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Seclusion

Nightmares. Memories. Flashes of images from the worst moment of his life. It wasn't every night, anymore, but for a long time, for years, it had been. Now, the nights that those memories plagued his sleep were few and far between, but tonight was one of those nights. The wall exploded, obliterated in the blink of an eye by the Spellplague, by those abominable flames. Such a beautiful color, such a vibrant blue, and yet they had turned his life into a living Hell. As the explosion ended, as the screams of those the flames chose to consume rang out, Jasper had risen. His true power, his gift from Sylvanus had protected him, save for burns on his arms. Mia had also been spared by being behind Jasper during the blast, save for her forearms and her forehead being burned. Sara and Elena had been reduced to charred husks shielding Aranea, who was burned but had survived. But then, the nightmare truly began.

Horrible creatures, monsters that burned with the same pale flames as had obliterated the building had arrived. Anyone who could fight had tried, but the moment they did, the true nature of the Spellplague, of the flames, had been revealed. The total absence of magic. Many had been killed in moments when their spells failed. Of those who were able to fight without magic, many more died soon after. But then, as the monsters' numbers dwindled to nearly zero, there was a blinding flash of light, a bonfire of the flames. Adrianna, who had been buried in rubble, had been transformed. Wreathed in the blue flames. Bathed in them. Emitting them.

She was still recognizable, but clearly was no longer alive. Flames burned in her empty eye sockets, charring the flesh around them. It burned deep inside her mouth, charring her flesh, burning her from the inside out, melting her teeth. And there were other changes as well. Unlike the survivors, she had magic. The blue flames surrounding her heeded her will. It wasn't magic, but it was lethal. The raw power of the flames was beyond anything they could manage. With a flick of her wrist, she was able to melt flesh. Scorch bones. Reduce a Dragonborn to ash.

They tried to fight her. They tried to resist. To kill someone they loved more dearly than the world itself. But it was futile. Even as Sara and Elena, reborn through the corrupting power of the Spellplague, transformed into something new, joined them, still they couldn't match her. And then, Aranea was caught in a blast. She sacrificed herself to push Jasper out of the way. For an agonizing moment that stretched on into eternity, Jasper had watched as her eyes turned to liquid. As the flesh melted from her bones. As her bones blackened, then crumbled into dust. And then, it was over. Elena had taken up Jasper's Ironwood Javelin, no longer anything more than a wooden stick, and driven it through Adrianna's heart. For a terrible moment, Adrianna had returned. Apologizing and begging Jasper's forgiveness. And then she, too, was gone. Reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash in a brilliant blaze of those accursed blue flames, taking the spear that had killed her with it, as she had Jasper's wooden dagger with a stray blast earlier.

Finally, Jasper's eyes dragged open, allowing him the blessedly bittersweet relief of a reality that was devoid of two pieces of his life. Two of the people who had claims to his heart. Two people that even with a different persona, he would still love. He sat up at the foot of the bed silently, replicating himself a shirt and pants to cover his otherwise bare, Seldarine Drow body before sighing in silence. He looked back at the three nude forms interlocked in the bed. It had been so long since that nightmare. More than a hundred years. More than a hundred years since Jasper and Mia were left in torment and pain. Since Sara and Elena had comforted them through the Hell of their lives. More than a hundred years since Sara and Elena had both become their lovers. It had never been a discussion. Jasper and Mia had never extended them invitations like they had with Aranea and Adrianna, disregarding Aranea's invitation just before she died. They had never needed an invitation. After months of comforting them, when they had eventually joined them in bed one night, it had felt as natural as between Jasper and Mia. After everything, they simply were there. They were welcomed, and treasured. Jasper could honestly say that he loved them both, and knew that Mia did as well.

It had never been questioned. But now, Jasper stood, leaving the three naked beauties to rest as he silently picked up his quarterstaff and left their home. He traveled into the forest around their home, finding a quiet place to cry and to mourn as he quickly became lost in his thoughts, reminiscing about his life with Mia, Sara, and Elena. After everything that had happened, Jasper and the others had withdrawn from the world. It had been decades since they had met another person. They didn't need them. Not anymore. At first, they had relied on trade and mercenary work for food as Jasper spent time in nature, learning what it was to be a Druid again. Learning to use magic, after the Spellplague had ended and magic was restored. He'd taken to wielding an Ironwood quarterstaff, the same he now carried, alongside either his rapier or his once again Ironwood sword when violence was required, or sometimes by itself. It, like his sword, was made from holly, allowing it to be used as a Divine Focus, and while most of the staff was an unnaturally straight branch, the staff thinning slightly from its head to its back end, and the head of it darkened like roots, splitting into a small bramble of twigs, all of them wrapping to the right before ending.

