Percy stepped into the forest. It was cold and silent and bathed by the night's shadows and the falling snow. A lot of memories traversed his mind with every step he took. He had once run through here, trying to save his own life when he was little. Those times seem very far away now.
He passed between two huge trunks that were in the middle of falling creating a sort of gate.
He stopped seeing something move between the shadows.
"Are you trying to scare me Davy?" He said rolling around and finding what he was looking for.
In front of him with a huge bony smile there was a terrifying visage. A devil made entirely out of bones with mosquito-like wings spread to both sides of his body. His fingers were extremely large and had sharp claws at the end and his legs twisted and bended in inhuman ways almost appearing to be broken.
Percy didn't really pay much attention to these details. He kept certain to have the devil's tail at sight at all times, he had tried tricks with it before. Their new contract didn't restrain him from that.
"That's not my name either." The monstrous creature answered with a raspy and deformed voice, his red eyes focusing on the human.
After invoking the second pact of Ipkesh's contract he had been given command of some lower devils for 1 month to use as he pleased. He had gotten to put some "emissaries" of Dispatter in places that he rather he wouldn't have, but that was just another error that would eventually be solved.
He had asked for the devil's name but none of them had the desire to share that information, so he had been guessing every time he saw them ever since. Eventually he had made a deal with the devils themselves, one month being not enough. It was a terrible deal and Percy was now sure that he probably owed his soul to at least five different entities. Bollocks.
"Well, it shall be for the remaining of this discussion since you insist on appearing where you can be seen besides my clear instructions to not do just that." Percy said. "So, we'll both have the pleasure of being mildly annoyed through our conversation."
The devil, Davy, breathed heavily making a grumpy sound.
"Come on now, did you get what I asked for?" Percy asked.
"Yesss." Davy answered with a hiss and giving him a tiny box with a rune on the bottom.
"I trust it wasn't a big deal travelling to the feywild to get this."
"No, though I did have to present myself to some of the fellas in the other side." The devil grinned and a little blood flowed from his mouth.
"Yes, you apparently never get tired of acquainting yourself with the locals wherever I send you." Percy sighed.
"I got what you wanted." He growled.
"I got what I ordered, and you obeyed as by your contract." Percy said upping his voice. "Do not forget who you serve, you may have a claim in my soul but I could kill you right now if I so desired."
"Hhhmmm, someday." Davy replied backing a little.
Percy caught Davy's tail retracting slowly but surely through the white snow.
"Be gone now." He said. And with that the devil disappeared in the dark leaving no mark of his presence.
"Did you enjoy the show Abaddon?" Percy shouted to the trees in no direction in particular.
A greenish creature much smaller than the other, with a barbed hide and a reptilian tail jumped from tree to tree and landed in front of him without much trepidation.
"I do am sorry to intrude in your private matters my lord." The barbed devil said. "I was in the right place at the wrong time I believe."
The creature smiled a hideous smile and bowed eloquently.
"All of you seem to enjoy pissing me off." Percy stated. "I recall telling you too to not let yourself be seen."
"No one is watching my lord, I made sure of that, so do not worry." The devil replied. "And i'm sorry, but that is not my name either."
"What a shame." He sighed and put the little box in his bag. "Please tell me that you brought the answer from the Slayer's Take."
"I did as you requested, though it was difficult to convince them to listen to me and not kill me on sight." Abbadon answered at the same time he gave back to Percy a parchment with the guild sign and a letter from himself. "Lady Cyndrial ended giving me the location of this Temporal Drake that you desired to find but she asked to tell you, and I quote, that *you are crazy if you try to go hunt it or even just try to enter the damned place, and that you should get yourself better messengers. *"
Abbadon proceeded to give him a map with the approximate location of the beast.
Percy looked at it with longing but cautious eyes. The devil remained immobile in a bowing position until the gunslinger noted that he was still there.
"You may leave now, thank you."
"Could I try a guess, sir?" Abbadon prodded.
