Binding Shadows
RP stuff here!
Extelle and Deverin bind themselves to each other in a private ritual that is their own expression of a conjugal ceremony.
He was in my way. It was just a coincidence, but it was irritating as Hell. The formidable elven knight tore through Frostmourne Cavern, his movements fluid as ice water and efficient as a surgical knife. He was effortlessly clearing the entire cave, searching their bodies for the same dark resource I was after. I had to use my demon form to even try to compete with the rate at which he was destroying them. And so we fought: back-to-back in the darkness, passive-aggressively kill-stealing from one another.
"I'm done. The cave is all yours," I growled my first words to the love of my life. I didn't expect the cold death knight to even acknowledge that I'd spoken, but he turned and raised one black eyebrow at me; a subtly amused expression that I would come to know intimately. As I got a good look at his face, my frustration mysteriously evaporated. Against everything I knew to be true at the time, my heart fluttered unevenly as he stepped closer and issued an unexpected peace offering. He sardonically scolded the revenants that attacked us for being "rude," and cut them down without taking his eyes from mine. We talked the evening away, and I began to forget why I had even gone to the cave in the first place.
That was years ago, and it felt even longer. It seemed in another lifetime that I would meet him at Wintergarde Keep and we'd stare at each other too intensely for a pair of friends having a drink and talking strategy. So much was different now, including us. We evolved together as the worlds changed beneath our feet.
The old cave looked the same as my brother and I approached, except that there was a curtain of writhing shadows at its mouth. Damian blinked in surprise and made to hold me back protectively.
"Ex, something's wrong."
"Don't be ridiculous. Do you think we wanted random adventurers to be able to interrupt our secret ritual?"
"Oh, right. Omedon's work, then." He nodded, looking chagrined.
Tentatively, we reached out to touch the dark wall. My gloved hand penetrated the darkness as though it were smoke, but Damian's did not.
"See?" I squeezed his arm as we retreated a few steps. "This is where I leave you, Beau. I love you." I smiled gently.
"Nervous?"
"No," I said calmly. "It's not like that. I have no reason to be nervous." He stared at me blankly, trying and failing to understand.
"I thought all girls were nervous before they got married," he finally shrugged.
"Damian, this..." I sighed. "This is our own expression of-"
"I know, you've told me like a hundred times. I might actually get it if you just let me stay."
I kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Please try to understand. This is our day, and we need it to be private."
"Fine." He grinned crookedly, a gesture that reassured me he was alright. "But when I get married, you're wearing a pink dress."
"Like Hell."
We laughed and hugged fiercely. As he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes.
"Whatever," he said as he wiped them away. "Just... I'm proud of you and shit. Go get'em." He put his hand on my shoulder as I stepped through Omedon's ward, smiling at me until I disappeared behind the black.
The sudden pin-drop silence was overwhelming at first. The ward blocked all sound from outside, so the only things to be heard were the crunch of my heels in the snow and the pounding of my own heart. Maybe I was nervous. The cave was illuminated by the faint, magical glow of the ice and stone walls. As I ventured deeper in, I saw my mate and my master waiting for me by the relic of Frostmourne's resting place. I felt my cheeks blush as Deverin audibly took in a breath when he saw what I was wearing, his eyes appreciating the curves of my armored corset and the clinging slope of my silk skirts.
As for his attire, it was all I could do not to gawk like a hormonal preteen. My mate looked absolutely regal in his ceremonial armor, black as pitch and perfectly shaped to fit his massive form. The mysterious obsidian metal was draped in an elegant, flowing black cape with a high collar, and a dagger was visible at his hip that looked like a little dragon.
Our Lord stood behind him in his usual black robes that were solid and without embellishment, but Omedon was always a man who wore his own presence as one would wear fancy clothes. He needed no finery to look noble and lethal. There was a certain unnameable something to his understated appearance that whispered "power," and held your gaze.
I took my place next to Deverin. At first, I hesitated to touch him, not sure of what to expect. We stared at each other, and the mutual effort necessary to restrain ourselves from embracing was palpable. Our eyes roamed the flattering cut of each other's garments while Omedon stood in pregnant silence. As this carried on a few moments longer, my pulse flirted with anxiety and I met Deverin's eyes with a question in my expression. He furled his brow as if to say "I don't know either."
