"Miel" Vax cried as he held her close to him and Vex held her hand
"Pike, heal her" Keyleth begged though her own sobs
Pike's hands glowed as she tried again, but to no avail, "there's...nothing to heal" she said sadly and hung her head
"Somebody do something!" Vax cried, begging for anything at this point
Kash suddenly appeared by his side, "let me see her" he said. Vax wasn't moving so Scanlan had to try and move him back as Kash took Miel from him, "we could try resurrecting her" he suggested
"A revival rite? I-I've never tried that before" Pike said as Kash laid Miel back
"Yeah, not many have" Kash said quickly as he got his spear out and started carving around the body just as quickly, "it's hard as hell to pull of, so we got to do it while the body is still warm. Here help me" Scanlan and Grog basically help Vax sit back as he was till in shock, "here we go" Kash bit his thumb and marked a line of blood on Miel's forehead.
"This can't be happening" Vax gasped out as he watched this unfold, still having trouble processing that they were actually trying to resurrect Miel, "who was with her?"
At his question, Percy and Vex couldn't help but lower their heads in sadness and quilt.
Kash grunted as he started his ritual. The carvings around Miel started glowing in a circle and her body started levitating off the ground. Pike started healing her as Kash's magic surrounded Miel like a cocoon.
"She's gonna owe me big time for this" he said struggling to continue, "if it works"
Feathers started appearing around them, but no one took notice...except Vax.
"Spell's not holding" Kash grunted as he and Pike were straining to continue
"Come on" Pike struggled as she noticed the circle was fading, "no. It's not working"
"Cause we're inside her temple" Kash said, "this is the domain of the Matron of Ravens. She's too fucking strong"
"Our gods have no authority here" Pike said
"Can we maybe move Miel somewhere else?" Grog asked
"We're underneath a lake. There is no somewhere else" Percy argued
"There's-there's got to be another potion or something" Scanlan said
"It's no use. She's done for" Zahra said
"Shut up! If you're not gonna help than shut your fucking mouth and stay quiet" Vex growled at her
Everything was starting to muffle around Vax as he gasped for breath. That's when he noticed how many feathers were falling around them. But it appeared only he could see them, his friends certainly weren't taking notice of them.
He then noticed a large figure almost float past him towards his friends. Just like the feathers around him, no one else seemed to notice the figure getting closer to them. The figure was standing over them and Vax watched as they reached over with a clawed hand.
"No" he whimpered once he saw what they were doing. By now, he realized who this was and remembered what Miel had told him before.
"...I've read somewhere that she hates resurrections. One should never mess around with death and revival when it comes to her"
She dug her nail into the glowing cocoon, breaking it and stopping the ritual. Everyone started panicking, trying to think of something else.
Vax stood up as he kept his eyes in Miel. Then, a ghost-like version of the warlock started floating up out of her body and towards the large figure.
"You..." Vax called softly and then he noticed two golden strings coming from Miel. He followed one leading to Vex and the other was attached to him. "What? No." He gasped and looked up to the Matron of Ravens, "take me instead, you raven bitch!" He demanded glaring at her
The Raven Queen grew large when she turned to look at him. She then turned her attention back to Miel and brought up her hand. With one claw, she pulled at the string connecting her to him and broke it.
The string's flow faded and Vax brought his hand up to his chest where it was connected as the Matron walked past him.
After unable to figure something else out, Kash spoke up. "I'm sorry"
Suddenly, Miel gasped and shot up. Coughing as air filled her lungs again.
"Oh thank the Everlight" Pike gasped in happiness along with everyone else as Vex held her, "I can't believe you pulled that off" she said nudging Kash
"Holy shit, I'm amazing" he said impressed by his supposed victory
"W-what happened?" Miel asked once she took her deep breaths
"I...touched the armor" Percy said sadly, "and you...you were..."
