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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Emperor Valerian" data-source="post: 1498174" data-attributes="member: 15043">Lucius Returns - all drag n fly hereFor a moment, no one moved. How could they, with their once trusted and loved friend standing in front of them, merciless eyes burning, death dancing in their horrific gaze.Siabrey swallowed hard, unable to tear her gaze away from Lucius’ frightening countenance.  Luke?  Please gods...“Lucius…, Luke, honey it’ll be ok.” Her soft voice quivered out across the stone ramparts. She stepped forward, a hand outstretched as if to pull him into her arms and squeeze the evil out of him.“Halt! Don’t make another move, or you will be dead where you stand!” Lucius’ voice was chillingly like his mothers, his normal smooth alto highlighted by grating voices from the Abyss. His eyes blazed at them all, daring them to move.“Lucius, don’t you remember us?” Siabrey asked, her voice breaking.“I don’t know any of you. The only thing I know is that you are an enemy that needs to be killed!”  Seething hate burned from his eyes, and radiated from his glowing skin.Tears began to trickle down Siabrey’s face.“You don’t even remember me, Lucius. It’s Siabrey….your wife!”  Your love!  The love that would die for you!Lucius sneered, an ugly look on his face. “I have no wife. My life is Graz’zt, and his bidding.” He raised his hand and prepared to attack, a fiery, reddish glow dancing on his fingertips. Siabrey felt her body automatically move into position in front of the others, but she wouldn’t, couldn’t raise her sword to defend herself.I can’t hurt him, she realized with a dull shudder, He might kill me before Shaun and the others subdue him, but I cannot raise my blade against my love. She looked into his eyes, hoping, straining to find some piece of humanity, some piece of Lucius left within their stark light.  All she found was a fury so deep, so wide that she could not comprehend it.  A brief moment of clarity settled across her shoulders like a soft cape. She faced Lucius squarely, and with tears running down her face, wished him farewell…  Goodbye my love... I would rather die than hurt you...At that moment, Tess, the clever bard who both saved and killed with the voice of an angel, muttered something under her breath, held out her hand towards Lucius, and twisted.A brief, surprised look flashed across his face as a wave of magic quivering with song notes rushed out and surrounded him. He had time to give one gasp as, stiff as a board, he cluttered to the ground.“Yes!” Tess whooped. Turning towards the shocked Shaun, she lifted her fingers with a smug grin. “Temporary Paralysis, baby!”Siabrey, suddenly finding herself not dead, gasped, and rushed forward.“Lucius!” she screamed as she reached his side. The others were a second behind her.  She shook him, cradled him, and looked up in alarm as she received no response.“He’ll be like that for 17 minutes.” Tess said. Her words barely registered to the fighter, who was leaning over her fallen love, stroking his face gently and whispering to him.“Luke, oh Luke, honey. It’ll be ok.” Quivering as tears continued to run down her face, she drew Ik Mataar from where she had carefully strapped him to her back before battle.“It’ll be ok.” She mumbled one last time, before placing the huge bastard sword tightly in Lucius hands.  Her own clasped tightly over the union between weapon and master.  Please save my Luke!  Pull him back from the brink, Ik Mataar!His body gave a wrench and she jumped backward as Lucius, even with the paralysis spell on him, began to shake violently as the holy sword contacted his skin, a contest of ages erupting inside his body.“Better bind him,” Tess said, kneeling beside Siabrey and doing just that. “We don’t know what’ll happen when we wakes up.” Siabrey barely even nodded; her eyes were fixed on Lucius’ face, willing him to return.Come on Lucius, just like before. Come back to me honey. Come back!Seventeen long…frightful minutes passed. In the distance, the battle could still be heard raging. Thankfully, it was quiet here. No one even noticed the group of battle-worn warriors huddled around the kneeling Empresses and her long-lost love.Siabrey stroked Lucius’ hand gently. Through her link with Kelir and Lucius’ skin she could hear Ik Mataar mumbling.No boy, no! No, don’t go there I said! Back, foul beast, or I will slay thee! No, no, Lucius, no, come back! Stay away from there!  Get away from there! Wait…no, no......it can’t be…The seventeeth minute passed, and the spell holding Lucius dissolved.The boy arched within his bonds, eyes blazing, his mouth screaming foul words they couldn’t understand through the gag that Tess had insisted upon. His whole body shook as it fought; though whether against the bonds or against the evil in him, no one could be sure.“Siabrey…he doesn’t look any different.” Shaun hesitated to say as a few more minutes passed.  Luek continued to buck hard, viciously twisting, trying to break himself free.Please Luke!  Please pull through! she begged, even as her mind realized what the rogue had said was true;  he was not changing, he was not improving... indeed, his violent shaking seemed almost worse.  Frightened, her mind slowly began to wrap around the concept, the idea, that the Luke she had known long before might never return......and she shuddered, to the very depths of her soul.Reaching out with a shaking finger, she laid it lightly upon Ik Mataar’s hilt.What is wrong? She silently asked the sword, praying that he would utter the phrases she knew would not be.The evil in him is too deep. It has become much stronger than before, and is now bound to his soul. There was a pause, then the sword whispered the words that Siabrey had been dreading.I’m sorry. There is nothing that I can do.============================================= <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> Well, this is it until Saturday night possibly.  Tommorrow night is our last session of the campaign... which with some of the stuff planned, will likely run long enough there's not going to be time to write up anything...</blockquote>

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