Just as I began to really worry, Omedon finally spoke.
"I am not a being of love," he said with a hint of strain.
"It is... outside my field of influence to speak of emotions that lead to such positive things. What I am, however, is a being of commitment, of duty, of unending respect for the strength of a bond, and it is on that front that I can say that I am pleased by what is before me today. Functionally ignorant to the affairs of the heart as I am, I cannot deny the strength and the validity of the bond you two share. There is something to say, a great many things, as a matter of fact, for trust of this magnitude, and I cannot speak highly enough of what you two have done for each other." As he continued, he seemed to relax a bit and settle into the comfortable privacy of the moment.
"My champion," he said to Deverin, "you were designed to obey and to destroy at my beck and call, and for a very long time, that was all that was needed: those two dimensions of function and discipline. I knew that you would have been content existing in this pattern for eternity, and so when Extelle came into your life, yes, I was concerned. When I met her, however, I began to see the first steps toward what we now see here today." I smiled, but Deverin's face was attentive and serious, reverent like a soldier receiving commendation.
"Extelle," he turned to me, "when you came to me, it was an unprecedented event. Make no mistake, I've had people beg me to take their souls for reasons tied to their hearts before, but usually it's rooted in selfishness, and so I hapily deprive them of their wasted soul and let them suffer in eternity for their shortsightedness. You, however, sought the endless quest of happiness for two people. He was immortal, you were not, and your heart demanded you fix that at all costs. When I let you into our circle, I watched you carefully, and grew very impressed with your strength of will, and indeed the effect you had on my champion. You grew together, and so we are here today. You are my apprentice, but you are so much more. You are his focus. He is my champion, but he is so much more, he is your protector, and that desire has made him a defender within our cause, and a champion to be reckoned with." Warm-blooded pride and happiness washed over me. I wanted to thank him, but I knew it was not yet my turn to speak.
"I will not claim to tell you how your love has come to be what it is, but I will say that the trust you hold for each other, and that which you do with the gifts of the void as a combined force do me honour, and forward our cause, and so all I can do is thank you, and hope that my blessing upon this... unorthodox joining is sufficient in conveying my thanks. The rest, I leave to you." He looked to Deverin and raised his eyebrows infinitesimally.
Deverin pursed his lips and cleared his throat quietly, seeming for a long moment to contemplate the right words. I waited as patiently as I could; speeches weren't really his thing. Eventually, he managed to find his growling voice.
"Extelle... when it comes to what we have, I am... a man of action, not of words. You are eloquent enough for both of us, and so I am content to let you do the talking. There is, however, one thing I will say.
I want to say that you set me free, but I have been free since our Lord validated and focused my ill-defined and abused vow to the Void, letting me be my own man within this great shadow, whose path has lead me to you. I will say that you broadened my vision in ways I never considered, and allowed a creature of black and grey to see more colours, more shades, through the way you see me, and indeed, the way I see you.
I've taken a thousand spears, electrocutions, magical assaults, slashes, clubbing blows, dragon's breaths, spiderwebs, poisons, diseases and curses in the line and the name of duty, but I endure them because, unlike before I met you, I now have something to exist for, and a reason to view each day as something more than another step in a march toward the end of time. You have taught me the invaluable skill of fighting with one hand... as I draw strength from the hand clasped with yours.
I love you, and cannot see how time will ever know something as eternal as what we have... and we have the rest of time itself to prove that point. I dare it to prove us wrong."
It was the most beautiful thing I'd heard since he first admitted that he loved me. I had to hold my breath to keep from crying. Deverin could tell, and he almost looked relieved that his words were so well received. I tried to tell him with my eyes as I had told him verbally so many, many times before: I knew I was binding myself to a killing machine, not a poet. The blunt sincerity of Deverin's confessions of love pawed at my heart more rabidly than the lyrics of any sonnet ever could.
It was my turn. I drew a deep breath and spoke with a calm certainly that surprised me.
"Deverin, my love, I wish... I wish I could have been born centuries ago, and met you sooner. But though I've only been alive for a few short decades, I have seen and achieved much. But nothing, nothing, makes me more proud than the things we've accomplished together, and how much we've both grown since we met. You introduced me to my destiny, and you've inspired me to become so much more than I ever believed I could be. Before I found you, I was too timid to go out and see the things we've seen, to shape the world as we have. I was complacent to be passive, to watch life flicker around me. It reaffirms my already limitless faith in our love that we strengthen each other so. You light an impossible fire in my heart: one that guides our allies as it incinerates our enemies.