"You fucking died"
"Grog!" Keyleth yelled
No, like dead dead" Scanlan followed
"Yeah, it was crazy. We turned around and you were just laying there stone-cold" Grog explained
"Miel, it was an accident" Percy said
"You were right, we shouldn't have gone off by ourselves" Vex said as she held on to Miel's arms
Miel's eyes were wide at what they had all just told her. She placed her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beating, "well...that was...an interesting experience?" She muttered as Trinket came over and nudge his face to her cheek
"You saved her. Thank you" Keyleth said to Kash
"Well, yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, I'll just say you owe me one" he chuckled and stood up
"Okay, okay. I get it, I'm sorry for worrying you too" Miel chuckled as Trinket moved back a bit. She pet him and started wondering, "but if I died, then how..."
A sudden ringing was heard and everyone turned to where it came from. They were all shocked to see Vax standing there...with the armor of The Deadwalker's Ward on.
"Vax..."
"The vestige, when...how are you wearing it?" Percy asked
That's when Vax noticed the armor as well. He had not moved at all since he had seen the Matron walk away. "I...I don't know" he said and looked up at his friends. His eyes landed on Miel and he ran forward, getting to his knees and hugging her close to him. "I was just worried I lost you" he said, tightening his grip, afraid that if he let go, she'd come back for her.
"You have to stop doing that to me, Miel" Vex said sadly, remembering to how the warlock received the small scar on her side
"I'm sorry" Miel whispered as she wrapped her arms around Vax's waist
"You okay, Vax?" Pike asked after a bit
"Y-yeah, fine. That was just intense" he said as he stood up, bringing Miel up with him.
"Hey" Scanlan suddenly said looking at the other two, "you two ditched us before. What was that about?"
"No. We didn't ditch you. We simply couldn't find you. That's all" Zahra said
"Uh-huh"
"Yeah. I mean, you know, if we were gonna ditch, why would I come back and help your friend?"
"Hm, fair point"
"You're very welcome by the way. Now can we please get going?" Zahra said as she and Kash walked ahead of the group
"Oh, yeah, okay. You lead the way, I guess" Keyleth said as they all started walking
Miel was walking behind them when she noticed Vax had stopped. She turned to look at him. He was staring at the large statue of the Raven Queen.
"The Matron. What did I just do?" He muttered to himself
Miel's eyes widened when the thought of how she was alive came to her head, but she decided to leave it for now. "Vax?" She called and he turned to her.
Vax let out a sighed and walked over to her. He took her hand in his, "let's go" he said and walked after the rest of the group, pulling her along with him
As they continued to walk, Miel couldn't help but glance at Vax very now and then. He looked worried and his hand was holding her hand strongly. She could even feel him shaking lightly. Her almost dying must have been very shocking. And here she was thinking that Vex was still first and second.
"Stay close you guys" Keyleth said "I feel like we should be keeping an eye out for traps"
"Pretty sure Grog set them all off in the way in" Pike joked
"Oh, you're welcome"
Miel chuckled lightly. She then felt a tug on her hand and she looked back to see Vax looking to the side. She turned her head and saw some sort of tapestry. As if in a trance, Vax walked closer to it, pulling her along.
"Is this the Calamity?" He wondered out loud
"Yes it is" Miel said looking at it as well. "There are the 12 Prime deities and the 9 Betrayer Gods"
"Are you seeing this?"
Before Miel could continue her explanation, Vax spoke up. She looked at him and noticed his eyes were glowing white. Miel gasped
"The Vestige, it must being showing you the next location" Miel said as she waited for her lover to come out of it.
It didn't take long however. After a couple seconds, Vax gasped and his eyes stopped glowing. He looked around and noticed Miel was staring at him.
"W-what?" He stuttered
Miel shook her head, "just waiting for you" she said and pulled him along after their friends.
They walked through an entrance to an open space, but they noticed that they couldn't see the other two who were supposed to walk in front of them.
"Did we lose them, again?" Keyleth wondered
"We should just leave, it's clear they're leaving us" Miel said with an annoyed tone.
"We can't just leave them here" Keyleth said
"Especially after one of them just revived you" Scanlan said
"He did not-"
"um..." Miel stopped talking when she heard Vex. She looked over to her and noticed she was looking down. Miel followed her eyes and noticed that some pebbles were floating up. Vex bent down and as soon as she did, everyone saw some giant red tentacles come down behind her.
