The Prodigal Son: (Currently just a pilot release, feedback requested)

[WyrmofFrost]

AN: Been working on this premise for a while now but wanted to get some feedback on how its written. Totally should be working on my other stuff but the muse as ever is a vindictive bitch as much as we still love and worship her.

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A Certain Heroine of Healing's POV

It was surprisingly peaceful. A crazy statement what with her entire party being held prisoner and about to be tortured and killed or killed and tortured. With a lich, order did not matter. Her internal thoughts though quickly had to share space.

A surprisingly smooth yet deep voice spoke up. "Are we awake now? If not then do get yourself back together. I would think you would like some input on just what I am going to do. It would be good manners after all, then again I suspect that few of you follow the same etiquette as I do".

One of the heroes, the mouthy male one of course spoke first. "Who, who da fuck are you. Da fuck am I. Dam my head hurts. My pants are... Ah shit. Right not the frat. Mikey ya here?! Wake the fuck up! Uh, girls are you... Great you are here too. No rescue for us then"

"Crap, stop yelling Mat! I am trying to... uh shit". That was the other male hero. A quieter if still just as crass and perversely upfront as the other. They were friends apparently at some academia.

"My lady, this is a bad situation". An understatement from the Knight Champion. Normally a noble would not give the time of day to a peasant, but being a Hero was a different story. Also that the otherworlders were oft too strange to really get close to. Enough time in the sacred party together showed to her eye that the knight was quietly terrified, she could understand that feeling quite well. This . . thing before them is unnatural. Unholy. It was a lich so of course it was such but, something in her screamed out at this thing.

She knew why. The Hero's Menu, that divinely granted number tablet was missing. All things had it, even if it could be somewhat secretive or broken. Every Hero had been blessed to have an exclusive and personal view, something that only the priests of the main churches with their altars could otherwise have. Something that put her above the crawling gutter that she and her sister were once from.

Yet no godly granted level could be seen, no strengths, no weaknesses. Not even the divine sight to know how healthy one was, nor their mana levels, nor even a name. No matter how much she tried the special chant or eye movement to summon it she could not. It had been the same when they had attempted to gather knowledge during their scouting mission, none of them had managed to find anything on the undead. Whatever expertise any of their party of heroes had, they knew nothing. They could gather scattered pieces of information from the traitor human cultists and beastfolk, but nothing like what they should have had either way. To be without . . . truly accursed.

But she had to be an example, even in the face of utter darkness. So she did not do what her body wanted and start wailing in terror. "Yes indeed. Sadly I do not think. Do not think we are getting out of this easily". Some days she bemoaned the vow of mercy and healing she took. It seemed a path much more appropriate for her sister. Today sadly did not seem like a day that not having it would have been an aid. Physical violence did not seem to be an option, one could say. She would have been willing to take the punishment if it could have been, just like the other few times. Just a few. Really.

Pushing those thoughts into a hole she tried figuring out what to do. So she tried having a staring contest with the beast, the beast won. She looked instead to the strange metal bird on its shoulder, perched on a pauldron arranged on top of the lich's robe. A familiar of some kind? Like an owl with a blank mask for a face.Those blank eyes, just like back in the slums but worse. As she tactically retreated the others seemed to have garnered their nerve.

"What do you want with us monster!! Let me outa her so I can. . . Well our shit seems to not be here. Where's our stuff!! Fuck where's my cheat? Nothing is working".

"Quiet down gaijin. Hah, this is not going to go well. Anti-magic? Anti-divine? Anti- something.That is a thing apparently"

"Oh, dear, oh dear, oh, dear"

At least the female heroes were not so crude, they tried being dignified as well. Tried. Then again they had supported the plan that got them here in the first place. Not good. Not good at all. If they got out of this. . . If. If. If.