In my favorite book, the main character says if he had 'as many souls as there are stars,' he'd give each one for his desire. Long ago, I gave my one and only for you, for both of you," I added, looking to Omedon. "For as worthy a mate as Deverin is, and though I didn't fully know it at the time, you are infinitely deserving of the devotion I promised you on that day, and that I swear all over again now in asking for your blessing. Thank you, my Lord, for today, for your guidance, and for making forever possible." Omedon nodded, a demure smile on his lips for a split second.
Deverin's gaze, usually disciplined and shark-like, bore into me with emotion so intense that my mouth dried as I finished.
"And if I had as many souls as there are stars, I'd give every one for you," I whispered reverently, touching him for the first time to cup his face. "To even say that I love you undermines the nameless feeling running rampant through my entire being every time I see or touch you, but I utter it with a private grin as I patiently wait for language, for the capacity of the average soul, to catch up to what we share. I love, and love, and love you." He looked deeply touched, his black eyes smoldering.
Omedon took one of our hands in each of his, claiming mine as I dropped it from Deverin's cheek, and spoke again.
"There is little I can or should say or do beyond this, for your words define your bond better than my overseeing them can possibly do justice. I wish it only to be known that I am pleased, I am proud, and I am confident in what I see here, and if my blessing is needed or desired, you have had it for a very long time, or else, indeed, I would not have granted Extelle her request on that important day. I see the fires kindling between you even now, and shall merely show this blessing with a simple gesture... and then leave you both to the privacy of your devotion to each other." I couldn't help but smirk at that. Were we that transparent?
Yes. Yes we were.
He placed my hand in Deverin's and clasped them together in both of his. As their fingers squeezed mine, Omedon's form faded into wisps of black tendrils, pure Void magic that entwined our joined hands.
We were bound at last. Overcome with joy, I barely noticed the writhing black pattern of smoke on our arms disappear as we collided in a crushing embrace.
Extelle and Deverin bind themselves to each other in a private ritual that is their own expression of a conjugal ceremony.
He was in my way. It was just a coincidence, but it was irritating as Hell. The formidable elven knight tore through Frostmourne Cavern, his movements fluid as ice water and efficient as a surgical knife. He was effortlessly clearing the entire cave, searching their bodies for the same dark resource I was after. I had to use my demon form to even try to compete with the rate at which he was destroying them. And so we fought: back-to-back in the darkness, passive-aggressively kill-stealing from one another.
"I'm done. The cave is all yours," I growled my first words to the love of my life. I didn't expect the cold death knight to even acknowledge that I'd spoken, but he turned and raised one black eyebrow at me; a subtly amused expression that I would come to know intimately. As I got a good look at his face, my frustration mysteriously evaporated. Against everything I knew to be true at the time, my heart fluttered unevenly as he stepped closer and issued an unexpected peace offering. He sardonically scolded the revenants that attacked us for being "rude," and cut them down without taking his eyes from mine. We talked the evening away, and I began to forget why I had even gone to the cave in the first place.
That was years ago, and it felt even longer. It seemed in another lifetime that I would meet him at Wintergarde Keep and we'd stare at each other too intensely for a pair of friends having a drink and talking strategy. So much was different now, including us. We evolved together as the worlds changed beneath our feet.
The old cave looked the same as my brother and I approached, except that there was a curtain of writhing shadows at its mouth. Damian blinked in surprise and made to hold me back protectively.
"Ex, something's wrong."
"Don't be ridiculous. Do you think we wanted random adventurers to be able to interrupt our secret ritual?"
"Oh, right. Omedon's work, then." He nodded, looking chagrined.
Tentatively, we reached out to touch the dark wall. My gloved hand penetrated the darkness as though it were smoke, but Damian's did not.
"See?" I squeezed his arm as we retreated a few steps. "This is where I leave you, Beau. I love you." I smiled gently.
"Nervous?"
"No," I said calmly. "It's not like that. I have no reason to be nervous." He stared at me blankly, trying and failing to understand.
"I thought all girls were nervous before they got married," he finally shrugged.
