The D&D world in the near future

Within the abyss a figure stirs and looks over at Rain, gleaming red eyes lock on her and slowly begin to move towards her. As the figure gets within sight distance Rain will be able to realize that it was her...well not actually it looked like her, but it had glowing red eyes, horns protruding from it's head, and a pair of demonic wings extended from it's back.

"Well well look who decided to show up." The figure says in a sultry voice that carried a tone of maturity and confidence to it. The figures blood red lips twist into a smile that portrayed both malice and a certain level of ironic satisfaction.

"If you're here you must want something."

Rain isn't expecting another creature to be in here in the abyss. She expected to wander for an eternity. However, the discovery of this twisted demonic version of herself does not put her at ease. She doesn't quite know if her corrupted self is a hallucination or something real.

She reaches out towards herself just to make sure it is real. "What are you? Why are you waiting for me? How did you get here?" Her voice is quiet like a whisper. Small compared to her counterpart.

"If you are me, then you already know what I want."

"NOOOO!" A voice shouts from behind Shade as Rivers sees what was about to transpire.

Shade breaks free of the shadows, but instead of dodging the blade the dwarf moves towards her, becoming impaled on the blade. Unfortunately the fatal blow which had skewered the dwarf didn't kill him instantly and with a fast but weak strike his curved knife cut the flesh of Shade's outstretched arm. Then red blood began pouring from the dwarf's wound and mouth and he fell, the shadows fading from existence as the original diappeared.

The poison was effective, very effective. Only moments after her blood was drawn Shade's legs would begin to feel like jelly and her vision with begin to fade. As she fell a set of strong arms caught her and laid her to the ground. Then she would feel a soft pressure as Rivers tried to suck the poison out of the wound on her arm. The crow Muse turned into Badb and stared down at her with a knowing smile, but her features suddenly darken as she turns towards Rivers who had stopped trying to extract the poison and raised his hands into the air. Ral stared at him confused but the immense power that pulsed from him was almost tangible, even to Shade's fading sense.

He shouts something at the other two and then he begins a chant, or perhaps a command it was hard to tell.

"As the contractor of Fate, I reject this outcome!" He cries out. Badb begins to move towards him but the spiritual pressure that exuded from him forced her back. "Hear me! In terms of our agreement I forsake this end, and I accept the price contained there in! By my power as the Fatewalker, let this fate be changed!!!" He cries.

Then Shade was on her feet again, rapier through the dwarf and a great and dark power which chilled her to the bone flowed through her taking the dwarf's life before he could deliver the poisonous strike that had almost taken her life a moment before. As the shadows faded away Ral came over to her and the alluring figure of Badb appeared next to her with a satisfied smile. Then she said "as we agreed the contract has been fulfilled my power is yours." She says to Shade. However, Rivers, was nowhere to be seen.

Alexis stroked his back a few times trying to calm Neil down and then released him. As soon as she did her legs gave out and she fell on her rear with a definitive thump. "You don't need to apologize to me. Power is hard to control, and besides we're both alive, a few scars is not going to ruin anyone's life." She assures him spreading out her arms and lying down.

"Though I don't think either of us are in any condition to walk all the way back to town." She admits and then sits up raising her hand out. "Sactuary." she says and a golden light appears between them illuniating about a 20ft area around them.

"That will keep anything from trying to attack us, while we recover." she says as she plops back down on the ground again an almost mistified expression on her face. "Wild Magic, that was the first time I've ever seen it. Where did you learn that?"

When Rain touches the figure she is able to feel it's soft skin, though it was somehow cold and a little painful to the touch. Her horned counterpart smiles a wicked smile at the girl. "Of course I'm you, but I'm also a part that you have locked away deep down inside you. Your desire for another presence is what called me here." She assures her.

"I am the other that exists within you. After all you are a Scion of a hero with the capability of giving life and another who sold himself and his world to demons thus becoming one himself. But you've finally let me out." She says her smile becoming kind and warm. "Because I am a part of you I also want what you want. Freedom from this isolation, the power to stand beside Shade, Neil, Zee and Rivers. To protect that which we hold dear and to make it mine."

