A Violent Crack of Atoms Where All Light Comes In

His body was on fire. His mind couldn’t process why, but it seemed the only reasonable explanation for the way every nerve in his small body screamed in utter agony. He couldn’t tell which direction was which–was he standing or was he laying down? He had been staring in horror at Eagle’s Rest–at his home– watching dark smoke curl up from the buildings in a frighteningly familiar manner, and suddenly his entire world had become one of pain. His mind struggled to put together a timeline of all that happened that day to lead him to this moment– at least that way it didn’t have to focus on the way his muscles jerked and spasmed out of his control, sending his small frame into endless tremors that only served to cause his screaming nerves to burn even hotter.  

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He wasn’t sure how long he had been sitting outside that cave, though he knew he had watched as the twinkling stars were each, one by one, consumed by the silvery tendrils of the Morninglord’s first rays of sunlight. Friend had, at some point in the night, gotten up and had not returned–though Ruby found little reason to be concerned by this. The chimera was more than capable of handling itself against any danger it should come across, and, besides, it had probably just gotten up to go hunt down some breakfast. Most creatures liked to hunt at dusk and dawn, Ruby knew this well from a childhood spent watching the forest creatures when most his age might have been playing tag or hide’n’seek with their peers. 

Regardless, he was still sitting outside the cave when he heard the rustling of movement from within that told him his companions were waking at last. With a bone-weary sigh, he hauled himself from his spot in the dirt, arms reaching high over his head and tail curling as he stretched. His right arm still ached where the necrotic magic had left swirls of bruise-like markings and he winced as he tugged his sleeve as far down as it would go. As much as the necrotic aura still pained him, at least he still had all his limbs–more than he could say for poor Howl. 

His ear twitched as he was pulled from his revelry by a splash and the noise of voices from within the cave, and Ruby decided that maybe he should rejoin his companions– quickly pushing away all thoughts of what was happening to him to the farthest recesses of his mind. He had been correct in guessing his companions were awake now. Yalkar was speaking with Howl, the white dragonborn’s brow furrowed with concern that drove Ruby to decide to leave them to their discussion for now, especially considering the source of the noise he had heard: Noone and Seren were dragging themselves out from the water, Seren especially looking much like a half drowned rat with her now soggy feathers. Ruby frowned, trying to piece together why they–and Tabby too from the looks of it–had decided to refresh themselves while fully clothed. He wasn’t given any time to ponder this, however, as Yalkar seemed to have finished his conversation with Howl and had stepped forward with the clear intention of addressing the group as a whole. The dragonborn’s deep voice commanded attention as he explained to the group how Tiamat herself had spoken to him in his dream last night, and the former soldier seemed clearly uncomfortable with this–understandable, really, given the nature of the goddess he seemed to have in his head now. 

“...and she seemed particularly interested in your village, Ruby.” The dragonborn finished, sending a jolt of white hot fear through the small tiefling. 

“What?” 

“Eagle’s Rest. That’s your home, isn’t it? Tiamat…she said she was going to send her children there.”

Ruby felt as if the ground had fallen out from under his very feet. Images of dark smoke on the horizon flashed in his mind’s eye, accompanied by the awful noises of screams and cries that had filled his vision. 

He nodded slowly, swallowing thickly as he tried to speak through a mouth that felt like it was full of dust, “I think…I…I believe she was telling the truth…”

He breathed a long, heavy sigh and pulled himself together, forcing himself to fall into the mindset he often adopted when performing for crowds as he began to explain his vision. 

“My…mother…her body was twisted and warped almost beyond recognition.” He motioned to Noone and Seren, trying not to let his gaze linger too long on the scales that seemed all the more prevalent through the little Owlin’s still dripping feathers, “and she had scales…like those. I think whatever caused her death is some sort of draconic plague and…and I think releasing Tiamat in Osteroth’s castle consigned us to this timeline.” 

He couldn’t help but look to Verity as he said this, though he didn’t allow his gaze to linger long. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. A performer never let one member of the audience take all of their attention. 

He was saved from his temptation by Skully emerging dramatically from the tent he had somehow managed to scrounge up from gods knew where the night before. The taller tiefling seemed hardly concerned by what Yalkar and Ruby had been saying, pushing forward with such vigor that he practically threw Neuvieh aside–the pale haired elf letting out a small yelp as he sprawled in the dirt. Skully apparently had only eyes for Noone as he picked the rogue up by the scruff with such enthusiasm he managed to knock poor Seren back into the dirt. 

