Mercy: CXLII
"No.." Vaelle whispered again for what felt like the hundredth time. "N-no- n-no! It can't!" Her voice krept up into her throat, pleading. Begging the air itself to change the image in front of her. "This.." She held her breath, the spear in her arms suddenly felt so heavy. Was this possible? Was this true? Smoke filled her nostrils with the smell of burning rotting flesh. In the distance Vestus screamed and fought against a similar creature. Shit. She'd known Estral, she watched him die. How after all this time did she not put two and two together? Maybe it was fear.. Or perhaps she'd just managed to suppress the memory like when she sold her shop. But no amount of fear or suppressed memories was enough to make this figure go away. Tears rolled down her cheeks, damnit. Adleth had told her to stop crying, but this.. She looked up, meeting the purple eyes of her opponent, long dark brown hair was engulfed in purple fire. The chest was sewed back together roughly, while being made of dark black charred meat. Her little oval face was turned sickly, grinning like a dead rat. Dead. Yes she should be dead. Vaelle slumped her shoulders, staring at the body she'd watched die.
"Donna?" Her voice broke. Donna Evergrove smiled even wider, the woman who had been sliced in two by Estral so long ago was struggling to step forward. Her legs had been replaced with a pair of donkey ones, and body was made up of charred black flesh. It looked like a piece of jerky left on the stove for hours, blackened and hard. Every square inch of the woman was glowing with a purple fire, soft and unnatural. Her face may have been burned, but Vaelle knew who it was.
"V-aeellee.." The voice made her cringe, it sounded like an echoing mass of birds. Hollow and without life. "Where did you go Vaelle?" Pain tugged at her chest. Fuck. "Why did you leave me Vaelle?" No...
Biting back her anger, "Leave you?!" She exclaimed, her tears tossed to the sky. The woman before her stumbled forward, how on Toril was it alive once again? How was she alive?! "You died! Y-you died Donna!" Fear was creeping throughout her body, she twirled her spear in hand, remembering everything Adleth and Markos had taught her. "You, Jeski, Brar, Damian. You all died!" The instincts Herod drilled into her head, and the calm Riu tried to preach.
"I'm alive, Vaelle.. I'm back.. But you left us!" The thing screamed again. Confusion enveloped her, what? No she hadn't! She hadn't left them! What was this thing? How was this possible? What had the purple flames done? "Help us Vaelle.." Donna smiled. No. no that thing wasn't Donna! Suddenly her rampant nightmares about her friends began to make sense, the same things Andraste had talked about seeing. God's it was horrific. "Look... we are being attacked."
She turned her head, seeing the fights raging around her. Alekzandr stood up on the balcony fighting some figure. Herod was slashing through small demons and devils in the direction of Markos who fought Victoro. Her heart sank, it was not an even fight. "We?" She questioned. Vaelle shook her head. "Donna! I'm here to stop this cult!"
"Faith!" The abomination tried to correct.
"Cult!" She sneered back. Tired, she was tired of the games, the manipulation. "Its a cult Donna! You don't just worship some god. They're gonna sacrifice people! This is a cult!" Tears filled her eyes while she said it. Some part of her jumped with glee to finally scream it out, this was never a faith, it was a cult to a demon. And it was wrong. The creature's head cocked curiously, its face twisting with anger.
"You.. betray.. Us-!" Oh no. Donna lunged, swinging a cultist dagger in her arms. She was fast, so very fast. Vaelle jumped back swinging her spear around to deflect off an attack. Her brain raced miles a second, fear overtook her. "We welcomed you Vaelle! Brought you into our light!" The voice wailed on and on, sounding high pitched and vile. The attacks never ended. She was backed up, more and more desperately on the defense, narrowly batting away strikes from the monster.
"You pulled me into the dark!" Vaelle bawled in frustration. Everything she had been put through started to bubble to the surface. She swatted Donna's dagger aside and launched her own counter attack. Just like Markos said, parry, and repost! With strength she didn't know she had, Vaelle jammed her spear point forward catching the right arm of her opponent.
"A-A-A-Ah!" The scream made her clench her teeth, it didn't sound right, not the normal cry of pain. Instead it was infused, stuck together with multiple tones and animals. She was so distracted by the horrible noise a rapid dagger sunk into her left shoulder muscle.
"B-Ea!" She wasn't sure what the noise she made was, but it hurt. Oh god's it hurt so much! She used the end of her spear to push away, yanking it back when she was at a safe distance. Blood rolled down the side of her body, painful spots were starting to appear in her eyes. Shit she was already screwed. With a quick flick she pulled the shield off her back, forcing the symbol covered thing at her.. Former friend. Donna was a masterful caster, so why wasn't she using spells? Vaelle wasn't sure. The creature raised up an arm, its smile was starting to faide quite rapidly.
"You could have married Holiver.. Joined us in the great light-"
"Will you stop!" She screamed. Anger pounded in her ears, as did pain. "This.. this won't work on me anymore!" Her voice cracked, she was crying. "Holiver is dead!" Vaelle ran forward, the first strike from Donna's knife glanced off her shield. She spun her spear slashing the donkey legs which had been sewed on.
