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Keran watched as Bobby disappeared, before turning to Caellyn.
“You think they’re okay, or?” they left the question hanging. The high elf turned, trying to see if she could see past the doorway. No such luck.
“I mean, probably?” she ventured, uncertainty seeping into her tone.
“More likely to have died from the shove you gave them,” xe teased, frown lessening.
The druid reddened. “I didn’t think they were that light!”
Keran shrugged. “They’re a frog.”
“Whatever, I’m going,” she declared, turning on her heel before striding out of one of the side exits.
They sighed. Xe was pretty sure she still held a grudge over her almost murder. It wasn’t their fault the blasted throne was mind corrupting. It’s not like xe normally wanted to kill their friends. They may threaten it, but they didn’t actually want to go through with it!
Sighing again, they turned xir attention to one of their “reflections”. Walking a little closer to the cage walls, they asked, “Why do you look like me?”
The “reflection” frowned in confusion. “We look like this because, well, isn’t this how you look?”
Keran glanced at the golden runes on their face and hair blacker than xir’s. “I mean yeah, mostly, but why ?” they repeated.
A smile split across their face. Unsettling on anyone, especially unsettling on what was essentially their face.
“Oh, you don’t know, do you?”, pleasure evident in their tone. Pulling all of the “reflections” into one being, they took a running start and jumped into the cage, disappearing and reappearing .
Shit . Xe had hoped the cage would keep them out. Apparently not. Still, they needed to act cordial with the being.
Pushing down xir unease, they managed out a “Hello.” And they kept their tone neutral, which was a win, since xe desperately wanted to not be sucked into any walls.
“Hello lovely.” Keran’s breath hitched. That wasn’t their voice.
The “reflection” changed their form, becoming just the slightest bit taller. Suddenly, Keran was looking at a face that was more familiar than xir own.
Amalie . It was her face. Her bright orange eyes, with eyebags right under then, because the gods know why elves can’t sleep. Her light brown jet black curly hair, never tied back, even when it got in the way of her playing. It went down to her waist. Gods, what they would do to hear her voice, singing that little song they wrote together. Xe could barely remember the words by now.
“Come back, stay with us,” she says, smiling softly. They remind xirself that they left to get their name into the songs of every bard across the land, not just the ones back at home. Their reasoning feels weaker now.
Her face morphs into one of anger, and Keran knows what’s coming. They argued about it before xe left!
“Or are you going to leave us, again?” she snarls, and it doesn’t matter that they knew it was coming. Xir breath wooshes out of them, and they grip their hair, unable to speak.
Xe should just go with her. Her voice reminded xem of when they still lived at home, when they were a hunter, not a ranger.
And yet, what would the bards sing? A tragedy, perhaps, but more likely, Keran’s name will fall into obscurity. Only remembered by their friends, parents waiting for a visit that will never come. Forgotten, name never spoken again.
“No,” they say, voice barely above a whisper. Her hair . “No. I won’t, because you’re not HER!” and xe’s screaming now, fuming at the idea that someone would take her face, pretend to be her.
The bastard shifts back into Keran’s own face.
“No. No I’m not. It’s too bad, I hate to waste a lovely face like that,” they say, smirking.
I’m going to fucking kill them. They don’t. Unfortunately. However, they have no interest in finding out that they can’t actually kill a reflection, or worse, it affects xem as well.
Instead, xe leave out one of the doorwars, stoutly refusing to give the shit anymore of their time.
The first thing they notice is the lack of their party. If those fuckers got themselves killed, xe might actually jump off the nearest cliff.
The second thing they notice is the arguing. Thank the gods. People don’t tend to argue if they’re dead.
They head towards the noise, taking note of the tiny trickle of water and how the corridor of doors seemed to spiral inwards.
Only to be greeted with Bobby trying to lick Caellyn. Fuck my life. Xe could feel a headache building.
“Okay, I can’t fucking deal with this shit right now. Have either of you two seen Lucinia?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“Of fucking course. No, don’t fucking worry about the first party member to leave. It’ll be fucking fine,” xe said, looking for any sign of the aarakocra. They heard some splashing, which was strange, seeing as the only water source xe could see could be blocked by their pinky. However, they also had their least favourite weirdest encounter ever, so they’ll let it slide.
Following the sound, they spiralled inwards, finally coming across a small pool of water. It looked about knee deep, but looking closer, xe spotted a tiny Lucinia trying to swim across it. As xe watched, she started attempting to fly. It seemed to be working poorly.
Cursing under their breath, xe reached in to grab her. For a second they feared they would fall in, but thankfully, they did not.
It soon became apparent that the water was the cause for Lucinia’s smallness, as she was growing rapidly. Eventually she was regular size, and dripping water everywhere. She flapped her wings to get rid of some of the excess water, which meant Keran was caught in the crossfire, and was now also dripping water. They wiped xir face before turning to the aarakocra.
She grinned (as much a bird can anyways), before saying, “I almost pulled you in with me.”
Keran sighed. “Of course you did. Why’d you go swimming?”
“Oh yes! I was trying to get the body,” she said, pointing a talon behind her.
“Wha-” Keran turned around. There was in fact a body in the water. Unfortunately, it was unrecognisable, as none of the features made sense. Or they did, but Keran couldn’t actually work out what features they had. Everytime they looked away, all memories of what they looked like just kind of “poofed”. Xir eyes slid off of them anytime they looked, so all they had to go off of was that there was a body.
Suddenly Lucinia reached across the puddle, grabbing the body and slinging it around her shoulders.
“Well that’s that. Let’s go then,” she said, sauntering back towards the others.
Keran narrowed xir eyes. Was the body getting bigger?