Ruby frowned, all thoughts of Eagle’s Rest and Tiamat temporarily displaced as he leaned toward Yalkar “Does…does he seem nicer now to you?”

“Nice isn’t exactly the word I’d use, but you could say something like that” chimed Neuvieh, dusting the dirt from his clothes with a huff. 

Yalkar simply stalked over to their ailing companions and proceeded to pick Seren up with remarkable gentleness for one of his stature, offering the little cleric a spot on his shoulder. Ruby found it rather cute, though his attention was once again diverted, this time by the worried way Neuvieh was looking around the cave, brows furrowed in concern as Verity approached him, and Ruby caught snatches of their conversation–something about Prys leaving in the middle of the night that seemed to coincide with a crestfallen expression on the elf’s face. 

From there, the party decided it was high time to descend into the cave, Inari spotting a trail of small spiders to lead the way. They formed a rather ragtag little group, with Seren perched on Yalkar’s broad shoulder, Neuvieh clinging to the dragonborn’s side, and Skully still carrying Noone for some inexplicable reason. Ruby, for his part, remained at Verity’s side as they descended, noticing the way the blue tiefling seemed perfectly at ease within these caverns. As the group began to discuss what they found within the passages, Ruby found his gaze flitting between the softly twinkling gems lodged within the walls and ceilings around them and Verity himself. The tiefling was beautiful–this came as no surprise–but he seemed to shine just as brightly as the gems in this cave, and Ruby felt as though his concerns were miles away as he drank in the sight. He wanted Verity for himself. He knew it was a selfish thought, and he knew he would never deny Verity anything that made the other happy, but he couldn’t stop the thought. He wanted to hear Verity’s voice, so, as the group discussed what this cave could possibly be, Ruby leaned closer to Verity. 

“Do you know what this cave is?”

The other tiefling smiled slightly, “It’s Mystra’s cave, of course. Or…most of it is, at least. This passage here seems to be a connection between the Mother of Magic and Lolth.”

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Seeing Lolth again sent shivers of fear through Ruby. He felt his tail curl between his legs as he shrunk back behind Verity. He admired Inari greatly for having the courage to walk right up to the goddess and speak so boldly to her. And her boldness seemed to be rewarded, as the glowing orbs of light Lolth’s spider unwove flew down and entered their chests, filling the empty voids that had sat within them these past four days. Distantly, Ruby had the thought that this was a much quicker resolution to this problem than his storyteller instincts had imagined. In most of the great ballads and tales, losing one’s soul meant going on a great quest to get it back. But, he supposed most of the old tales didn’t talk about how raising the Mother of Dragons herself factored into getting one’s soul stolen. Perhaps that could be the sort of tale he was remembered for. It was certainly dramatic enough. 

The sound of Inari telling Lolth of Eagle’s Rest pulled his attention back to the Spider Queen before him, and he watched as Lolth spun a large globe in front of herself, spinning it several times as she scanned it. If he weren’t so intimidated by the Spider Queen, he might have been vaguely insulted by how long it took her to find Eagle’s Rest–sure it was small, but it was also blessed by the Morninglord himself, was it not? Lathander would surely have known exactly where to look. Distantly, he realized he was simply trying to distract himself from the fear he felt both in this moment and for his home and family. 

“Ah, here it is.” Lolth’s voice filtered through his fear, and suddenly he felt a tugging sensation in his newly returned soul as web-like tendrils of magic began to weave around the group and the vast, web filled cavern faded from view, brightening instead to a sunny hillside. 

A hillside Ruby recognized with a jolt. The bard hurried turned his gaze outward, at the town he knew would be sprawling below them. He needed to know that Tiamat had simply been trying to get under Yalkar’s skin. He had to know Eagle’s Rest was safe. 

But his luck was not to be. Dark smoke drifted up from the town–stark against the clear blue sky–and Ruby heard a cry of dismay that he then realized came from himself. That was his home burning below him. He stumbled a few steps forward–he wanted to run, he needed to help his people!

A flash of bright blue blotted out the town, and Ruby felt a surge of anger for a moment at whatever was preventing him from going to his home. But that was before his world became nothing but sheer agony and pain. 