They had watched the undead armies of this new Demon Lord march with but one step to shake the earth where the many other dead they faced were but shambling creatures. Where before the necromancers were frail and starved looking creatures that fought behind their minions, this lich had led from the front with a blade as long as a noble's height and strength beyond any of them. Looking back when they had let the creature tear its way through a greenskin horde in hopes of it being tired out, they should have realized it was a bad idea. It was a display of slaughter she had never seen before. With unnatural grace the beast and its retinue had advanced in loose lines and felled their foe by their thunderous weapons or with bladed gauntlets that cut with seeming ease. The beast's own blade reaping handfuls with each casual swing. And right now, those same weapons are menacing them. All of them pointed without any further movement at what were supposedly secured captives.

"I want out. I want fucking out"

"Shut it gaijin, your whining will get you nothing here". Their voices had never quieted down this entire time, she doubted for their sanity. She had had that thought plenty of times already. A rather pointed clank of a blade finally got them to quiet.

Really the lich really did not like them. Not that they had managed to accomplish much when the fighting had happened. Not that they were going to be able to do much now. Why did the gods have to choose heroes who were not warriors!! Random burghers and merchant's sons!

Then again the only thing that kept her from trying some quick Turn Undead prayers was that her sister was right beside her. Under the watch of the undead, also that Turn Undead had a very bad time against these things. It was like throwing a candle onto freshcut greenwood, nothing but mild scorching. Just nothing. How can an undead not be dead!! They should have been put to final rest!! Bones snapping like burnt chicken!

Still her old instincts told her to look again at her fellow heroes. A certain look flashed between each other, did she know what plan they had just agreed to come up with? No, they never had a good plan. Just a plan to do something. For all that they were a party of the chosen heroes, they so often fell to thief signs even with people from different worlds. She only had to teach them a few times, which probably said something about what the judgement of the Gods.Casual blasphemy aside now. What to do, what could she do to get out of this?

"When I get outa take those bones and boil them like a fine chicken soup my momma would make. But no, with those rickety ass bones you be only fit for the trash. I woulda not even feed ye to my dog if it was starving"

"Hah" "It was not even a good one gajinn" "Are we really doing this now nee-chan?"

Oh gods above, the others would not stay quiet. She could not help it. Really. "Must I say it, truly? Shut it you lot!! If I am going to die, it better not be cause you lot got me killed over a bad joke!!".

"Misha. Sister, please calm down. You need to stop, you are hurting yourself". She looked into the plaintive eyes of her beloved sister. Her bare wrists rubbed raw from the bindings. Her only true kin. She wavered at that look, but she could not. She needed to be able to do something. Anything!!

Had they taken the knife from her boot? They did. The small knife in her bodice.... Bastards, scum. They did. As she tried to find anything that could be used to escape she had to pause as she noticed something important. Indeed most of the sacred items and other important items they had were taken to somewhere else, that dammed lich had her sceptre. Her artifact and everyone else's, all in a pile within a magic circle. How did it handle any of them? Oh Goddess, why can't a healers scepter burn undead? That would have been great. It was a pile of divine artifacts, why did it not die?

And as if sensing her thoughts the thing turned its coldly burning orbs to look at her again. "A priest of Vibion, and a holy knight of Oshuteh. From the look of it sisters as well, appropriate. So tell me chosen heroes, what brings two sibling Goddesses, the Tociz who have not had a priesthood since the ancient days to have their own Chosen now?". What? They weren't the first?

"Is it going to monologue? Shut it, I want to hear this lore dump" came from one of the males.

"Stupid males, this is not the time for your stupid games". Wise words, too bad they had never worked.

"Says the one from the land of light novels and eroge". A distant part of her wondered about what they said, then remembered what happened the last time . . .

"Why you . . ow!!". The sight of the small girl bodily throw herself against her friend. Well it was something.

The two female heroes looked at each other before breaking off. "Nee-chan, idiot duo. Please stop this" the small one said.

One of the duo said "Nice headbutt sister. Okay, okay. I'll stop".

She watched the tall girl try to rub her shoulder before realizing the bindings again. "Hmmphh".