"Ah! Vaelle- Holiver is not dead! The lord can raise him!" Donna echoed angrily. She slid on the ground trying to mimic whatever movements Adleth had taught her, it was only half successful. She caught another strike to her back.
*HYREAHRLETROOOOOM* A sudden intense noise ripped through the room knocking her down a little bit. Ringing settled in her ears for a brief second before only one small voice could be heard.
"You.. what?" She looked up from the floor, her vision still spinning. Across the room to the left of where Herod was making demons his bitch was Markos. Markos's lips were quivering staring at the large charred giant figure of Hrabbaz. The half-elf's face was twitching, his body seemed to be periodically shaking. The air changed in scent with small tears in the fabric of reality seeming to appear around the cultist. Markos's eyes splintered apart like panes of stained glass. Chromatic shards; yellow, purple, red, green. Tentacles spilled out from the portal around him. Inhuman noises and screams ripped through the air. Vaelle was consumed by terror at just the sight of Markos's powers beginning to glitch and move without effort. In the depths of that boy's eyes she wasn't sure what she saw, but it terrified her.
"Don't you agree Vae?!" Her ears started to work again. Vaelle was forced to take her eyes off of Markos and back to the figure at hand. Donna lunged with a knife.
"Gah!" She cursed, Vaelle stabbed with her spear. One strike to the left and another to the right. Blood was being sprayed everywhere when she made contact, cracking apart Donna's skin like a piece of charcoal exposing the purplish fire underneath. It was utterly disgusting. "Do you have any idea?" She sobbed, "Any clue of what you did to me Donna? My whole life! Uprooted and changed, morphed because of you!" Donna leaped at her left, her bad arm. Vaelle twisted the spear around her own neck letting the shield carry its strike over. She slashed the monster's face, sinking a good inch into the charred skin.
*Ttnehsinch*
Her new spear whistled in the air when it made contact.
"Did to you?" Donna's voice came again, this time a lot more clearly. "I helped you.. Gave you my knife because I love you.. You left us Vae.." Her luck had run out, Donna's fist came down slamming into her chest, knocking her back. Vaelle coughed up a load of blood. "I died! And you watched." The comment hit her stomach like a horse, dang why was this possible? "Why didn't you help me? You're so selfish." What? She grit her teeth.
"Selfish?" Vaelle struggled ot her feet, avoiding the pouncing crash of hooves next to her. "You and Holiver Gaslit me! Manipulated me into joining the cult so you could both feel better about yourselves!" She swatted her friends arm aside before stabbing her again.
"Not close enough." Donna cackled, pushing her spear out. What.. the fuck.. Donna yanked the silvered point away and lunged, wracking a fist of fiery claws against her tight leather armor.
"Eh-" She struggled for breath rolling backward on the ground, the pin in her hair hurt when it was pushed against the stones. "Ah!" She flipped her head up seeing Donna jump at her with a fire filled knife. Vaelle braced her spear up the two points meeting in the air.
*Bknshhhshh*
A spray of silvery metal fell everywhere, Vaelle leapt back but her legs were quickly swept away by Donna's arms, the dagger was shattered and broken on the ground. Peeking over her shield she watched Donna pull two more little knives from a belt, snarling with anger. "My shop, you made me sell it. Y-you made me kill people Donna!" Her voice quivered, she jumped at her stabbing with all her might. The blade made contact and the two knives bounced off Markos's shield. 'Thank you..' Vaelle jumped away when a hoof kicked her waist. "GH-Fu." she groaned, feeling her hip bone crack a little. Shit that hurts!
"Weak! You were so weak Vaelle! I-I only did what I did to make you strong!" Donna cried. No, she couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"I killed someone!" Sobs tore through her, she wanted to collapse to the ground. Sure since then she'd killed more technically, but really only demons. Her head never forgave her, playing the stupid clip of that Zhentarim man sturggling on the ground before she'd stabbed him with Tròcair. "YOu- did that! It was your stupid manipulation! You made me go to those lengths, hurt people I never wanted to!"
"Why are you crying?!" Donna giggled. They backed up with each lunge trying to trade small blows. Every strike from Donna was like a crashing bolt of thunder, while Vaelle desperately tried to deliver small rapid stabs. If she could just get one good blow in the heart.. "Didn't you agree to it all? C'mon Vae! Join me! Come back to me! We'll bring Holiver back! You can still marry him!" She bit the side of her cheek to avoid any more tears.
"Marry him? I'm not blind Donna! He begged me to stay and die with him! To die for Asmodeus! The lord of fucking lies! The great god of nothing!" A dark fear overcame her, but Vaelle was tired, tired of being scared. She shrugged it off, after the cult, nothing could possibly intimidate her anymore! "You were my friend!" Vaelle swatted her spear's shaft into Donna's head cracking something underneath. Her chest was bleeding, and covered in scratch marks. Her legs were weak and fragile, and her shoulder was gushing blood. She wasn't used to this.. Her body felt so, so weak. 'I've gotta.. Keep.. going..' What ever this twisted monster who had Donna's voice was, she planned to kill. Why, why bring back Donna? Was it the only body left intact enough for this?