"Sure."
"Is it that you were happy?" It asked.
"Not even close." He replied.
Abbadon laughed and then disappeared in the same way as Davy.
Percy walked back to the castle hugging himself to fight the cold.
"So, the neverfields." Vax'ildan said as he looked down to the water.
The boat moved slowly but surely as the snowing continued. The water was calm which was good because Percy didn't know if he could tolerate it otherwise.
It was a beautiful image with what little light the moon shone upon the grand sea.
"Do you know what's up there?" Vax asked.
"I sense a witty comeback for that question approaching."
"Snow," Vax said ignoring him, "and nothing, oh and did I say snow?"
"I believe you did." Percy replied. "I did ask you to bring winter closing, I've got no clue how long this affair will take."
"I hope not much, we are almost in New Year's eve, I'd like to spend that moment beside a chimney with the people I love and various foods and not up there with a quasi-dragon trying to kill me."
"Don't know why you worry so much, you cannot die." Percy said.
"Oh, what a wonderful reminder Freddy, when we get there remind me to stuff your pants with snow."
Percy smiled as he managed the small boat. Quite the beautiful and frightening visage indeed.
There was no port, not this up to the north. There was actually nothing at all except for plain white upon white.
They got there in the middle of a rather powerful snow storm, though to his knowledge those were pretty common in the neverfields. Not for nothing nobody came here, at least nobody sane.
They left the boat in some rocky shores, trying to tie it with as much rope and complex knots as they could, then they affronted the storm with as much willingness as they could.
The neverfields were a plateau of ice and snow combined in the worst way possible. Every step put you deeper in the very unbalanced ground and further from any salvation possible from this frozen place. The storm blocked visibility to the point where if they got more than 20 feet a part they could lose each other, so while they were walking they decided to tie a rope between themselves.
Percy had brought winter clothes, especially one exclusively designed electric blue coat that had a fuzzy warm interior that kept him moving when his fingers and feet felt like dying right there. His feet were wet all the time, that was something he just had to accept.
He didn't like it here. It somehow seemed like this place had stayed the same even after Vecna's ascension. Like the new god had thought that this place was already as terrible as it could and should be, so he left it untouched.
Vax, in the other side, wore his normal raven armour, completely unaffected by the cold or the wind.
Percy realized he was spiralling into negative thoughts, at least more than usual, so he tried to distract himself by making his partner annoyed. Vax did his part in return and just like that the first two days of exploration passed without a single encounter or clue.
It was in the third day or night, it was difficult to tell because of the never-ending storm that blocked even the light, that things started to progress.
The two of them had made camp in some sort of natural cave beneath a giant boulder that acted as a roof blocking the snow and rain. They had a fire going and had just finished eating some raw meats. Percy was preparing to take himself the first guard while Vax slept when the rogue yelled.
"I saw something!" Vax ran to the entrance of the cave.
Percy followed behind taking Animus from his belt and putting Bad News in his back. He looked outside.
Snow, lots and lots of snow.
"What?" He asked.
"It was like a shadow, like a really big one, darker than the rest, in that direction." The rogue pointed generally to the east.
"I don't see nothing, but when has that stopped us from running into anywhere?" He said.
"It's not like we have any other clues to follow right now, I say we let the fire burning so we see it in the distance and follow whatever it's out there." Vax proposed seeing much more willing than Percy expected.
"Okay, but don't get your expectations high, it could have been any other horrible monster, or most likely nothing." Percy said as he started walking.
"You must be really fun at parties." Vax said.
"You know exactly how I am at parties." Percy replied.
Vax took the front while Percy stayed at the rear.
After five or ten minutes in the marching the gunslinger realized one of two mistakes he had done. The first one was that in the hit of the moment he had forgotten his glasses so he was losing sight of the rogue, his black armour and hair melting with the darkened background of the sky. The second one was that they hadn't tied each other as not to get separated.