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That brought him back to the present moment. His entire being felt as though it had been set alight. His nerves screamed and his muscles jerked and spasmed uncontrollably. He felt as though he were trapped within his own mind–nothing he could do seemed to have any effect on the convulsions that rippled through his body like water. He felt himself falling–or was he floating? He felt his thoughts growing muddled and distant–he needed air, why couldn’t he breathe? His lungs felt paralyzed. Eagle’s Rest…he needed to get to Eagle’s Rest. That’s why he was here, wasn’t it? Tiamat…she had said…something. His brain couldn’t hold onto any one thought anymore. Weak. He was too weak to do anything. He had always been too weak. He needed to get stronger. Power. He needed power. Power to kill. To protect his home and family. Protect them from what?

His thoughts were swirling like a storm, yet he felt strangely numb as he suddenly realized he was no longer floating. There were arms around him. He couldn’t tell who it was. Blue…they were definitely blue. Blue like the open sky, when he had stared up at it on those days when he’d watched the sheep. Was that what he had been doing? Yeah, that made sense. That blue was such a nice shade…soothing. He felt like he could just close his eyes and drift off to sleep…

He woke again to the all too familiar jolt of divine healing magic coursing through his body. Seren’s magic was comfortingly akin to his mother’s magic–all golden warmth like a pleasant afternoon–but in this instance he couldn’t help but groan as he was once again subjected to the fiery agony that still rippled through his nerves, though it seemed now to be more or less confined to his chest and arm. He frowned and struggled to remind himself of what had happened. Had they been to Eagle’s Rest? No…no that couldn’t be possible. The ground beneath him was the hard wooden floor of the ship. He could hear Yalkar’s booming voice somewhere to his side, followed closely by Howl’s reedier voice–sounding shaky and weak despite the smaller dragonborn’s jovial tone. Yalkar was saying something about Howl’s eye, and Ruby groaned softly as he turned to see what had the former soldier so concerned. 

Howl was half sitting up with a bloodstained hand covering one side of his face, and Ruby’s brow furrowed as his still sluggish mind struggled to comprehend what was happening. 

“I…can’t really see very well” Howl was saying, his voice still light in a clear attempt to calm the larger dragonborn who was practically vibrating like a rope that had been pulled taut to the point of snapping in two. 

“Howl, your eye…” Ruby’s mind realized what Yalkar was going to say just before he finished his sentence “your eye is gone.”

The bard forced his gaze away from the dragonborns, feeling a bit squeamish as he realized why Howl’s face was so bloody. What had happened? Had Howl died again? For that matter…had he? That would explain the searing agony followed by utter nothingness that was the last thing he remembered. He struggled to try and pull himself up, grunting with effort as he was stopped by a familiar blue hand on his shoulder. 

“Stay down, Ruby” Verity. Ruby smiled softly as he allowed the wizard to push him back down to the ship’s deck. 

“Verity…I had the most awful of dreams…” he admitted, closing his eyes as those horrid images flashed before his vision once more, “Eagle’s Rest…it was burning and…”

“Should we tell him?” He was fairly certain that was Neuvieh’s voice, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what the pale elf would want to tell him. Neuvieh didn’t even like him that much after all. 

Verity’s voice sounded strained “Just…just rest right now, Ruby. It’s fine.”

He nodded, dragging himself back a bit to lean against the ship’s railing. If Verity said it was fine…well, he trusted his wizard. He couldn’t help a slight smile at that thought. His wizard. Yeah. He liked that thought. He really should write some song about Verity’s beauty. Something about the way the stars in Mystra’s cave had looked, glinting in the other tiefling’s shining aquamarine eyes.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the gnoll they’d picked up in the cave. Tendrils of silvery webs spread from her, weaving themselves through the party, knitting their various hurts together. Ruby could feel the tendrils of magic, cool and soothing, weaving through his chest and arm, even knitting the now day old wounds left by the necrotic vines from the fight in Osteroth castle. He felt better than he had since before the fight, and his brow furrowed as his now clear mind began to piece together memories. He could hear Skully’s voice somewhere above him, ushering the group below deck and he pulled himself to his feet to follow them–realizing idly that  the ship was not, in fact, being buffeted by ocean waves but was, rather, floating high above a layer of fluffy white clouds. 

