Nightmare of the Lost: Part 9

A Daughter’s Love

This was it, the final barrier between the adventurers BaRuhk and Sukra had put together was swinging open. In the empty space where the door opened was another undead. It was a lieutenant of the necromancer, which they now knew to be Vestra Loveless. He was dressed in white hued leathers and furs, and carried simple weaponry. The rest of him was sloughing off slowly, catching in the furs he wore and dangling in the cold wind. He gestured to them to follow and disappeared through the open doorway. 

The party had no choice, they were here to take on the necromancer and they had to follow through. They did this for all the people they had lost to this scourge. The group followed where the undead man had once stood and came into a small room before another door opened to the icy air around the spire. In that room were three lieutenants and one more undead, with its back to them. The last one was smaller and Sukra had the sneaking suspicion that it was their daughter. 

A fight quickly erupted as Sukra and BaRuhk ran towards their daughter to free her. It was difficult. The lieutenants of the necromancer were a lot more powerful than the other undead they had encountered. BaRuhk sustained many injuries and the others were also being worn down little by little. Sukra tried her best to heal them when she could, but she was also worried that she wouldn’t have enough magic left to heal when they face off against Vestra herself. 

After a battle that lasted minutes, the four remaining adventurers faced off against the last undead in the room. Senari turned towards her parents with an evil leer on her face. Vestra spoke through her, 

“To get to me you’ll have to kill your own daughter. Can you do that? Kill your own flesh and blood?”

With a nasty laugh she began to gather power to her. She hadn’t realized that BaRuhk had been moving closer while Vestra gloated through their daughter. Right before he began to move, he whispered to Sukra, asking her to look away. 

When Vestra finished talking and actually began to put action into motion, BaRuhk was positioned right behind her. Using Kishar’s power he stabbed her in the heart and killed his own daughter using the power he was granted to ensure her soul was drawn from the body and set free in the Dream Realm. A soundless scream issued from Senari’s mouth as the necromancer’s hold on her was broken. 

BaRuhk caught her body as the little life that had been left inside faded and his daughter was freed of her enslavement. Missy and Ramiel gave the couple of grieving parents a moment alone with their daughter. Sukra looked down at Senari’s body and held her hand, entwined with BaRuhk’s more tree-like appendages, over her heart. They closed their eyes and traveled to the Dream Realm to meet their daughter. 

When they opened their eyes in the Dream Realm, Senari stood before them. Her cheeks were stained with tears and she hung her head. She was ashamed of what had happened and blamed herself for it. BaRuhk and Sukra embraced their daughter showing her that blame was not at all on her. They loved her so much they came all this way to get her back. After a few more moments of embracing and loving, Senari drifted off with her twin soul. BaRuhk and Sukra blinked and came back into their own realm, for now. 

BaRuhk placed a glowing protective seal over Senari’s forehead and covered her body in some spare cloth Sukra had with her. With that done they moved on to the final stop in their journey. This was the final confrontation with Vestra Loveless. They would end her scourge on the land and return the forest around to the balance it needed. They stepped through the last door of the spire to the very top. Icy wind whipped at their clothing and stung their eyes making them squint. For all those who had died and been enslaved by this terrible villain, the adventurers moved forward towards death itself.