Awakening in the Ruins
When you come to, you find yourself in the middle of a small clearing, as bare as the day you were born. Your injuries from the explosion have been healed: your right eye has returned, as has everything below your waist, including the important parts. It had not come without a price, however. The meaty, bloody taste of the Demon Lord’s heart rises up in your mouth as you recall what you did. Unable to hold back, you vomit from the sheer memory of the disgusting ordeal. Nothing comes out but thin drool. Coughing and gasping, you wince in pain.
Something had happened when you ate the Demon Lord’s heart. Something has changed.
As you clutch your naked shoulders, shivering, you feel something brush your fingers. It is a wing. Your wing, you realize, and there are two of them. They are magnificent specimens as far as wings go, majestic in size and sporting downy white feathers that are comfortable to the touch.
This has been the strangest day ever. First… everything that happened in the Demon Lord’s castle. Then… this. Your wings flap clumsily. Though you have no idea why they are there, or what you have become, you are beginning to suspect that you are no longer human. But what exactly you have become... that is probably something you can only find out in the days to come.
As you begin to calm down, you start to observe your surroundings more keenly. You are no longer in the Netherworld - the sunny day and peaceful atmosphere attests to that. But where are you, exactly?
The clearing’s true identity appears to be a small room – what you had thought to be tree trunks at first glance turn out to be stone pillars overgrown with moss and vines. There were also actual trees, growing through cracks in the walls, their trunks twisted as they reach out for as much light as they can get. The floor is cracked and overrun with weeds, to the extent that you can barely feel it with your hands. Above you, the ceiling has collapsed in places, allowing some light to pass through. That is also where most of the vines have wound up, their green leaves eagerly taking in the sunlight.
You do not recognize the style of architecture – it is unlike any you have seen in the Seven Kingdoms, nor is it demonic in origin. Strangely enough, you recognize some of the rubble strewn around you as belonging to the Demon Lord’s castle: the scars of battle are clear, and they are not as aged as the surrounding stone.
You have not slept for thousands of years then. It is not a matter of when. As you begin ruling out the possibilities, only one remains: how did you get here? Transportation. Teleportation. But why?
As you look around the clearing, you discover words carved into tablet-like protrusions on the pillars. The script is alien to you – though it bears some resemblance to what you have seen of demonic writing, you cannot be certain that they are related. You run your hand past the carvings, feeling the rough grooves beneath your fingertips. Lobelia would probably be interested in this, you think idly.
The memory comes back to you unbidden. Mieren being impaled by Lobelia’s icicle. Kyle cutting her head off. Your fingers clench involuntarily, cracking the stone and possibly damaging what would have been classified as a national historical treasure, were this place monitored by a kingdom keen on preserving history.
Kyle. Althus. Lobelia. They killed Mieren, and they would have killed you. As you think about them, you feel…
***
A. Anger. You will not take their betrayal lying down. You will find your way back to the Seven Kingdoms, and the traitors will pay, one way or another.
B. Indifference. If you should cross their path again, then you will decide what to do with them. Before that happens, you will not waste any time thinking about those traitors.
C. Mercy. What they did, they must have done for a reason. After all, you did betray the Goddesses first. You let go of the grudge. An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind.
***
You shake your head, trying to focus again on the present instead of the past. You take a look around again. You cannot stay here forever, after all. There are three passages leading from the clearing, and you wonder which one you should take…
Suddenly, you hear the splash of water, and a gentle, melodious humming from one of the passages. It sounds like a woman’s voice…
***
A. You climb a narrow pathway winding above you, into a passage between the stones. You should get a better vantage point if you head upwards.
B. You take the large stairs heading down into darkness. There is a rank smell coming from within: it means that there is something living there.
C. You head towards the side passage where the humming is coming from. You are merely curious. It is not because you are hoping to see something nice. Really.
D. You did not spend all those nights learning teleportation for nothing! Focusing strongly on the mental image of the outskirts of the capital, you cast the spell.
