2.47 – Back to the Beginning

It took only an hour to travel a distance that would normally take half a day on horseback. We followed the barely existent dirt road between Holver and Ravencrest. Several parts of the path were completely covered in brush; small trees had grown up through what would have been cart tracks many years earlier.

As Holver came into view through the drizzly, cold haze of the night, I could make out the smoke rising from the village chimneys. It looked completely unchanged from all those years ago.

Two figures in heavy dark cloaks stood guard at the village entrance. We landed before them, shifting back into our Nhalyri form. They drew daggers, but the glint of steel was brief.

“Juliana?” one asked, his voice rough.

I nodded. “I was told to come.”

“She’s waiting.” He jerked his head toward the village, sheathing his blade without another word.

We followed closely behind as we walked through the once-familiar paths of the village. Several of the buildings appeared different now; the wooden doors looked fresher, and the earthen walls were not as scarred from daily life.

All the windows had their shutters drawn tightly shut; through tiny cracks, flecks of candlelight were seeping out. There was no noise of conversation, just a quiet stillness.

“How long have you been living here?” I asked.

The man remained silent, as if I had not spoken.

“What is your name?” I asked hopefully.

Again, no answer.

After a short while, we arrived at the door of the church of Solvarn, built by Jenna all those years prior.

“We’re here, please enter,” the man said, the light from the church illuminating his face.

He wore a deep frown, his face lined with the wrinkles of advanced age.

We entered through the double doors. The church had been emptied of all its pews, replaced by several tables set up like a tavern. A handful of people sat around the tables, murmuring quietly. As we entered, the sound of the doors drew their attention, and everyone in the room stared at us, a mixture of fear and curiosity on their faces.

At the head of the room, sitting at a desk, was Drisnil. Her Nhalyri figure rose as she looked at us with a predatory smile.

I could feel my anger rising, but I suppressed it. I was here for Igasnov, Vera, and Toby, after all.

“Juliana, I am glad to see that you have made it. Now, everyone in this room, please leave. This is but a private conversation between us fellow Nhalyri,” Drisnil commanded.

All the people in the room stood up in unison and filed past us, giving us as much space as the narrow aisle allowed.

It wasn’t long before we were entirely alone.

“Now, Geoff, would you like some dinner? I’m sure the trip here was arduous for you,” Drisnil asked, motioning for us to sit down in the chair opposite hers.

“No! You know why we’re here. We want you to return Igasnov, Vera, and Toby to us.”

Drisnil continued to smile. “Don’t worry, they are safe. Now is not the time to release them, but you will get them back in one piece—alive, as a bonus.”

Drisnil sat down in her chair.

We sat down across from her, making out the features of the face I knew all too well. She didn’t seem to age, but she appeared more tired, with deep, dark rings beneath her eyes.

“Fine,” I replied, “but don’t waste my time, or you will see an end to your organisation.”

“Oh my, quite the threat, Geoff. Where has your patience gone?” Drisnil replied mockingly.

“It left when I found out about your hand in destroying the peace of this world.”

Drisnil’s laugh was a dry, brittle thing. “Hate is a natural resource, Geoff. I just showed them where to dig. Do you think a single push could start a fire like this? No. I spent years fanning the embers, whispering in the right ears, forging the right documents, killing the few who advocated for peace.”

I was becoming exasperated; I still wasn’t getting a satisfactory answer.

“Well, before I answer that, I would like to speak to your meat puppet,” Drisnil requested.

I released control back to Juliana; I felt a heavy scowl develop on our face.

“I am no meat puppet. You need to show your creator more respect.”

Drisnil laughed. “Why should I? He is merely a man given more power than he deserves. How much time does he let you have to yourself?”

“Geoff is not a mere mortal man. He is a god—my god. He gives me control over most of the things we do.”

Drisnil’s face fell, her annoyance quickly showing.

“Most of the time? He doesn’t force you to watch as he controls your body, doing and saying things that upset you?”

“No, quite the contrary. Geoff only takes control when absolutely necessary, and when he does, he usually takes actions that align with my beliefs.”

Drisnil looked back, rolling her eyes. “When he made you, he must have designed you to be controlled by him.”

“Perhaps his first creation was merely a tool for killing. He learned from his mistake and made a partner instead,” Juliana replied, her voice losing none of its calm.

