“I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality.” – Frida Kahlo
Plot summary:
Astarion has been a criminal his entire life. Sick of committing only petty crimes for his boss, Cazador Szarr, he desires to become one of the big players. A name on a list is the ticket he has been waiting for, and he has one month to make sure his target bites the dust. An easy enough job because Astarion has an excellent killer instinct.
The Thorms are one of the wealthiest families in Baldur’s Gate. Since the miraculous recovery of their daughter, Isobel, a couple of years back, the Thorms have become loyal Shar worshippers, convinced that the goddess put her protective wings over the woman. Now someone put a death warrant on the older sister, Sylva.
But things rarely are as they seem, and what appears like an easy kill for the professional assassin turns out to be a greater challenge. More so when the line between hunter and prey increasingly blurs up to the point when both are left with one final choice.
Notes:
The story is a modern, no-magic AU, taking place in the city of Baldur’s Gate.
A well-working transportation system, the metro, exists.
Both the police (Fists) as well as the crime syndicate use bladed weapons. Heavy weapons and firearms don’t exist.
The whole pantheon of gods and goddesses exists, but Faerûn is mostly a secularized state. Religious groups are called sects by the common people.
Apart from these details, the world is mostly like ours. You will find names, places, and even things taken from the D&D universe, but they will be altered accordingly.
The disease mentioned in this fic is completely fictional. Any similarities to actual diseases are purely coincidental.
This story is born from suffering. It is shaped both by grief and a strong will to live. If I had to reduce the whole fic to three tags, they would be angst, comfort, and romance, though the first part of the story will be mostly angsty. I didn’t rate the fic, though if you expect porn, you should not linger. There will be sexual content, slightly explicit (one chapter), but the focus is not sex, it is intimacy and shared grief.
I hope that this little fic will be as comforting and fulfilling for you as it was for me when I wrote it. Thank you for sharing this moment with me.
Since the narrative is completely finished, I will upload regularly. There is also a Playlist for the songs I choose for each chapter. Here is the link.
