Sorry it’s not under a cut I’m on mobile and I’m tired. But have more shit from the last session I did in D&D. Had to let my players know what the gods saw 🙃.
Within the fog was a nightmare come to life, a ghost come to haunt Aegis from his worst memories. Relias stood before him, dripping with the Rot, teeth bared in a horrifying grin. Never had he thought this would come back, he had willed it away so many nights before. Even if Aegis knew this wasn’t real it still sat in his gut wrong. The man should be dead and yet here he was.
“What? Too scared to come and hit me?”
There it was, the tell tale rasp of vocal chords fried by corruption. A smirk settled on thin, pale lips and Aegis watched as Relias took a single step forward, taunting him. He would not let the anger overtake him, not now. Much less the horror.
“Am I? Remember the last time you said that? I’m pretty fucking sure your boyfriend got impaled”
It didn’t matter if that was Shar or not, the rage boiled deep within Aegis at the words. Pain scratched at the surface but had not yet broken through.
“I seem to remember that you also died the last time I said that. The party turned you into ash and Ielia is currently torturing your soul for all of eternity”, Aegis spat out, poison dripping from his words.
If only Relias wasn’t immune to insults and mockery. His smirk simply widened and he took another step forward, casually gesturing towards where Thrash stood. At the same time it flashed the remnants of his old armor, Aegis’ brand burned deep into it. One more pain to add on top of the list. A deep, heart wrenching guilt that one.
“Too bad he didn’t succumb. I did so want to be on your mind a little more. Instead it’s filled with...that horrible gushy shit. You could do so much better”
“You once wanted to be part of that gushy shit, you know”
It wouldn’t do any good to yell back at the vision but at the very least it helped calm Aegis’ blinding rage. Rage was always better than fear, than the panic that bubbled beneath his skin. He was very aware of the cold and calculating eyes upon him. Relias’ presence was all too familiar still, and he needed to rectify that. There was a year in between him and that cold day in the Necropolis; a year in between him and the asylum. He could do better than this. Already the vision was quiet, watching his every move but it would give him time to strike.
Relias was a ghost and that’s how he would stay.
Remis thought he had forgotten the sound of her voice, the perfume she would wear after her baths; he had thought he’d forgotten her. And yet here she was, arms outstretched and smiling.
Panic closed off his lungs, digging it’s claws in deep and would not let go. Remis was frozen in place with nowhere else to go but forward; where were the others? Divines above it was getting too hard to breathe. All he could do was stare while Nephrit offered herself to him with that same smile, gentle and soft, but he knew better. Beneath her innocent gaze was a predatory spirit who wanted to consume everything in her path.
“Why won’t you come towards me, Remis?”
Another jolt of panic alighted down the gods spine and he jumped back a few inches. In his hands his handaxes clattered together while he trembled, and he did his best to gather his words. Her eyes eerily focused in on his movements, a way to tell this wasn’t real and yet…
Shock and hurt crossed Nephrit’s face, a visible pout that both angered and saddened Remis. Gods, why had he ever thought she’d been good enough for him?
“I am not! Why do you think such things? All I’ve ever done is wanted to love you”
Before he even knew what was coming out of his mouth, Remis choked out, “I asked you, pleaded with you to not pursue godhood. And look at what it did to you. Do you not remember Phyra and Klaus? They died because they weren’t worthy, Nephrit”
Again, there was a pout and she settled her hands against her hips, “But how do you know I’m not worthy?”
Panic surged through Remis, his heart hammering so hard against his ribs he believed it would escape him. Why did this have to happen here? Why? He had to pull through it but everything in his body wanted to fall apart at the seams. Instead, Remis took in a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Sure, he wanted to run screaming from the room and curl into a ball to sob, but there were things they needed to do. People they needed to save. Anxiety could wait.
“Why do I have to justify myself to a phantom? You’re dead, what does it matter?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Nephrits body had shifted. Teeth bared in a terrible grimace she reached out for him again, only red blooming in the place of a request for an embrace. Despite the crack of his heart as Remis threw the axe in response, he knew this was for the best. She wasn’t real.
She was never worth the time he gave her.