While the strange mummer's play played out before her she had done her best to drag out one of the hidden shivs she had. It took a bit of effort but she had sliced through enough of the rope around her hands to be able to use her Hero granted strength to simply tear her own way out. But that left her leg bindings. The angle was awkward but . . . Shit.

"Hmmm the healer having skills more equivalent to that of a rogue. How odd. But did you think it was only physical bindings that kept you here"

She glared at the lich's collar. It was very shiny with all the copper, gems, and what her eyes could see as electrum rather than gold or brass. She also saw in the corners of her eyes the strange thunder weapons aimed directly at her. Her and her sister.

Before she could do something she might have had a second to regret she felt, something. Something she had only truly felt once.

"And shit. That plan failed".

"Hmmph, you were not repulsive enough gaijin. Truly a disgrace, just this once though".
"Now see her..". A silence came over them. She could see them still talking. But she heard nothing. Finally looking back into those horrifying eyes she spat out "So, what are you going to do you monster?".

It brought a finger to her chin. She felt herself start to shudder. This sort of touch. No. No. No.

"Well, this is not what I intended to happen. But I suppose I should never have forgotten just what you could do when you were determined enough" came a voice. A voice that was not yet was her sister's voice.

She caught her breath again as the ma...lIch whirled to look. Something she did too. Her sister. Oh her gentle sister. Now looking more like the knight then herself.

Even with no ability to use the Menu, she knew who was here. A Divine Descent. Sister. No.

The lich seemed to seethe as it spoke. "Well, well why are you here? Well I can guess but truly I should ask thee. Why?".

Her sister yet not shook her head. Eyes held in some inscrutable look and too serene even for one still bound hand and foot. Yet she still tried to ask, "Sister?". She was ignored. Or did the flicker in the orbs of fire of the lich mean something?

The goddess within her sister spoke in a voice like the flow of prayer wheels yet also the familiar tones of her sister. "To make sure you do not make a mistake. And perhaps to atone for the sins we, no I and my sister have already committed. But I think that even if we were to go to our knees and pray, you would not accept it. Not truly enough to let go. No matter how much my sister would want it so. I know that this can only end in blood". Strange words came out. Some conversation where they knew nothing of the speakers. Why? Why did this divine one, her sister's patron speak so familiarly with this monster?

The monster spoke back, in a voice like the grumbling before the thunder. "True words you speak. As true as the deaths of children you watched over. Yes this can only end in death, your death or mine. And as you can see death does not take me easily. Why should it? You helped kill Lord Kelo. Him and all I ever knew. You may not have wielded the blade. But you killed them just the same"

Her sister sat back on her knees, hands laid in her lap. "As you too killed so many of our followers. But, I think that such petty arguments would never work on you. You know I am not my gentle sister. You also know I do not lie. So I will tell you this. The only one who knows I am here, is my sister. My dear, dear sister who cannot live in this world we made. I suppose that much has not changed since you cast yourself out"

"You know why" was squeezed out like the rasp of a blade.

The Goddess Oshuteh narrowed the eyes of her sister in a look her always happy sister would not have in even the darkest moments. The understanding look was there, but not the care and belief in good. Now it was understanding and admittance of the act. "I do. I do. Which is also why I know that you will only accept true death to fill your shattered heart. Only when you have either killed all of us or you yourself are torn apart completely will you stop. But still I can try. For my sister's sake no? Can I not ask you for one final boon. One last favour in remembrance of what was once?"

She noticed something wrong with her sister, beside the whole subsumed will. And why did she not realize just how horrible this could be? Oh sister. Why does it look like you are suffering? A strange smoke was floating off her sister's body. All as the goddess used it like a doll. Why? Why do this?

The lich spoke up, interrupting her thoughts. "Why should I when you are part of the problem? Or is what you are doing to that child so easily brushed aside? I would offer absolution in equality. You would use up a child instead, lay a field of the dead and defiled with only prey to be harvested later left. Why should I give any regard to what once was?".

