As we were on our way back from the spring, following Break Creek back through the woods towards the castle, I felt like something was off. I looked at Val but they didn’t seem to be noticing anything out of the ordinary so I was tempted to shrug it off as paranoia. But I can use detection magic again. There’s different detection magic for each school, though some overlap a bit. I cast Detect Life from the school of nature, which lets me know of any and every living thing in the area. Doing that in a fairly lush forest, however, is a stupid idea because I immediately got a migraine from the sheer amount of information that got dumped in my brain all at once. Right, right, mostly for use in dungeons.

Clutching my head, cursing quietly about how I don’t even have a brain anymore how can I even get migraines anymore, I cast Detect Soul which will only give a reaction to entities with souls, which is pretty much any animal or monster. Besides undead that is. Detect Unlife is a dark spell. There we go! I’ve got a family of birds…cowering in their nest. A rabbit curled up and shivering in its burrow. And behind us there’s…something massive. Oh god what is that? It’s soul feels like a mass of twisted wires, all taut and full of potential energy, waiting to snap and release destruction on its surroundings. 

“Val. Val. Val.”

“What is it Rose?”

“We’ve got trouble.”

“Yeah we’re going to be late at this rate.”

“No. Listen to me. We are in deep shit right now buddy. There’s something behind us that the forest is terrified of. And considering I only noticed it with magic, it’s probably hunting us.”

“Haha… Rose, please don’t joke about something like that. These woods are patrolled regularly by the Order, nothing evil can still be here.”

I float in front of Val and motion to hold their face with my hands and stare in their eyes, trying to communicate every ounce of sincerity I possibly can.

“Val. Listen to the tone of my voice. I. Am. Not. Joking. Something is behind us. It feels like a compressed spring or a taut rope waiting to snap. It feels like a bundle of destruction waiting to break free and ruin everything around it. You have to run now Val. Run as fast as you can, I’m going to try and hold it back with magic but I can’t let you get hurt, ok? Tell me you understand and will do that for me.”

“I. I. Okay. I believe you. What happens if it’s faster than me?”

“I won’t let it be. I won’t let it hurt you.”

“I trust you. Okay, I’m going to start running now.”

“Good. Don’t stop for anything you hear me?”

“Yeah I do.”

I nod to the most precious person to me, both our faces pale and determined. I motion as to kiss Val on the forehead and turn to find our adversary. I know where they are but still don’t know what they are or what they look like. But with a soul like that I can’t imagine anything good. It was about a hundred feet behind us, so I go to the extent of my range of thirty feet and look out into the woods. The woods are lush, yes, but I should have clear sight of it according to my magic. However… there’s nothing there. Alright, time for a light spell. Uncover the Invisible. I cast it at where I know the creature to be and… nothing happens. My spell gives me the feedback that there was nothing invisible where I cast. Not good. That means it is either amazingly well camouflaged or it’s a spirit. But it has a soul, so it’s not an undead. An elemental of some kind? If so we might be fucked six ways to sunday. Of the elemental spirits, it could only be nature or wind. But. But the forest wouldn’t react like this to an elemental! They’re so intune with the natural world that they could kiss a rabbit on the forehead before it’d run away from them!

I hear Val take off sprinting behind me and feel the invisible wall that keeps me near them hit me in the face, yanking me backwards. Oh god, Detect Soul just wore off. Recast recast recast! OH MOTHERFUCKER! It’s coming in fast! Um um um what the fuck do I cast to stop it?! I don’t know what would affect a not technically invisible invisible enemy that has a soul but no body and.. WAIT!

“Goddess of Mercy hear my prayer! May all in attendance witness this offering of mana and tears and feel the grief with which I ask this of you! I seek to bind the soul of my foe, not for power over it or to seek its destruction but to protect those I love! I offer whatever you deem necessary in return and fear not the consequence! If my life you take I offer it gladly, if my honor you seek then take what little I have to offer. All I beg you is to spare my companions from harm and consequence this day! I beseech thee, Mercy’s Prison of Sacrifice!”

