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Ariat sighed but finally he nodded and stood up. He gave one last look out into the darkness of the temples corridors before following Astarion back to the campfire. Ariat sat beside Shadowheart and whispered soft apologies as he took hold of one of her hands. Shadowheart smiled and nodded her acceptance as he leaned i... |
Astarion turned away as they shared a kiss to stare into the campfire. He let the mesmerizing dance of the flames calm his worried mind, trying his best to ignore the unseen eyes of the cultists watching from the darkness around them. |
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Following Ariat into the actual Temple was...disconcerting, if he was being kind. It wasn't that the rest of them were unwelcome...none of the cultists were about to question who Ariat chose to bring in with him. Even the strange goblin-like creature that fawned at his feet when they entered didn't do more than give th... |
"Master...must you bring along ...this one? Your father will be most displeased to see...this...distraction at your heel." |
Shadowheart balked at this, hands going to her hips as she glared at the creature, "I am at no ones heel!" |
Sceleretas gave a snarling hiss at her, but it was interrupted when Ariat spun around and grabbed the Butler by the back of his coat, easily lifting it from the stone floor just inside the temple's doors. Ariat didn't even hesitate to stalk back out through the doors, ignoring the way the butler sputtered and squealed ... |
"You don't get to look at her." Ariat snarled and tossed the Butler over the side of the steps and into the chasm lining both sides. |
"Ariat, not that I don't appreciate the gesture but...was that wise?" Shadowheart asked while the other two watched, speechless. |
"Oh, bloody hells!" Karlach cried out in surprise when they turned around and saw the Butler's body reforming in front of them looking to be made purely of blood for a moment before it dripped free and revealed it in one piece, seemingly unharmed. |
Sceleretas shivered and rubbed its hands together, "Ooooh, yes, thank you, Master. It is so very good to have you back. Dying at your hands has always been...most...pleasant." It purred and then turned to slink its way further into the Temple. |
"Not that that wasn't thoroughly entertaining but...are you alright, Darling?" Astarion asked under his breath as Ariat made his way back into the temple, seemingly unphased by what had just happened. |
The side long glance, eyes full of tension, was all Ariat had to do to convey that he was the furthest thing from alright that he could be. |
"Come! COME!" Sceleretas" voice rang from further ahead and onward they went. |
Karlach shook herself like a dog shaking off water, "Can't wait to get out of this place..." |
It was a feeling shared by everyone...including Ariat. The further they went, the more this became true. |
The way the Bhaalists reacted to Ariat as they walked past wasn't any less unnerving. Most of them were clearly happy to see him...the few that weren't...were smart enough to keep silent about it. Some of them though...the sheer joy and desperation they showed to see him returned. It was an odd kind of devotion and eve... |
Astarion thought back to what he had told Ariat in that barn and thought now that he had been right. If this is what Ariat's old self had been subject to his entire life...what reason would he have had to resist it? These people looked at Ariat and saw a savior as clearly as those who followed Selune saw the same withi... |
...and as they passed by the cultists followed behind them. Eager. |
By the time they reached the altar room there was a growing fervor, an energy of palpable excitement as the Bhaalists gathered to see Ariat and Orin face off against each other. They filled the space behind them, blocking the stairs, and into the open spaces around the room just off the main platform which they didn't ... |
Even when her attendants turned their attention away from her and began to back away. |
It was only when Ariat stepped away from them and onto the platform that she turned to face them at all. |
The entire time he simply stood in front of the altar calmly, accepting her taunts without comment, as she circled him. He flinched only briefly when one of her hands, disguised as his own as she recounted her betrayal, came up to touch the scar on the back of his head. He pulled away and spun to face her, fists clench... |
The cultists appeared to be growing restless as this went on until one of them, a woman, pulled at her hair and then seemed to snap, shrieking, "SHUT UP, SHUT UP! Killherkillherkillher, KILL HER!" |
