Ephemera - RestlessReks - Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game) [Archive of Our Own] (2024)

The dark purple cloak billowed as the traveler stopped, his sharp pointed ears twitching, and his fangs bared as he sniffed at the air. With a slow, whispered prayer, he touched the glistening amulet around his neck and pulled a spell to his hand.

A shadow rose from the bushes, their clock covered in thorny roses as they drew back a long blackened bow, the silvery tip of an arrow catching the faint light as it was loosed, the longing of the string breaking the air.

Embrich threw his hand out, the divine magic forming a shield of starlight before him as the arrow shattered upon it. A smirk across his face as he heard other arrows clattered behind him, the shield flaring.

“What foul thing powers you vampire!”

A voice called, a new figure emerging from the shadows in dark fire scorched armor. They brandished a large ax, the edge glistening with faint magic as they twirled it in their hands.

“Vampire, disgust blighter. We've been hunting you for quite a while now. Pretty clever, ingenious really, coming here where the sun can't reach you.”

“The sun?” Embrich's voice was light and cheery, “Not at all within my list of fears!” He braced himself, his free hand falling to pull free the heavy smooth mace at his hip. With an inhuman speed he raised it, magic flaring from the tip as a miniature sun flared to life above him. “I walk abroad, unbound by the sun's shackles!”

The sun flared brighter as Embrich watched the knight turn their face away from the light, the ax dropping low to hang by their side. The hooded figures in the bushes pulled back, hiding from the light.

“Look, look at how you cower before the sun! You're pathetic!”

Anger sharpened his voice as he darted forward towards the knight. The mace flashed in the light as he swung, the ringing sound like a church bell as he collided with the knight's body.

He watched the heavy figure tumble to the side, staggering under the blow as he jumped back. He held his mace out, defensive as he pulled his magic close again, calling down a burst of flame upon the closest hooded figure.

He felt exhilaration as the scent reached him, the knight's blood practically glowing where it was smeared across their face. Baring his fangs he clapped his hands together, summoning a spectral censer.

He lunged forward, bringing his mace down upon the knight as the spectral weapon swung in from the side. The knight balked, raising their axe to deflect the mace as they were flung away, their body limp as they collided with the road.

“Come on then, Blades in the Night!” Embrich roared, a frenzy gnawing at him as the blood compelled him.

Embrich sneered as one of the hooded figures approached, a sleek silvered sword darting forward. He spun around, pushing the blade aside with the haft of his mace as he struck, punching the lithe figure in the side.

More approached, the blades glowing as they pounced, a mass of black and silver. He felt his divine shield wavering, the sharp burning sting of their blades as they cut through his clothes.

Embrich struck out, feeling the mace crack across jaws, willing the large spectral censer to swipe across the mass. The scent of blood was overwhelming, thick and metallic, he felt his heart pounding in his head, the hunger clawing deeper, stronger, his own pulse racing in his ears as he fought against the urge.

He saw an opening as the hooded figures drew back, multiple of them fallen and unmoving. He pulled his cloak close, calling the shadows tight as he disappeared into a haze of starlight. He dropped away from the group, watching wearily as they formed a fresh line, blades drawn as they waited.

He steadied himself, shaking his head to dismiss the hunger and bloodlust. He clasped the amulet again, whispering a hurried prayer into the dark, waiting as the ambushers approached.

He smelt blood, the sound of muffled armor followed by the pain as a dagger pierced through his chest. The tip glistened with thick black ichor. A heavy metal boot pushed him to the ground, stopping to stand above him and pressed his face against the rocky surface.

“A resilient one ehh? But all the same, more rotting dead to cleanse.”

“f*ck you!” Embrich spat, a trickle of the black ichor rolling from his nose. “You don't grasp the situation.”

The knight stomped, driving the dagger deeper as Embrich cried in pain. They knelt down, a heavy gauntleted hand tangling in Embrich's hair as they forced his head up.

“I think, that I grasp it quite well…” They pulled a silver and oak stake from a small pouch, dragging it across his body to where his heart pulsed slowly. “Any last words, you pathetic monster?”

Embrich spat more of the ichor out, huffing a shallow breath.

“My lady of Ephemeral light, grant to me a boon. Send unto me, my guardian divine, that he may save me and let me carry forth your greatest will!”

The woods around them flashed, brighter and brighter as the hunters scrambled to shield themselves from the radiance. Heat pulsed in waves as the figures fell back, arms covering their faces.

“ERIPHIEM!”

Embrich’s voice rang through the clearing, a clarion call of violence and reverence.

“Smite the foul hunters, that their wicked deeds and heedless violence shall plague the lands no further!”