"uh, what is that?" Pike asked as Vex backed away from it
"Oh shit" Grog gasped. Vax grabbed onto Miel's hand as they all moved slowly away from it. "Was that back there the whole time?"
The creature then lifted its tentacles and dug them into the ground, then bringing them up, barely missing everyone. Everyone kept moving and made it behind a small wall so that the creature didn't see them.
"Doesn't feel like the other traps" Vax called as everyone took out their weapons. Before they could get used to their spots, the creature's tentacles crashed through the walls next to them. Percy ran out, shooting it. Gaining its attention while doing so.
"Great. We pissed it off" Keyleth said
"We do kind of have that effect on people" Scanlan said
"Percy!" Miel called when the tentacles were making their way to the human. Unfortunately for him, he was out of bullets. Thankfully, Pike ran up to him and put up her shield, only to be sent up to the ceiling.
Grog ran at it with his sword only to be hit to the wall and its tentacles wrapped around him. "I feel weird" he grunted before he was then turned to stone
"Grog?" Keyleth called
"He's not dead. I think he's just petrified!" Pike called as she and Percy ran away from the tentacles
"Oh, just petrified? Really!?" Percy yelled angerly
Miel and Vax were still behind a rock. Vax pulled out his dagger and Miel readied her staff. "What the..." Miel was about to jump out when she heard Vax whisper. She looked over to him
"No, not now" she muttered when she saw his eyes glow white, "that armor really has to test you in the worst times, huh?" she said. Miel positioned herself where he was, seeing how well he was concealed behind the rock. Once she saw that he wasn't in plain sight of the creature, she jumped out to try and help her friends.
"Come on!"
"Damn it, it's everywhere!"
"I got him! Scanlan's Hand!"
Hit after hit. Nothing was working against the creature. Not even Scanlan's Hand. Keyleth and Percy ran to one side and the Ashari noticed that it was about to send its tentacles at Percy. She jumped infront of him and brought her vines to stop it, only for it to send them up and then straight at them. Petrifying them.
Miel ran up and down, avoiding the tentacles. She was about to run to Keyleth and Percy, when she noticed Kash and Zahra. "Motherfuckers, Vex!" She called as she got a fire ball ready on her staff. Vex looked over and saw what Miel was running to.
"Heads up!" Vex yelled as she and Miel sent their attacks at the creature, "where the hell have you been?" she asked when she landed in front of them
"Just grabbing a quick bite to eat!" Kash replied. The creature sent its tentacles at them but Kash hit his wrists together, creating a barrier, "What's important is that we're here now"
Zahra pointed her locket at it, "I'll get him back in the locket" she said but before she could so anything Vex called out and tentacles wrapped around her from behind and pulled her to the wall. "It was bloody hell capturing you, and I am not-" with that she was petrified
"Z! No! No!"
"Move!" Miel yelled as she pulled him away from the tentacles. As she ran, Miel took a quick look around the crumbled room. Scanlan and Pike were just petrified. Vex and Trinket were hiding. And thankfully, Vax was still hidden.
"Keep moving Miel!" Vex called as she ran out and tried to get a hit on it.
"What do you think I'm trying to do!" she yelled as she sent fire ball after fire ball at the creature.
"Trinket!" Miel looked over and saw that it had gotten their bear companion.
"Hell, how the fuck do you kill this thing!" Miel yelled as she was getting tired of dodging.
"I don't know but we have to keep moving!" Vex said as she got up and pulled Miel along with her, "if we don't we'll get-"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vax blinked his eyes as soon as he was done with his vision. He looked at the vestige and noticed it was glowing, just like when the Raven Queen 'activated' it. He ran out to see what was going on, only to be in sight of the creature.
As soon as the creature saw him it sent its tentacles at him.
He didn't know how, but one minute he was standing in front of the creature, then next he was beside it. It had to have been the armor. He did see Purvon use incredible speed in his vision.
