her stood just a messenger and truth to be told, the message was no surprise. She was the cause this hell existed. One of many causes.
"You are a child of a god and yet the gods cannot interfere with your fate" the angel continued. Her face was gentle and yet her words weren't pleasant. Daria felt as if she was born into the word opposing such beautiful creatures. "Your choice is your own – that is the sacred law – the decision of the Hidden One. Yet your will was taken away, it was split and the gods intervened. Rillifane Rallathil, Labelas Enoreth… Cyric. I am here to make amends and still – I can do nothing. This is the law. I offer something neutral – knowledge. Know that here, with your soul united your power rivals an immortal. In here you can make a choice and this choice will become a truth."
Daria looked into the bright eyes of an angel trying to decipher any deception they could hide. Her hand slowly wandered to the black pearl on her necklace.
"A choice only for yourself, Godchild. You do not hold power over other's fate more than any mortal. As long as the blood of Bhaal courses through your veins you can choose where to direct your power.
Daria looked once more at the realm she inherited. The adrenaline of the battle wore off and the familiar weakness settled in her muscles. That seemed to be the only thing she gained after struggling with Irenicus for so long – tiredness. From the beginning it was a defensive war – she was struggling not to lose the things important to her and there were fewer of those every day. In the end she won, but why did it felt so much like a loss? Could she tell Khalid and Dynaheir that she won? Could she look Imoen in the eye and say that she was glad that they went through that all? She would lose more, in time she would lose it all. All her friends, every place she would name her own, her very spirit was just one more thing she could lose. She almost lost herself. In the end all would be better if her friends were able to go their own ways. Anomen, Valygar, Minsc… Even Xan. They had places they could return to, destinies to fulfill. It wasn't too late. She didn't steal all of their future just yet.
Facing the angel once more she smiled. It felt like a long time since she did that last.
"I want to be free" she said.