This seemed to break the growing tension and the rest of the cultists broke into their own shouts, demanding blood, eager to see the fight, and many of which...apparently far more eager to see Orin dead than anything else. |
"Still?! STILL, YOU ALL DOUBT MY WORTHYNESS?! AFTER ALL I HAVE DONE?! THEN I WILL SHOW YOU!" Orin shrieked...and suddenly, in a burst of blood, where the woman had been standing before was now a monster the likes of which none of them had ever seen. |
Karlach took a half step forward, axe in hand, "Ariat!" though her voice could barely be heard over the growing din. |
Astarion grabbed her by the arm, "...stop..." |
A nearby cultist stepped in front of them, "You can stay...but any of you try and help...you're dead." he snarled. |
"Gods damn it!" She protested but she backed down. |
"...he'll be ok...he can do this." Shadowheart reassured as best she could though the way one of her hands pressed a fist against her chest, a familiar show of anxiety, was telling. |
For all of the theatrics...Ariat stood before the form of the Slayer seemingly unaffected, glaring up at her as she flexed her claws at him. He reached up and twisted a ring on one of his hands, the ruby set in the gold band flashing like sparks, and his entire body became consumed in flames. |
A smile formed on his lips as he faced her charge, bracing himself as her claws sank into his armor. For a brief moment nothing happened then an explosion of fire threw her back with a shriek of pain, streams of burning blood clinging to her body like napalm. |
Ariat's blood fell from the claw marks in his armor, hissing like acid as it hit the scorched stone. He drew The Emperor's sword from his back and magical energy formed around his free left hand. The Slayer shook her head and snarled as she prepared to come on again...and the fight was joined in truth. |
For all the grandstanding and dramatics, even blessed by her god with his Avatar, it quickly became clear to Astarion, and everyone watching, why Orin had had to resort to such trickery to defeat Ariat in the first place. Head on...she was no match for him. She had no retaliation against his magic...and no resistance t... |
Astarion actually felt it was a bit...anti-climactic really. All that fuss...all that worry and now all that was left of the so named Orin the Red...was a steaming pile of blood and viscera melted onto the stone at Ariat's feet. |
But the fight wasn't the real challenge here. It never was. Not really. It was a necessary step only. |
A hand gripped Astarion's arm suddenly, tight enough to hurt. He flinched and glared at Shadowheart, trying to pull away from her until he followed her distressed gaze back to Ariat who was standing before the Altar...and a perfectly formed circle of blood that had formed before him. |
The silence in the room was absolute, heavy, as everyone waited and watched. Ariat stared down into the blood and the surface rippled faintly as if from some unfelt vibration. The power in the room was palpable...but beyond that...they couldn't hear anything beyond their own heavy breathing. |
The puddle began to run outward, encircling Ariat's feet...in some odd parody of an embrace and Ariat's face turned up. He was smiling, but then his face twitched, and the smile turned into a look of distress. He shook his head abruptly and started to step back...but it was as if the blood were some physical barrier he... |
The ripples in the surface of the blood became more aggressive and there was a groaning in the stone as the power grew, pressing on those nearby, but the focus was obvious. |
A conflicted look of pain crossed Ariat's face...before it settled into one of sorrowful acceptance. He turned his head to look towards them briefly and Astarion felt dread as he thought he was looking at his friends surrender. |
"Ariat! You can be more! You don't have to be his monster anymore!" Shadowheart called out to him, clearly seeing the same as Astarion had though Astarion kept silent himself. Whatever he might have felt about it, there was something about the way her words made Ariat flinch, made the pain in his face worse, that gave ... |
Ariat dropped the sword he held. The clattering of metal against stone broke the silence. |
"I don't want this...I won't..." Ariat spoke, voice barely audible at first but gaining in strength and volume, "I won't be yours...I want nothing of you any longer! I would rather die!" |
The growing power in the room and the ripples of the puddle vanished abruptly. A sudden stillness that left an odd sense of dread in its wake. Like the pause before the fall of an executioner's axe. |