Percy looked down at his feet and up again and suddenly Vax was gone. He looked in all directions but couldn't see anyone or anything more than snow. He tried looking for the flickering light of their fire and failed. Was this how he died? Frozen to death in the middle of nowhere? No. He refused.
"Vax!" He yelled as if there was no tomorrow. "Vax'ildan!"
No answer, only the echoes of his words. Motherfucker.
"Vax, you bloody half-elf come back!"
Nothing, except...
He heard a sound behind him.
Steps, he heard them very clearly though he could barely hear his own ones. He turned around unable to see past the blurry lines of the person behind him.
The person approached him and when he got near, he gave him his glasses. Percy sighed with relief as he cleaned them and then put them on.
"You are a sneaky bastard, you know?" He said.
He looked up but the man in front of him wasn't Vax. It was just a kid, no more than 25 years of age. He was wearing a really big poncho that protected him from the cold but he seemed as out place in the neverfields as the gunslinger did.
"Wh... who are you?" Percy asked not sure how to proceed.
He was not an elf, which was the most logical proposition considering Lysengorn was the closest "civilization" to this random place in the frozen wilds. So, what was he doing here?
"That's not really important at all." The kid said. "Put your hand on my shoulder and follow me, I will take you to safety."
"I don't want to offend you but a kid shows up in the middle of nowhere just as i'm about to freeze myself to death, he doesn't tell me his name and acts very ominously, you'll understand if I don't really trust you." Percy rolled with trembling teeth out of his mouth.
The kid just stood there, watching him and giving him a faint smile. The falling snow seemed to avoid him, as if the space he occupied wasn't really there at all.
"Give me a reason to trust you." Percy said not sure how to proceed.
"I know where your camp is, and your friend, and I came specially to this place to help you." The kid thought for a moment then continued. "I have nothing else to offer you, if you don't follow me you'll die, you know it and I know it too, please don't be difficult."
Percy stood there, his hands shaking. He bit his leap and put a hand in the shoulder of the boy. He was familiar, he could swear he remembered a person like this from somewhere though this individual did not talk like any human being or a human being.
They walked in silence, Percy deep in thought wondering how the kid could even orient himself without any kind of machine or any visual aid to know where to go.
"You know, I shouldn't let you do this, so after I get you to the cave you will go back home, okay?" The kid said with a strange calmness. His words flowed to his ears like they were being guided.
It was in that moment that Percy remembered.
"I know you, you were one of Kynan's friend, who are you?" Percy asked letting his shoulder go and grabbing Animus from his belt.
The kid turned around with a flowing motion.
"Jameson, I'm surprised you remember." He said. "What you are doing is stupid and dangerous, please reconsider."
Percy aimed Animus at the boy.
"No no no, I asked who are you, or should I ask what are you?" He yelled trying to gain some distance from the boy. "You haven't aged, what do you want from me?"
"I've been sent to stop you, you will change everything and that could bring unfixable chaos, though I'm not so sure about that, but that's beside the point." Jameson said. "Just follow me and everything will be alright."
"Where's Vax? What did you do to him? Did he send you?" Percy continued asking.
"Vax'ildan? I didn't do nothing to him, I wouldn't lay a finger on the fate touched, it's against the rules." He said. "I see you are still wearing the ring." A frown accompanied his words.
Percy had two rings, he had had them since the battle with Vecna. One was a reminder of his marriage, a pain being held against his hand. The second one had been given to Vex by the Higbearer Vord.
"You know he can see you even with it?" Jameson asked.
"I know, but if he is going to be spying on my affairs at least I'll make him put some effort into it, let's call it a happy inconvenience." Percy replied pointing the kid with his gun.
"I'll ask one more time, please drop this whole thing off, it's not worth it." The boy said, though he didn't look convinced at all.
"If you are not helping or answering, you are just in the way." Percy said.
The kid took a step forward moving his hands to his pockets. A little trail of black smoke went up Percy's neck and arm as he shot four times in a row.