"Damian, this..." I sighed. "This is our own expression of-"
"I know, you've told me like a hundred times. I might actually get it if you just let me stay."
I kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Please try to understand. This is our day, and we need it to be private."
"Fine." He grinned crookedly, a gesture that reassured me he was alright. "But when I get married, you're wearing a pink dress."
"Like Hell."
We laughed and hugged fiercely. As he pulled back, there were tears in his eyes.
"Whatever," he said as he wiped them away. "Just... I'm proud of you and shit. Go get'em." He put his hand on my shoulder as I stepped through Omedon's ward, smiling at me until I disappeared behind the black.
The sudden pin-drop silence was overwhelming at first. The ward blocked all sound from outside, so the only things to be heard were the crunch of my heels in the snow and the pounding of my own heart. Maybe I was nervous. The cave was illuminated by the faint, magical glow of the ice and stone walls. As I ventured deeper in, I saw my mate and my master waiting for me by the relic of Frostmourne's resting place. I felt my cheeks blush as Deverin audibly took in a breath when he saw what I was wearing, his eyes appreciating the curves of my armored corset and the clinging slope of my silk skirts.
As for his attire, it was all I could do not to gawk like a hormonal preteen. My mate looked absolutely regal in his ceremonial armor, black as pitch and perfectly shaped to fit his massive form. The mysterious obsidian metal was draped in an elegant, flowing black cape with a high collar, and a dagger was visible at his hip that looked like a little dragon.
Our Lord stood behind him in his usual black robes that were solid and without embellishment, but Omedon was always a man who wore his own presence as one would wear fancy clothes. He needed no finery to look noble and lethal. There was a certain unnameable something to his understated appearance that whispered "power," and held your gaze.
I took my place next to Deverin. At first, I hesitated to touch him, not sure of what to expect. We stared at each other, and the mutual effort necessary to restrain ourselves from embracing was palpable. Our eyes roamed the flattering cut of each other's garments while Omedon stood in pregnant silence. As this carried on a few moments longer, my pulse flirted with anxiety and I met Deverin's eyes with a question in my expression. He furled his brow as if to say "I don't know either."
Just as I began to really worry, Omedon finally spoke.
"I am not a being of love," he said with a hint of strain.
"It is... outside my field of influence to speak of emotions that lead to such positive things. What I am, however, is a being of commitment, of duty, of unending respect for the strength of a bond, and it is on that front that I can say that I am pleased by what is before me today. Functionally ignorant to the affairs of the heart as I am, I cannot deny the strength and the validity of the bond you two share. There is something to say, a great many things, as a matter of fact, for trust of this magnitude, and I cannot speak highly enough of what you two have done for each other." As he continued, he seemed to relax a bit and settle into the comfortable privacy of the moment.
"My champion," he said to Deverin, "you were designed to obey and to destroy at my beck and call, and for a very long time, that was all that was needed: those two dimensions of function and discipline. I knew that you would have been content existing in this pattern for eternity, and so when Extelle came into your life, yes, I was concerned. When I met her, however, I began to see the first steps toward what we now see here today." I smiled, but Deverin's face was attentive and serious, reverent like a soldier receiving commendation.
"Extelle," he turned to me, "when you came to me, it was an unprecedented event. Make no mistake, I've had people beg me to take their souls for reasons tied to their hearts before, but usually it's rooted in selfishness, and so I hapily deprive them of their wasted soul and let them suffer in eternity for their shortsightedness. You, however, sought the endless quest of happiness for two people. He was immortal, you were not, and your heart demanded you fix that at all costs. When I let you into our circle, I watched you carefully, and grew very impressed with your strength of will, and indeed the effect you had on my champion. You grew together, and so we are here today. You are my apprentice, but you are so much more. You are his focus. He is my champion, but he is so much more, he is your protector, and that desire has made him a defender within our cause, and a champion to be reckoned with." Warm-blooded pride and happiness washed over me. I wanted to thank him, but I knew it was not yet my turn to speak.
"I will not claim to tell you how your love has come to be what it is, but I will say that the trust you hold for each other, and that which you do with the gifts of the void as a combined force do me honour, and forward our cause, and so all I can do is thank you, and hope that my blessing upon this... unorthodox joining is sufficient in conveying my thanks. The rest, I leave to you." He looked to Deverin and raised his eyebrows infinitesimally.