The blood encircling his feet finished forming but Ariat stepped back out of it, away from it to turn back towards them with one hand half outstretched...though Astarion couldn't help but notice the unnatural way it seemed to cling to his boots and trail behind him as he did so, as if it meant to pull him back. |
The silence was slowly being broken by the whispering of the cultists around them and Astarion noted that many of them had expressions of fear and confusion on their faces. He had expected anger, that they may even end up having to fight their way out but instead they all seemed to be expecting something else...what wa... |
Karlach motioned for Ariat to join them, "Come on, Soldier, let's get out of here, yeah?" Her voice was pleading when Ariat stopped moving. He simply stood there just out of reach with that look on his face...like he knew what they wanted him to do was impossible. |
Like he was saying goodbye. |
Ariat let his hand fall to his side and simply smiled at them though the pain and sorrow in his expression said enough, "...I can't." he said simply. He held his chin up briefly, proudly as his gaze drifted over Karlach and then Astarion's...only faltering when it then settled on Shadowheart. His smile faded. |
"...I'm sorry...I love you..." he said, his voice sounding oddly wet as he spoke...and the sudden scent of Ariat's blood hit Astarion's nose like a punch in the gut. So intense. It had no reason to be that intense standing in front of them with barely a scratch on him. |
Ariat's eyes closed briefly and when they opened again, they looked...off, darker. Blood began to stream down his face from his nose. Not a lot at first...but then more, enough to be concerning. |
Astarion realized suddenly why his eyes looked wrong. They were full of blood. |
He coughed and blood poured from his lips, his teeth stained red, and more blood began to fall from his eyes like morbid tears. He gasped and choked, bent double as he heaved and a torrent of the stuff joined the puddle already as his feet...but it didn't stay as it should have, instead it flowed across the stone away ... |
"IF YOU DO NOT WANT MY BLOOD...THAN I WILL TAKE IT BACK." A voice boomed. |
"No. NO!" Shadowheart screamed and only Karlach grabbing her stopped her from running to him, "No! Stop! ARIAT! Please!" She cried, reaching towards him as he fell to his knees. She fought against the arms holding her. |
Astarion's eyes flashed around the room, as if he could find something...anything, that could possibly stop what was happening. There was nothing. No glowing pillars or magic runes. No spells to disrupt. No miraculous rescue to be performed. Not this time. |
Just the will of an angry God. |
The upraised fist of an abusive father he dared to defy. |
The tightening noose of a master that would see a slave dead rather than freed. |
He looked back and met Ariat's bloodied eyes, feeling utterly useless. Knowing he could do nothing to save him. He couldn't return the favor Ariat had once paid him. He could only hold his gaze until they finally closed, the presence of him within their minds faded, and his body slumped lifeless to the stone. The God c... |
The room was just a room again. Cold, dark, and bereft of any godly presence. |
The cultists slowly drifted away into the darkness of the undercity...without a leader...without direction. Confused and broken. |
As he silently watched Shadowheart and Karlach run to the corpse that had once been their friend...Astarion could relate. |
What had they done... |
----------------------------------- |
"What happened?!" |
It was Jaheira's voice, of all of them, that somehow managed to pull Astarion out of himself when they returned to camp, bearing Ariat's dead body. |
He didn't know why...but something about hearing her, seeing her, woke him up. Pulled him out of his shock. He felt a cold resentment brewing in his stomach for this woman. She who had been so adamant with Ariat, with all of them, that he could be saved. That he could choose his own path. |
"...he told Bhaal no." Karlach replied, her voice subdued and shaky, "...so Bhaal killed him." |
"What?" Jaheira's face went pale and she sounded honestly surprised. |
"What don't you understand, exactly." Astarion couldn't help himself as he pulled his bow from his back, his tone thick with sarcasm and distain, "He told a God no...the God didn't like it. What in the hells did we think would happen?" |
"I...I have known Bhaalspawn before who turned away from him. This...this did not happen." The druid tried to explain, her voice sounding lost. |
"Yes, well, clearly he learned his lesson the last time he let some of his children ruin his plans by growing a conscience." Astarion sneered, tossing his bow onto his bedroll. |