Skully’s briefing made little sense as Ruby’s mind was still trying to organize the scattered thoughts and memories, and he frowned as the purple tiefling circled what appeared to be points of interest on a map, asking what it was they needed to do. 

“Isn’t it obvious what we need to do?” the bard piped up, leaning forward to press his hands against the table “We gotta save Eagle’s Rest!”

The noise of shuffling was registered by a meager flick of his ear as Skully’s brow furrowed, “Eagle’s Rest? The place you all nearly died–did die, in yours and Howl’s cases?” 

For the second time that day, Ruby felt as though the floor beneath him was going to give way any moment. 

“That’s…no that’s not possible. My family is down there”

“Not anymore they’re not” That was Noone’s voice. Ruby’s tail lashed stiffly as he pushed himself to his full, meager height to glare at the rogue. Anger bloomed hot and sharp in his chest–and it seemed to him that the rogue’s unconcerned words echoed in his ear. 

“They are down there, and we have to do something!” he snapped, glaring at the rogue. 

“I’m not going to sit here doing nothing like you” Yalkar’s voice had dropped to a low, guttural growl as he stepped closer to Skully, and Ruby unconsciously stepped back, his mind unhelpfully reminding him both of Tiamat’s victorious snarls in High Ever, and of the electric blue that had exploded in his vision just before his world had become one of pain. 

Yalkar was fuming as he demanded that Skully take them back down. Skully, somehow, seemed unconcerned as he drew himself to his full height–very nearly on par with the massive fighter. 

“You want to go back down there? Be my guest…I’ll gladly drop you back to go join that little dragon queen in your skull”

“You would like that, wouldn’t you, you bastard? You don’t give a shit about anyone” 

“So you don’t want my help then? My bad, I can leave you all to it” The purple tiefling spun on his heel toward the stairs that led back toward the deck, tail swishing languidly behind him. Ruby felt a surge of fear jolt through him. He needed every hand he could get if he was going to save his family. He couldn’t afford to lose anyone like this. 

“Yalkar, leave it!” Neuvieh’s voice, the elf sounding annoyed by the fighting “He’s trying to help us”

“Oh, he doesn’t give a single shit about anything but himself, but fine! Do what you want, I’m not staying here” The silver dragonborn snarled and pushed past Skully, who glared back at the retreating form. 

“Well, that’s the first good idea he’s had…” 

“Skully, wait!” Ruby darted forward, reaching out to stop the other tiefling, “Please, we can’t help Eagle’s Rest without you. We need your help!”

He didn’t care what the others thought now. It wasn’t like there was anywhere any of them could go after all. Except for Seren, none of them could fly, and even if they could, leaving the cover of the cloud layer below them would surely attract the attention of that beast that had nearly killed them all with one blast. 

“Now this I like, keep talking” Skully’s voice was a low purr now, and a part of Ruby cringed at the way he was doing exactly as the other wanted. 

“We can’t do shit without you, Skully, please. Help us.”

That seemed to calm Skully, and the tiefling smiled as he returned to his place near the table, quickly running through all that had happened that day before Neuvieh piped up again, asking about the whereabouts of his sister and brother. 

“Oh, Prys left sometime last night, took that brother of yours with her”

This stirred a memory in Ruby’s mind, and he frowned thoughtfully, speaking before he could think better of it “I think I remember Friend leaving too, I just figured he was going off to hunt something, but…maybe he was following them?”

“Weren’t you asleep like the rest of us, Ruby?” Inari’s voice. Ruby flinched as he realized his mistake. Oh, he was truly an idiot for that one. 

“I…uh…didn’t sleep very well last night. Too much going on” he chuckled nervously, flexing his arm as if the muscles and nerves still pained him. It wasn’t exactly a lie, though he could tell Inari didn’t fully believe him. He would have to be a lot more careful around her. 

The rest of the planning went by in a blur– with the conclusion being that they would travel onwards a day or two’s ride into the forest to find the Forest People Ruby remembered hearing tales about back in his youth. Tabby seemed to think they might be some of her people–remnants from her own encounter with the draconic plague that seemed to have followed Tiamat into the world. Ruby felt the faint stirrings of actual hope swirl in his chest. His father in his dream had said Aran had gone to the Forest People for help. If he could see his brother again, he thought maybe everything that had happened the past four days might almost be worth it. He sorely missed feeling Aran’s strong arms around him, the safety he would feel. 

