The tears poured out as I checked for a pulse. Nothing. Paz was dead. Xena was dead. I rocked back and forth in the dark room and just wanted to give up. I was alone again.
I had killed two more people, and not just strangers this time. I killed Paz. If I hadn't been so reckless then I wouldn't have gotten hurt and they'd still be alive.
I flopped over Paz's body and sobbed for gods even know how long. When I was finally cried out, I sat up and rubbed at my sore eyes. Huh. That's weird. Maybe my dark vision was playing tricks on me, but I swore that I could see a faint golden light.
I cast Mote of Light and now I really could see it! There was definitely a shimmering golden thread connecting my chest to Paz's chest. Or rather.. our hearts?
I lay back down and put my ear against her chest. I held my breath. Woah! I felt my spell points drop to zero and my hit points drop to one.
"AHHHHHHH!"
"AHHHHHHH!" I fell back onto my butt and screamed as Paz screamed at me.
"F-fu-fu-fu-fuck!" She screamed again. I screamed again. My heart was beating about three thousand times per minute.
"Stop screaming!"
"You stop screaming!
"Let's both stop screaming."
"I.. I was dead?" She rubbed her eyes and shook her head as color slowly started returning to her face.
"Y-yeah." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You were dead."
"Fuck.." Her eyes widened until they were small moons and she stared at me. "I remember now. The nice blonde lady who saved me when the world ended. It was so weird, I had never seen someone with devil blood before and she just appeared out of nowhere. You. Just. Appeared."
I reached out to caress her face and she recoiled. I yanked my hand back like I had dipped it in lava. "Paz? What's wrong, love?"
She had this look on her face that I had never seen before. She skittered backwards across the floor until her back was against the far wall. "W-w-what are you!?! Is this all some elaborate new torture? ARE YOU ONE OF THEM?!? Please.. please, just kill me. Don't make me wake back up in that place."
My heart broke all over again and I started sobbing. Apparently my body had been busy making new tears. "Love, I'm not one of them! I'm just Alexis. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine." Who was them? Demons? The G words?
I stood up, crossed the room, and knelt down beside her. I wrapped my arms around her just like I had done ten thousand years ago. Paz slowly started to calm down. Her eyes softened and she melted into my arms.
"I believe you." We just sat there and held each other. Eventually she let out a long sigh. "I was dead. Fuck, that's a new experience that I really could have done without." Her eyes cut over to the dead wights and Xena's lifeless body. "I guess we can't avoid it forever."
"No, we can't."
We dragged Xena out first. She was heavy, but between the two of us, we managed. Once we had her situated outside, I crossed her arms and we cried for a moment of remembrance. The wights were a bit lighter, but by the time we got to the third, were were drenched in sweat and covered in dirt and grime. Gods, I needed a bath. Huh, after seeing their bickering destroy one of the greatest cities Illith Aranor ever built and killing almost everyone in it, I felt a lot less comfortable saying that. We collapsed against each other in the dirt outside the granary.
"Ahoy there, I'm Bibi and this is my husband William! Sabastian said that someone accepted our-" Two people were walking up the road towards us. Bibi was talking, but the rest of it died in her throat when she saw us collapsed near Xena's body and the wight corpses piled up nearby. All the color drained from her face. "I uh.. w-what are those things?"
I looked at the dead ghosts and then up at the woman. "That's called a gods damned wight. It's a mid-tier ghost that sucks your life out while making you relive your most traumatic memories. It FUCKING SUCKS to fight when you're under-leveled, ungeared, and utterly unprepared." I couldn't keep the bitterness and anger out of my voice.
"I died!" Paz announced it with so much joy and enthusiasm that Bibi and William both took an unconscious step back and stared at her with bewildered horror. Paz waved her arms wildly. "Oh no, don't worry! It didn't stick for me like it did Xena." She looked over at me and smiled. "She brought me back with true love!"
I shrugged and wobbled my hands. "We really don't know what brought you back or why."
Paz looked back to me, her bottom lip quivering and trembling. "Is there some reason you're telling me it couldn't have been true love?"
Behind her, William was wildly windmilling his arms and mouthing 'abort abort' at me.
"I.. mean.. Uh, I meant to say that of course it was true love! Just that we don't fully understand the magic that our true love used?" My voice tilted up at the end in a perfect impression of a valley girl.
My ginger love relaxed and smiled. "Nothing beats true love."
"Right.." Bibi shook her head and pulled her coin purse off her belt. "Again, I'm so very sorry that you walked into this mess. Every few years, we get bogarts stealing our grain. My nephew told me that he heard things moving around in there and I just posted the notice without questioning it." She stepped closer and handed me five glimmering and very shiny blue cobalt coins. "I've been saving this for a rainy day, and I think you very much earned it."
I nodded my thanks. "This is very generous and thoughtful." Five hundred gold! It wasn't nearly even close to enough to resurrect Xena, but it was more than enough to get us started as real adventurers. And it was also enough to say sorry for the rough quest, and ensured that if she ever had another job, we'd give it due consideration.
She nodded and returned her coin purse to her belt. "Also, if you're going to be sticking around Vaqyn for at least a week, there's something else that I think I can do for you. I can get a message to my friend, Jacquelyn. She's a blood witch who lives in the Darkwood. I think she could probably resurrect your friend. There will be a cost, just not in gold. But seeing as you two are clearly quite competent adventurers, I don't think it would be too bad."
I looked at Paz. She thought for a moment and nodded to me. I nodded at Bibi. "Yes, please. We would really appreciate that."
Name:Paz / ~Redacted~Level Up!Profession:Troublemaker / Adventurer / ~Redacted~ Sex:Yes, please Hair:Ginger / ~Redacted~ Eyes:Emerald green / ~Redacted~ Class:Astral Druid / ~Redacted~ Level:2 / ~Redacted~+1Strength:5 Dexterity:16+1Constitution:18+1Intelligence:30+ Wisdom:30+ Charisma:11 Hit points:24+13Spell points:20+9Special abilities:Shape of Essence / Fury of the Primals / Freckles / ~Redacted~ Cantrips known:Craft of the Wild / Starlight / ~Redacted~ First tier spells known:Bonfire of the Gods / Infernal Surge / Soothing Touch / ~Redacted~ Second tier spells known:Gallant Stride / ~Redacted~+ Gallant StrideThird tier spells known:~Redacted~ Fourth tier spells known:~Redacted~ Fifth tier spells known:~Redacted~ Sixth tier spells known:~Redacted~ Seventh tier spells known:~Redacted~ Eighth tier spells known:~Redacted~ Ninth tier spells known:~Redacted~ Tenth tier spells known:~Redacted~