Embrich spat ichor at the man, smiling with a wide, sharp fanged grin, as a figure tore itself through the blinding light. Long spindly limbs formed, black as void and radiating a pure holy light as if backlit by a sun. legs that tapped into sharp points, with long clawed hands, arms that hung low, thick and jagged as the form twitched and dropped to the ground behind embrich. It's head masked by the blinding light of a black hole, the thin slash of light across its face.

“Eriphiem…”

Embrich held his hand up to the creature, smiling as wings unfurled, feathers that sparkled with the light of the stars, the angelic being reached down, long fingers gripping the dagger in his chest as Embrich gasped in pain.

“Who… stab?” Eriphiem's voice crackled, hoarse and sharp like glass shattering. “Who, stab, ward!”

He felt his body waiver as he pushed to his feet, feeling as the angel set its now ichor soaked hand over his wound. The healing spell burned, radiance and solar flames coursed through him, the curse within balking at the magic as he grimaced, teeth grinding.

“This one did.” He points down where the leader of the hunters cowered, eyes wide in horror, blood trickling from the edges as their gaze was stuck, glued to the angelic horror before him. “Them, sneaking ambushers, cowardly and pathetic!”

He roared, his pain gone as he lunged forward, slamming the figured head to the ground, his hand pulled, ripping the polished metal gorget free. He felt the warriors pulse as he pressed them to the ground. Heart racing, warm and strong, the veins seemed to bulge, enticingly as he felt the hunger surge.

“How does that suit you, maybe i'll bite you. Drain you for every drop, until you're a pathetic shriveled corpse, no one will even care to hurt your pitiful remains!”

Embrich sneered, his fangs bared, long and sharp, barely inches from the coward's throat when he felt a hand grasp his head.

Eriphiem had Moved, the blinding light fading as he pulled Embrich from his quarre, the long arms easily holding him high, his feet dangling useless as he gnashed and growled at the air.

“Unclean, vile blood.”

Eriphiem looked down at the cowering fighter, their eyes wide with fear, hands covered in ichor from Embrich’s wound. Eriphiem tilted it head, the world spiraling around it as the very sky seemed to follow it, the hooded figure in the ground whimpered, begging in mumbled words.

“Hunter, vermin! No solace, no rest.” Its head twitches with every word, the sky around the clearing spins, day to night to dawn, rapidly shifting as it spoke. “No more. Ending, finality… Death."

“Seeker of violent justice, cause without cause, join the nothing...”

Eriphiem raised Its leg, stomping down on the figure’s chest in a flash, the chittering words it spoke rebounded through the clearing. Where all the figures had stood, a glistening refraction of Eriphiem stood, their leg pierced through every chest, their hands empty, mimicking the grip upon Embrich.

“Nothing. Is nothing.”

Eriphiem cried out, the hooded figure all collapsed in, crumpling with soundless violence, Embrich watched in delight as blood erupted from them, frozen in the air before being drawn into Eriphiem, the crumpled bodies following suit as the clearing went dark.

Embrich laughed as he was dropped, the heavy feeling of Eriphiem behind him a comfort as the darkness enveloped him, cold and lifeless, he felt the kindred soul of the angel as he turned to glance up at his divine protector.

He turned, smiling wide as he took in the angel's true visage, unmasked now as the radiant light had dissipated. He set a hand upon the creature's chest, feeling its own hand on his.

“Our lady of starlight, that you may cleanse us, forgive us and allow our violence to be not in vain as the tapestry of stars weaves ever the tale of unvaliant deeds.”

The creature spoke, its large, sharp toothed and monstrous mouth spread wide, the words echoing with profane delight.

“Eriphiem, thank you for the assistance once again, I'd be dead with you.”

“The Embrich thing already dead.” It co*cked its head to the side, smiling best it could as it reached forward to caress his face, wiping blood from his cheek.

“Yes Eriphiem, I am safe, much thanks to you and Our Lady of Starlight. Can you stay, Eriphiem? Travel with me for a while?”
“Eriphiem always with Embrich thing, is Eriphiem’s favorite thing, the Embrich thing.”

Eriphiem’s hands curled around Embriches head as the angels single eye bore down on him, the burning light of star, exploding and twisting in a nova of pinks and reds warmed him, feeling the crimson markings across his skin warm. He saw the ring like marks across his fingers glowing, bright as a sun as the angel touched their foreheads together. The heats of the angel’s flaming wings wrapped around him, caressing him gently as he let his eyes close against the light.

He felt the warmth fade, the burning light fading from his tight closed eyes, and with a reluctant sight let them open, finding the clearing empty, returned to the silence of his journey. The clearing looked un marred by the brief but violent ambush,all but the smoldering starburst around him.

He spun the misericorde dagger around his hand, testing the weight as the pain burned at his palm. Satisfied and tired of the bite of the silver he gently slid the dagger away into his pack. He caught a glimpse of his hands, a pale warm light soothing the silver cordage’s bite and smiled.
“Thank you Eriphiem, I’m happy to have you with me.”