He spent some time after the group disbanded to each do their own thing sitting in the rigging, idly strumming his lute. He couldn’t help but run his hand over the warped, nearly rotting wood where the lute had suffered the same fate as his right arm–the tendrils of necrotic magic having affected the lute where his arm had been resting before he’d dropped the instrument. Guilt nagged at him like a persistent horsefly as he gazed down at the rotten wood. Aran had made this lute for him–had taken such care to carve it, keeping it hidden from their father–a feat Ruby knew well was difficult, especially for the eldest son. What would Aran think when he saw the instrument? Maybe Ruby should leave it on the ship, claim he’d been afraid of losing it if he brought it with him to see Aran. He knew that would be more suspicious though. He never went anywhere without the lute. Carrying it was like carrying a piece of Aran. 

He sighed and let his head drop to his chest, feeling suddenly tired as he closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep. He’d truly been exhausted last night, and he had tried his best to get some sleep. Nothing he could do had allowed him to drift off though. He reached up to tug at the bird skull that now hung from his ear, not thinking all that much about the movement until a sudden spear of pain stabbed into his own skull. He frowned, pulling his hand away from the bird skull, gazing down at the limb as if it had somehow grown a mind of its own before jumping down from the rigging. He needed answers. And he had an idea of who he could ask. 

Skully was sitting with Noone and the gnoll cleric, that smug grin still on his face, apparently oblivious to the annoying looks Nash was sending him. Ruby quietly tapped the larger tiefling on the shoulder to get his attention, flinching back from the slight glare Skully sent him before Nash suddenly lurched forward and shoved him hard into Ruby. With that, Skully stood with a sigh. 

“C’mon then. We can go to my quarters” He seemed reluctant, but Ruby hardly cared at this point. He had far too many things swirling in his head–it was like a discordant orchestra was playing constantly within the confines of his skull. “So, what can I do for you?”

“Skully, I…I know we may have gotten off on the wrong foot when we met and…and I wanted to apologize for that first of all” he wrung his hands together nervously, pacing slightly as he spoke “It’s been a long few days and when we met, I let my stress get the better of me and judged you a bit too hastily”

“That’s all fine” Skully waved dismissively, an actual smile on his face “You and the others are starting to grow on me lately, especially without him in my head”

Ruby had the nagging thought that that was an odd thing to say, but he was speaking again before he could think of the other tiefling’s words, “Before I go into what I wanted to talk to you about, I want you to promise not to say anything about this to your brother–I don’t want him to worry too much about me and–”

“You know he’s going to find out eventually, right?”

“I know! And I’ll deal with that! But for now, don’t say anything to him, Skully!”

“Alright, alrighty, my lips are sealed. Now what is so important you had to come to me about it?”

“I picked something up back in High Ever. I don’t know really what it is–I thought it was just a spell focus…it conducts my magic quite well, see, and I felt like it might be useful in the fight with Osteroth. But…well…I couldn’t really sleep last night and I…I thought I heard it, well…whispering earlier.”

Skully frowned thoughtfully, leaning forward with apparent interest, “Have you tried taking it off?”

Ruby nodded, tugging at the earring again and wincing as that same bolt of pain seared into his skull, “I can’t”

“Parasite. It’s attached itself to your magic. If you don’t…satisfy it, then it’s going to feed off of your magic. Though if you do feed it, it might grant you strength.”

Ruby fiddled gently with the skull, thinking hard “I..If I feed it…I…I think with all that’s going on I might need that power…” he admitted softly. 

Skully seemed to soften at that, his voice growing gentler “You know, I never really liked killing, way back when I was younger. I…I had to grow accustomed to it” 

Ruby looked up at the taller tiefling, head cocked to the side with interest. 

“I was traveling with Verity at the time and…well, I knew that if I didn’t kill it would be up to Verity and…and I couldn’t let him shoulder that burden alone. So I started killing and, well, I started to lose myself the more I did it.”

The smaller tiefling nodded, feeling as if he understood Skully better. He could understand wanting to take some of the burden from one’s older brother. 

“I like you, I think, and I know you mean something to my brother. If you go down this path, be careful. It's easy to lose yourself.”

“I will be” Ruby said shakily. “But I need that power, Skully. You saw what happened. Eagle’s Rest is in danger. I can’t just stand by and do nothing!”