The bullets hit directly into Jameson thrusting him backwards.
He fell into the ground getting half buried in snow. Percy got close to him to see what was going on.
The kid was smiling.
"So, this is the path you have chosen to walk." He started. "Okay, do it, prove us wrong, I might be right after all." His eyes looked up, directly behind him.
Percy followed his gaze and he saw the flickering light of the fire from their encampment, a very worried rogue paced around it shouting the gunslinger's name.
He looked back down but there was nothing there, just a hole in the ice.
Percy continued walking until reaching the camp where Vax almost threw himself over him.
"We should wait the storm out." Vax said.
Percy sat himself as close to the fire as possible.
"Do you remember a Jameson?" He asked.
"Ehrm, not really." The rogue sat beside him. "Why?"
"There was someone out there that called himself that..." Percy kept thinking about the kid's words. "Forget it, must have been some kind of delusion of my brain."
"Okay." Vax said obviously not believing him but he didn't continue asking.
The next morning came. The storm had subsided to almost nothing and once again they were greeted by a grey and black sky from where the sun shily shun.
They went out ready to hunt or be hunted, they couldn't afford to waste this possibility. Even if they didn't find the Drake they would have to come back, someone had to take care of Whitestone.
After a couple hours the rogue found a trail to follow so they slowed their pace and stuck to the ground. There were footprints like dragon claws that had been recent, otherwise they would have been hidden by the little snow that kept falling. The footprints were big, as big as them, and were very erratic in nature which made a very difficult task to follow them.
They arrived to a frozen forest where a new colour in the landscape appeared. Wet brown. Hundreds and hundreds of frozen trees appeared out of nowhere painting the white with streaks of black and brown.
Some of the trunks had fallen recently, Percy determined, so they continued into it with care but also the rising hit of the upcoming encounter.
It happened really quickly and all the sounds seemed to be swallowed by the empty vastness that the neverfields were.
It was Percy who saw the drake at first, almost 200 feet from them. A huge dragon-like creature with specks of white in an almost entirely black scaled body. He was feeding himself from some very unlucky wolf that had been passing through the forest and his blood painted part of his mouth and claws in a crimson deep red. He had wide wings but they were pledged to his back because of the trees surrounding them.
The gunslinger and the rogue threw themselves to the ground as not to be seen.
Percy took out Bad News and aligned the shot. He took it and hit the monster dead centre on his back. Except not. Percy saw the bullet penetrate through the scales on the Drake's back and then he didn't.
The drake blinked in an out of existence rotating his head towards them. It suddenly reappeared in the same place than before but the bullet hadn't touched it.
"What the fuck." Said Vax without understanding.
"Let's make this quick and painless." Percy said standing up.
The rogue was up and flying to his prey. Except his prey was not there anymore. The Temporal Drake disappeared at random all around them. Vax cut through air trying to land even a single hit while Percy kept shooting in all directions. The creature was so so fast and unpredictable that landing a single hit seemed impossible.
This was probably one of his abilities tied to the time stream. It was not becoming invisible, with its size it would have hit various trees while moving, so it was probably jumping in and out of time to prevent taking any damage.
Percy tried to look for a pattern but there was none, the blinking never repeated itself in a static number so he kept taking shots while Vax flew around chasing the beast. Suddenly, propelled by his own luck, Whisper found purchase in one of the drake's wings, drawing blood and painting the surrounding snow in a bright blue.
The gunslinger was quick on his feet and took several shots, most of them hitting. This time without a re-do.
The drake settled his eyes on Percival. He felt a sudden will cease his mind and slam against his brain with such power that he almost tripped. He closed his eyes and then everything blinked.
He opened his eyes once again feeling the pressure banish. The drake was not there, neither was Vax. Half of the trees had been destroyed. There were specks of blood everywhere. What had happened?