"Don't insult our Lord! Dammit Vaelle come back to me!" Donna rushed her, Vaelle was too slow to raise her shield. She felt knives rake against her arms, another fist into the gut, she instantly pucked what little food she'd eaten that morning. Her vision started to get blurry and she finally tried to stab at her old friend.
*Ttnehsi- Foof* her arm was knocked aside mid swing, clattering the elegant gift to the ground. She looked up, staring into the once green eyes of her now dead friend. Tears litterted her own eyes, but rage filled her belly like a fire.
"I trusted you- you and Holiver! You led me to a pit, and gutted my life apart!" She swung the shield in defense swatting aside any attacks coming at her.
"Your life was better after us! Our life was so good!" Donna thundered back, it sounded more like they were trying to convince themselves. "Adventure was good for you! It taught you strength and-"
"Stop pretending you did it all for me!" Vaelle rolled around in a roar. Grabbing a dagger from her belt she made a quick stab into Donna's chest. Blood dripped down her arm, a hideous terrible looking blood. She wanted to puke from the stench, like garbage left in a rotting skunk set on fire. It was putrid. "Donna, you pulled me in for you! You robbed my life, for you! We were friends for years! And you betrayed everything. Hid it all from me-" She wanted to keep going but a hoof slammed her neck, the pain was so intense she forgave herself for thinking it had knocked her out. It was like a hot metal clamp had squeezed the air out of her throat. "Fg-" She muttered odd words but couldn't find the strength to speak.
"No more words.." Donna whispered, the woman stumbled towards her. Vaelle blinked out spots in her vision, staring up at the wounded, bloody, and burned face of Donna Evergrove. "Look around us Vae... the attackers are losing! Come back to me Vae! C-come bb-bac-k." Her voice started to split apart, sounding more and more wounded. This was wrong.. And so evil. She wanted to stab whatever force brought her friend back. "I forgive you Vae.. for leaving us.. Just come back to us Vae. We love you.." Vaelle clenched her eyes, she remembered every second with Damian, or the brief laughs she shared with Brar. Donna had been with her all her life. Saved her from her father, who offered no mercy in his beatings. Vaelle nodded on the ground wrapping a piece of cloth around her shoulder to stop the bleeding. It all hurt so much. In the distance she heard Adleth screaming in sobs, fighting against the lady of the manor. The same one who'd put her godson in danger. Vaelle tried her best to smile.
"I.. you're right.." She muttered. This was an impossible fight against a powerful beast, it was too fast, too strong. "You're right Donna!" She exclaimed, struggling to her feet. Vaelle ran her hands through her hair clutching it tightly to stay awake. A plan. Donna had her arms stretched out, as if asking for a hug. "You love me.." She nearly gagged, it all felt wrong, all of it. With bloody legs and a bruised hip, Vaelle stumbled at Donna clutching her two hands together in a fist. "W-we can bring back Holiver?" Curiosity dripped pathetically from her question, she got closer and closer.
Donna was smiling once more. "Of course Vae! Y-yes we can.. Come.. we.."
Vaelle stepped closer pushing her wounded body into Donna's embrace. Feeling arms wrap around behind her. Holy god's it hurt so much, everything hurt so much in that hug. She faked a smile. Setting an arm on her friend's left shoulder, she peered into the purple scorched eyes. Vaelle drank in pain and misery under those reanimated spectacles. Her former friend's mouth was turned up in a gleeful grin. Her mind flashed to the memories, not only of the cult. But where she was now, Markos training her, Riu welcomed her in with clothes and a room to stay. Adleth and Herod's friendship. "Good.." Vaelle whispered, her face inches away from the black scorched one.
*Bshhaink*
Donna's body jumped a little, blood soaked into Vaelle's clothes, running all the way down her chest. Leaning in; she pushed the blade in a bit deeper, tearing apart the resurrected heart. The woman's purple eyes glanced down while her arms fell slack. Vaelle was relieved to feel the embrace stop. Glancing down with her, she stared at the blade of Tròcair. The hair pin knife. Donna's smile twisted into a painful open mouthed sob, while the purple flames started to subside.
"Because.. I'm always on your side." Vaelle whispered in a small breath, recalling how Nancy had bullied her in school, and the stupid things Donna said to her then. "And this.. Is a Mercy." Betrayal flashed on Donna's face before Vaelle pushed her back off the blade and onto the floor. Her friend, and manipulator was dead.. Once again. She rapidly jumped over the body, no time for grief, she picked up her spear hitching the knife to her belt. Her eyes glanced over to Adleth who was struggling with Ammalia. It was time to repay her new friends. The ones who'd shown her mercy.