Chapter Text
Bodies littered the entrance of the dungeon, my metal boots deep into the gore. My vision blurred at the bloodshed: Bahamutans. Each and one with their necks slit open, their flesh torn open by spells, their limbs addorning the cobblestone floor. I looked down at my hand, that held the still beating heart of the last non undead soldier, my entire palm covered in dark red up to my elbow. Looking back at the woman, her hand insitnctively went towards the open cavity in her chest. She stumbled back and fell, severing the veins that still connected her to the organ in my hand. A last breath... and life was no longer in her eyes.
Despite this, I knew that her body would come back to life to attack me once more.
Whatever necromantic spell Zeke had placed on his soldiers, it wasn't something strong, but constant: the bodies, every few minutes or so, would stand up, like soulless carcasses that attacked replicating the movements they knew before they died, as if to disguise the fact that they were no longer alive. It seemed more understandable how he managed to capture mother and father: wasting their magic reserves through constant, almost endless, fighting, so that they were nigh exhausted and are easier to capture.
I wonder if Dustin noticed this and was why he lasted longer than them...
"Aspen?" A female voice snapped me out of my thoughts. It was Bonnibel,
"Ya good?" She asked "We gotta barricade the door before them corpses rise again"
"O-oh.. yeah.. I..." I dropped the heart and rubbed my eyes, forcing my vision to unblur "lets go"
The moment we exited the lower level, Aeris muttered an enchantment in draconic. Around the door, a draconic sigil that read "Locked" engraved itself into the wood.
"No one should be able to come in or out." She stated.
"Good... lets find Uncle Donald"
We made our way up the stairs. The sound of blades clashing and spells slinging was getting closer, giving me slight nausea. This was all way bigger than me, and what if we don't manage to make it out alive? What if mom and dad are taken to Celestia and judged by the Platinum Dragon? What if-
"Hey, uhm..." Bonnibel said "those polearm moves were like greased lightnin'! Where did you learn them?"
"I.. uh... why are you asking?"
"Y'know, just makin' casual conversation before the whole fightin' undead type thing"
"Well... my brother taught me the basics of fighting... and whenever she visits, my cousin helps me improve my magic and combat abilities."
"Oh! You have a brother too!"
"Yeah... uh... I think your shadow magic is amazing as well"
"Oh, this old thing? Yeah, my momma used to say that I should call it "Umbramancy" to make it sound fancier."
We stayed silent as we ran upstairs, and awkwardness seeped into the area. Not wanting to but off casual conversation, i forced myself to talk.
"Uhm... by the way, w-what's with the accent?"
"Oh! Uh... just a lil' thing I got stuck in me from home. My momma actually-"
The door at the top of the stairs burst open in a huge ball of fire. From it, an armored Bahamutan came flying. We pushed ourselves against the wall to not get hit and watched how his body fell back into the dungeon.
We looked back up, where I smiled at a familiar face:
Standing at 6'1, the Mane of Golden Fire cracked her knuckles as the smoked cleared. Her golden hair was lit up like vivid flames, and her arms were coated in beautiful merigold wisps that danced and hardened like living armor. My aunt Dalia Chromaclaw grinned back at me.
"Aspen! Aeris! About time you got out of the dungeon!"
"Auntie! H-how are things going?"
"First off, who are those two?" She pointed at Kendrick and Bonnibel. Both of them shot me awkward glares as they were both unable to explain the situation properly.
"They... are here to help! They have information about the Talon of Justice that attacked us!"
"Talon of Justice, eh? Well, as long as they behave, they can come with us. We found a Teleportation Circle in your father's office. Donald confirmed it leads to our manor in Baldur's Gate, but he needs a bit of time to configure it so that they don't follow us through the portal"
Reaching the top of the stairs, I stood in front of her "how?"
"By destroying it the moment we go through."
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Every hall in the manor was infested with undead bahamutans, their armor torn open and weapons with brittle and shattered blades, yet they came back only minutes after being knocked down. As my aunt Dalia helped us cleave through the hoards, I pondered how Bahamut, a god of Justice, would allow their followers to indulge into necromancy? Maybe he's had a change of heart? I have never heard of a deity, specially a good aligned one, that would use such tactics. Or maybe... he was desperate. Looking for any possible way to take his enemies down. Either way, it must mean that he isn't underestimating us.
We reached the fourth floor of the manor, our gear covered in blood and grime. I managed to stick to melee rather than using my Power reserves, but that did mean i took some heavy hits.
Bonnibel and Kendrick were in a similar state too... well, mostly Bonnibel. Because she mostly stuck to using cantrips and shooting people with a crossbow she found on the ground. It did come with it's costs: a nasty open line ran across her forearm that was awkwardky bandaged, along with bruises that turned her pale skin into nasty black bumps.