Deverin pursed his lips and cleared his throat quietly, seeming for a long moment to contemplate the right words. I waited as patiently as I could; speeches weren't really his thing. Eventually, he managed to find his growling voice.
"Extelle... when it comes to what we have, I am... a man of action, not of words. You are eloquent enough for both of us, and so I am content to let you do the talking. There is, however, one thing I will say.
I want to say that you set me free, but I have been free since our Lord validated and focused my ill-defined and abused vow to the Void, letting me be my own man within this great shadow, whose path has lead me to you. I will say that you broadened my vision in ways I never considered, and allowed a creature of black and grey to see more colours, more shades, through the way you see me, and indeed, the way I see you.
I've taken a thousand spears, electrocutions, magical assaults, slashes, clubbing blows, dragon's breaths, spiderwebs, poisons, diseases and curses in the line and the name of duty, but I endure them because, unlike before I met you, I now have something to exist for, and a reason to view each day as something more than another step in a march toward the end of time. You have taught me the invaluable skill of fighting with one hand... as I draw strength from the hand clasped with yours.
I love you, and cannot see how time will ever know something as eternal as what we have... and we have the rest of time itself to prove that point. I dare it to prove us wrong."
It was the most beautiful thing I'd heard since he first admitted that he loved me. I had to hold my breath to keep from crying. Deverin could tell, and he almost looked relieved that his words were so well received. I tried to tell him with my eyes as I had told him verbally so many, many times before: I knew I was binding myself to a killing machine, not a poet. The blunt sincerity of Deverin's confessions of love pawed at my heart more rabidly than the lyrics of any sonnet ever could.
It was my turn. I drew a deep breath and spoke with a calm certainly that surprised me.
"Deverin, my love, I wish... I wish I could have been born centuries ago, and met you sooner. But though I've only been alive for a few short decades, I have seen and achieved much. But nothing, nothing, makes me more proud than the things we've accomplished together, and how much we've both grown since we met. You introduced me to my destiny, and you've inspired me to become so much more than I ever believed I could be. Before I found you, I was too timid to go out and see the things we've seen, to shape the world as we have. I was complacent to be passive, to watch life flicker around me. It reaffirms my already limitless faith in our love that we strengthen each other so. You light an impossible fire in my heart: one that guides our allies as it incinerates our enemies.
In my favorite book, the main character says if he had 'as many souls as there are stars,' he'd give each one for his desire. Long ago, I gave my one and only for you, for both of you," I added, looking to Omedon. "For as worthy a mate as Deverin is, and though I didn't fully know it at the time, you are infinitely deserving of the devotion I promised you on that day, and that I swear all over again now in asking for your blessing. Thank you, my Lord, for today, for your guidance, and for making forever possible." Omedon nodded, a demure smile on his lips for a split second.
Deverin's gaze, usually disciplined and shark-like, bore into me with emotion so intense that my mouth dried as I finished.
"And if I had as many souls as there are stars, I'd give every one for you," I whispered reverently, touching him for the first time to cup his face. "To even say that I love you undermines the nameless feeling running rampant through my entire being every time I see or touch you, but I utter it with a private grin as I patiently wait for language, for the capacity of the average soul, to catch up to what we share. I love, and love, and love you." He looked deeply touched, his black eyes smoldering.
Omedon took one of our hands in each of his, claiming mine as I dropped it from Deverin's cheek, and spoke again.
"There is little I can or should say or do beyond this, for your words define your bond better than my overseeing them can possibly do justice. I wish it only to be known that I am pleased, I am proud, and I am confident in what I see here, and if my blessing is needed or desired, you have had it for a very long time, or else, indeed, I would not have granted Extelle her request on that important day. I see the fires kindling between you even now, and shall merely show this blessing with a simple gesture... and then leave you both to the privacy of your devotion to each other." I couldn't help but smirk at that. Were we that transparent?
Yes. Yes we were.
He placed my hand in Deverin's and clasped them together in both of his. As their fingers squeezed mine, Omedon's form faded into wisps of black tendrils, pure Void magic that entwined our joined hands.
We were bound at last. Overcome with joy, I barely noticed the writhing black pattern of smoke on our arms disappear as we collided in a crushing embrace.