Why not try it out while looking for his friends?
It wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. He wanted to be fast and he could be. It was a pretty easy and simple vestige to understand.
Vax raced from one side of the room to other, avoiding the creatures tentacles as he ran. He had spotted Kash hiding behind a column and stopped behind him.
"Well...." Kash said as he looked amazed by the speed he just saw him use, "welcome back"
"Miel and my sister?" Vax questioned
"Just us, I'm afraid" Kash answered, "look, I'm sorry. We didn't mean for this to happen"
Vax took out his dagger, "save your apologies for later. Help my friends" he said and raced off to defeat the creature.
"Whew. Oh, there's that" Kash muttered as he saw Vax go at an incredible speed
As Kash got Zahra first, Vax already managed to slice multiple of the creature's tentacles.
One by one, Kash got everyone unprettified. Mean while, Vax was making quick work of the creature.
Miel and Vax gasped as Kash got them. As the stood up, they couldn't believe their eyes as they watched Vax go from one side to the other at great speeds. Cutting the creature over and over.
"Woah. Is that Vax?" Grog gasped
"How is he doing that?" Percy asked
"It's the Vestige" Miel said
They watched as the creature tried to attack Vax but he was too fast for it. One tentacle came up next to him and Vax stabbed it with his dagger, having him pull him up. From up there he could see all his friends, his sister and his lover were safe and sound.
Miel couldn't help but notice. When Vax pushed off the tentacle, he was right in front of the mural of Raven Queen. 'He's her new champion' she thought as she marveled at the site.
Vax brought out one dagger and threw it right at the creature. It tried to send an attack at him but managed to miss the dagger. It flew straight into its eye.
The creature let out a roar of pain. Vax came down and kicked the dagger deeper into its eye, sending it back, popping the eye and killing it.
Vax jumped down and took another look at the vestige as it glowed gold for a second before disappearing.
"Well, damn" Grog smirked as everyone stared in shock
"That....was hot" Miel smiled as she ran up and jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "What is with you and popping eyeballs" she laughed and kiss his cheek
"What?"
"You two disappeared right before that creature showed up" Vex brought up, gaining everyone's attention
"Things got out of hand. Mistakes were made" Zahra said
"Oh, mistakes. Yeah, really? You think?" Scanlan scoffed as he pointed to the couple
"Look. The Take has spent decades protecting Osysa's secrets" Zahra explained, "we couldn't let a vestige fall into the wrong hands but...I mean, clearly yours are worthy."
"Uh listen, you know, we'd love to apologize all afternoon" Kash spoke up uneasily, "but if you don't want to drown, we should get the fuck out of here" the water was coming in fast, "follow Z!"
Mie groaned as she brought a barrier around everyone and Zahra managed to blow a hole through the ceiling. Together they propelled everyone out of the building and through the ice. Unfortunately, Miel's barrier popped in mid-air and they all landed in the water.
"Oh, I swallowed so much water" Kash coughed as they all swam to land
"Zahra couldn't help all of us down?" Vex asked as said tiefling floated to the land nice and dry.
"Miel could've helped you if she wanted" she smirked
Miel growled and glared daggers as she wrung the water out of her hair.
Miel set up a fire so they could all dry. Being wet, surrounded by snow was not a good idea.
After a while, Vax decided he needed some alone time so he walked away silently from the group. Only later on, did Percy notice he was gone and went to look for him.
Finally, he found him and stood behind him, "I wanted to apologize" he spoke, "I was careless. Sometimes we have a habit of moving too quickly"
"I don't want to hear it right now" Vax muttered in an angry tone as he closed his eyes. All he wanted was a moment of peace but all he could think about was how Miel was almost gone and his deal with the Matron of Ravens.
"I rushed in and it nearly got Miel killed. No, no, it did get her killed. I don't know what I would've done differently-"
Vax growled as he full on punched him and walked away without another word.
"Right. That went well" Percy grunted, knowing he deserved that.