Then her counterpart reaches out and softly holds Rain's hand. "And because I share these desires with you I will give you power so that you can make these desires reality."

When Rain initially touches the skin of the other, she instantly retracts her hand, surprised to find it cold and painful to touch. Was this thing really a part of her? Came from her? It isn’t like there was anything else in the void, so it made as much sense as anything else.

“The part I locked away…?” She has to think about that one. What was she dealing with here? The demonic smile scares her a little, but she tries not to show it. She doesn’t know what she is so afraid of at this point since she couldn’t see how the situation could become worse. Everything she cared for was gone forever, and she was trapped in emptiness with only herself.

There were things that she never discussed with anyone else. That she tried not to think about. It goes back to when she learnt her father’s story. She kept the fact that she believed in his cause, and hated how he regretted his own actions. Protecting things you care for was worth destroying a world. Yet her mother would say that one should not lose faith in the people around her. That people can rally together in the worst of times. That protection doesn’t need the destruction of things. And she desperately wanted to hold that idealistic belief. And she tries so hard to, but the thought that sacrifices must be made always surfaced. It was a warring conflict with ideals that could not be reconciled. And it was best to try her mother’s path. Her way of thinking. Yet, even in her call to war, so many died. Had she really protected people or simply asked them to run into their deaths? And they agreed to the charismatic heroes’ request. The end of results of her parent’s actions were not all too different. Many people died. Just in different ways. The right thing seemed so hard to understand.

Or perhaps this was something even darker still. A piece of her own soul that she hadn’t touched ever. Something that held all the corruption and taint that she was born with. There had to be more to abyssal taint that her specific summoning ability after all. Maybe this was it.

She watches the other speak her piece. Something born from her parentage. Promises of freedom, power, her loved ones. Had the only reason for her failures been because she had locked the other away? And could this thing undo everything as it seemed to promise? Could she trust herself?

Her hand does not move as the other grasps it despite the frostnipped feeling. Her eyes finally meet the other’s for the first time. She can recognize a piece of herself there.

“Why did I lock you away?” If I am truly this powerful, then why hamper myself so by locking you away? Why force myself to be so incapable?

“And for what you are promising, is there a price?” Because for protecting my loved ones, most anything is acceptable…

"And what assurances do I have that any bargain made will be kept?" I do not have faith in myself, so why should I hold any in you?

Rain's alternate self smiles kindly and shook her head. "You've been so hurt while I've been separated from you, it is painful to bear. I do not ask any price after all I am you, I cannot charge you for something you already have." She says in a kind soothing voice. "You locked me away because you were scared of my power, and because you were scared of what others would think. There is no need to fear that just take the power the strength you've kept locked away and use it."

"Just think of the things you want, the safety of your friends, their admiration, their gratitude, and their adoration. With your power you can make them yours, you can pull the truth from the prophetic bard and then make him listen to you. Since the half-nymph cannot control his power you can control it for him, and you can show the musician the freedom he has always dreamed of." She says her words sweet and caring.

"I only want to be happy, be honest with yourself and with me, and use this power to make all of your wishes come true."

When Shade asks about the contract Badb gives him a confused and quizzical look. "Now what are you talking about?" She asks Shade quirking a dark and elegant eyebrow. "The contract you just made with me in exchange for the Morigan's power and favor."

Ral comes over to Shade with a relieved look on his face and he pats Shade on the back. "Steve was right you're a strong guy, I wasn't sure just the two of us would be able to escape that attack." Several of the lights danced around Ral trying to ease his injuries and various other things.

Though when Shade mentions Rivers both of them look at him puzzled. Ral is the first to open his mouth. "What are you talking about? You said Steve told you to come get me while he left to get his wounds taken care of. He probably doesn't know where we are since we had to escape those shadow guys. I'm sure he'll find us at some point though." Ral assures him and then looks out at the forest.