"I know, my hands are stained by death too. But I can ask. For what you once had, what we had once. You still remember those simple times. Just as much as you still move your jaw to talk. So I ask selfishly for myself, for the sake of my sister. And for these two little ones too. Call me sentimental, but I would like them to survive at least.".

Why say such things as she watched her sister grow thin? Thin like those times back in the slums. Why? Why can't she find anything to say to stop this?

"By what bits of my honour I care about, I will spare them this once"

"Thank you. Just a moment though, I think I should say something to the one watching this. With some privacy". The lich threw its hand out like some grumpy old man as it turned its skull away.

"It is good to see you again, especially in the flesh on the mortal plan. As bad as this situation is. I have only a limited time here so you can ask one question with this opportunity. Something you feel you need to know". No sound could be heard out, the words the goddess spoke echoing back in like being in a cave.

Could she ask the goddess to do something. Something about all this? No. It was obviously impossible. If she could not get that, then she needed to know just what was going on with this lich. She could do something with the information. Something to get out of this intact.

"What? Who is that lich. Why do you speak like so? What can it do, for you to do this?" she asked.

Her sister's body seemed to dim, the light she realized it shone with no longer so subtle.
"A difficult question you ask. What is he? A scourge of our own tainted making. One we wronged so horribly that it would wipe out us and our way of life along with our followers. A death he once came close to bringing. And I fear this second attempt will make this desire come true at last". She froze, wondering at those words. Her mind shook at the blasphemous thoughts that came.

It. It. It was so much like some start to a bard's story. Yet useless. She tried to find something to say. But the goddess shook her sister's head.

"Our time is up, the host is impatient". She sputtered, "But, but, but". Whatever kept their words silent fell away.

"I thank you for this moment of grace. Now you are to let those here free no?" the goddess spoke.

"Yes. I will let the two sisters free, the chosen of you two sibling goddesses. But why should I do so for the rest?" were the damming words said.


The goddess nodded. "They are truly and irrevocably your foe by the grace of their patrons. But if you could consider a ransom needed then name it".

The Lich froze up, its body that had been swaying like that of a living and breathing man as the two spoke stilled. It then seemed to shudder. "Hahahha, no. To you I can extend what is left of a tattered rope to hold. TO THEM NEVER!! Countless generations then. Countless generations now. I will see to it that no more suffer! Suffer at the hands of you so-called gods!! The oh so vaunted Ash'Matiz. No. I fight. For the living AND the dead!!". Stone cracked as the rage of the lich had it's raw ether and mana leak out and clash, like a troll's pounding fist onto the ground. A sharp splinter tore open the skin on her forehead and she blinked at the pain.

"Then I will have to offer this" was spoken out. Her sister, puppeted by her patron broke free of her bindings and stuck a hand straight through the trapped circle. A hand that reached to take her own sceptre. All for a price as her sister's body seemed to burn from the inside, especially the hand that reached in. Her body trembled, tried to do something. Anything. Yet even just breathing seemed to become difficult as her mouth dried yet her eyes watered in pain.

She could only watch as with a strike like a snake the hand of the lich reached out yet seemed to stutter before it latched onto the hand of her, well not her sister. A unfleshed hand holding onto something that looked close to being a skeleton in its own right. No. No. No!! Light blazed from the connection, blazed against a swelling of darkness and the light won. All as her sister suffered for this fight between titans. A fight she realized she could not accept.

She. She could not. The things they said. Her sister. What had they done? "What are you doing? What have you done" she groaned out. Yet her place here was seemingly to be regarded as naught but furniture.

The words of the two continued on with the lich bellowing, "You would betray even your own sister?!".

There was not any tremor to the voice that spoke from a form that was dying before their eyes. "If it is to keep her safe then yes I will. Hate me all you want. I know that even when I die at your hands my sister will be safe. If I must break any trust, any honor, any morals then I will do so. Even for the mildest chance that you will be stopped from taking out your rage on others, one way or another".