Drisnil leapt across the desk and wrapped her hands around our throat. “A mere brainwashed idiot doesn’t dare call me inferior! You know what hell he dreamt up for me!”

Juliana shoved her backward before chanting an incantation. Vines sprang from the ground, but Drisnil quickly pulled out a piece of parchment and spoke a command word. The parchment caught fire and vanished, causing the vines to immediately wither and die.

Juliana took that moment to jump back, creating a solid stone wall between us. A moment later, the wall began to crumble; Drisnil followed through the rubble, her blades flying toward us.

Juliana jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a lethal thrust, then grabbed Drisnil’s second hand, which held a dagger.

Drisnil raised her knee and jabbed us hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of us. Juliana held tight to Drisnil’s dagger hand and pulled her in close, inadvertently giving the assassin the leverage to thrust her rapier.

Drisnil let out a frustrated scream, released her grip on the rapier's hilt, and caught it near the tip before jabbing it toward our leg. Juliana twisted out of the way, pulling Drisnil's dagger hand behind her back.

Drisnil kicked backward, her heel striking a pressure point in our calf. It wasn't the force that mattered, but the needle-thin blade coated in black ichor that pierced the skin. A strange cold spread up my leg, not the chill of venom, but a void where I could no longer feel the flow of my own magic. The connection to the earth severed, my strength vanished. The world dimmed and we collapsed.

When we next awoke, we were staring up at the ceiling of a house, the brisk chill of the air biting against our bare skin. The soft mattress pressed comfortably against our back.

Juliana sat up and looked around. We were sitting naked in a sparse bedroom. There was one boarded-up window and a simple chair, over which a familiar blue dress was draped.

Through the boarded windows, thin slivers of sunlight filtered through the gaps.

The room seemed eerily familiar, but I couldn’t quite figure out why.

We slipped into the dress before cautiously trying the door; it was unlocked and swung open without resistance.

We were greeted by Drisnil sitting at the table, wearing the same black cloak as before, casually sipping some soup.

“Want some soup? You must be hungry by now,” Drisnil asked, holding up a second bowl.

Juliana gingerly sat down next to Drisnil, taking the bowl and having a sip. The rich flavour was incredibly familiar, much like the room itself. Then it clicked: this was Theo’s house, the very place I had started my journey alongside Illara, where I had watched her grow up.

“It took a lot of experimentation to find a poison that actually affects you, but it seems it was well worth it in the end,” Drisnil said coolly.

“Why poison me and send me to the prison the first time?”

“You had something of mine, and I wanted it back. Plus, I thought it might be fun to see you break out of there,” Drisnil replied between sips.

“But lots of people died because of that; it was a tragic waste of life,” Juliana replied.

“No, they served a purpose. I figured out your attack patterns from that skirmish, allowing me to best you today. Oh, and by the way, I hope you are enjoying wearing my old dress.”

I looked down, and the memory of buying this dress and wearing it with Illara on our first date flooded back to me.

I glanced at Drisnil’s hand and immediately noticed it: Illara’s ring, resting on her finger.

I forcefully took control of Juliana. “Hey, that isn’t yours to wear!” I shouted.

“I lost it. A clumsy mistake during a transaction with a Freyton fence. When my contacts reported a god-touched druid had bought it in the market, I knew it had to be you. It was a foolish risk, but it confirmed you were back. Now I am taking it back.”

“But I never gave you this ring! It is precious to me!” I shouted back.

“No, you disappeared without warning, leaving no directions on where your possessions should go. You have no right to decide what happens to them once you vanish,” Drisnil replied sternly.

She made a valid point, but it still felt profoundly wrong seeing someone like her wearing Illara’s ring.

“Do you have any idea what it takes to rouse a dead god, Geoff? I tried prayer. I tried sacrifice. Nothing worked. So I gave the world a wound so deep it would bleed enough to call you back. This war, all of it, was my final, desperate ritual to get your attention.”

I stopped eating for a moment. “You wanted me back in this world? Why?”

“Oh, believe me, it isn’t because I enjoyed being under your control. No, it is about Illara.”

“Illara is dead, though?” I asked, feeling a sudden, desperate flicker of hope that somehow she had reincarnated.

“Oh, yes, Illara is dead. But her soul is very much not safe.”

“How would her soul not be safe? What does that mean?”