"Well now that we've survived that let's hope we don't run into the Hunter." he says and Badb returns to her crow form landing on Shade's shoulder.

The soothing voice seems disconnected from the other’s visage. But Rain finds herself lulled by it nonetheless. What other else did she have? What did she have to be frightened about other than losing her existence, which was a fate infinitely preferable?

She thinks to each of them. Her father. All she wanted was for him to be happy and proud of her. Rivers. She mostly wanted him to be honest and not hide under a guise of cryptic nonsense. Neil. She does want him to be able to control his power. The inability to keep in control caused him so much turmoil. And Shade.
Shade wanted to be free of the shackles and burdens and expectations that were place on him, but also those places on others. An almost noble endeavor even if he went about it in the wrong ways.

But she doesn’t want to control them. Control people. She doesn’t want to force their admiration. Her father should be proud of her because she did something great. She didn’t want to force Rivers into answers. She may punch him in the face, but mostly for punishment for being obnoxious. She wanted him to want to tell her about whatever she needed to do, himself, his past. Neil should learn how to control his powers because he mastered it. Perhaps she would help along the way, but he wanted to this himself. So she would let him. And Shade wanted to seek out his own name and place. She shouldn’t stop him.

“No… you are warping this. I don’t want to force them in to anything. I don’t want that. What life is it even they live by what I want?”

“We aren’t the same person. I want to control my own life and want others to control their own lives. I even hate fate itself because it gets in the way of us all. Our paths. Our desires.”

Now, she doesn’t know what to do with this thing in front of her. It bore a resemblance to her, but the similarities seemed to end there. Maybe it was locked away simply because she couldn’t find a way to kill the damn thing.

Her body moves of its own accord. Not much thought goes into her actions. She launches at the other with hands moving around its neck. She could be alone here. It is nothing less that she deserves. And her loved ones can be happy in whatever afterlife they found. They would be subservient to no one. Not even herself.

Shade's mouth opens, then closes. Some kind of prickly pride holds her back from asking more questions, the ferociously independent streak that demands she try to work things out for herself before requesting help from others. Roll with it. For now.

The world has changed, but Shade hasn't; Ral's confusion makes that clear. She doesn't consider for a moment that Ral or the crow are feigning their confusion. Ral probably isn't capable of feigning confusion, or anything else for that matter. Shade feels oddly like she's balancing on something that might roll out from underneath her.

She wipes the blade of her rapier on her pants, then sheaths it. "Yeah, I think I've had enough fighting and fleeing for one day," she says, pushing her hair back off her sweaty forehead with one hand. "Hopefully we won't be seeing the shadow creeps again..." She looks at the body of the dwarf. "Should we burn this or something, or just try and get the hell out of dodge before any cheerfully murderous forest spirits catch our scent?"

She feels feathers brush her cheek and looks sideways at the crow. "You and me are having a talk later, bird lady," she adds. "In private."

The demonic figure resembling Rain smiled at her. It didn't portray aggitation or anger, it was a sad smile as if looking at a child who was insistantly trying to touch the hot pan even after being told repeatedly not to. As Rain continues to destroy the figure it begins to fade away leaving behind words that seem to resonate in the emptiness.

"That is a shame, but I know you, and I am a part of you. So when you decide you have a need for my power I will be here to provide it. How you use the power will be up to you." she says fading away...and then everything begins to return light assaults her eyes, noise hits her in a torrent. The isolation had atrophied her senses slightly and suddenly returning to the feild was a tremendous jumps for them.

The demon voice said one more thing before Rain returned completely. "I will give you one power that is already yours. Since you can't summon him while you are using the collar fuse with Lalo instead." she says and suddenly Rain's concious mind is given a burst of understanding...how to fuse with Lalo even when she uses the power of the keeper, she need not be seperated from him.