Light blazed like ribbons across the lich. Light that finally gathered around something floating inside the rib cage of the lich as its spine arched and it floated in the air. Its wrath filled voice cracked out. "You. You would ask this of me. Make me take this?! AFTER ALL THAT HAS BEEN DONE!! YOU WOULD HAVE ME SPARE THEM!! You. You". A part of her feared that the lich would break the staff. Had that fear as she slumped onto her side to see that the others in the room were seemingly worse off. Twitching like landed fish on the ground beside the collapsed piles of bones of the guards.

It was like being buried alive as she tried to move. Just to look, to see, but not able to pray, not anymore to look at her sister. She felt the presence of the goddess leave, like the air of a lightning storm becoming calm again. It meant she could move. So she crawled, scraped her hands and knees to try to reach out to the body of her sister. Looking so like a beggar that has finally starved to death. Barely skin upon the bones. "Cara" she whispered between bone dry lips.

The Lich looked at the decrypt body of her sister, still impossibly showing she could breath. Oh so softly, weakly. She felt something reach out within her. The sign of the Hero's menu reasserting itself to show nothing she did not already know. Her sister. Fading. Dying. A gentle voice resounded, trying to do something. Have her act. She refused it. Refused it as she watched the Lich reach down hesitantly to her sister. Would her peaceful Lady Vibion show her true colors too? Like then. Giving her hope and tearing it away. In a moment that haunted her she wondered if it would be better for her sister to die. To be at peace. And for her to join her too? A sense of horror seemed to echo in her at the words she thought. Like blasphemy to the self, to all she had stood for in defiance to the world. To her constant attempts to keep herself and her sister alive in this harsh world. "No" was her response to the Goddess.

She stared on, her body twitching as the Goddess tried to do something. Then it vanished and she fell completely prostate. Her sister, her chest slowing ever more. She tried again to say something more, but her throat was dried and cracked. Her own body burning like it had just tried to run through the main street of the capital from one end to another. Her eyes stared at the scene of the lich returning its hand from having stabbed something into her sister. Her fingers tried to reach out again, to do something. Anything when she saw her sister take yet another breath. Easier then before. Deeper.

She too felt something stab into her, something flowed into her body. Rushing coolness to wash away the raw heat of before. She felt strong yet thin and ridged hands drag her body over to be beside her sister. She reached a hand to take her sisters in it. So thin, yet still flowing with life. The life of Cara seemingly assured she rolled her head to look. Look at the Lich as it held a broken staff it did not have before. A relic too she realized. An ancient one. One that to her eyes looked all too similar to the sceptre the Goddess Vibion in a moment of divine mercy had given her once. To heal her broken body, and that of her sister. That had made an orphan slum rat a hero of an entire city-state. A nation.

It simply laid the relic down upon the ground. Gently almost. The anger there but walled away as it, no he spoke. She thought of her past, the figures of those thrown out of even their poor hovels. Not the ones who simply laid down to die, the ones who knew they had no hope yet refused to do nothing. "One chance. You will only be spared once, free of any consequences. I will leave this place with my forces, none will dare attempt to disturb you. Rest. Recover. I will leave supplies. Pray to anything but the Liar Gods we do not meet again.".

It took off its rich robe and laid it across their bodies. The cloth surprisingly warm and comforting. Bones rattled as the skeleton guards reassembled and dragged the other heroes into more comfortable positions from where they lay insensate. She wondered before darkness overtook her if she had managed to mouth two words. "Thank you".

For all that the heroine thought of herself as the important actor in the world, she did not know about the others. Perhaps in a peripheral sense yes but not quite. But what do you expect from a supporting character? Now how about we talk about . . .

"Come along then Observer. You do not have sanction to act" came the voice of a spoilsport. Still best not to be too obtrusive. The best view some could say is a bird's eye view. Especially when few notice you

AN: Thoughts, opinions, criticisms, etc. All are welcome.