The silence was long and lingering. Awkward as the druid tried to compose herself. He could see the pain in her eyes, in the way she held her hands clasped tightly. The way the lines around her eyes deepened. She had cared about Ariat...had doted after him, especially after learning what he was. Like she had felt it wa... |
Somehow, this just irritated him even more. |
"...at least...he will be at peace now. He...he made the right choice. He's better off-" |
Something broke in Astarion as he listened to this. |
"At peace?! Made the right choice?! Are you listening to yourself? He's not better off this way, HE'S DEAD! ARIAT IS DEAD!" He yelled. |
"Astarion..." Karlach started, consoling. She took a step towards him and he backed away. |
"No, don't you "Astarion" me. Go and tell that to Shadowheart or Halsin, I'm sure they'll feel so much better hearing that their lover is better off now that he's dead. He made a choice...and now he's dead for that choice...he's one of the False, don't you get that? Do you know what that means? He's not at peace. He ne... |
"What right did we have, hmm? Filling his head with all that nonsense...like we had any idea? Like we knew anything? None, that's what." |
He saw the way their faces filled with looks of pity, realization, whatever they were thinking about his words. He didn't care. He didn't want sympathy. He didn't deserve sympathy. |
"He's dead...and it's our fault. Now...we get to live with that. It's the least we can do." He snapped and before they could try and say anything, probably try to insist he was wrong, empty platitudes, he turned his back on them and walked away. Ears deaf to their calls. |
He couldn't be around them, any of them. He didn't want to comfort anyone and he didn't want to be comforted. So, he went to the one place none of them were. The one place he could always go when he didn't want to be judged. He went to Ariat. |
It was somewhat ironic that he was in the same place they'd put him when he'd been injured...but what else were they supposed to do with the body? They couldn't just...leave him. Certainly couldn't trust random strangers with it in this gods forsaken hellscape of a city. |
He looked down at him and sighed, "...you could at least try to not look so bloody happy..." he muttered to the body. It had been so odd seeing him bleed as he had...and yet not have a drop of blood on him when they took him. Bhaal had truly taken it all back. He sat down with his back against the hay bale. |
"For what it's worth...and I know it's not worth much coming from me, but...I'm sorry...I'm sorry for my part in all of this. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, but you deserved better from me than false promises. I hope you know, I never meant to lie to you." |
He let out a sigh and let his head fall back, eyes closing as his mind wandered. He tried to picture their future now that Ariat was gone. It felt weird to think they should just...go on without him to follow. The task had always felt too big, too impossible, now... |
"...are you...seriously sitting here, feeling sorry for yourself...next to my death bed of all things?" |
Astarion's eyes shot open, and it took him an embarrassingly long moment to realize who was talking to him. He twisted around and stared in shock to find Ariat propped up on his elbows, giving him a bemused smirk. |
"You couldn't just mourn me like a normal person?" Ariat started to ask but was cut off when Astarion abruptly hugged him. His eyes widened and Ariat stiffened, "Oh...uh..." |
Astarion just as abruptly pulled away, clearing his throat. He stepped back, "What in the hells...I...you were dead!" |
Ariat nodded and opted not to mention the hug, "...I'm aware of that, thank you." |
"...oh, you're aware of that? Are you really?! What in the damned bloody...Ariat, Shadowheart said she couldn't bring you back...how are we talking right now?!" |
Ariat slowly pushed himself up and threw his legs over the side of the hay bale so he could sit properly, "...Withers brought me back." He explained...as if any of this was just...a normal occurrence. |
"What? Withers? That useless sack of bone dust...?" Astarion asked and glanced out of the barn, spotting the aforementioned person in his usual place reading a book. Nothing to suggest he'd done anything. |
"I think he's far more then that...far far more." Ariat explained. He frowned, "I didn't want to...not at first. I thought I didn't deserve it but...he convinced me that the only way to truly make amends for my past was to live, but...this wasn't your fault, Astarion. It was my choice...even after Bhaal told me what he... |
Astarion shook his head, "If I had known...I-" |
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