Drisnil looked at me with dead seriousness. “Vorlith has her soul, and she is actively torturing her”.

I winced at the horrifying words. Her soul, being tortured for all this time.

“How do you know this?” I asked, desperately hoping it was a cruel delusion.

“I had wondered on where Illara’s soul had gone to rest, so my curiosity resulted in me acquiring some experienced clerics. Their information revealed the cruel reality that has befallen Illara”

I immediately felt out of breath, my chest tightening painfully. I keeled over before releasing control back to Juliana, desperate to escape the suffocating emotional pain.

Juliana sat back up and looked at Drisnil. “Why do you care so much about this Illara?”

“I loved her, Geoff. Did you know that? It was a sick, twisted thing you planted in me, but it was real. I hate you for it, for making me capable of this… feeling. But Illara is suffering, and you are the only one who can help.” Her voice broke, the carefully constructed composure shattering. “I have burned the world to get you here. I have done monstrous things. Take my body, take my network, I don’t care. Just don’t let her suffer because of what I am.”

I left Juliana’s body and entered Drisnil. Her body felt eerily familiar. Everything was slightly different from Juliana’s form; the world seemed a little dimmer, and our physical body felt significantly lighter. Even the temperature felt colder—not enough to induce a shiver, but subtle enough to be noticeable.

I took control of Drisnil, wiping her tears away with a hand that wasn’t mine. The panic rose again, a suffocating weight. Before it could take hold, Juliana’s hands were on either side of my new face. She pressed her forehead against mine, a firm, grounding pressure.

“He is with you, my lord,” she whispered, her voice a quiet anchor in Drisnil’s mind. “You are not alone in there. Focus on my voice. Breathe.”

The gesture was simple, intimate but not romantic. The rising pressure in my chest eased, the world sharpening back into focus. I could think again.

I searched rapidly through Drisnil’s memories; within them were hidden notes on where to potentially find a portal to Vorlith, and theories on how it might be possible to defeat her.

I continued to search, eventually finding a memory of what had happened to our friends. They were being kept in a house right here in this village, and their guards had been explicitly instructed to treat them well.

I let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“What is it, my lord?” Juliana asked.

“I know where to find Vorlith, but the more pressing issue is that I know exactly where Toby, Vera, and Igasnov are.”

“Drisnil, please release them immediately. I will help you find and defeat Vorlith, but I am going to keep you on a much tighter leash. My other demand is that you find a way to stop this endless war immediately; if we are bringing Illara back into this world, it will need to be peaceful.”

I released control, allowing the unsettling feeling of her cold, calculating mind to return. “Certainly, Geoff.”

From within Drisnil, I directed our steps out the door and down the path to where Norma’s house used to be. The village was eerily quiet for late morning. Through Drisnil’s eyes, I saw people quickly avert their gazes as we passed.

Drisnil reached the door and knocked—tap, tap, tap—waited two seconds, then tapped twice more.

The door opened, and we were greeted by a large woman wearing heavy steel armour, sporting a jagged scar across her face.

“Drisnil, good to see ya. What can I do for you this morning?” she asked.

“Bella, our guests may now be let out of their rooms.”

Bella smiled broadly. “On it, boss.”

We waited outside while we heard several heavy footsteps from within; shortly after, we were greeted by the relieved faces of Igasnov, Toby, and Vera.

I instinctively walked toward Toby to give him a hug, but he looked at me with wide, terrified eyes, hastily hiding behind Igasnov’s massive frame.

“Toby is terrified of you. Please don't touch him!” Igasnov growled at us protectively.

Juliana stepped around us and pulled Toby into a warm hug. I felt a sharp pang of jealousy and hurt.

I looked at Vera; she was staring at me with her eyes wide, standing frozen like a deer caught in the headlights.

Juliana looked up and noticed her fear.

“I know you have no reason to trust her,” Juliana said, her voice soft but firm. “But she is under our control now. My lord is watching her every move. You are safe.”

Bella laughed loudly from behind them. “I’m sorry, but Drisnil being trustworthy? You must be thinking of someone else.”

I let a grim smile touch Drisnil’s lips. Bella was right. Trust had nothing to do with it. With my will wrapped around her own, she had no other choice but to obey. I turned to face my friends. Their fear was a chasm between us, but it was a chasm I would have to cross. We had a soul to rescue.