"Don't tell me you're ditching us again" Vex said when Zahra and Kash walked up to them with their bags
"We misjudged you" Kash said
"Clearly" Miel muttered
"it's rare what you all have, trust me. I guess Osysa knows what's she's doing"
"And listen" Zahra said stepping forward, "I know it won't make up for what happened, but I want you to have this" she said handing her locket over to Vex, "you might need it on the road ahead. It keeps a creature safely tucked away in a tiny pocket-plane until you need it. It's yours now"
"And what about my debt to the Slayer's Take?" Vex asked
"What debt?" Zahra and Vex chuckled
"I'd say take care of yourselves, but it seems that's the one thing you know how to do" Vex said
"Oh, don't worry about us, love. You've got bigger fish to fry" Zahra said, "oh, and Miel?"
Miel glared at her, thinking she's about to insult her again
"A staff doesn't suit you, you know."
Miel groaned as she and Kash walked away from the group
"She kept a creature in it. Hmm" Vex wondered as she looked at their bear friend, "do you know what I bet would fit in it nicely?"
"Me" Grog said pointing to himself
"I need a way to keep you out of danger" Vex said to Trinket, "what do you say Trinket?" The bear only moved its head away, "oh, come on. Just try it. Maybe it'll be fun." The locket glowed and Trinket was sucked in spoiling everyone. It glowed again and he appeared again, safe and sound.
"Trinket" Keyleth called
"I got next!" Grog called, "that was so cool!"
From a distance, Vax watched his friends before a vision appeared before him. What looked like a barn appeared before him and Vax walked in.
"Hello?" He called. He didn't know who or what would respond to him. When he walked in he saw a man, probably at death's door, laying on the bed and coughing up blood.
As Vax watched, a large hand suddenly appeared above the man. Vax looked up and saw the Matron of Ravens, about to collect the soul. She then looked at him. Vax gasped slightly and walked back. Only for his golden string to be tugged by the Matron.
Feeling someone behind him, Vax turned around only to jump back at the sight of a zombie standing there.
Vax gasped when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He looked back and saw Vex standing behind him.
"What?" He asked as he looked away
"You've been acting strange ever since the tomb" she said
"Have I?"
Vex grabbed his hand, "what happened?"
"I don't know"
"Bullshit, you don't know"
"I saw...something, but I-I don't know what it means" he started, "when Miel was on the floor, I...I saw the Matron of Ravens coming for her. I begged her to take me instead. I had to. But I don't know what's going to happen to me. To any of us."
"Brother, whatever this all means, we'll figure it out" Vex said and placed hand on his chest, "nothing's changed"
Vax placed his hand over hers, before removing it, "everything's changed" he said and walked away.
As he walked back to his friends, he was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Miel leaning on a tree.
"I knew it" Vax's eyes widened and he turned around to look at her
"Miel..."
"So you've been able to see her" she said as she walked up to him, "that explains why you were looking at her shrine back then"
"Miel I-"
The warlock caught him off as she kissed him and wrapped her arms around his neck. When she pulled back, she buried her face in his neck.
"I can't believe you did that" she whispered and by her tone he could hear her holding back tears
"I didn't want to loose you" Vax said as he wrapped his arms around her, "that was the only thing that went through my head when I saw you like that"
"You intrigued her so much that she chose you as her new champion"
"But I still don't know what that means. For me...or for us"
Miel sniffed as she pulled back to look at him. She smiled sadly at him, "it means that you'll have a big responsibility to her"
"And you?"
Miel shook her head and lowered it to his shoulder. Vax's eyes widened as he was understanding what she didn't want to say and remembered to when the Matron pulled at his string from her.
Vax had saved Miel's life but at the cost of his and her future together.
Miel shook as her tears fell and he held her tighter. She wished there was a way. A way for her to stay by his side. But she wasn't even a full fledged warlock. With the skill she had now, she was sure the Matron would not accept her. There had to be a way for her to stay by Vax's side even after she takes him. And she will find it.
For now, she wanted to spend as much time together as she could.
'Tmuw xe wsyir' she though as he eyes gleamed with determination