“ROSE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?? DON’T OFFER YOUR LIFE FOR ME!”

“AAAAGGGHRHRHRHRHR” 

Oh holy fuck this is painful. I feel my mana being ripped out of me. Not siphoned like I thought. I feel the lives of every animal in a 1 mile radius be snuffed out as their blood is ripped out. I didn’t have any of my own so I had to improvise. God I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. IT was all I could think of. 

Mercy’s Prison of Sacrifice does not, in fact, protect the caster and in fact frequently kills the caster. It does not, in fact, imprison an enemy’s soul like you think it would from the incantation. Instead, it imprisons the caster’s soul and places an impenetrable barrier around their allies. The more allies, the higher the cost. Not only does casting the spell at all cost around half my mana but I feel like I have negative mana. I’m also directly in the path of the thing racing at Val. The primary effect of Mercy’s Prison is..well…an exchange of sorts. An offer of a life for a life. If the offering and the reason you cast the spell don’t kill you then you get off lucky, but as long as the spell is successful, your friends physically cannot die for the next week. An incredibly powerful spell that felt less desperate back when I could respawn. 

I feel it getting closer, feel the wires and cords of its being stretch tauter and tauter, the tension that is its being building up and as it approaches within 5 feet of me I feel the tension release and I brace myself. I’m pretty sure since we’re both just souls that this is going to hurt like I’m dying all over again but I don’t think I’ll actually die…probably. If I do,

“Goodbye for now Val. I’ll find you again next time I think.”

The cords are breaking towards me now and I close my eyes and scrunch up and prepare for pain. 

“LIKE HELL I’D LET YOU KILL YOURSELF YOU JACKASS!”

I feel something shoot past me and suddenly the energy from the thing breaks against something, like an unstoppable force hitting an immovable object…only if that object could get flung forty feet through the air and several trees before stopping. What in the name of all that’s holy just happened?! Wait a minute. Where’s Val?! They’re not running anymore they’re… They were the object that got hit. 

“VAL! NO!”

“Uggghhhh.”

“NO! NO! YOU IDIOT!

“You’re the idiot! Don’t you DARE sacrifice yourself for me!”

“It was all I could think to do! Besides, you still have a life! I want you to keep it!”

“SHUT UP WITH THAT SHIT! Do you think I could EVER be happy again if you died for me?! Take that sacrificial bullshit and shove it up your ass!”

I have, and I mean this in the best way possible, NEVER heard Val snap like this. They don’t cuss that much or that severely as far as I know. I’d be feeling proud if I wasn’t so distressed I think.

“I’m dead Val! How is my life worth as much as yours?”

“I said  to SHUT UP WITH THAT HORSESHIT!”

Wait a minute, where the fuck is the thing. Fuck fuck fuck where is it where is it OH GODSDAMNIT!”

“VAL WATCH OUT!”

But I’m too late. The energy is already released directly over Val’s head. Again the force hits something it can’t break and I’m still confused as to how Val isn’t a stain on the forest floor. But a freaking crater is made beneath Val’s feet as they take a knee and clutch their head in pain. 

“Oooohhhh gods, being a hero sucks.”

“Then don’t be one twerp! Just get back to running!”

“Godsdamnit why won’t you LISTEN TO ME! I can’t let you disappear and leave me alone!”

“Why are you being so stubborn about this?!”

“Because you’re the most important person to me too! Does that mean nothing to you?!?”

The tension was building again, I could feel it but still couldn’t move. A prison is a prison after all. Theoretically I’d be stuck here until I either perish or the spell wears off in a week. I probably should’ve mentioned that in the game the spell had a 100% mortality rate for the caster, as it was only ever used in dire situations in raids and stuff. And even then I’d only ever heard of it being used a handful of times by people that cared more for their party’s success than their own profit. In the game, when you died after casting it, you couldn’t log back in until the effects wore off. It is a brutal spell only for the desperate. 

