Nothing Left To Lose

[Music Inspo]

Upon the death of Renastalis, Ero'dorasha had lost control of the voids influence around her. Even with the Old Gods fall, the void was still a beacon of sanctity for her. The final straw was a simple whisper that ignited the spark of battle. He died by their hands. Months in isolation as she grieved, now turned to rage.

Ebonfall had found itself in danger once more. Void was manifesting and beginning to drive civilians to brinks of insanity. Under orders of the Duke, Emrys had gathered Stellvia, Axagus, Victoria, and Odette to set up a field of Light and blessed ground to help stave off the void madness and protect who they could. The rest of the forces were sent to deal with the monsters that were starting to surge. The Duchess gathered her Hexguard to try and solve the mystery before dispatching Crimitian and Eldrylon, in hopes that they could track down the cause while the rest worked on a solution to cleanse the madness.

"Any clue why this could be happening?" Eldrylon spoke quietly, though it was unclear towards what.

"No idea. Never had this happen before." Crim scratched at the fur on his cheek. "All of this is interfering with my pup as well. He can't pick up on the source."

The two warlocks stared at the felhound who was just sniffing around a tree as if it was a person.

The human sighs, "Great. And mine won't shut up about crybabies." He gestures up to the crystals above his head.

"I'm not sure why Lady Viviayna thought we'd be the best bets for this one." Crim continues looking around.

"We're probably just missing something. Think man." The human rubs his brow, "What has changed that might cause this?"

"Well we know it's not an Old God. They're dead." The worgen thought out loud, "Perhaps a cult?"

"Cultists would've been spotted immediately. This sort of chaos would've taken months for them to set up, least of all fuel. And there's no reports of anyone going missing." Eld rolls his eyes, pacing a bit.

"No one but Ero, who went AWOL." Crim says offhandedly.

After a moment the two turn to look at eachother.

"Wasn't Ero a Ren'dorei?" Eld hits his forehead.

"And she's been missing for months." Crim pinched the bridge of his nose, "How could we have missed that!"

"But why would she do this?" Eld gestures to all the void nonsense twisting the scenary.

"I don't know.. But if it is her, we have to stop her." Crim looks down at the hound, "Let's go boy. Do you sense her anywhere?"

The two focused on the hound. The demon beginning to run towards the edge of Ebonfall. The further to the edge they went, the worse the conditions became. Trees twisted by blackness and writhing in sick purple syrup, void rifts with flailing tentacles dotting the landscape, buildings growing with moss twisted into a sight of the night sky.

With a cry of anguish, the Felhound was sent flying a few feet across the ground as a void bolt struck it. The boys turned in time to see twisted images of themselves moving to begin casting more spells at them.

"Well I think we're nearing the source!" Eld called out, creating a wall of flames between him at the apparitions.

"You don't say!" Crim moves to toss a healthstone to the demon, as it rose and shook off the blast.

"I'm gonna try to move ahead. Think you and Fito can handle these?" The human glanced back at the worgen.

"Yea. I'll call backup as well." The worgen stated before talking into his ring, "We've found the source. Requesting aid."

The human broke his focus on the flames before moving to sprint towards the source of overwhelming dread. The imitations tried to cast at him but found the felhound beginning to drain them of their magic. Eldrylon continued running, seeing a clearing ahead that seemed relatively untouched by the Void.

The clearing at first seemed like a normal field of green that was dotted with bright shades of flowers, but as he focused, the warlock realized it was an illusion. The colors flickered, revealing Void Flowers that twisted and painted the grass ebony. Sitting in the center was an elf of the female variety, but her back was to the warlock. The long locks upon her head were twitching by themselves as the void manifests through them.

"Ero?" The warlock called out cautiously, slowly conjuring a fireball in his hand.

"Have you come to silence me?" The woman stood, turning to look at the human.

"I've come to talk." He stated carefully, keeping an eye on her.

She let out a pained laugh, "Talk? You've had six months to talk! Tell me the real reason they sent you."

"I know this isn't you. You wouldn't want to bring harm to those around you." He crushed the flame in his hand so he could hold them up and show her that he meant no harm.

"Why? Because I'm just such a good person? Why should I show kindness to those pests?" There was venom in her words.

He felt himself reel in surprise, "Because those pests are your friends! Your Lord- Your Lady! You can't just throw all of that out cause some whispers told you to."

"Is that what you think? That some whispers told me to do this?" She gestures around, "No. I chose to do this. This duchy sees us as nothing but fodder for their stupid problems. The Cults? The betrayals? All of it is cause of people opening their eyes." She jabs a finger in his direction, "Why should I continue to be used as fodder? Why should any of us?"

"You don't believe that." He took a step forward, bringing his hands up, "I know you don't believe that."

"You don't know anything about me." She took a step back, "No one does."

"That's not true. You were so full of warmth- compassion. No.. Something must've caused this."

"Flames die out. The warmth will always leave." She retorts harshly.

"That's-" The human paused as he heard the whispers from the crystals, "Your husband. He was the one who died all those months ago.. Wasn't he?"

"Don't you dare bring him up!" Her eyes flash with void as another rift opens near by.

"That's what this is about, right?" He took another step towards her, "This isn't the answer. You know this isn't what he would've wanted."

"What do you care he would want! Your 'team' left him behind with a bomb!" She screamed at him, rifting to in front of him to reach to grab him by the throat.

He gasped, "He chose that!"

"No. They chose that for him." She then got a smirk, "But now I have what I need to force them out to pay."

She dropped him on the ground before void vines sprung up around him to form a cage.

"Ero!" He called to her.

"You'll stay here until it's over." Her ear twitched as she turned her head, "And here they come."