He looked everywhere and heard the sounds of battle even further than where they have been. He ran to them recharging his weapon in the process. If the Drake had abilities tied to the flow of time, maybe it had slowed time for him or accelerated it around him. No, that didn't make sense, he would have noticed the sudden burst in movements. This had been like... Like a blink. Had he been banished from the current time stream by the monster?
"Percy, a little help!" Vax yelled as the drake blinked in and out of time and bit him directly in the chest hurling him against another tree that collapsed making a hard thump.
Percival was shooting, recharging and shooting again, the sounds of the explosions on his barrels almost deafening him with the high intensity.
Vax got up and close to him once more.
"Where were you?" He asked over the shooting.
"Where were you!?" Percy replied trying not to lose focus.
Vax was bleeding profusely though part of his wounds started closing as they spoke. The drake was bleeding too, how many seconds had he lost in this fight?
The drake arched his back putting all of his body weight upon his lower legs. He seemed to take a deep breath then he roared in their direction throwing his body forward.
A stream of energy, a mashup of white and black light, shot from his mouth directly to them. Everything in its way seemed to disintegrate. Vax jumped to the side but was caught by part of the ray sending him flying once again.
Percy received the whole brunt of the attack directly. It pushed him through several trees, each of them exploding with the impact and sending a cloud of snow and splinters into the air.
He landed against a rock feeling his mind dizzy and his legs give up, but that was not all of it. Like time reversing itself, he was hurled back the way he had been thrown, being pulled by a strange force. All the trees got back into one piece and Vax seemed to be pulled in the same way back to his position.
The Drake was rewinding what he had done, though the damage in both of them still resided.
Except the reversing stopped before they got to their initial position. Percy suddenly found himself standing some feet away from before. He felt a sharp pain between his ribs. He looked down and saw a very large branch protruding from the side of his chest. He yelled in pain which caused him to feel it even more. He was stuck to the tree behind him.
Vax saw him and flew to him, trying to help him get out of it.
"Take care of the damned monster, i'm fine." He spitted his words, blood filling his mouth.
He tried to advance but the lower part of his body wouldn't answer.
"Shut up, i'll cut the branch." Vax said while taking one of his daggers out and starting to cut.
Percy looked at his side where he had dropped Bad News. He couldn't reach it, not while being impaled.
"Piece of shit." He said relaxing against his will.
He felt his consciousness start to fade. The corners around his visions became fuzzy and clouded in shadows. His left hand came to rest on the branch while his right one sat itself upon the handle of his pistol. He looked up.
The drake was bleeding profusely, whatever had happened while time had slipped from him had really damaged the creature. It didn't look good, but neither did them. Almost his entire body was not responding now and Vax was taking far too much time to cut the tree.
The drake began to fly approaching them in an erratic pattern. Time around them seemed to slow itself. It probably was due to the blood lose but Percy wandered if it had something to do with the beast.
As it approached, it blinked a couple of times phasing through several layers of the forest but then began to collide with everything in its way. It didn't even slow, it was tired but had its mind set on finishing them off.
Percy tried to raise his arm.
The Temporal Drake got closer and closer until there were only a couple feet between them.
"No you don't." Percy said looking straight into the red pupil-less eyes of the monster.
He raised Animus and shot hitting the Drake between the eyes. The life in them slipped suddenly and the winged beast dropped to the ground impaling part of his face with the same branch as Percy.
He let his air out and his body shouted in pain. Vax cut the branch loose making Percy sit down without anything holding him in place.
The rogue posed his hands around the hole in his chest and a warm feeling surrounded the area.
"I will make the bleeding stop, but you have to be treated by a priest." Vax said without even looking at the dead monster behind him.
The drake was dead, they had to get the blood out of its body as soon as possible before whatever made it work as intended stopped. Who cared about a wound?
"I have bandages." The gunslinger said hurting in every word.
"It will do for now."
"We need the blood." Percy started taking quick breathes to talk. "There is a machine in my backpack," quick breath, "that will do the suction", quick breath, "like a pump."
He would have done it itself but he was too occupied with passing out. The last step was almost complete.