Eventually, Jasper relearning what it was to be a Druid turned into his magic supplying them with all the food they needed, with Elena sometimes hunting game for them to eat as well as the fruits and vegetables Jasper could grow for them. And then their focus shifted, and they began to venture into the wider world less and less frequently. They began to teach themselves to wield their new abilities. Elena and Sara had been transformed by the Spellplague into a new race, something the wider world referred to as Shadar-Kai. They both had many of the same abilities as prior to the Spellplague, but they also had gained new abilities. Through the dark power within themselves, both could cast many spells, most of them relating to darkness. They had also both gained regenerative powers nearly to the level of Shades. When in darkness, any injuries they had sustained would heal within minutes, though their regenerative powers were not as strong as Shades, who needed only seconds, and who could regrow missing limbs. Sara's Necrotic power as an Oathbreaker Paladin had grown as well, granting her still further power. And in addition to those changes, all four had been marked by the Spellplague's flames. Spellscarred, they were called.

Jasper's scars had receded into sigils along his arms that burned with the Spellplague's wicked flames, granting him, like the others, complete immunity to fire, as well as augmenting his physical and magical strength, and granted him stronger, blue versions of any flame-type spell he cast, when he wished them to. It also granted him Superior Darkvision. Mia's Spellscars had formed a latticework of markings with sigils scattered through them around her forearms and in points on the backs of her hands like vambraces that would glow bright blue, but only emitted flames when she used them to cast spells. She had also gained a Spellscar on her forehead, a latticework of sweeping lines like the front of a tiara, sweeping down to a point at the center of her forehead. Unlike the markings on her arms, the Spellscar on her forehead was invisible when not in use, but also unlike those on her arms, its benefits never disappeared. Where her arms gave her fire immunity, blue fire magic, and increased her physical strength, her tiara-like Spellscar on her forehead sharpened her senses, decreased her reaction time, granted her Superior Darkvision, and empathic abilities, allowing her to sense emotions and, to a limited extent, influence them. Both Sara and Elena had gained Spellscars as well. Elena's were a pair of markings on the backs of her hands, then sweeping lines up her back, to either side of her spine with branches reaching outward off of them and a few lines reaching around the sides of her neck but stopping before her throat. Her Spellscar granted her the usual fire immunity and flame spells, but also enhanced her senses and granted her an even stronger form of Darkvision that she, and Sara who had likewise gained the same level of enhanced sight, was nearly the same as being in broad daylight for nearly a mile, save for Darkvision's lack of color. Sara's, however, had had an especially unique effect.

Other than enhancing her sight and the fire spells, it enhanced her physical strength and speed to nearly monstrous proportions, enhanced her spell power nearly as much, and had a peculiar reaction when combined with Sara's Oathbreaker Necrotic magic. It corrupted her corrupt magic, essentially canceling out the corruption, causing the combined power to shine with a brilliant, radiant, blue-green light. It wasn't Holy Magic, so it wasn't as effective as the power she'd lost, but it was more effective against undead than any other form of magic or physical strikes. She could use it to replicate the cantrip Sacred Flame, she could focus it into her sword to replicate Divine Smite, and in a list of other replicated spells that used some form of Holy light. However, doing so was extremely exhausting to her, on top of the main drawback of using their Spellscars. For all of them, using their Spellscars brought about an intense, burning pain. Enough to make using them a last resort for all of them. At least, at first. Jasper and Mia had grown accustomed enough to the pain that they should probably both be worried about themselves and each other, but they could use them relatively freely, minus the annoyance that the pain caused. Which was a good thing for Jasper, as his full power as Sylvanus's chosen had returned and still remained as dangerous and out of his control as ever, requiring him to once again keep it suppressed deep within himself. Oddly enough, that had been about the same time that they'd heard that other Spellscarred were beginning to lose their abilities, that their Spellscars were simply not functioning anymore. Jasper blamed his own magic for his and the others' still working just fine. When his power as Sylvanus's chosen had returned, it had caused a blast of pure magical energy that had leveled nearly a quarter mile of the forest. He suspected that sudden burst of power had tampered with their Spellscars, somehow, as they'd been training with them at the time. Perhaps the blast had imbued them all with a bit of his own magic, making them permanent.

Jasper looked around. As he'd reminisced, allowing his mind to guide him away from his grief, he'd begun to wander again. Now, he stopped, staring at the creature before him. A Grey Render. It stood on all fours, its six eyes focused on him. Jasper remained calm, watching the great beast. Slowly, it approached, Jasper keeping his posture relaxed, though keeping himself ready for a fight. Finally, the Grey Render stopped, staring down at Jasper. Then, after several tense seconds, it began to sing in a strange, warbling cry, bowing its head as it scratched at the ground. Jasper's face split into a wide smile as he recognized the behavior of a Grey Render seeking a bond. It wanted to be his. He smiled, reaching out and pressing his hand to its head, stroking it slowly. It continued to sing, pressing its head into his hand. He smiled, pulling his hand back and reaching up, habitually brushing his snow-white hair back on the right side of his head. He'd been keeping it long and straight recently, falling about two or three inches past his shoulders. The left was kept carefully swept back behind his ear, his ear being elongated and pointed as an elf helping keep it there, and some of his hair falling in front of his shoulder while most fell behind him. On the right, however, it fell more loosely, being swept to the side but never tucked behind his ear, unless Mia did it, which she often did simply because she knew he preferred it loose.