But whatever positive emotions this might have stired would quickly be cut short as there was a loud crack and then a thump as Narsh fell to the ground a hole through his forehead. Standing over him was a familiar figure dressed in a black pands and a black silk shirt. White lines ran up the side of both to highlight shadowed features. Rivers stood over the corpse, gun muzzle smoking. His eyes didn't portray any emotion, and it seemed as if he was completely numb to the things around him.

But there was one other obvious difference. Power. It pulsed out of him like an almost tangible force and made him former aura almost unrecognizable.

Rain tries not to stare at her own face. Watching herself slowly fade was disturbing enough, but the damn smile. Was she really this terrible and powerful? It was a horrifying thought, and she preferred not to think it was a part of herself. Especially, since it lived so long as she did. It would still be there even if it vanished from her eyes.

She didn’t want this.

The final words to fuse with Lalo were more helpful that she expected… Why would she force Lalo to suffer with her here? Wasn’t he unfettered and corrupted? She saw the demon subsume him and take in all of him, didn’t she? What would it mean for them to fuse now?

She almost wants to find him just to have something familiar, but doesn’t consider it to be the best of options. However, maybe it would remove the demon from his soul if she could. She reaches out to try to find him and combine whatever was left.

Her eyes are closed with her soul searching when she hears the shot. Her heart jumps to see that somehow Rivers survived his decapitation, but then her eyes travel to the corpse. Narsh. She looks at Rivers’ emotionless expression and the presence of someone entirely different. Rivers didn’t seem there in anything other than form. Something that disturbed her maybe more that body lying next to her. Had he completely lost it? What had happened to him?

Her mind thinks of some way to handle the situation. She couldn’t rush in. The last thing she needed was to get shot or be teleported. However, she didn’t have the power or the ability to prevent either of these too. But she needed to take control of the situation somehow. Take control… Would she accept something that she only declined violently a few seconds ago? She needed answers, and she needed him to not be able to take action against her.

She was going to regret this, but she didn’t have very many options other than (1) let someone she cared about (and who should have been dead) possibly go around killing people in what seemed to her to be a crazed/power-hungry state, or (2) unleash something that she didn’t quite understand (something her father warned her never to do).

But if that thing really was her, then she could hope that she had enough control to not let this get out of hand… She tries to address that piece of her that she locked away. If you are there, I need to stop him somehow without hurting him or myself. I need to gain the upper hand in this situation. I need to know what happened. But if there is no hope, then do what you must.

“For whatever happened and whatever may happen next, I am sorry, Steven.”

Suddenly time seemed to stop for Rain and the demonic her appeared beside her and stared at Rivers for a second. "Well now isn't that interesting, he smells of outsider." She says with an almost hungry tone. "Well why not use your new toy on him? It might work, it's time to embrace what you are." she laughs and Rain would suddenly feel a rush of dark power flow into her.

The power was violent, and primal, but that the same time it gave the feeling of freshly vented anger, and brought with it the kind of revelry that could only come from intense and passionate emotions that had been bottled up finally being released. The collar appeared in her hands and a second surge of power entered her, her body would begin to morph and Lalo's features began appearing on her body as if she had become something like him, her human features remained the same, and yet something different.

Rivers turned towards her and in a monotone voice raised the gun and said. "You still have a role to play, don't throw your life away fighting me." His eyes were cold, not hard or calculated, just cold and empty, of everything.

Rain stares at Narsh’s corpse while her counterpart speaks. Outsider? What was Rivers?! She tries to gauge what was before her. What was he if not a normal human? And now she had to use the collar. Lara hadn’t taught her anything about it yet. First time for everything though…

She isn’t ready for the power that is conferred to her. It strikes all at once. And she can’t help but get somewhat caught up in the violence in anger that come with it. And that combined with Lalo. She never felt so powerful in her life.

River’s words snap her back into existence. “As if you could.” Guess Narsh was right: Prophets shouldn't go unshackled.

She breaths a spell to increase her speed and rushes towards Rivers. And with astounding agility, she rushes forward. She growls words in abyssal. Her tongue seems to form them as if they were her native language. Remove the threat from his hand. And with telekinetic force, her mind attempts to grapple the gun away from him while her body tries to wrestle him to the ground. She feels her body rising from rage as she becomes wreathed in flames.

