Dear Diary,
We did it. We won on the big scale, but we lost on the personal scale. We all have very mixed feelings right now, well those of us that made it out alive.
After collecting enough shards, we were teleported to
Sigil by father. I was shocked at first, Sigil was a warzone after being invaded by illithids and mind flayers. We were supported by a whole army formed of members of the
Wolves of Summer, the 47th Legion of the
Numian Empire and of the Hushed. We immediately made our way to the prison, where the
Lady of Pain awaited us with some of the
Gatekeepers, among them was mother. We quickly realised that we were not able to fight the Lady of Pain so we decided to pass her and fulfill our mission inside the prison. A skeletal dragon came to our aid, later we found out that this was the
Eternal Empress herself.
Once inside the prison, we managed to free
Corellon (
Yelena's father) and Ithuriel (Saldri's patron and, apparently,
Shirel's biological mother). While Corellon went outside to help fight the Lady of Pain, Ithuriel joined us on our main mission. We reached the remains of Primurthak and once I put the first shard in one of his wounds, my beloved Poe transformed into Votluh. Before we left for Sigil, the Raven Queen had expressed her wish to me that we should not close the Wound and had put the soul of Votluh into Poe. We were now facing a new challenge: put the shards into different body parts of Primurthak while being constantly attacked by Votluh and his mind flayers.
As we were done with the shards,
Trip wished "I wish that the forces will be balanced again and that their avatars cease to exist!" I was not convinced by that phrasing because I was afraid that I might cease to exist or if the Raven Queen would cease to exist or have to let me out of the deal to balance the forces (which Trip, Shirel and
Drake hoped for) that this could lead to my death instead of my freedom. Fortunately, none of that happened, neither the Raven Queen, nor the deal were affected by that wish. Unfortunately, the shards weren't enough to catalyse the wish, this is why we all had to make sacrifices to grant more power. While Drake, Saldri and I only made minor material or magical sacrifices, Trip gave up all his magical powers and Shirel and Yelena made the ultimate sacrifice: themselves.
After a moment of darkness and silence the four surviving members of the dragonslayers came out of the prison to witness the Lady of Pain as well as the illithids and mind flayers vanish into thin air. We found that Corellon as well as my parents had died. We were not able to bring any of our family members back, we couldn't even contact Shirel or Yelena. We then went back to
Sedem Lux.
The four of us had to come clean with what had happened. After The Battle of Sigil, we were more than the Dragonslayers. We were known throughout the whole
Numian Empire. Monuments were erected in our honour. Somehow people started worshipping us as The Six. They think that we stand for unity because we were a group of very different people who managed to work together to achieve the impossible. Gladly, most of the people don't realize that the Dragonslayers are the Six. I kind of like the thought that we are seen as gods and thus be remembered long after we die, well maybe not that long after I'll die. What we did not realise back then, was that our wish would make magic disappear from the world. With the Lady of Pain gone, the Ethereal plane disappeared, which was the source of magic as we knew it. This brought a lot of changes to the world.
Trip, who wants to be called Tenacious again, to be closer to our parents went on a date with the Empress and then disappeared. I know that he is overwhelmed with sadness after losing his two best friends, his parents and his magic, the thing he was best at, on the same day. He felt powerless and helpless and I think he is mad at me (and probably also at Drake and Saldri) for not making as big a sacrifice. I have been trying to locate and contact him ever since but in vain. I miss him with every fibre of my being, every minute of every day. I'll never stop to miss him and to try to contact him. I do not know what he has been up to these past few years. I have furnished a room in our Estate for him, I tried to make it look like his room back in Sigil. If he'll ever come back, he will be welcome to stay there for as long as he wants. He will always be a hero to me giving up all his powers to save others.
Saldri first came back with us to Sedem. The two of us bought a flat to share. She wanted to catch up on what she had missed during the last few months when she had disappeared. She tried desperately to bring back and contact some of the people who had fallen in The Battle of Sigil. She was able to revive some of the deceased, but not any of our family members, nor Shirel or Yelena. As the magic keeps fading and her powers become more and more limited, she became more and more frustrated and at one point left Sedem and me for good. Even though she did not cut me and Drake entirely out of her life, our contact is very limited to the point that it barely exists anymore. I miss Saldri, she was a good friend to me.
Drake did not want to be the heir to the Amberguard whine dynasty, even after we killed his uncle to avenge his father and get the last shard. He decided to invest in a shipping business instead. Once teleportation became difficult and even impossible, his shipping business was flourishing and he became even richer than he ever could imagine.
I contacted the Raven Queen to ask why we weren't able to contact or revive Shirel and Yelena. She told me that when Shirel sacrificed himself he simply ceased to exist. We think that he might have been an avatar without knowing it. He formulated a wish that would kill him so he could save the world. He will forever be one of my heroes as well as a dear friend. As for Yelena, she got a new existence after sacrificing herself: she is now a star in the night sky. As I sit here, writing about them, my eyes still fill with tears. I miss them. I loved them as close friends, as family. I'll never forget them in the thousand years I'll still be here.
When I knew that there was no way to bring Shirel and Yelena back and that the magic was getting weaker by the day making teleportation impossible at some point, I decided to take care of a few very important things. First of all, I travelled to Zathess to tell Shirel's mother that her son had died. I stayed with her for as long as she needed me. She wanted to continue to work for me as long as she could and we bought her a house. She knows that if she ever wants to retire or move to another city she just has to ask and we'll take care of everything. Afterwards, I went to Hispalis to seek out Shirel's ex and his child. We had decided to give them enough money so that Shirel's child would never need to worry to make ends meet. We did not tell them who the money came from, because as far as Shirel told me, she probably would not have accepted that money. We only told her that her child was very special and should be raised accordingly. Finally, I travelled to Sigil once more. I hang a plaque on the prison to commemorate Shirel, Yelena and all of the other people that fell at The Battle of Sigil, giving their lives so that the world could be free. I also went back to our childhood home and asked Hel-Sir and Alfred to come back with me to Sedem, where I would offer them all they needed to spend the rest of their days comfortably and as happily as possible. First, they lived in an apartment, now they live with us in our Estate. Maybe I did all of that because I still feel selfish and like a coward after not making the ultimate sacrifice that fatal day, but on the other hand I already sacrificed myself to the Raven Queen.
Now as for Drake and I... when we got back to Sedem he went to live with his mother and me with Saldri. He made it very clear, when we were on our flying island, that we were done as a couple. We did stay friends though. We would meet several times a month to have drinks or eat together. Sometimes with Saldri, sometimes just the two of us. It did take a few months before we started flirting again and that flirting led quickly to a kiss. Before anything else could happen I confessed to him that the night before The Battle of Sigil Shirel and I had slept together. He needed a few days to process that news but decided to come back to me and a few weeks after we became a couple again. It took me a year before agreeing to live together again. We both didn't want to rush things again. Drake built a beautiful Estate for us. We got married last year. I love Drake and I know that he loves me. We cherish every day together because we learned how fragile love, relationships and lives can be. And right now, I am pregnant with our first child. I know that I don't need to worry too much about it since its parents will love it more than anything in the world, it will be brave, bright, agile, strong, sneaky and protected by a very special star in the night sky.
I missed you, my diary. Now that I am about to fulfil my biggest wish, I'll probably start writing again more regularly.
Love, BB
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