He flinched at the half-hearted punch she threw at him, his eyes glossed with tears he had kept in.
"You're staying with us, you hear me", her fists curled, her breath shaky as she held it in herself.
But she found her way to him anyway.
"You. Are my brother.", Xillith continued as tears began pricking her eyes, "And I will not have you running away from us"
"WE will not have you running away"
Grinmor's hands grasped the edge of his tunic, his clawed hand seemed to almost tear it apart, "The others are worried. He is worried", he took in a shaky breath of his own, "Please come back"
"They're all...", his voice strained, his throat tightened.
Xillith stood there, waiting for him to finish.
"They're dying", he choked out as tears finally spilled, "They're slowly dying because of me", his voice shook with a guilt no one should ever have to hold.
"You can sleep too Xillith", Lin hummed quietly, Grinmor lay sleeping, head on the creature's lap as he softly played with the boy's hair.
The girl sat there, stiff and anxious, "...What if he tries leaving again?"
He found himself sighing internally, "He won't.", he replied, though it was more wishful than firm.
"I'm not sleeping", she huffed, her feathers were puffed out, sitting across from Lin as she stared at her dad and her brother.
God, when did she get adopted again? She doesn't know.
But she doesn't want the family to fall apart.
"...I...know this is difficult", the blind one started softly, he knew that this probably was the best solution to their issue, "No 'but', now is there?", Xillith scoffed, her voice laced in the bitterness one would hear from a heart betrayed.
There really wasn't a 'but' to add, was there?
Wings were heard, flapping away near silently.
"I'm sorry, Xillith", solemn and low as he spoke, he knew his apology was left unheard.
"You don't have an alternative and I don't remember anything regarding this!", Scry huffed exasperatedly, "How in Cradles' sake are we going to solve a problem the two supposedly oldest beings here can't think of a solution to?"
The creature finicked with his bandages, "We have to try something, we can't just let this continue", Scry laughed, befuddled.
"Why excuse you good sir, last I checked, you were the first person to be affected by his naturally decay inducing aura", the black and green gelatinous jellyfish jabbed back, harsh and firm.
His wing twitched, "Listen, that is a child. Who doesn't know how to control said aura.", he took a deep breath, "I'm sure if we tried we could either help him control his aura or find a way to negate the effects of it"
She was understandably shocked by his insistence, "We already agreed this was a matter beyond our expertise!", she argued back, "We can't change what can't be helped you absolute moron—"
"Stop being sentimental you fucking ass and le—"
"NO", he yelled out abruptly. "No.", he repeated, "I will not let him suffer any longer than he has now", a low growled behind his words.
She stood there, tentacles flared out, stance defensive.
The memory of that particularly gruesome and one sided fight was still fresh after all, and she wasn't planning to get beat up again.
He let himself relax, letting out a breath he hadn't realised he had held in, "I—"
"Save it.", Scry interrupted, tone sharp, apprehensive.
He knew she left the room once he heard the door open and slammed shut.
Lin groaned into his hands.
"I've noticed a few things", Scry looked up from the tome she had stolen, "Is there...?"
She sighed, "Marcus, if there was a way to help him, I would", the high elf stilled, "But there isn't. I can't do anything about it."
They hummed, "What are you reading?", he asked her softly. A change of subject, not so subtle, hm? "...Nothing much, just..."
She stared at the tome in her arms, the pages ancient, crumbling. It—
She slammed it shut, "It's about nothing.", huffed the jellyfish creature as she quickly got up and moved into her tent, leaving Marcus alone.
He sighed, "Quite the situation we have here, huh?", they wondered to themselves. Everyone else was in their own little tents, some more sickly than others.
Grinmor's continued presence did not help. Sure, at first they didn't quite feel anything but now?
It's been a while. He's not sure how long before one of them can't handle it anymore.
They wondered how the other three were handling the thought.
She hummed to herself, looking at the small chunk that she tore off her tentacles. It glowed green as she examined it in darkness.
The tome from earlier lay nearby, now with other books sprawled open.
They all had decided that rest was necessary, with a majority of the party ill and Xillith and Lin hanging out with Grinmor outside and away.
It helped. The little distance put between the party and the boy helped. But it wasn't always an option.
"Stupid. Sentimental— piece of shit", she groaned in annoyance and a slowly growing rage, why was she doing this again?
She grumbled as she picked up one of the many tomes off the floor, "...Rot infused...", she mumbled as she read the text.
Over the course of the last couple weeks or so, she had been secretly raiding certain places of their restricted section tomes. It wasn't that difficult but it was hard to keep a secret from Lin.
Why was she keeping a secret? She doesn't know.
What she does know is that something in her will break if she doesn't try again.
"...This...", she glanced at her tiny chunk, letting it slowly crumble away. Scry let out a light huff before focusing on it for what felt like eternity in the darkness she sat within.
She perked up when the disintegrated chunk reverted back to its earlier state.
"...Maybe—", she jerked back suddenly as a jolt of pain hit her, dropping the chunk. She hissed as she looked at the hand she held the chunk in, Rot.
"What?", she stared at her now slightly rotting 'hand', could a tentacle really be called a hand?