"Why? What are you? You are supposed to be dead. You are dead."

She just needed to get the collar around this imposter's neck.

*OOC: more summary time*

Shade and Ral have a run in with Setanta in the forest, Dekar shows up and helps them fend him off eventually using a powerful binding to allow them to haul ass out of there.

Neil and Alexis run into a girl with a giant ax named Tara and she asked them to help her find her frail and beloved friend Duke. She eventually drags them around until they meet up with Rain and Rivers.

Then that group meets up with Dekar, Shade and Ral.

*Notes*
Dekar is a powerful fighter with a focus on sword "techniques" which seem to be a magical application on sword attacks.
Tara is freaking strong and can throw just about anything accurately.
Duke is capable of creating soul steel, not much more about that is revealed.
Tara and Duke are very close but due to her super-strength she often treats him as a frail damsel despite the fact he is a formidable fighter.
Kessel and Dekar walked off when they met, he seemed oddly nostalgic and she seemed tense.

Rain is a little happy to see everyone in one place. Even better was that she could put some distance between herself and the prophet. She still couldn't believe that he kissed her neck as a joke to Duke when he asked if they were sleeping together. At the same time, she didn't trust him to let him run off alone. Simpler this way, but she wished that they were more alone. They had amassed quite a number of people to their group, and she didn't really want any of them to be a part of the conversation that they were about to have. She looks over Shade to make sure he is ok. Seems Fate fulfilled her end of her bargain with Rivers as he is alive nor grievously injured.

"Alright, I guess the four of us really need to talk. In private. We will be right back. Sorry about this." She starts trying to move away from the crowd to some place away from earshot.

"Ok. Let's just say some of us had a shitty day. I'll start. I became a keeper," she points to River's collar, "and I am afraid that I now have to watch him because he became a Fatewalker to save your" and the finger moves to Shade "life."

"The collar is more or less there so he keeps his mind. Fate sort of exerts a pressure on his mind that I can push back through the use of the collar. So Shade, don't help him remove it." She hopes that no one notices that she is omitting some major details, like the fact Narsh died.

"As for me, I found out curses run deeply in family lines today. Long story short, I have a demon in my soul. I am pretty sure I have under control. I don't think this is a problem that can be removed. And yes, this does have to do with my father. We can't plan for how are parentage will affect us, but I have it handled." She looks at Neil briefly, hoping he would understand.

"As for what I want to do next. I am planing to kill Fate. I am tired of not having any control over my own life. Fate took Rivers' mind after threatening Shade's life, so hopefully, you guys can agree. Otherwise, I am probably going to try to do this on my own."

And with that, she finally takes a breath and thinks she is ready to go back to sleep after this long ordeal.

That wasn't how Rain expected his night to transpire. It was supposed to be cleanup according to Alexis. Had Lara's magic a greater effect on him then originally imagined? He was supposed to have things well under control.

"I am sorry..." She should of went with him, but then again, if she had, Rivers would be running around like a homicidal lunatic. Was this all part of some path for their destiny that was beyond them?

She gives him a hug. "Sorry I wasn't there." She backs off and isn't sure what to do at this point. She could also blame Fate maybe for the entire loss of a lifetime of progress in probably only a few seconds, maybe. "Are you sure that you can't do anything else? I mean, you have had trouble before, this could be a temporary thing."

Everything seemed to be falling apart around her. She couldn't really save anyone that she cared about. Neil had most of his magical power and ability. Shade had died, and only Rivers had the ability to save him by giving up himself to Fate. And she could only enslave Rivers to keep him safe. Maybe she was cursed in more ways than one. Maybe the second that she decided that she hated Fate, it turned against her.