"I might have guessed," Mia said, stepping out of the trees behind Jasper.

The Grey Render growled threateningly, but Jasper stroked its head and it calmed.

"Did you have the dream again, too?" Mia asked.

"Yeah," Jasper nodded.

"How long have you been up?" Mia asked.

"About an hour," Jasper said, rubbing his knuckles against the Grey Render's head. "What are we gonna name him?"

Mia stepped forward, extending her arm, and the Grey Render lowered its head, pressing its nose to her and sniffing repeatedly in a long string of deep snorting sounds. "Snuffles."

Jasper laughed as Mia began to pet the Grey Render. After a moment, Mia turned, wrapping her arms around Jasper, both of them holding each other for a few moments before the Grey Render interrupted. It stepped forward, knocking both to the ground before laying on them and making a soft whining sound. Both laughed, wrapping their arms around it, and its tongue lolled out, dragging up Jasper's face once before retracting.

"What do you know," Jasper laughed, wiping his face off. "He likes cuddles."

Mia laughed as well, then turned, kissing Jasper for a few moments. Finally, Jasper tapped the Grey Render on the side of the head and it rose, letting them up. They turned, heading back to their home. It was the destroyed, dilapidated remains of their cabin. The only thing in good shape was the front door. Jasper glaced at the Grey Render, then at the door again before grimacing. he opened the door, revealing the inside of a mansion. this was their new home. A magical space accessible via a magic key. The key would connect any door to the room, then disconnect it when he locked the door. However, he was unsure of what effect being locked inside the room would have on anyone inside. Time flowed the same when the door was connected, but he knew of horror stories about someone being trapped in a bag of holding and didn't want to risk that being the case with their home.

"Sara!" Jasper called into the mansion. "Elena! I need you two to step out for a minute!"

After a moment, both sisters walked into the room from a door off to the left, both still bare of clothing. They walked out of the door and immediately stopped, staring at the Grey Render.

"New friend?" Elena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"New friend," Jasper nodded. "He needs a bigger door."

The sisters nodded, as the Grey Render greeted the two sisters by sniffing them as it had Mia. Sarah laughed and pulled the door closed. Jasper locked it, then turned, holding out his staff and focusing. A moment later, a pair of enormous trees burst up from the ground, twisting together into an enormous doorway before a pair of huge, ornate, wooden doors formed between them. Jasper stepped forward, unlocking the door and throwing it open, all of them walking in. The mansion was unchanged, save for the door into it now matching the door Jasper had formed. In the foyer, a large, ornate staircase started halfway into the room and led to the upstairs where two hallways branched off of it, each of those branching twice.

The upstairs included a total of twelve fully-furnished master bedrooms, and a room that had a courtyard that gave the impression of being outside, complete with a hot spring, grass around it, and a magically recreated sky matching the outside world for time of day but always sunny and warm during the day and cool but not cold at night and with no clouds, allowing the illusionary stars to be visible. The upstairs had a total of five bathrooms each with a large tub that would fill with water whenever someone told the tub they needed a bath, working toilets, and hygiene supplies that were magically restocked every morning. The downstairs had four doors to either side of the foyer that led to more bathrooms, each with their own bathrooms, then a pair of doors on either side of the stairs that led to a large, square hallway around the dining room with multiple doors into it. The dining room table was fit for a feast, there was a kitchen that had more than enough room for a full palace staff to work comfortably and had everything they could ever need to prepare meals, a massive library fully stocked with thousands of books and a maze of shelves, a large training room stocked with wooden training weapons, and a large lounge furnished for more than a dozen people to have a lazy day.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again," Mia said as she and Jasper followed Sara and Elena to the kitchen where they had been preparing breakfast, "that key is the best reward we've ever gotten for helping someone."

Jasper chuckled, nodding. "And all we had to do was fight a few dozen monsters for that wizard in Waterdeep."

Mia nodded, grimacing. "What idiot thinks keeping several dozen monsters in his dungeon is a good idea?"

"An idiot," Elena said casually as she began to cut up vegetables.

"What are we having?" Mia asked as she and Jasper let their replicated clothes disappear.

"Omelets," Sara said, picking up a bowl of cracked eggs and beginning to whisk them.

Mia hummed pleasantly, wrapping her arms around Sara. "You make the best eggs."

Sara smiled, giving her a quick kiss. "It's the best way to cheer you two up when you have that dream."

Mia smiled appreciatively, and Jasper gave her a quick kiss, then gave Elena a similar one before beginning to gather plates for them, Mia grabbing silverware and glasses. Then, after breakfast, they spent the day as they usually did, equal parts relaxing, training, and now spending time with Snuffles, including letting him out of the mansion to hunt for his meals, which he was surprisingly skilled at.

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