The tension snaps through the air and I scream out of desperation and frustration. Val might not be able to die but as long as their protecting me they’re stuck here tanking hits. I don’t think the thing attacking us will ever get tired or bored so it can probably wait out the spell timer. And by the time it wears off Val will be in no state to run. We didn’t bring provisions as we thought it was a day trip. On top of that, being immune from death doesn’t make you immune from damage it seems. The spell will probably let them go down to 1 HP. Goddess of Mercy, what a joke.

Val hasn’t even stood back up yet and I’m staring horrified as the cords crack down towards them. But then, the last thing I’d ever expect happens.

“Urrff. You have some nerve showing your face again, Tamatia. I won’t let you harm my son.”

What. The. Fuck. Robutt just fucking appeared in front of Val and tanked the hit. He barely even shifted, dear lords what is he made of? Freaking pure steel?! He faces towards the empty space filled with hostility which, ever since he showed up, feels like it went from having a bit of fun playing with its food to emanating and aura of pure hatred and bloodlust. And Robutt’s standing there letting it wash over him like it’s nothing. He reaches up to his back and draws Ythene from the series of straps that hold it. Just as the thing attacks again he swings the sword into the blow and the cords are cut. Like a knife through butter. An ear piercing, soul shacking, heart stopping screech echoes through the forest as he cuts it. And Robert’s standing there laughing, winding up another swing. 

“You never could win against me Tamatia. You know I’m always up for a spar but I can’t allow you to harm my only blood. Now then, I summon the spirits of my ancestors imprisoned within this blade of olde. Grant me the power to rend the ether and the very animating essence of those that would harm my kin. SOUL REND”

As he chanted, the thing, Tamatia I suppose, started to attack frantically, only to be met with each attack being either tanked or countered. In Robert’s hands, Ythene started to glow blood red, casting Robert’s face in an eerie light that made the man seem more demon than human, his face looking like some horrible grinning ogre or something. As he reaches the end of his incantation Ythene’s light flares up bright enough to nearly blind me. Robert brings Ythene above his head and swings down with the force of a mountain, rending Tamatia in two. 

Tamatia, in response, seems to be spasming, little bits of it dissolving into the air around it but there’s still a feeling of tension building, more and more until it feels like the world itself will snap when it gets released. Robert sees this and in response Crouches to cover Val with his body, swinging his cloak around to cover them completely. 

Like a nuclear bomb detonating the forest explodes as Tamatia disappears. Everything in a half mile radius is destroyed. I’m destroyed, or so it feels to me. Fuck this hurts. I look over myself and see a thousand cuts and a number of rends in my ghostly form, a weird light blue mist rising out of the wounds. I feel like I just got mauled by mountain lion. Or used as a dragon’s chew toy. I look over at Robert and Val to see Robert stand up with an unconscious Val in his arms, holding them to his chest. He turns and looks directly at me.

“Spirit. I’ve watched you haunt my son. I thought you a possible danger. I can feel the power you hold, made clear by the spell you cast today. However, you have protected my son from grave danger and I can only thank you for your actions today. When the spell wears off and you are released, you may return to your position at Percival’s side, as a protector. Just know, now and always, that should you turn against me or my son, what my blade can do against your kind.”

“Their…name… is VAL.”

“I believe I know the name of my own son, spirit.”

“No…you don’t. They hate the name you gave them. Can’t you see…how they look after someone calls them that?”

“Speak not more of this, spirit, lest you invoke my wrath. My son and heir bears the name of my closest companion from my days at war. My second lost their life to save mine and I honor them through my son. I will not have you besmirch that honor. Good day, spirit. May we never need speak again.”

“Wait…you..bastard… FUCK”

As Robutt leaves, cape swirling as he turns on his heel, I feel my vision getting darker. Oh. Is this how you sleep? I guess I forgo-