Narsh was right. She was useless. Even worse, the only way she could be effective, it seemed, was tainting her soul further. And it wanted all the things she wanted, but in a more warped and twisted sense. And it was hard to see what was the right option when she spoke. She tries hard to not look upset. And tries to find the right words. "You got to where you were with hardwork. I am sure you can get there again if you have to. There will always be setbacks. Don't let this stop you from continuing to move forward."

"You guys don't have to come with me if you rather not. Rivers, I will even remove all current restrictions on you, so long on as you keep the collar on. That last part is more for your own benefit than my own." She didn't want to burden them. "But I would appreciate it if any of you came with me." And she makes sure Neil is paying attention for that last part.

Duke and Tara had decided to give the group a bit of privacy after everyone had been reunited, and Alexis had headed off to see what the exchange between Kessel and Dekar would evoke so aside from the children the only people with them were Rivers and Ral. Ral looked at Rivers with a slightly perplexed look, as if he didn't know what to make of this entire situation, and Rivers listened to Rain's offer with a bit of a sour expression.

Then he walked over to her and swiftly and concisely whapped her in the head with his knuckle. "Jeez, you really are a drama queen Rain." he complains and then looks at Neil.

"I hate to be the one to break up these tears and moping, but this current attitude it going to get you guys nowhere, and you haven't forgotten that you came here to try and figure out a way to stop Renji haven't you? Deal with the immediate concerns before you start trying to gather a grand crusade against something as generally uncaring as Fate." He tells them rubbing his neck a bit as the collar caused him discomfort.

"You should definitely release the restrictions you've laid down so far, there are too many of them and they are going to hamper me regardless of the situation. Being a Keeper is all about only giving necessary rules and commands, needless ones only prove to weaken you and me." He says, some of his jovial and mysterious mask crumbling away. For possibly the first time since they had met him Rivers seemed genuinely exasperated and direct.

Then he turned to Neil. "Listen, I'm no magical expert, most of mine comes from other sources anyways so I don't have to worry about the "burden of talent"" He says with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, "but I can tell you this, if you want to control your power, practicing and working on it is a hell of a lot more effective than complaining and moping."

"Now both of you start thinking for yourselves about what you've done and what to do next, because I'm not going to be telling you." he says sternly.

Neil shrugs as Rain tries to comfort him and looks over at Rivers as he approaches. He lets the prophet rant a bit, biting his tongue until he finishes.

"You know what Rivers? I have been trying. I've gone back to slowly and carefully enunciating *every syllable* of *every incantation*, taking extra time to gather each spell's power, and going at it like an artisan trying to craft a painting, but its done little to help. I've tried preempting offensive spells with guiding spells, but the guiding spells fail just as often. I've even tried double casting with a squelching spell just to guard myself from the backlash, but it is too mentally taxing to do consistently and makes the offensive spell even harder to manage. My control regressed back to what it was several years ago, with the added bonus of including me in the collateral damage when the spell goes awry. We don't exactly years for me to learn how to walk again, and I doubt Renji is going to sit around with his thumbs up his ass while I relearn how to fry him. So unless you happen to know of any mage centers on this continent where I can find a good teacher and maybe some metamagic control tattoos or something, keep the condescending speeches to yourself."

He then turns to Shade as he finishes up. "Unless you became a healer over night or can counter my spells, its probably best if I trained alone or with Alexis. She can at least get me back on my feet in a short amount of time when a spell backfires. As long as she is ok with having me around I plan to take her up on all the help she is willing to offer."

The Half-Nymph listens to Rain while still eying Rivers with a mildly annoyed expression. "I am probably not going to go along with the band thing. Time spent learning how to contribute in that way would just detract from my personal training. I am not sure I will even bother using a fake name, since 'half-nymph fire mage' is a pretty unique descriptor as it stands."

Rivers lets out a sigh as all three members of the group respond to him indignantly, for a second he wonders if this is what it felt like to be Lara, but then he decided decided trying to escape into this line of thought was feudal. He started with Shade and smiled a courteous, polite and perfect smile. It was a smile that people could only put on when they were truly upset.

