Zeidenberg. She was shocked to see the vast number of buildings and people, to hear the sounds of a real city. It was overwhelming. Yet in a good way, the only good thing she would feel that day. They made it there safely, but things would quickly descend to chaos, deception and death.
They had a job to do, protect the Lord Regent during the officialization of the church of Ezra. She debated ignoring the note that was shoved in her bag, that invasion of her privacy did not sit well. Yet, inside she knew what would happen. She knew there would be a large attack. They had started a war with the church, a war that almost killed her. She was not prepared, nor was the army for dealing with devils and fiends, paired with cultist priests and warriors.
A opening ceremony for a church swiftly turned into a massacre. Erzsebet had tried, along with the rest of the company to defend and protect the regent, but everyone reaches a point where their self preservation takes hold. This was that moment for her. She stared around at all the corpses of Gundarakites, cultist and soldier alike. A moment of forced descision. She chose to live. It would haunt her.
Betrayal.
A sudden change of heart.
"I'm sorry." She said as she turned on her friends. As she turned on the army that had barely welcomed her. As she turned on the most likely chance of success they had had in ages. She fired bolt after bolt, taking down the fabeled fifth company with finess and guilt. This was not what she wanted. She had hoped that this would not happen. So she took a chance and turned to the Regent.
"Look at all the death you've caused by creating a war between church and state."
"Recind the order, label Emanuel an enemy not the entire faith."
"No."
"Fine, then I'll kill you too."
It wouldn't take many bolts at arms reach to take the man down. Even his healing magic would be useless against Erzsebets bolts. Her eyes darted around, making sure people stayed down. She really had not wanted this to end this way. With a heavy heart she apologised to the soldiers, to her friends, as she fired a single last bolt into their heads. She reached Zsofika, and for whatever reason, Erzsebet was not able to kill her. Instead she healed her.
"Come with me, I can take you somewhere safe."
"Somewhere... Safe?"
Her ear twitched as the sound of many feet drew closer. She strode over to the corpse of Demetrius Ajkler and cut his head off, putting it in a bag as if it were nothing.
"Erzse what have you done?"
"He insisted on keeping an entire faith banned instead of the one responsible. Come with me, please?"
She downed the last concealment potion she had and stepped into the shadow behind the pillar. "Tell them you were attacked, get them to go get help and we can flee together."
She whispered from behind her, standing there as she began to change into her stealth gear. "Don't do this." She warned.
Betrayal was a bitter tonic to drink of when Zsofika said they were betrayed. Shaking her head, Erzsebet walked away, creeping through the town with the head of their leader in a bag like a petty criminal. Her feet carried her forward across Barovia. She passed some garda on patrol, who remained oblivious to the woman carrying the head of their enemy. She passed the castle, a brief moment of questioning on whether she should try to see if the devil would hold up his end of a bounty.
"No. One sin is enough today." She told herself as her feet continued to carry her to the church where she would deliver the head.
As she snuck inside and climbed down the ladder, something hit her.
Down in the earthen basement, she felt herself sink. Darkness surrounded her, her breath picked up as she felt as though the walls would close in on her. As the darkness subsided, the feeling did not. Tears began to trickle down her face as she was bombarded with the lively movie replaying of her killing her friends in arms. Decapitating the man who was supposed to lead them. Her body began to shake as the most emotionally charged memories began to repeat in perfect clarity.
The dog eating her eye, her miscarriages, her time in the citadel, the violation she and her mother endured at the hands of Barovian soldiers. She remembered every action the Black Wolf of Teufeldorf took upon her, she remembered every disgusting detail of those memories. Her body shaking as her voice cried out for Emanuel. She was exhausted, her mind repeating the memories she wanted to forget. As they repeated, she became silent, sitting there, staring blankly ahead. Something was wrong, something was different.