[[Musical Theme]]”TOBIAS!”Frederick tossed and turned in his sleep. Even the alcohol he and Fade consumed the evening prior couldn’t keep the nightmares at bay. Several times, ramblings and drunken mumblings escaped his lips as nightmares and reality came together in a drunken haze. But, that was to be expected. One does not brush with death and merely live to tell the tale - no, an encounter like that changes you, it steels you, it freezes your mind, shatters your soul and it breaks your spirit in ways that no ordinary encounter could. Even in the Mists, there were extraordinary things - terrible things - things that should never be mentioned, much less seen.
Darkness, violet clouds of death, an apparition with a scythe - like a fairy tale. No, like a nightmare. He died so quickly, it barely looked at him… It barely looked at him and there was nothing I could do. And then it came for me…Frederick’s eyes shot open. He sat up, hyperventilating in his bed. His eyes looked about the room frantically - but he wasn’t at the Lady’s Rest. He was somewhere else - in a cave. Dark, damp, with the smell of death around him - no - in him, and on him. It pervaded his senses, as though it was invading his very soul. To his left and right he saw bodies, bodies of those close to him - friends, allies of an order, and his lover. Sweat poured free from his face and suddenly he felt himself nearly weightless, floating in the darkness. Gravity gave way to nothingness and he found himself eye to eye to a figure - an apparition with no eyes, no smile, no face, no features. Merely an apparition with a scythe.
”FADE!”
No, not her, not her too. Not because of me, not because of us… Tymora have mercy, please. I understand, I stepped too far, I delved too deep, please… give her back. Don’t let it take her…Despite it not having any features he could feel its gaze burrow into his soul, scouring for something. He felt its hands crawl around his throat and he felt as though he was suffocating, but there was nothing he could do. No matter how hard he tried, he could not struggle. He could not breathe. He could not move. Darkness gave way to a swirl of black, purple, and red. Surrounded by Mist, he bounced through the aether. Every few seconds, a new face - eyes rolled back, bloodied, soul stolen and broken, shot across his vision. With each dead visage he could hear their screams, echoing seemingly forever inside of his skull. No matter how loud he shouted, no matter how much he screamed, he was forever stuck inside his nightmare.
”KLEO! ANGBAND!”
Free. I’m free. I made it. He made it. We’re safe now. We should get- … Oh no. Not again. No, not them, how did it follow us- It isn’t confined to that place? We have to run, we have t-Frederick shot upright, eyes flitting left and right. He was hyperventilating, but this time he was in his room at the Lady’s Rest. His gaze fell upon Fade and for just a moment he felt what he thought might be relief. That moment was shattered by a knock on the door. With a loud creak, the door slowly opened, revealing his companions of the order, Angband and Kleo, garbed in shades of grey and sporting the cloak of their uniform. He went to speak, and right then, he saw their eyes. Lifeless, empty, grey, with no light left to them. From behind them, he saw it again. Before he even had the chance to speak he felt himself restrained - but he couldn’t figure out what to. Darkness surrounded him again and seemed to take the breath from his lungs. His lungs seemed to fill with pain itself, as if being torn from the inside out. He saw them again - faces and visages of his comrades in arms. This time, however, they stood next to the apparition, watching as Frederick struggled helplessly against his fate.
”FENWIX! IZOT!”
It hurts. It hurts so much. It’s so painful. Please, Tymora, make it stop. Make the pain stop. Life or death, pick one for me. I won’t overstep again, not like this. No fortune is worth this, no fame is worth this. Please… I’ll do anything… Please… Help me.He had never experienced pain like this before. It felt as though it was never-ending - as though each of his limbs and each of his organs was being ripped and torn from the inside out. No, that wasn’t exactly true. This wasn’t a visceral, physical pain. This felt like his very being was being ripped and torn from his body in the most vicious manner possible. The entire time, he felt their dead eyes staring at him - watching - powerless as he was to stop what was happening. Pain ripped through his very being, eliciting a horrific, nightmarish scream. The scream echoed, reverberating both inside and outside of his head. It encompassed him, it surrounded him and it suffocated him.
”Please… help me.”Reality and nightmare entwined.
”Never again.”Death incarnate.
”I won’t go back there.”On a coin flip, seven lives are spared.
”Blessed be Lady Luck.”On a coin flip, one soul, at least, is challenged.
”Blessed be the Lady Who Smiles upon me.”And on a coin flip, one soul, at least, shall steel with time.
”Blessed be the fortune that favors the bold.”In Tymora’s name.
”In Tymora’s name.”