"Shade, if you are all about freedom then you shouldn't be scolding my sacrifice. You chose to fight the dwarf to help me, I chose to take up a contract to save you. It was my choice, I don't expect anything from you for it, and that includes a leacture." He says stalely and shifts his eyes to the crow. "A contract with the Morrigan will give you far more combat muscle than the wind sprites ever could I'd suggest getting someone to teach you magical swordsmanship if you want to get stronger." he suggests a pressure pulsing from him, Rain would recognize the magic, it was the right of a fatewalker, the power of coincidence. Though it didn't seem to be directed at anything right now.

Next he turns to Neil with a frown. "Wild magic isn't controllable, that's why they call it wild. Working on your incantations isn't going to get you anywhere. *sigh* Spirits." he says uttering the last word as if it were a curse. "Just ask Dekar about it when you get back, he might know something. Well if you can't do it youself, get Rain to take the collar off me and have her be your keeper, that would do the trick. I already made my bargain anyways."

Then he turned to Rain a small smile spreading across his face and his eyes filled deeply with something dark as he leaned down closer to her. "If you want his physical form back feel free to remove the collar. I will not be shackled by the guilt or obligation of someone else's choices. If you are going to start ignoring Renji and crusading against Fate would you care to tell me how you are going to do it? To my knowledge the main way would be to try and destroy the world since that is what it tries to deserve." He says.

"Now my princess who fancies herself a knight, what will you-"

However before Rivers can finish the sentence he finds himself suddenly on his back staring up at the sky. Behind him Dekar stands with a discontented frown on his face as he turns to the group then looks back down at Rivers. "This is why kids are a problem...they all think that their issues are the center of the world." he complains. There was a gapping gash on his left arm that seemed to be sewed up with pure light, and numerous cuts covered his body. Kessel sat by the fire with several cuts of her own along with a large number of bruises, Alexis was tending to her with a frown.

"Get some food and some sleep kids, when you wake up in the morning you'll feel better. We can talk then." He says walking over and sitting next to Kessel, saying a few thing to her. She scoweled at him, but the expression soon relaxed into a gentle smile, and he laughed as she said something to him. Then he took some stew that had been cooked at some point and began eating, the rest of the group gathering around with smiles on their faces.

On the ground Rivers eyes had already closed and he had fallen asleep, apparently the interuption draining the last of his stamina.

Neil just sighs at Rivers' comments, then just looks at Dekar blankly as he throws Rivers to the ground. After Dekar walks back, the Half-Nymph goes and gets a bowl of stew and just eats it silently while staring intently into the fire. Why do my decent meals come with lectures nowadays?

He finishes up and puts the bowl aside, then walks into the woods just a little bit. With another sigh he pulls out his bedroll and unrolls it. While sitting down, he takes Fira from his side and puts her in his lap, then just mumbles to himself.

"Wild magic can't be controlled he says...talk to Dekar he says...ugh, prophets drive me insane." He takes Fira out of her sheath and feels that link form between him and the sword. The fire mage channels his magic into a tiny flame hovering a couple feet in front of him, which he stares into with the same stare he had with the camp fire just before. "What changed? Suddenly you are too strong to handle? Coming alive and attacking me? What ever happened to 'magic is an extension of you?' Is it just that I am so full of self doubt? Or did you really get a mind of your own? Its like you are growing up and going through that rebellious teenager phase while meeting your first girlfriend."

He holds up Fira in front of him. "Or was it you? Are you secretly like Yee's sword and have a mind of your own? Am I not good enough for you? Do I sully your name by not being as strong as the ones your creator intended for your use?" Neil closes his eyes and tries probing around Fira with his magic, looking for another mind or spirit. After a brief moment, he opens his eyes. "Or I could just be going crazy from all the stress." He puts Fira back in her sheath and sets her down next to his bedroll while laying down on his back.

Staring up at the sky, he says, "Or is it you, Fate? Are you the cause of this? Am I fated to be nothing but a swan song...?" With another sigh, he slowly drifts off to sleep.