Kendrick looked fine. I watched his arms get cut off twice, only to regrow back in the span of seconds. The only thing damaged on him was his clothes.
Aeris managed to stay close me and aunt Dalia. I focused all my strength in clearing the path, but her magic managed to cover my back a couple of times. Her Art reserves were low because of this.
I could already hear the sound of bones rattling at the bottom of the stairs, but vines inmediately sealed off the path. My gaze instantly settled on my aunt Annabelle, who was at the entrance of my father's office.
"Auntie Anna!" Aeris sped towards her, embracing our pixie hair cut aunt. Her freckles were similar to mine, but her face was 100 times prettier than mine. Mom sometimes jested that Anna took all the freckles from father's face when they were in grandma's belly.
"Oh, Ae! I was so worried! Are you hurt? Did you get bitten?"
"We're fine. We just need to reach the-"
"Aspen! What happened to you?" Aunt Anna reached for my arms and held them tightly. Around them, pink-green vines wrapped and stabbed into my skin. Then, they injected a teal colored fluid into me, my wounds healing and my exhaustion gone.
"There, there... anyone else needs to patch up wounds-"
"Uh... hi... Anna...!" Bonnibel, standing behind me, waved at my aunt with a quivering smile.
Aunt anna's face dropped into a somber expression, one I have never seen before "what is SHE doing here?"
"You... you two know each other?"
"Well ya knoww.... it's a pretty dang long story! Me n' Anna go way ba-"
"She owes the Chromaclaw House money." Anna stated, her voice with a hint of hostility.
"Yeeeaah... that..."
"Aspen, why is she with you?"
"Uhm... she knows information about the Talon of Justice that attacked the manor"
"W-well! It's not like I have him on speed dial or anythin'! Hahaha!" Bonnibel struggled to keep her composure in front of Anna.
"Don't... know what 'speed dial' means... but it's true. If we know what he wants, we can... counterattack"
Annabelle stood like a statue in front of the half drow. She drenched in sweat as my aunt seemed to impose this heavy weight in her shoulders, but was quickly dispelled at the sound of vines being torn to shreds.
"We'll finish this conversation later. Let's head to the portal"
"A-actually..."
"What is it, Aspen?" Dalia's eyes set on me, curiosity and a hint of pressure emanating from them.
"I... I have something else to do before we go. A-activate the portal and take Aeris with you"
"What!? Why!?" Ae interrupted, but I kept going
"She's low on mana, and with the situation we are in right now she won't last for long."
"How do you plan to activate the portal?"
"Bonnibel can activate it"
"I can?"
I shot her a glance
"Oh! Yeah, I can!"
"Alright..." my aunt sighed. "But be quick. If I don't see you at the Baldur's Gate manor in 10 minutes, you'll be in lots of trouble, young man!"
I knew she was speaking in a playful tone, but her heart spoke true at the sight of her pupils. She was worried, but she knew that despite not knowing what I had to do, she trusted me that I would tell her when we got to Baldur's Gate.
And I will.
If I had to go against my brother's wishes to find the truth about the attack, I will. Mother and father are captive and my home is destroyed.
They will pay for this. These bahamutans will die.
"Aspen...! Please! Let me go with you!" Ae cried "I don't want to lose you too!"
"Ae... please. I need you to go with our Aunts, okay?"
"But... mom... dad... Dustin..."
"I know... but I'll be right there."
"...promise?"
"Promise."
I hugged her. Her tears felt like warm kisses against my cheek. I felt the urge to bawl too, but I had to stay strong. As I pulled back, I tucked a stray hair behind her ear before standing up.
"You two are coming with me."
"Tch..."
"Where are we goin'?"
"To my brother's room..." I watched as Aeris was taken into my father's office. "... at the third floor."
"Oh, fuck me..." Kendrick mumbled, but still pulled out his chain whip and dagger as the vines that my aunt conjured broke away.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Silence. The last undead soldier fell with an eerie crush of bones and pang of metal. I hadn't used any of my reserves yet, but we managed to cleavr through all of them again. This time, they were at their weakest. We waited. Waited for a few minutes to see if any rose back up again, but they laid on the floor inanimated. Did the spell finally wane? And for a spell so powerful, why did it take this long to lose power? In fact, what kind of spell can do that?
I should ask that later, right now we were on duty.
"Hey, Aspen? Do ya have any healin' pots with ya or somethin'?" Bonnibel spoke up, looking a bit paler than before. Her wounds were still open, and she had gained new ones in the last battle.
"No... but... hold on, stay still-"
I grabbed her arm and removed the dirty bloodied bandages off of her arm. The wound was nasty: the skin was sliced open and I could make out the white of the bone underneath the flesh. I traced my fingers on the skin, Power sinking into it and thinnking into a silk holden thread that jumped from end to end before pulling both together and closing it. The same spell lingered through the bruises and small cuts on her, making them disappear and replacing them with barely visible scars.
"Ooh.. thank ye kindly! But why ain't they fully healed?"
"O-oh.. sorry, my healing spells leave scars... th-they're not perfect..."
"Huh... well, no worries! Always wanted to have a cool battlr scar to show off, y'know?"
I giggled in response "yeah..."
"Stop being so loud and let's keep moving!" Kendrick protested, looking over his shoulder at us "what are we even looking for anyway? A new set of armor for you?"
"What...? Why would I need a set of arm-" his comment made me look down, and I noticed the horrifying state of my plate.
One of my shoulder plates was completely ripped out, leaving the strap damaged but still dangling; the chestplate itself was melted away, carved by a large circular like crater that left my chest exposed.
How didn't I notice this? I knew that the dragonborn monk had dented it, but she didn't melt it away! Was it... Zeke? It was the only possible answer, only someone with so much power could do this to draconic armor. No wonder I sustained so many injuries as I cleaved through the hoard of Bahamutans, the adrenaline must have blinded me...
"N... no. We're looking for something else. Something... my brother entrusted me with."
"Tch... and why should we go with you? It's not our job to follow you around like some sort of leader..."
I couldn't find the words to counter his argument, but Bonnibel jumped in
"Well, you go have fun trynna' fight The Boogeyman alone! At least ee'll have the family of the Chromaclaws on OUR side, right Azzie?"
I tilted my head at the nickname, but i nodded all the same. We both started walking towards Dustin's room. It took a while, but I heard Kendrick's steps catching up behind us.
The door opened with a loud creak, and my brother's bedroom was torn apart as i glanced at it for the first time: the window was shattered, glass shards spread throughout the carpet, his bed a complete mess with several blade slashes opening the matress, books from his shelf were scattered on the ground, but only a few remained on their respective positions.
As the other two inspected the room, i made my way towards the shelves. My fingers traced the ash and dust that covered some of them until I found the one I looked for.
I pulled the book.
Suddenly, the entire wooden bookshelf began quivering before sliding slowly to the left, letting me see the passage.
I turned slightly to face Bonnibel and Kendrick "Follow me."
Anxiety bubbled up in my stomach: what if Zeke had found it first? Did the mask have a connection to the attack? What id Dustin hiding? However, all doubts cleared as I saw the cerulean head piece sitting idly on it's platform.
"Oooh... so that's what ya were lookin' for!"
"I'm more interested on the gold! Is this one cursed?"
My eyes shifted sligthly at the hoard "No..."
"Great! Shame those Bahamutans took my fuckin' bag of holding, but my coin pouch will do!" Kendrick jumped at the gold and started filling his pockets. Bonnibel did the same.
Carefully, the tip of my fingers lifted up the dragon mask. It still had the roaring draconic energy that I sensed back the first time I was here. I figured it would be dangerous to carry it around in my personal bag of holding, so i put it in the ring of Holding instead.
"Alright. That was it. Let's go. We have to get to the teleportation circle"
Our steps grew hastier as we traversed back through the way we came. Beneath my feet, the crunching of bone and metal grew louder eith each step i took. I had made up my mind on the situation: despite his plead of not doing so, I had to tell the Chromaclaws about the mask. The suspicion lf Dustin's betrayal grew heavier in my heart, and if he truly sided with Bahamut, I had to ensure the safety of my family first. That's what I was taught. I was a soldier. This is my duty.
But... Dustin is also my family.
Was there an ulterior motive? A reason behind this betrayal? Maybe he joined their ranks to look for information, or maybe he got cornered into a situation he couldn't escape... but if so... wouldn't he be judged by Bahamut himself? Rumors say that some strong warriors of the Platinum Dragon are inspected by their god himself as he weights their sins. If so, Dustin wouldn't even be alive. He would have become another pillar of foundation in the Dragon's Domain.
Nothing made sense. His disappearance, the attack, nothing... and the mask was probably only a scrape of the surface. You had to get to the bottom of this. You had to find your brother.
You skidded to a stop however, as a golden figure blocked the door.
The same muscular body you faced stood a few feet away, her arms crossed, already fully healed from your spell, along with a bo staff strapped to her back. Looking at her face, the burn mar around her eye still seemed halfway through healing.
"Time for a rematch, kid."