Vex groaned as she opened her light golden brown and light green eyes, feeling a dull ache on the back of her head slowly hammering into her brain. "What happened? Last thing that I remember the ship crashed and-" She shivered as she recalled the squid alien like creature that had captured her and the others before the crash. She can vividly remember the creature putting a parasite creature into her eye. A small burning sensation filled her left eye as she felt the creature stir within. Whatever it is, she needed to get it out but how? She definitely wasn't going to pull her own eye out. Vex stood up and brushed herself and scanned the area to see that she was on a beach. There were also remains of the destroyed ship as well scattered all over the place. The fire and smoke filled the air. The others...did anyone else survive as well?

Vex stumbled as she walked searching the wreckage for any survivors. There was a female Githyanki warrior that she teamed up with as well as another half elf like her who had braided long midnight black hair and dressed in armor. She saw no signs of the Githyanki until Vex saw a body lying motionless in the sand uphead. She quickly hurried over to see who it was and saw that it was the female elf. Vex breathed a sigh in relief as she saw the woman's chest slowly moving. Vex bent down and gently shook the woman to wake her up. The elf groaned and opened her eyes and saw Vex standing over her.

"You-I remember you. You were on the ship as well." she murmured weakly. Vex nodded and stood up, giving the woman some space.

"Yeah, and it seems that we've crashed. We're lucky to be alive. We're definitely not at Baldur's Gate anymore. I'm Vex. What is your name?" Vex asked the woman.

"My name is Shadowheart." The woman told her.

"Where do you think our Githyanki friend ran off to?" Vex asked Shadowheart.

"Probably left us for dead to save her own hide." Shadowheart spatted out. "We never should have trusted her."

"Well, she did help us out on the ship to escape. Whoever she was." Vex pointed out. "Can you stand?" Shadowheart nodded and stood up. She quickly searched through her pockets and sighed in relief as she pulled out a small prism shaped object out. "Good. It's still here." Vex stared at it for a moment. She had remember seeing it on the ship as Shadowheart was gathering her belongings but didn't question it at the time.

"What is that?" Vex asked her, wondering what the object was.

"It's nothing important for you to know. We need to do now is find out where we are and-" Vex and Shadowheart groaned as they held their heads, feeling the tadpoles echoing in their minds as they telepathically communicated with one another. Shadowheart blinked with wide eyes in fear, looking at Vex.

"What was that?!"

"I felt it too. It was like our minds were linked somehow. I was able to hear your thoughts and you were able to hear mine." Vex told her.

"Another reason to get these things out." Shadowheart frowned, shivering a little.

"Let's search some more. There may be more survivors." Vex told her. Shadowheart nodded.

"Lead the way." Vex turned to her.

"Uh, what? What do you mean, lead?" Vex asked her, laughing a little.

"I trust you after you saved me from that pod. Anyone else would have just left. For that reason, I thank you."

"Yeah, I'm glad that I didn't. Not after what we saw what those pods do." Vex told her. Vex frowned thinking back to the woman that she and the others saw in the pod, seeing her body transform and tentacles sprouting out from her mouth as she turned into a mind flayer.

"Lets go. I've got enough of this place." Vex spoke.

"Agreed." Shadowheart replied. The two women walked through the wreckage along the beach side heading west to search for more survivors. As they left the wreckage, they began to traverse into a small clearing into a small forest, walking up a hill.

"Do you hear someone shouting?" Shadowheart asked. Vex quietly followed the noise and Shadowheart followed behind her, heading towards it. Up ahead, the two girls saw a man standing over a ridge with his back facing them. Vex walked a little closer to get a better look, feeling drawn into him. She had to admit it. He was incredibly handsome. The man was an elf with very pale skin, wavy white hair, dressed in a buttoned shirt with frills along the collar and wrists with striped sleeves, dark pants and boots. The man turned around as he heard the two woman approach him and quickly gestured for them to come over. Vex got a closer look at the man seeing his strangely blood-red colored eyes, staring at her.

"I think I see one of those illithid brains creatures down there! Help me get rid of it!" He shouted. Vex blinked at him. Did he think that she was stupid? She had lost track of how many times she used the same trick on other unfortunate people back at Baldur's Gate to steal their money when she was on the streets. Vex frowned and crossed her arms, staring at him.

"How stupid do you think I am? Get rid of it yourself." She told him. The man blinked a little in surprise, not expecting her reaction and Vex turned around and started to walk away from. Shadowheart followed, walking ahead of her. The man smirked and chuckled a little to himself.

"Guess I got to do things the hard way." He quickly walked over to Vex and quickly grabbed her, pulling her back and the two fell to the ground rolling on their backs.

"Hey! What are you doing!? Get off of me!-" Vex frozed as she felt the cold steel of the man's blade at her throat as she tried to push the knife away from her. He was stronger than her. Abnormally strong. Shadowheart tried to make a move, but the man stopped.

"Ah! Ah! You wouldn't want your little friend here to have her pretty little neck slit now, do we? We wouldn't want things to get messy." He smirked then he turned to Vex, lying next to him. Vex tried to push the man off of her but failed.

"I need her alive. Put that away or I can show you just how messy things can get." Shadowheart threatened. He laughed at her.

"Promises, Promises. But I have other business I'm afraid. Now here's what's going to happen, I saw you on the ship, didn't I? Nod." Vex glared at him, feeling humiliated. She slowly nodded. The man smiled. "Good. Now you are going to tell me exactly what those tentacle freaks did to me!"

"They put tadpoles into us-"

"Don't lie to me. I-"

Suddenly, Vex felt the tadpole echoing in her mind, linking with the man's who felt the same sensation. Vex was seeing through the man's eyes. A dark busy street. So familiar. The worm showed her more, revealing that he feared the light. The sun. Vex tried to hold onto the memory, to see why, but it slowly began to slip away as the man fought against her and Vex was pulled out of his mind. "What was that?" He sputtered in shock.

Vex quickly seize the opportunity to push him off of her, seeing that he was distracted. He fell backwards and backed away from the women. Vex quickly stood up while Shadowheart ran over to her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Vex told her before she turned to the man in front of her. "I assume you felt the same as me once our tadpoles linked with each other."

"Tadpoles?" He questioned.

"You know, those things the squid creatures put into our eyes back on the ship. Somehow we can talk to each other in our minds or peer into them." Vex explained to him.

"Oh, well, good to know. I'm guessing that you two are not one of them then." He spoke. "They took you. Just the same as me." Vex saw him look away from her for a moment before he made a small laugh, looking back up to her. "And to think I was going to decorate the ground with your innards, no apologies."

"Do you treat everyone you see like this?" Vex demanded.

"I'm out of flowers and wine so I hope an introduction will suffice." He told her. "My name is Astarion. I was at Baldur's Gate when those beasts snatched me."

"I'm Vex." She told him.

"Vex." He spoke as he repeated her name, rolling it around on his tongue like a lyric.

"I'm from Baldur's Gate as well." She told him, snapping Astarion out of his thoughts. "Is that so? Then we clearly move in different circles. Do you know anything about these worms?"

"They will turn us into those things." She told him." Into mind flayers."

"Turn us into-" He stared at her in disbelief for a moment before laughing like it was a joke. "Of course, it'll turn me into a monster. What else would I expect? Although, it hasn't happened yet. If we can find an expert, someone that can control these things, we might have a chance."

"Do you want to travel with us? I think we'll be safer in groups." She told him. He stared at her a little surprise for a moment before smiling.

"You know, I was ready to go at this alone, but maybe sticking with the herd isn't such a bad idea. And you seem like a useful person to know." He nodded and bowed a little. "Alright, I accept."

"What do you mean a useful person?" Vex questioned him, catching him staring at her. She shifted her gaze down to the ground avoiding his gaze, tucking a piece of her brown locks away from her face behind her ear. Why was he staring at her so much? Why was this bothering her? Sure, many men at her hometown made passes at her and she rejected them because of her cursed beauty, her different colored eyes.

"You seem like an interesting person, I can tell." Astarion told her.