"Hmph, I'll just...", conflict returned in her heart, "..."
Why did she want to try again?
There was no other way, right?
Part of her screamed. Wrangled her into trying.
Something told her an apology was overdue. What better way than to resolve this resounding issue?
"Lin?", Allegra called out softly, she listened to the soft tapping of his fingers as he silently sat there, thinking.
The witch walked over to him, "...Are you still thinking about...?", the tapping paused.
He let out a shaky sigh, "...how are the others doing?", he didn't answer her question, she suspected why.
"They're doing fine", she gulped, "As...fine as they can be", she heard him mumble something.
The witch stared at the creature, towering yet hunched like this he was not taller than the top of the nearest window.
"A... certain someone has found something.", his wings perked up but he didn't turn to her, "...and uh, she may have accidentally rotted her ar—"
She stumbled back, stunned by the speed at which Lin almost seemed to lunge at her, "Is she in her room?"
"Y-yes—", Allegra stared at him, "...Don't tell her I snitched. She'll clear my herb stock clean for several weeks", she added. He released his grip on her, slithering away to find the jellyfish.
Looking around the room now, she noticed how peacefully Xillith and Grinmor slept in their shared bed. He was held tight in the former's arms.
"...", she turned around and went to catch up to Lin.
"You could've informed me you were experimenting with Rot!", Lin scolded Scry, his words laced with disappointment and anger.
Marcus, Allegra, Star and Celtic stood beside him, varying expressions sitting on their faces.
The jellyfish creature huffed in indignation, "Yeah, ok, maybe", an exasperated gasp came from the other, "You. Lost. Your. Arm. Permanently! This is no casual matter—"
"Look, I. Was. Trying!", she leaned forward as she yelled back, one tentacle gripping the now bandaged appendage that hung shortened and incomplete.
"I appreciate that you decided to try and help but playing with Rot is not a light activity, even for near immortal or fully immortal entities", Lin reprimanded her swiftly, harshly. "You didn't even bother telling anyone!"
"Oh I'm so sorry for trying to figure out a way to let the kid stay while not making everyone deathly sick—"
"That is NOT—", he took a long breath, hands clasped together, one arm resting to his side with his fist curled, "...Scry."
He sighed, "You could've erased yourself with one mistake", his voice softened, she stared, "...You're lucky it was just your arm"
Silence overwhelmed the room, tension thick.
Some cleared their throat, "Ok so. How do we proceed?", asked Star, slow and careful.
A few more beats of silence passed before someone responded.
"...This sounds counterintuitive", Lin turned to them, "But we do have a chance to do something here"
The four of them stared at Lin, "...What?", Celtic started, "I— Lin, are you hearing yourself?"
"And what is this plan of yours then?", Allegra cautiously added, "I may be jumping ahead but I'm rather against it, you did state that meddling with Rot is", Marcus hummed, "...risky", their own concerns rang loud as he sat down next to Scry to look at the stub again.
It was barely noticeable on the pitch black of her gelatinous form, but there was decay slowly inching beyond the confines of the bandages.
"...Well", Lin turned back to Scry, "If I had to guess, you remember something now."
"The effect can be reversed", Scry interrupted
"For most of us, anyways", she glanced away, "It's just..."
"We'll find something else", he huffed at her, cutting her off, "And you are OFF LIMITS."
The others stared at Lin as he spoke those words, "I don't like what you are implying", Star commented, their eyes narrowing in suspicion.
"We'd love it if you stopped being cryptic and actually explained some things right now", Celtic added firmly, glancing between the two entities.
The two creatures paused for a few seconds.
"We need a sacrifice", Lin spoke, bluntly, quietly.
They blinked. Marcus started in confusion, "What kind of—"
"A divine sacrifice.", Scry cut them off.
The four of them went silent.
"We...need a divine sacrifice"
The room went dead silent. This reaction was expected.
How unfortunate that this is how it's revealed.
"You didn't seem surprised", Xillith hummed to Grinmor, they sat in their room, talking about what they had overheard.
"...I didn't mention it earlier", the girl looked at him, "But I suspected it? She's always reeked of Rot, to a degree"
"You mean, she smelled of Rot before she—?"
Silence enveloped the room for a moment.
"...How does one kill a god?", Xillith asked, the boy blinked, "You say that as if you're planning to kill a god yourself"
"If it helps you, I'll gladly kill a god, with my bare hands if need be"
"Well, that's so much for your pacifism I guess", he mumbled, half jokingly, before getting a slap to the arm, "Ow—"
He stared at her for a while, she stared back.
He sighed, oh how he wished things were simpler.
I wrote this instead of studying, enjoy
I was going insane while writing this — insane in the good way, I mean
So this means 6 party members now know that RPG!Scry is a God, or at least, one reduced to an amnesiac shell
RPG!Lin hadn't brought up the technique before because it was too risky on his own
He now also knows that RPG!Scry has finally recalled part of her memory regarding her godhood :D
Anyways so RPG!Scry's design is now permanently altered to having one less arm <3
Fun fact: one other person who has managed to remain in decent health is RPG!Axel
Me when I FINALLY show some love to others' OCs aside from Marcus:
