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The Doomed Bastards: Reckoning (story complete)
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<blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4422839" data-attributes="member: 143"><p>Chapter 91</p><p></p><p>A LEGACY OF BLOOD</p><p></p><p></p><p>Duke Aerim. The Bloodwraith. A man bound by a failure centuries old, bound to a fate he had not chosen, but had been sealed to nevertheless. As the Bloodwraith, he sought life but could not live; as the man, he had sought death but could not die. When Ghazaran Jawad had brought Aerim back to a semblance of life, he had used the power of the Bloodways as part of his ritual, letting him steal the soul of the Duke away from its torment, to make him a stronger ally in his quest to free the Ravager. Allera had masked that bond, allowing him to be taken from Rappan Athuk without tearing him apart. But for all that he looked and sounded a man, the power of the Bloodways still flowed through him. He was a part of it, and it a part of him, one and the other fundamentally the same.</p><p></p><p>That bond had allowed him to survive the collapse of the castle keep, and even after the Ravager swallowed him, it had continued to pour life into him, to restore his body. But the power of the Ravager proved too much for the curse of blood under which Aerim existed. Aerim’s body faltered, and failed. </p><p></p><p>And the power of the Bloodways, suddenly losing its anchor, flowed out of that receptacle in an unrestrained flood. </p><p></p><p>Outside of the creature, just a few strides distant, Maricela lifted her mace and waited for the death. But as the Ravager loomed over her, it abruptly clenched, its head coming back, jaws stretched wide in a soundless scream. Its claws dug into its own flesh, opening rents that oozed tendrils of red vapor. </p><p></p><p>And from its mouth, a cascade of swirling, eager mists, long fingers of crimson far deeper than the creature’s natural coloration. The fog, as dense as though they were the true digits of some corporeal thing, twined around the Ravager’s body like strands of creeping ivy. It kept coming out of it, vile, sinuous, the threads tightening until the Ravager wore them like a second skin. </p><p></p><p>For a moment, the defenders of Camar could only watch in fascinated horror. Then Varo shattered the silence with a loud cry. </p><p></p><p>“Now!” The priest yelled, his voice cracking with the effort, though his words echoed clearly through the square. “Strike it down!” </p><p></p><p>Cascades of magical fire, lightning, and bolts of force slammed into the Ravager from every direction. Each impact penetrated the cloak of vapors around it, blasting into the flesh beneath. Whatever was happening to the Ravager, it seemed to have drained its defenses. It tried to get up, to surge forward to fight, but a film of red had fallen over its eyes, and it was clear as it thrashed wildly that it could no longer see. Arrows lanced into it; Selanthas had come into the square, and a few of the knights had taken up their bows as well, some faint hope creeping up to replace the despair they had felt earlier. </p><p></p><p>“AAAAAAAAAA!” Dar yelled, drawing the creature’s head around as he dove in. <em>Jutice</em> carved a deep path, and this time he hit his target, cutting through the creature’s right eye as though it had been a melon. The creature jerked back, now almost pathetic as it coughed up a final plume of red mist, and then staggered to the left, then forward, then left again. As the skeins of fog began to shift around its body, they could see the monster’s hide, the brilliant red now cracked and oozing black. The monster took a faltering step, no longer toward those souls whose richness seemed now to taunt it, but away, anywhere it could go to escape the destruction ravaging it from within and without. </p><p></p><p>Maricela had regained her feet, and now walked around the creature, moving ahead of it before coming back around toward its head. She lifted her mace to strike, but the blow never landed. </p><p></p><p>A huge fist of white energy slammed down into the Ravager, striking solidly in the center of its skull. Letellia’s <em>clenched fist</em> caught it like a hammer, and the creature suddenly went limp, leaning forward slowly until it passed a certain point of balance and toppled forward onto the ground with a loud thud. It lay there, inert. The last of the blood mist trailed away, revealing a carcass riven with incredible amounts of damage. Black fluid oozed from cracks that spiderwebbed across its hide, and trailed from the slits of its nostrils and ears. The eye that Dar had lacerated pulsed several gouts of sick ochre goop that trailed down the fallen monster’s cheek, and then it too became quiescent.</p><p></p><p>Dar stood there, watching it, when Varo came up beside him, limping heavily. </p><p></p><p>“Is it dead? For good?” Dar asked, without turning toward the cleric.</p><p></p><p>“Yes.”</p><p></p><p>Allera emerged from the nearby building, half-supported by Petronia until she saw Dar; then she broke free and ran toward him. Those flying above descended slowly, hovering over the creature warily. Their summoned allies began to wink out, one by one, as they returned to the planes of existence from whence they had been drawn. </p><p></p><p>“I must depart, as well,” Varo said. But Dar turned on him. </p><p></p><p>“First, I need an answer. What the hell just happened?”</p><p></p><p>“Duke Aerim was bound to the power of the Bloodways, an ancient font of dark magic that had been bound to Orcus, but which became independent upon the demon’s fall. When he died, that power flowed out through him, overcoming the Ravager. It would not have been enough to destroy it alone, I think, but it made it vulnerable.”</p><p></p><p>Dar’s expression darkened. “You knew, as always. If you or your god had seen fit to just tell us this earlier, we could have fed the Duke to that big red bastard straight off, and a lot of good people would still be alive.”</p><p></p><p>“Kiron,” Maricela said. She had returned to her normal size, and there was a haunted look in her eyes as she came to stand before them. Blood still slaked the side of her face where the Ravager had struck her. </p><p></p><p>Varo’s expression showed pity. “Kiron Tonneth’s soul was sheltered by the hand of the Father, and was not consumed by the beast. He stands at the side of the Father, but his work here is not done. He will return.”</p><p> </p><p>“Is that your answer for all this?” Dar said. “Just <em>raise</em> the hundreds who died? Just rebuild the lives shattered by this destruction?”</p><p></p><p>Varo looked up at Dar. “The gods are not omniscient, nor are they omnipotent.”</p><p></p><p>“Bull.”</p><p></p><p>“Of all people, I thought you could understand, Dar.” Varo’s smile was sad, but he did not turn from Dar’s anger. “If that were the case, then the Choice that we... that <em>you</em> have as mortals would be meaningless. We would all be mere tools of the gods, and life would be without purpose.”</p><p></p><p>“We’re all just tools, anyway,” Dar said, but it was he who turned aside, staring at the broken body of the creature. Allera took his arm. </p><p></p><p>“It is not so,” Varo said. “Someday, you will understand.” </p><p></p><p>A bright glow began to surround him. He walked past Dar, pausing to lean toward Allera. He whispered something, and then continued walking, the glow brightening as he drew further from them. By the time he had covered a few steps, it was so strong as to force them to look away, but that was only for an instant; when they looked back, he was gone. </p><p></p><p>“What did he say?” Dar asked Allera. </p><p></p><p>“He said to remember, that no one is ever truly beyond redemption.”</p><p></p><p>As she finished speaking, the dawn broke, and a bright glow of sunshine crested the eastern horizon, shining down the long main street of Highbluff, reaching through the piles of scattered rubble and wrecked buildings to cast a warm glow over those gathered in the town square. They stood there for a long time, looking at the wrecked hulk of the Ravager, now diminished in death, just sharing their collective presence, and reveling in the simple fact of being alive.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lazybones, post: 4422839, member: 143"] Chapter 91 A LEGACY OF BLOOD Duke Aerim. The Bloodwraith. A man bound by a failure centuries old, bound to a fate he had not chosen, but had been sealed to nevertheless. As the Bloodwraith, he sought life but could not live; as the man, he had sought death but could not die. When Ghazaran Jawad had brought Aerim back to a semblance of life, he had used the power of the Bloodways as part of his ritual, letting him steal the soul of the Duke away from its torment, to make him a stronger ally in his quest to free the Ravager. Allera had masked that bond, allowing him to be taken from Rappan Athuk without tearing him apart. But for all that he looked and sounded a man, the power of the Bloodways still flowed through him. He was a part of it, and it a part of him, one and the other fundamentally the same. That bond had allowed him to survive the collapse of the castle keep, and even after the Ravager swallowed him, it had continued to pour life into him, to restore his body. But the power of the Ravager proved too much for the curse of blood under which Aerim existed. Aerim’s body faltered, and failed. And the power of the Bloodways, suddenly losing its anchor, flowed out of that receptacle in an unrestrained flood. Outside of the creature, just a few strides distant, Maricela lifted her mace and waited for the death. But as the Ravager loomed over her, it abruptly clenched, its head coming back, jaws stretched wide in a soundless scream. Its claws dug into its own flesh, opening rents that oozed tendrils of red vapor. And from its mouth, a cascade of swirling, eager mists, long fingers of crimson far deeper than the creature’s natural coloration. The fog, as dense as though they were the true digits of some corporeal thing, twined around the Ravager’s body like strands of creeping ivy. It kept coming out of it, vile, sinuous, the threads tightening until the Ravager wore them like a second skin. For a moment, the defenders of Camar could only watch in fascinated horror. Then Varo shattered the silence with a loud cry. “Now!” The priest yelled, his voice cracking with the effort, though his words echoed clearly through the square. “Strike it down!” Cascades of magical fire, lightning, and bolts of force slammed into the Ravager from every direction. Each impact penetrated the cloak of vapors around it, blasting into the flesh beneath. Whatever was happening to the Ravager, it seemed to have drained its defenses. It tried to get up, to surge forward to fight, but a film of red had fallen over its eyes, and it was clear as it thrashed wildly that it could no longer see. Arrows lanced into it; Selanthas had come into the square, and a few of the knights had taken up their bows as well, some faint hope creeping up to replace the despair they had felt earlier. “AAAAAAAAAA!” Dar yelled, drawing the creature’s head around as he dove in. [i]Jutice[/i] carved a deep path, and this time he hit his target, cutting through the creature’s right eye as though it had been a melon. The creature jerked back, now almost pathetic as it coughed up a final plume of red mist, and then staggered to the left, then forward, then left again. As the skeins of fog began to shift around its body, they could see the monster’s hide, the brilliant red now cracked and oozing black. The monster took a faltering step, no longer toward those souls whose richness seemed now to taunt it, but away, anywhere it could go to escape the destruction ravaging it from within and without. Maricela had regained her feet, and now walked around the creature, moving ahead of it before coming back around toward its head. She lifted her mace to strike, but the blow never landed. A huge fist of white energy slammed down into the Ravager, striking solidly in the center of its skull. Letellia’s [i]clenched fist[/i] caught it like a hammer, and the creature suddenly went limp, leaning forward slowly until it passed a certain point of balance and toppled forward onto the ground with a loud thud. It lay there, inert. The last of the blood mist trailed away, revealing a carcass riven with incredible amounts of damage. Black fluid oozed from cracks that spiderwebbed across its hide, and trailed from the slits of its nostrils and ears. The eye that Dar had lacerated pulsed several gouts of sick ochre goop that trailed down the fallen monster’s cheek, and then it too became quiescent. Dar stood there, watching it, when Varo came up beside him, limping heavily. “Is it dead? For good?” Dar asked, without turning toward the cleric. “Yes.” Allera emerged from the nearby building, half-supported by Petronia until she saw Dar; then she broke free and ran toward him. Those flying above descended slowly, hovering over the creature warily. Their summoned allies began to wink out, one by one, as they returned to the planes of existence from whence they had been drawn. “I must depart, as well,” Varo said. But Dar turned on him. “First, I need an answer. What the hell just happened?” “Duke Aerim was bound to the power of the Bloodways, an ancient font of dark magic that had been bound to Orcus, but which became independent upon the demon’s fall. When he died, that power flowed out through him, overcoming the Ravager. It would not have been enough to destroy it alone, I think, but it made it vulnerable.” Dar’s expression darkened. “You knew, as always. If you or your god had seen fit to just tell us this earlier, we could have fed the Duke to that big red bastard straight off, and a lot of good people would still be alive.” “Kiron,” Maricela said. She had returned to her normal size, and there was a haunted look in her eyes as she came to stand before them. Blood still slaked the side of her face where the Ravager had struck her. Varo’s expression showed pity. “Kiron Tonneth’s soul was sheltered by the hand of the Father, and was not consumed by the beast. He stands at the side of the Father, but his work here is not done. He will return.” “Is that your answer for all this?” Dar said. “Just [i]raise[/i] the hundreds who died? Just rebuild the lives shattered by this destruction?” Varo looked up at Dar. “The gods are not omniscient, nor are they omnipotent.” “Bull.” “Of all people, I thought you could understand, Dar.” Varo’s smile was sad, but he did not turn from Dar’s anger. “If that were the case, then the Choice that we... that [i]you[/i] have as mortals would be meaningless. We would all be mere tools of the gods, and life would be without purpose.” “We’re all just tools, anyway,” Dar said, but it was he who turned aside, staring at the broken body of the creature. Allera took his arm. “It is not so,” Varo said. “Someday, you will understand.” A bright glow began to surround him. He walked past Dar, pausing to lean toward Allera. He whispered something, and then continued walking, the glow brightening as he drew further from them. By the time he had covered a few steps, it was so strong as to force them to look away, but that was only for an instant; when they looked back, he was gone. “What did he say?” Dar asked Allera. “He said to remember, that no one is ever truly beyond redemption.” As she finished speaking, the dawn broke, and a bright glow of sunshine crested the eastern horizon, shining down the long main street of Highbluff, reaching through the piles of scattered rubble and wrecked buildings to cast a warm glow over those gathered in the town square. They stood there for a long time, looking at the wrecked hulk of the Ravager, now diminished in death, just sharing their collective presence, and reveling in the simple fact of being alive. [/QUOTE]
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